These are the top 10 episodes of Gunsmoke according to IMDb — which one is your favorite?

Pick your favorite episode and see which one is the most popular overall!

With 635 episodes to choose from, narrowing down just ten is a monumental task. While the results aren’t exactly scientific, thousands of Gunsmoke fans have rated many different episodes on IMDb.com and these are the ones that currently make up the top ten.

We can’t argue with these picks, but there are also some gems not seen here like “Matt’s Love Story” starring Michael Learned, the wonderful “P.S. Murray Christmas” and the dramatic three-part storyline in “Gold Train: The Bullet.”

These episodes are in order starting with number one “The Gallows,” number two “The Jailer” and so on. Out of these top ten, which episode do you like the best? Make your choice and see how it compares to everyone else’s. Comment below your favorite episode if you don’t see it here!

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  1. Which one of these Gunsmoke episodes do you like the best?

These are the top 10 episodes of Gunsmoke according to IMDb — which one is your favorite?

Your Result...

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100 Comments

Jdwyz 16 months ago
I remember watching the episode, with a smile and after it was over I was like wow. I was not expecting this. Cleverly written and one of the best.
AlanRockman 22 months ago
I liked "Caleb" - and how the dog was so devoted to the John Dehner character at the end. But I also liked "The Gallows" and how Jeremy Slate - framed - stood by Matt even though he knew he'd face the ultimate sacrifice in doing so.

But there's a third I also enjoyed watching, and still do - "The Pretender" featuring the two Toms - Skerritt playing a mean brother, Simcox played the good brother who took the rap for crimes committed by Skerritt. With the recently sadly passed Nehemiah Persoff playing the father who blamed the Simcox brothers for all the wrongs actually committed by the Skerritt brother - until the ultimate situation showed itself, and the Persoff character, the Father - finally realizes the younger brother was a murderer and a robber. REAL GOOD ONE.

Another with an honorable mention is the one featuring Robert Lansing as a bounty hunter and friend of Festus who only wishes to settle down on his own land.

So many great episodes in such a great series.
hendrix_media 25 months ago
I really like these three episodes:
1) 'Magnus' (Chester's savvy cousin), Season 1, episode 12.
2) 'The Bobsy Twins' (elderly brothers want to kill all Indians), Season 5, episode 36.
3) 'The Fourth Victim' (disturbed man with silencer-equipped rifle kills three men with Doc Adams slated to be his next victim), Season 20, episode 8.
MichaelJF 26 months ago
To kill a Marshall is one of, if not the best, episodes. How it doesn't make the list is beyond me.
Susan00100 27 months ago
I love the episode "Phoenix", where Glenn Corbett played a gunslinger hired to kill a man (played by Gene Evans) in order to settle a grudge.
pattiejn 27 months ago
My all-time favorite was "Dirty Sally". I became a huge fan of Jeannette Nolan because of this episode. Hard to believe she played the straight-laced Ms. Grundy in another of my favorites, "P. S., Murray Christmas".
troy3915 28 months ago
I enjoyed the Christmas story with the orphan children, but there's many favorites
MDCSWildcats1986 troy3915 28 months ago
That was "P. S. MURRY CHRISTMAS" from 1971 (I have that season's DVD).

A very young Jodie Foster was one of the orphan children. She was 8 or 9 at the time.


My personal favorite is THE LOST (same season). Kitty has a stagecoach accident leaving her stranded in parts unknown. She befriends---and tries to civilize---a teenage girl "wild child".
KeithGraham 28 months ago
The best...One of the BEST is Festus and Ben Snow..Strother Martain taking the gold across the desert. Another is when Festus helps the schoolteacher with the nasty porridge. And 1 more. The Precher building the Church for the indians.


AnthonyNelson 28 months ago
"The Cabin" was originally a radio broadcast it was a bit darker than the TV version, both well done. The radio show featured Willian Conrad as "Matt Dillion" and he took less crap off villians than the TV "Matt" James Arnes.
HalWright 28 months ago
I prefer the half hour episodes, which primarily feature Matt and Chester. I lose interest in later episodes when Matt only made cameo appearances. Arness once declared "Chato" to be his favorite episode, and I think it was one of the best. One of my personal favorites is a final season episode, "Matt Dillon Must Die". Morgan Woodward as Abraham Wakefield was amazing.
grandpa5741 HalWright 28 months ago
I agree that the half hour episodes were quite good and the hour ones in black and white were second. The color episodes I didn’t care for as much.
sistervic 28 months ago
I also would like to see Murder She Wrote, and Perry Mason,and Hogan on the weekend, thank you, and God bless you all.
MDCSWildcats1986 sistervic 28 months ago
Right now, MSW is on Hallmark (taking a breather due to their wall-to-wall Christmas films), so it's not available.
sistervic 28 months ago
Thank you for starting Gun Smoke from the beginning, I love those with Chester, they are great.

jomo 28 months ago
Gunsmoke will run out of episodes in a few days on MeTV and have to start over. I hope they go back to season one. The half hour black and white episodes were my favorites. The last season has few things to boast about. Not only was Kitty gone, but Matt was hardly there. I read that he was in every episode of the series, so maybe he has been edited out to make room for commercials.
StrayCat jomo 25 months ago
I believe the last time they finished the run they did start over with episode 1 (Matt gets it).
28 months ago
I also like the episode with Susan Olsen "Abelia" I think was the Title. Susan was so cute in it. She told Sherwood Schwartz that she "Wath in a Gunthmoke, and there wath a Horth and a Thake."
28 months ago
I liked P.S.Murray Christmas the best. Mainly because it featured Jodie Foster, Erin Moran and Todd Lookinland.
troy3915 SheriHeffner 28 months ago
Yes I agree
pattiejn SheriHeffner 27 months ago
Also Jeannette Nolan, who later played Dirty Sally.
RichLorn 28 months ago
Of the choices given I chose "Prairie Wolfer".
But my real favorite was "Exposing the Long Branch". As you'll remember, that is the episode where where Kitty sneaks up behind Matt and "pants" him.
moax429 28 months ago
100% similar. I do remember the Bette Davis episode.

Now if the two-part "Dirty Sally" episode had been included, I would have chose that one without hesitation. *That* was my all-time favorite "Gunsmoke" episode.
Rattman moax429 28 months ago
Definitely one of my all time favorites also
pattiejn moax429 27 months ago
Hard to believe Jeannette Nolan was the grouchy headmistress on "P.S. Murray Christmas".
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