The Gun (9 Nov. 1970)
"Gunsmoke" The Gun (original title)

Randy, a teenaged bank clerk living in a shack, idolizes a notorious gunfighter and has wallpapered every room with newspaper articles and posters about the man. One night, the gunfighter, ... See full summary »

Director:

Bernard McEveety

Writer:

Donald S. Sanford

Stars:

James Arness, Milburn Stone, Amanda Blake

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
James Arness	...	Matt Dillon
Milburn Stone	...	Dr. Galen 'Doc' Adams
Amanda Blake	...	Kitty Russell (credit only)
Ken Curtis	...	Festus Haggen
Buck Taylor	...	Newly O'Brien
Kevin Coughlin	...	Randy Gogan
L.Q. Jones	...	Sumner Pendleton
Patricia Morrow	...	Stella Felton
Sam Melville	...	Wade Pasco
Ken Mayer	...	Greenwood
Stanley Clements	...	Ed Jacobi
Robert Phillips	...	Vance Jessop
Ted Jordan	...	Nathan Burke
Jack Garner	...	Kemble
Eric Chase	...	Joseph

Storyline

Randy, a teenaged bank clerk living in a shack, idolizes a notorious gunfighter and has wallpapered every room with newspaper articles and posters about the man. One night, the gunfighter, hunted by everyone, ducks into the shack. Randy's thrill over meeting his idol goes sour when the gunfighter, who's gone completely paranoid, berates him and then forces him at gunpoint to break into the bank to steal getaway money. Randy manages to distract the gunfighter and duck down, crawling between the bank desks as the gunfighter fires on him. Randy finds a revolver in a desk drawer, comes up and pulls trigger, dropping the gunfighter in his tracks. When news of the gunfighter's death, and who killed him, gets on the telegraph wires, a St. Louis reporter comes out to anoint Randy the new king of the gunfighters. This makes Randy a target for anyone wanting the title. The reporter even imports a hired gun to shoot it out with Randy in a sort of Ultimate Gunfighting Championship, much to ...

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Plot Keywords:

gunfight | shootout | opening action scene | pistol

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Genres:

Drama | Western

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 November 1970 (USA)

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Marshal Matt Dillon: You got what you came to see.

User Reviews

Good cast makes for a good show

Two actors bring this show alive with great performance that keeps the viewer interesting the entire hour. Kevin Coughlin that plays the shy young Randy Gogan and L.Q. Jones that plays the newspaper writer, Sumner Pendleton, determined to write a story even if the truth is overlooked. These two actor shine making this a nice watch for any western viewer.

Randy actually backs in to killing a known gunslinger and wanted man named Vance Jessop. Jessop was actually trying to kill Randy because he reconsigned him but missed and Randy was able to get a lucky shot off killing Jassop. Now he is the talk of the town.

In comes newspaper writer Pendleton that starts putting hero status inside Randy's head. He demands that Randy get Jassop's gun and show it off since it has killed over fifteen men. Pendleton also makes Randy practice shooting so that he can become a marksman at the Dodge Turkey Shoot.

Everything is going well until Randy meets another gunslinger named Wade Pasco. Pasco wants to face the newest gunman, Randy, in a duel gunfight. With the help of Pendleton a time and place is set for the shy Randy and the gunslinger Pasco to meet in a showdown.. Pendleton is playing both sides of the fence and walk with the last gunfighter standing.

This could have been a disappointing episode if not for the fine acting of Coughlin and Jones. Coughlin was perfect as the nervous shy kid that keeps being feed hero status. Jones is perfect as the writer that keeps feeding both sides of people's inner feelings. Sometime a good cast makes a good show.