# Gunsmoke season 17

Gunsmoke is an American Western television series developed by Charles Marquis Warren and based on the radio program of the same name. The series ran for 20 seasons, making it the longest-running Western in television history.
The first episode of season 17 aired in the United States on September 13, 1971, and the final episode aired on March 13, 1972. All episodes were broadcast in the U.S. by CBS.
Season 17 of Gunsmoke was the sixth season of color episodes. Previous seasons were filmed in black-and-white.

## Synopsis

Gunsmoke is set in and around Dodge City, Kansas, in the post-Civil War era and centers on United States Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) as he enforces law and order in the city. In its original format, the series also focuses on Dillon's friendship with deputy Festus Haggen (Ken Curtis); Doctor Galen "Doc" Adams (Milburn Stone), the town's physician; Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake), saloon girl and later owner of the Long Branch Saloon; and deputy Newly O'Brien (Buck Taylor).

## Cast and characters
### Main

* James Arness as Matt Dillon
* Ken Curtis as Festus
* Milburn Stone as Doc
* Amanda Blake as Kitty
* Buck Taylor as Newly

## Production

Season 17 consisted of 24 one-hour color episodes produced by executive producer John Mantley along with producer Leonard Katzman an associate producer Ron Honthaner.
Episode 1, "The Lost", was the last episode directed by Robert Totten.
Episode 19, "One for the Road", was the third of three episodes that led to the spin-off series, Dirty Sally.

### Casting

Pat Hingle was cast as the town doctor to replace Milburn Stone's character, Doc Adams. He appeared in six episodes, beginning with episode 5, "New Doctor in Town". Stone returned to the role of Doc Adams in episode 12, "The Bullet".

