Gunsmoke - Season 20

First aired: 9/8/1974 24 episodes

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Episodes

1. Matt Dillon Must Die

Aired: 9/9/1974

A mountain family in an attempt to avenge the death of one of their own capture Matt.

2. Town in Chains

Aired: 9/16/1974

A group of bandits attempt to rob a town while masquerading as soldiers.

3. The Guns of Cibola Blanca (1)

Aired: 9/23/1974

Doc and fellow stage passenger, Lyla are captured by renegade comancheros.

4. The Guns of Cibola Blanca (2)

Aired: 9/30/1974

Matt, Festus and Newly attempt to rescue Doc and Lyla from Shindrow's camp.

5. Thirty a Month and Found

Aired: 10/7/1974

Matt houses a drunk Will & Friends in the jail they go looking for $300 that they think Bill took. Matt thinks it was a misunderstanding. Will doesn't want to tell Matt that they shot Curly Wills (They buried him before going to Dodge. Doak stops to see his girlfriend and says marriage will need to wait, as Will & Quincy leaves without Doak Quincy and the storekeepers are shot.

6. The Wiving

Aired: 10/14/1974

Jed Hockett(Harry Morgan), a farmer, orders his three boys to go to town and return with prospective brides.

7. The Iron Men

Aired: 10/21/1974

Matt and former lawman now turned alcoholic, Chauncey Demon go up against land baron Carl Ryker.

8. The Fourth Victim

Aired: 11/4/1974

A series of seemingly random killings have the citizens of Dodge City in near panic, but Dillon believes they are part of a pattern in which Doc is slated to be the next target.

9. The Tarnished Badge

Aired: 11/11/1974

Matt's friend, Sheriff Harker runs his town ruthlessly, punishing anyone disobeying him.

10. In Performance of Duty

Aired: 11/18/1974

Matt is frustrated by Judge Kendall's insistence that the letter of the law be maintained, which could result in Emmett Kaysinger and his boys, all known outlaws, be set free unless there is solid evidence to hold them for a double murder and robbery they committed.

11. Island in the Desert (1)

Aired: 12/2/1974

Festus, in the desert hunting escaped killer Gard Dixon is wounded by the outlaw. He is found by Ben Snow, a half-crazy hermit who has been living in the desert with his gold for many years.

12. Island in the Desert (2)

Aired: 12/9/1974

While Matt and Newly hunt for Festus, Ben Snow and Festus attempt to haul his gold out of the desert.

13. The Colonel

Aired: 12/16/1974

Lee J. Cobb and his daughter Julie Cobb appear together for the first time when Cobb guest-stars as a once-proud military officer who is suddenly faced with a painful and unplanned reunion with his daughter.

14. The Squaw

Aired: 1/6/1975

Fleeing from both Matt Dillon and his double-crossed partners, outlaw Gristy Calhoun discovers that his survival in the badlands depends on an Indian woman.

15. The Hiders

Aired: 1/13/1975

A farmer comes by and asks Sharp where is cow is, Matt tells the milk cow owner that he has no proof to arrest ""the hiders."" The farmer wants to go after them himself. Matt tells the men that will leave Dodge if anyone else complains. Dink escapes from Carp after being hurt, Festus finds Dink and treats his wounds. Dink tells Festus he likes waking up in the morning, Martha warns Dink to watch for Carp. Carp asks Dink to help kill Festus.

16. Larkin

Aired: 1/20/1975

Newly finds himself in a strange alliance with a professional killer as he tries to return to Dodge City with his prisoner (Jaeckel) before they are both killed by a trio of bounty hunters.

17. The Fires of Ignorance

Aired: 1/27/1975

Henry Decory is a schoolteacher who makes a strong statement for compulsory education for frontier children as a stubborn father feels that books and education are a waste of time and tries to keep his son Tommy out of school.

18. The Angry Land

Aired: 2/3/1975

Matt takes a young orphan Bessie Sutherland after her parents were killed on the prairie, to live with her Aunt Rachel. Rachel tells Matt that because of the devastating experiences that she has had, does not want to take in her niece, besides she wants to sell her land.

19. Brides and Grooms

Aired: 2/10/1975

Farmer Jed Hackett (Harry Morgan) decides it's time for his three sons marry the women they brought back from Dodge City.

20. Hard Labor

Aired: 2/24/1975

Matt Dillon is sentenced to life imprisonment of hard labor for shooting a fugitive in the town of Bedrock.

21. I Have Promises to Keep

Aired: 3/3/1975

Festus is caught in the middle when an Eastern preacher (David Wayne) wants to build a church for the Indians and the townspeople to share, but by all of whom that are filled with prejudice.

22. The Busters

Aired: 3/10/1975

Two bronco busters try to raise money for a ranch in Montana, only to have the dream ruined when one of them gets a death threatening head injury when thrown off by a wild stallion.

23. Manolo

Aired: 3/17/1975

Manolo (Robert Urich)is a Basque youth who is not recognized as a man in the eyes of his people because he refuses to fight his father Alejo (Nehemiah Persoff), a traditional Basque custom to prove one's manhood.

24. The Sharecroppers

Aired: 3/31/1975

A comedy of errors puts Festus behind a plow, farming for a family of shiftless sharecroppers.