More than half a century before the likes ofYellowstoneandJustifiedmade their mark on television,Gunsmokeruled the airwaves like no other Western TV show before it. In fact, as groundbreaking as the show was during its 20-year run on the small screen, nothing since has been able to top it. The news thatGunsmokerecently climbed into the top 10 shows streamingin the US may have come as a shock to younger viewers who hadn’t previously heard of it, but, in general, its legend as one of the most influential TV series invariably precedes it.
It’s only natural that thegreatest Western TV show of all timeshould still be as popular as ever, 50 years after it was taken off-air. Even those who don’t know the series will recognize many of theactors fromGunsmoke’s sprawling cast, including Burt Reynolds, Kurt Russell, Katherine Helmond, Jodie Foster, and Harrison Ford. Despite its role in defining the modern TV Western, however,the show didn’t get the sendoff it deserved following its cancellation in 1975. Only a TV movie produced 19 years later righted this wrong by serving asGunsmoke’s belated finale.
Why Gunsmoke Was Canceled After 20 Seasons
Its Ratings Were Declining & It No Longer Fit The TV Landscape
By 1975, the Western genre, which had so captivated TV audiences a decade or two earlier, was starting to age badly. Instead,contemporary crime shows were all the ragein the mid-1970s. Most ofGunsmoke’s rival Western shows had long since bitten the dust, and the veteran series was in urgent need of revitalization. Inevitably, viewing figures had declined significantly, particularly sinceBurt Reynolds quitGunsmokeafter three and a half years in 1965. But rather than trying something new withGunsmoke, or easing it towards a finale episode, the television networkCBS abruptly canceled the series.
The writing had been on the wall for the show, in truth.Gunsmokewas falling far behind the shows it was directly competing with for ratings, such as ABC’s police procedural seriesThe Rookies. Meanwhile, NBC’s flagship detective show,Columbo,had usurped the TV Western’s position at the top of prime-time television since debuting in 1968. All good – and even great – things come to an end, andGunsmoke’s time drew to a close in 1975. Still, the way that CBS handled its cancellation left a lot to be desired, as longtime cast members were caught completely off guard.
Gunsmoke’s Series Finale Wasn’t A Proper Ending
It Disrespected Characters Who’d Appeared Onscreen For 20 Years
There wasn’t even time for the series to have a proper finale before it went off air.Gunsmoke’s finale left a bad taste for those who’d enjoyed the Western showfor so long, asit failed to give any of the primary protagonists in the series a proper send-off. James Arness and Milburn Stone were the onlyactors to appear in all ofGunsmoke’s 20 seasons, yet both their characters were peripheral figures in the show’s final episode. On the contrary, Ken Curtis’ Festus Haggen, a deputy to Arness’ character, was the sole focus of a lighthearted and insubstantial storyline.
“The Sharecroppers” did a major disservice to an American TV institution that had earned a celebratory sendoff worthy of its illustrious standing.
This ending was fundamentally disrespectfulto a series that had spanned two foundational decades in the development of television as a medium. What’s more,Gunsmokehad established the small-screen TV Western almost single-handedly, with Arness and Stone’s characters, U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon and Dodge City medic Galen “Doc” Adams, having been at the forefront of its impact for the show’s entire run. The final episode of the series, “The Sharecroppers,” didn’t detract fromGunsmoke’s overall legacy, though it did a major disservice to an American TV institution that had earned a celebratory sendoff worthy of its illustrious standing.
Gunsmoke: One Man’s Justice Gave The Show A More Fitting Farewell
The TV Movie Finally Gave James Arness His Due
Thankfully, the conclusion ofGunsmokeas a TV series didn’t spell the end of the whole franchise, as it was revived in the form of five television movies on CBS in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The last of these movies,Gunsmoke: One Man’s Justice, delivered the perfect farewell for James Arness’ protagonist Matt Dillon, 19 years after the actor had been short-changed by the final episode of the TV show.Dillon rightly assumes the role of elder statesman, trying to save a young boy from making the same mistakes he did at the same age.
Gunsmoke: One Man’s Justicewas James Arness’ final screen role, at the age of 70.
The movie’s scintillating climax gives Arness the last word, just when it seems as though the villainous cowboy Josh Reardon is going to get away with his crime. Dillon’s punchline, “I got ‘im,” before he delivers a single, fatal gunshot to Reardon’s head, isthe kind of conclusion the originalGunsmokeTV show was crying out for. While all the young bucks in the scene are unable to hold their nerve in the face of Reardon’s deadly threat, Dillon keeps his, and his aim with a pistol remains as true as ever.
Unfortunately,Milburn Stone wasn’t around to play his part in theGunsmokefranchise’s final bow, having passed away 14 years prior to the release ofGunsmoke: One Man’s Justice. But this powerhouse performance from James Arness at least went some way to making up for his old colleague’s absence.
The Western Genre Still Owes A Lot To Gunsmoke
Everyone From Clint Eastwood To Taylor Sheridan Is In Its Debt
The arrival ofGunsmokeat its new streaming home in December 2024was long overdue recognition that the legendary TV Western is as appealing as it always was. As well as its popularity with viewers, though, we should recognize justhow importantGunsmokewas to the history of the Western genre. Without it, Clint Eastwood may never have become the icon of the genre he did, as the series that gave him his big break in Westerns owed its existence toGunsmoke.Rawhidedebuted on CBS in 1959, having been created by one ofGunsmoke’s first producers, Charles Marquis Warren..
Kurt Russell’s iconic role in the 1993 Western movieTombstonelikely wouldn’t have happened withoutGunsmoke, either. Russell first became a child star at Disney after appearing on the show aged 13. The overwhelming influence ofGunsmokein every aspect of Western TV and film, from Taylor Sheridan’s contemporary series all the way back to Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Westerns, is impossible to quantify. It’s gratifying that the series is finally getting its streaming dues, with its mass appeal seemingly undimmed even after the decades of small-screen evolution since it last aired.
