Gunsmoke

Over the past year, I've watched perhaps 15 episodes of Gunsmoke, the classic CBS Western series that ran for 635 episodes from 1955 through 1975.  Though I certainly knew about Gunsmoke growing up, I  didn't remember it clearly unlike a number of other TV Westerns I enjoyed as a kid.  Researching the background of the series it looks like the reason I didn't have a lot of memories was that for its first 12 seasons it ran at 10pm on Saturdays, too late for me as a child.  By the time it switched to 730 or 800pm on Mondays in 1967, I was older and too cool to watch what I considered an "old folks" western.

Until 1955, TV westerns were geared towards a children's audience with shows like Roy Rogers, The Cisco Kid and, my favorite, Hopalong Cassidy.  Then, in two weeks that fall, the first "adult" westerns premiered, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (which ran for six seasons) and Gunsmoke.

Gunsmoke was immensely popular over the course of its 20 season run.  For the 18 years for which ratings are available it finished as the #1 show four times (all from 1957 to 1961) and in the top ten 13 seasons (1956-63, 1967-73).  It also had unusual stability in its cast with James Arness (US Marshal Matt Dillon) and Milburn Stone (Galen "Doc" Adams) in all 20 seasons, while Miss Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake) was there for the first 19.  Marshall Dillon's deputies, Chester B Goode (Dennis Weaver) and Festus Haggen (Ken Curtis) were there for 9 and 11 seasons respectively.

From 1955 through May 1961, Gunsmoke was a half hour show and after 1966 it was filmed in color.  All the shows I've watched are one hour black & white so between 1961 and 1966.

Watching it now, Gunsmoke reveals itself to be a much more complex and subtle show than I would have guessed.  Although its opening featured Matt Dillon drawing his gun on a bad guy, there has been relatively little gunplay in the shows I've seen. The scripts are strongly morally focused, but the characters and dialogue are not simple morality plays (watch for instance, two shows from 1964-5, Gilt Guilt and The New Society).  

Added: After initially posting this I watched a half-hour episode from the second season (1956-7), "Bloody Hands", which starts with Matt Dillon killing three outlaws, triggering what we would call PTSD today.  Unnerved, Matt rages that there will always be someone else he has to kill and decides he can no longer do it, resigning as Marshall and turning the job over to Chester.  A few days later Chester comes to find him, telling Matt a gunman has come into town, killed a bar girl, and no one can stand up to him other than Matt.  Dillon initially refuses and then comes this dialogue:

Chester: I been thinkin' lately a whole lot about all this and there's just somethin' that you been forgettin'!

Matt Dillon: That so.

Chester:  Yeah, that's so. It's men like Stanger and Brand, 'cause they got to be stopped! That's all. They gotta be! I'd do it if I could, but I can't. I just ain't good enough. Most men ain't, but you are. It's kinda too bad for ya that ya are, but that's the way it is and there ain't a thing in the world you can do about it.

The episode ends with Dillon putting on his gunbelt and riding back into Dodge. 

Many of the "bad" guys have a sympathetic side and some of the stories end in ambiguous ways, leaving the viewer to speculate on what happens next.  While it did not feature a recurring cast of characters like Gunsmoke, I found myself thinking of the similarities between Gunsmoke and The Twilight Zone, shot in similar black and white style, in the use of close-ups, and also telling stories with a point.  And just like Twilight Zone, there have been some unexpected twists near the end of some of the Gunsmokes.

Gunsmoke is also unsparing in its depiction of the inhabitants of Dodge City and, in particular, of the struggling settlers trying to carve out a living from the prairie, some honestly, some not so much.

The three main characters are strong and honorable, but they are not pushovers and totally unsuited for TV as it exists in the 21st century.  Matt Dillon always finds the right path but does not hesitate to use his size and fists to achieve it, even if involves bending, or sometimes ignoring, the law and remains stoic throughout, rarely giving way to sentiment.  Doc Adams is a cranky old guy who does not give an inch, while Miss Kitty, with whom Matt has a long-standing and ambiguous relationship, is the proprietor of a saloon and gambling hall with a hint of a shady past.  The lessons provided are delivered roughly with no sugar coating.  It is striking to compare it to modern TV which seems to know only two modes, providing gentle and trite lessons via one-dimensional characters or cynical, world weary observations.  Gunsmoke, by avoiding both, evokes an America that seems ever more distant in the past, but which might be helpful to revive.

Watching Gunsmoke prompted me to research the era of the TV western, an era I remember as a child, as it peaked during the years when I was between 5 and 15 years old (1956-66) and I watched a lot of them.  The peak was 1959, with thirty western series on the three networks and 8 of the top ten rated shows being of the genre.  Even Hollywood studios couldn't figure out why they were so popular.

Several of the shows provided career starters for actors who went on to become major movie and TV stars; Rawhide with Clint Eastwood practicing his squint, Maverick, with James Garner pioneering his brand of light comedy, and Wanted: Dead or Alive, starring Steve McQueen and his scattergun. 

Some of the others shows I watched:

The Lone Ranger, another big favorite, Wagon Train, with Ward Bond who played in so many John Ford and John Wayne films, Bonanza, the first color western, Have Gun - Will Travel, with Richard Boone (my parents considered this so adult I was only allowed to watch it a couple of times); Bronco, Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, with Clint Walker, and The Rifleman, with ex-Brooklyn Dodger Chuck Connors.

And let's not forget, Bat Masterson with Gene Barry, Death Valley Days, an anthology series running 18 years and 452 episodes, hosted by Ronald Reagan just before he became governor of California, Tales of Wells Fargo, Tombstone Territory, Zorro with Guy Williams, Laredo, Laramie, and Branded with Chuck Connors and its memorable theme song, a series portrayed somewhat fancifully in The Big Lebowski.

Along with Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp, many other figures of the Old West were portrayed in series of at least 50 episodes including Wild Bill Hickok, Annie Oakley, Jim Bowie and Kit Carson.

There were also a number of hour-long successful "big" westerns, inspired by the success of Bonanza, which premiered in the fall of 1959 - The Virginian, The High Chapparal, and The Big Valley.  I didn't care for any of them, even on rewatching The Virginian and The Big Valley recently, though I've become a big fan of Barbara Stanwyck, who stars in The Big Valley, in her movie roles.