A Hilarious Gunsmoke Outtake Inverts The Series' Classic Opening

The television landscape is always evolving with the times, which is why westerns don't exactly make it to primetime television anymore — if at all. But there was a period where venerated networks like CBS would invest in programs such as "The Wild Wild West," "Have Gun, Will Travel," and the Clint Eastwood-starring vehicle "Rawhide." Having grown up in the presence of my father, of whom westerns were as vital as water, I became intimately familiar with most of them.

The titan among these titles, however, was "Gunsmoke," which stayed on the air for an unprecedented 20 seasons as the longest-running western series of all time on any network.

If there's any image that sums up the series' iconography, it's the showdown intro that remained a "Gunsmoke" staple for its first 12 seasons. It set the tone for the kind of peril James Arness' Marshal Matt Dillon would get himself into every week, as he faced down an unidentifiable man in black, played by technical advisor Arvo Ojala. Various iterations of the Front Street duel were shot throughout the series' tenure. It's notable that Dillon would always emerge as the victor.

When "Gunsmoke" went to color in its 12th season, a new showdown was filmed on the CBS Studio City lot. It's hard to look at it the same way again though considering a hilarious outtake that accompanied the shoot. In it, Dillon squares off against his opponent as per usual. But instead of coming out on top, the poor Marshal draws his pistol and loses, keeling over dead on his back.

In David R. Greenland's "The Gunsmoke Chronicles: A New History of Television's Greatest Western," the author recounts the infamous gag came about on behalf of Arness' mischievous prankster tendencies. It appeared in a 1973 gag reel, but mostly appeared to have been lost until physical media immortalized the clip in a 2005 box set as a bonus feature:

"As a gag, Arness pretended to be outdrawn and fell to the ground. The footage was thought to have been destroyed (at Arness' request), but turned up nearly forty years later on DVD in the 50th Anniversary Collection of 'Gunsmoke.'"

It's a shame Arness wanted to erase its existence because it's a hilarious peek into an alternate reality where "Gunsmoke" ended before the episode could even begin. Dillon had been shot plenty of times throughout the series — although never fatally. Kitty (Amanda Blake), Doc (Milburn Stone), and Festus (Ken Curtis) would have to figure out what to do now that the protector of Dodge City was slain in the street.

The outtake is made all the funnier on account of the voiceover still saying "Gunsmoke, starring James Arness as Matt Dillon" as if no one told him the lead just died.

Among its staggering 635 episode run, there was only one instance where it would have been hilarious on CBS' part to stick that intro at the top as an April Fools' Day gag. But the only episode that aired on that day ("The Disciple") was in the series' 19th season. At that point, the showdown had long been altered on account of concerns over the depiction of television violence – a laughable notion by today's standards.

Every episode of "Gunsmoke" is currently streaming for free on Pluto TV.