GUNSMOKE: HOW TO KILL A WOMAN (TV)
Summary
The second of two programs on B:07907. One in this series of western dramas about Marshal Matt Dillon, lawman of Dodge City, Kansas, and the people who live in and pass through that town in the closing decades of the 19th century. In this episode, masked men rob a stagecoach and shoot a man dead. As Dillon and Chester practice their marksmanship, Jim Buck arrives and tells them about the crime, suspecting that a man named Jesse Daggett, who runs a stage station nearby, may be in on it, as one of the criminals mentioned him by name, saying that he should bury the dead body. Dillon and Chester travel to the stage station, where they share a slightly awkward dinner with a group of travelers staying there, including a pretty young bride. Dillon then talks to Daggett, who confirms that he buried the man’s body. They share some whiskey and Daggett gives up the name Nat Pilcher, but refuses to elaborate on his knowledge of the crime, saying that he prefers to let a man “kill his own snakes” and will not interfere.
Later, Jim asks Dillon about his progress, but he admits he knows little so far. Just then, a man comes to ”see” Dillon and belligerently states that he is Nat Pilcher, calling himself a “cowboy” by trade and threateningly intimating that he is in fact the killer. When he leaves, Chester declares him to be a “thoroughly mean man,” and Daggett soon tries to send Chester and Dillon on their way. Dillon comments that Daggett could use a woman around the house, and he alludes to a former love he once had. Jim then arrives, injured and carrying the dead body of the young woman in his coach, angrily declaring that she was murdered by the same killer. Dillon and Chester ride out after the shooter and soon come across a mortally wounded Daggett, who explains that he too pursued Pilcher and was shot. He reveals that Pilcher “came here to devil him” because Pilcher once had an affair with Daggett’s wife, whom Daggett then shot, causing Pilcher to seek revenge. He asks them to leave and let him die in peace, and they head back to town, where they encounter Pilcher. He declares that he would rather take his chances with Dillon than with a trial, and Dillon expertly shoots him dead. Dillon then decides to go back for Daggett’s body to give him a proper burial as Daggett did for the other man. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 30, 1957 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:28:19
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: 106227
- GENRE: Drama, western
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, western
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1955-1975
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - L&M cigarettes
- TV - Commercials - Remington Rollelectric razor
CREDITS
- Norman McDonnell … Producer
- Sam Peckinpah … Writer
- John Meston … Writer
- John Rich … Director
- James Arness … Cast, Matt Dillon
- Dennis Weaver … Cast, Chester
- Barry Atwater … Cast, Jesse Daggett
- Pernell Roberts … Cast, Nat Pilcher
- Robert Brubaker … Cast, Jim Buck
- John Parrish … Cast, Elderly Rancher
- Jolene Brand … Cast, Young Bride
- George Cisar … Cast, Whiskey Drummer