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Who WAS the fastest draw in American westerns?

posted 8 years ago by cranvillesquare
17 replies | jump to latest

According to a trivia tidbit in the Big Valley thread:

"According to 'Wildest Westerns Magazine', Peter Breck was able to draw his gun in 16/100 of a second, making the character of Nick Barkley the fastest draw in television history."

There is no qualification as to whether this actually is Breck, himself, drawing a revolver from a holster; or whether this is Nick Barkley being a fast draw. If Breck, himself, is that fast a draw that's one thing. If, however, the magazine merely refers to Breck in character as Nick Barkley then I would argue the point. Ben Murphy, as Kid Curry/Thaddeus Jones from Alias Smith and Jones (1971-73), gets my vote hands-down in this department. It probably was TV camera stop-action trickery but Jones could draw and fire faster than any opponent could even put his hand on his revolver.

Looking for remarks/opinions from my fellow westerns aficionados!

[–] TurkeyRalston (1) 7 years ago

Audie Murphy was the fastest draw. Ben Cooper was close behind. If you want to see an example of Ben Cooper's draw go to youtube and find an episode of The Westerner called hand on the gun. Go to the 4:40 mark.

[–] snepts (11123) 6 years ago

Richard Boone as Paladin seemed pretty fast. I also like how he always relies on having a derringer handy. Somehow he always has it in his waist band and he can grab it w/o fuss. I guess his pants were that tight. I saw him today shoot Big George Kennedy with that tiny gun and it knocked him right out of the saddle. Kind of a funny stunt. This is just after Boone shot the guy's partner in the arm with a big ol' six gun. I think anyone who is shooting someone in earnest aims for the biggest part of the body.
When I think of being a fast draw I think of the beginning of Gunsmoke. Seems like Matt is slower than the sound of the other gun going off, but the other guy must miss him entirely and Dillon gets his man. He's always having to draw that thing and break up bar fights. Not that it makes him a fast draw but he sure gets a lot of mileage. He does get shot occasionally but it's often from somewhere unexpected. Never gets killed.

[–] snepts (11123) 3 years ago

As much as I've come to dislike Bonanza, always seemed like Little Joe was freaky fast on the draw.
Some guys they'd tell you he was fast and of course he would out draw whoever was in front of him. Pretty easy to create that expectation this way. Other guys could do all kinds of tricky stuff but even a kid could tell it was edited together for fun and it wasn't likely someone could really keep a tin can from falling out of the sky for six straight shots or whatever stupid stunt they'd dream up.
But Little Joe seemed to grab that gun and have it pointing in the blink of an eye.
I'm happy if others have a different view on this.