In 1971, during Gunsmoke's 17th season, a three-part episode titled "The Bullet" (written by veteran TV scribe Jim Byrnes) aired. It is a superbly written and acted story arc in many ways, but today I'd like to stress one particular moment.
It comes during the story's second part (which aired on December 6, 1971). The context of the scene I'm sharing below is as follows. Outlaws have taken over a train that is carrying a fortune in gold. But the bad guys don't know that a badly wounded Matt Dillon is also hidden aboard the train. The gang leader is missing a hand and it was Matt's bullet that took that hand off. So if Matt is discovered aboard, he's dead.
A pretty young criminal--a femme fatale in the making--is also aboard. She knows about Matt and is considering ratting him out to the bad guys in exchange for being taken along with them after they've finished loading the gold onto a wagon. But Kitty Russell--who's perpetually undeclared love for Matt has always been obvious to pretty much any fan of the show--isn't going to allow that to happen.
DO NOT threaten Miss Kitty's man if she's in a position to to do anything about it.
This is a great scene from an always excellent TV series.
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