How to watch the Gunsmoke movies: all five reunion films & where to stream them
Gunsmoke ran for 20 seasons and 635 episodes between 1955 and 1975, then got cancelled so abruptly the cast found out from the papers. So CBS spent the late '80s and early '90s making it up to everyone. Five TV movies followed, all starring James Arness as Matt Dillon. Here's the full set, in order.
The five films
- Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (1987) — Retired and working as a trapper, Dillon is stabbed by thieves, and Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake) rushes back from New Orleans as old enemy Will Mannon (Steve Forrest) gets out of prison hunting revenge. The only film actually set in Dodge, and Blake's final appearance — she died in 1989.
- Gunsmoke: The Last Apache (1990) — Matt learns he has a grown daughter, Beth, with Mike Yardner (Michael Learned, reprising her role from a 1973 episode), and rides into Apache territory to rescue her from the warrior Wolf.
- Gunsmoke: To the Last Man (1992) — Hunting the rustlers who hit his herd, Matt is pulled into Arizona's real-life Pleasant Valley War, with Pat Hingle and Morgan Woodward along for the feud.
- Gunsmoke: The Long Ride (1993) — Arrested at Beth's wedding for a murder he didn't commit, Matt goes on the run with a $5,000 dead-or-alive bounty on his head. James Brolin and Ali MacGraw co-star.
- Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice ( 1994) — In the final film, Matt chases down a 15-year-old boy bent on killing the outlaws who murdered his mother in a stagecoach robbery. Bruce Boxleitner co-stars.
Each runs roughly 90 to 95 minutes — a little under eight hours for the whole set.
Where to stream them
Here's the catch: the movies aren't on the big subscription services. As of August 2026, your realistic options are digital purchase via Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu), a five-film DVD collection from Paramount, or broadcast — nostalgia channel MeTV airs them regularly, and ran all five on consecutive Saturdays during its Gunsmoke 70th-anniversary celebrations in September 2025.
Don't confuse them with the original series, which is much easier to find: the 1955–1975 show streams free on Pluto TV and with a subscription on Paramount+ and Peacock.
Do you need to watch them in order?
Release order is the way. Return to Dodge stands alone as the proper reunion — the only one with a returning cast member besides Arness. The last four form a loose arc built around daughter Beth, introduced in The Last Apache, so they reward being watched in sequence.
Just a fun bit of trivia: when One Man's Justice aired on 10 February 1994, Arness had been playing Matt Dillon for nearly 39 years.
No goodbye needed by then. He'd already had the longest ride in television.