Around Dodge City and in the territory on West, there's just one way to handle the killers
of the spoilers and that's where the US Marshal and the smell of gun smoke.
John Moosforth 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 chancey job
and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
What? You must be crazy going around talking like that. I want a man to give up his gun.
It ain't hardly decent. I assure you I'm in my right mind. Why? It doesn't be a protection
to all. A protection? It'd be like inviting your own villain. That's right, Zack. A man
wouldn't be safe. Oh, he'd be safer. Now you notice that I don't have a gun. Yeah, and you
ain't safe, mister. No one attempts to assault me. Well, what'd you do if you did? Yeah, what would
I do? No one has any reason. What did you do if somebody pushed you? Knocked you off your feet.
I'd walk away from you. You'd have to get up first. Now, a gun would have come in handy now,
wouldn't it? All right, hold on there. Lay that man alone. Well, he kicked him. Yeah, less than you.
That other fellow's running off. Let him go. Well, you should all let go of me too, Marshal.
He wasn't doing nothing. You don't think knocking an old man down is anything, huh?
Why, he was talking crazy, Marshal. So you knocked him down and kicked him. Well, he wanted to take
our guns away, Marshal. I bet you were scared to death. He ain't coming around, Mr. Jones.
All right, Chester, you better go get Doc. What about me? From now on, you get out of here.
But if anything serious is wrong with this man, I'll come after you. Yeah,
yeah, sure, Marshal, but we didn't mean no harm. Go on, or I'll change my mind.
You know, you better put your foot up on the rail, Kitty. Having a drink at the bar is legal without
doing that. Is it legal to stand here without drinking at all? You'd know more about that than
I would since you own the place. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to charge everybody for just standing
around the back. I don't think you have to worry. Your customers don't waste much time without glasses
in their hands. Sometimes I wish they would, and say where and where. Oh, Mac, hello, Doc.
Hello, Doc. You gonna give me one of your old jokes about how you knew you'd find me wasting time in
here? No, not today. No. It's so hot outside that this is the only sensible place to be,
even for you. Hey, better remember he said that, Mac. It may never happen again. Yeah,
you're so right, Kitty. I'll see you two later. Come on, check these things out.
Now, Doc, how's the old man? Oh, old man lately? Yeah, man, he's gonna be all right. He
twisted his leg when he went down, and he hit his head an awful crack. Yeah. I'm keeping him with me
for a couple of days just to keep an eye on him. Yeah, that's good. Wish you'd come up and talk to him,
Mac. Oh, very special reason. Yeah, I'm afraid if you don't, this thing is gonna happen all over again.
Well, how's that? Well, this Homer isn't just an old fella who wanders around the town acting strange.
Oh, no, he's perfectly sane, and he's quite serious about what he's doing. Now, he believes with
everything that's in him that there's a lot of senseless killing and violence in places like God.
He's right about that. Of course he is. Of course he is. But he's bound and determined to wage a one-man
campaign about it. See, he's going from town to town trying to put across his idea wherever he goes.
You mean he wants everybody to give up their guns, huh? That's it. Not very likely, Doug. No, it isn't.
But he's completely dedicated about it. He's packing all of his worldly goods around with him.
He has quite a sack of gold, and he's planning to spend the rest of his life trying to
get men to give up guns. He's likely to get himself killed if he talks too much in a place like Doug.
Doug, that you're probably right, Doug. I better go have a talk with him, I guess.
Yeah, I'm heading for the barbershop, so I'll walk away with you.
All right, let's go. You know, Doug, if you've got a haircut, nobody's going to know you.
You're a fine one to talk.
Lou, you been listening or just swilling on that whiskey?
I was listening when that Marshal's arrived. He'll tell me what a man might be.
Like now.
Yeah, like now.
Lou, that old feller, that Homer, sounds kind of interesting.
You might want to get a little bit better acquainted sometime, huh?
That's a lot of thinking, hey.
Yeah. All right then, Lou, you just finish your drink and we'll think about it.
And now here are Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.
Bergen, why did you stop the car here?
