The Guns of Will Sonnett

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The Guns of Will Sonnett ranks 922 out of the 18,229 shows on TV.com.

The 16 users who count themselves as The Guns of Will Sonnett fans have written a total of 1 reviews.

Status

Premiered

Ended

Genre

Theme

We search for a man named Jim Sonnett
and the legends folks tell may be true.
Most call him gunman and killer;
he's my son, who I hardly knew.
I raised Jim's boy from the cradle;
till the day he said to me,
"I have to go find my father".
And I reckon that's how... more »

We search for a man named Jim Sonnett
and the legends folks tell may be true.
Most call him gunman and killer;
he's my son, who I hardly knew.
I raised Jim's boy from the cradle;
till the day he said to me,
"I have to go find my father".
And I reckon that's how it should be.
So we ride, Jim's boy and me.

While Jim Sonnett was a well known gunslinger, the elder Sonnett was no slouch. Will Sonnett had been a scout and rifleman in the Army and in the pilot episode explained to someone who was spoiling for a fight that he was an even faster draw than his famous son. That fact was proven several times during the series as Will pulled his grandson out of numerous scrapes, most of them started because of the family name.

After two months of watching Will & Jeff search for James, the viewers finally got to meet up with the gunslinger in episode 6, even though it would take Will & Jeff another year and a half to finally catch up to the prodigal Sonnett. Although Jason Evers is listed below as a series regular, he was never included in the opening titles but always got the primary Guest Star credit in each episode he appeared in.

The Guns of Will Sonnett was notable for being one of super producer Aaron Spelling's first television series as an independent producer, and series star Walter Brennan's last as lead. Best known for The Real McCoys, Brennan went on to play a regular supporting part in the second season of the John Forsythe sitcom, To Rome, with Love [1969-1971].

The series also stood out among the other westerns at the time because of the way Will Sonnett summed up each episode at the end of the tag. It was possibly the only action-adventure series to end each episode with a trail prayer. However, despite a lot of promotion by ABC, the series never really caught on with the viewers and only lasted two seasons.

Original Time Slot: Fridays @9:30PM

Most used phrase (by Will Sonnett): No brag, just fact.less «

• I can't believe how obscure this show has become..

  I clearly remember watching and loving this show.. I used to force myself to get up at 3AM on weekdays when I was like 15 an...more »

  I clearly remember watching and loving this show.. I used to force myself to get up at 3AM on weekdays when I was like 15 and they were rerunning this along with Branded. It seems like a lot of the old westerns are now being rerun on cable/satellite channels. Shame this one has been forsaken.. Anyone else out there remember/like it? I heard that there is a box set out there somewhere..less «

  subcelebrity Last online Jul 9, 2008
  6 comments, last one May 22, 2009 + Add Comment

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  9 Superb

  No brag, just fact hide « show »

  The Guns of Will Sonnett was a Western that aired on ABC from 1967-69 and starred Walter Brennan and Dack Rambo as a grandfather and grandson searching for the long absent son of Brennan and father of Rambo who's also a notorious gunslinger. The series is mostly remembered today (if it's remembered at all) as one of the first shows produced by Aaron Spelling and one of the final vehicles of star Walter Brennan. That's a shame because Guns was a very good show for its time that should have lasted much longer. I supposed you have to blame the times for the show's demise. By the time the late 60's rolled around Westerns were becoming passe. In fact, just five years after Guns was canceled, Gunsmoke was the only Western remaining on network television. This, as much as anything, accounts for the show's short life.
  
  But despite its short life, Guns gave us some great moments especially from the grizzled Brennan who excelled at playing grumpy old men 25 years before Lemmon and Matthau came onto the scene. Young Dack Rambo (who would later die tragically of AIDs) also did well as the grandson. The third series regular was Jason Evers who played Jim Sonnett, the object of Brennan and Rambo's search. Evers appeared in only a handful of episodes and the character of Jim Sonnett always seemed to function more as a presence more than anything else. Sometimes this presence was sinister, sometimes not. Check this one out if you get the chance. It's available on DVD. The episodes run only 30 minutes but they are taut, well-written, and suspenseful. It should be well worth the money.

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  Mad_Buck Added Apr 19, 2007 All my reviews