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Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
	Film poster by Reynold Brown
Directed by	Nathan Juran
Written by	D. D. Beauchamp
Based on	Roughshod; 1951 novel; by Norman A. Fox
Produced by	Aaron Rosenberg
Starring	Audie Murphy; Susan Cabot; Paul Kelly
Cinematography	Charles P. Boyle
Edited by	Ted J. Kent
Color process	Technicolor
Production; company	Universal International Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	May 4, 1953;
Running time	79 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.3 million (U.S. rentals)

Gunsmoke is a 1953 American Western film directed by Nathan Juran and starring Audie Murphy, Susan Cabot, and Paul Kelly. The film has no connection to the contemporary radio and later TV series of the same name. The film was based on the 1951 novel Roughshod by Norman A. Fox.

Plot

Murphy stars as Reb Kittridge, a wandering hired gun who is hired to get the deeds of the last remaining ranch not owned by local boss Matt Telford. That last ranch is owned by Dan Saxon. Though Reb has not yet accepted the job he is ambushed by Saxon's ramrod, ranch foreman Curly Mather, who kills his horse. Once in town, he is challenged to a gun fight by Saxon, but shoots Saxon in his gun hand instead of with a killing shot.

Saxon, a former wild outlaw who has settled down, senses Reb has good in him and when he hears Reb's goal in life is to own his own ranch he loses the deed of the ranch to Reb in a card draw. It is obvious he does this on purpose since he earlier won a similar contest by outdrawing his opponent's king.

Reb takes over the ranch and moving its cattle herd to a railhead for sale to the workers. Telford hires Reb's fellow gunslinger and sometime friend, Johnny Lake to stop the herd and Reb. Reb has also fallen in love with Rita, the rancher's daughter, who currently is in love with Mather.^[2]

Cast

Audie Murphy as Reb Kittridge
Susan Cabot as Rita Saxon
Paul Kelly as Dan Saxon
Charles Drake as Johnny Lake
Mary Castle as Cora Dufrayne
Jack Kelly as Curly Mather
Jesse White as Professor
Donald Randolph as Matt Telford
William Reynolds as Brazos
Chubby Johnson as Doc Farrell

Production

The movie started filming in June 1952 under the title of Roughshod. It was the first of three Westerns Murphy made with Nathan Juran over two years.^[3] Filming took place in Big Bear Lake, California.^[4]

References

^ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1953', Variety, January 13, 1954
^ Gossett, Sue, The Films and Career of Audie Murphy, Empire Publishing, Inc., 1996, pp. 47–48.
^ Don Graham, No Name on the Bullet: The Biography of Audie Murphy, Penguin, 1989 p 228
^ "Gunsmoke". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Los Angeles, California: American Film Institute. Retrieved April 5, 2020.