Gunsmoke (1955–1975): Season 14, Episode 1 - Lyle's Kid - full transcript

Gunsmoke, starring
James Arness as Matt Dillon.

Oh, come on, Jack.

You'd better leave some room.
We're riding into Dodge tonight.

Come on, Tom.

Whoa, boy.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Saloon trash.

I didn't catch that, mister.

Pa, the man's been drinking.

Hey, Pa.



Ain't that the Wesley
girl from back home?

Iris?

Jeff, Jeff Lyle, the
farm west of Tulsa,

down the road from that
old place your ma had.

Well, you sure
growed some, Jeffery.

Reckon you did too.

You remember my pa?

Mr. Lyle.

I heard about your ma
passing away. I'm sorry.

Thank you, Jeffery.

Where'd you disappear
to last night, honey?

Can't you see I'm
talking to this here fella?

Except you're talking to me.

Mister, whiskey don't
excuse bad manners.



You gonna teach me
manners, farm boy?

You're hurting my ribs.

Sounds almost like
you don't take to it.

You'll be waking up with
more than a whiskey head,

if you don't let that girl go.

OK, farm boy,
you did the calling.

I'll make allowance for you
having too much to drink.

Farm boy, I'm gonna
teach you a lesson.

A man doesn't open his mouth
unless he's got a hand to back it up.

Now, I hear they got a good
doc in Dodge, so you're ahead.

Pull it all the way
out. Point it down.

Now throw it across the road.

You go against a
man, you kill him.

His whiskey been
doing the talking, Pa.

Nice meeting you again, Iris.

Pleasure seeing you
and your pa again, Jeffery.

That's what I get for talking
and not watching his hand.

What are you trying to say, he
had the edge of drawing first?

Exactly the way it happened.
My gun didn't clear leather.

Oh, sure it didn't.

Do I hear you calling me a liar?

Now, look, Jack, I don't call
no man a liar, you know that.

It's one I owe you, farm boy.

Miss Kitty.

Looks promising to be the best
uprage we ever had, Miss Kitty.

And you've been
through a few of 'em.

I'll say I have. That I have.

All right, gentlemen, just step
right in this door here, right in there.

Say, Newly, keep an eye on things
while I got get some breakfast, will you?

- Yes, sir.
- Soon as they sober up, let 'em out.

We're gonna need all the
space we got there tonight.

OK, Marshal, you bet.

Grant?

By golly, I thought
that was you.

Been a long time since
I've seen you, Sheriff.

Been a long time since
anybody called me sheriff, Matt.

Don't believe you know my
boy, Jeff. Matt Dillon, Jeff.

Jeff, how do you do?

Heard a lot about you from the
marshal down there in Abilene.

Tells me you turned
down a deputy job there.

Just got time to
move on, Marshal.

How about you two
join me for breakfast?

Sounds fine. We was
thinking on the same thing.

Good.

By the sound of it, you boys have
been seeing a lot of the country, then.

Well, I'd guess you'd
call it restless fever, Matt.

For a while we decided
to settle down in Abilene,

Jeff working for the marshal.

Then we got the fever again, decided
to check in on the excitement here.

Well, I'm glad you did.

You know, Jeff, with
this celebration going on

and Festus out of town for a day
or two, I could use a night deputy.

Would you like to pick
up some extra money?

I don't think so. We
won't be here that long.

Well, we'll be
here a week or so.

Deputy pay'd give you
some pocket money.

- All right.
- Good.

Then why don't you stop
by when you get settled?

- All right.
- Excuse me.

- Brought in one for you.
- Doc. Oh, thank you.

Doc, this is Grant Lyle
and his son Jeff here.

- Doctor Adams.
- How do, sir?

- Sit down, Doc.
- Thanks.

Well, looks like the
rumors are all true.

This fella Hoxy is
being paroled next week.

He has to report to me
on his way through Dodge.

Hey, Grant, seems to me you
ought to remember this fella Hoxy.

