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 Smoke, presented by Army in Europe Magazine, a monthly feature magazine for the use of a soldier and civilian.
Gun Smoke, 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, the United States Marshal, the first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It's a chancy job, and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
Hello, boys. Can I bring you anything?
Oh, thanks. We're fine.
Oh, all right. You can stay out if you want me. I'll be over there with Doc.
Thank you.
Hiya, Doc.
Well now, Kitty, it appears I'm not an invisible man after all.
I wasn't ignoring you, Doc. I was just too busy to say hello.
Then it's not my advanced age and state of decrepitude.
Well, you'll never get old, Doc. You're too orange-y.
At least I hope I don't get so old a pretty girl won't say that to me, whether she means it or not.
Oh, I do mean it, provided I'm one of the three ones you're talking about.
One of them, Kitty. You are the most beautiful.
Well, come on, Kitty. You and me are going to have a drink.
Now look, Sonny, I thought it twice in the last hour, and now leave me alone.
Don't you call me Sonny.
Now just a minute, young fella.
You keep your pants on that chair, old timer, and you keep your mouth shut.
Oh, Tyler, why you...
Now take it easy, Doc. Look, beat it, kids, before you get into trouble.
I said we're going to have a drink and where I take those. Now come on.
Let go of me.
What's the matter, Kitty? You having a little trouble here?
Matt, will you tell him to leave me alone?
The lady says keep your hands off, kid.
Now don't you start calling me kid.
Now what's your name?
Bravo. Just Bravo, that's all.
You're new in Dodge, aren't you?
Any law against it?
Not unless you keep acting the way you were a minute ago.
What do you want me to do, Kitty?
Just get him out of here. He hasn't got enough sense to take no for an answer.
You heard her, Bravo. You better go someplace else.
You think you can force people around, don't you? Just because you're the law.
Nobody's pushing him.
You all think you're pretty smart.
Calling me kid, saying run along, Sonny.
Or maybe I ain't fixing to run.
Now what do you think about that?
Bravo, you better quit while you're ahead.
I interfere to you and nobody asks.
And I'll prove it to you. I'll just prove it to all of them.
And you go ahead and prove it to Rutt.
Bravo, you move your hand any closer to that gun and I'll slap the teeth right out of your head.
You afraid to draw against me, Marshal?
You half-baked young idiot. Now you give me that gun.
Stay back. You ain't going to treat me like no kid.
I told you to keep your hand away.
All right, get up, Bravo. You're not hurt. Come on, get up.
Duke, Duke, give me my gun.
You come around in the morning, you can have it back provided you're cooled off and can show a little sense.
You made a big mistake, Marshal. You should have drawn it on me when you had the chance.
It looked different to you in the morning, Bravo. Now you go somewhere and sleep it off now.
Sure. Run along, Sonny. Is that what you're saying?
Well, I'll tell you something, all of you.
You're going to be whistling a different tune before I leave this town.
You just wait and see.
You're going to be a mighty sorry man, Marshal, before I'm through.
See, I'd hate to meet one like that very often.
He's a scared kid, Doc. That's what's wrong with him. And he's scared mostly that somebody will find it out.
Well, chances are he'll leave town without even coming around to get his gun.
No, kid, he'll be around to get it. Before he leaves town, he'll use it.
What do you mean, man? Use it on who?
Me, more than likely.
You know, Mr. Jones, a late night like this is the best time of the whole day.
Ah, great, Chester. It does look better in the dark, doesn't it?
Well, yes, sir, but it ain't only that.
Things plopped down about this time of night. Folks go to bed and kindly put their meanness away for a while.
Maybe some of them do.
Dust gets a chance to settle the breeze coming in off the prairie all fresh and cool.
The stars come out.
Wait a minute, Chester. What's the matter?
I thought I heard something.
Can't you hear that?
It sounds like somebody groaning.
Yeah, come on.
Look, there's somebody laying over there on the ground.
That's Chester.
Boy, that's Wally Stirk.
Yeah, looks like he's coming around. Wally.
Hey, Wally. Matt Dillon, are you all right?
Hmm, Wally. Can you hear me, Wally?
Marshal?
Yeah, what happened?
I don't know. Somebody hit me back to the head.
Oh, was it?
