Gunsmoke: Fourth Season, Volume One Reviews

The fourth season of Gunsmoke continued the show’s four successive seasons at the top of the Nielsen rating charts, and watching the shows again for the first time in decades, I can understand its appeal. The half hour dramas each week are lean and briskly paced affairs with appealing regular characters featuring a constant stream of problems that Marshall Dillon and company must grapple with each week. This three disc set covering the first half of the fourth season offers ample proof for its at-the-time total mainstream appeal where the characters were becoming iconic touchstones in everyone’s lexicon.

Gunsmoke is indeed an adult western. It is much more concerned with moral lessons that could be learned in the space of a half hour than it is in presenting non-stop action and firepower. Yes, there are gunfights fairly often, and there are plenty of confrontations with folks either wicked or merely misled. But despite a few action-oriented episodes, most of these stories are more humanistic in nature, allowing wrongdoers to either be punished for their crimes or, if they somehow manage to outwit the law, find themselves worse off for their moral turpitude. Quite a few of the guilty parties attempt to face-off with Matt Dillon (James Arness), but the outcome is never a pretty one.

James Arness continues making a great impression as Marshall Matt Dillon in the fourth season. So strong was his impact, in fact, that he earned his third Emmy nomination as Best Actor for his work in season four. In a slow change from previous seasons, only about a quarter of the box’s nineteen episodes allow him to introduce the show waxing philosophically while wandering through Dodge City’s infamous Boot Hill cemetery. Dennis Weaver, who won the year’s Emmy for his outstanding supporting work this season, is around to steal all his scenes as the sweet-natured, drawling deputy Chester Goode while Milburn Stone continues as the irascible Doc Adams, and Amanda Blake serves up whisky and an attentive ear as Miss Kitty Russell of the Long Branch Saloon earning her first Emmy nomination in the process.

Gunsmoke didn’t go the guest star route in casting its series episodes, but quite a few famous faces turn up during the first half of the fourth season. Among the most familiar faces are Elisha Cook, Jr., Bruce Gordon, Martin Landau, Peter Breck, Dabbs Greer (four appearances in two different roles), J. Pat O’Malley, Clifton James, Dan Blocker, Ron Randell, Charles Bronson, Ross Martin, Florida Friebus, Nina Talbot, George Macready, Philip Abbott, Andy Clyde, Warren Oates, William Schallert, Hope Summers, and Carl Benton Reid.

Here are the nineteen episodes which make up the contents of the first half of season four:

1 – Matt for Murder

2 – The Patsy

3 – Gunsmuggler

4 – Monopoly

5 – Letter of the Law

6 – Thoroughbreds

7 – Stage Holdup

8 – Lost Rifle

9 – Land Deal

10 – Lynching Man

11 – How to Kill a Friend

12 – Grass

13 – The Cast

14 – Robber Bridegroom

15 – Snakebite

16 – Gypsum Hills Feud

17 – Young Love

18 – Marshall Proudfoot

19 – Passive Resistance

Video Quality

The original television broadcast ratio of 1.33:1 is delivered in these mostly very impressive video transfers. Grayscale rendering is better than expected for films this old, and details in skin features and fabrics is impressive. Contrast has been very accurately dialed in to make a very sharp, clear image. There are a few dust specks here and there, and the grain structure of the film stocks varies from episode to episode, but these are not real problems. Black levels are impressively deep with excellent shadow detail. Each episode has been divided into 6 chapters.

Audio Quality

The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track is decoded by Dolby Prologic and placed properly in the center channel. Typical sound recording for its era, there isn’t much low end fidelity, and the high end is sometimes thin and shrill. There is occasional light hiss in the quieter moments, but this is not present in every episode. Otherwise, dialogue is clear, and the music and sound effects which are part of the track never overpower the speaking voices.

Special Features

The episode “How to Cure a Friend” from season two left off of that particular set is presented here. It runs 26 ¼ minutes and features Andrew Duggen as Matt’s friend now a big-time gambler and gunslinger and Simon Oakland as his mark.

There are ten sponsor spots taken from season four broadcasts featuring James Arness, Amanda Blake, and Milburn Stone in spots for Remington shavers and L & M cigarettes. Together they run a total of 4 ¼ minutes.

There are trailers for such CBS/Paramount classic releases as Mannix, Barnaby Jones, Cannon, and The Streets of San Francisco.

In Conclusion

Another entertaining half season of Gunsmoke makes its way to DVD, most welcome for fans of the show who will likely be delighted that the missing episode from season two has now been restored. Recommended!

Matt Hough

Charlotte, NC