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Gunsmoke Season 12 Episodes
Season 12 Episode Guide
29 Episodes 1966 - 1967
Episode 1
Snap Decision
Sat, Sep 17, 196660 mins
Matt has the unhappy task of tracking down Gilcher, a long-ago friend of his, who fell on hard times and turned to horse theft and attempted murder. Matt surprises Gilcher at his mountain camp, and the two men sadly reminisce over old times. Suddenly, Gilcher sees a man up on the next hill holding a rifle. Gilcher warns Matt that the man (whom Matt can't see because his back is to the hill) is about to throw down on them both. Matt thinks Gilcher is bluffing. Gilcher makes a lunge for his discarded rifle -- and Matt -- thinking Gilcher is about to shoot him -- fires. An instant later, a rifle slug whizzing past Matt's ear confirms Gilcher's story. Matt promises to the dying Gilcher that he will give up law enforcement, which he does. He takes a room in Dodge while the new marshal tries to deal with a bounty hunter who shows up in town. Soon afterward, a young man shows up in town, seeking out Matt and claiming to be Gilcher's son. Matt tries to befriend the young man and get him out of scrapes. The bounty hunter, hearing of this and knowing a secret nobody else does, soon corners the young man and hires him as a hired gun. The two of them bushwhack a wanted man in the Long Branch, accidentally shooting a saloon girl in the process. The incident convinces Matt that he needs to resume his marshal's job and purge Dodge of the bounty hunter -- and find out why the young man took up with him.
Episode 2
The Goldtakers
Sat, Sep 24, 196660 mins
A murderous band of outlaws bushwhacks an Army pay train and murders every man among them for the $200,000 in gold they are carrying. They throw open the pay chest and find -- lead. The leader scratches the lead with a knife and uncovers a gold streak, and realizes that the Army had amalgamated the two metals together before the pay train started to try to prevent just such an occurrence. So the leader and his men strip the dead soldiers of their uniforms and head for the nearest blacksmith's shop, which happens to be in Dodge. There they will melt down the alloy into pieces of gold, which they plan to distribute amongst themselves after leaving. Matt, who was off fishing, returns in time to catch the thieves in the act -- but is taken hostage and forced to help them. Features a rare view of Dodge City's outdoor back lot set for the final gunfight (in fact, the main characters watch the outlaws ride off the sound stage and onto the outdoor street!)
Episode 3
The Jailer
Sat, Oct 1, 196660 mins
In an episode that made TV Guide's list of "Top 50 Dramatic Episodes of All Time" (and quite high on the list at that), Etta Stone is the matriarch of a crime family, whose husband was hanged and three sons imprisoned six years earlier at Matt's instigation. Now the sons have gotten out of jail and their first order of business is to kidnap Kitty, forcing Matt to come alone to rescue her. He gets a dire welcome when he sees a do-it-yourself working gallows right in the Stone front yard, and he is quickly seized and locked in the barn (Kitty is locked in the house). Etta Stone, with the help of the three imprisoned sons, tells Matt that he will be hanged from the gallows "on the morning of the second day." The only honest people around are the youngest son and the wife of another son, who have developed a romance of their own. One of the other sons can be bought, but he comes to a bad end -- Etta catches him helping Kitty try to escape and blows her own son away with the rifle she always carries. Now Kitty will also hang for "murder" immediately after Matt does, unless somehow Matt and Kitty can outwit the remaining crooks (which is hard; Matt survives a second botched escape attempt only because Etta demands that he be hanged rather than shot when cornered) and escape Etta herself.
Episode 4
The Mission
Sat, Oct 8, 196660 mins
Matt travels to Mexico to pick up an outlaw (Jim Davis) wanted for murder in Kansas. The outlaw is truly a nasty piece of work, which makes him good company for two drifters (Steve Ihnat, Warren Oates) who bushwhack Matt and steal his identity papers and the extradition warrant. After "arresting" the outlaw leader, the two men form a gang with him. The three killers are soon joined by a fourth, Reb (Bob Random), the son of a Confederate colonel who fled to Mexico rather than acknowledge the war was over. Matt soon meets the colonel, who apologizes for his son's helping steal from Matt but refuses help of any other kind to a Yankee. The sergeant who was the colonel's aide and is now his ranch foreman is more sympathetic, but refuses to abandon his boss. Meanwhile, Reb is caught up in a robbery and murder spree led by the other three outlaws, who knock over a small-town bank and kill numerous citizens. A deputy sheriff who survived the massacre (thanks to Reb firing at him and intentionally missing) joins Matt on the deadly hunt, which climaxes at the colonel's house when Reb and the first outlaw hide out in the barn. Every major character except Matt and the sergeant gets killed, along with numerous extras.
