What a pleasant surprise to turn on "Tales of Wells Fargo" this afternoon (on the Encore Western Channel) and see legendary B-movie star Tom Neal (DETOUR) appear as outlaw Johnny Reno in "Faster Gun." In the opening scene he outdraws our hero Jim Hardie (Dale Robertson), putting Hardie in the humiliating position of having to take a desk job while he's recuperating from the gunshot Reno gave him. At some point, Hardie insists on going after Reno himself, but his boss makes him take along the man hired to replace him, former bounty hunter Jack Simmons (longtime western heavy Robert J. Wilke), who snarls at Hardie and constantly derides him for having "lost his nerve." They head down to El Paso where Reno has been robbing gold shipments thanks to inside info he's managed to glean from someone in the local El Paso office. (If only Al Roberts, Neal's character in DETOUR, had been this crafty.) Can Hardie get his groove back in time for the inevitable rematch? Stay tuned. I'm a big fan of "Tales of Wells Fargo" and I consider this one of the best episodes I've seen.
This was Neal's second-to-last acting job. He made one more TV appearance the following year (1959), in "Mike Hammer," which starred Darren McGavin.
This was Neal's second-to-last acting job. He made one more TV appearance the following year (1959), in "Mike Hammer," which starred Darren McGavin.