Did it Happen in Dodge City or Medicine Bow?
Who is the hero of this story? Is it US Marshal Matt Dillon, bringing law and order to the Wild West? Or is it the mysterious ranch foreman, known only as the Virginian who saves the day? How well do you know their tales of valor? Try this fun quiz and see if you can guess which plot goes to Gunsmoke and which to The Virginian.
Plot 1: Our hero comes to the rescue of a woman and her daughter when he learns that her husband, a local farmer, is holding them prisoner.
Plot 2: A dying father gives our hero a letter and money, and asks him to find his daughter. Our hero thinks he’s looking for a small child, but instead, he finds an uncivilized, older mountain girl.
Plot 3: When a friend is framed for killing a beautiful woman’s husband, our hero poses as a cattle buyer to prove his pal’s innocence. The murdered man’s widow is quite charming and the truth is more complicated than he imagined.
Plot 4: Jud, cowboy drifter and card shark and a young, orphaned Indian boy head to town to find work. Once there, they are met with bigotry. When gamblers come to kill Jud, the boy must find our hero for help.
Plot 5: A young woman from San Francisco passes through town on her way east, and soon falls for our hero. When he shows no interest in her advances, the young woman devises a plot to make him jealous, at the expense of an unwitting other man, who may suffer dire consequences because of her folly.
Plot 6: When a new school teacher arrives in town, along with her older sister and grandfather, everyone takes an immediate liking to her, but as men flock to court her, there’s only one man whose heart she wants—our hero’s!
Plot 7: Jonah Hutchinson returns to town after spending 30 years in prison for inciting a range war. When he learns his son sold off parcels of land in hard times, he goes on a rampage intimidating fellow ranchers to get his land back. Our hero must step in to stop a new range war.
Plot 8: While traveling in Texas, our hero is shot, and a rancher and his wife take him in so he can recuperate. But healing goes slowly as our hero becomes embroiled in a plot by the rancher’s wife to leave her hard-nosed, ruthless husband.
Plot 9: A wealthy gambler comes to town to buy horses. When word gets out, rival horse traders challenge each other to a long-distance, high-speed race. Our hero has a stake in the game, but soon cheating, accusations and suspicions arise.
Plot 10: On his way home, robbers steal our hero’s horse and gun, so he travels on foot to a nearby town where he’s sure he’ll find the thieves. There he meets a woman he once knew who is now married and has a young daughter. When an accident occurs, the citizens of the lawless town look to our hero for help.