Episode 5
The Good People
Sat, Oct 15, 196660 mins
A bounty hunter is falsely charged with murder when he lies about killing a lynched man he thought was wanted by the law.
Episode 6
Gunfighter, R.I.P
Sat, Oct 22, 196660 mins
A gunslinger hired to kill Matt, backs down from his obligation when he gets badly wounded and falls in love with a beautiful Asian woman who is caring for him, and his employers won't stand for it.
Episode 7
The Wrong Man
Sat, Oct 29, 196660 mins
Hootie Kyle felt cheated in a card game by Tenner Jackson. Later, he punches Jackson and takes his thirty dollars back. The next day Hootie returns the money to the Marshal only to be told that Jackson had been murdered.
Episode 8
The Whispering Tree
Sat, Nov 12, 196660 mins
After a robbery, Virgil Stanley buries the money before being captured. It has been eight years and Virgil is being released. He has plans to use the money but has to deal with others with the same idea.
Episode 9
The Well
Sat, Nov 19, 196630 mins
Dodge becomes restless when a severe drought dries up all the wells except for one. Now it becomes a fight to keep living, placing Marshal Dillon in the middle.
Episode 10
Stage Stop
Sat, Nov 26, 196660 mins
A station master sets up stagecoaches to be robbed by a gang, and also routinely beats up his beautiful wife.
Episode 11
The Newcomers
Sat, Dec 3, 196660 mins
Petter Karlgren, a Swedish immigrant, and his father arrive in the untamed west to settle in Dodge. When Petter is baited into a fight, they will find that the west is more untamed and unforgiving than they ever thought.
Episode 12
Quaker Girl
Sat, Dec 10, 196660 mins
When a dying deputy swears in Thad to capture killer Fred Bateman, Thad ends up in a Quaker town, in which the people cannot tell which one is the wanted man.
Episode 13
The Moonstone
Sat, Dec 17, 196660 mins
Chad Timpson is taking care of his mentally challenged brother, Orv. But when a rider comes into Dodge we learn that Chad has a checkered past. A past that may break up the two brothers.
Episode 14
Champion of the World
Sat, Dec 24, 196660 mins
Bull Bannock, ex world heavyweight champion, tries to make a place for himself in Dodge City.
Episode 15
The Hanging
Sat, Dec 31, 196660 mins
Dodge City is the site where notorious outlaw Billy Boles is set to hang. However, the town is occupied by people determined for their own kind of justice.
Episode 16
Saturday Night
Sat, Jan 7, 196760 mins
A cattle-drive, led by Virgil Powell, helps a sick Matt Dillon get his prisoner to Dodge. But the prisoner has made a deal with a cowboy on the drive to avoid a certain hanging.
Episode 17
Mad Dog
Sat, Jan 14, 196760 mins
On the way to help his cousin, Festus is mistaken for a hired gunman. The slow-witted Watson Boys will try to make a name for themselves in this humorous offering.
Episode 18
Muley
Sat, Jan 21, 196760 mins
After a young gunslinger wounds Matt, he comes to Dodge to finish him off and to rob the bank. He gets distracted after going to the Long Branch, where he meets and falls in love with one of Kitty's girls.
Episode 19
Mail Drop
Sat, Jan 28, 196760 mins
A young boy comes to Dodge looking for his father. What he finds is that his father is a wanted outlaw on the run.
Episode 20
Old Friend
Sat, Feb 4, 196760 mins
A Marshal from Arizona has tracked down the men responsible for pillaging his town to an area outside Dodge. He is bound to seek revenge on the outlaws at any cost.
Episode 21
Fandango
Sat, Feb 11, 196760 mins
Marshal Dillon is trying to bring a suspected murderer back for trial (on foot)for killing a lawman friend of the Marshal's. He finds the man near a large sheep ranch run by an independent Australian immigrant named Tyson. Tyson wants to handle the prisoner in his own way for allegedly killing a few of Tyson's ranch hands. The Marshal enlists the help of a local doctor and Tyson's own daughter while acquiring horses. Ultimately Tyson and the Marshal meet face to face before returning to Dodge City.
