The Restless Gun
Encyclopedia
The Restless Gun is a western
television series
that appeared on NBC
between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne
in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy
in the era after the American Civil War
. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict wherever possible. He is gregarious, intelligent, and public-spirited. The half-hour black-and-white
program aired seventy-eight episodes. Jeanne Bates
appeared in varying roles with Payne in five episodes of The Restless Gun.
The Restless Gun theme song (officially titled "I Ride With the Wind") begins: "I ride with the wind, my eyes on the sun, and my hand on my restless gun..." The song composer is probably Paul Dunlap, credited as the primary series composer, but could have been contributed to by either of the two other series composers, Dave Kahn and Stanley Wilson, also. Two versions (one a vocal) are currently posted on You Tube, but neither posting lists any composer or performance credits.
anthology series The Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
, the pilot episode was based on a radio
series The Six Shooter, with Payne's character named Britt Ponset. For the television version, however, the name was changed to Vint Bonner. Some episodes were based on the radio programs.
The principal producer of The Restless Gun was David Dortort
, thereafter in 1959 the executive producer
of NBC's blockbuster western hit Bonanza
. Dortort did not create The Restless Gun, nor did he produce the pilot episode, and he rarely contributed original scripts. A critic who considers The Restless Gun only an average program, writes that the series "probably owes its mediocrity more to MCA, the company that 'packaged' the series and produced it through its television arm Revue Productions, than to Dortort."
The Restless Gun ranked in the Top Ten during its first season on the air, ending the year at No. 8, but it was not among the highest rated programs in the second season.
Set in Texas
, The Restless Gun pilot episode features Andrew Duggan
(later of CBS's Lancer
), William Hopper
(of Perry Mason
), Michael Landon
(later of Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie
) in supporting roles. Hopper plays a former lawman from Laredo
in south Texas and long-time friend of Bonner's. Hopper's character is being sought for revenge by Duggan, whom the lawman had sent to prison. In the episode, Bonner speaks of taking a job near Waco
.
Most end titles of The Restless Gun episodes read "Based on characters created by Frank Burt," but Burt's name is not mentioned in the pilot episode. Nor is he listed as the "creator."
Payne is the "executive producer" of his series, but a critic calls that designation "vanity." Payne has sometimes been compared to actor Dick Powell
, who during that same period hosted and sometimes starred in his own CBS western anthology series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
during the second half of the 1950s.
On September 30, 1957, in the episode entitled "Trail to Sunset," Bonner confronts five men who have returned from a hanging and presents evidence that the man who was executed was innocent. Claude Akins
plays Wes Flager, Jack Elam
portrays Link Jerrod, and Roy Roberts
is cast as "Doc".
On October 14, 1957, in the episode entitled "Rink," Bonner encounters a teenage boy, Rink, played by Peter J. Votrian, who is compelled to locate and kill the man who earlier killed Rink's father. Denver Pyle
plays Sheriff Jay in this episode.
In the October 21, 1957, episode entitled "Jenny," Vint is part of a posse after an outlaw, Ned Landy, played by Walter Reed
. The posse finds Landy on the ranch of a Jenny, played by Veda Ann Borg
, a woman who lives alone outside of town. Stuart Randall plays Sheriff York in this episode and three others as well.
On November 4, 1957, in the episode entitled "Jody," Rip Torn
plays Jody, a young man determined to become a gunfighter. When Jody kills a man in self-defense that man's brother, Ike Burnett, played by Dan Blocker
, and the father, portrayed by Paul Fix
, seek to avenge the death. Blocker appeared four times on the series.
On November 11, 1957, in "General Gilford's Widow," Bonner on his way for a cattle sale arrives at an isolated ranch. The woman in charge, Hannah Gilford, played by Lurene Tuttle
, realizes that Bonner is a former soldier. She asks him inside to visit with her husband, General Gilford. Bonner, however, knows that the general was killed some five years earlier in an Indian
raid.
"Man and Boy," which aired on November 25, 1957, is a powerful episode about a strict lawman, Sheriff Wade Lawson, played by Emile Meyer
, who gives no quarter in pursuit of a killer whom he believes to be his teenaged son, Ted, played by Martin Braddock. Ted has accumulated large gambling debts and asks his father for money, but the sheriff refuses any help. Actually, though the killer is someone else, not the sheriff's son. The lawman shoots the culprit to death believing that he has killed his own son. Vint Bonner, the ever-present witness to the events, in his closing narration speaks of how people often do not really know the ones closest to them and what a personal tragedy that can be. Dan Blocker plays the blacksmith
Fred Burgermen, and Olan Soule
portrays the freight office clerk in this episode.
Royal Dano
appears as the cowardly Wilbur English, all-consumed by fear, in the December 2, 1957, episode entitled "Cheyenne Express," named for a train. Wilbur shoots a killer in his gang in the back. He is promised a pardon and reward, but Wilbur fears that he will not live long enough to collect the money because the brother of the killer is on Wilbur's trail. Vint Bonner encounters Wilbur, whom he finds personally irritating but nevertheless tries to help him overcome his fear. Wilbur boards the "Cheyenne Express" and in a state of extreme panic stalks backwards out of the rail car to his death after he sees his victim's brother, unaware that the man is in police custody and handcuffed. In the closing narration, Bonner asks who would have wanted such a nuisance as Wilbur around them anyway for any length of time, and then the camera focuses on the little unwanted dog that Wilbur had earlier befriended. It was in this episode that Bonner felt compelled to declare "I am not a gun!"
In "Thicker than Water," which aired on December 9, 1957, Claude Akins appears as Marlow, a gambler who deserts his wife and son years earlier. Bonner informs Marlow that Marlow's wife has died of pneumonia, and Marlow's son thinks his father is dead. When Marlow comes to see his son, he reluctantly agrees to pose as "Parker" to keep the boy in the dark. Penny Edwards appears as Amy Neilsen, the boy's caregiver, who informs Marlow that his wife really died, not from pneumonia but from a broken heart caused by Marlow's desertion of his family. This episode may be remembered for Akins' line, "If you're looking for sympathy, it's in the dictionary."
In a Christmas
episode, "The Child," which aired on December 23, 1957, Dan Blocker appears in the role of John, the Brute, a giant of a man who cannot speak and who grew up at a Roman Catholic orphanage
in the area. When Bonner and a sheriff capture John and take him to the orphanage for Christmas Eve night, a young boy, Jesus, played by Carlos Arevalo, befriends the "brute" and becomes the only one who can handle him. James Gleason
and Anthony Caruso
play priests in the episode, which closes with a hymn. This episode is based on a story by John Payne himself.
plays restaurant owner Amity Hobbs, who constantly quotes Scripture to Bonner, whom she hires for $500 to clean up Hornitas Town and remove its crooked Sheriff Riker, played by John Larch
. The stipulation to Amity's offer is that Bonner accomplish the task without using his gun. Bonner hence resorts to public ridicule of the sheriff after they fight in the town square, and Bonner completely prevails in the exchange. Jack Elam plays an unscrupulous saloon owner named Tony Molinar. Milicent Patrick plays waitress Rosita, and Glenn Strange
, before he joined the Gunsmoke
cast as bartender Sam Noonan, has a minor role as a deputy in this episode. Larch appeared four times on The Restless Gun.