Wasn't it down in your territory

he was causing all that
ruckus a few years back?

I never met him.

Jeff, I guess you and me
better go get us a hotel room

- while there's one to be got.
- That's a good idea, you know.

They're gonna be
selling space in the stable

the way things are
going around here.

- Dr. Adams.
- Oh, Mr. Lyle.

Be my pleasure to buy
you a drink later, Matt.

- Take you up on it.
- Nice meeting you.

Jeff.

Telegram wasn't about
Hoxy and you know it.

I also know you found out about
Hoxy's parole three days ago.

That's right, Doc. I just wanted to
get Grant's reaction to the name Hoxy.

See, I've always believed that it
was Hoxy that crippled Grant's hands.

Well, I thought he
never did know who did it.

Well, Grant killed two of Hoxy's brothers
when they busted up that rustling ring.

And between that time and the time
that Hoxy was captured a few days later,

Grant's hands were crippled.

Oh.

You figure, then, he's
here to even things up, huh?

I'll tell you one thing,

he's brought his boy
along to be a real fast gun.

Well, from what I hear
of Hoxy, he better be fast.

What are you gonna do about it?

Well, at least with the boy as a
deputy, I can keep an eye on him.

No!

All he said was you'd had
enough to drink, cowboy.

The way he said it.

Well, if he didn't say it right, then
how about some coffee to square it up?

- Chunky yahoo!
- Wait there. Hold on. Hold on here.

She's got better
advice than I got.

You don't get ahold of yourself,
you'll be sobering up in a jail bunk.

Night warm enough for
a cold beer on the house?

Maybe later, Miss
Russell, thank you.

- You're Jeff Lyle, aren't you?
- Yes, ma'am.

Me and my pa
came in this morning.

Matt was telling me about it.

You planning on making
Dodge your home?

We're not making
any plans right now.

Well, good night.

Night.

You get your hands off of me!

- Come on, honey, relax.
- Let go!

- Don't fight with me. Enjoy yourself.
- Let go!

Hey, mister. You hear
the lady telling you to get?

Just the little gal looked
lonesome, Marshal.

Like maybe she wouldn't
mind a fella talking a spell.

Get out of here.

I was just looking at the town,
minding my own business.

How come every time I see you,

some fella's leaning over you
like he figures you're real friendly?

Well, it ain't my fault that I'm
looking round for someplace

with maybe kitchen work.

- It's yours, Jeffery Lyle.
- What do you mean?

You go sticking your nose
in none of your business.

Lose me my job,
that's what I'm saying.

You mean you were fired for
what happened this morning?

Oh, that Jack Grover got in a
mean fit and said it was all my doing,

and maybe him and his friends wouldn't
come drinking there if I was around.

A whole dollar a day
I've been making there

until you come along
and spoil it for me.

You aren't losing much not working
out at that roadside saloon any more.

Maybe you'd say different

if you didn't even have
enough money for proper eating.

Look, I'm gonna have some
supper. Would you like to eat with me?

I don't need nothing from somebody
who thinks I'm forward with fellas.

I kind of remember now you
had more pigtails than sense.

I got a good mind to
arrest you for vagrancy.

Arrest me? I
ain't doin' nothin'.

What's vagrancy?

Walking around hungry.

Come on.

Well, lookee there.

Come on, forget it, Jack.
Let's get some partying done.

I'll get some partying done when
I've settled with that farm boy.

I guess Ma was having a
hard time making ends meet

and I just never knew it.

They even had to
sell all that old furniture

to square things after she died.

Didn't you have
anybody to live with?

Yeah. Went to stay
with my Aunt Patience.

The mouths she had to feed,

it just didn't make me feel
like I was really wanted.

So I figured I was old
enough to earn my own way.

Never knew it was so hard,
though, for a girl to find a town job.

Why don't you try working for
Miss Russell at the Long Branch?

Oh, Jeffery. I ain't near
fancy-looking enough for that place.

