The BEST episodes of Gunsmoke

Every episode of Gunsmoke ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Gunsmoke!

Marshal Matt Dillon keeps the peace in the rough and tumble Dodge City.

Last Updated: 12/31/2023Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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Minnie
star
8.92
49 votes

#1 - Minnie

Season 6 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/15/1961

Rough and rowdy Minnie comes to Dodge City and sets her designs on Doc Adams much to the delight of Matt, Chester and Kitty. Trouble comes though when Minnie's husband comes to Dodge and finds out that his Minnie is sweet on Doc.

Directors: Harry Harris
Writer: John Meston
Watch Now:Amazon
Hammerhead
star
8.88
49 votes

#2 - Hammerhead

Season 10 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/26/1964

Festus takes part in a horse race in which big money is at stake, tempting some to sabotage the race in order to make sure of the outcome.

Directors: Christian Nyby
Writer: Antony Ellis
Watch Now:Amazon
The Way It Is
star
8.29
21 votes

#3 - The Way It Is

Season 8 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/1/1962

While Matt is out of town, putting lawman's business ahead of Kitty yet again, a new man in her life has plenty of time and attention to give--perhaps too much attention.

Directors: Harry Harris
Watch Now:Amazon
Carter Caper
star
8.20
20 votes

#4 - 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.

Directors: Jerry Hopper
Writer: John Meston
Watch Now:Amazon
The Bounty Hunter
star
8.18
17 votes

#5 - The Bounty Hunter

Season 11 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/30/1965

Lured out of retirement with the promise of land, a bounty hunter is aimed by his boss at the man who killed his son. He just doesn't tell him the reward and charges had been dropped.

Directors: Harry Harris
Writer: Paul Savage
Watch Now:Amazon
Chicken
star
8.18
51 votes

#6 - Chicken

Season 10 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/5/1964

Mistakenly hailed as a hero who downed four robbers, a man rethinks his decision to let folks regard him as a gunfighter when protecting the woman he wants calls for a gunman's skill.

Writer: John Meston
Watch Now:Amazon
The Judas Gun
star
8.17
12 votes

#7 - The Judas Gun

Season 15 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/19/1970

The feund between Noah Haimes and Clete Bloden gets very bad as romance begins between Haime's son & Bloden's daughter.

Directors: Vincent McEveety
Watch Now:Amazon
Seven Hours to Dawn
star
8.15
34 votes

#8 - Seven Hours to Dawn

Season 11 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1965

Matt has to get Dodge City back from outlaws.

Directors: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Clyde Ware
Watch Now:Amazon
Prairie Wolfer
star
8.14
22 votes

#9 - 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.

Writer: John Dunkel
Watch Now:Amazon
I Call Him Wonder
star
8.13
16 votes

#10 - I Call Him Wonder

Season 8 - Episode 28 - Aired 3/23/1963

An orphaned Indian boy latches on to a cowboy in need of work and the two of them find all doors closed to them in Dodge.

Directors: Harry Harris
Watch Now:Amazon
The Foundling
star
8.09
43 votes

#11 - The Foundling

Season 19 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/11/1974

When the parents of a daughter who was raped refuse to accept the girl's baby, Marshal Dillon must find a home for the child.

Directors: Bernard McEveety
Writer: Jim Byrnes
Watch Now:Amazon
Gold Mine
star
8.08
48 votes

#12 - Gold Mine

Season 11 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/25/1965

When Matt is too busy to escort Kitty to a gold mine she inherited, she travels there alone and meets with claim jumpers and other difficulties.

Directors: Abner Biberman
Watch Now:Amazon
Chesterland
star
8.07
56 votes

#13 - Chesterland

Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/18/1961

Chester becomes engaged more or less accidentally, but he takes to heart his obligation to his betrothed, leaving his job with Mr. Dillon to devote himself to homesteading a barren quarter section.

Directors: Ted Post
Watch Now:Amazon
Owney Tupper Had a Daughter
star
8.07
15 votes

#14 - Owney Tupper Had a Daughter

Season 9 - Episode 27 - Aired 4/4/1964

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.

Directors: Jerry Hopper
Writer: Paul Savage
Watch Now:Amazon
Kioga
star
8.06
16 votes

#15 - Kioga

Season 11 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/23/1965

A young Pawnee arrives in Dodge to seek his own revenge on a murderer, not trusting in the white man's justice.

Directors: Harry Harris
Writer: Robert Lewin
Watch Now:Amazon
Honey Pot
star
8.04
45 votes

#16 - Honey Pot

Season 10 - Episode 34 - Aired 5/15/1965

A man comes to town and tells Sam he's going to shoot Matt. It's soon understood he is an old friend. Involved in shooting and killing a man, their friendship is stretched as he claims self defense even though he was the only one armed.

Directors: Harry Harris
Writer: John Meston
Watch Now:Amazon
Sins of the Father
star
8.03
65 votes

#17 - Sins of the Father

Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/19/1957

A white man and his Indian wife, passing through Dodge, become targets of violence after it is learned that the wife's father led deadly raids against white settlers.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Iron Men
star
8.02
42 votes

#18 - The Iron Men

Season 20 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/21/1974

Matt and former lawman now turned alcoholic, Chauncey Demon go up against land baron Carl Ryker.

Writer: John Mantley
Watch Now:Amazon
Little Girl
star
8.00
21 votes

#19 - Little Girl

Season 6 - Episode 28 - Aired 4/1/1961

Marshal Dillon must find a suitable home for Charity Gill, a young orphan, after the little girl's father dies when his cabin catches fire. Charity insists that she should live with the Dodge City lawman.

Directors: Dennis Weaver
Watch Now:Amazon
I Have Promises to Keep
star
8.00
15 votes

#20 - I Have Promises to Keep

Season 20 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/3/1975

An aging pastor is determined to erect a church for the Indians on the reservation but is met with bigotry from the citizens of a nearby town.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Wiving
star
8.00
13 votes

#21 - The Wiving

Season 20 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/14/1974

Jed Hockett, a farmer, orders his three boys to go to town and return with prospective brides.

Directors: Victor French
Watch Now:Amazon
Stark
star
8.00
12 votes

#22 - Stark

Season 16 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/28/1970

Adam Bramley, an immature selfish young man, has escaped from prison. Lewis Stark is a bounty hunter who catches him, then blackmails him for money with Bramley's father, John, a rancher with a serious heart condition. Adam's strong-willed sister Glory, has the ranch hands beat up Stark, while John pays him off to leave. Adam finally has an epiphany just as his father is dying of a heart attack.

Directors: Robert Totten
Watch Now:Amazon
Roots of Fear
star
8.00
17 votes

#23 - Roots of Fear

Season 15 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/15/1969

Amos Sadler, a dirt farmer faces the loss of his home when a panic closes down the Dodge City bank. To save it he and his wife plan to break into it and steal some money.

Directors: Philip Leacock
Watch Now:Amazon
Bently
star
8.00
13 votes

#24 - Bently

Season 9 - Episode 28 - Aired 4/11/1964

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

Directors: Harry Harris
Watch Now:Amazon
Once a Haggen
star
8.00
17 votes

#25 - Once a Haggen

Season 9 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/1/1964

Bucko, a close friend of Festus, is accused of murdering a man to whom he lost at poker. When his alibi witness lies out of fear, Bucko is sentenced to hang, and Festus, who'd begun to see the marshal as a friend, vows Bucko won't swing.

Watch Now:Amazon