BEVERLY HILLS (MI) -– The following is a short allegory about two “Wild West” towns, based on their wildly disparate depictions of frontier life on two radically different TV series.

The towns:

Dodge City, Kansas

Deadwood, South Dakota

The TV series:

“Gunsmoke”

“Deadwood”

“Gunsmoke” ran on CBS for 20 years and was centered on the characters of Marshall Matt Dillon, portrayed by James Arness and salon keeper Miss Kitty, played by Amanda Blake. Up until then, Arness was best known for his role of “The Thing” an alien vegetable life form that crash lands in the Arctic Circle in the movie of the same name.

“Gunsmoke” actually started out as a radio show and was credited with dispelling the myth of idyllic life in the Wild West. Matt Dillon was portrayed as a somewhat imperfect hero, who had shortcomings and didn’t always save the day. But he tried and he did a decent job of keeping the citizens of Dodge City in line. There were times, however, as in every western ever made, when Marshall Dillon had to deputize some citizens to help maintain law and order. You can still catch episodes of “Gunsmoke” every day on the Encore Western Channel.

How innocent was life in Dodge City as portrayed on the TV series? Until I was an adult, I had no idea that Miss Kitty was actually a madam and the Long Branch Saloon was a bordello. Notice the subtle choice by the writers in the name they gave to Ms. Blake’s character. They could have called her Miss Joanie or Miss Phyllis. Miss Kitty was the perfect ‘50s play on words. I’m sure my Dad saw the humor in it, but since I was only 5 when “Gunsmoke” premiered on TV, I sure didn’t. The fact that most of the episodes were shot in black and white contributes to the stark mood of “Gunsmoke.”

And then there is “Deadwood” as depicted in living color by David Milch in the HBO series of the same name. The real Deadwood put the wild in the Wild, Wild West during the Gold Rush of the 1870s. In the series, law and order is represented in the personage of straight-arrow sheriff Seth Bullock, but he’s just one sodbuster and can’t possibly keep up with all of the bad guys passing thru. The “town” (and that term is used loosely) of Deadwood is really run by Al Swearengen and he rules with an iron fist. In Swearengen’s world there is no “innocent until proven guilty.” Cross Al and you are likely to end up as an after-hours supper for Mr. Woo’s pigs over in the Chinese section of camp. There is no disguising what Al is: he owns the Gem Saloon and bawdyhouse and frequently is his own best customer. There is no subtlety in Al, either: a ***** is a *****, except when he decides to drop the “c” word when properly POed at one of them. The F-bomb is used in so many new and creative ways throughout the three, 12 episdoe seasons of Deadwood (even by Sheriff Bullock if sufficiently angered) that you become numb to the rawness of the dialogue and just accept it. Like Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant” you can get anything you want in Deadwood, if you have enuf gold dust in your keep. Prices for booze, women, food and mining supplies in Deadwood reflect the ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ nature of the prospecting business. If Al doesn’t have you killed, then the plague, Indians or claim jumpers probably will do so in short order. Deadwood is a muddy, dirty, thrown together dump that sprang up over night out of pure necessity. In essence, the only rule in Deadwood is that there are no rules.

So there you have it: two western outposts from roughly the same period of time in American history, portrayed in two entirely different ways.

One is fairly tame with a little bit of an edge to it; the other, is basically a lawless cesspool.

CBS or HBO.

Matt Dillon or Seth Bullock.

The Long Branch or the Gem Saloon.

Miss Kitty or Al Swearengen.

“Gunsmoke” or “Deadwood.”

Where would you want to live?

On whose message board would you rather post?

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
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