I guess you
wouldn't win no prize.

But, then, I don't see
you breaking any mirrors.

Thanking you proper for
the compliment, Jeffery.

Look, I'll talk to Miss
Russell tomorrow.

But tonight I'm taking you down
to Ma Smalley's, get you a room.

I always remembered
that about you, Jeffery.

- What's that?
- Kindness about you.

Gentle, I guess, is the word.

Come on. I'm... supposed to be
earning deputy pay on the street.

That's him.

Don't you recollect how
fast he drawed, boy?

He was lucky, that's all.

Farm boy.

Draw.

What's happened here?

Well, I tried to
stop him, Marshal.

He kept talking all day about
getting even with the kid.

The deputy over there.

- Your friend drew first.
- Well, I ain't denying it.

I just wish he'd
listened to me, that's all.

He's dead, Matt.

Something personal
between you two?

He never saw him before
this morning, Marshal.

- Anybody else see this?
- I did, Marshal.

This one here
started the trouble.

All right. Some of you boys get
over to Percy Crump's with him.

Let's go, son.

Son, he ain't worth thinking on.

I've known his kind
more than half my life

and somebody'd have been
burying him sooner or later.

It wasn't somebody,
Pa. It was me.

Drink your drink.
You'll feel better.

You know... I keep thinking,
maybe I didn't have to kill him.

Maybe I could have just put a
bullet in his shoulder, his gun hand.

You had no choice. None at all.

I could see the gun coming
out of his holster like...

like something
was holding it back.

Wasn't 30 feet from me. I...
I'm cutting twigs at that distance.

A man drawing
a gun ain't a twig.

I should have been able to put
that bullet any place I wanted.

- But I put it in his heart.
- A man draws on you and you kill him.

You don't stand there
and think about it.

Pa, Pa, you weren't
listening to me.

A man's dead who might
have been alive right now

if I just hadn't pulled the
trigger without thinking.

It is instinct, what I've been
teaching you all these years.

You look square between a
man's eyes or at a button on his shirt

and you put your bullet
where you're looking.

Where you going?

I don't know. For a walk.

I'll leave if you want.

Some people want to
pay their respects alone.

Oh, no, no,
that's... It's all right.

He's a young 'un.
Friend or relative?

No, he, uh...

He, um...

I killed him.

Oh. Yes, the young
deputy. I heard.

Then it won't bother you
none if I go ahead, then.

Coffee in the back
if you want some.

- What?
- Coffee. I just made a fresh pot.

I'll tell you one thing,

the day of a ten-dollar
county funeral is up for sure.

The way the price of nails has
gone up, you wouldn't believe.

I tell you, it's not
something he won't get over.

It just struck me as kind of odd,
with all the deputying he's done.

First time he's ever killed.
Remember your first time?

Newly tells me he's one of
the fastest guns he's ever seen.

- He's had a good teacher.
- Yeah. Question is, why?

Grant, I want you
to level with me.

It was Hoxy who crippled
your hands, wasn't it?

And you've been waiting all these
years, just bringing your boy along.

Don't do this to him, Grant.

Leave it alone, Matt.

Did it ever occur to you that
Jeff could be arrested for murder

if he guns down Hoxy?

Jeff's never drawn his
gun except in self-defense,

or in defense of the law.

- He never will.
- I see.

So you're just gonna hound him,

starting here in Dodge,
until he comes after you, huh?

No need to hound him.

All Hoxy needs to know is that
there's a man waiting for him.

There's no jury who'll convict a
man facing Hoxy in a showdown.

All right. But let me
tell you something.

You'd better do
some long, tall thinking

about the effect that this
is gonna have on Jeff's life.

- I know my boy, Matt.
- Do you?

Jeffery?

Nothing you could
have helped, Jeffery.

It's something you don't
think about... the way it is after.

Him just lying there.

So lonely and...

and looking so different.

What are you doing out
this time of night, huh?

