Schlitz Playhouse s06e27 The Restless Gun

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.


This episode, The Restless Gun starred John Payne as a gregarious, intelligent, wandering cowhand/gunslinger, aired March 29, 1957. It was based on the old time radio series "The Six Shooter" and Payne's character had the same name: Britt Ponset. This was changed to Vint Bonner when the The Restless Gun appeared as an American western television series on NBC between 1957 and 1959. Some episodes of the series were based on the stories of the old time radio programs. This pilot episode is very interesting to watch for any "Six Shooter" western fans of the radio series. There is some interesting co-stars in this episode like William Hopper who went on to play Paul Drake in the show Perry Mason and a very young Michael Landon who went on to play Little Joe on Bonanza.

This episode was written by Les Crutchfield, one of the major writers for "Gunsmoke" on both radio and television (he wrote 81 scripts for the radio program alone) and also created the character Festus on the Gunsmoke TV series.

Schlitz Playhouse s06e27 The Restless Gun.mp4