Around Dodge City and in the territory on west, there is just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers, and that's with the U.S. Marshal and the smell of gun smoke.
Gun Move Forward starring William Conrad. The story of the violence that moved west with young America and the story of a man who moved with it.
I'm that man, Matt Dillon, United States Marshal, the first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It's a chance a job, and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
Oh, don't you got a pretty smart eye today, Mr. Don.
Oh, what do you mean, Chester?
Well, fixing up the back of his wagon that way, where that's where a piano is, that thing that drops down and makes a platform stand on and feel at the cross, that took some thinking to do, to think of that.
Well, we better go on, thinking to figure out some new place to set it up.
He's about to start his selling talk.
Yeah, I will wait until he finishes.
You like that music, did you? There will be more of that later, folks, but right now I'm going to let you in on the chance of a lifetime.
I'm going to let you in on the chance of a lifetime.
I want all of you to look close at this bottle I'm holding in my hand because this bottle is going to change your whole blamed life. For every single one of you, you're asking me why, and I'm going to tell you why.
I didn't hear nobody asking me.
Every one of these bottles is filled right up to the court with old Dr. Walker's muscle, bone, blood, and nerve tonic. And if there's a man, a woman, or a child here that ain't ever heard of old Dr. Walker's muscle, bone, blood, and nerve tonic, let him speak right up now and display his.
You heard of it, Chester?
Oh, I was. I am. Tonight, you good people of Dodge City, opportunity is yours because it is my privilege to introduce for the first time on the frontier this famous elixir, this bottle-dram of radiant health, this magic blend of 27, mind you, 27 powerful drugs and herbs,
many of them taken from the magic medical secrets of ancient Greece and Egypt.
He sure does get a lot out of it, don't he?
Listen now, tonight only to the first 20 of you who step up here, I will give the unheard of opportunity of buying a new life for the unbelievable and insignificant sum of only one dollar, one silver dollar.
Now, who'll be first?
You gonna tell him now, John?
No, when he finishes with his customers here.
Well, John?
Yeah.
Good-bye, annoying little people.
Howdy there. Just a minute, sir. I have to get you a bottle out of the wanker.
No, I am not a customer. My name's Dylan, Matt Dylan. I am a U.S. Marshal here in Dodge.
Oh, I see.
Well, it's the law, Meg.
Oh.
My name is Hart Finney, Marshal. Meg, this is Marshal Dylan. This is my wife.
Pleased to meet you, ma'am.
What do you want with us?
Now, Meg, ma'am, Marshal, I know how some of these stomach's people sell are, but this one of mine is different. I swear to God.
Well, that's not quite what I mean.
I had bad health, Marshal. That's why we had to leave Virginia and take up this kind of work.
Live out in the open, the doctor said, and I'll tell you, I've been taking this tonic myself regularly.
And it helps, too. I feel a dang sight better than I ever did.
Well, I'm glad to hear that, sir.
And the price ain't out of line either. It cost me 60 cents a bottle of cash, made down in Kansas City. And if that's our...
Well, wait just a minute, mister. I am not here because of this medicine you sell on this...
Well, it's the spot that you have picked to sell it on.
This place?
What's the matter with it? It's common-held land, ain't it?
No, it belongs to a man named Grant Medford, a saloon keeper here in Dodge.
But I asked a couple of people, and they said it was public. There's even a welcome of everybody you want.
Well, I know. People have gotten caught in the habit of thinking of it as public property, but it isn't.
Grant Medford took it up under the Homestead Act quite a few years back. He just hasn't gotten around to proving it up yet.
Oh. But now he's aiming to let it all of a sudden, right this week.
Well, I wouldn't know. He's still got a right to keep trespassers off, though.
So he's filed a legal complaint, Mr. Finney.
Oh, it ain't like I was hurting the property, non-marshal. And I'm only going to be here less than a week just because my stock is gone.
I've got no choice, Mr. Finney. I've got to serve this notice on you.
That's the only vacant ground around that's close to the saloons and heating places where a lot of people come by.
I'm sorry.
You're telling us to get to that, are you?
I'm afraid so, Mr. Finney. I can give you the whole morning, and that's all.
Marshal, I'm a reasonable man when I'm treated reasonable.
It ain't you, I mean. You've got your duty to do. But this fellow Medford, well, he sounds mighty selfish.
And I don't like a selfish man.
No, Marshal.
I'm not hurting the thing. I'm staying.
I'm sorry, Mr. Finney, but the law says you can't.
And what do you say?
I don't like the law, man.
Let me have a refill of that rye whiskey there, Kitty.
This one?
Yeah. Why don't you just set it here on the bar?
Sure, why not?
Go ahead, pour it yourself, Mr. Finney.
I've got to see what my competitors are serving, don't I?
Here, then, Kitty.
How are you, man?
Well, you're eating it myself. Have a drink?
Not right now, thanks, Medford.
Did you get rid of them trespassers for me?
They'll be leaving in the morning.
