Gunsmoke - Word of Honor reused script

Around Dodge City and in the territory on West, there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers, and that's where the U.S. Marshal and the smell of guns smoke.

Gun will smoke, starring William Conrad, the story of the violence that moved West with young America, and the story of a man who moved with it.

I'm that man, Matt Dillon, the United States Marshal, the first man they look for and the last they want to meet.

It's a chancey job, and it makes a man watchful, and a little lonely.

He ate up there, but you don't hear his plain manners.

And there's no note anywhere, you sure are that, Justice?

No, nothing. I looked again all over. It's two days now. It's just as like Doug.

What do we do, Mr. Young?

I don't know. I might start asking people, Justice. Try to saloon to the store. Maybe the depot.

I'll go right now, but I don't know what that is.

Well, I do declare that one.

What's the matter?

Look, riding right up front to make his life.

Look, that old rascal getting us all worried about him.

For when, sit you true heart, I for sure, I don't quite know where you been anyway.

Hello, Justice. Matt, that is worried, Doug.

That's son.

You've been gone two days, you know.

I know. Well, next time we leave, we're done.

I will. I sure will.

I can.

We sure would save us a lot of threatening.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. What do you mean, Doug, if you can?

Just that.

If they let me?

I'll leave word.

Come on inside, Doug.

Well, you want to tell us about it?

I can tell you a part of it.

The least important part.

I made a promise.

It's about the rest.

You know how it is, man?

No, but tell us.

Well, the other night, let me see, it was Wednesday.

A couple of riders crossed right into my office.

It said a man was hurt bad, and someone's out past four dogs.

The next lay out in one of them.

Well, why didn't you leave a note in faith, though?

They didn't tell me exactly where we were going, sister.

But they sure told me not to leave any note.

They told you what?

Well, you let him talk, Justin.

Of course, I figured that it must have been a shooting,

but my job is to take care of everybody.

Sinner and saved the life.

And so, we finally got to this place the next day.

What place, Doug?

Well, that's part of what I promised not to tell, sister.

There was a young man there who had got himself shot in the back.

The bullet lodged right in the spine.

I dug it out and did all I could for him.

And then I just sat there for quite a spell.

Then I put my things away and walked out into the other room.

Well, back how is it?

He did.

The shock of extracting that bullet was too much for him.

That place the spine.

You killed him, huh?

No.

No, I didn't kill him.

He's dead, ain't he?

Look, mister.

That boy wouldn't have lived more than a couple of days

anywhere that bullet word was.

Whoever put it there murdered him.

You want me to shot him up?

Not yet.

That tell me, son.

You know that boy in there?

I do.

And three of us here.

You know any of us?

Him.

I've seen him around somewhere.

Dodge, I guess.

No, it's settled.

He ain't walking out of here.

You know his name, Doug?

No, Doug.

It might come to me, though.

Let me think about it.

You don't seem to understand.

He wants to kill you already.

Now you're trying to remember his name.

I just gonna make it work.

I can't kill a doctor for following his oath.

I shot that boy when he tried to get away.

And I can shoot you just as he got bailed full on my doctor.

And since there's nothing more I can do here,

I've got to be available to other patients.

I've been away too long as it is.

What are we arguing about?

The sooner we shoot him, the better.

What kind of a man are you?

Don't you know I'm the only doctor with a hundred miles of Dodge?

Right now, that's one too many.

No, wait a minute.

I'm kinda thinking the doctor's right.

He ain't like ordinary man.

A doctor...

Well, it is almost like he ain't quite human somehow.

He's human enough to tell what he knows to that hardhead marshal

he got in Dodge.

And we'll have him on our table and we'll never get our twenty thousand.

The way I figure it's us or the doctor.

I'm not interested in what you figure, mister.

And I've lived too long to be afraid of dying.

But right this minute,

there may be several folk needing me, real bad.

You know, he's right.

We can't kill him.

Well, I can and I...

You'll do what I say, you hear?

Doc, listen to me.

If I let you go,

will you promise not to tell about anybody you recognized here?

And if I don't?

And no doctor, no doctor, I'll kill you myself.

Well, you know, that's what you were.

All right.

I'm here as a doctor.

And nothing else.

I promise.

Word of honor, Doc?

My word of honor.

Okay.

Get out.

One other thing, Doc.

What?

You break your word.

You tell anybody where this place is and who you saw here.

And we'll get to you.