Thought maybe you'd
like someone to talk to?

Well, I don't.

Uh...

You fixed up at Ma Smalley's?

It wasn't any trouble.

Come on, I'll walk you back.

Did the asking to Miss Kitty.
She said I could work for her.

That's good.

Got kind of scared being without
no money. So I did the asking myself.

You don't have to be
scared. I got some money.

Oh, I don't wanna be
no trouble to you, Jeffery.

You're nothing like that.

Sure is different being
in town, not on a farm.

Kind of makes me feel
like I don't belong no place.

Well, get used to it.

I miss the little
things we used to do.

Remember the picnics we
used to have most every Sunday?

Yeah, I remember.

We weren't eight years old
when we used to sneak away,

you from your pa
and me from my ma.

You used to say you had a
secret cave you wanted to show me.

Yeah. A long time ago.

All you wanted
to do was kiss me.

Uh...

I better be getting some sleep.

Tomorrow's Sunday.

Oh, I didn't mean about
the kissing, Jeffery.

I just meant, well, I don't
know nobody around here,

and maybe we
could have a picnic.

Sure'd be nice.

You're sure kind of getting to
be a forward girl. You know that?

I'm just lonesome, Jeffery.

Hey...

A picnic wouldn't hurt me none.

I bet Ma Smalley'd let me
make up a picnic basket.

That's the one you'll
be missing tomorrow.

Cold.

What did you expect?

Notice I had more sense
than to go in wading.

Hey, you remember me
and you used to go wading

down at the old Brine Mill run?

You even had skinnier
legs in those days.

- Why, I didn't know you noticed.
- You looked more like a sick cow.

Oh, yeah?

- Hey!
- Teach you manners round a lady.

I'm gonna have you
looking like a muskrat, missy.

No! Jeffery, my dress!

- Jeffery!
- Come back!

Hey, hey, come back here.

My dress is all dirty.

Well, you should have
thought about that beforehand.

We'd better be getting back.

Come in.

You busy, Miss Kitty?

No, come on in.

- What can I do for you?
- Miss Kitty, I need some advice.

Well, I'll be happy to
help if I can. Sit down.

It's about Jeffery.

Well, in less than a week's time, that's
turned into quite a whirlwind courtship.

Yeah, I guess we've been
together most every day now.

Miss Kitty, last night Jeffery
told me something and...

well, if I was to tell you,
it's gotta be between us.

All right.

Saturday's stage, a man
named Hoxy's coming in.

Him and Jeffery's gonna
wind up in a gunfight.

Well, this is something you ought
to be talking to Matt Dillon about.

Jeffery says he
knows it already.

Matt isn't gonna allow any gunfights
in Dodge City if he can help it.

Miss Kitty, Jeffery's pa
got his mind made up.

Jeffery's gonna kill Mr. Hoxy.

If it's not here, it's
gonna be someplace else.

I see.

Jeffery's nothing but
a farm boy, Miss Kitty.

It just ain't natural for
him to be handling a gun.

I mean, when we were kids,

I used to sit and listen to
him talking about farming

and all the different ways
he'd try to raise crops.

What I'm trying to say, Miss
Kitty, is it's not Jeffery but his pa

waiting for this Mr. Hoxy.

He's gonna get even for something
that happened a long time ago.

With Jeffery holding the gun.

Oh, Miss Kitty, it's tearing
me up inside thinking on it.

It's that serious, hmm?

It is with me, ma'am.

I reckon it'd be with Jeffery too
if his mind wasn't on Mr. Hoxy.

Well, you might try a... old
tried and true female trick.

Get Jeffery's mind on
you instead of on Hoxy.

Oh, Miss Kitty,
how would I do that?

You just say, "Jeffery, I think it'd
be a good idea if we got married."

Jeffery, I think it'd be a good
idea if you and I got married.

What?

- I'm proposing to you, Jeffery Lyle.
- Well, that's what it sounded like.

Well, I'm partial to you. Figured
you might be the same to me.

