Gunsmoke/Hostage!

Hostage!
Season 18, Episode 13
Airdate	December 11, 1972
Production Number	1615-0566
Written by	Paul F. Edwards
Directed by	Gunnar Hellstrom
Produced by	Leonard Katzman
← 18x12 The Brothers (1972)	18x14 → Jubilee
Gunsmoke — Season Eighteen

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Hostage! is the thirteenth episode of the eighteenth season of Gunsmoke, and the five hundred seventy-sixth episode overall.

Starring: Milburn Stone (Doc), Amanda Blake (Kitty), Ken Curtis (Festus), Buck Taylor (Newly)

and James Arness (Marshal Matt Dillon)

Special Guests: William Smith (Jude Bonner), Geoffrey Lewis (Lafitte), Marco St. John (Virgil Bonner)

Nina Roman (Amy Lee), Glenn Strange (Sam), Ted Jordan (Burke), Woodrow Chambliss (Lathrop), James Chandler (Governor), Hal Baylor (Toke), Sandra Kent (Martha), Stafford Repp (Sheriff Tanner)

Plot Overview

A large gang of ruthless outlaws called the Dog Soldiers invades Dodge City in search of Matt. The gang's leader, Jude Bonner, demands that Matt get his brother, who is in prison awaiting execution for murder, a stay of his sentence from a judge, and to force Matt into compliance, Bonner and his gang catch and rough up Festus and Newly and threaten to kill several of Dodge's townsfolk unless Kitty comes out and faces him. Bonner then kidnaps Kitty to use as leverage to get his brother's execution stayed. Matt tries, without success, to convince a judge to stop the execution, with the judge pointing out that if Bonner succeeds in getting his way using his methods, it would open the door for every outlaw at large to try the same thing to get what they want.

When news arrives the following morning that Bonner's brother has been hanged for his crimes, an enraged Bonner brutalizes Kitty before he and the rest of the Dog Soldiers bring her back to Dodge, then to make an example of her to Matt and in front of the town, Bonner cold-bloodedly shoots Kitty in the back before he and his gang ride off. Doc treats the wounded Kitty in his office with Festus and Sam also keeping watch. When Matt returns and is told by Doc what happened to Kitty, he keeps a vigil at Kitty's bedside in hopes for her survival while the town awaits word on her condition. Matt then takes off his marshal's badge and plans on going after Bonner and the Dog Soldiers himself, but Doc, surprised and disappointed at what he witnessed, reminds him that there had been no law in Dodge before he came to town, and to remove the badge and pursue vengeance through vigilante justice against Bonner would be a betrayal of all that he stands for.

When Festus and Newly see Matt without his badge and realize what he has planned, he tells them he's going out alone after Bonner and his gang. Festus replies that he and Newly also intend on going after the outlaws, then they, along with Sam and Burke, organize a posse with several other men and ride out. While riding away from Dodge, an overconfident Bonner tells one of his men that he expects to face Matt because of the latter's quest for revenge and wants to face him, while back in town, Kitty fears that Matt may be riding off to meet his doom against the violent gang as Doc tries to reassure her. After convincing Festus and Newly to take the posse back to Dodge, Matt rides on to face the outlaws himself and, counting on Bonner's pride and ego, calls him out on his cowardice in assaulting Kitty and shooting her in the back. Bonner, who has no intention of letting Matt win or get out alive, tries fighting dirty against the marshal, but Matt overpowers him and grabs a large rock, intent on bringing it down on the outlaw leader's head to finish him. One of Bonner's men draws his gun to aim at Matt, but Festus, Newly and the posse arrive in time and Festus shoots down the Dog Soldier who drew on Matt, who then decides to spare Bonner as he and his gang are taken into custody by the posse.