Hooked on Gunsmoke

[bozo699]

We all have opinions about characters played in tv shows. Mine was that Chester Good was just too dumb to be real. He kind of got under my skin a bit with his inability to see the obvious. Now Festus was "dumb" but he was "dumb like a fox" and funny to boot! That, in my opinion, is what made his character on Gunsmoke..

Totally agree with every word you said!...
Wayne

 

[JJMoody]

Death Valley Days, especially the episode about Death Valley Scottie.

Funny you mention Death Valley Scotty, my grandpa actually owned one of his saddles... most folks look at me like “Who??!!”

 

[Knotwild]

Yes - I'm addicted to those old westerns.

Don't forget The Tall Men with Robert Ryan, Clark Gable, and Jane Russell.

And Monty Walsh - Tom Selleck.

 

[bozo699]

Doc Adams was born in Dodge City Kansas. If you ever get the chance walk the streets in Dodge City and read the manhole size medallions in the concrete sidewalks. Tidbits of actors information.

Thanks Donald!... I’ve watched every episode of gun smoke several times and didn’t know that!.... Doc and Festus were my favorites even more so than Matt himself!.... my favorite Scene ever was when Doc told festus he shouldn’t squander his money and he should invest it in s little lot of land!.. they went back and forth for several minutes and finally Festus told him he was headed to the long branch for a lot of little beers!... I’ve seen that episode probably fifty time and I think I laugh more each time!
Wayne

 

[bozo699]

I can't help myself. I'm a clear-cut case of Dodgeadiction. Matt, Kitty, Chester, Doc -- I can't get enough. I set my DVR on record, and I've got hundreds of hours of sixty year old TV shows to watch. And Holy Smokes! -- what a way to escape!!

I never get tired of watching Dillon swat a hard case along side the noggin with that 7 1/2" Colt, or give another a back-hand that about knocks his head off. If ya want to get away from 24 hour a day Corona coverage, do yourself a favor and go back in time. Those old shows were quality TV, and the message was always the right one.

I'm still back in the early years when an episode was only 30 minutes, and I'm amazed how they packed so much story and action into a half hour. I've liked other old westerns in my life, but Gunsmoke is by far the best.

I'm not a fast and fancy pistolero, but it seems to me like Arness shows pretty good gun handling moves. And damn, how I'd like to know where all those old Colts disappeared to. jd

Thanks JD!..... best thread I’ve read in a long time and I read every comment!... should have read it through before I commented someone posted my favorite scene!... this thread should continue!.... we have read enough seating depth threads
Wayne

 

[JJMoody]

Gunsmoke was one of the top old westerns. Matt Dillon was the man (Ive been told more than once I remind people of him. He really must be handsome!...)The Rifleman, Wanted DOA-good stuff. In my own opinion though, The Virginian was tops. Great characters, acting, storylines and those guys really could “Set a horse”. Bonanza and The Big Valley.... eh...
We also cut the cable bill. MeTV has some great stuff on. Hogan’s Heroes, Carol Burnette, Perry Mason among those already mentioned.

 

[jds holler]

Well now, I'm pleased as punch that I started this thread. I've learned a bunch more about my favorite show.

One thing I'd like to add, is that back in those days us boys certainly had a lot of honest to God "HEROES"!! Television was actually a positive benefit to our morals and personalities. There was no blurring the lines between right and wrong. We could all hope to be even a little bit like Dillon. How many of us learned to handle a bully from heroes like him?

God how I love to turn off the news and put on a couple half hour episodes of that show. jd

 

[Rustytigwire]

Dads lap in that ez chair. Gunsmoke, Ed Sullivan,, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Bridge on the River Kwai.
He donated to medical science. I went to pick up his ashes. The woman ventured, so what now sir? Well he gets the passenger seat today. We are going to the shop together and work. He always took me and my brother with him. My turn to take him with me. We are going to spend the day together like we always have. Ok i gotta quit now, snif...

Cheyenne Autumn. Read the other day that the Navajos took advantage and made some colorful language in the movie that is not complimentary to the other party in the movie.
Wikipedia.
The white man had it coming im sure. Funny stuff.

Dialogue that is supposed to be the "Cheyenne language" is actually Navajo. This made little differences to white audiences, but for Navajo communities, the film became very popular because the Navajo actors openly were using ribald and crude language that had nothing to do with the film.

