Explanatory Synthesis on "Gunsmoke"
Gunsmoke the radio program, which aired on the CBS Radio Network, was first broadcast on April 26, 1952 and the final broadcast aired on June 18, 1961. During its nine year radio run, Gunsmoke would air 413 radio stories and six of the seasons would coincide with Gunsmoke the television series. Many of the original cast members of the radio show would go on to have memorable television careers: William Conrad, who played Matt Dillon, went on to play in "Cannon", "Nero Wolfe" and the "Fat Man", from "Jake and the Fat Man". Parley Baer, who played Chester, would go on to play Darby in the television show "Ozzie and Harriet", and Howard McNear, who played the doctor, would go on to play Floyd the Barber in the old "Andy Griffith Show" (http://comp.uark.edu/~tsnyder/Gunsmoke/gun-radio.html). Gunsmoke sought to capture the essence of the west and those individuals who would tame it. Matt Dillon was a hard-bitten, independent, self-reliant and just law man. His character summed up all of the stereo-typical ideas of the old west hero.
As with many men on the move west, Matt Dillon is driven by a need for independence and self-reliance. As a law man Matt was dedicated to making sure that justice was served in the ruff and tumble town of Dodge City. The episodes; "Cyclone", "Pussy Cats" and "Jay Hawkers" all give examples of those characteristics. To not be beholdin' to any person, to feel the sun on his back and the wind in his nostrils, that was freedom. In "Cyclone" Matt is thinking through a problem regarding the sale of a ranch and the subsequent disappearance of the owners. He doesn't want help from anyone in trying to solve the mystery. In "Pussy Cats", Chester offers to stay behind with Matt when a sticky situation develops with two strangers in town. Matt tells Chester to leave because he would be okay without him. In "Jay Hawkers" Matt is summoned to join a Texas cattle herd that is being harassed by Jay Hawkers. In the narration he describes the wide open space of the prairie and the smells of the green grass. There is a hint of nostalgia in his voice about missing the freedom of the open prairie.
Self-reliance is another characteristic of the men of the old west; In "Cyclone" Matt and Chester head off into the night to reconnoiter the Cyclone Ranch for signs of mischief.
Matt Fowler’s thoughts transform into revenge as a way of healing for his family. He plans the assassination of Richard Strout. After months of planning, Matt waits for Strout to get off work: “when Strout came around it alone [the building], [sic] Matt got out of the car, giving up the hope he had kept all night (and for the week) that Strout would come out with friends” (Dubus 112-113). Ironic symbolization: Matt Fowler didn’t really want to kill Richard Strout: however, he had to protect his family and avenge the murder of his son. One murder ultimately justifies the second murder within the mindset of Matt. The story concludes with not only two murders, but also with the insinuation of the second murder being justified by Matt and Ruth
The turnover rate, not to mention the stress level, for authentic sheriffs of the Old West was probably quite high. For a radio sheriff, like Matt Dillon, there was undoubtedly a lot of comfort in the assurance that he had to be in the next episode. No quick drawing, ne'er do well would ever best him. The gunfights were frequent and always ended the same way. In the episode entitled "Crack Up" for example, a known killer named Nate Springer, comes to Dodge specifically to do away with Dillon. After much planning and plotting, when the smoke clears from the climactic gun battle, it is Springer sprawled in the dust as the victorious Dillon reholsters his trusty weapon ("Crack-Up." 02-26-55). Similarly, in the episode entitled "Monopoly," an experienced killer named Cam Speckle, who has had a notorious past and had succeeded in outdrawing and killing a man in the street just moments before facing Dillon, falls victim to the Marshall's uncanny accuracy ("Monopoly" 5-22-54). These are only two of the innumerable instances in which Marshall Dillon conquers all comers.
Mattie Ross is not a typical country girl, but rather a very typical quest type hero. Just like any other quest hero, she possesses the drive to accomplish her goal, the brains as to how to accomplish it, and the reason to embark on such a dangerous quest. Mattie wants to avenge her father’s death, Franks Ross, after Chaney shoots him in broad daylight, while he was just trying to help Chaney. When Frank is trying to talk to him, “Tom Chaney raised his rifle and shot him in the forehead, killing him instantly” (10). Mattie is devastated with this news, and sets out to find Tom Chaney, and kill him herself, or watch him be killed. She goes to Fort Smith and starts asking around for information regarding Frank Ross, her father. When Mattie looks for deputy marshals for the job, she picks Rooster Cogburn for the job, because she hears he is the one that will shoot Chaney on sight, and not just try and talk. Another way that Mattie is the hero is that she does not give in when Rooster and LeBeouf tell her to go back across the river, and they tell the ferrymen, ‘“Slim, take this girl to town and present her to the sheriff. She is a runaway. Her people are worried nearly to death about her. There is a fifty-dollar reward for her return”’ (136). LeBeouf is unquestionably telling a story about this, just to get Mattie to stay, whe...
In this essay I am going to compare the personality of Matt Dillon throughout three episodes of Gun Smoke. Matt Dillon is the sheriff of Dodge City and throughout these three episodes, with the help of this trustee companion Chester (The Deputy), he is able maintain the law and keep peace in the turbulent town of Dodge City.
Gunsmoke, starring William Conrad as Sheriff Matt Dillon, was the longest running western radio program ever to air. It is the story of a country that moved west, and the man who moved with it. Matt Dillon's fairness, caring, and stern attitude epitomize the stereotypical old-west lawman.
