Norman MacDonnell Movies
- 1968
Doris Day peers through layers of camera gauze to star in The Ballad of Josie, a second-rate variation of Cat Ballou. For openers, Day is arrested for the billiard-cue bludgeoning of her late husband. Upon her acquittal, she takes up sheep ranching in Wyoming. To prove herself as good as any man, Day organizes the other frontier wives into a woman's suffrage movement. She succeeds in establishing her equality, winning good-guy Peter Graves in the process. Ballad of Josie was produced by Norman MacDonnell, who was on firmer Western ground when he was producer of the radio and TV series Gunsmoke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doris Day, George Kennedy, (more)
- 1963
Entering its ninth season on CBS, Gunsmoke has already made history as the first TV western series to surpass 300 episodes, and one of the few programs of any kind to rate as America's Number One series for four consecutive years. However, since expanding from 30 to 60 minutes two seasons back, and because of heavy competition from NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies, the series has been steadily bleeding viewers, and has dropped to 20th place in the overall ratings. Too, longtime Gunsmoke fans are upset by the defection of one of the series' most popular characters: Although James Arness, Amanda Blake and Milburn Stone are still around and about as, respectively, marshall Matt Dillon, Kitty Russell and Doc Stone, Dennis Weaver has made a firm commitment to forsake his familiar role as Matt's deputy Chester in favor of his own starring series, which will debut in the fall of 1964 under the title Kentucky Jones. In preparation for Weaver's inevitable exit, the series' producers have latched upon two potential "Chester" replacements: Muscular half-breed blacksmith Quint Asper, played by a pre-stardom Burt Reynolds, and skuzzy hillbilly Festus Haggen, played by Ken Curtis. While Reynolds is committed to the role of Quint, Curtis hasn't quite settled down as Festus: In fact, he appears in an entirely different role in the ninth-season episode "Lover Boy." Gradually, however, the actor and Festus fuse as one in the eyes of the viewers, and it is clear that, somewhere down the line, Marshall Dillon will have a deputy who prefers to call him "Matth-yoo" rather than "Muster Dillon." Among the well-known actors appearing in guest roles during Gunsmoke's ninth season are Sheree North, George Kennedy L.Q. Jones, George Lindsey (aka "Goober" on The Andy Griffth Show) and Strother Martin. This season also boasts the series' first two-part episode, Extradition, in which Matt Dillon heads South of the Border to catch an elusive murderer, only to butt heads with an enigmatic Mexican lawman played by Gilbert Roland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, Amanda Blake, (more)
- 1962
The decision to expand Gunsmoke from 30 to 60 minutes during its seventh season may have made sense insofar as offering more in-depth storytelling and providing a larger forum for potential sponsors, but it didn't do much for the series' ratings. After riding high as America's top-rated series for four consecutive years, Gunsmoke dropped to third place during Season Seven, then plummeted to tenth place in Season Eight. In all fairness, however, this may have had less to do with the series' quality than its stiff NBC competition, Saturday Night at the Movies, as well as an overall flagging of audience interest in TV westerns (in 1960, nine westerns were listed among the Top Thirty programs; that number had dropped to five by 1962). That said, the series' eighth season still boasted the top-flight production and story values that had won the hearts and minds of viewers way back when Gunsmoke started in 1955. And if anything, stars James Arness (Matt Dillon), Amanda Blake (Miss Kitty), Milburn Stone (Doc) and Dennis Weaver (Chester) were delivering better and more realistic performances than ever. In fact, Dennis Weaver had decided that he had gotten all out of his Gunsmoke role than he would ever get, and had opted to leave the series, in hopes of landing a starring vehicle of his own. Although Chester was not entirely absent from the eighth season, he was nowhere to be found for the most part, obliging the writers to offer up a brace of potential replacments for the popular supporting character. The episode "Quint Asper Comes Home" introduces a young Burt Reynolds as the title character, a half-breed who has returned to Dodge to bury his murdered white father and to escort his Comanche mother back to her tribe. Although rampant prejudice and bigotry has turned Quint against the white race, he changes his mind by episode's end and set up a blacksmith shop in Dodge. In later episodes, Quint will assist his friend Matt Dillon in tracking down various miscreants, never officially deputized by always on call if he's needed. Burt Reynolds will remain with Gunsmoke on a recurring basis throughout the next three seasons. And in "Us Haggens", Ken Curtis, a popular singing cowboy and John Ford regular, is introduced in the role of Festus Haggen, a scraggly hillbilly who hails from a family of scoundrels, thieves and murderers--but who, adhering to his own peculiar set of values and brand of loyalty, casts his lot with lawman Matt Dillon and agrees to "go straight" in Dodge. It would, however, be several years before Festus would matriculate to full deputy--and full costar--status. At any rate, it wasn't possible during Season Three, due to the frequent reappearances of Dennis Weaver. Of the season's 38 episodes, the most intriguing is "I Call Him Wonder", which was clearly designed as the pilot for a spinoff series headlining guest star Ron Hayes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, Amanda Blake, (more)
