About this season
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.
Episodes (39)
1. Duel at Lockwood
Aired 23 September 1957
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
Aired 30 September 1957
After promising a seriously wounded outlaw that he will get him to town alive to stand trial, Bonner meets five men, including a doctor, who want to bring the man in. But then Bonner learns that the five have just taken part in a lynching, and he becomes concerned that they will do the same with this prisoner.
3. Revenge at Harness Creek
Aired 7 October 1957 • 30 min
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
Aired 14 October 1957
5. Jenny
Aired 21 October 1957
Bonner finds a wounded man on the road, and brings him to the house of a an embittered woman who lives alone. He promises her he won't tell about the man at her place, but he later learns that the man is a wanted outlaw.
6. The Shooting of Jett King
Aired 28 October 1957
7. Jody
Aired 4 November 1957
8. General Gilford's Widow
Aired 11 November 1957
9. The New Sheriff
Aired 18 November 1957
10. Man and Boy
Aired 25 November 1957
11. Cheyenne Express
Aired 2 December 1957
12. Thicker Than Water
Aired 9 December 1957
13. Silver Threads
Aired 16 December 1957
14. The Child
Aired 23 December 1957
15. The Gold Buckle
Aired 30 December 1957 • 30 min
Bonner and two strangers trail a pair of killers. Kit: Roy Roberts. Lex: Claude Akins. Bonner: John Payne. Emily: Madge Blake.
16. The Coward
Aired 6 January 1958
17. Friend in Need
Aired 13 January 1958
18. Strange Family in Town
Aired 20 January 1958
A Quaker family encounters prejudice, hostility, and harassment from the residents of the closest town, who mistake their pacifism for cowardice. They also encounter it from the rancher Bonner has come to do business with, though the man's wife feels differently.
19. Hang and Be Damned
Aired 27 January 1958
20. Quiet City
Aired 3 February 1958
21. Hornitas Town
Aired 10 February 1958
22. Imposter For A Day
Aired 17 February 1958
23. A Pressing Engagement
Aired 24 February 1958
24. The Woman from Sacramento
Aired 3 March 1958
25. Sheriff Billy
Aired 10 March 1958
26. The Hand is Quicker
Aired 17 March 1958
27. The Suffragette
Aired 24 March 1958
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
Aired 31 March 1958
29. The Crisis at Easter Creek
Aired 7 April 1958
30. Aunt Emma
Aired 14 April 1958
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
Aired 21 April 1958
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
Aired 28 April 1958
33. The Torn Flag
Aired 5 May 1958
34. Hiram Grover's Strike
Aired 12 May 1958
35. The Gold Star
Aired 19 May 1958
36. More Than Kin
Aired 26 May 1958
37. The Manhunters
Aired 2 June 1958
38. The Peddler
Aired 9 June 1958
39. Gratitude
Aired 16 June 1958