James ArnessFilmography

Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice

Actors: James Arness, Bruce Boxleitner

Synopsis: This made-for-TV movie, one of a series that brought back James Arness in the role of Marshall Matt Dillon from the long-running TV Western serial Gunsmoke, finds Dillon on the trail of an angry young man whose mother was killed during a robbery of a stagecoach. The boy has sworn vengeance against Read More

Gunsmoke: To the Last Man

Actors: James Arness, Pat Hingle, Jason Lively

Synopsis: When retired lawman Matt Dillon takes off hunting for some stolen cattle, he and his daughter discover a vigilante gang and get involved in one of the bloodiest and most deadly feuds in the history of the West. Gunsmoke fans will not be disappointed by this James Arness outing. ~ Tana Hobart, All Read More

Gunsmoke: The Long Ride

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: James Arness, James Brolin, Ali MacGraw

Synopsis: James Arness made his first appearance as Marshal Matt Dillon in eight years in the 1993 TV movie Gunsmoke: The Long Ride. Inasmuch as Amanda Blake (Kitty) and Milburn Stone (Doc) had passed on, and Dennis Weaver was disinclined to revive the role of Chester, big Jim pretty much goes it alone in Read More

Gunsmoke: The Last Apache

Actors: James Arness, Richard Kiley, Michael Learned

Synopsis: Matt Dillon is the only one available from the series in this movie. This time he discovers that he has a daughter he never even knew that he had. Unfortunately, however, she has been kidnapped by some renegade Apaches. Needless to say, the now retired Marshall Dillon comes out of retirement to go Read More

Red River

Actors: Bruce Boxleitner, Gregory Harrison

Synopsis: Inasmuch as Gunsmoke star James Arness was the protégé of movie luminary John Wayne, it is altogether fitting and proper that Arness step into Wayne's role in the 1988 TV-movie remake of the film classic Red River (1948). The remake follows the original slavishly, at least during the first half. Read More

The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory

Actors: Brian Keith

Synopsis: The valor and anguish of the Alamo is resurrected in this '80s effort that features a considerably accomplished cast. Brian Keith plays Davy Crockett and James Arness is Jim Bowie who, although at odds at times with his leader Colonel William Travis (Alec Baldwin), is able to focus upon the battle Read More

Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge

Actors: Steve Forrest, James Arness, Amanda Blake, Buck Taylor

Synopsis: James Arness returns to the role of US marshal Matt Dillon after a twelve-year absence in the made-for-TV Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge. Amanda Blake is also back as Miss Kitty, "hostess" of Dodge City's Long Branch saloon. The plot involves Dillon's reunion with Kitty in a Dodge City festooned with Read More

The Macahans

Actors: James Arness, Richard Kiley, Eva Marie Saint, William Conrad

Synopsis: The Macahans is a two-hour TV movie utilizing characters originally created for the 1962 Cinerama extravaganza How the West Was Won. In his first post-Gunsmoke project, Zeb Macahan stars as frontiersman Zeb Macahan, who in the early 1860s returns to Virginia to visit his family. It takes only the Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 20

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis, Buck Taylor, Fran Ryan

Synopsis: The record-breaking 20th season of Gunsmoke also proved to be the series' last stand--not because it had lost its huge fan base (the series still managed to rank among the 30 highest-rated series for the 1974-75 season) but because, after two decades, James Arness had decided to move beyond his Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 19

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis, Buck Taylor

Synopsis: That Gunsmoke was the longest-running dramatic series in TV history was common knowledge by the time the program entered its nineteenth season in the fall of 1973. What few could have predicted that year was Gunsmoke's unassailable popularity despite its age, as proven by the fact that it would Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 18

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis, Buck Taylor

Synopsis: With the cancellation of Bonanza in December of 1972, Gunsmoke remained standing as the last of the "golden age" TV westerns as it entered its record-breaking eighteenth season on the air. Heading the cast just as they had way back when the show got under way in 1955 are James Arness as Marshal Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 17

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis, Buck Taylor

Synopsis: Seventeen seasons and 540 episodes since it burst on the TV scene as the first truly "adult" western back in 1955, Gunsmoke returned with 24 all-new episodes in the fall of 1971. Amazingly, two of the original regulars are still on tap: James Arness as US Marshal Matt Dillon of Dodge City, and Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 16