- 1961
1961 was a year of transition for Gunsmoke. The radio version of the popular series, which had been running since 1952, was cancelled; the Prime Time TV version, which had adhered to the 30-minute format since its inception in 1955, expanded to a full hour; and Dennis Weaver, cast as Matt Dillon's drawling deputy sheriff Chester Good, had announced his intention to leave the show as soon as he was able to secure a suitable starring series of his own. The series' seventh season began with a newly-filmed version of the familiar Gunsmoke opening sequence, in which Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) outdraws an unidentified opponent on the deserted streets of Dodge City. This would be one of the few "exterior" glimpses of Dodge we'd see this year; to compensate for the extra cost of filming a 60-minute program each week, the series moved indoors for most of its shooting schedule, in a studio-fabricated facsimile of Matt's familiar stomping grounds. Too, the interior of the Long Branch Saloon, owned by Matt's great and good friend Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake), now boasted a brighter, cleaner "look", not to mention a new face behind the bar: Loyal bartender Sam, played by veteran movie heavy Glenn Strange (best known for his portrayal of the Frankenstein monster in several Universal horror epics of the 1940s!) One thing hadn't changed, however: The shabby office of Dodge City's venerable "sawbones" Doc Adams (Milburn Stone), who took full advantage of the new one-hour format to launch longer and more vitriolic verbal attacks against his "friendly enemy" Chester. The extended length of each episode also permitted the producers and writers to more fully flesh out the supporting characters and the various good and bad guys (and girls) who rode through Dodge on a weekly basis. Season Seven established the soon-to-be-familiar Gunsmoke pattern of spending several minutes establishing what seemed to be the main plotline, only to veer off in another direction entirely when unexpected events (usually violent in nature) dictated such a radical development. Too, the hour-long episodes contained far less of Matt Dillon than in previous seasons: Frequently he wouldn't show up until well into the story, and sometimes he'd barely appear at all until the end, when he'd rush in to solve the dilemma at hand with gun and fist. Although it wasn't well publicized at the time, star James Arness (who now owned a hefty percentage of the show) had worked out a contract whereby he'd only be required to work three days a week, explaining Dillon's increasingly conspicuous absences. As in previous season, the 34 episodes featured during Season Seven were an embarrassment of riches insofar as familiar character actors were concerned. Among those appearing this season are George Kennedy, Buddy Ebsen, Leonard Nimoy, Harry Dean Stanton, Lois Nettleton and Edgar Buchanan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, Amanda Blake, (more)
- 1960
Having ridden high in the saddle as America's top-rated TV series for the past three years Gunsmoke managed to retain this lofty status as the series entered its Sixth season on the air--which was also its final season in the half-hour format. Thanks to the series' popularity, a major influx of westerns had been ushered onto the Big Three networks, with four other "oaters" being telecast on the same Saturday night in which Gunsmoke had been safely entrenched since 1955. In addition, no fewer than eight westerns were ranked in the Top 30 ratings during the 1960-61 season--including Rawhide, produced by Gunsmoke expatriate Charles Marquis Warren. Not only did Gunsmoke uphold the no-nonsense austerity that had distinguished its earlier seasons, but the four major actors--James Arness (Matt Dillon), Dennis Weaver (Chester), Amanda Blake (Kitty) and Milburn Stone (Doc) were delivering better and more realistic performances than ever before. Dennis Weaver in particular was benefiting from his Gunsmoke exposure by taking "outside" dramatic roles on such series as The Twilight Zone, and their were rumors circulating that he would soon leave the role of Chester to pursue a starring TV vehicle of his own. Among the prominent character actors appearing in the 38 Gunsmoke entries offered up during Season Six were George Kennedy (in the episodes "The Blacksmith", "Kitty Shot" and "Big Man"), John Dehner ("The Badge"), Denver Pyle ("The Wake), Harry Carey Jr. ("Bad Sheriff") and Strother Martin ("Tall Trapper"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, Amanda Blake, (more)