In "The Woman from Sacramento," which aired on March 3, 1958, Kathleen Crowley
plays Mary Blackwell, estranged daughter of Jim Blackwell, portrayed by Will Wright
, a wealthy but dying rancher for whom Bonner is working as a foreman. Jim becomes convinced that Mary is an imposter and directs Bonner to find proof of her background. However, Mary is Jim's daughter and rightful heir. H. M. Wynant plays Mary's questionable boyfriend, Steve Colby, in this episode.
Tom Tryon
, known for his Walt Disney
role as Texas John Slaughter
, appears in the title role of the episode "Sheriff Billy", which aired on March 10, 1958. Other guest stars in that segment are Harold J. Stone
as Ben Reed and Joyce Meadows
as Annie White.
On March 17, 1958, in the episode "The Hand Is Quicker," Joe Kruger, played by Gregg Palmer
, asks Bonner to give him shooting lessons so that Kruger can protect himself from the threat of Henry Wilson, portrayed by John Ericson. Kruger, as he learns rapidly how to handle a gun, is deceiving Bonner. Instead of Wilson being a threat, Kurger is planning to kill Wilson, who married Kurger's love interest. Mrs. Wilson thereafter died in childbirth. Ray Teal
, later Sheriff Roy Coffee on NBC's Bonanza, appears in this episode as Sheriff Lander, a friend of Bonner's. Tyler McVey
plays a foreman.
On March 24, 1958, in the episode "The Suffragette," Ellen Corby
, later the grandmother on CBS's The Waltons
, appears as Emma Birch, who organizes the women of a town to take political action. The men rebel. Vint Bonner becomes a reluctant mediator of sorts. Character actor Charles Lane
plays Mayor Peter Mercer in this episode.
On April 14, 1958, in "Aunt Emma," Bonner is wounded in an attempt to apprehend the Drake brothers, played by Lane Bradford
and Paul Grant. His elderly Aunt Emma, played by Connie Gilchrist
, treats his wounds and tries to prevent him from resuming the search when he recovers. William Fawcett
, who played Pete Willkey on the NBC children's western series Fury
, portrays the doctor, and Edgar Buchanan
is cast as Ethan Greenfield in this episode. Bradford, a versatile western character actor, appeared four times on The Restless Gun.
In "The Outlander," which aired on April 21, 1958, Gloria Talbott
plays Sophie Wilmer, a young woman who inherits her father's saloon and hotel in Prairie City, Kansas
, a town temporarily under the control of unruly former Confederates
from Texas. George Dolenz
, the father of singer Micky Dolenz
of The Monkees
, plays Count Peter Von Gilsa, Sophie's romantic interest and a former soldier from Europe
who speaks out against the former Confederates, led by a former army officer. Vint Bonner, a friend of Sophie's father, arrives in town to guarantee the peace. Bonner's concluding narration notes that while many wander for years seeking their place in life, perhaps himself, Sophie and Peter had found theirs.
In the episode "The Gold Star," on May 19, 1958, Edgar Buchanan plays a 40-year sheriff, Jeb Barnes, who is given a "gold star" upon his retirement by citizens of Little Beaver. However, the sheriff has joined with three former outlaws, including Sam Baggott, played by character actor I. Stanford Jolley
, to rob the bank while the retirement party is underway. The bandits put the gold in the sheriff's buggy before he leaves town, ostensibly to live with a nephew in Mexico
. When the bandits demand a larger share of the gold, Bonner arrives to hear that his old friend Barnes has betrayed the public trust. In a shootout Barnes and the three bandits are killed. Bonner tells the citizens that Barnes had earned another "gold star" by apprehending the bank robbers. Bonner does not reveal that Barnes himself had turned criminal at the end of his life. Bonner concludes the episode by remarking that the people may not give enough credit to the sacrifices made by under-appreciated law-enforcement officers.
On June 16, 1958, in the episode "Gratitude," the last of the first season, Jeanne Bates appears as Nancy Timberlake. Johnny Crawford
shortly thereafter to join Chuck Connors
's ABC series The Rifleman
, appears as Ned Timberlake.
In a second season premiere episode entitled "Jebediah Bonner" which aired September 22, 1958, Payne plays the aged role of his grandfather, a retired lawman who teaches young Vint important lessons of courage and living. James Best
plays a hothead, Jim Kenyon, in the episode whose fate is cast at his own insistence at the end of Jebediah Bonner's gun. Kenyon blames Bonner for the death of Kenyon's father. Read Morgan
, later a supporting cast member on NBC's The Deputy
, plays Jim Kenyon's brother, Bob.
On November 3, 1958, Daria Massey plays the Indian
princess Running Fawn in the episode "Bonner's Squaw." After Bonner settles a local problem with the Indians, Chief Tashcua's talented daughter attaches herself to him and refuses to let go. Massey's last posted media appearance was in a 1963 episode of McHale's Navy
. Thereafter she disappeared from public view.
In "Remember the Dead," which aired on November 17, 1958, Bonner arrives in a town with evidence to free a friend from jail on a murder conviction. Unfortunately, the friend has been hanged before Bonner reaches the town, and the widow and son reject Bonner because of the delay. Frank Ferguson
plays Sheriff Cullen. Selmer Jackson plays Judge Wayne, who orders the hanging but becomes so distraught over the turn of events that he resigns his office. The true culprit is a lawyer trying to get control of the ranch owned by Bonner's friend. Joe Flynn
, later of McHale's Navy, plays a minor role in the episode.
Don Grady
, before he was cast as Robbie Douglas in Fred MacMurray
's My Three Sons
, appears as a teenaged telegraph messenger, Donny Madison, in the episode "No Way to Kill," which aired November 24, 1958. Grady's character becomes attracted to the gunfighter legend surrounding Bonner, who is investigating a killer who mutilates his victims. Grady also appeared in the tile role of Andy Cavis in the episode "The Cavis Boy", which aired near the end of the series on June 1, 1959.
In the December 8, 1958, episode "Multiply One Boy" a Northern family invites an orphaned nephew and cousin from Virginia to live with them. The boy though holds a grudge against the Union
and questions whether his adopted family is responsible for the death of his Confederate father in the Civil War. Things turn even more sour when the boy accidentally shoots his cousin, who survives. The theme of the episode is reconciliation, as the family reaches out to the wayward nephew, whose hard heart finally melts.
In the episode "Peligroso," which aired on December 15, 1958, Robert Fuller
, before his role as Jess Harper on Laramie
, plays a young tough, Bud Bardeen, the son of a prominent rancher, who is shot to death in a saloon in self-defense by Bonner. Bardeen's sister, Lorry, played by Marcia Henderson, offers a reward for the killing of Bonner. Then Bonner shows up at the Bardeen ranch as "Jones", a hired hand, waiting for the opportunity to explain the situation to Miss Bardeen. Dabbs Greer
had a minor role in the episode as a sheriff.
Dan Blocker and James Coburn
each had their first substantive screen roles on The Restless Gun. In the December 29, 1958, episode entitled "The Way Back", Blocker portrays the "good guy" Olaf Burland. and Coburn is the unscrupulous Tom Quinn, determine to rob Olaf of his $3,000 profit from a cattle drive. In less than a year, Blocker's Olaf Burland would be forgotten, but not his new role of Hoss Cartwright on Bonanza, in which he was one of the four co-stars, along with Michael Landon, who appeared in the pilot of The Restless Gun. Bonanza debuted on NBC as The Restless Gun was cancelled.
portrays Lucy Collins, a saloon girl who falls in love with her portrait painter from St. Louis
, Missouri
, much to the outrage of a cruel cowboy who claims her affection. Roscoe Ates
plays the bewildered saloon owner, Juniper Dunlap, in whose establishment Lucy's painting will hang.
