Teleplay by DANIEL ULLMAN JOEL M. RAPP &  WILLIAM DRISKILL Story by  JOEL M. RAPP & WILLIAM DRISKILL Directed by  WALTER GRAUMAN CAST WAYDE PRESTON as Christopher Colt PETER BROWN as Jimmy Benedict CHARLES BRONSON as Danny Gordon LURENE TUTTLE as Frances Benedict JACLYNNE GREENE as Jule JAMES ANDERSON as Jeff Lanler HUGH SANDERS as Sheriff Powers MURVYN VGE as Sheriff Willoughby ROY BARCROFT as Customer NESDON BOOTH as Bartender

CHARLES BRONSON v. PETER BROWN

In a 1998 appearance at a North Carolina Western Film Festival, Peter Brown recalled his experience working with Charles Bronson in this episode of Colt .45.  He said for the first two days of shooting,  Bronson didn't say a word to him, not even good morning.  Peter was bothered by this.  After all, even if Bronson was a great actor and Peter was just starting out,  they both had parts on the same show.   [Actually Peter was billed above Bronson in the credits.]    On the third day, they filmed a fight scene.  After Bronson threw a punch which sent Peter over a hitching rail.  He came over, picked Peter out of the dirt, patted him on the back and said "Good job there son." Those were the first words Bronson  spoke to him.  [Unfortunately, this fight scene didn't make the final cut.  The purpose was apparently to show a non-lethal confrontation between the two characters.  The final version has them get into a gunfight where Bronson shoots the gun out of Peter's hand.]
Peter on panel with Bill Smith Note:  While Bronson had a much lengthier credits list than Peter at that time, he was not really that well known in 1957.  Who remembers his 1958 series Man with a Camera? [Actually some of us NiteOwls do, but we watched way too much tv.]  Until 1955, he was billed in small roles as Charles Buchinsky.  It was the movie roles of the '60's and 70's like The Great Escape, Chato's Land, The Mechanic, and Death Wish which made him a big name tough guy ]

In Peter's first Colt .45 episode, ["The Peacemaker" aka "Judgment Day" which was the Colt pilot] he had a simple  role as a town errand boy.  In "Young Gun" Peter's second Colt .45 episode, he had a much meatier part as the title character whose father was killed by Charles Bronson.  As it is still standard practice to have actors in their 20's play high school teens, it's not surprising that in this episode 22-year-old Peter was playing 16-year-old Jimmy who tries to pass for 19.

Our story begins when Danny Gordon [Charles Bronson] and Jeff Lanler [James Anderson] rob the Maxwell bank.  Banker Frank Benedict [in a part too small for the credits] runs out to raise the alarm.  Gordon  shoots him down.  That evening Chris Colt is visited by Jimmy Benedict who insists he's 19, then claims he wants to buy a gun as a birthday present for his father.  The next morning, Colt gets a visit from Jimmy's mother, distraught because Jimmy is going to use the gun to avenge his father.  Colt naturally feels responsible and takes off after him.

When Jimmy arrives in Saddle Hill, a town in which Danny Gordon is safe because everyone, including the sheriff is afraid of him, Julie, the saloon girl comments to the bartender that if he had his gun tied any lower, he'd trip over it.   Jimmy orders whiskey he's clearly not used to.  Then he announces he's looking for Danny Gordon, an announcement that brings silence to the room.  When Jimmy tells Jeff Lanler that he's looking for Gordon because Gordon killed his father, Lanler decides to take care of Jimmy.  However, Jimmy shows that the gun he bought from Colt was not the first gun he'd ever handled by shooting Lanler's gun out of his hand.  [Shooting the gun out of a bad guy's hand was a common practice in tv westerns and even detective shows.  That practice has caused no end of problems for real law enforcement officers because the public does not understand how difficult it is or how dangerous to attempt this when faced with a man intent on shooting them.]

When Colt comes looking for Jimmy, Julie urges Colt to get him out of town before he's killed.  Colt goes to Jimmy's hotel room and tries unsuccessfully to dissuade him from his goal.  [The females in our video group commented that if the 16-yr-old boys in high school had looked like Peter did in this show, they wouldn't have spent their time in high school scheming after college men.]

The next morning, Julie, who we now learn is Danny's girl, goes out to his place to urge him not to kill Jimmy.  However, his partner tells him he can't let Jimmy hang around town calling him a coward or the town could get up the courage to turn on them.

Julie returns to town to urge Jimmy to leave.  Jimmy's mother also shows up to try to take him home.  The scene between Jimmy and his mother is very sweet.  Peter plays Jimmy with dignity, firmness of purpose and an affectionate concern for his mother.

Colt gets a telegram in which he is given the legal authority to arrest Danny Gordon for mail robbery (a federal offense).  He goes to Jimmy in his hotel room to let him know he'll be taking over theresponsibility of bringing Gordon to justice.  Jimmy drops the telegram and knocks Colt over the head when he bends to pick it up.  Before Colt arrives in the room, we see Jimmy in the mirror practicing his draw which also gives us a chance to admire Peter's gunhandling skills.

Jimmy faces Gordon in the street despite his mother's attempts to stop him.  Instead of killing him, Gordon just shoots the gun out of his hand.  As Jimmy tries to reach the gun, Colt pushes it out of his reach with his boot and tells Gordon he's under arrest.

Colt and Gordon have the inevitable shoot-out with the inevitable consequences.  As Colt sends Jimmy home with his mother, he slips the revolver back in Jimmy's holster.  He tells Jimmy's mother that she came to find a boy and is taking home a man.
 

NiteOwl review:   We can't decide whether Bronson's character in this show was inconsistent or complex.  He shoots down Jimmy's unarmed father for no good reason but only shoots the gun out of Jimmy's hand.  Maybe he was heeding Julie's plea not to kill a boy.  He holds a whole town in fear, but a nice girl like Julie apparently has regard for him.  But not to quibble.  We liked this episode, particularly the youthful dignity Peter brought to his part.  This is a must have for Peter Brown collectors and a nice to have for Bronson or Colt .45 collectors.
 
 

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