- 1959
Gunsmoke's fifth season on CBS marked the third consecutive year that the series ranked as America's top-rated television program. In fact, it was good year all around for TV westerns: Four of the "top ten" shows were shoot-em-ups, with seven additional westerns ranking in the overall Top Twenty. Adding to Gunsmoke's appeal was the seeming public accessibility of three of its four stars: Throught 1959 and 1960, Dennis Weaver (Chester), Amanda Blake (Kitty) and Milburn Stone (Doc) toured the state and county fair circuit with their own musical-comedy act, delightfully playing upon their established Gunsmoke personalities as well as astonishing their fans with their overall versatility. The antics of these three seasoned troupers more than compensated for the Garboesque behavior of series star James Arness, who seldom appeared in public on any occasion, and who virtually never gave out interviews. And when he did deign to speak to the press, it was generally to tell the reporters that he hated publicity and that they should mind their own business! Within the confines of Gunsmoke, however, Arness apparently had a lot to say: It was well known throughout the industry that he controlled virtually every aspect of the program, from choice of scripts to casting of supporting actors; and indeed, within a year the series would be officially designated as an "Arness Production." By the time Season Five rolled around, Gunsmoke was relying almost exclusive on original script material, as opposed to the standard practice of earlier seasons, wherein many of the episodes had been adapted from the long-running Gunsmoke radio series. Even so, the show's chief scriptwriter remained John Meston, who'd also been responsible for the bulk of the radio episodes. And while Gunsmoke still disdained the use of "celebrity" guest stars, the supporting casts this season remained topheavy with familiar character actors, among them John Carradine, Karl Swenson, John Anderson, Jack Elam, Elisha Cook Jr. and Allyn Joslyn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, Amanda Blake, (more)
- 1958
Having ended its third season as America's top-rated TV series, Gunsmoke managed to retain that title throughout Season Four, not only because of its own innate excellence but also because of its unusually strong lead-in show on CBS' Saturday-night schedule, Have Gun: Will Travel. Even though the series' "adult western" trappings which had been regarded as daring and innovative back when it first aired in 1955 were now considered commonplace and even cliché-ridden, the show remained a viewer favorite even among non-western fans. Inevitably, however, a bit of friction had developed internally on Gunsmoke. Whereas during the series' first three seasons the leading actors were more than willing to follow the scripts as written, by the fall of 1958 those same actors--James Arness (Matt Dillon), Dennis Weaver (Chester), Milburn Stone (Doc), Amanda Blake)--were now full-fledged stars, and acted accordingly. Without going into further detail, we offer this rueful observation from series coproducer Charles Marquis Warren, as originally published in TV Guide: "It reached the point when I'd arrive on the set in the morning only to have Arness tell me that 'Matt Dillon wouldn't say a thing like that!' Everybody suddenly got to be a self-appointed authority." Small wonder that Warren was no longer associated with the series come Season Four, relinquishing the producing chores to his partners Norman McDonnell and John Meston. Having pretty much exhausted the scripts from the radio version of Gunsmoke (which was still running as of 1958), the series began featuring more and more "originals" during its fourth season, many of them penned by producer John Meston. Among the noteworthy actors making guest appearance this season are Martin Landau, Dan Blocker, Charles Bronson, Ross Martin, Warren Oates, Jack Elam and James Drury. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, Amanda Blake, (more)
After a shaky start opposite NBC's George Gobel Show during its first season, TV's foremost "adult" western Gunsmoke steadily accrued new viewers throughout Season Two, ending the year as America's 8th most popular program. And by the end of Season Three, Gunsmoke was TV's top-rated series--a fact not lost on the other networks, as witness the veritable flood of new westerns series during the next two years. Few if any changes were been made in Gunsmoke's format during its third year on the air. Certainly, nothing was done to dampen the popularity of its stars: Matt Dillon as Dodge City's taciturn marshal Matt Dillon, Dennis Weaver as Matt's bucolic-but-brave deputy Chester Good, Amanda Blake as attractively tarnished saloonkeeper Kitty Russell and Milburn Stone as crotchety Doc Adams. By this time, many of the series' familiar trademarks were not only firmly in place, but were rich sources of satire and parody on the various comedy shows of the period: Kitty's ubiquitous "Be careful, Matt" whenever Dillon went out on a dangerous mission; Chester's pronounced limp and spectacular inability to make a decent cup of