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis, Buck Taylor

Synopsis: Having twice "cheated the hangman" by eluding CBS' efforts to cancel the series, the venerable western Gunsmoke was still safely imbedded in its by-now-familiar Monday evening slot for a sixteenth season--the longest-running dramatic series in TV history, with no end in sight! Still in harness Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 15

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis, Buck Taylor

Synopsis: Rescued from cancellation when it was moved from Saturdays to Mondays during its thirteen season, the venerable TV western Gunsmoke continued to steadily climb in the ratings throughout the next two years, and by the time Season Fifteen rolled around the series was the second most popular TV Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 14

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis

Synopsis: Despite stiff competition from NBC's top-rated Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, the venerable CBS western Gunsmoke continued to flourish in its (relatively) new Monday-night timeslot during its 14th season on the air, finishing the year as America's sixth most popular TV program, with a 24.9 ratings Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 13

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis

Synopsis: Rescued from cancellation by an eleventh-hour decision from CBS president William Paley, Gunsmoke entered its 13th season in a brand-new timeslot: Monday evenings at 7:30 PM, rather than Saturdays at 10. It was felt that an earlier slot would attract younger fans and stronger sponsors; and Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 12

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis

Synopsis: Beginning with its 12th season, Gunsmoke switched from black-and-white to color, one of the last major network series to do so. This necessitated the reshooting of the series' familiar opening sequence, in which Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) outdraws an unidentified desperado on the deserted Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 11

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis

Synopsis: By the time Gunsmoke entered its record-breaking eleventh season in the fall of 1965, the series had past beyond the realm of ordinary western and into the lofty heights of American institution. Unfortunately, its ratings were not quite so lofty: The series had long ago relinquished the Number One Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 10

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone

Synopsis: The fact that Gunsmoke is able to enter its 10th season despite ever-descending ratings is a tribute not only to the series' solid story and production values but also its most fervent fans. Had it been any other series, Gunsmoke would have ground to a halt as the result of its many artistic Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 09

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone

Synopsis: Entering its ninth season on CBS, Gunsmoke has already made history as the first TV western series to surpass 300 episodes, and one of the few programs of any kind to rate as America's Number One series for four consecutive years. However, since expanding from 30 to 60 minutes two seasons back Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 08

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Dennis Weaver

Synopsis: The decision to expand Gunsmoke from 30 to 60 minutes during its seventh season may have made sense insofar as offering more in-depth storytelling and providing a larger forum for potential sponsors, but it didn't do much for the series' ratings. After riding high as America's top-rated series for Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 07

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Dennis Weaver

Synopsis: 1961 was a year of transition for Gunsmoke. The radio version of the popular series, which had been running since 1952, was cancelled; the Prime Time TV version, which had adhered to the 30-minute format since its inception in 1955, expanded to a full hour; and Dennis Weaver, cast as Matt Dillon's Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 06

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Dennis Weaver

Synopsis: Having ridden high in the saddle as America's top-rated TV series for the past three years Gunsmoke managed to retain this lofty status as the series entered its Sixth season on the air--which was also its final season in the half-hour format. Thanks to the series' popularity, a major influx of Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 05

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Dennis Weaver

Synopsis: Gunsmoke's fifth season on CBS marked the third consecutive year that the series ranked as America's top-rated television program. In fact, it was good year all around for TV westerns: Four of the "top ten" shows were shoot-em-ups, with seven additional westerns ranking in the overall Top Twenty. Read More

Alias Jesse James

Actors: Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Jay Silverheels, Bob Hope, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell Corey, Jim Davis, Gloria Talbott

Synopsis: Bob Hope plays a 19th-century insurance agent whose miserable sales record prompts his boss to send him out West, where he can (supposedly) do little harm. Hope manages to sell a $100,000 life insurance policy--to outlaw Jesse James (Wendell Corey), one of the worst "risks" in history! In his Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 04

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Dennis Weaver

Synopsis: Having ended its third season as America's top-rated TV series, Gunsmoke managed to retain that title throughout Season Four, not only because of its own innate excellence but also because of its unusually strong lead-in show on CBS' Saturday-night schedule, Have Gun: Will Travel. Even though the Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 03

