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.

Prairie Wolfer

James Arness

Amanda Blake

Dennis Weaver

Ken Curtis

Milburn Stone

Andrew V. McLaglen

John Dunkel

Friend

Dry Well

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.

Kate Heller

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.

Lover Boy

A young rascal meets the outlaw idol of his youth, but the aging gunman, newly released from prison, wants only to go straight.

Legends Don't Sleep

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.

Tobe

A mild-looking cowboy discovers that it's easy to steal, and, soon thereafter, that it's easy to kill as well.

Easy Come

A despondent widower goes to work on a farm for two sisters, each of whom finds him fascinating in her own way.

My Sister's Keeper

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.

Quint's Trail

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.

Carter Caper

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.

Ex-Con

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.

Extradition (1)

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.

Extradition (2)

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.

The Magician

A repugnant drifter hopes to use his nubile daughter to get his hands on a piece of land.

Pa Hack's Brood

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.

The Glory and the Mud

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.

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.

A man is stabbed after winning in a poker game, and Festus is suspected.

Once a Haggen

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.

No Hands

Festus' cousin May Blossom arrives from Texas to marry Festus

May Blossom

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.

The Bassops

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.

The Kite

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.

Comanches Is Soft

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.

Father's Love

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.

Now That April's Here

Caleb Marr comes to Dodge in search of a meaningful life after finally acknowledging his failure at farming.

Caleb

To earn money to recover the custody of his daughter, an aging man accepts the job of Dodge's first in-town hangman, work no one else wants.

Owney Tupper Had a Daughter

A dying man confesses to a murder of which he was acquitted, but Chester suspects the man was lying.

Bently

Competing with Kitty is a fancy new woman in town with plenty of money to build a new saloon and a secret from the past life she recently left behind.

Kitty Cornered

Henry Huckaby, a local farmer and fed up with a sore back and an empty belly leaves to seek his fortune in Dodge. After several failed ideas he hits on one that may make him rich but could also cost him his life.

The Promoter

Given three months to live by a quack peddler of patent medicines, a mousy bank clerk quits his job, withdraws all his money, makes ready to go to California, and falls for a girl who may endanger what time he has remaining.

Trip West

Rob Scot considers himself a man who could stay or go when it came to women. He may have met his match though when a woman he desires, along with her husband, take over an abandoned homestead, and they come to where Rob works to look over some stock.

Scot Free

A traveling salesman meets up with Bull Foot, an Indian who mainly sells vegetables. When goods are traded for a squaw, he is upset when she runs away and into the arms of Festus, whose mule she steals, only to return home awaiting sale to the next customer.

The Warden

Orval returns from seven years in prison for killing his wife's lover, vowing to reclaim his house and business. Edna tries to goad her new husband and Orval's son into a plot to kill Orval; then her head is turned by a traveling salesman.

Homecoming

Jess, Jay's twin, is shot and killed by an unknown assailant while working late at the family business. When a stranger to Dodge is suspected, Matt does his best to track him down and bring him to justice.

The Other Half

Two brothers traveling to California are joined by a third man who soon proves to be a wrong 'un, manhandling and killing a young woman they encounter on the prairie and turning on Quint when he shows up to share his rabbits with them.

Journey for Three

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.

Prairie Wolfer

Seasons20

Season 9 Episodes36

Cast5

Crew2

Discussion

Episode Summary