coffee; the ongoing battle of wits between Chester and Doc; and of course the famous opening sequence, with Dillon squaring off against an unidentified gunslinger in the middle of Dodge's Main Street. Incredibly, although 78 episodes had already been filmed and 39 more were offered during Season Three, the series was still relying heavily upon scripts adapted from the radio version of Gunsmoke, which ran from 1952 through 1961 (some of these were "visualized" by no less a writer than Sam Peckinpah). And as in the past two seasons, the supporting casts of those 39 episodes were filled to overflowing with familiar names, notably John Dehner, Jeanette Nolan, Robert Vaughn, Pernell Roberts, Jack Lord, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Jack Klugman, Harry Dean Stanton, June Lockhart and Jack Cassidy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, Amanda Blake, (more)
- 1956
Season Two of Gunsmoke introduces the series' now-legendary opening sequence, as Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) shoots it out on the deserted main street of Dodge City with an anonymous opponent (Matt, of course, outdraws the man. He always does). Over the years, this opener would be periodically refilmed, not only to reflect the expansion of Dodge City but also to accommodate the ever-encroaching age lines on Matt Dillon's face. As was the case in Season One, most of the episodes in Gunsmoke's second season are adapted from scripts originally written for the radio version, which ran from 1952 through 1961. Among the best of these is "Custer", in which a villain gets off scot free, only to meet his fate (off-screen) at the Little Big Horn; "The Mistake", wherein the far-from-infallible Matt Dillon arrests the wrong man, and suffers the consequences; "No Indians", a grim, uncompromising tale of a brutal massacre perpetrated by a gang of psychotic outlaws; and "Bloody Hands", in which Matt, worried that he's beginning to enjoy killing people, turns in his badge--much to the (temporary) relief of the ever-fretting Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake). In other words, Gunsmoke was a far cry from the bravura juvenile heroics of The Lone Ranger and The Gene Autry Show! In addition to such Gunsmoke supporting-cast stalwarts as John Dehner, Vic Perrin and Lawrence Dobkin, the second-season episodes include appearances by such noteworthy actors as Angie Dickinson, Cloris Leachman, Tommy Kirk, Andrew Duggan, Simon Oakland, Denver Pyle, Strother Martin, Stuart Whitman, Russell Johnson, Sebastian Cabot and Jack Kelly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, (more)
The original radio version of Gunsmoke was in its third year on the air when the TV version made its CBS network bow on September 10, 1955. Replacing radio's William Conrad as Matt Dillon was tall-in-the-saddle James Arness, whose chief claim to fame at that time was his portrayal of the title role in the 1951 sci-fi thriller The Thing. Arness was a protégé of film superstar John Wayne, who in a good-luck gesture appeared on camera at the beginning of the opening episode, "Matt Gets It"--which like virtually all of the episodes seen during Season One was adapted from one of the original radio scripts. No sooner had this first episode gotten under way that Gunsmoke staked out its claim as TV's first "adult" western with a startling sequence in which hero Matt Dillon was shot down and nearly killed by the heavy of the piece! During its earliest episodes, the series boasts a different opening sequence than the familiar one in which Matt Dillon and an unknown assailant square off for a showdown in Dodge City's deserted Main Street. These initial episodes find Matt philosophically wandering around the town's cemetery "Boot Hill", as he introduces the story at hand via offscreen narration. Also, Milburn Stone's Doc Adams is younger and less cantankerous than he'd been in later years, while Amanda Blake's Miss Kitty is flashier and more flirtatious with Matt Dillon (Their relationship would always remain ambiguous, though it was clear from the "body language" of the two characters in the first season that they might have had something going on in the off-hours). Only deputy Chester, played by Dennis Weaver, is fully formed from the outset, though Chester's famous limp is a bit inconsistent--and, in at least one episode, he doesn't limp at all! Evidently in hopes of luring viewers away from NBC's high-rated The George Gobel Show, the producers of Gunsmoke stuffed the series' first season with no fewer than 39 first-run episodes,which were spread out over a nine-month period with but a handful of reruns. Appearing in several of these episodes are a number of actors who'd worked on the radio Gunsmoke, including John Dehner, Harry Bartell, Vic Perrin, Jeanne Bates and Lawrence Dobkin; and in the episode "The Pest Hole", Howard McNear, "Doc Adams" in the radio version, is seen as hotel keeper Mr. Bradley. Also seen on Gunsmoke's maiden season are such stars in the making as Charles Bronson, Claude Akins, William Hopper, Sebastian Cabot and DeForest Kelley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, Milburn Stone, (more)
