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The opening 'Gunsmoke' duel saw Matt Dillon win, despite drawing second. A physicist proposed a hypothesis as to how the marshal managed to win.

Published on March 4, 2023

Gunsmoke lead U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon found himself in a lot of gun duels over the years in his fight to protect Dodge City from villains. However, he wasn’t always able to best every single gunfighter he came across. Matt still managed to defeat bad guys, even when he didn’t draw first. A physicist once explained why Matt still won the Gunsmoke opening title credits duel, even though he drew second.

‘Gunsmoke’ opening showed Matt Dillon in a gun duel

James Arness was first brought onto Gunsmoke, starting with the first episode of the television adaptation of the popular radio show. He played the marshal for all 20 seasons, which ran from 1955 to 1975. However, the opening title credits made some changes over the years.

The original opening that started with episode 1 was shot on an outside street rather than a painted backdrop. There, the camera was placed behind Matt’s back, pitted against a villain in a black hat. Matt originally drew before the villain, but later seasons saw the antagonist draw first.

Physicist Niels Bohr said Matt Dillon won the ‘Gunsmoke’ duel because he drew second

A physicist named Niels Bohr developed a theory that directly applied to Matt’s opening duel on Gunsmoke. According to The Greeneville Sun, the idea initially came to him after watching Western films that featured villains drawing before the hero, yet the good guy still won.

Bohr used toy cap guns to test his theory that a person reacting actually moves faster than their opponent because they drew “deliberately.” He created mock gunfights along with another physicist named George Gamow to test this “gunslinger effect” hypothesis. They regularly attended Western movies together, which developed the significant theory that directly applied to many shows and films.

“Since the hero never shoots first, the villain has to decide when to draw, which impedes his action,” Gamow said. “The hero, on the other hand, acts according to a conditioned reflex and grabs the gun automatically as soon as he sees the villain’s hand move.”

As a result, Matt always won the Gunsmoke duel when he drew second in the later seasons because of this “conditioned reflex.”

James Arness once playfully lost the duel

Arness took the legacy of Matt and Gunsmoke rather seriously. However, he also had a great sense of humor and understood how to have a good time. Arness made the set break into laughter when they were filming a new opening title credits scene.

Matt was always intended to win the opening title credits duel in Gunsmoke, but the actor thought it would be hilarious if he took the bullet. As a result, he pretended to get shot, but, of course, it never made it to air.

This lighthearted behavior initially rubbed co-star Milburn Stone, who played Doc Adams, the wrong way. His temper boiled over, so he pointed it out to Arness. However, he never expected him to agree with Stone, and the two grew unexpectedly close.

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