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 540 | 1 | "The Lost" | Robert Totten | Story by : Warren Vanders Screenplay by : Jack Miller | September 13, 1971 (1971-09-13) |
| Kitty befriends a Wild Child (Laurie Prange) when she gets lost after a stagecoach accident, and together they try to survive until they can reach civilization. ||||||
| 541 | 2 | "Phoenix" | Paul Stanley | Anthony Lawrence | September 20, 1971 (1971-09-20) |
| Bank robber Phoenix (Glenn Corbett), set to be released from Leavenworth after serving his time, must decide whether or not he will kill ex-lawman Jess Hume (Gene Evans) for the $2,000 in gold double eagles that his cell-mate John Sontag (Ramon Bieri) offers, and Hume's beautiful young wife Kate (Mariette Hartley) only adds more incentive. ||||||
| 542 | 3 | "Waste (Part 1)" | Vincent McEveety | Jim Byrnes | September 27, 1971 (1971-09-27) |
| Matt's search for outlaw Ben Rodman (Jeremy Slate) is interrupted by a search for the boy Willie Hubbard's (Johnnie Whitaker) mother Sarah, which leads them to a group of saloon girls crossing the badlands in Maggie Blaisedell's (Ruth Roman) wagon. ||||||
| 543 | 4 | "Waste (Part 2)" | Vincent McEveety | Jim Byrnes | October 4, 1971 (1971-10-04) |
| Matt, the boy, Jed and the saloon girls get trapped in a deserted fort without any water, to play a waiting game with Ben Rodman's outlaws who will stop at nothing to get the gold Maggie is smuggling out to the prospectors who mined it. ||||||
| 544 | 5 | "New Doctor in Town" | Philip Leacock | Jack Miller | October 11, 1971 (1971-10-11) |
| Dr. John Chapman (Pat Hingle) finds it hard to be accepted as he tries to fill in for Doc Adams, who felt the need to return to medical school after losing a patient. ||||||
| 545 | 6 | "The Legend" | Philip Leacock | Calvin Clements, Jr. | October 18, 1971 (1971-10-18) |
| A young man, Travis Colter (Jan-Michael Vincent) starts to consider heading down the same path as his outlaw brothers, while his mother Beatrice Colter (Kim Hunter) tries to dissuade him. ||||||
| 546 | 7 | "Trafton" | Bernard McEveety | Ron Bishop | October 25, 1971 (1971-10-25) |
| After shooting a priest who forgave him before dying, hardened outlaw Trafton (Victor French) finds compassion for his victims, which leads to his downfall. ||||||
| 547 | 8 | "Lynott" | Gunnar Hellström | Ron Bishop | November 1, 1971 (1971-11-01) |
| Former lawman Tom Lynott (Richard Kiley) fills in for Matt after he is badly wounded, but Lynott's easygoing approach to the law puts Dodge City at the mercy of Talley (Anthony Caruso) and his cohorts. ||||||
| 548 | 9 | "Lijah" | Irving J. Moore | William Blinn | November 8, 1971 (1971-11-08) |
| Mountain man Lijah (Denny Miller) is accused of massacring farmers. ||||||
| 549 | 10 | "My Brother's Keeper" | Paul Stanley | Arthur Dales | November 15, 1971 (1971-11-15) |
| Festus tries to keep an old Sioux Indian (John Dierkes) alive, even though he wishes to die in peace. ||||||
| 550 | 11 | "Drago" | Paul Stanley | Jim Byrnes | November 22, 1971 (1971-11-22) |
| Outlaw Hannon (Ben Johnson) murders Clara (Tani Phelps Guthrie) to steal her horse and severely injures her son Ruben (Mitchell Silberman), while their guest, a mountain-man/scout named Drago (Buddy Ebsen), is fishing. Matt deputizes Drago to join a posse under Newly, but Drago is out for vigilante vengeance and sets out ahead of the posse to hunt down and kill Hannon. ||||||
| 551 | 12 | "The Bullet (Part 1)" | Bernard McEveety | Jim Byrnes | November 29, 1971 (1971-11-29) |
| Doc Adams returns to dodge just as Matt is backshot by skinner Amos Potter (Norman Alden), but he is unable or unwilling to try to remove the bullet himself, as it is dangerously close to Matt's spine. Doc, Kitty, Festus and Newly load Matt onto a train bound for Denver where there is a surgeon that Doc trusts to remove the bullet. However, Jack Sinclair (Eric Braeden) and his gang complicate matters by stopping the train to rob an army gold shipment. ||||||
| 552 | 13 | "The Bullet (Part 2)" | Bernard McEveety | Jim Byrnes | December 6, 1971 (1971-12-06) |
| Sinclair's gang delay Doc's and Matt's journey to Denver while they offload the army gold from the train to a wagon. Beth Tilton (Katherine Justice) plots to free herself from Pinkerton detective Caldwell's (Walter Sande) custody. ||||||
| 553 | 14 | "The Bullet (Part 3)" | Bernard McEveety | Jim Byrnes | December 13, 1971 (1971-12-13) |
