8.7/10247 votes#1 - Kate Heller
Season 9 Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/1963
A teen-aged boy who robbed and killed to impress a saloon gal is pursued by Matt. The boy waylays Matt and leaves him for dead, then goes home to his grandmother's house to find her nursing Matt back to health.
Director: Harry Harris
Writer: Kathleen Hite
8.1/10265 votes#2 - Lover Boy
Season 9 Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/1963
A charming cowboy apparently is guilty only of breaking hearts until he gets to Dodge, where he finds two women who may make a killer of him.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writer: John Meston
8.2/10226 votes#3 - Legends Don't Sleep
Season 9 Episode 3 - Aired 10/12/1963
A young rascal meets the outlaw idol of his youth, but the aging gunman, newly released from prison, wants only to go straight.
Director: Harry Harris
Writer: Kathleen Hite
8.0/10205 votes#4 - Tobe
Season 9 Episode 4 - Aired 10/19/1963
Hard-luck Tobe, who's lost his farm, gets a job in town with Chester's help and takes up with a saloon gal, not knowing she's on the run from a beau who's a con man and a killer.
Director: John English
Writer: Paul Savage
7.7/10210 votes#5 - Easy Come
Season 9 Episode 5 - Aired 10/26/1963
A mild-looking cowboy discovers that it's easy to steal, and, soon thereafter, that it's easy to kill as well.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writer: John Meston
6.8/10190 votes#6 - My Sister's Keeper
Season 9 Episode 6 - Aired 11/2/1963
A despondent widower goes to work on a farm for two sisters, each of whom finds him fascinating in her own way.
Director: Harry Harris
Writer: Kathleen Hite
7.8/10210 votes#7 - Quint's Trail
Season 9 Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1963
Quint is hired to escort a family on the first leg of their journey to Oregon. On the way, he learns the reason for their going, a motive that could have repercussions for Quint.
Director: Harry Harris
Writer: Kathleen Hite
8.2/10230 votes#8 - Carter Caper
Season 9 Episode 8 - Aired 11/16/1963
A man with a grudge hits upon the perfect revenge when he spreads the word in Dodge that short-tempered Billy is so good with a gun that he shot down the famous gunfighter, Beau Carter.
Director: Jerry Hopper
Writer: John Meston
7.7/10179 votes#9 - Ex-Con
Season 9 Episode 9 - Aired 11/30/1963
On his way to Larned, Matt, feverish, spends the night at an abandoned shack. When he wakes up after losing a day, a recently released convict who swore to kill Matt, is himself found against a wall, dead, unarmed, shot twice, and the murder weapon appears to belong to the marshal.
Director: Thomas Carr
Writer: John Meston
8.1/10201 votes#10 - Extradition (1)
Season 9 Episode 10 - Aired 12/7/1963
When fast-talking killer Charlie Hacker escapes from Matt in Texas, Matt follows him right into Mexico without extradition papers and has to deal with corrupt officials there.
Director: John English
Writer: N/A
8.2/10189 votes#11 - Extradition (2)
Season 9 Episode 11 - Aired 12/14/1963
Matt finally catches up to killer Charlie Hacker in Mexico, and has to make a deal with the greedy Mexican police to get Hacker back to the border, with revengeful Mexican bandits in pursuit.
Director: John English
Writer: N/A
8.6/10231 votes#12 - The Magician
Season 9 Episode 12 - Aired 12/21/1963
A mild old peddler of patent medicines and card tricks arrives in Dodge with his grown daughter, hoping to settle down, but instead they find their worst luck yet, beginning with a card game with a rich man and his spoiled son.
Director: Harry Harris
Writer: N/A
7.1/10222 votes#13 - Pa Hack's Brood
Season 9 Episode 13 - Aired 12/28/1963
A repugnant drifter hopes to use his nubile daughter to get his hands on a piece of land.
Director: Jerry Hopper
Writer: Paul Savage
8.2/10215 votes#14 - The Glory and the Mud
Season 9 Episode 14 - Aired 1/4/1964
A retired lawman and showman wants only to settle down with the Dodge seamstress he left behind twenty years ago, but a young whippersnapper hopes to make a name for himself by challenging the aging gun to a duel.
