Gunsmoke.

I've just started watching Gunsmoke from the very first episode - twenty seasons in all, 635 episodes , so I guess I'll be watching awhile.

Episodes in the first season are 30 minutes long, but later in the run they were increased to fifty minutes and I must be honest I'm more familiar with the radio show than the TV series. I've got many of the radio episodes in MP3 format and regularly listen to an episode or two on my commute to and from work. So although I've always been aware of the TV version I can't say that I've ever really watched it.


The series was shown over here in the UK, originally retitled, Gun law and it was a big hit over here. The national newspaper, The Daily Express even ran a cartoon strip called, Gun Law which remained in the newspaper from 1957 - 1958.

Alas, I was too young to catch the series on TV and although I've always loved westerns the only TV oaters that I remember from those dim distant days of childhood are Bonanza, Rawhide, Maverick and High Chaparral. 

Daily Express - Gun Law

'Get the hell out of Dodge.'

I've watched the first five episodes last night and enjoyed them all - John Wayne introduced the first episode with the following words -

'Good evening. My name's Wayne. Some of you may have seen me before; I hope so. I've been kicking around Hollywood a long time. I've made a lot of pictures out here, all kinds, and some of them have been Westerns. And that's what I'm here to tell you about tonight: a Western—a new television show called Gunsmoke. No, I'm not in it. I wish I were, though, because I think it's the best thing of its kind that's come along, and I hope you'll agree with me; it's honest, it's adult, it's realistic. When I first heard about the show Gunsmoke, I knew there was only one man to play in it: James Arness. He's a young fellow, and maybe new to some of you, but I've worked with him and I predict he'll be a big star, so you might as well get used to him, like you've had to get used to me! And now I'm proud to present my friend Jim Arness in Gunsmoke.'

Gunsmoke: The Radio Series

I guess some people are always going to look back - and I'm one of those people. Give me the hi-tech marvels of the world wide web and what do I do? I'm discovering entertainments that were popular before I was even born. I've always enjoyed radio , listening to comedies and plays on BBC Radio Four but thanks to the Internet I can explore shows from a time when radio was the main form of entertainment for millions and Television was a medium yet to take over.

Being a western fan it was natural for me to check out as many of the old radio western dramas as I could find, and believe me there are many, but out of them all Gunsmoke has become a firm favourite. I started off listening to shows on websites such as the excellent Old Time Radio Archive and from there started buying DVD's off ebay which contained MP3's of complete runs, where the episodes survive, of radio shows. The recordings are in the public domain and enterprising fans are able to make a little money by making their collections available to anyone interested.

Gunsmoke of course made the transistion to televsion and I was familiar with some of the TV episodes but the radio show was first, and also featured a different actor in the lead role of Matt Dillon. William (Canon) Conrad was Marshall Matt Dillon for the entire run of the radio series, 1952-1961 and there are some great episodes in existence just waiting to be discovered or rediscovered by western fans and radio drama enthusiasts. I've got 400 plus episodes on both my hard drive and iPod and I'm pretty much addicted.

Gunsmoke was originally pitched as being the first truly adult western and it certainly delivered on the promise - some of the episodes were solemn in tone, and Marshall Matt Dillon was played as a lonely man who believed in the law above all else, and showed great courage in standing up against everything thrown against him. John Dunning, the noted author and old time radio expert wrote,' "Gunsmoke is routinely placed among the best shows of any kind and any time.'

I have embedded an entire episode above,in which Marshall Dillion meets up with an old flame. I selected this episode because it  shows the loneliness of the US Marshall, effectively portrayed by William Conrad and a great supporting cast.


Other episodes can be found online at the various Old Time Radio websites across the web or do an eBay search on old time radio. I recently bought 430 episodes for £2 - now that's incredible value. And once you've tried Gunsmoke I've no doubt you'll want to explore other radio westerns available - Six Shooter for instance stars James Stewart, while other shows feature a list of Hollywood luminaries as long as your arm. There are all sorts of radio westerns available - from the pulpy adventure of The Long Ranger, to the historically accurate shows like Gunsmoke and Hawk Durango.