We'll kill you no matter where you try to hide.

I gave you my word, didn't I?

Yeah, you did.

But just don't forget what I said.

We'll kill you.

We'll die trying.

Now that's quite a story, Doc.

And you played it right smart.

If you asked me, who was it, Doc?

I say, who was it?

I only recognized one of them, just you.

Besides the man that shot us.

Yeah, that's what you said.

But I have your thought of his name.

Just to get on him to stand, I gave my word, I wouldn't tell.

Yeah, but Doc, there's just a bunch of killers.

Matt, wouldn't you have done the same if you were in my boots?

It'd be a hard choice, Doc, but...

Yeah, I suppose I wouldn't.

Well, any man would at least rise any amount of honor.

Yeah, I guess I wouldn't really think about it that way.

Oh, I'm gonna get some sleep.

Matt?

Yeah, Doc.

That was a good boy they murdered.

I hope they hang for it.

How are we going to find Mr. Young?

I don't know, Justin.

We don't even know who they killed.

How are we going to find Mr. Young?

How are we going to find Mr. Young?

How are we going to find Mr. Young?

Marshall?

Well, Jake, where the hell are you having come to dodges?

Six months, I'm here now, Marshall.

Huh?

This is a trouble, Jake.

I'd call it that.

Well, you know that Cottonwood had big one right down the Brandy Bendia.

I'd hold down by the roots, the north side of it.

I put a sack in that hole this morning, Marshall, with $20,000 in $20,000.

That's a lot of money, Jake, even for you.

No, it ain't.

It, Hank, gets back all right.

Hank gets back.

And that's ransom money, huh?

Your boy's been kidnapped.

He didn't show up the other night, Marshall.

Next morning, I found a note tacked on the corral said,

leave the money or else they'd kill him.

Oh, come on, Jake.

We're trying to get there before they pick up the money.

No, no, Marshall, I won't think they'd chances they'd shoot him short.

We did that.

Like, Jake, if they killed Hank, you'd want him hung, wouldn't you?

Oh, hang him myself, if it comes to that.

I'll hunt him down like food.

All right, then, let's go.

Let's get down to Brandy Bend and wait for him.

No, Marshall, I already told you.

Hang on, Dad.

Thank you.

What?

They already shot him.

He's dead.

What are you talking about?

Where is he?

I don't know.

How come you know he's dead?

I can't tell you.

Marshall!

Well, Marshall, I had about enough of it.

Like, we're wasting time here.

And I'll come on, Jake.

I'll tell you what I can on the way to the river.

You'll better buy heaven, and one of us is never going to get to the river.

Jake Worth was known as a hard-hot tempered man, but he was straight as they come.

And all he wanted out of life was his ranch and his three sons to work at with him.

It was hard to tell him, but without mention in the dock, I said what I couldn't.

And when we reached the Arkansas, we hit our horses in the clump of bush

and worked our way on foot up to the big cottonwood.

And then we saw it.

They'd do it.

I gave him a money.

What?

I'm sorry, Jake.

The Marshall.

I should have been kind of confused by all this.

I swallowed your story on the way down here.

No, I want the truth.

I want every bit.

I told you.

I don't know who they are.

You know a lot you ain't telling me.

What's going on with you in here?

I can't tell you all I can.

Marshall is my boy laying here.

Take it easy now, Jake.

Well, you saw it.

I don't know anything.

Jake, the man who told me about it had to promise not to name anybody.

What, man?

Who is it?

I'll get it out of him if I have to cut it out.

I know.

I know.

That's why I can't tell you who he is.

I'll give you 24 hours to name those men.

After that, me and my sons are coming to Dodger.

They'll be bluffs, Bill.

I'll give you my word.

I don't know.

I don't believe you.

Come on, I'll help you take your boy home.

Get on back to Dodger.

I'll manage here.

You're making a bad mistake, Jake.

You got 24 hours, Marshall.

All right, ma'am.

I'll do whatever I can.

I'm not work, Doc.

And I'll give the exposure to yourself to a lot of danger if you thought about that.

Yes, I have.

I've also been thinking about the men who killed young tank horse.

Now, we could wait until they start spending their money.

Or one of them gets drunk and maybe talks too much somewhere.

I could, but each time you're in a horse, you'll have a gun fight, Matt.

All right, then, Doc, let's go.

I want to get off the ranch before dark.

Come on.

I don't see anybody around.

Maybe they'll hit out.