Director: Jerry Hopper
Writer: N/A
7.3/10214 votes#15 - Dry Well
Season 9 Episode 15 - Aired 1/11/1964
It's a test of wills when Quint witnesses a murder and the father of one of the prime suspects lowers Quint into a well to try to force him to promise his silence.
Director: Harry Harris
Writer: John Meston
8.8/10264 votes#16 - Prairie Wolfer
Season 9 Episode 16 - Aired 1/18/1964
Festus returns to Dodge from wolfing and is hired by the Cattleman's Association to hunt down the wolves killing everyone's cattle. What he finds is that what's been doing the preying may wind him up in prison if he doesn't get Matt's help.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writer: John Dunkel
8.2/10221 votes#17 - Friend
Season 9 Episode 17 - Aired 1/25/1964
A man carrying a tempting sum of money is attacked from behind by someone who beats him and leaves him for dead. Lucky for the injured man, an old friend of Matt is there to take him in to Doc Adams for mending.
Director: Harry Harris
Writer: Kathleen Hite
8.7/10236 votes#18 - Once a Haggen
Season 9 Episode 18 - Aired 2/1/1964
A man is stabbed after winning in a poker game, and Festus is suspected.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writer: N/A
8.5/10255 votes#19 - No Hands
Season 9 Episode 19 - Aired 2/8/1964
The Ginnis family causes trouble for Doc Adams, because they hate waiting. Will Timble gets hurt at The Long Branch. Doc has to remove Will's hand, which causes Will to leave Dodge because he can't carve wood anymore.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writer: John Meston
8.0/10253 votes#20 - May Blossom
Season 9 Episode 20 - Aired 2/15/1964
Festus' cousin May Blossom arrives from Texas to marry Festus
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writer: Kathleen Hite
7.8/10188 votes#21 - The Bassops
Season 9 Episode 21 - Aired 2/22/1964
A family in search of a doctor find Matt and his prisoner unconscious and handcuffed to each other on the prairie. The prisoner wakens first and announces that Matt is the condemned man he is transporting for hanging.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writer: N/A
8.3/10226 votes#22 - The Kite
Season 9 Episode 22 - Aired 2/29/1964
Festus finds a little girl out on the prairie. He learns she saw her mother get killed by a stranger. When he takes her to Dodge, Matt hears she was hiding when this happened but can identify this man who may already be in town.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writer: John Meston
8.0/10281 votes#23 - Comanches Is Soft
Season 9 Episode 23 - Aired 3/7/1964
After some horsing around, Festus breaks some of Quint's equipment. To repair or get anew, they travel to Wichita and meet a saloon girl who tells them she needs to get away from town but her jealous boyfriend is now hot on their trail.
Director: Harry Harris
Writer: Kathleen Hite
7.8/10209 votes#24 - Father's Love
Season 9 Episode 24 - Aired 3/14/1964
A saloon girl spurns a man's advances in Wichita and moves to Dodge, where she becomes a respectable married woman, only to be confronted with her past when she discovers that her rancher husband is the nephew of the man she refused.
Director: Harry Harris
Writer: John Meston
8.2/10189 votes#25 - Now That April's Here
Season 9 Episode 25 - Aired 3/21/1964
Festus, returning to Dodge after doing some trapping, sees his girl, April, and they argue over a gift she received. Running off, she hides but her perch gives her a bird's eye view of a murder, one no one believes she witnessed but the killers.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 9
Every episode of Gunsmoke Season 9 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 9!
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...
Genres:WesternAction & AdventureDrama
Network:CBS
Season 9 Ratings Summary
"Kate Heller" is the best rated episode of "Gunsmoke" season 9. It scored 8.7/10 based on 247 votes. Directed by Harry Harris and written by Kathleen Hite, it aired on 9/28/1963. This episode is rated 0.6 points higher than the second-best, "Lover Boy".