Actors: James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Dennis Weaver

Synopsis: After a shaky start opposite NBC's George Gobel Show during its first season, TV's foremost "adult" western Gunsmoke steadily accrued new viewers throughout Season Two, ending the year as America's 8th most popular program. And by the end of Season Three, Gunsmoke was TV's top-rated series--a fact Read More

Gun the Man Down

Actors: James Arness, Angie Dickinson, Robert J. Wilke, Emile G. Meyer

Synopsis: Two years into Gunsmoke, James Arness took time out of his busy schedule to star in the medium-budget western Arizona Mission. Trading in his white hat for a black one, Arness plays a bandit. He and partners Robert J. Wilke and Don Megowan pull off a robbery; the partners then vamoose with the Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 02

Actors: Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Dennis Weaver

Synopsis: Season Two of Gunsmoke introduces the series' now-legendary opening sequence, as Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) shoots it out on the deserted main street of Dodge City with an anonymous opponent (Matt, of course, outdraws the man. He always does). Over the years, this opener would be Read More

The First Traveling Saleslady

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Barry Nelson, Carol Channing, David Brian, James Arness, Clint Eastwood

Synopsis: Ginger Rogers ended her 23-year association with RKO Radio with the indifferent musical comedy western The First Travelling Saleslady. Ginger and Broadway favorite Carol Channing (whose only starring film this was) play a pair of corset salespersons who head westward in 1897 to hawk their wares. Read More

Flame of the Islands

Actors: Yvonne De Carlo, Howard Duff, Zachary Scott, Kurt Kasznar, Barbara O'Neil

Synopsis: Yvonne de Carlo is at her most smokily exotic in the Republic "special" Flame of the Islands. Filmed on location in the Bahamas, the story focuses on Rosalind Dee (Ms. DeCarlo), a cabaret singer who aspires to enter High Society. To this end, she comes into possession of a great deal of money Read More

The Sea Chase

Actors: John Wayne, Lana Turner, David Farrar, Lyle Bettger, Tab Hunter

Synopsis: John Wayne plays anti-Nazi Prussian sea captain Karl Erlich in Sea Chase, one of the many film commentaries released post WWII. Though staunchly opposed to the Nazi regime, Karl (Wayne) feels it would nevertheless be unpatriotic should he refuse to save his ship from destruction. His ship--an old Read More

Many Rivers to Cross

Actors: Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, Victor McLaglen, Jeff Richards, Russ Tamblyn

Synopsis: Packaged and sold as an outdoor actioner, Many Rivers to Cross is as much a comedy as anything else. Robert Taylor stars as 18th century trapper Bushrod Gentry, who is himself entrapped into marriage by the spunky Mary Stuart Cherne (Eleanor Parker). Escaping his marital responsibilities (which Read More

Gunsmoke: Season 01

Actors: James Arness, Milburn Stone, Amanda Blake, Dennis Weaver

Synopsis: The original radio version of Gunsmoke was in its third year on the air when the TV version made its CBS network bow on September 10, 1955. Replacing radio's William Conrad as Matt Dillon was tall-in-the-saddle James Arness, whose chief claim to fame at that time was his portrayal of the title Read More

Them!

Actors: James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness, Onslow Stevens

Synopsis: A little girl is found wandering in the desert, in a state of complete shock. When she finally revives, she can scream out only one word: "Them!" Any aficionado of 1950s horror films can readily tell you that "Them" are giant ants, a byproduct of the radiation attending the atomic bomb tests of Read More

Her Twelve Men

Actors: Greer Garson, Robert Ryan, Barry Sullivan, Richard Haydn, Barbara Lawrence

Synopsis: After a fruitful 15-year association, Greer Garson and MGM parted company with Her Twelve Men. The William Roberts-Laura Z. Hobson screenplay was adapted from Louise Baker's autobiographical novel Miss Baker's Dozen, the title of which pointed out the fact (which the film's title does not) that Read More

The Veils of Bagdad

Actors: Robert Blake, Victor Mature, Mari Blanchard, Virginia Field, Guy Rolfe, Leon Askin

