''The Restless Gun'' is an American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

that appeared on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

in the era after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. 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 Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

program aired 78 episodes (including the Pilot episode in which the John Payne character's name is Britt Ponsett, the name of

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...

's character in the 1953-54

old time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...

series ''

The Six Shooter ''The Six Shooter'' is a United States western old-time radio program starring James Stewart as a gunfighter. It was created by Frank Burt (screenwriter), Frank Burt, who also wrote many of the episodes, and lasted only one season of 39 episodes o ...

'', upon which ''The Restless Gun'' television series was originally based). ''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. Two versions (one a vocal) are currently posted on

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, but neither posting lists any composer or performance credits. John Payne dual role Restless Gun 1959

Episodes

Season 1: 1957–58

Season 2: 1958–59

Selected guest stars

Home media

On March 1, 2010,

Timeless Media Group Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

released a three-disc best-of set featuring 24 episodes from the series. On April 23, 2013, Timeless Media released ''Restless Gun: The Complete Series'' on DVD in Region 1. The 9-disc set features all 78 episodes of the series.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Restless Gun, The 1957 American television series debuts 1959 American television series endings Black-and-white American television shows English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series by Universal Television 1950s Western (genre) television series