User Reviews

The Virginian is resting in a field minding his own business when he is rudely awoken by armed men intent on taking him prisoner to stand trial as Boss Cooper a hired gun and killer.

The Hanging Judge refuses to allow the Virginian to prove his innocence by contacting Colonel MacKenzie. It seems that the town is determined to end the Virginian's days as fast as possible by immediately putting him him on a horse with a noose around his neck.

The Virginian manages to turn the situation around at the last moment by persuading the Hanging Judge to look him in the eyes as he says his last words!

The cast alone makes the sixth episode of "The Men from Shiloh" worth watching. Joseph Cotton, Brandon de Wilde, John Smith, Annie Francis, Neville Brand, Agnes Moorehead, and Monte Markham make up the veteran cast of familiar faces. "Gun Quest" starts out as a mistaken identity western with The Virginian struggling to prove that he didn't kill man. Our stalwart hero has just awakened when John Smith and several men shoot at him, disarm him, and take him into town to stand trial. A Judge Bean type judge who runs a saloon ignores all the rules of a trial. He holds court in the saloon and refuses to help our beleaguered protagonist. Judge Hobbs (Joseph Cotton of "Duel in the Sun") accepts the eyewitness testimony of Rem Garvey (Brandon de Wilde of "Shane") that the Virginian is in fact the hombre named Boss Cooper. The Virginian pleads for Hobbs to send a telegram to the Shiloh Ranch and contact Colonel Alan MacKenzie, but Hobbs refuses to waste time. He is satisfied that the Virginian is Boss Cooper, Hobbs passes judgment on him. Just as the townspeople are poised to hang the Virginian, our hero thwarts the lynching and gets the drop on Hobbs. He rides out of town and rides all night until he walks in on Mrs. Emma Garvey (Agnes Moorehead) and discovers that she doesn't know him. Earlier, at the trial, Rem assured Hobbs that the Virginian was responsible for killing his father. The Virginian rides into another town and tries to gather evidence. He grilles the saloon keeper (Rod Cameron) and then talks to Boss's old girlfriend, Myra (Anne Francis of "Bad Day at Black Rock"), but their conversation is cut short when Dee Garvey (John Smith of "Laramie") and his younger brother Rem show up in town. Eventually, the Virginian tracks down Boss and he stumbles onto Boss's small ranch and meets his friendly wife, Nellie (Sallie Shockley), who invites him inside.

This was the second episode of "The Men from Shiloh" that starred James Drury. Colonel MacKenzie, Trampas, or Roy Tate were nowhere to be scene. This episode was similar to the first Drury only episode in that the action occurred far from Shiloh Ranch. Director Harry Harris and scenarist Robert Van Scoyk do a good job initially setting up the action. Joseph Cotton has one scene in the TV episode, while Neville Brand remains sitting behind a desk in the sheriff's office chowing down.