TV Westerns....who was "Top Shot"?

eye5600 said:

The argument about Matt Dillon always was whether he outdrew the other guy in the opening credits.

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In all the versions of the opening credits that I can recall, Matt was always outdrawn, but he was still standing and the other guy presumably wasn't. If I remember correctly, that was the whole theme of the pilot episode (the one with the introduction by John Wayne), which would seem to make some sense. I guess that just as in real life, "fast is fine but accuracy is final." Of course, in the rest of the series he usually either drew faster (with deadly accuracy) or got ambushed and shot in the back.

I'm going to dsate myself here but, if you ever saw Hoot Gibson you'd hafta say he was THE quickest and NEVER lost his hat in bar saloon brawl. Right behind him was Johnny Mack Brown. However, if you were within 10 feet of Lash Larue or Whip Wilson you'd didn't stand a chance of hardly clearing leather before either one snatched your shootin iron outta yer hand there, partner. Yes sir, I was right there on the street and saw it with my own eyes. Now let's round up the posse and head to the Kincade ranch and linch 'im.

Burt Lancaster

Burt Lancaster. VALDES IS COMING! And the PROFESSIONALS.
Talented in handguns, Buffalo rifles and shotguns.

Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo
aka: Hawkeye, Deerslayer, Pathfinder, La Longue Carabine, Leatherstocking, etc

Not the 50's 60's but it would be a tie between Jedediah 'Kid' Curry and Trinity. They'd both fire and kill each other.

Gene Barry as Bat Masterson..........don't remember seeing him beat.

My vote goes to Paladin. Then to Lucas McCain

There are lots of votes for Lucas McCain in this thread, but while I bow down to his sheer awesomeness in handling and shooting his rifle, I have to chuckle at how he carries it everywhere in his hand like that. For a show with the ostensible premise of a man who can use a rifle much like a six-gun (in the context of western gunplay) and actually showed it, the writers sure relied heavily on why it's NOT such a good idea, as just about every time he put his Winchester down something really bad happened to him and/or his son. Ever heard of a handgun, Mr. Rifleman? Or at least a sling?

No doubt in my mind , the Lone Ranger could clear leather faster than anyone. Plus hit what he wanted. Wyatt Earp,Hugh o'Brian and Marshall Dillion ,tie for speed and toughness. Also protecting the same town. Dodge city ,Kanas.And of course lucus McCain , faster than most six guns, with his Winchester.and as tough as the other three. So here you have it. Speed and toughness .

Buffalo Bill Jr!
Dick Jones was an expert horseman and if i recall correctly he did all his own stunts too.

I dont know, if you go buy fictional charecter matt dillon hands down. so fast he had to let the other guy shoot before he could draw himself, to keep it fair and legal.

However actor wise. Audie Murphy. Seen articles on his early days in westerns and how he had hard times keeping jobs as the head bad guy because the stars didnt like getting outdrawn so easily by him.
It was a wonderful guns of the old west article on him. Really wonderful. Apparently he killed the "quick draw" fad in hollywood circles by wanting to use live ammo.

Gian Maria Volonte would get them every time.

My favorite will always be Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) in the "The Rifleman." I am not old enough to have seen those broadcast originally, but they used to be on after school when I was a kid. I was terribly disappointed to learn just recently that you can't actually work a unmodified Winchester 1892 like that without the bullets falling out. Sigh.

It's not from the 50's but my vote for "best gunhandler scene" goes to Jeff Osterhage as Tyrel Sackett in the movie "The Sackets."

In the scene I'm thinking of one Tyrel's rivals is calling him out as Tyrell walks away from the argument. As the rival begins his draw, Tyrell, draws, turns, and covers the rival in one motion, leaving rival with his gun still in leather. Tyrell them has rival walk to watering trough and dump his entire rig into the water, leaving him humulated and defeated without firing a shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur29Mg8bELw

Cisco Kid, and he would do it with the most style.

Put all those guys in "Top Shot"...Bret Maverick probably would not get to the final shootout, but he would win all their money by the time he was eliminated!

Scott Coltrane played by Steve Forest, guest appearance in Gunsmoke, Season 19, Episode 5.

Scene starts around 5:15 in the video

The Widowmaker

Also have to mention Terrence Hill's character in My Name Is Nobody.

My Name Is Nobody

(Awwww . . . no votes for John Wayne's characters . . .)

I guess we all had our favorites. Mine will always be Rex Allen..great with a gun, in a fight, and could out sing any of them. He was a real rodeo man before he got into acting, as were a few others like Ben Johnson. They were really good on a horse too. Rex just came along a little late in the cowboy film era.

Clint Eastwood would beat every single one of them.

I don't believe I ever saw him miss in any of his movies, and boy was he fast!

About Matt Dillon,,,

I got this from an old wrangler who worked several of the old TV shows.

Matt Dillon was possibly the slowest draw in Hollywood,,,
The man he shoots every week was master gun-handler Arvo Ojala.

I was told that he was the only one who could draw slow enough,,,
To make James Arness look like he won.

Who knows if this is true,,,
But it was good listening around the SASS stages.

He also worked the Have Gun - Will Travel series,,,
According to him Richard Boone dropped his gun more often than not.

Again, who knows the truth,,,
Here's another link with his movie credits.

I saw Roy Rogers shoot some clays at a SASS event a few years before he passed.

I don't know how he handled a handgun in real life,,,
But if he ever came at me with a shotgun,,,
I would be hauling butt outta there.

Aarond

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Aarond

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Charles Bronson in 'Once Upon A Time In The West' 1969.

A lot of favorites, but I have to admit that the Cisco Kid always managing to shoot the gun out of the bad guys hand was a pretty impressive feat.

Recently Encore Western Channel put up side by side clips of old time western actors drawing and firing with their times displayed at the bottom of the screen. The only one I really paid attention to was James Garner ( one of my favorite actors) compared to Hugh O'Brien ( an actor that I never particularly cared for). Garner beat O'Brien.

Bezoar said:

I dont know, if you go buy fictional charecter matt dillon hands down. so fast he had to let the other guy shoot before he could draw himself, to keep it fair and legal.

However actor wise. Audie Murphy. Seen articles on his early days in westerns and how he had hard times keeping jobs as the head bad guy because the stars didnt like getting outdrawn so easily by him.
It was a wonderful guns of the old west article on him. Really wonderful. Apparently he killed the "quick draw" fad in hollywood circles by wanting to use live ammo.

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Stunt men hated working with Audie Murphy, because he never really 'got' the fake punch and would really hit them with full force.

AUDIE MURPHY. He could, and did do it for real. Furthermore, he challenged all the other blowhard cowboy actors to shut up or put up. They ALL scattered like sheep, particularly that windbag pizzant Hugh O'Brian, who had challenged Audie and he accepted on the spot, live ammo , get out there NOW....Hugh disappeared like a fart in a windstorm.
And so it goes...