Synopsis: It's a toss-up as to who looks better unclothed in Universal's Veils of Bagdad: Hero Victor Mature or heroine Mari Blanchard. Mature plays a Robin-Hood type named Antar, who travels with a troupe of jugglers and wrestlers, all of whom double as thieves, pickpockets and second-story men. When the Read More

The Lone Hand

Actors: Joel McCrea, Barbara Hale, Alex Nicol, Charles Drake, Jimmy Hunt

Synopsis: Lone Hand benefits immensely from the genuine Colorado locations seen throughout. Zachary Hallock (Joel McCrea) and his son Joshua (Jimmy Hunt) set up farming in a frontier community plagued by outlaws. Vigilantes want to form a united front against the villains, but Hallock refuses to join, even Read More

Island in the Sky

Actors: John Wayne, Lloyd Nolan, Walter Abel, James Arness, Andy Devine

Synopsis: During World War II, a Military Air Transport Command DC-3 piloted by a civilian crew is forced down in northern Labrador. The five men, led by Dooley (John Wayne), have barely any food and almost no way to keep warm, and their power supply is fading fast, but they have to find a way of staying Read More

Hondo

Actors: John Wayne, Geraldine Page, Ward Bond, Michael Pate, James Arness

Synopsis: Hondo is so "perfect" a John Ford western that many people assume it was directed by John Ford--or at the very least, Andrew McLaglen. Actually the director was suspense expert John Farrow, who worked with the "Duke" only twice in his career (the second film was an oddball war drama, The Sea Chase Read More

Horizons West

Actors: Robert Ryan, Julie Adams, Rock Hudson, John McIntire, Judith Braun, Raymond Burr

Synopsis: Set in the years following the Civil War, Horizons West stars Robert Ryan as Dan Hammond, one of three Texans who decide to return home after the cessation of hostilities. While his brother Neal (Rock Hudson) and his friend Tiny (James Arness) decide to become ranchers, Dan opts for a more Read More

Carbine Williams

Actors: James Stewart, Jean Hagen, Wendell Corey, Carl Benton Reid, Paul Stewart

Synopsis: The tougher postwar screen image of James Stewart is given a good workout in the fact-based Carbine Williams. In 1952, the world at large knew Marsh Williams as the developer of the US Army's M-1 carbine rifle. The film builds up to this event by detailing Williams' previous existence as a Read More

The Girl in White

Actors: June Allyson, Arthur Kennedy, Gary Merrill, Mildred Dunnock, Jesse White

Synopsis: June Allyson portrays real-life doctor Emily Dunning in this respectful biopic. Emily chooses a medical career despite turn-of-the-century prejudice against female physicians. The only job open to her is in a slum hospital in the Bowery, where she performs with courage and perseverance, exposing Read More

Hellgate

Actors: Sterling Hayden, Joan Leslie, Ward Bond, James Arness, Marshall Bradford

Synopsis: This western stars Sterling Hayden as a man who innocently tends to the needs of a mysterious stranger. When it turns out that the stranger was part of a notorious gang of mercenaries, Hayden is condemned as a conspirator and sent to Hellgate Prison in New Mexico. He earns a pardon thanks to his Read More

Big Jim McLain

Actors: John Wayne, Nancy Olson, James Arness, Alan Napier, Veda Ann Borg

Synopsis: Of all the "kill the commies" cold war films of the 1950s, John Wayne's Big Jim McLain may well be the worst. Certainly it's the hardest one to sit through today. The Duke and his partner Jim Arness (Wayne's real-life protege) head to Hawaii to investigate a subversive pro-Red organization. Read More

The Iron Man

Actors: Jeff Chandler, Evelyn Keyes, Stephen McNally, Rock Hudson, Joyce Holden

Synopsis: A remake of the 1931 film of the same name, Iron Man stars Jeff Chandler as up-and-coming boxer Cokie Martin. A relatively pleasant fellow outside the ring, Martin turns into a monster whenever he dons boxing gloves and trunks. As a result, he becomes "the man you love to hate" so far as the fans Read More

The People Against O'Hara

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Pat O'Brien, Diana Lynn, John Hodiak, Eduardo Ciannelli

