Matt is on the trail of a badly wounded corporal for robbing the army payroll and falls into a trap when the father of the corporal gets the drop on him and wounds Chester.

The Deserter

James Arness

Amanda Blake

Dennis Weaver

Milburn Stone

Arthur Hiller

Cherry Red

Old Flame

Ironic tragedy results when Danny Kader stubbornly disregards his father's predispositions (and Matt's pragmatic advice) in order to attempt an elopement with a young gypsy woman.

Target

When Kitty is hurt in a fall from a horse, she and Matt must seek help from shiftless dirt farmers who are oddly uninterested in aiding them.

Kitty's Injury

Horses with Bar S brand are being sold to unsuspecting buyers. Deesha moves in to claim the horses, leaving the buyer with nothing.

Horse Deal

A man suddenly turns up in Dodge City claiming to be Billy Crale, the long-lost son of a well-to-do local widow. Matt knows that Billy Crale was reported dead during the Civil War, and he becomes highly concerned for Mrs. Crale's safety when he confirms that the man is actually a onetime outlaw known as Johnny Red.

Johnny Red

A father and son bully a farmer and his wife who won't sell their land, but the farmer is oddly reluctant to let Matt arrest the two, even when they resort to gunfire.

Tail to the Wind

Is the homely, sharp-tongued, middle-aged wife of a homesteader really inspiring men to fight to the death for her affections?

Annie Oakley

Chester saves a man from a zealot's violent "justice" then faces a dose of the same himself.

Kangaroo

Matt, escorting 3 men back to Dodge, claims a beautiful wounded Indian woman will be able to identify the one who shot her and killed her husband.

Saludos

A man wants to gunfight when he returns home, after years away, and finding his brother married to his girl.

Brother Whelp

Onetime gunman Zeno Smith faces an unenviable choice. If he does not help would-be gambler Hank Fergus rob Mr. Jonas's general store, Fergus will tell 12-year old orphan Tommy the full story of how Zeno's descent into deprivation and alcoholism dates to the day he backed down from facing Fergus in a gunfight.

The Boots

Matt is uncertain what to make of Cyrus Tucker's confused claim that his wife of 32 years "just ran off", especially when a homesteader claims that he saw the old man digging a large hole just behind his house.

Odd Man Out

A father threatens to kill the two drifters who have been plaguing his daughter.

Miguel's Daughter

A man enlists the aid of a parson to fake his own death.

Box o' Rocks

A man is convicted of murder on doubtful testimony.

False Witness

When hired gunman Killion comes to Dodge, many of the men get scared thinking he is after them.

Tag, You're It

A quarrel between two partners in homesteading escalates to the point of gunfire. Matt tries to make peace between them by locking them up together.

Thick 'n' Thin

An ex-Confederate waits to settle the score with the Union man whose unit cost him a loved one and property in the late war.

Groat's Grudge

Despite a serious heart condition, onetime prizefighter Tom Burr is determined to go through with his plans to fight vicious Hob Creel. The only way Matt can stop the mismatch and save Burr's life is to fight Creel himself.

Big Tom

Someone takes a shot at a hard man who is brutal to his wife, and someone is overheard claiming he was offered money to kill the man.

Till Death Do Us

Matt and his friends try to come to the aid of a has-been actor caught cheating at cards.

The Tragedian

Matt has reason to believe that the new overweight, gun toting, straight shooting, female owner of the Lady Gay saloon may have killed the previous owner, or did she?

Hinka Do

While Matt is away on business, Doc gets threatened by an ex convict (Brice Harp) who claims that Doc Adams sentenced him to a long term in Prison.

Doc Judge

Old man Onie has a great swimming cow that can lead herds across rivers, and when they both come up missing, one trail boss accuses another of killing them.

Moo Moo Raid

Kitty gets caught in the middle when a crazy-eyed man goes hunting for his former son-in-law, whom he blames for the death of his daughter in childbirth.

Kitty's Killing

After a train sparks a fire that destroys a family's crops, the man, his son, and his daughter rob another train of fifty thousand dollars. A baggage clerk is killed and the crusty representative of the railroad pressures Matt to solve it.

Jailbait Janet

Determined to avenge his murderous brother's hanging, Vince Walsh begins a self-serving campaign of unofficially helping to keep the peace in Dodge City over Matt's objections. Walsh is certain that his actions and his taunts will eventually goad the Marshal into a gunfight.

Unwanted Deputy

When Jonas accuses Clint Dodie of robbing his store, Matt and Chester set out in the bitter cold go to Clint's farm to make an arrest.

Where'd They Go

When the greedy relatives of a dying man (Crowbait Bob) learn that he might be dying, they come to Dodge to grab anything of value they can get from the dying man.

Crowbait Bob

A southern belle charms Chester and many others in Dodge, but Kitty isn't falling for her charms.

Colleen So Green

Far from Dodge, Chester finds himself in the uncomfortable position of trying to extract a bullet in order to save Doc's life after the two are ambushed by a pair of savage prairie wolfers.

The Ex-Urbanites

A man beats his wife and is sentenced to fifty days or fifty dollars by the judge. The beaten woman scrapes together the money for her husband's fine, only to be beaten again.

I Thee Wed

A saloon girl shoots a man who came to her room, claiming he attacked her, but as the dead man was to testify against a man from the woman's past, Matt is suspicious.

The Lady Killer

Ed makes no secret of his intention to kill Bert for marrying the girl Ed wanted. So when Ed is the one who turns up dead, folks assume that Bert did it.

Gentleman's Disagreement

There's a cattle drive near town, and the cowboys are nervous about a series of cattle rustling events that have taken place recently.

Speak Me Fair

Belle Ainesly rides into town after 3 years absence. Seems she ran off with an unsavory character 3 years ago, and all of Dodge feels she's a "bad" woman. Belle says she is coming back to stay at the family ranch.

Belle's Back

Two brothers have decided that it is their mission to rid the West of Indians.

The Bobsy Twins

Kitty doubts the veracity of Matt's old friend Dolly Winters, who arrives in Dodge seeking the Marshal's help and claiming to have been robbed, beaten, and jilted by a man named Rad Meadows.

The widow of a stagecoach robber is courted by the man who, unbeknownst to the widow, is the one who shot her husband.

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.

The Deserter

Seasons20

Season 5 Episodes39

Cast4

Crew1

Discussion

Episode Summary