 

[Bangs OH]

Has anybody mentioned James Arness’s kid brother, Peter Graves? (Both changed their original surname “Aurness” to better fit the stage/screen).
Graves’ best-known roles were those in the Mission:Impossible tv series, and the the Airplane! movies. But I also remember him on the Saturday-morning television show Fury.

 

[jonbearman]

Gunsmoke was the best. Arness was as cool as it got. My family watched it religiously and is probably what planted the seed of my love for firearms. He was a great actor. Many say it was corny but times were way simpler growing up in the 50's and 60's , at least for me. I wasn't on a cell phone because they weren't invented,thank Jesus. We had to use our imagination when we played cowboys and Indians etc. We had a great time playing fun outdoor stuff like tag and hide and seek. I carried a wasp cap gun and a 6 shooter as well, now the cops would shoot us thinking cap guns were real. My favorite character was Festus. He was a hoot. Arness actually taught us right from wrong and respect for the law unlike today these young snowflakes hate the very people who keep us as safe as politically correct. Long gone are the tough old cops who had a heart of gold. Now even they must be politically correct which is wrong. We feared the cops but respected them. All the old shows had a positive message in them and you didn't need a degree to figure that out. I liked James Garner in Maverick. I wish shows were less graphic because in the old days you saw them shoot and hit their mark without the gore. I miss those days. I think many of us do.

 

[jonbearman]

Mission impossible was one of the coolest shows around and I didn't know Peter was his brother till now.

 

[jds holler]

Another thing -- some of the sets, homesteader farms and such were very good, and look pretty damned real. They usually conveyed the "dirt poor" existence of the folks of the time.

They also didn't shy away from plenty of horrible personal and family problems that were as common back then as they are now; violent, abusive husband/father, drunks, cowards, psychos, whores, shysters, -- you name it. Although most of us were well into our teens before we might have deduced just what Kitty's girls did for a living.

The shows like Bonanza and Big Valley were just "less real" than Gun Smoke. jd

 

[Bangs OH]

The Rifleman — especially those episodes directed by Sam Peckinpah — were pretty gritty and realistic, too. His version of the intro, where it showed people actually being cut down, (thankfully) wasn’t broadcast with very many shows, if any.

 

[Pawnee Bill]

During the mid and late 50's, westerns were all the rage on TV. There were more westerns on TV than you could shake a stick at. So many I can't remember them all as most did not last more than 1 season. Most all were just half hour shows and in B&W. Saturday night was best as that was when Bonanza, Have Gun Will Travel and Gunsmoke were on. As I rewatch the Gunsmoke shows now that I'm in my 70's I notice the plots are a little thinner than I remember and from a historical standpoint, Gunsmoke is about as unhistorical as you can get. But it was good entertainment. As for the Chester bashers, you got to remember he was only doing what the script said and Gunsmoke wasn't the same after Chester left. As an OBTW, for you Sirius XM users you can catch the radio version of Gunsmoke & HGWT on channel 148. On the radio version, Matt Dillon was played by William Conrad and Doc was played by the guy who was Floyd the Barber on Andy Griffith.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gunsmoke_cast_members

 

[TAJ45]

What? No Yancey Derringer? I don't think that one or Colt 45 lasted very long.
I didn't know Pahu was Jay Silverheels. The dble bbl and the Arkansas pig sticker hanging down his back - you could always depend on them being used most every episode. I liked the Mare's Leg as well.
+1 on Chester's script. I never cottoned to Festus. Too grungy looking. Just not the way I was raised. BUT, seeing some of the verbal exchanges w Doc now, I can appreciate the dialogue. The " buy a little lot" was unknown to me till this thread. Nearly as good as Who's on First.

 

[D Coots]

Get the shovel Chester, we have to bury them.... Dad always said.

 

[gibrass]

In the very first episode, the first minute shows John Wayne telling us about this new western, and about his good friend, James Arness, as being the only person who could play Matt Dillon. Ran for 21 years and 635 episodes.

 

[Cecil S.]

Not to hijack the thread but Tombstone was the most recent western worth watching.

 

[Knotwild]

For another movie, I really liked Appaloosa with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortenson. Viggo seemed to be attached to his 10 gauge double, complete with long barrels, not sawed off. I saw on one of the gun channels that the prop company took a 12 gauge and put outer sleeves on them to approximate the size they would be if actually 10 gauge. If you haven't seen it, the ending is great, so I won't ruin it.

 

[Ccrider]

This thread is an easy read if you are 70 yrs +

I am not 70+ and I resemble that remark. It’s an easy read for us youngons with sense enough to appreciate good tv too.