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Massively popular back in the day and widely credited as being the first adult western for television, Gunsmoke was the show that would have starred John Wayne had he had any desire to do TV. There's plenty of violence on Gunsmoke but no blood and not a lot of happy endings. At times brutish and raw, Matt is a hard man dealing with harsh conditions, not the laid back father figure he became in later years. While Matt Dillon rules Dodge City with a firm but fair hand, his version of reading a criminal his Miranda rights is to growl, "Mister you've got one right left - and that's to hang. And I'm going to see that happens real soon." This DVD set contains the first 20 half-hour black & white episodes of the second season (Gunsmoke went to one hour in 1961); this was as good as network TV got during that era. Episodes in this collection are directed by Andrew McLaglen, Ted Post and William D. Russell with scripts by Sam Peckinpah (among others) and familiar western guest actors popping up like Claude Akins and Paul Fix. In my opinion, Gunsmoke got better with the expansion to an hour and the addition of Festus in the mid-1960s. What's the opposite of Jumping the Shark? I shudder to think how many years it will take to get to the episodes from the late-1960s / 1970s that I'm anxious to see again but that's what makes the Gunsmoke 50th Anniversary Editions so cool - they focus on the later, color shows I prefer. That said, there is a genuine moodiness in the early years of Gunsmoke that others will prefer to the lighter tone of the color shows. This marvelous collection of action-packed episodes makes for enjoyable weekend viewing. Studio:
Paramount Home Video DVD
Features: SEE ALSO: Gunsmoke on DVD review TV on DVD Reviews: |