The Restless Gun (1957–1959)

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
The adventures of Vint Bonner, a cowboy in the post Civil War era.
A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions

Series Cast
John Payne ... Vint Bonner / ... (78 episodes, 1957-1959)
Dan Blocker ... Fred Burgermen / ... (5 episodes, 1957-1958)
Jeanne Bates ... Anna Ritter / ... (5 episodes, 1957-1959)
Stuart Randall ... Marshal Powers / ... (5 episodes, 1957-1959)
Leonard P. Geer ... Townsman / ... (5 episodes, 1958-1959)
John Larch ... Anse Newton / ... (4 episodes, 1957-1958)
Claude Akins ... Lex Springer / ... (4 episodes, 1957-1959)
Lane Bradford ... Ben Webster / ... (4 episodes, 1958-1959)
William Fawcett William Fawcett ...Doctor / ... (4 episodes, 1957-1959)
Henry Hull ... Doc Kemmer / ... (3 episodes, 1959)
and many more...

Series Produced
David Dortort ... producer (77 episodes, 1957-1959)
John Payne ... executive producer (77 episodes, 1957-1959)
Felix Jackson ... producer (unknown episodes) Series Cinematography by
and many others...

Series Directed
Edward Ludwig ... (50 episodes, 1957-1959)
Jus Addiss ... (12 episodes, 1957-1959)
Sam Strangis ... (9 episodes, 1959)
and many more...

Trivia
The basis for the series was the 1953- 54 radio series "The Six Shooter",
starring James Stewart and created by Frank Burt. Many of the series' first-season episodes
were adapted from episodes aired on radio.

As in the radio series "The Six Shooter," the lead character's horse was named Scar.

The pilot aired as an episode of the Schlitz Playhouse (1951)
on 29 March 1957. John Payne's character was called "Britt Ponset",
but when it became a series the name was changed to "Vint Bonner".

Filming Locations
Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA
Republic Studios - 4024 Radford Avenue, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

The Restless Gun is an American 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 YouTube,
but neither posting lists any composer or performance credits.

Background
John Payne as Vint Bonner and villain Gene Baroda.
The dual role in the 1959 episode "Dead Ringer" ended with a shootout
between his two characters.

Broadcast on March 29, 1957, as an installment of the CBS 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, William Hopper,
and Michael Landon 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.

User Review

A Slick Series
7 March 2008 | by aimless-46 (Kentucky)

Quote from aimless

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.

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