The Restless Gun

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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 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 are currently posted on YouTube, but neither posting lists any composer or performance credits.

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Creators and Cast

Creators

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Cast

Episodes

Specials

1 episode

S0 E1 · Pilot

The pilot aired 3/29/57 on the 6th season of CBS’ “Schlitz Playhouse of the Stars” (coincidentally guest starring Michael Landon whom Dortort would later bring to “Bonanza”).

Season 1

39 episodes

S1 E1 · Duel at Lockwood

Vint Bonner meets an elderly woman who asks him to do something about her grandson. The young man has already killed two men and vowed to add Vint Bonner to the list.

S1 E2 · Trail to Sunset

No summary.

S1 E3 · Revenge at Harness Creek

When the man's hotheaded younger brother is killed in self defense, Vint fears that his sheriff friend is too bent on revenge to bring the man who killed him back alive.

S1 E4 · Rink

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S1 E5 · Jenny

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S1 E6 · The Shooting of Jett King

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S1 E7 · Jody

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S1 E8 · General Gilford's Widow

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S1 E9 · The New Sheriff

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S1 E10 · Man and Boy

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S1 E11 · Cheyenne Express

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S1 E12 · Thicker Than Water

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S1 E13 · Silver Threads

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S1 E14 · The Child

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S1 E15 · The Gold Buckle

Bonner and two strangers trail a pair of killers. Kit: Roy Roberts. Lex: Claude Akins. Bonner: John Payne. Emily: Madge Blake.

S1 E16 · The Coward

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S1 E17 · Friend in Need

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S1 E18 · Strange Family in Town

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S1 E19 · Hang and Be Damned

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S1 E20 · Quiet City

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S1 E21 · Hornitas Town

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S1 E22 · Imposter For A Day

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S1 E23 · A Pressing Engagement

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S1 E24 · The Woman from Sacramento

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S1 E25 · Sheriff Billy

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S1 E26 · The Hand is Quicker

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S1 E27 · The Suffragette

Emma Birch has organized the women of the town into a determined suffragette group; the men rebel and attempt to put the women in their place. Bonner becomes the reluctant mediator between the two groups.

S1 E28 · The Whip

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S1 E29 · The Crisis at Easter Creek

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S1 E30 · Aunt Emma

Vint Bonner is wounded while trying to track down the Drake brothers. His elderly aunt nurses him back to health and tries to prevent him from going back after the Drakes when he has recovered.

S1 E31 · The Outlander

Vint arrives in Prairie City, Kansas to visit friends and find that it has been taken over by a band of renegade Civil War veterans from Texas. They are lead by a man called Colonel Bromley.

S1 E32 · The Battle of Tower Rock

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S1 E33 · The Torn Flag

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S1 E34 · Hiram Grover's Strike

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S1 E35 · The Gold Star

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S1 E36 · More Than Kin

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S1 E37 · The Manhunters

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S1 E38 · The Peddler

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S1 E39 · Gratitude

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Season 2

37 episodes

S2 E1 · The Hill of Death

Vint and the boy Robby are fishing by the riverbank. Vint tells the boy that the gun is a tool and goes on to tell the story of his grandfather, Jebediah Bonner. Vint's parents have been killed and he is brought up by Dr. Ken Ludlow and his wife. Jebediah, a retired marshall, arrives on the stagecoach to visit with his grandson and is confronted in the saloon by Jim Kenyon who holds a grudge from 20 years ago when he believes that Jedediah had not given his father a fair chance when he had killed him. Joe is consumed by hatred and is determined to exact revenge. Young Vint sees and hears of his grandfather being bullied and doing nothing. Jebediah decides that he must gain respect in young Vint's eyes and an exciting conclusion is played out.

S2 E2 · Dragon for a Day

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S2 E3 · Mercyday

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S2 E4 · Thunder Valley

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S2 E5 · The Nowhere Kid

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S2 E6 · Bonner's Squaw

Bonner persuades Chief Tashuka to honour the treaty with the white man by handing over two braves who are suspected of robbery. Unfortunately for Bonner, the chief's daughter Running Fawn takes a shine to Bonner and follows him to town. By Indian law Bonner is to marry the girl and reluctantly agrees to prevent a war. However when Bonner sees how beautiful Running Fawn is he uses an Indian custom to lose her to a brave.

S2 E7 · Tomboy

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S2 E8 · Remember the Dead

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S2 E9 · No Way to Kill

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S2 E10 · Take Me Home

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S2 E11 · Multiply One Boy

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S2 E12 · Peligroso

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S2 E13 · A Bell for Santo Domingo

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S2 E14 · The Way Back

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S2 E15 · The Painted Beauty

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S2 E16 · Shadow of a Gunfighter

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S2 E17 · The Lady and the Gun

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S2 E18 · Blood of Courage

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S2 E19 · Better Than A Cannon

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S2 E20 · The Dead Ringer

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S2 E21 · The Last Grey Man

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S2 E22 · Melany

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S2 E23 · Ricochet

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S2 E24 · Dead Man's Hand

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S2 E25 · The Sweet Sisters

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S2 E26 · Incident at Bluefield

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S2 E27 · The Pawn

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S2 E28 · Four Lives

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S2 E29 · One on the House

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S2 E30 · Code for a Killer

Vint Bonner arrives in the town of Toredo to be best man at his friend, Dave Regan's wedding. Vint soon discovers that Dave has been shot in the back and that the town, led by the new sheriff Ben Webster, are looking for his supposed killer, Vance Carter. It is left to Vint to find the truth and lay a trap for the real killer.

S2 E31 · Mme. Brimstone

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S2 E32 · Lady by Law

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S2 E33 · Ride with the Devil

Bonner is sent for by Don Tomas Verdes, a Mexican ranch owner, to help him convince his son to stop riding with an outlaw gang. Bonner joins the outlaws to try and bring the boy to his senses.

S2 E34 · A Trial for Jenny May

After Jenny May McElroy's husband was killed in a gunfight, no one in town would give her a job to support her children, except for the saloon owner, who hired her as a bookkeeper. Because of this some of the "proper" townspeople want to take her children and make them wards of the state.

S2 E35 · The Cavis Boy

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S2 E36 · The Englishman

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S2 E37 · A Very Special Investigator

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Trailers

Weekend Westerns - THE RESTLESS GUN