I want to talk to that farmer. Oh, mister.
Oh, you call me?
What a misnomer.
Oh, what a word. Oh, that's me.
Are there any General Motors dealers around here?
No, no, no, but we got some Chevrolet, Pontiac,
Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac dealers, though, and some Chevy and GMC truck dealers, too.
Well, what a myth. Those are all General Motors dealers.
No!
What do you want to see them all for?
Well, I only want to see one for guardian maintenance.
Do they make that car, too?
No, that's a service that's available only at General Motors dealers' service departments.
Oh, I see.
Yeah, and right now they're featuring complete lubrications,
quality appearance services, brake adjustments, and front-end inspections.
It's quality work performed by GM trained servicemen at a fair price.
Oh, that makes good sense even to me.
Mr. Lately.
Oh, in here.
Matt Dillon. All right if I come in?
Oh, come in, Marshal Dillon. Come in.
Sit down.
Thank you.
Dr. Adams has told me of your kindness in rescuing me from those ruffians.
I want to thank you, sir.
Oh, sure.
How are you feeling?
Oh, there's nothing wrong with me, Marshal Dillon. Just a bump on the head.
I should be on my way.
Hey, Doc usually knows what he's doing. You better stay a while if he says so.
I'd be ungrateful if I didn't, sir.
Oh, I'll stay until he releases me, of course.
Yeah, that's good. You know a place around here?
Temporarily, Marshal. Temporarily. You know the old Miller place?
Oh, yeah. Up north. It's been deserted, hasn't it?
That's right, sir. I'm staying there until my work around Dog City is completed.
Your work?
My mission, Marshal Dillon.
Yeah. I came to talk to you about that.
Oh? Well, I'd be glad to interest you in it, sir. It's quite simple.
Yeah. You want people to give up their guns, is that it?
There's too much shooting and violence, Marshal Dillon. There are too many guns.
You're right, Mr. Lilley. There are.
You mean you'll help me?
No.
What?
It doesn't work.
Guns don't work, Marshal Dillon. I'm not going to do it.
I was there at the siege of Atlanta. All that burning and the pillage.
Guns didn't do us any good then.
Maybe not.
There has to be a day when mankind puts its guns aside,
and the world will end in violence, destroyed by its own arms.
Now, that day may come, Mr. Lilley, but right now things are still raw and new around here.
Man has to be able to protect himself.
But shooting is no protection, Marshal Dillon.
It's too early to make him believe that and dodge.
I must continue to try.
Well, I'm asking you not to.
What, is there a law against you, sir?
No, Mr. Lilley, there's no law.
But you could get hurt again.
I'm fighting against violence, Marshal Dillon, but I'm not afraid.
No, I guess you're not.
But I kind of wish you were.
What can he do with his eyes when he's asleep while on his hips?
Anyway, look up there, there's a man really knows how to handle that hammer.
How's that?
Oh, I was just telling my partner here you sure do know how to handle that hammer.
Well, now I don't know if there's too much to it.
For sure there is.
I've seen fellas never get the knack.
Ain't you sure, honey?
Well, it ain't that he gets too much practice.
Folks don't steal the Marshal's sign very regularly.
I'm trying to tear that down.
That looks like a good job, right?
Nice job.
Well, I thank you kindly.
Yeah, I'll help you down.
Well, thank you.
I declare it's nice to meet up with somebody who appreciates a man's work.
Well, I bet the Marshal appreciates your work.
Well, now sometimes I ain't so sure of that at all.
Oh, you've got to know what's going on and on.
Oh, well, sure, I know what's going on.
That's why we come to you.
We thought maybe you could help us.
Well, I'd be proud to help.
Oh, that's mighty friendly of you.
Well, now if a man can't take time to be friendly, he ain't worth much.
That's true.
And that's what we come to see you about is a friend of ours,
and we'd like to know where we could find him.
Well, I know most everybody in Dodge.
What's his name?
Homer.
Yes, well, there's Homer Park, but he's been dead for two years.
And then there's Homer Lately.
Yeah, yeah, that's the one.