In "Shadow of a Gunfighter," which aired on January 12, 1959, a former gunfighter, Cal Winfield, played by Douglas Kennedy
, is told that Vint Bonner is responsible for the death of Winfield's son. Cal Winfield then comes out of retirement to extract vengeance. Robert Fuller appears in this episode as Jim Winfield.
On January 19, 1959, in the episode "The Lady and the Gun", Bonner falls in love with Myra Barker, played by Mala Powers
, but she rejects him in despair because she believes that he could not lay down his weapon, permit injustice to reign, and otherwise live a sedentary life as a husband. Lloyd Corrigan
appears in the episode as Jesse Alden.
On February 2, 1959, in the episode "Blood of Courage," Bonner is staying at the ranch of Major Quint Langley, played by J. Carrol Naish
(later of ABC
's Guestward Ho!). Bonner finds that Langley's foreman is planning to take over the major's property.
In "The Dead Ringer" on February 16, 1959, the outlaw Nick Dawson sees Bonner riding into town and mistakes him for Dawson's boss. When the bank is thereafter robbed and a man is killed, several witnesses swear that Bonner is the culprit. Walter Coy
guest starred in this episode.
In the episode entitled "Melany," which aired on March 2, 1959, Bonner visits a former girlfriend, Melany Carter, played by Marya Stevens, married to Jim Carter, portrayed by Gregg Palmer, a guest star on many television westerns. Jim suffers from a spinal injury procured in a shooting with symptoms akin to shell shock
. Meanwhile, a ruthless killer, Matt Pierce, played by Claude Akins, who boasts of having killed his first man when Pierce was only fifteen, is on the run from the local posse. After a difficult confrontation, Bonner manages to capture the outlaw alive. Jim Carter, meanwhile, begins a surprising recovery after experiencing the trauma of the events in their home, including Pierce's murder of the Carters' hired hand.
On March 30, 1959, in the episode "Incident at Bluefields," Bonner aids the local sheriff, played by Alan Hale, Jr.
(later the Skipper on CBS's Gilligan's Island
), in the apprehension of a wealthy land owner, Tom Cauter, who murders a friend of Bonner's, an employee at the Government Land Office. Cauter's gunfighter son, J. B., played by Morgan Woodward
, comes to settle the score. Bonner, however, guns down J. B., and the senior Cauter must stand trial before a federal judge for the murder of the land office employee. William Fawcett plays Moss Blaine, the secret eyewitness against Cauter. J. Pat O'Malley
, popular Irish
character actor, has a minor part in this episode as Gavin Hardy.
On April 6, 1959, in the episode entitled "The Pawn," Julie Anne Payne (Payne's then 18-year-old daughter), plays deaf mute Peggy McGiven, whose father, portrayed by character actor Onslow Stevens, is in jail facing charges. Two outlaw toughs played by James Coburn and Denver Pyle come to the isolated cabin where Peggy lives to menace her. Bonner comes to rescue her.
On April 27, 1959, in the episode "Code for a Killer," Bonner is called to be the best man at the wedding of his friend, Sheriff Dave Regan, but the officer is found dead before the ceremony. Bonner's investigation leads to the corrupt deputy played by Lane Bradford. Floyd Simmons, an actor who was a decorated veteran of World War II
, portrays Vance Carter, a confident gunfighter who works, somewhat reluctantly, with Bonner in solving the friend's murder.
On May 18, 1959, in "Ride with the Devil," Don Tomas Verdes (played by Jan Arvan) is a Mexican ranch owner who asks Bonner to rescue Verdes' son from participation in an outlaw gang. Bonner joins the gang in an effort to talk sense to the young man.
On May 25, 1959, in the episode "A Trial for Jenny May," Kasey Rogers
plays Jenny May, a woman with three children accused of being an unfit parent because she works in a saloon. Ellen Corby appears in this episode as Ruth Purcell. Child actor
Scotty Morrow plays Gordon, Jenny's son.
In "The Englishman" on June 8, 1959, an English valet who lacks a knowledge of the West, causes trouble for Bonner. While taking a payroll to the bank the English visitor is kidnapped, and Bonner is reduced to his boots and longjohns and forced to walk back to town. The townspeople laugh in an uproar, apparently unaware that a bank robbery is taking place. Lyle Talbot
appears in this episode as Mort Askins.
In the penultimate episode entitled "A Very Special Investigator" on June 15, 1959, the guest stars include Fay Spain
and Andy Clyde
, best known for his role as the neighbor George McMichael in Walter Brennan
's ABC sitcom, The Real McCoys
.
In the series finale entitled "The Hill of Death," which aired on June 22, 1959, a young boy, badly beaten, is left outside the office of Dr. Lem Shephered, played by Regis Toomey
. Bonner is visiting the doctor, an old friend, at the time of the attack. Bonner investigates in an attempt to locate the boy's assailants while the local sheriff is away. John Dehner
guest stars as Aaron Dixon.
Other guest stars included Robert Blake
(in the episode "Thunder Alley"), Peter Breck
(in "Take Me Home", with Mala Powers), Olive Carey
, Iron Eyes Cody
, Chuck Connors, Frank Dekova
(as Lupo Lazaro in the episode "Dragon for a Day"), Angie Dickinson
, Henry Hull
, Patrick McVey
, John Mitchum (the brother of Robert Mitchum
), Vic Morrow
, and Dean Stockwell
, who appeared with Dan Blocker and Gloria Talbott, who appears as "Mercyday" in the 1958 episode of the same name.
, The Guy Mitchell Show
on ABC. In the second season, CBS aired a western, Rory Calhoun
's The Texan
, in the opposing time slot.
Rebroadcasts of The Restless Gun continued on NBC until September 1959. Then ABC rebroadcast The Restless Gun weekdays from October 1959 to September 1960 and on Saturday mornings from November 1959 to March 1960.
The Restless Gun in prime time preceded NBC's Tales of Wells Fargo
, another half-hour western, longer-running, and highly rated, starring Dale Robertson
.
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
that appeared on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne
John Payne (actor)
John Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered as a singer in 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC western television series The Restless Gun.-Background:Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia...
in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
in the era after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict wherever possible. He is gregarious, intelligent, and public-spirited. The half-hour black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
program aired seventy-eight episodes. Jeanne Bates
Jeanne Bates
Jeanne Bates was an American radio, film and television actress. She signed a contract with Columbia Pictures in 1942 which began her career in films both in bit parts and larger roles.-Career:...
appeared in varying roles with Payne in five episodes of The Restless Gun.
The Restless Gun theme song (officially titled "I Ride With the Wind") begins: "I ride with the wind, my eyes on the sun, and my hand on my restless gun..." The song composer is probably Paul Dunlap, credited as the primary series composer, but could have been contributed to by either of the two other series composers, Dave Kahn and Stanley Wilson, also. Two versions (one a vocal) are currently posted on You Tube, but neither posting lists any composer or performance credits.