| Festus and Newly try to delay Sinclair from leaving with the gold to give the Conductor (Warren Kemmerling) time to get the train moving towards Denver again. While Matt is unconscious, Kitty reveals her feelings towards Matt, summing up with "...after 17 years...it's the longest non-permanent relationship in history." Meanwhile, Father Sanchez (Alejandro Rey) encourages Doc to perform an emergency surgery on Matt to save the marshal's life ||||||
| 554 | 15 | "P.S. Murry Christmas" | Herb Wallerstein | William Kelley | December 27, 1971 (1971-12-27) |
| Drifter Titus Spangler (Jack Elam) and seven orphans find a way to melt the cold heart of the orphanage headmistress Emma Grundy (Jeanette Nolan) at Christmastime. ||||||
| 555 | 16 | "No Tomorrow" | Irving J. Moore | Richard Fielder | January 3, 1972 (1972-01-03) |
| Homesteader Ben Justin (Sam Groom) is falsely accused and convicted of stealing horses, and then further accused of murder after breaking out of jail to be with his wife Elizabeth (Pamela McMyler) and newborn son. ||||||
| 556 | 17 | "Hidalgo" | Paul Stanley | Colley Cibber | January 10, 1972 (1972-01-10) |
| Outlaws led by Mando (Alfonso Arau) shoot Matt and leave him to die in the desert of Chihuahua where he is found by a Mexican boy, Lucho (Fabian Gregory), the son of Agustin Hildago (Thomas Gomez), who helps Matt recover. Hildago's help puts his family, including his daughter Lucero (Linda Marsh), in danger of retaliation from Mando. ||||||
| 557 | 18 | "Tara" | Bernard McEveety | William Kelley | January 17, 1972 (1972-01-17) |
| The charming widow Tara Hutson (Michele Carey) plays Newly against gunman Gecko Ridley (L. Q. Jones) who is after $5,000 her husband stole before going to prison. ||||||
| 558 | 19 | "One for the Road" | Bernard McEveety | Jack Miller | January 24, 1972 (1972-01-24) |
| A drunk, Lucius Prince (Jack Albertson), escapes from his reproving daughter, Miss Elsie (Melissa Murphy), who wants to put her father in an institution. However, her fiancé Tom Rickaby (Victor Holchak) wants a quick and final solution. Sally Fergus (Jeanette Nolan) helps Lucius face up to the problem. ||||||
| 559 | 20 | "The Predators" | Bernard McEveety | Calvin Clements, Sr. | January 31, 1972 (1972-01-31) |
| A "mad" dog is killing cattle and sheep, while vengeful gunman Howard Kane (Claude Akins) sets out to kill Cole Matson (George Murdock), the man who shot him in the back four years ago. Abelia (Jacqueline Scott) tries to dissuade Kane, while her children Jonathan (Brian Morrison) and Marieanne (Jodie Foster) try to tame the dog. ||||||
| 560 | 21 | "Yankton" | Vincent McEveety | Jim Byrnes | February 7, 1972 (1972-02-07) |
| Saddle tramp Yankton (James Stacy) uses rancher Will Donavan's (Forrest Tucker) money to court his daughter, Emma (Pamela Payton-Wright), but her mother Henrietta (Nancy Olson) wants to take her to Europe instead. ||||||
| 561 | 22 | "Blind Man's Buff" | Herb Wallerstein | Ron Honthaner | February 21, 1972 (1972-02-21) |
| Two bushwhackers, Charlie Clavin (George Lindsey) and Hank McCall (Charles Kuenstle), shoot and rob a man, causing him to lose his memory. The lonely widow Phoebe Preston (Anne Jackson) finds and takes care of the wounded amnesiac, calling him Jed Frazer (Victor French), her newlywed husband. ||||||
| 562 | 23 | "Alias Festus Haggin" | Vincent McEveety | Calvin Clements, Sr. | March 6, 1972 (1972-03-06) |
| A case of mistaken identity ensues when Festus is identified by a special agent for the governor, Doyle (Ramon Bieri), and by Rand (Booth Colman), as being Frank Eaton who is wanted for three murders, among other charges. ||||||
| 563 | 24 | "The Wedding" | Bernard McEveety | Harry Kronman | March 13, 1972 (1972-03-13) |
| Donna Clayton (Melissa Newman) and Cory Soames (Sam Elliott) are determined to get married despite the objections of her father, Walt Clayton (Morgan Woodward). ||||||

## Release
### Broadcast

Due to the institution of the Prime Time Access Rule earlier in 1971, Gunsmoke moved back one half hour to 8:00-9:00 pm (EST) Mondays on CBS.

### Home media

The seventeenth season was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment on December 10, 2019.

## Reception

Gunsmoke season 17 reached #4 in the Nielsen ratings.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Barbaras 1990, p. 74–75.
* ↑ Brooks & Marsh 2007, p. 570–571.
* ↑ McNeil 1996, p. 351–352.
* 1 2 Brooks & Marsh 2007, p. 570.
* ↑ Barbaras 1990, p. 116–118.
* ↑ Barbaras 1990, p. 87–102.
* ↑ Barbaras 1990, p. 147–148.
* ↑ Costello 2006, p. pp=484–496.
* ↑ "1971-1972 TV Ratings". classictvguide.com.