The Restless Gun

The Restless Gun

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.

Western

Seasons

1. Duel at Lockwood

Air Date: 1957-09-23

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.

2. Trail to Sunset

Air Date: 1957-09-30

3. Revenge at Harness Creek

Air Date: 1957-10-07

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.

4. Rink

Air Date: 1957-10-14

5. Jenny

Air Date: 1957-10-21

6. The Shooting of Jett King

Air Date: 1957-10-28

7. Jody

Air Date: 1957-11-04

8. General Gilford's Widow

Air Date: 1957-11-11

9. The New Sheriff

Air Date: 1957-11-18

10. Man and Boy

Air Date: 1957-11-25

11. Cheyenne Express

Air Date: 1957-12-02

12. Thicker Than Water

Air Date: 1957-12-09

13. Silver Threads

Air Date: 1957-12-16

14. The Child

Air Date: 1957-12-23

15. The Gold Buckle

Air Date: 1957-12-30

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

16. The Coward

Air Date: 1958-01-06

17. Friend in Need

Air Date: 1958-01-13

18. Strange Family in Town

Air Date: 1958-01-20

19. Hang and Be Damned

Air Date: 1958-01-27

20. Quiet City

Air Date: 1958-02-03

21. Hornitas Town

Air Date: 1958-02-10

22. Imposter For A Day

Air Date: 1958-02-17

23. A Pressing Engagement

Air Date: 1958-02-24

24. The Woman from Sacramento

Air Date: 1958-03-03

25. Sheriff Billy

Air Date: 1958-03-10

26. The Hand is Quicker

Air Date: 1958-03-17

27. The Suffragette

Air Date: 1958-03-24

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.

28. The Whip

Air Date: 1958-03-31

29. The Crisis at Easter Creek

Air Date: 1958-04-07

30. Aunt Emma

Air Date: 1958-04-14

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.

31. The Outlander

Air Date: 1958-04-21

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.

32. The Battle of Tower Rock

Air Date: 1958-04-28

33. The Torn Flag

Air Date: 1958-05-05

34. Hiram Grover's Strike

Air Date: 1958-05-12

35. The Gold Star

Air Date: 1958-05-19

36. More Than Kin

Air Date: 1958-05-26

37. The Manhunters

Air Date: 1958-06-02

38. The Peddler

Air Date: 1958-06-09

39. Gratitude

Air Date: 1958-06-16

1. The Hill of Death

Air Date: 1959-06-22

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.

2. Dragon for a Day

Air Date: 1958-09-29

3. Mercyday

Air Date: 1958-10-06

4. Thunder Valley

Air Date: 1958-10-13

5. The Nowhere Kid

Air Date: 1958-10-20

6. Bonner's Squaw

Air Date: 1958-11-03

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.

7. Tomboy

Air Date: 1958-11-10

8. Remember the Dead

Air Date: 1958-11-17

9. No Way to Kill

Air Date: 1958-11-24

10. Take Me Home

Air Date:

11. Multiply One Boy

Air Date: 1958-12-08

12. Peligroso

Air Date: 1958-12-15

13. A Bell for Santo Domingo

Air Date:

14. The Way Back

Air Date:

15. The Painted Beauty

Air Date: 1959-01-05

16. Shadow of a Gunfighter

Air Date: 1959-01-12

17. The Lady and the Gun

Air Date: 1959-01-19

18. Blood of Courage

Air Date:

19. Better Than A Cannon

Air Date:

20. The Dead Ringer

Air Date: 1959-02-16

21. The Last Grey Man

Air Date: 1959-02-23

22. Melany

Air Date: 1959-03-02

23. Ricochet

Air Date:

24. Dead Man's Hand

Air Date:

25. The Sweet Sisters

Air Date: 1959-03-23

26. Incident at Bluefield

Air Date: 1959-03-30

27. The Pawn

Air Date: 1959-04-06

28. Four Lives

Air Date: 1959-04-13

29. One on the House

Air Date: 1959-04-20

30. Code for a Killer

Air Date: 1959-04-27

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.

31. Mme. Brimstone

Air Date: 1959-05-04

32. Lady by Law

Air Date: 1959-05-11

33. Ride with the Devil

Air Date: 1959-05-18

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.

34. A Trial for Jenny May

Air Date: 1959-05-25

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.

35. The Cavis Boy

Air Date: 1959-06-01

36. The Englishman

Air Date: 1959-06-08

37. A Very Special Investigator

Air Date: 1959-06-15

Select an episode to start watching

Rating

3.7/10

Release Date

1957-09-23

Episodes

76 (2 seasons)

Status

Ended

Cast

John Payne

John Payne

Vint Bonner

Videos

Production Companies

Window Glen Productions

Revue Studios