Well, now I'm afraid I got some bad news for you there, too.
Homer ain't dead, is he?
No, no, he ain't dead.
He's up at Doc's, though, for a couple days.
He was beaten awful bad.
Oh, well, ain't that a shame.
Oh, no.
Who would want to do a thing like that hurtin' a cool old Homer?
Oh, yeah.
No, it was a terrible thing, all right.
You want to go on up to Doc's and pay him a visit?
Well, now I tell you, I always figured a man ought to have some time to himself when he's bad hurt.
Yeah, to get strong with.
Yes, well, he'll be going home in a couple days.
Well, that'd probably be better, you know, for us to wait and see him out there.
It feels better.
What do you think?
Well, that's what I think.
Yeah, that's what I think.
Sure it is.
Yeah.
Only thing is with us new here in Doc, I don't know where Homer's place is.
Well, I can tell you that.
You can?
Yeah, he's out at the old mother place, just out of town of Peel.
Oh, yeah?
Do you know how to get there?
Oh, sure I do.
You head north about a mile to the first crossroad, then head east down the creek.
You can't miss it.
Well, that's fine.
We sure do thank you.
It wasn't nothing at all.
Oh, say, we'd like to ask you just one more thing.
What's that?
If you should run into our friend Homer, you know, don't tell him we're going to look him up.
We sort of want to surprise him.
No, that's kindly nice.
Of course, I won't tell him.
Oh, okay then.
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you.
That's all right, and I won't say a thing.
I couldn't tell him nothing anyhow.
I don't know what your names are.
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Okay.
And here you are, Miss Kitty.
My sugar.
Ah, thank you, John.
You're welcome.
I wish I could buy you a better dinner for your birthday, Kitty, but this is about all
Dodge has to offer.
That's all right, Matt.
I don't want my birthday remembered too well anyway.
Now come on, Kitty.
I'm not going to be a good boy.
I'm going to be a good boy.
Oh, come on, Kitty, it's not that bad.
It's bad bad for a woman as soon as she gets out of her teens.
Oh, I'm not a woman.
Sure is.
How's the old fellow at the Docks, Matt?
Is he gone home yet?
Yeah, he went home yesterday.
I just hope he stays here.
Poor old man.
He'd be all right.
He just keeps from arguing with people.
I guess if you believe in something like he does, you can't keep quiet.
Yeah, maybe not.
He's right, you know.
Oh, not kidding.
I know, I know.
You can't take off your gun right now, but he's got the right idea.
It makes me sick, man, and there's senseless gunfights.
Well, old man Lately has at least one follower.
Yeah, he certainly does.
It's awful lonely when the warriors won't listen to you.
Yeah, I guess so.
Good, he has friends.
Friends?
I didn't think he knew anybody in Dodge.
Well, according to Chester, he does.
Oh?
Yeah.
Chester said two men stopped and asked him all about Homer and how he was getting along and where he was, where he lived.
And Chester told him.
Well, sure.
They asked Chester not to say anything to old Homer about it.
It was going to surprise him.
I think I better pay him a visit, too.
Any special reason?
I'm not sure, Kitty, but it could be Homer's friends are making a surprise visit on his sack of gold.
Sack of gold?
Yeah, and Homer insists on keeping it with him.
You're awful suspicious about people, aren't you?
They could really be friendly, you know.
Yeah, they could, but I still think I'll go out and visit Homer.
Mr. Lately, you're home.
Who's there?
Matt Dillon.
Oh, how's it going, Marshal Dillon?
I'm off to the door.
Oh, come in, coffee.
Thank you.
Glad to get in out of that rain.
Pull up that chair near the stove, Marshal Dillon.
I was just making some coffee. Could I offer you some?
Oh, that'll be fine.
Oh, thank you.
Oh, yes, it's good and hot.
Hotter the better.
There you are.
All right, thank you.
Ah, that's fine.
You've got quite a bolt on that door of yours.
Just because a man doesn't wear a gun, Marshal Dillon, doesn't mean that he's foolhardy.