Check out this page HERE which features several episodes from a variety of shows.

Gunsmoke - The Killer

This classic episode of Gunsmoke (known as Gunlaw in the UK)  features future superstar Charles Brosnan in a very impressive performance as the homicidal maniac and coward, Crego. Brosnan is brilliant in the role, cast completely against type - Crego has built up a reputation as a gunfighter by only challenging those who aren't quite so fast on the trigger. He goads them into slapping leather and is thus always able to claim self defence.

'I'm not wanted by any law, anywhere,' Crego tells Marshall Matt Dillon.

Crego, not so much a gunman as a serial killer, struts his stuff around Dodge, getting into gunfight after gunfight and always coming out on top. Dillon knows that Crego will never stop killing, that he likes it, but is powerless to do anything about it. The lawman knows that he must bend the law, that the law is working against the greater good and that Crego must die.

"Crego, he's a brutal man, Matt. He... you know what he did here? He shot that man in the gun arm first, then he put a bullet through each one of his knees. Finally shot him in the belly. That's a terrible thing to do, that's a painful way to kill a man. It's evil! He was just a poor potato grubber. He didn't have a chance. " Doc Adams tells Marshall Dillon.

James Arness is, as always, brilliant, not for nothing was he the small screen's answer to John Wayne. Indeed John Wayne was initially asked to play the part of Dillion but the actor didn't want to do any TV and recommended his good friend James Arness - the rest is history.

Below I've embedded the video of John Wayne introducing the first ever episode of Gunsmoke.

GUNSMOKE - DIRTY SALLY

HISTORICAL DATA
Orginally season 16, episodes 23 and 24
First broadcast: 1971

This was originally a two part story from the long running TV series, Gunsmoke and upon first broadcast it was entitled, Pike. I viewed it as an edited together TV movie that went by the title Gunsmoke: Dirty Sally.

The character of Dirty Sally, played wonderfully by veteran actress Jeanette Nolan dominates every scene she's in - indeed the character would get her own short lived spin-off series. In fact so endearing a character is she that these episodes are fan favourites even if Matt Dillion's part is basically reduced to several cameos in his own show. But who cares - it's Dirty Sally we want to see. And Gunsmoke would often excel with episodes based on its subsidiary characters.

Dirty Sally is a captivating creation - basically a female version of all those crotchety old timers the likes of Walter Brennan and Gabby Hayes often portrayed.

The story sees Dirty Sally finding a wounded outlaw whilst out scouring for old bottles, which she then sells to the owner of the general store in Dodge. Sally lives in a run-down shack ten miles outside of Dodge and she takes the injured outlaw there and nurses him back to health. The injured man's ex-partners who he double crossed are out looking for him and they are a bloodthirsty bunch.

The suspense builds up as the story progresses but the main emphasis is on Dirty Sally and Pike, the classic good bad guy. Mary comes to look upon him as the son she never had and Pike, grateful to the old woman for saving his life, comes to realise that the old woman gives him a sense of family; something he has never known.

An excellent story that shows why Gunsmoke was, until recently when beaten by The Simpsons, the longest running American TV series in history. Minor roles for most of the regular cast but the outlaw and the outcast carry things on nicely.

Well worth looking around for.

Wild West news supplemental

As soon as I posted the previous entry writer, Mathew Mayo sent me these details:

Gunsmoke to ride again

CBS Films is developing a theatrical version of GUNSMOKE, and they've hired Gregory Poirier, screenwriter of NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS to write it:

The action-adventure will re-imagine Marshal Matt Dillon, the hero of the classic Western, for modern audiences. The story will be set in the same American West as the original but will feature a contemporary look and modern action twists. Poirier is said to be close to completing a first draft of the script.