Episode 22
The Returning
Sat, Feb 18, 196760 mins
Luke Todd's family is hurting due to severe drought. Luke calls his old gang and they decide to rob the freight office in Dodge. When things go wrong, Luke leaves the stolen money for his wife to find. This action only leads to problems.
Episode 23
The Lure
Sat, Feb 25, 196760 mins
Kitty gets caught up in a scheme where lawmen will try to arrest known criminal Dal Neely by using his daughter as bait. But everyone gets more than they bargained for in this story.
Episode 24
Noose of Gold
Sat, Mar 4, 196760 mins
An attorney general uses Matt's friendship with an outlaw for political gain.
Episode 25
The Favor
Sat, Mar 11, 196760 mins
With a man being released from prison that has made threats toward Marshal Dillon, Kitty is torn between a man that saved her life and her duty as a citizen of Dodge City.
Episode 26
Mistaken Identity
Sat, Mar 18, 196760 mins
Mel Gates, a traveler, stops by a creek to get a drink -- and a rattler chomps onto his face. His screams and his gunshots at the escaping snake are heard by Ed Carstairs, coming to the same watering hole from a different direction. But Carstairs is in no charitable mood. He's wanted in another town for killing a sheriff during a poker game, and justice in that town is notoriously corrupt (Matt later asks two sheriff's deputies snidely: "Was the town boss shot in the hip? Well, isn't that where he keeps the sheriff, isn't it ... in his hip pocket?"). So Carstairs tries to finish what the snake started by kicking Gates unconscious and switching identity papers with him. The ruse seems to work, but shortly after Carstairs arrives in Dodge he spots Gates being dragged unconscious on a litter behind Matt's horse -- Matt, making his rounds, also heard the commotion and found Gates still alive. Carstairs sneaks into Doc Adams' office and tries to smother Gates in his sleep, but jerks the pillow back when he hears Matt and Doc coming. Shortly thereafter, Gates wakes up. He's on the road to recovery, but he has completely lost his memory. This gives Carstairs (posing as Gates) a new opportunity. He befriends Gates on the one hand, and the two corrupt sheriff's deputies (who weren't on the scene and don't know Carstairs by sight) on the other. Carstairs tells Gates that he (as Carstairs) is wanted for a shooting he can't even remember, and offers to hide him and help him get out of Dodge, while he tells the deputies when and how "Carstairs" will make a break for it. And that's just to start with.
Episode 27
Ladies from St. Louis
Sat, Mar 25, 196760 mins
When a bank robber saves five nuns, the nuns look to a higher power to convince the man to turn himself in to the authorities.
Episode 28
Nitro! Part 1
Sat, Apr 8, 196760 mins
Two smooth thugs and their trigger-happy partner (the actor is given significantly lower billing than Tom Reese and Eddie Firestone, who play the sharpies) extract nitroglycerin from dynamite by boiling it until the nitro floats "like an oil" on the water's surface and skimming it off. It's fully as dangerous as it sounds, so they have hired men to do it for huge sums of money which they get from burglarizing banks and blowing up their safes. The first one goes up in an gigantic explosion which shatters windows miles away, so they turn to a young ex-cowboy with no prospects except his saloon-girl girlfriend. The young man reluctantly agrees, hoping to make a fresh start by investing in petroleum development (Buck Taylor's dad Dub plays the developer). But when a cougar spooks the thugs' horse and causes horse and buggy to be strewn all over the landscape, the thugs must regroup. They have accidentally knocked over the bank where the Kansas Petoleum Development Company's money was stored, so they have to try and play nice to the young man and get him to mix more nitro.
Episode 29
Nitro! Part 2
Sat, Apr 15, 196760 mins
To get the young man back to extracting nitroglycerin for them, the bank robbers offer him a straight-up deal of $5,000 per batch, with the understanding that they will soon leave the area and he can go in peace. The young man agrees, but soon finds that his nerves are shot. He recruits town drunk Louie Pheeters (James Nusser, who gets "And Featuring" billing) to do the job for him, but then stops it before it starts and tries to make the batch himself. But the trigger-happy thug murders a man, which finally leads Matt to capture the robbers. Meanwhile, unaware of what's going on, the young man is mixing the last batch ...