Why so much hype?

Very disappointed :(

To me, this movie is perfection.

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

My favorite episode of all 20 years is Mannon. He is a nasty very vain gunman, faster than Matt Dillon, who takes the town over when Dillon is gone. He is fond of Kitty, and tries to win her over. It is their interaction that makes this episode the best. Kitty psychs him out, telling him things like he isn't near the man Dillon is, cutting his face with a whiskey bottle when he is beating her, etc. The thought of a scar across his face really infuriates him. Her methods make Mannon question himself, and that is just the edge Dillon needs. Although Mannon is faster and shoots Dillon down, his shot isn't true and Dillon manages to get up some, call him out, and when he turns, shoots him. We all assumed he killed him. In a later show Mannon gets out of prison, kills the sentencing judge, and the warden of the KS penitentiary. He also appears in a 3rd episode as I recall. Kitty's attempts to save Dillon's life through "working" on Mannon's image of himself, and questioning his manhood, make this what I think is the best episode of all. Apparently I am not the only one, as this episode is included in the Director's Cut DVD.

When you're talking TV westerns there are only two really that are at the top, interchangeably as it were. One is CBS's Gunsmoke and the other is NBC's Bonanza. Then you discuss anything else.It's interesting to speculate how John Wayne's career might have taken a different turn had he accepted the offer to star in a weekly half hour television show about the Marshal of Dodge City. But of course he didn't do it, but instead pushed hard for an even taller marshal for the Kansas frontier town. James Arness had co-starred with the Duke in Big Jim McLain, Island in the Sky, and Hondo. He certainly brought a Duke like presence to the role of Marshal Matt Dillon.A lot of people forget that Gunsmoke was a radio series for several years before it came to television. It ran parallel on radio in the declining years of radio drama and the voice of Matt Dillon on the radio was William Conrad. Certainly a capable enough actor, Conrad's squat appearance just didn't match the description on radio of Dillon. Why do you think John Wayne was the first choice?Besides the regulars on every week which included Dennis Weaver as the stiff legged somewhat mentally challenged Deputy Chester Goode, Milburn Stone as testy and cantankerous Doctor Galen Adams, and Amanda Blake as Matt's significant other, Kitty Russell of the Longbranch saloon, the writers were smart enough to make sure the producers kept a recurring cast of regulars as the townspeople. Roy Roberts the banker, Eddy Waller as the livery stable owner, Glenn Strange as the bartender in the Longbranch, and for a while Burt Reynolds as a blacksmith, popped up in several episodes a year, even just with a line or two. It kept a great sense of continuity and the whole community of Dodge City became like familiar friends.Poor Dennis Weaver who related the stiff leg was his idea to establish individuality of his character and that he had to study yoga in order to walk with it and mount a horse said that he would have done something different if he knew how difficult it was going to be. He read for the Matt Dillon part and took the role of Chester because he needed the work. But after several seasons, he naturally did not want to spend his career typecast as a half wit. He quit and the rustic Festus Hagen came on as the Deputy. Festus was uneducated, but was by no means stupid. His arguments with the cantankerous Doc Adams were classic. Festus was played with real flair by Ken Curtis.If Gunsmoke is remembered for something other than a really great western series, maybe the best we ever had on television, it's the show that was saved by White House intervention. Along about 1965 because of declining ratings CBS was considering giving it the axe. But in an interview Lady Bird Johnson happened to mention that Gunsmoke was her favorite television show. That offhand comment revived interest in the series and CBS kept Gunsmoke on for another decade.Gunsmoke was an adult western, the plot situations were adult, but it's characters were both real and morally upright. Matt Dillon was no kid's cowboy hero like Gene Autry or Roy Rogers, but he was honest and decent and a fine role model who was incorruptible. And he and Kitty Russell had an adult romance going in the same manner as Perry Mason and Della Street. It was unspoken that sex as well as liquor was to be had at the Longbranch, but Miss Kitty had eyes only for the Marshal.As did America for twenty satisfying years.

"Gunsmoke" was an amazing show because the cast was like one big happy family.Marshall Dillon epitomized what decency meant to us. A fair and compassionate man, Dillon knew what he was up against when the dregs of society rode into town.We had Festus, with his memorable limp and Amanda Blake's Miss Kitty, a dance hall queen, with a heart of gold. Too bad that she was never able to get her man, Matt Dillon, lord knows how much she loved him and he loved her. Where were the script writers to produce the inevitable wedding between the two?Milburn Stone made his mark playing Doc. He fixed up many a bullet-ridden victim but also had a pure heart.This was basically a story of very decent human beings who were caught up in the founding of the west.

From the radio days,and then to television, "Gunsmoke" has become THE!! classic television western of all time!! Why was it so popular? A lot of reasons!! The imagery of how dreadfully scary it would be to live in the Kansas territory (aka Dodge City) during the late 1800's was superbly executed in this series!! Even the title "Gunsmoke" suggests that there was always a shootout, hence, you always saw gun smoke in the air!! The cast became legendary in this show!! All of them have been the recipients of residuals to this series that have made them wealthy ten times over again in their own rights!! "Gunsmoke" has been the longest running prime time television series in the history of television thus far!! "Law and Order" is now breathing down it's neck!! America's fascination with the rugged old west gave way to many Westerns and Western T.V. Shows... "Gunsmoke" was the typification of American's desire to indulge in the prefabricated small screen version of Cowboys in action!! Accolades for this show are endless, and "Gunsmoke" would, without question, be categorized as something that is as "American as Apple Pie"..... I loved this show, and as a kid, it entertained me in that wholesome sort of way!! You did get a feel for how difficult things were for settlers of Dodge City, and you, as a comfortable twentieth century American, evaluating the deplorable circumstances of yesteryear, can appreciate the sacrifices our pioneers of "Gunsmoke" endured!! The overall assessment of this television show: American classics should be treasured!!!