I don't know. I was in the long branch playing poker.
I come out and it started down the street.
Where's my money?
I had more than a hundred dollars. I won in that poker game.
Well, the way your pocket just turned inside out, I doubt you've got it now.
Somebody was laying for me out here in the dark. It sure looks that way.
I know it better than to stop and talk to her.
Talk to who?
Gina Preble.
She stopped me and started making up to me, and then somebody slugged you from behind.
That's right. And that's happened around here before.
Gina knows a lot of little tricks like that.
You mean she set me up for it?
Like a possum up a tree.
Hey, you think you can stand up, Wally?
Yeah, I think so. Come on, give me a hand.
I bet the man that done it's that fella she's been hanging around with lately.
What fella?
I don't know, some young whippersnapper, calls himself Bravo.
The Landlady's at the third door back.
That landlady's a caution.
How is that kind of a place, Chester?
My.
Yeah? Who is it?
It's Marshall Dillon. I want to talk to you, Gina.
Just a minute.
You better stand back, Chester. He may be in there with her.
Yeah, sure.
Well, ain't every day that Marshall comes calling on a girl.
You mind if we come in, Gina?
Well, Marshall, I was just...
Like it.
You hear a woman?
Who's there, Gina? Who you talking to?
Oh.
Hello, Bravo.
And what'd you let him in for?
Just come in, Bravo. I couldn't do nothing.
What's the idea, Marshall?
Which one of you has the money?
What money?
The money you took from Wally Sturck.
We don't know nothing about that.
What are you up to, Marshall?
You made a mistake, didn't you, Gina? Wally Sturck knows you.
He always used to pick strangers when you were working it with your old partner.
What's he talking about?
I don't know, Bravo. I don't know nothing about it.
What partner?
Nobody.
His name was Big Red.
Gina was pretty friendly with him till I ran him out of town last year.
Well, I didn't know what kind of man he was.
Didn't you?
Gina, where'd you go tonight when you was out so long?
No place. I just talked to some friends like I told you.
Weren't you with her, Bravo?
No, I wasn't.
What friends, Gina?
Just some girls I know that worked down at the Long Branch and some other places down the street.
You weren't in the Long Branch when you ran into Wally Sturck. You were in the alley.
I'd been there, though. I was coming home, taking a shortcut, and Wally stopped me.
Oh? He says you stopped him.
I just said hello and he wanted to talk.
And while you were talking to him, somebody stepped up behind and slugged him in the back of their head.
I don't know nothing about that, Marshal.
You were there.
It was dark. I didn't see nothing.
It wasn't that dark.
Now who did it, Gina?
He'd kill me. He said he'd kill me if I told anybody.
Who's going to kill you? Now what are you talking about?
I didn't want nothing to do with him, Bravo. Honest, I didn't.
I was scared to death when I heard he was back, and then he found me and he threatened me.
You mean Big Red, huh?
He'll kill me if he knows I told you.
You know where he is now?
Yeah.
You rotten little sneak.
You didn't know him, Bravo. He's tough and he's mean.
And you're just a kid and I didn't want you to get hurt.
Get out of here, Jester. Take her outside.
Mr. Come on, Miss.
Get out of here. Go on, Gina. I'll be out in a minute.
All right, Marshal.
You know, you pushed me just as far as you're going to, Marshal.
Now you made it, so I'll be a laughingstock all over town.
You shouldn't have taken up with a girl like her, Bravo.
And you shouldn't have been born.
I'm going to prove that to you, Marshal. It's the last thing I ever do.
Bravo, the next time you make a move toward that gun of yours, it probably will be the last thing you ever do.
You're going to pay, Marshal. You're going to pay plenty.
I'll show you what I am.
You don't have to show me, Bravo.
Now we're getting low.
Oh, these cards make me so mad. Hey, you want me to play another game, Matt?
Doc, how many times do I have to beat you before you give up?
Well, the cards have been running against me, that's all.
Sure.
Just one more, Matt.
Oh, all right. Go ahead and deal with it.
Yes, sir.
Would you mind going over to Sam's place and bringing some supper for the prisoner?
All right, sir.
Oh, be all right if I get you a little snack while I'm there?
Yes, sure.
And who have you got locked up, Matt?