Background
Broadcast on March 29, 1957, as an installment of the CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
anthology series The Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, is a weekly CBS anthology television series, was telecast on Friday nights from 1951 until 1959. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by Schlitz beer...
, the pilot episode was based on a radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
series The Six Shooter, with Payne's character named Britt Ponset. For the television version, however, the name was changed to Vint Bonner. Some episodes were based on the radio programs.
The principal producer of The Restless Gun was David Dortort
David Dortort
-Further reading:*"David Dortort." The Complete Marquis Who's Who. Marquis Who's Who, 2010. Gale Biography In Context. Web. Retrieved 22 Sept. 2010. Fee, via Fairfax County Public Library...
, thereafter in 1959 the executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
of NBC's blockbuster western hit Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
. Dortort did not create The Restless Gun, nor did he produce the pilot episode, and he rarely contributed original scripts. A critic who considers The Restless Gun only an average program, writes that the series "probably owes its mediocrity more to MCA, the company that 'packaged' the series and produced it through its television arm Revue Productions, than to Dortort."
The Restless Gun ranked in the Top Ten during its first season on the air, ending the year at No. 8, but it was not among the highest rated programs in the second season.
Set in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, The Restless Gun pilot episode features Andrew Duggan
Andrew Duggan
-Career:During World War II, Duggan was in the 40th Special Services Company, led by actor Melvyn Douglas in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. His contact with Douglas later led to his performing with Lucille Ball in the play Dreamgirl. He developed a friendship with Broadway...
(later of CBS's Lancer
Lancer (TV series)
Lancer is a 1968-1970 Western television series on CBS, which starred Andrew Duggan, James Stacy, and Wayne Maunder as a father with two half-brother sons, an arrangement similar to the more successful Bonanza on NBC....
), William Hopper
William Hopper
William Hopper, born DeWolf Hopper, Jr. was an American actor. He is best-remembered for playing Paul Drake on television's Perry Mason.-Early life:...
(of Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
), Michael Landon
Michael Landon
Michael Landon was an American actor, writer, director, and producer. He is widely known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza , Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie , and Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven...
(later of Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...
) in supporting roles. Hopper plays a former lawman from Laredo
Laredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
in south Texas and long-time friend of Bonner's. Hopper's character is being sought for revenge by Duggan, whom the lawman had sent to prison. In the episode, Bonner speaks of taking a job near Waco
Waco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
.
Most end titles of The Restless Gun episodes read "Based on characters created by Frank Burt," but Burt's name is not mentioned in the pilot episode. Nor is he listed as the "creator."
Payne is the "executive producer" of his series, but a critic calls that designation "vanity." Payne has sometimes been compared to actor Dick Powell
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...
, who during that same period hosted and sometimes starred in his own CBS western anthology series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...
during the second half of the 1950s.
Selected 1957 episodes
In the series premiere on September 23, 1957, entitled "Duel at Lockwood," Bonner meets an elderly woman who asks for his help in controlling her grandson. The young man has already killed two men and boasts that Bonner is his next intended victim.On September 30, 1957, in the episode entitled "Trail to Sunset," Bonner confronts five men who have returned from a hanging and presents evidence that the man who was executed was innocent. Claude Akins
Claude Akins
Claude Marion Akins was an American actor with a long career on stage, screen and television.Powerful in appearance and voice, Akins could be counted on to play the clever tough guy, on the side of good or bad, in movies and television. He is best remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s TV series...
plays Wes Flager, Jack Elam
Jack Elam
William Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies .-Early life:...
portrays Link Jerrod, and Roy Roberts
Roy Roberts
Roy Roberts was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen.-Biography:...
is cast as "Doc".
On October 14, 1957, in the episode entitled "Rink," Bonner encounters a teenage boy, Rink, played by Peter J. Votrian, who is compelled to locate and kill the man who earlier killed Rink's father. Denver Pyle
Denver Pyle
Denver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing Uncle Jesse in The Dukes of Hazzard .-Early life:...
plays Sheriff Jay in this episode.
In the October 21, 1957, episode entitled "Jenny," Vint is part of a posse after an outlaw, Ned Landy, played by Walter Reed
Walter Reed (actor)
Walter Reed was an American stage, film and television actor. He was born in Fort Ward, Washington. Following a stint as a Broadway actor, Reed broke into films in 1941...
. The posse finds Landy on the ranch of a Jenny, played by Veda Ann Borg
Veda Ann Borg
Veda Ann Borg was an American film actress.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Borg was the daughter of Gottfried Borg, a Swedish immigrant and Minna Noble. She became a model in 1936 before winning a contract at Paramount Pictures. A car crash in 1939 necessitated drastic reconstruction of her face by...
, a woman who lives alone outside of town. Stuart Randall plays Sheriff York in this episode and three others as well.
On November 4, 1957, in the episode entitled "Jody," Rip Torn
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
plays Jody, a young man determined to become a gunfighter. When Jody kills a man in self-defense that man's brother, Ike Burnett, played by Dan Blocker
Dan Blocker
Dan Blocker was an American actor best remembered for his role as Eric "Hoss" Cartwright in the NBC western television series Bonanza.-Early life:...
, and the father, portrayed by Paul Fix
Paul Fix
Paul Fix was an American film and television character actor, best known for his work in westerns. Fix appeared in more than a hundred movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career spanning from 1925 to 1981...
, seek to avenge the death. Blocker appeared four times on the series.
On November 11, 1957, in "General Gilford's Widow," Bonner on his way for a cattle sale arrives at an isolated ranch. The woman in charge, Hannah Gilford, played by Lurene Tuttle
Lurene Tuttle
Lurene Tuttle was a character actress, who made transitions from vaudeville to radio, to films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's most versatile actresses...
, realizes that Bonner is a former soldier. She asks him inside to visit with her husband, General Gilford. Bonner, however, knows that the general was killed some five years earlier in an Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
raid.
"Man and Boy," which aired on November 25, 1957, is a powerful episode about a strict lawman, Sheriff Wade Lawson, played by Emile Meyer
Emile Meyer
Emile Meyer was an American actor usually known for tough, aggressive, authoritative characters in Hollywood films from the 1950s era, mostly in westerns or thrillers...
, who gives no quarter in pursuit of a killer whom he believes to be his teenaged son, Ted, played by Martin Braddock. Ted has accumulated large gambling debts and asks his father for money, but the sheriff refuses any help. Actually, though the killer is someone else, not the sheriff's son. The lawman shoots the culprit to death believing that he has killed his own son. Vint Bonner, the ever-present witness to the events, in his closing narration speaks of how people often do not really know the ones closest to them and what a personal tragedy that can be. Dan Blocker plays the blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
Fred Burgermen, and Olan Soule
Olan Soule
Olan Soule was an American character actor with hundreds of credits in films, radio, commercials, television and animation.-Early life:...
portrays the freight office clerk in this episode.