In the morning? Why didn't you boot them out tonight?
I won't hurt anything to let them stay the morning.
Of course, I might be persuaded to let that woman here stay around as long as she wants.
She's a mighty good-looker.
Look, Medford, this man Finney seems to be pretty decent and honest.
He's heading out for Kansas City as soon as he gets rid of his stock.
It wouldn't hurt you any to let him stay out the week, would it?
Well, now, I reckon you did see that woman all right.
Sweet talk you did, shit.
That's enough, Medford.
Marshal, I signed the trespassing complaint, ain't that right?
Yeah, you did.
Well, then, why don't you just go serve it?
You're always talking so all fired wholly about upholding the law.
It's been served, Medford.
I'm just trying to give you a chance to do something for somebody for once in your life.
You get them too out of there, Marshal.
If you ain't man enough, then me and my boys will come around and do it for you.
You and your boys, fuck your noses under my bills, and I'll knock your heads together at that court.
Hey, nothing more to say to you.
Wait a minute, Mr. Medford.
You owe me a dollar for those drinks.
A dollar?
Well, in my place, you can get four drinks for a dollar.
Sure, but we buy our liquor.
We don't make it in the back room.
No.
Well, now, man, what seems to be the trouble here?
You ought to know, Doc.
You and Chester have been standing there hanging on every word,
flapping your ears like a pair of jackasses.
Oh, now, don't you go taking it out on us just because you're riled up at Grant Medford.
That man's got me riled up too, Doc.
Well, by all rights, I ought to be trying to run this finny out of town myself.
You know, he's going to hurt my practice if that stuff makes everybody as healthy as he claims it will.
I notice you bought a bottle from him yourself, Doc.
I did?
Oh, yes, of course.
Yes, yes, well, I was...
Like I was here in the chester, I wanted to find out what was in it, you understand.
See if it was harmful or not, that's all.
Just me, it ain't nothing harmful, but I bought myself two pint of it.
Oh, yes, you would drink anything as long as you put it up in a bottle.
Well, just the same, Doc, you've got a mighty pleasant taste to it.
It's auto, it's 20% alcohol.
See, man, Grant Medford's a cheap, crooked skipper, and everybody in town knows it.
Now, then, why don't you just tear up that ward and forget about it?
I can't do that, Doc.
The Finneys will have to pull out first thing in the morning.
I don't know where he is, and I ain't lying to you, Marshal.
I didn't say you were, Miss Finney.
I tell you if I know, but I just don't know, at least not exactly.
I must have told you something before he left, didn't he?
Well, sure he did. Just like I said, you have to wait here until he gets back.
He knew the two of you were going to be off this property the first thing this morning.
Oh, he noted, all right. He'll be here any minute now, Marshal.
Miss Finney, how do you know he'll be here if you don't know where he went?
I didn't say that. I said I didn't know where he was right this minute.
Then tell me where he went.
I can't tell you, Marshal. Hart said not to.
He said he'd explain you all about it himself.
And everything Hart says he'll do, I do.
Look, ma'am, I know loyalty's a fine thing, but I served an eviction notice on you two last night,
and you've got to apply for it. Your feelings are bound by an anchor, don't you?
It's all right, Marshal, it's all right.
She was only doing what she was supposed to.
Oh, I see. What does that judge of yours, what's his name?
Judge Ben.
Yeah, that's your man. He's a mighty fine man, open-minded and fair.
And knows the law, too.
Why, he gave me a paper, here, Marshal, and I can maybe you ought to take a look at it.
Uh-huh.
I can't think of something like this ought to hold up, provided, of course,
for a man to enforce the law of the same route of town as you do for dog city-states.
A man's right, it's right, Mr. Peniel, no matter where he comes from.
Then you will back up and see a piece of paper?
I'll have to take some time.
A man member's a hard man, and he doesn't have any tough boys working for him.
Marshal, maybe the law here can't be bought out, but could it maybe get scared out?
Why don't you just wait, Mr. Peniel, and you'll see.
All right, folks, quiet down now. I want your undivided attention, if you please.
Now, in just a few short minutes, I am going to open the doors of opportunity to one and all of you, once again.
And while you're waiting, my good wife, Meg, will put a new role in the piano.
All right, Meg, give the good folks a little tea.
Hello, Meg.
Chester.
Hi, Doc.
You brought yourself a little extra help. Grant Mentor will have eight or ten men with him.
I told him the same thing.
You are almost right, Doc. He's got nine men left.
Yeah? How many times, sir?
Oh, oh, oh, it's my guy. There they come.
Marshal.
He's coming down the street there.
I figured I'd better strap my gun on and come down here and help you.
You can unstrap it, Mr. Finney, and get back over to that wagon and run your show.
I ain't never asked another man to fight my battles yet.
In this case, it's the law fighting them.
Go on, now. You've got to know this with a gun in your belt.
I'm asking for a shoot-in, so you stay out of it.
All right, Marshal.
