No relation to the TV and radio series of the same name, Universal-International's Gunsmoke is a Technicolor vehicle for action star (and war hero) Audie Murphy. Murphy plays a wandering hired gun who is commissioned to kill a rancher (Paul Kelly). The film's conflict arises when the gunslinger befriends his would-be victim and comes to reject the attitudes of those who hired him. The fact that the gunman has fallen in love with the rancher's daughter (Susan Cabot) may have something to do with his change of heart. Audie Murphy mends his ways by the time Gunsmoke comes to a close, as if there was any doubt.