Royal Dano
Royal Dano
Royal Edward Dano was an American film and television character actor.-Early life:Dano was born in New York City to Mary Josephine , an Irish immigrant, and Caleb Edward Dano, a printer for newspapers. He reportedly left home at the age of twelve and at various intervals, lived in Florida, Texas...
appears as the cowardly Wilbur English, all-consumed by fear, in the December 2, 1957, episode entitled "Cheyenne Express," named for a train. Wilbur shoots a killer in his gang in the back. He is promised a pardon and reward, but Wilbur fears that he will not live long enough to collect the money because the brother of the killer is on Wilbur's trail. Vint Bonner encounters Wilbur, whom he finds personally irritating but nevertheless tries to help him overcome his fear. Wilbur boards the "Cheyenne Express" and in a state of extreme panic stalks backwards out of the rail car to his death after he sees his victim's brother, unaware that the man is in police custody and handcuffed. In the closing narration, Bonner asks who would have wanted such a nuisance as Wilbur around them anyway for any length of time, and then the camera focuses on the little unwanted dog that Wilbur had earlier befriended. It was in this episode that Bonner felt compelled to declare "I am not a gun!"
In "Thicker than Water," which aired on December 9, 1957, Claude Akins appears as Marlow, a gambler who deserts his wife and son years earlier. Bonner informs Marlow that Marlow's wife has died of pneumonia, and Marlow's son thinks his father is dead. When Marlow comes to see his son, he reluctantly agrees to pose as "Parker" to keep the boy in the dark. Penny Edwards appears as Amy Neilsen, the boy's caregiver, who informs Marlow that his wife really died, not from pneumonia but from a broken heart caused by Marlow's desertion of his family. This episode may be remembered for Akins' line, "If you're looking for sympathy, it's in the dictionary."
In a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
episode, "The Child," which aired on December 23, 1957, Dan Blocker appears in the role of John, the Brute, a giant of a man who cannot speak and who grew up at a Roman Catholic orphanage
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...
in the area. When Bonner and a sheriff capture John and take him to the orphanage for Christmas Eve night, a young boy, Jesus, played by Carlos Arevalo, befriends the "brute" and becomes the only one who can handle him. James Gleason
James Gleason
James Austin Gleason was an American actor born in New York City. He was also a playwright and screenwriter.-Career:...
and Anthony Caruso
Anthony Caruso (actor)
Anthony Caruso was an American character actor in over 100 American films, usually playing villains, including the First Season of Walt Disney's Zorro as Don Juan Ortega...
play priests in the episode, which closes with a hymn. This episode is based on a story by John Payne himself.
1958 episodes
In "Hornitas Town," on February 10, 1958, Peggie CastlePeggie Castle
Peggie Castle was an American actress who specialized in playing the "other woman" in B-movies. She was also billed under the names Peggy Castle and Peggie Call.-Career:...
plays restaurant owner Amity Hobbs, who constantly quotes Scripture to Bonner, whom she hires for $500 to clean up Hornitas Town and remove its crooked Sheriff Riker, played by John Larch
John Larch
John Larch was an American film and television actor.After his lead role in the radio serial Captain Starr of Space , John Larch entered films in 1954. He usually appeared in westerns and action films, including Miracle of the White Stallions as General George S. Patton Jr...
. The stipulation to Amity's offer is that Bonner accomplish the task without using his gun. Bonner hence resorts to public ridicule of the sheriff after they fight in the town square, and Bonner completely prevails in the exchange. Jack Elam plays an unscrupulous saloon owner named Tony Molinar. Milicent Patrick plays waitress Rosita, and Glenn Strange
Glenn Strange
Glenn Strange was an American actor who appeared mostly in Western films. He is best known for playing the Frankenstein Monster in three Universal films during the 1940s and for his role as Sam Noonan, the bartender on CBS's Gunsmoke television series...
, before he joined the Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
cast as bartender Sam Noonan, has a minor role as a deputy in this episode. Larch appeared four times on The Restless Gun.
In "The Woman from Sacramento," which aired on March 3, 1958, Kathleen Crowley
Kathleen Crowley
Betty Jane Kathleen Crowley is an American actress and was Miss New Jersey in 1949 and a contestant for Miss America in the same year . After the pageants, she became an actress who specialized in being phenomenally seductive in TV series and movies...
plays Mary Blackwell, estranged daughter of Jim Blackwell, portrayed by Will Wright
Will Wright (actor)
William Henry "Will" Wright was an American character actor. He was frequently cast in curmudgeonly roles. He was sometimes credited as Will J. Wright....
, a wealthy but dying rancher for whom Bonner is working as a foreman. Jim becomes convinced that Mary is an imposter and directs Bonner to find proof of her background. However, Mary is Jim's daughter and rightful heir. H. M. Wynant plays Mary's questionable boyfriend, Steve Colby, in this episode.
Tom Tryon
Tom Tryon
Tom Tryon was an American film and television actor, best known for playing the title role in the film The Cardinal and the Walt Disney television character Texas John Slaughter...
, known for his Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
role as Texas John Slaughter
Texas John Slaughter
Texas John Slaughter may refer to:*John Horton Slaughter, the Texas Ranger and Arizona pioneer*Texas John Slaughter , the television series produced by Walt Disney for ABC...
, appears in the title role of the episode "Sheriff Billy", which aired on March 10, 1958. Other guest stars in that segment are Harold J. Stone
Harold J. Stone
Harold J. Stone was an American film and television character actor.Born Harold Hochstein to a Jewish acting family, he began his career on Broadway in 1939 and appeared in five plays in the next six years, including One Touch of Venus and Stalag 17, following which he made his motion picture...
as Ben Reed and Joyce Meadows
Joyce Meadows
Joyce Meadows is a Canadian-American actress. From 1960-1961, she co-starred as Stacy in the syndicated western series Two Faces West with Charles Bateman and Francis De Sales...
as Annie White.
On March 17, 1958, in the episode "The Hand Is Quicker," Joe Kruger, played by Gregg Palmer
Gregg Palmer
Gregg Palmer, originally Palmer Lee is an American actor, known primarily for his prolific work in television westerns...
, asks Bonner to give him shooting lessons so that Kruger can protect himself from the threat of Henry Wilson, portrayed by John Ericson. Kruger, as he learns rapidly how to handle a gun, is deceiving Bonner. Instead of Wilson being a threat, Kurger is planning to kill Wilson, who married Kurger's love interest. Mrs. Wilson thereafter died in childbirth. Ray Teal
Ray Teal
Ray Teal was an actor who appeared in more than 250 movies and some 90 television programs in his 37-year career. His longest running role was as Sheriff Roy Coffee on NBC's most successful western, Bonanza...
, later Sheriff Roy Coffee on NBC's Bonanza, appears in this episode as Sheriff Lander, a friend of Bonner's. Tyler McVey
Tyler McVey
Tyler McVey was an American character actor.-Early life and career:McVey was born in Bay City on Saginaw Bay in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. His first screen role, uncredited, came at the age of 39 in 1951, when he portrayed Brady in the The Day the Earth Stood Still...
plays a foreman.
On March 24, 1958, in the episode "The Suffragette," Ellen Corby
Ellen Corby
Ellen Corby was an American actress. She is most widely remembered for the role of "Grandma Esther Walton" on the CBS television series The Waltons, for which she won three Emmy Awards...
, later the grandmother on CBS's The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
, appears as Emma Birch, who organizes the women of a town to take political action. The men rebel. Vint Bonner becomes a reluctant mediator of sorts. Character actor Charles Lane
Charles Lane (actor)
Charles Gerstle Levison , better known as Charles Lane, was an American character actor seen in many movies and TV shows, and at the time of his death may have been the oldest living professional American actor. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including You Can't Take It With You , Mr...
plays Mayor Peter Mercer in this episode.