I'm glad to hear that.
That's one thing I came to see you about.
The bolt on my door?
No, Mr. Lately, the gold you have with you.
You know about the gold.
News like that gets around fast.
Marshal Dillon, are you suspicious of my gold?
I assure you it's mine.
No, no, I just wonder if it's safe.
I've always been able to take care of it.
You're getting farther west all the time, Mr. Lately.
Things are sometimes harder to control.
Especially if it's known that you don't carry a gun.
Have you ever thought about putting your gold in the vault at the bank?
Oh, no, it won't be necessary.
I'll be glad to ride in with you when you do take it in.
No, thank you, Marshal Dillon, but no.
A man has a right to keep his things with him.
I just want to be sure you keep it.
I know you mean well, Marshal Dillon.
You have storms like this often in this part of the country?
It gets this bad and worse.
Oh, why don't you stay here the night while you can go out in that?
Just look there while you can't see anything in front of you.
That may be right.
Can I put up my horse in the barn?
Certainly, welcome.
I'll send sacking to rub him down, and then come back here.
You can bed down here for the night.
Well, thanks, Mr. Lately.
I'll be back as soon as I take care of my horse.
Music
Pepsi is a favorite of thirsty people from Maine to Hawaii, from Alaska to Florida.
It's perfect for parties or picnics, so serve Pepsi to your guests.
That's helpful.
This is the sociable part.
Keep plenty of Pepsi ice cold and ready.
Remember, it goes fast because everybody likes Pepsi.
Singing still sounds more inviting.
May I?
The sociable look more, keep up to date with empty.
Drink light, refreshing Pepsi.
Stay up empty and never let it be sociable.
Have a country.
But singing doesn't say, pick up an extra carton of Pepsi today.
Better yet, get a case.
You do that.
Music
You sure picked a fine night for riding out here.
Sure is fine.
Everybody but us home in bed.
This is the way we want it.
Well, we didn't need to stay so long in that saloon before we got here.
Oh, we did.
It gives the rain time to slack off, didn't it?
Yeah, I guess so.
And it gives old man time to get dead asleep.
Supposing he ain't.
Well, that don't matter much.
What do you mean?
I sure ain't going to start worrying about an old man who don't even carry a gun.
Oh, no.
Well, shut up then.
Well, what are we going to do?
I ain't ready to tell you. Just ride along.
Well, you don't have to tell me here.
Ain't I your partner?
I'll tell you when we get there.
Now, shut up.
Music
Open up, old man.
Mr. Lately?
What was that?
Old man, throw the bull around.
You stay down, Mr. Lately. I'll take care of it.
Did you take my gun?
Marshal, I don't want any shooting.
There's shooting already. You're in trouble. You better dig up that gun.
No, no, no. I can handle it.
My gun, Mr. Lately.
I'm not afraid. I'll talk to them.
Now, don't open that door.
Now.
They wouldn't even talk to me, Marshal.
They didn't come to talk.
I wouldn't harm them.
Just take it easy, Mr. Lately.
They'll shoot you too.
Well, you're sure going to try.
I can't have that.
I can't be the cause of another man's death.
Mr. Lately, where's my gun?
Your gun?
Where is it? Tell me where.
Where's in there?
Come on, quick, quick.
Then, back room, over ten buckets.
Okay.
Well, at least you didn't unload it.
No.
Marshal, are you all right?
Yeah, I'm all right.
Went up and rode off.
I think I got the other one.
You just lie easy while I check.
You shot one?
Yeah, Mr. Lately, I shot one.
He's dead.
Marshal, maybe you were right.
How's that?
Maybe it is too soon for me to give up that.
Well, tonight it is.
Someday, someday maybe.
Yeah, Mr. Lately, maybe someday.
Men will be walking on the streets of that city without guns.
But I'm afraid I won't live to see it.
But somebody will, Mr. Lately.
Now forget that.
Somebody will.
I'm afraid I won't live to see it.
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 Marion Clark, with editorial supervision by John Meston.
Harley Bair as Chester, Howard McNair as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.