Well, I ain't
disputing that I...

Look, Iris, a girl just doesn't come
out and say something like that.

- I mean, a fella...
- "Partial" ain't the word, Jeffery.

I reckon "love" is.

Now, look here...

Iris, you're a very
unsettling woman.

Right away, Jeffery,
before Mr. Hoxy gets here.

Jeffery, you know why you and
your pa never talk about this Mr. Hoxy?

'Cause you couldn't talk for long
before you'd be asking questions.

Like if your pa had the
right to be doing this to you.

Like if something happened ten
years ago is proper to be living for.

Iris, it's not something I
can just forget about. It's...

Jeffery, it is something
you can forget about.

I wish you'd understand that.

Well, I... I guess
we can talk to him.

No, Jeffery, we don't talk,
and we don't ask. We tell.

Iris, it's just not that easy.

Jeffery Lyle, if there's
one thing I told myself,

it'd be a man someday
I'd be marrying.

Well, I guess I just got mixed
up on how much man you be.

Hey, Iris, wait.

You owe me. You owe me life. You
owe me the way you feel and think.

You owe me more than
you can repay in a lifetime.

And it ain't by telling me I
got a bed to go to on a farm.

It's more then a bed, Mr. Lyle.

And you. What right
have you got to interfere?

Pa.

Pa, we're being married tomorrow,
and... we'd like it if you'd be there.

Well, I won't be there.

I don't need you, either of you.

I'm sorry you're not gonna
be at the wedding, Pa.

But no matter, we're marrying.

Well, that says it all.

Keep her making them
biscuits and gravy, now.

Don't let her get
the upper hand, Jeff.

Oh, for heaven's sake.

Well, congratulations, Festus.

Sure do smell summersome.

Don't you know what it means,
you catching that bouquet?

Well, of course I do.

- It means you wasn't fast enough.
- No.

It means you're the
next one to get married.

Oh, how could it mean that?

Because it's the
custom, that's why.

Miss Kitty, you trying to
tell me that I ain't got no way

- of getting out of getting married up?
- Course not, and I'll explain it to you.

You see, by custom, one
of the unmarried ladies,

like Kitty or these
other young ladies here,

were supposed to have a
chance to catch that bouquet,

and then they'd have a
chance to catch a husband.

But then you went and
spoiled it all by catching it.

Oh. Then I wasn't supposed
to catch these here at all, huh?

Well, isn't that just
marvelous, isn't that wonderful,

how that brain of his can
put together certain facts

and come up with
an answer like that?

It just proves conclusively
what I've said all along,

that there is a certain thinking process
going on inside of that brain of his,

no matter what
anybody else is saying.

- And I hope you'll be very happy.
- Oh, hush your mouth.

I can tell what side of the
bed you got out of this mornin'.

I'm sorry, Miss Kitty.

It's all right, Festus.

You know, when you
get right down to it,

you've probably done
me a great big favor.

Can you make a
fanning gun out of this?

We don't have too much of a call for
them around here, but I suppose I...

I want the trigger to lock
back, a heavier spring put in,

and I want it by morning.

All right, sir, I'll
have it for you.

He wants the trigger to lock
back, a heavier spring put in,

and he wants it by morning.

Save your breath.

I was hoping you'd
be at the wedding.

Had something else to do.

Like this? What you've
been doing for two days now?

Pa, you can spend
two years with that gun

and it'd only be luck
you hit anything with it.

A man does what he can.

How many times you told me
it's the first bullet that counts,

that by the second
or third you're buried?

I don't need no
lecture from you.

Iris is hoping to see
you come home with me.

I ain't swapping ten years of
my life for a porch rocking chair.

They ain't even
gonna let you do it.

Dodge'll be full of deputies
when that stage comes in.

There won't be no deputies
at the Stone Creek way station.

Hello, Doc.

Well, Grant's still at it out
there. Practicing every day.

I thought that'd all be over
when those two got married.