On April 14, 1958, in "Aunt Emma," Bonner is wounded in an attempt to apprehend the Drake brothers, played by Lane Bradford
Lane Bradford
- Career :Born in Yonkers, New York, U.S.. He has appeared in many television series and b western movies. On stage, he co-starred in Desperadoes' Outpost , The Great Sioux Uprising , Apache Warrior .....
and Paul Grant. His elderly Aunt Emma, played by Connie Gilchrist
Connie Gilchrist
Connie Gilchrist was a stage, film and television character actress.Born Rose Constance Gilchrist in Brooklyn, New York...
, treats his wounds and tries to prevent him from resuming the search when he recovers. William Fawcett
William Fawcett
William Fawcett may refer to:* William Fawcett , former Adjutant-General to the Forces* William Fawcett , British botanist and co-author of the Flora of Jamaica...
, who played Pete Willkey on the NBC children's western series Fury
Fury (TV series)
Fury is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1955–1960, starring Peter Graves as Jim Newton , Bobby Diamond as Jim's adopted son, Joey Clark Newton, and William Fawcett as ranch hand Pete Wilkey...
, portrays the doctor, and Edgar Buchanan
Edgar Buchanan
Edgar Buchanan was an American actor with a long career in both film and television, most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s...
is cast as Ethan Greenfield in this episode. Bradford, a versatile western character actor, appeared four times on The Restless Gun.
In "The Outlander," which aired on April 21, 1958, Gloria Talbott
Gloria Talbott
Gloria Talbott was an American film and television actress.-Early life and career:She grew up in Glendale, California...
plays Sophie Wilmer, a young woman who inherits her father's saloon and hotel in Prairie City, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, a town temporarily under the control of unruly former Confederates
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
from Texas. George Dolenz
George Dolenz
George Dolenz was an American film actor born in Trieste , in the city's Slovene community.-Biography:...
, the father of singer Micky Dolenz
Micky Dolenz
George Michael "Micky" Dolenz, Jr. is an American actor, musician, television director, radio personality and theater director, best known as a member of the 1960s made-for-television band The Monkees.-Biography:...
of The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
, plays Count Peter Von Gilsa, Sophie's romantic interest and a former soldier from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
who speaks out against the former Confederates, led by a former army officer. Vint Bonner, a friend of Sophie's father, arrives in town to guarantee the peace. Bonner's concluding narration notes that while many wander for years seeking their place in life, perhaps himself, Sophie and Peter had found theirs.
In the episode "The Gold Star," on May 19, 1958, Edgar Buchanan plays a 40-year sheriff, Jeb Barnes, who is given a "gold star" upon his retirement by citizens of Little Beaver. However, the sheriff has joined with three former outlaws, including Sam Baggott, played by character actor I. Stanford Jolley
I. Stanford Jolley
Isaac Stanford Jolley, Sr., known as I. Stanford Jolley was a prolific American character actor of film and television, primarily in western roles as cowboys, law-enforcement officers, or villains...
, to rob the bank while the retirement party is underway. The bandits put the gold in the sheriff's buggy before he leaves town, ostensibly to live with a nephew in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. When the bandits demand a larger share of the gold, Bonner arrives to hear that his old friend Barnes has betrayed the public trust. In a shootout Barnes and the three bandits are killed. Bonner tells the citizens that Barnes had earned another "gold star" by apprehending the bank robbers. Bonner does not reveal that Barnes himself had turned criminal at the end of his life. Bonner concludes the episode by remarking that the people may not give enough credit to the sacrifices made by under-appreciated law-enforcement officers.
On June 16, 1958, in the episode "Gratitude," the last of the first season, Jeanne Bates appears as Nancy Timberlake. Johnny Crawford
Johnny Crawford
John Ernest "Johnny" Crawford is a prolific American character actor, singer and musician. At 12, Crawford rose to fame for playing Mark McCain, the son of the Lucas McCain character , in the popular 1960s ABC western series, The Rifleman, which aired from 1958 to 1963...
shortly thereafter to join Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. His best known role from his forty-year film career was Lucas McCain in the 1960s ABC hit Western series The Rifleman....
's ABC series The Rifleman
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
, appears as Ned Timberlake.
In a second season premiere episode entitled "Jebediah Bonner" which aired September 22, 1958, Payne plays the aged role of his grandfather, a retired lawman who teaches young Vint important lessons of courage and living. James Best
James Best
James Best is an American actor best known for his role as bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the CBS television series The Dukes of Hazzard. He has also worked as an acting coach, artist, and musician.-Early years:...
plays a hothead, Jim Kenyon, in the episode whose fate is cast at his own insistence at the end of Jebediah Bonner's gun. Kenyon blames Bonner for the death of Kenyon's father. Read Morgan
Read Morgan
Read Morgan is a former American actor whose longest-running role was as a United States Army cavalry officer in the 1960-1961 season of The Deputy, a western television series on NBC created by Norman Lear. Morgan appeared in thirty episodes as the one-eyed Sergeant Hapgood Tasker, recognized by...
, later a supporting cast member on NBC's The Deputy
The Deputy (TV series)
The Deputy is a 1959-1961 half-hour NBC western series featuring Henry Fonda as Chief Marshal Simon Fry of the Arizona Territory and Allen Case as Deputy Clay McCord, a storekeeper who tried to avoid using a gun.-Production:...
, plays Jim Kenyon's brother, Bob.
On November 3, 1958, Daria Massey plays the Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
princess Running Fawn in the episode "Bonner's Squaw." After Bonner settles a local problem with the Indians, Chief Tashcua's talented daughter attaches herself to him and refuses to let go. Massey's last posted media appearance was in a 1963 episode of McHale's Navy
McHale's Navy
McHale's Navy is an American television sitcom series which ran for 138 half-hour episodes from October 11,1962, to August 31, 1966, on the ABC network. The series was filmed in black and white and originated in a one-hour drama called Seven Against the Sea, broadcast on April 3, 1962...
. Thereafter she disappeared from public view.
In "Remember the Dead," which aired on November 17, 1958, Bonner arrives in a town with evidence to free a friend from jail on a murder conviction. Unfortunately, the friend has been hanged before Bonner reaches the town, and the widow and son reject Bonner because of the delay. Frank Ferguson
Frank Ferguson
Frank Ferguson was an American character actor with hundreds of appearances in both film and television. Perhaps his best known role was as the ranch handyman, Gus Broeberg, on the CBS television series, My Friend Flicka, based on a novel of the same name...
plays Sheriff Cullen. Selmer Jackson plays Judge Wayne, who orders the hanging but becomes so distraught over the turn of events that he resigns his office. The true culprit is a lawyer trying to get control of the ranch owned by Bonner's friend. Joe Flynn
Joe Flynn (US actor)
Joseph A. Flynn was an American character actor. He was best known for his role in the 1960s ABC television situation comedy, McHale's Navy. He was also a frequent guest star on 1960s TV shows such as Batman and appeared in several Walt Disney film comedies...
, later of McHale's Navy, plays a minor role in the episode.
Don Grady
Don Grady
Donald Michael Agrati , better known as Don Grady, is an American composer, musician and actor. He is remembered both as one of Mickey Mouse's original Mouseketeers, and as Robbie Douglas, from My Three Sons. His sister was also an actress, billed as Lani O'Grady...