Come on, Chester. We'll walk out to the street and meet him.
Chester, I...
You stay out of it, too, Doc.
I will in a pig's eye.
Oh, Meg, you look mighty upset, Mr. Gillen.
Well, I imagine he is. He's got all day to get that way.
What's the meaning of this, Marshal?
All right, that's far enough, you men.
How come you didn't enforce that warrant, Marshal?
How come you didn't kick these trespassers off my property?
I'm afraid it'd be against the law, Medford.
Against the law?
It turns out it's not your property after all.
What are you talking about?
The fact that Hart, Finney, and Judge Bitt put their heads together this morning
and came up with a writ of injunction.
Here, you can take a look at it if you want.
Saves this ground's public domain.
What kind of a nag when you're trying to pull off?
I took up this land eight years ago.
That's right, Medford.
But you didn't build on it and you didn't prove it up.
And according to Judge Bitt, unimproved land that's left open to public use
without protests for five years or more reverts to public domain.
Judge Bitt's out of his mind.
That well over there has been used by everybody in town for the last six years.
And Judge Bitt figures that's plenty of public use to wipe out your claim to the title.
You hear that, boy?
Scheister Carnival Barker turns out to be a squatter.
A lowdown land grabber.
Now, wait a minute, Medford.
Finney hasn't grabbed anything.
Now he's got the law stringing along with him.
What? Maybe.
Perhaps he got that dirty-faced knife with him to sweet-talk the marksman.
Oh, I warned you about that once, Medford.
All right, come on, get up. You're not hurt that bad.
Sure, Marshal.
I talked big, too.
I was a gunslinger.
Talking to a businessman I knew couldn't begin to outdraw me.
Uh-uh.
You got some kind of suggestion you want to make?
Sure.
Sure, you take off that gun.
I'll break you in two.
Scheister.
Yes, sir?
First one I met for a man that makes a move blow a hole in that shotgun.
Yes, sir, Mr. Dill.
Here, Doug.
Put all my gun belt with him.
Sure, man.
All right, Mr. Medford.
Start breaking.
I'm ready.
I've been waiting for a chance like this.
Watch out for these spurs, man.
I'll handle you, Medford. I'm all for you.
I'm going to need an honest draw, man.
I really want to get fired.
Have you had enough of Medford?
I'll kill you.
Can I help you?
All right.
You might have a work for him.
Any of you want to take up what Ray left off?
I'll pack him down the street and suck him in that horse trough.
He can't lie here all night.
Go on.
We're both mighty grateful to you, Martin.
Forget it, Mr. Dill.
It would have happened sooner or later even if you hadn't been here.
I'd have come for a long time.
He certainly has, Matt, and you gave it to him good.
You know, Mr. Finner, you better grab on to this crowd and sell them some tonic before they start drifting away.
My golly, you're right.
Thanks again, Michael.
All right, folks.
That's a ring to the post.
It is a big change. You've all been amazing.
Move up, please.
Move up just a little closer.
Looks like Dodge has got itself a new municipal park, doesn't it?
Yeah.
Looks like we're going to be still a while around here for an hour.
We sure are, Chester.
Oh, excuse me, boys.
I've got to get me some more of that stuff.
You're still testing it, Doc?
Well, of course.
What else would I be doing?
Hey, tell me something, would you?
Tell you what?
You sure that stuff's only 20 percent alcohol?
Thank you, George.
You know, it was just five years ago this month that Matt Dillon, Chester, Kitty, and Doc
first walked along the plaza in Dodge City, Kansas.
And there's one very good reason why you still find them living there
in that wild camp at the edge of the High Plains.
CBS Radio's listeners seem to want it that way.
It's our feeling that perhaps no period in American history has given birth to
so many giants, legendary or historical, as those fabulous frontier years.
We like to think that gun smoke has had a part in portraying it.
We've tried for as much truth as good drama will allow and as research will furnish.
We like to think also that radio brings you the full flavor of this Old West.
Matt Dillon's little asides to Chester Proudfoot can conjure up vivid pictures of,
oh, the Kansas plains, the sod huts, the great herds of Texas cattle,
the heat, the mud, the buffalo skinners, and the lonely ranging bands of Indians,
all of which have long since vanished from the American scene.
So on this, our fifth anniversary, may we sincerely thank you for your interest,
which, after all, made the whole thing possible.
Gun Smoke, produced and directed by Norman McDonald,
stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The story was specially written for Gun Smoke by Les Crutchfield
with editorial supervision by John Meston.
The Gun Smoke theme was composed by Rex Corey.
Sound patterns by Tom Henley and Bill James.
Featured in the cast were John Danaer, Vic Perrin, and Virginia Gregg.
Harley Bear is Chester, Howard McNair is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
William Conrad, co-starring with Academy Award winner Anthony Quinn,
may soon be seen in his own production of The Ride Back for the Associates and Aldrich,
a United Artists release.
Join us again next week for another story on Gun Smoke.
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