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 ”Get out of Dodge.”

     Gunsmoke, in it’s early years, was black-and-white in more ways than one.  Of course, it was filmed in black-and-white.  Season Three Volume Two, coming out May 26th from Paramount Home Entertainment, was filmed in 1958, after all.  But more than that, the black-and-white morality of the show is what I enjoy most.  Marshall Matt Dillon (James Arness) never ever questions his own judgement.  He never makes a wrong decision.  No matter how dangerous or fast on the draw the men are who go up against him, he is still more dangerous and faster.  This is a show that deals, almost all the time, in absolutes.

     Sometimes I find this comforting, sometimes I find it hilarious, and every now and then I find it disturbing.  For example, in one episode on this set, an innocent farmer is lynched by his neighbours, who believe him to be a horse thief.  It turns out that there is no horse thief, but that their horses just escaped and this man was bringing them back to their rightful owners.  After the lynching, the men responsible show up at the poor guy’s house to inform his family.  Like, geez.  We’re real sorry and all, but we just hung yer ol’ man from a tree der, and he be swinging in the wind right now.  Tough break, kid.  In this particular episode, the Marshal is simply trying to prevent the young boy from taking revenge.  In other episodes, he would have gone after the lynch mob.  Depends on the week.

     The freakiest episode is probably the one where a kid’s mom busts him out of prison, then the kid kills his own father, then the mom tries to take the rap for it, then the kid won’t leave, and his mom kills him, and then….well.  Western justice and all that.  That’s Gunsmoke for ya.  Some of the notable guest stars on this DVD set include Strother Martin and Harry Dean Stanton.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 25th, 2009 at 3:02 am and is filed under 1958, Classic, TV series, Western. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.