, before he was cast as Robbie Douglas in Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
's My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
, appears as a teenaged telegraph messenger, Donny Madison, in the episode "No Way to Kill," which aired November 24, 1958. Grady's character becomes attracted to the gunfighter legend surrounding Bonner, who is investigating a killer who mutilates his victims. Grady also appeared in the tile role of Andy Cavis in the episode "The Cavis Boy", which aired near the end of the series on June 1, 1959.
In the December 8, 1958, episode "Multiply One Boy" a Northern family invites an orphaned nephew and cousin from Virginia to live with them. The boy though holds a grudge against the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
and questions whether his adopted family is responsible for the death of his Confederate father in the Civil War. Things turn even more sour when the boy accidentally shoots his cousin, who survives. The theme of the episode is reconciliation, as the family reaches out to the wayward nephew, whose hard heart finally melts.
In the episode "Peligroso," which aired on December 15, 1958, Robert Fuller
Robert Fuller
Robert Welch is a professional wrestler and manager better known by his ring names Robert Fuller and Col. Robert Parker. Robert and his brother Ron co-owned Continental Championship Wrestling for a time.-Career:...
, before his role as Jess Harper on Laramie
Laramie (TV series)
Laramie is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1963. Laramie was a Revue Studios production which originally starred John Smith as Slim Sherman, Robert Fuller as Jess Harper, Hoagy Carmichael as Jonesy and Robert Crawford, Jr...
, plays a young tough, Bud Bardeen, the son of a prominent rancher, who is shot to death in a saloon in self-defense by Bonner. Bardeen's sister, Lorry, played by Marcia Henderson, offers a reward for the killing of Bonner. Then Bonner shows up at the Bardeen ranch as "Jones", a hired hand, waiting for the opportunity to explain the situation to Miss Bardeen. Dabbs Greer
Dabbs Greer
Robert William "Dabbs" Greer was an American actor who performed many diverse supporting roles in film and television for some fifty years. His distinctive, southern-accented voice fitted well in shows featuring rustic characters, such as westerns...
had a minor role in the episode as a sheriff.
Dan Blocker and James Coburn
James Coburn
James Harrison Coburn III was an American film and television actor. Coburn appeared in nearly 70 films and made over 100 television appearances during his 45-year career, and played a wide range of roles and won an Academy Award for his supporting role as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction.A capable,...
each had their first substantive screen roles on The Restless Gun. In the December 29, 1958, episode entitled "The Way Back", Blocker portrays the "good guy" Olaf Burland. and Coburn is the unscrupulous Tom Quinn, determine to rob Olaf of his $3,000 profit from a cattle drive. In less than a year, Blocker's Olaf Burland would be forgotten, but not his new role of Hoss Cartwright on Bonanza, in which he was one of the four co-stars, along with Michael Landon, who appeared in the pilot of The Restless Gun. Bonanza debuted on NBC as The Restless Gun was cancelled.
1959 episodes
On January 5, 1959, in the episode "Painted Beauty," Ruta LeeRuta Lee
Ruta Lee is a Canadian actress and dancer who appeared as one of the brides in the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers...
portrays Lucy Collins, a saloon girl who falls in love with her portrait painter from St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, much to the outrage of a cruel cowboy who claims her affection. Roscoe Ates
Roscoe Ates
Roscoe Ates was an actor and musician in primarily western films and television.-Early years:Ates was born in the rural hamlet of Grange, Mississippi, northwest of Hattiesburg. Grange is no longer included on road maps...
plays the bewildered saloon owner, Juniper Dunlap, in whose establishment Lucy's painting will hang.
In "Shadow of a Gunfighter," which aired on January 12, 1959, a former gunfighter, Cal Winfield, played by Douglas Kennedy
Douglas Kennedy (actor)
Douglas Richards Kennedy was an American supporting actor who appeared in over 190 films between 1935 and 1973. He was born in New York City.-Career:...
, is told that Vint Bonner is responsible for the death of Winfield's son. Cal Winfield then comes out of retirement to extract vengeance. Robert Fuller appears in this episode as Jim Winfield.
On January 19, 1959, in the episode "The Lady and the Gun", Bonner falls in love with Myra Barker, played by Mala Powers
Mala Powers
Mary Ellen "Mala" Powers was an American film actress.She was born in San Francisco, California. In 1940, her family moved to Los Angeles. Her father was an executive with United Press. In the summer of her relocation, Powers attended the Max Reinhardt Junior Workshop where she enjoyed her first...
, but she rejects him in despair because she believes that he could not lay down his weapon, permit injustice to reign, and otherwise live a sedentary life as a husband. Lloyd Corrigan
Lloyd Corrigan
Lloyd Corrigan was an American film actor, producer, screenwriter and director who began working in films in the 1920s...
appears in the episode as Jesse Alden.
On February 2, 1959, in the episode "Blood of Courage," Bonner is staying at the ranch of Major Quint Langley, played by J. Carrol Naish
J. Carrol Naish
Joseph Patrick Carrol Naish was an American character actor born in New York City. Naish was twice nominated for an Academy Award for film roles, and he later found fame in the title role of CBS Radio's Life With Luigi , which was also on CBS Television .Naish appeared on stage for several years...
(later of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Guestward Ho!). Bonner finds that Langley's foreman is planning to take over the major's property.
In "The Dead Ringer" on February 16, 1959, the outlaw Nick Dawson sees Bonner riding into town and mistakes him for Dawson's boss. When the bank is thereafter robbed and a man is killed, several witnesses swear that Bonner is the culprit. Walter Coy
Walter Coy
Walter Darwin Coy was an American stage, radio, film, and, principally, television actor, originally from Great Falls, Montana. He was best known for narrating the NBC western anthology series, Frontier, which aired early Sunday evenings in the 1955-1956 season.-Career:Coy performed on Broadway...
guest starred in this episode.
In the episode entitled "Melany," which aired on March 2, 1959, Bonner visits a former girlfriend, Melany Carter, played by Marya Stevens, married to Jim Carter, portrayed by Gregg Palmer, a guest star on many television westerns. Jim suffers from a spinal injury procured in a shooting with symptoms akin to shell shock
Shell Shock
Shell Shock, also known as 82nd Marines Attack was a 1964 film by B-movie director John Hayes. The film takes place in Italy during World War II, and tells the story of a sergeant with his group of soldiers....
. Meanwhile, a ruthless killer, Matt Pierce, played by Claude Akins, who boasts of having killed his first man when Pierce was only fifteen, is on the run from the local posse. After a difficult confrontation, Bonner manages to capture the outlaw alive. Jim Carter, meanwhile, begins a surprising recovery after experiencing the trauma of the events in their home, including Pierce's murder of the Carters' hired hand.
On March 30, 1959, in the episode "Incident at Bluefields," Bonner aids the local sheriff, played by Alan Hale, Jr.
Alan Hale, Jr.
Alan Hale, Jr. was an American film and television actor, best known for his role as Skipper on the popular sitcom Gilligan's Island. Hale was the lookalike son of popular supporting film actor Alan Hale, Sr....
(later the Skipper on CBS's Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
), in the apprehension of a wealthy land owner, Tom Cauter, who murders a friend of Bonner's, an employee at the Government Land Office. Cauter's gunfighter son, J. B., played by Morgan Woodward
Morgan Woodward
Morgan Woodward is an American actor.He is probably best known for his recurring role in Dallas as Marvin "Punk" Anderson...
