Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke is both the last of the radio Westerns and considered the most adult.  It ran for almost 10 years on CBS and then migrated to TV, surviving until the very last breath of US radio drama into the early 1960s. US Marshall Matt Dillon doesn’t sing to Dale Evans like Gene Autry and wouldn’t be caught dead in rhinestones.  He’s a great character, and I’ll definitely listen to more Gunsmoke.   

Gunsmoke’s first episode is from exactly 60 years ago today.  The announcer introduces Matt Dillon as “a US Marshall and gunsmoke.”  What struck me immediately was Dillon’s sarcasm and cynicism, and yet his dedication to upholding the true spirit of the law.  The writing is also crisp and concise, with a great deal of humor.  The episode begins as Dillon is dictating a “wanted” poster to a telegrapher; in Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, Dillon is investigating a crime pinned on a guileless  farmer.   “I kill nobody—not since Gettysburg!” the man protests.  Dillon has to prevent half the town from lynching the man in the cells, while at the same time trying to babysit a kid with a desire for guns and fame.  The kid is very interested in the number of men Dillon has killed in his job.  “You don’t keep score, kid, you try to forget.” 

Unfortunately, Dillon is next suspected of crime; “you had him killed so you could get to her.”  Her, in this case, is an old flame of Dillon’s who is very much aware of the gossip surrounding her.  She begs Dillon to convict someone, anyone, to get the blame off her.  “Please, Matt, I have to live here.”  Although Dillon is sympathetic to his old flame’s pleas, he is not the kind of chivalrous cowboy who is going to fall to bits because a female swooned.  “I’ve sworn to uphold the law and I’ve killed men to do it.  . . . I ask you to be sensible and listen to reason.”

By the end of the story, Dillon has released that it was actually the kid who was responsible for the murders, the kid who we realize will, in about 8 years, become Billy the Kid, as his mother is Catherine Antrim, who has come looking for him.  “In my line, there’s nothing humorous about death,” but this a wonderfully knowing way to end the first episode.  

Matt Dillon is played by William Conrad.