All right, Doc, Marshall.

Just watch him, boys.

If he makes a move, you shoot.

Jake, I came here to stop a shoot and not to start.

You can stop it, Marshall.

Just tell me who killed my son.

If I know I'd be on his trail, Jake.

What's Doc doing here?

You tell him, Doc.

Jake, I took the bullet out of Hank.

He died soon after.

What?

That's right.

Now, come down here where we talk like friends, and I'll explain it to you.

Here we are, boys.

All right, Doc.

Let's hear it.

Well, they got me out of bed, Jake.

Let me out in the country.

Hank had been shot in the back, and I extracted the bullet.

But if it was no use, he'd have died anyway.

There were three men there, and I recognized one.

Who was he?

I had to promise I wouldn't tell her.

That don't matter now.

Wait a minute.

Just think about it, Jake.

Doc gave him his word, and you're asking him to break it.

Would you think about it for a moment?

I'm thinking.

I'm thinking about my boy, too.

You want to help get the man who did it, Jake?

Don't ask fool.

Would you listen to me?

Those men told Doc if he'd talk, they'd kill him.

And they met it, too.

I've got an idea, Jake, and I want you to hear me out.

Would you?

I'll look.

We'll spread it around.

The doc has identified the killer.

And go on.

And we'll just wait, see.

One or two, or maybe all three up, we'll come at the dodge

to kill Doc some nights.

Till they might get away.

I'll deputize you and your boys right now,

and you can wait for them with us.

But you're going to have to stay hidden like me.

And Doc could rather make himself a target for them.

Killers and break his word, too?

Yeah, Jake, that's right.

I'll look, Doc, and I'll go back to dodge now.

I'll see that the story gets started, and the there, too,

you and your boys can ride in, but separately, though.

Otherwise, it might cause trouble.

I understand.

And you come straight to the docs.

We'll be there.

Don't you worry.

For the next few days, Doc never left his office.

The rest of it sat around in his back room and waited.

Chester kept us supplied with food and coffee.

But we began to get pretty restless, cooped up like that.

And by the fifth night, we were being real careful with one another,

and over polite.

But on the sixth night, about midnight, we got our game.

John, I think it's Sam.

You just go to the street.

Three of them.

They're kind of outside right now.

Doc, come on in here, will you?

Yeah, but what do you want me to do, man?

You'll take cover in here and stay out of sight.

Let's go downstairs and meet them.

No, no, we'll just scatter them that way.

Now listen, one of them will probably stand guard on the street

while the other two come up here to get Doc.

Chester, you and the two boys go down the back way

and Jake and I'll wait here.

But don't jump that man till we go on a action up here.

You understand, Chester?

All right, then move fast.

Come on, Jake.

No, what?

We'll just wait here in the dark.

Good.

Here, I'll fix Doc's blanket on the catchers of them.

We'll think he's understood.

There's no more.

Okay, just get back in the corner.

Jake or we'll be shooting each other.

Be quiet.

Don't start shooting till I do.

Doc, wake up in the wind.

Let's just shoot him and get out of here.

What are you in here?

What?

Yeah, get your ass out of here.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

What are you in here?

What?

Get your ass out of here.

All right.

Jake.

You all right, Jake?

All right.

I got one more.

All right.

Doc.

Doc, come on up.

Huh?

What?

They're dead.

Right down there.

Pull your darks.

Okay.

All right, Mr. Bill.

Come on in, Chester.

We got the one in the street.

He tried to get away when he heard the shooting up here,

but he ran smack into one of the worst boys.

He's dead.

Well, Doc, they can tell us now.

There's one of these, the man you recognize.

There's this one here.

Yeah.

Well, Jake, I guess that's it.

A mushroom.

What?

I doubted you, Marshall.

I'm sorry for that.

I forgot to take it.

No, it's best I remember it.

Man shouldn't make mistakes like that.

That was no harm done.

Way worked up.

Yeah.

I'll buy you a drink before we leave, Marshall.

Think I kind of like that, Jake.

Gun smoke.

Produced and directed by Norman MacDonald,

stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshall.

The story was specially written for gun smoke by John Meston.

Featured in the cast were Lauren Stobgen, Vick Perrin, and Harry Barthel.

Harley-Bear is Chester, Howard McNair is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.

Join us again next week for the fourth of the five most popular gun smoke show.

It is called Bloody Hand.

This is the CDS radio network.

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