A man called Big Red.
He's waiting trial for Robin Wally's Turk a couple of days ago.
Oh, yes, yes, I heard about that.
Yeah, I figure he'll be convicted on the evidence.
He should have been sent up years ago.
No.
Oh, well, look at this hand.
That should be a good one, Doc. You dealt with it.
You claiming I stacked the deck?
Well, not yet. I'll just wait and see how the hand turns out.
You're such a poor loser, my boy.
I haven't lost yet, Doc.
You're sure going to, though.
Well, the hand I've got here.
That was our back, Matt.
You stay here, Doc.
Now watch yourself.
Hold it, Marshall.
Right where you are.
Bravo.
Don't you turn around.
Here's the gun I got in your back.
And I'll take that gun of yours, if you don't mind.
What are you up to, Bravo?
I'm riding out tonight, Marshall.
I'm leaving this town something to remember me by.
I just killed Big Red.
What?
I shot him through the cell window.
Just like a setting prairie dog.
You crazy fool.
Now, I'm going to put on a show for the boys at the loan ranch.
I'm going to make their Marshall dance for them.
I've given you all the chance I'm going to, Bravo.
You had your last warning.
Ain't you forgot something, Marshall?
This is a gun I'm holding in your back.
Now start walking.
Just keep walking, Marshall.
You're heading down a rough road, Bravo,
and this is about your last chance to turn back.
You're afraid ahead.
You're a fool, kid.
Don't you call me kid.
Now, after what I'm doing tonight, go on.
Inside.
Well, good.
We got a nice big crowd.
Bravo, man.
I didn't expect you back here.
Kitty, stay clear of him.
He's going to die.
What?
Run along, girly.
Maybe I'll find time for you later.
Bravo, I didn't mean what I said the other night.
Why don't you let him go?
Beat it.
Look, you and me can get out of here when it goes somewhere.
Come with me.
Talk.
I know what you're up to.
Now beat it.
You better do what he says, Kitty.
All right, man.
Straight ahead, Marshall.
Right out in the middle of the floor.
We want them all to get a good look at this.
I'm going to show them something they won't forget.
All right.
Well, this ought to do real fine.
Listen, everybody.
Listen, I got something to show you, man.
You all know this, man.
But I bet you didn't know he could dance now, did you?
I got the Marshal right where I want him.
You know something?
He don't even look half way big no more.
All right, stay back, everybody.
He just killed Big Red.
You all thought I was a kid.
Well, what do you think now?
I still think it, Bravo.
And I scared one to boot.
Shut up, Marshal.
You killed Big Red, but why don't you tell him how?
He shot him through the cell window.
Big Red didn't have a gun.
That's how brave this kid is.
Stop calling me that.
And he ambushed me, hid in the dark, and stuck a gun in my back.
You sure asking for it, Marshal?
Go ahead and shoot, kid.
You wanted to prove something to him, that'll prove plenty.
An unarmed man in the back.
You're a sneaking yellow coward, brother.
You shut up.
You want them to remember you?
They will, all right.
They'll hang a name on you before you even get out of town.
Shot two men in the back because he was afraid to stand up and call them.
I ain't afraid.
All right, prove it then.
You put my gun back on the holster and you stand up and face me.
You think I'm crazy?
No.
I just think you're scared.
And so does everybody else here.
That's a lie.
Well, look at him.
Can't you tell?
All right.
All right, there's your gun.
Don't you turn around, not till I get across the room.
Don't you move till I get over with you.
Not till you win.
Now, brother.
Sure.
You keeping your own gun in your hand?
Sure I am.
But you got one in your holster now.
So you can't say I'm killing all our men.
All right.
That's the way you want it.
Don't move yet, Master.
Bravo.
You're under arrest for murder.
Now you drop that gun.
Not hardly.
Are you all right, man?
Yeah, I'm all right, Kelly.
Well, you sure didn't prove much to me.
He proved one thing, Kelly.
What?
That a bullet will kill a man.
And he had to die to do that.
Yeah.
Gun smoke.
Produced and directed by Norman MacDonald.
Stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
Featured in the cast were Parley Bear as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.
George Walsh speaking.
Join us again next week for another specially transcribed story on gun smoke.
This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.