Yeah, so did I.

Wouldn't it be simple enough just to
lock Grant up until after Hoxy's gone?

Well, that wouldn't solve
anything, just put it off.

Well, Hoxy'll be here in the
morning. What are you gonna do?

I don't know.

Something I never figured,
him going out to meet the stage.

Jeffery, you know what I think?
And I hope you're taking this right.

There ain't nothing
real about your pa.

Something happened ten years
ago. We was nothing more than babies.

Now we gotta pay for
it. It just don't seem real.

Iris, he's gonna
get himself killed.

I never counted on him
having a fanning gun made.

Jeffery, I just don't think
we should be thinking on it.

There's nothing stopping your
pa from what he wants to be doing.

No.

Jeffery?

It may just be a simple choice.

Hoxy being buried or my pa.

But if it gotta be my pa, Iris,
we wouldn't be forgetting it.

If it gotta be you?

Jeffery.

You come back to me.

Morning.

You... You meeting
somebody on the stage?

Well, you're welcome to come
in out of the sun, you want.

Fine out here.

Get him over here.

Get him over here.

Get him over here.

Right over here, Lyle,
get them fingers spread.

One hand for each
of my brothers.

I want you to remember
those boys, Lyle.

Would seem right
you never forget them.

Pa.

Pa?

I saw the stage
dust from the ridge.

Be here in a few minutes.

Why'd you come here?

I couldn't leave you to die, Pa.

No matter what kind of
gun hand Hoxy still has,

I got a chance to
take him with me.

You're not facing
Hoxy, Pa. I am.

You got a wife to think on now.

Ain't thinkin' on nothin'
till we're finished here.

I got a fierce
pride in you, Jeff.

I always did have.

Whoa.

Jeff. I didn't expect
to see you here.

Come down to Hoxy or my father.

Hoxy?

Hoxy!

Yes?

Pa, it's over.

Don't you understand?

It's him.

You wearing a gun, Hoxy?

- What?
- Are you wearing a gun?

He doesn't even know
you. Can't you see that?

He knows! He's pretending.

Lousy scum.

Ten years I waited
on you. Ten years.

It's plain we've met before.
Must have been a long time back.

You don't remember me?

You don't remember these?

I've been sick a long time.

I just can't seem to recall.

You've gotta remember.

You've gotta remember!

Whatever it was, I'm sorry.

Hoxy!

He's got to remember.

He's got to remember.

Well, Mrs. Lyle, you're
just pretty as a picture

with that new
bonnet you've got on.

I'm afraid it's a terrible
waste of money.

Maybe she ought to
return it to Mr. Jonas, Pa.

You're just gonna have to
fight me to get it, Jeffery Lyle.

Well, folks, how are
things down on the farm?

You wouldn't believe the changes
taking place out there, Matt.

Well, I haven't seen
much of you in town lately.

I guess you've
been too busy, huh?

No time for visiting, what with
the new fields we're putting in.

Oh, I think there's time for
visiting if you'd come for supper.

Sounds mighty good.
You just say the word.

How about Sunday week?

Well, now, that's a deal. What I
need's some good home cooking.

Well, just come hungry
is all I can tell you.

Well, we sure will.

- So long.
- See you.

They're a nice
addition to this town.

They sure are, Doc.

- What we need...
- Matthew, Doc.

Now, if you can figure out
some way to get rid of this,

it'll be a great improvement
to the whole community.

I'd no more than gotten my
howdy said and he lights in on me.

Say, Festus...

I'll swear, Matthew, the older that old
grump-head gets, the angrier he gets.

And not only that, but he's
getting so shaky and rickety

that he's about to rickety away.
He ought to be put out to pasture.

Festus, how would
you like a beer?

- Oh, yeah, well, of course.
- Right. Let's go.

You know, back home when a
horse gets all rickety like old Doc,

well, I'd take him
down to my cousin...

Stay tuned for scenes
from next week's Gunsmoke.