Synopsis: Fish-market worker Johnny O'Hara (James Arness) is named as a suspect when his boss -- with whom he had a dispute the previous day -- is shot to death in an apparent robbery. When he's arrested, his family appeals to their old friend James Curtayne (Spencer Tracy), who was once a renowned criminal Read More

Cavalry Scout

Actors: Rod Cameron, Audrey Long, Jim Davis, James Millican, James Arness

Synopsis: Rod Cameron heads the cast of the Monogram "B-plus" western Cavalry Scout. Cameron plays army scout Kirby Frye, who has been assigned to track down a stolen cache of weaponry. Frye suspects that local troublemaker Martin Gavin (James Millican) is the criminal mastermind, but he needs proof. The Read More

The Thing

Actors: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, Dewey Martin

Synopsis: The scene is a distant Arctic research station, where a UFO has crashed. The investigating scientists discover that the circular craft has melted its way into the ice, which has frozen up again. While attempting to recover the ship, Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) accidentally explodes the Read More

Stars in My Crown

Actors: Joel McCrea, Ellen Drew, Dean Stockwell, Lewis Stone

Synopsis: Stars in My Crown is an episodic movie about a rural Southern community in the 19th century. Though the film features a number of characters, it focuses on a preacher who moves into the city and helps solve the town's problems. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Wagon Master

Actors: Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr., Ward Bond, Joanne Dru, Charles Kemper, Alan Mowbray

Synopsis: Wagon Master, splendidly directed by John Ford, is a superlative western. The film is the outwardly simple tale of a Mormon wagon train headed for Utah. Along the way, the group, led by Elder Wiggs (Ward Bond) hook up with two horse traders Travis Blue (Ben Johnson) and Sandy Owens (Harry Carey Read More

Sierra

Actors: Audie Murphy, Wanda Hendrix, Dean Jagger, Burl Ives, Sara Allgood, Richard Rober

Synopsis: Audie Murphy and Wanda Hendrix were husband and wife when they co-starred in the Technicolor western Sierra. Murphy plays Ring Hassard, the son of outlaw Jeff Hassard (Dean Jagger), who despite his dad's reputation is basically a good kid. Hendrix portrays Riley Martin, a lady lawyer who hopes to Read More

Two Lost Worlds

Synopsis: Veteran cinematographer-turned-director Norman Dawn calls the shots in Two Lost Worlds. Set in the Australian colony of Queensland, the film stars Jim Arness as Kirk Hamilton, an American seaman who conducts an ongoing battle of wills and weapons against marauding pirates. After a particularly Read More

Wyoming Mail

Actors: Stephen McNally, Alexis Smith, Howard Da Silva, Ed Begley, Sr., Dan Riss

Synopsis: Wyoming Mail stars Stephen McNally as frontier postal inspector Steve Davis. Assigned to break up a gang of outlaws who prey upon mail trains, Davis goes undercover, posing first as a fugitive from justice. Joining the bandit gang run by the ruthless Cavanaugh (Howard da Silva), Davis discovers Read More

Battleground

Actors: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Marshall Thompson, James Whitmore

Synopsis: Incoming MGM production head Dore Schary ramrodded Battleground into the studio's schedule over the virulent protests of MGM boss Louis Mayer. The result was an award-winning box-office hit, as well as the beginning of the end of Mayer's power. This dramatization of the battles of Bastogne and the Read More

The Farmer's Daughter

Actors: Keith Andes, Loretta Young, James Arness, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Art Baker, Charles Bickford, Harry Davenport, Lex Barker

Synopsis: When Loretta Young stepped up to accept her Academy Award for The Farmer's Daughter, the ever-youthful leading lady, who'd been in films since 1928, sighed "At long last!" Young is cast as Katie Holstrum, an independently-minded Swedish girl who leaves her family's Minnesota farm to take a Read More

Roses Are Red

Actors: Don Castle, Peggy Knudsen, Patricia Knight, Joe Sawyer, Edward Keane

Synopsis: Second-echelon leading man Don Castle (later a TV producer) stars in yet another Sol M. Wurtzel production, Roses Are Red. Kidnapped by political boss Locke (Edward Keane), honest district attorney Throne (Castle) is replaced by his less-than-honest look-alike. Even the DA's intimates are fooled Read More