The American West. Full of opportunity and danger. Out on the prairie there was always a need for those that were willing to "serve and protect". No ordinary lawman would do though. The needs and demands that were placed on those in authority during that time called for someone extraordinary. The people in the few scattered cities here and there depended on marshals and their ability to uphold the law. Dodge City was no exception, in fact it was the rule. Many ruffians came and went through Dodge and therefore the City needed a lawman like no other. What they had was Marshal Matt Dillon. Marshal Dillon embodied everything that was asked for in the typical "old west" lawman. He did his job and did it well. There are many characteristics that are required of such a man, in such a position as he was in. Marshal Dillon was indeed so like the typical lawman that he was fictional in and of himself. However he is very real in the minds and hearts of all those who have ever experienced the thrill of hearing the words, "there is only one way to tame... (the west). With a six shooter, and the smell of Gunsmoke."(Radio Spirits). Anyone who has ever heard, watched, or read about Gunsmoke understands the vital role that the character of Matt Dillon plays to the unfolding of almost every episode and tale. Dillon is the portrayal of all that was valued, respected, envied, and romanticized in the stereotypical old west lawman. Marshal Dillon has several characteristics about him that require scrutiny however to do so properly would require a virtual novel of research, as can be seen by the myriad of different traits observed by an Andrews University Lit. class on the American West (www.andrews.edu/~closserb link to Gunsmoke summaries). Therefore examining a few traits that seem to be most frequently observed in a broad way is more reasonable.
Lyon, Peter. The wild, Wild West; for the discriminating reader. New York, Funk and Wagnalls, 1969.
Somewhere out in the Old West wind kicks up dust off a lone road through a lawless town, a road once dominated by men with gun belts attached at the hip, boots upon their feet and spurs that clanged as they traversed the dusty road. The gunslinger hero, a man with a violent past and present, a man who eventually would succumb to the progress of the frontier, he is the embodiment of the values of freedom and the land the he defends with his gun. Inseparable is the iconography of the West in the imagination of Americans, the figure of the gunslinger is part of this iconography, his law was through the gun and his boots with spurs signaled his arrival, commanding order by way of violent intentions. The Western also had other iconic figures that populated the Old West, the lawman, in contrast to the gunslinger, had a different weapon to yield, the law. In the frontier, his belief in law and order as well as knowledge and education, brought civility to the untamed frontier. The Western was and still is the “essential American film genre, the cornerstone of American identity.” (Holtz p. 111) There is a strong link between America’s past and the Western film genre, documenting and reflecting the nations changes through conflict in the construction of an expanding nation. Taking the genres classical conventions, such as the gunslinger, and interpret them into the ideology of America. Thus The Western’s classical gunslinger, the personification of America’s violent past to protect the freedoms of a nation, the Modernist takes the familiar convention and buries him to signify that societies attitude has change towards the use of diplomacy, by way of outmoding the gunslinger in favor of the lawman, taming the frontier with civility.
The image of the cowboy as Jennifer Moskowitz notes in her article “The Cultural Myth of the Cowboy, or, How the West was Won” is “uniquely
In the 1950s the radio program, Gunsmoke, starred William Conrad as Marshall Matt Dillon. Gunsmoke was set in Dodge City, Kansas between 1872 and 1885, when the Santa Fe Railroad reached town and when the Texas cattle drives were forced to end by local farmers. Known as the Queen of the Cow Towns, the Wicked Little City, and the Gomorrah of the Plains, this little town had the reputation for being a hostile, lawless town where the fastest gun ruled (Gunsmoke). The character Marshall Matt Dillon was modeled after the real lawmen such as Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) who tamed Dodge City. Dillon was laid-back, tried to avoid conflicts, and was tough when the need arose.
Tompkins, Jane. West of Everything: The Inner Life of Westerns. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Plays were also popular in this era. “Through dime novels, themselves a modern artifact of mass production, and traveling Wild West shows such as “Buffalo Bill’s, the image impressed itself: The West as exotic romance.” “These popular fantasies appealed to a broad stratum Eastern readers for whom the West served.” Through such popular fictions, the West in its wildness retain older association with freedom, escape from social restraint, and closeness to nature.
Television has affected every aspect of life in society, radically changing the way individuals live and interact with the world. However, change is not always for the better, especially the influence of television on political campaigns towards presidency. Since the 1960s, presidential elections in the United States were greatly impacted by television, yet the impact has not been positive. Television allowed the public to have more access to information and gained reassurance to which candidate they chose to vote for. However, the media failed to recognize the importance of elections. Candidates became image based rather than issue based using a “celebrity system” to concern the public with subjects regarding debates (Hart and Trice). Due to “hyperfamiliarity” television turned numerous people away from being interested in debates between candidates (Hart and Trice). Although television had the ability to reach a greater number of people than it did before the Nixon/Kennedy debate, it shortened the attention span of the public, which made the overall process of elections unfair, due to the emphasis on image rather than issue.
John Ford’s classic American Western film, Stagecoach (1939) shows many examples of political life and social behavior during it’s time. The plot is about nine travelers onboard a stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona to Lordsburg, New Mexico Territory. In the beginning, the passengers of the Stagecoach are unfamiliar with each other. However, their relationships grow as they get to know each other during their journey. Each character claims a different social position.
The authors mention that the west frontier people live as free from the society’s rules. Also, they had been some skills to deal with the frontier life. In addition, the authors wrote about two types of a heroic rugged individualist. For example, Daniel Boon, who explored Kentucky for two years. Moreover, he had some fighting with the native Indians, but the Americans admired Boon as the person who won in encountering the challenges of the wilderness.