The Restless Gun

The 77 half-hour episodes (all in B&W) of the television western "The Restless Gun" ran from 1957-1959 on NBC. John Payne (best known as the Santa believing attorney in "Miracle on 34th Street") played the title character whose series name was Vint Bonner. There was also a half hour pilot where Payne's character had a different name (Britt Ponset). 23 of these episodes (including the pilot) are on the new DVD release.

"The Restless Gun" was a big deal back in those days. It had its own Dell 4-color comic book and was part of Topps 1958 set of T.V. Western trading cards. This was the first series for "Bonanza" producer David Dotort. Payne was the show's executive producer.

What distinguished Vint Bonner from the legion of televised loners (Johnny Yuma, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, Bronco Lane, etc.) who were roaming the range back then was that he was clearly a professional gunfighter (like Paladin) and not just somebody trying to find themselves. He didn't have Paladin's style or fondness for the good life, rather he seemed pretty world weary and disillusioned.

As someone has already mentioned, Bonner carried around a special kit that would extend the effective range of his colt. This involved a detailed assembly sequence in which a barrel extension and a rifle stock were attached to the handgun. The idea of a modified novelty gun soon inspired imitators, "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "The Rifleman" within the western genre. Then "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." as the spy shows proliferated. The U.N.C.L.E. gun was the most like what was featured on "The Restless Gun". The featured gun has been largely forgotten except among toy collectors, as a toy replica was released at the time along with the show's other merchandising programs.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

I also just watched two episodes on Get TV. It's always instructive to see television or films made early, when production was extremely sparse, and yet the drama is propelled forward by real actors, scripts and dialog.

The second episode I watched dealth with accepting new german immigrants, a timely theme in the late 50s, and now for that matter.

Most of what I got out of this episode, and the earlier one which dealt with crime, calling a young murderer 'crafted not just by himself, but by society', was that America no longer has any sensible judgement or morality, and everyone is just spewing agendas based on faulty information, instead of taking one step and case at a time. A methodical approach to secular justice is expressed in these smart episodes, something this country has utterly lost, at least in its public discourse.

Of course, one particular side will blame the other for this condition. They are wrong. Everyone is responsible, especially the people blaming others. Regardless, these are excellent shows, totally watchable, with a strong, smart, just lead in John Payne. It makes America today look bad, and it makes modern film and tv scripts look average in general.

The Restless Gun sports one of the all-time great television titles. The show itself was dark, gritty, and a little slow. The show's star, John Payne, was a competent actor who graced television and movie screens for four decades. In this series, the long-faced Payne, who was only 45 when the show premiered, seemed a little old for the part. He was a lot of things, but not particularly restless. In the whole, the show was fairly typical of TV Westerns. It was a 30-minute long morality play in which Payne's character was always heroic. The Restless Gun wasn't a bad oater, but it wasn't spectacular either. That is probably why it only lasted 78 episodes.

It is showing on GETTV as I am writing this. I enjoy the show. Vint Bonner is always on the move. He was the only star who was on every week. One week he is a shotgun guard the next he gets in the middle of a range war. You never know where he will show up or what his job will be. I don't know how he was able to afford to travel around all the time. I guess it was easier to do in the old west.

John Payne does an excellent job in caring solutions to others problems.