Wanted: Dead or Alive
Bad Gun
TV Flash files “Bad Gun” as hour 44 of 94 in the TV Flash guide — Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958–1961) on CBS, season 2, episode 8, aired 1959-10-24, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E08: listed hour 44 of 94 in the Wanted: Dead or Alive guide, hour 8 of 32 in season 2. It aired 1959-10-24 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Empty Cell” (S02E07). Next is “The Tyrant” (S02E09).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
When he realizes that he sold a customer a defective gun, a firearms salesman hires Randall to retrieve the weapon before any damage is done.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Bad Gun sit in the Wanted: Dead or Alive guide?
S02E08 is listed hour 44 of 94 — hour 8 of 32 in season 2, season 2 episode 8.
When did Wanted: Dead or Alive S02E08 air?
Bad Gun aired 1959-10-24 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with McQueen and the Mare's Leg. The bounty-hunter brief and the underplaying are visible immediately.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Wanted: Dead or Alive made Steve McQueen a star with a sawed-off Mare's Leg and quiet bounty-hunter cool. Stylish antihero western in a crowded field. A 2026 viewer watches the proto-cool that movies later sold as McQueen myth — the cut-down Winchester as branding, intensity as the whole performance.
The gun is already the logo. Steve McQueen walks into CBS, 1958, as bounty hunter Josh Randall with a cut-down Winchester carbine — the Mare's Leg — and a volume knob turned so far down the rest of the western field sounds like shouting. Wanted: Dead or Alive is stylish antihero television in a crowded hat market, Four Star Television's three-season star factory, ninety-four half-hours of quiet intensity sold as a brand. The sawed-off is merch and myth in the same prop. Underplaying is the whole performance.…
Filed against
- Steve McQueen as Josh Randall
Steve McQueen made Wanted: Dead or Alive a star vehicle as Josh Randall — sawed-off Mare's Leg, quiet bounty-hunter cool, stylish antihero western in a crowded 1950s field. Intensity as the brand. TV Flash files him as proto-cool the…