, comes to settle the score. Bonner, however, guns down J. B., and the senior Cauter must stand trial before a federal judge for the murder of the land office employee. William Fawcett plays Moss Blaine, the secret eyewitness against Cauter. J. Pat O'Malley
J. Pat O'Malley
James Patrick O'Malley was an English singer and character actor, who appeared in many American films and television programs during the 1940s–1970s, using the stage name J. Pat O'Malley...
, popular Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
character actor, has a minor part in this episode as Gavin Hardy.
On April 6, 1959, in the episode entitled "The Pawn," Julie Anne Payne (Payne's then 18-year-old daughter), plays deaf mute Peggy McGiven, whose father, portrayed by character actor Onslow Stevens, is in jail facing charges. Two outlaw toughs played by James Coburn and Denver Pyle come to the isolated cabin where Peggy lives to menace her. Bonner comes to rescue her.
On April 27, 1959, in the episode "Code for a Killer," Bonner is called to be the best man at the wedding of his friend, Sheriff Dave Regan, but the officer is found dead before the ceremony. Bonner's investigation leads to the corrupt deputy played by Lane Bradford. Floyd Simmons, an actor who was a decorated veteran of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, portrays Vance Carter, a confident gunfighter who works, somewhat reluctantly, with Bonner in solving the friend's murder.
On May 18, 1959, in "Ride with the Devil," Don Tomas Verdes (played by Jan Arvan) is a Mexican ranch owner who asks Bonner to rescue Verdes' son from participation in an outlaw gang. Bonner joins the gang in an effort to talk sense to the young man.
On May 25, 1959, in the episode "A Trial for Jenny May," Kasey Rogers
Kasey Rogers
Kasey Rogers was an American actress, best known for playing the second Louise Tate on the popular U.S. television sitcom Bewitched.-Career:...
plays Jenny May, a woman with three children accused of being an unfit parent because she works in a saloon. Ellen Corby appears in this episode as Ruth Purcell. Child actor
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
Scotty Morrow plays Gordon, Jenny's son.
In "The Englishman" on June 8, 1959, an English valet who lacks a knowledge of the West, causes trouble for Bonner. While taking a payroll to the bank the English visitor is kidnapped, and Bonner is reduced to his boots and longjohns and forced to walk back to town. The townspeople laugh in an uproar, apparently unaware that a bank robbery is taking place. Lyle Talbot
Lyle Talbot
Lyle Talbot , born Lisle Henderson, was an American actor on stage and screen, best known for his long career in movies from 1931 to 1960 and for his frequent appearances on TV in the 1950s and '60s, including his decade-long role as Joe Randolph on television's The Adventures of Ozzie and...
appears in this episode as Mort Askins.
In the penultimate episode entitled "A Very Special Investigator" on June 15, 1959, the guest stars include Fay Spain
Fay Spain
Fay Spain was an American actress in motion pictures and television. She was born in Phoenix, Arizona.-Theater apprentice:...
and Andy Clyde
Andy Clyde
Andy Clyde was a Scottish movie and TV actor whose career spanned more than four decades. He broke into silent films in 1925 as a Mack Sennett comic...
, best known for his role as the neighbor George McMichael in Walter Brennan
Walter Brennan
Walter Brennan was an American actor. Brennan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on three separate occasions, which is currently the record for most wins.-Early life:...
's ABC sitcom, The Real McCoys
The Real McCoys
The Real McCoys is an American situation comedy co-produced by Danny Thomas' "Marterto Productions", in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's "Westgate" company...
.
In the series finale entitled "The Hill of Death," which aired on June 22, 1959, a young boy, badly beaten, is left outside the office of Dr. Lem Shephered, played by Regis Toomey
Regis Toomey
John Regis Toomey was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey and attended Peabody High School...
. Bonner is visiting the doctor, an old friend, at the time of the attack. Bonner investigates in an attempt to locate the boy's assailants while the local sheriff is away. John Dehner
John Dehner
John Dehner was an American actor in radio, television, and films, playing countless roles, often as a droll villain. Between 1941 and 1988, he appeared in over 260 films and television programs. Prior to acting, Dehner had worked as an animator at Walt Disney Studios, and later became a radio...
guest stars as Aaron Dixon.
Other guest stars included Robert Blake
Robert Blake (actor)
Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
(in the episode "Thunder Alley"), Peter Breck
Peter Breck
Joseph Peter Breck is an American prolific character actor of stage, who has played roles on television and in film...
(in "Take Me Home", with Mala Powers), Olive Carey
Olive Carey
Olive Carey was an American film and television actress.Born as Olive Fuller Golden in New York City, she appeared in more than fifty films, mostly westerns, including Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, often playing tough tom-boy parts. In 1920, she wed actor Harry Carey, Sr., with whom she remained...
, Iron Eyes Cody
Iron Eyes Cody
Iron Eyes Cody was an American actor. He frequently portrayed American Indians in Hollywood films. In 1995, Cody was honored by the American Indian community for his work publicizing the plight of Native Americans, including his acting in films...
, Chuck Connors, Frank Dekova
Frank Dekova
Frank Dekova was an Italian-American character actor.-Biography:Dekova was born in New York City and taught at a school in New York before joining a Shakespeare repertory group...
(as Lupo Lazaro in the episode "Dragon for a Day"), Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
, Henry Hull
Henry Hull
Henry Watterson Hull was an American character actor with a unique voice, most noted for playing the lead in Universal Pictures's Werewolf of London .-Life and career:Hull was born in Louisville, Kentucky...
, Patrick McVey
Patrick McVey
Patrick McVey was an American actor who starred in three television series between 1950 and 1961, Big Town, Boots and Saddles, and Manhunt.-Early life and career:...
, John Mitchum (the brother of Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
), Vic Morrow
Vic Morrow
Victor "Vic" Morrow was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s TV series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television...
, and Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to MGM he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and...
, who appeared with Dan Blocker and Gloria Talbott, who appears as "Mercyday" in the 1958 episode of the same name.
Scheduling
In its first season, The Restless Gun was aired opposite The Burns and Allen Show on CBS and the short-lived variety programVariety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
, The Guy Mitchell Show
The Guy Mitchell Show
The Guy Mitchell Show is a short-lived half-hour television variety program hosted by and starring 30-year-old recording artist Guy Mitchell , which was broadcast from October 7, 1957, to January 13, 1958. The series aired on Monday evenings at 8 p.m. Eastern time on ABC following a half-hour...
on ABC. In the second season, CBS aired a western, Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun was an American television and film actor, screenwriter and producer, best known for his roles in Westerns.-Early life:...
's The Texan
The Texan (TV series)
The Texan is a Western television series starring popular B movie star Rory Calhoun. It aired on the CBS television network from 1958-1960.-Production notes:...
, in the opposing time slot.
Rebroadcasts of The Restless Gun continued on NBC until September 1959. Then ABC rebroadcast The Restless Gun weekdays from October 1959 to September 1960 and on Saturday mornings from November 1959 to March 1960.
The Restless Gun in prime time preceded NBC's Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
, another half-hour western, longer-running, and highly rated, starring Dale Robertson
Dale Robertson
Dayle Lymoine "Dale" Robertson is an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the role of Jim Hardie in the TV series, Tales of Wells Fargo, and the owner of an incomplete railroad line in ABC's The Iron Horse, often appearing as the deceptively thoughtful but...
.
External links
- Restless Gun at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- The Restless Gun at TV.com