The Guns of Will Sonnett

Walter Brennan played all sorts of characters - crusty sidekicks (Rio Bravo), meddling old fools (Disney's, The One and Only, Original Family Band) and evil baddies (My Darling Clementine and How the West Was Won), but rarely did he play a tough guy, mentor and sage as he did in The Guns of Will Sonnett.

Brennan acts assured with the oft-repeated line, "No brag, just fact." This hombre's nobody to mess with, even if he is an old dude.

He's leading his grandson (Dack Rambo), Jeff Sonnett, from town to town looking for his son, Jim Sonnett (Jason Evers), whom they always seem to just miss. This series was reminiscent of The Fugitive where Dr. Richard Kimble always seemed to barely miss finding the one-armed man.

Brennan really doesn't want to fight unless he has to. He's long on scripture, but short on fuse when it's necessary to defend himself and Jeff.

Jim, it seems, has a reputation of being fast with a gun himself, hence, the continual wandering and cutting out of town just before Grandpa and Son show up for a long-standing family reunion.

Dack Rambo, obviously added to draw a young female audience, was a pretty boy, but fast with a gun like his father and Grandpa.

This was a great show. Brennan's character was wise, tough and ready for action. The music was haunting and wistful. I heartily wish it had run for more seasons than it did.

More due to changing times than anything else, The Guns Of Will Sonnett only lasted two seasons. Walter Brennan got to star in his third and final television series and the only one that was dramatic, the previous two being comedies.

The premise involved was a simple one. Grandfather and grandson wandered the west looking for the missing generation. Walter Brennan was Will Sonnett, a seminal frontier character, former army scout, buffalo hunter, just about every occupation in the west there was. Of course it took him away from his responsibilities as father and his son, Jason Evers, grew up to be a notorious gunfighter and also an absentee dad.

But Brennan's grandson Dack Rambo had the advantage of having Brennan raise him, gave him a strict moral code to live by as well as how to handle a six gun.

One thing I never did figure out is where were the Sonnett women? There was no mention of Brennan's wife and there was one story where a woman claimed to be Evers's wife and Rambo's mother, but she turned out not to be.

The show had one catchphrase I always liked. When Brennan said he was going to do something extraordinary to some, he would inevitably say in every show, "no brag, just fact". And he always backed it up.

So every week Will and Jeff Sonnett would arrive in some town looking for James Sonnett and getting involved in some local situation. The show afforded an opportunity for Brennan as producer as well as star to cast some of his old friends in several episodes. It did get to look sometimes like a geriatric western.

I wish it had stayed around a bit longer.

I saw this when I was a kid, and hated it because they were always searching but never finding. Ever since then I hate shows that are in any way like that. The new Ashly Judd TV show of her looking for her son, seriously, we know she will never find him because that is the only way the show can continue.

Who wants to watch a show were people are always never getting the whole purpose of the show? Every show they almost find him, they just missed him, every show is a let down. Why would anyone like a show like that? I have said all that needs to be said, but this stupid web site requires me to write lots more lines, so I have to write lots more lines. What? A short review is not a good review? No one wants to read a short, to the point review? Bull crap!

I was really glad to see "Guns of Will Sonnett" was on DVD. I got the first season and wow what a disappointment! It's the worst color TV video transfer on DVD I have ever seen! My guess is every show was from old 16mm prints that were either edited for more TV commercial time or ripped and snapped so many times and spliced back together with large pieces missing, too many obvious cuts and jumps. The film was very faded and 'washed out'. A first for me, as you watch you notice the left side of the screen is out of focus and slightly (only slightly) sharper on the right side. At times you can see some one must have been adjusting the focus even while the film was being transfered! I wonder if they were being transfered first to videotape because many times you see 'lines' going across the picture just as you see when you watch a VHS tape after it was eaten up! Each DVD even warns you about the limited abilities in digital mastering at the start! Thanks for the warning! You can guess - poor sound quality. Since "Sonnett" is now released you can be quite sure no one else will re-release it and do it right! Gul-dern shame! The show is great and it's better we have this over nothing, or is it?

Walter Brennan in his later years was one of my favorites. His characters matched my personal values. The Sonnet Series appeared at the time of our wedding (1967)and as newly marrieds settling in a strange land (Connecticut)-- a "fir piece" from our native home further west -- we didn't watch much TV. I highly recommend the The 3 DVD boxed set by King World. I purchased it locally in a retail store. Enjoying every episode for the first time now in my retirement. GREAT writing by Dick Carr. He keeps you riveted to the screen. As a writer myself, I thoroughly enjoy the "poetry" that begins and ends each episode. Very original and very "Brennanly". I've got some of Brennan's audio CD's. I'm in love with the west as much or even more so than I was in the 50's watching my silver screen heroes. It would be great if the Sonnet Series was brought back or the plot copied.