I never got into TV westerns very much but this one was different. It was on for 6 seasons from 1957 – 1963 that featured very different leading man type…Richard Boone.
24 episodes were written by Gene Roddenberry before he tackled Star Trek. The writing and the stories set this show apart from Bonanza and many other westerns from this time period. That is not a knock on the other westerns but this one was unique.
A rich sophisticated gunslinger (that goes by the name Paladin)…with morals…. lives in a 1880s hotel in San Francisco. Anyone in trouble can hire him at his normal fee of 1000 dollars (if the cause is good….he sometimes doesn’t charge)… He is a problem solver and only kills if he has to. Paladin never reveals his real name but during each episode, he will flash his business card to a prospective client and then Paladin changes from socialite clothing to an all-black outfit. He is a man’s man who is a fast draw and quotes Shakespeare, Homer, Oscar Wilde and many more… Not your average western gunslinger…
Guest stars included Charles Bronson, Jack Lord, Buddy Ebsen, Harry Morgan, Dan Blocker, DeForest Kelley, Ken Curtis, Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine and many more.
I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did because they did not dumb it down like so many shows did then and especially now.
If you decide to give this series a try…watch the 1st episode of the 6th season (Genesis) first… because it explains where Paladin got his name…but still never gives his real name.
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I had never seen this show until a few years ago. My wife started watching it for some reason and then so did I. Love the show- very intelligent and ahead of its time. I have the series on DVD now! Richard Boone was outstanding in this series.
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The same here. I had never seen the show before and a few months ago I watched it and I thought….wait this isn’t like any of the 50s TV westerns I’ve seen before. This was a different approach and I’ve binged watched the show ever since. Boone was a great actor.
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Re: Have Gun…
I have just discovered that all six seasons are on youtube, search have gun will travel season 1 (or 2 or 3…). I remember this from when I was about your age, Kid. (Now, get offa my lawn). Including the star treks, there was never a TV show that went into so many moral dilemnas. It is far more than just a horse opera. Today, I watched episode 30 of 39 — today we’re lucky if there’s 13 episodes of the SOS on TV, and they run less than 22 minutes in a “half-hour” show. All the HGWT’s that I’ve seen run 26-28 minutes… And Mr. Boone was one heckuvan actor.
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He was a good actor. I love the writing on this show. I don’t know how I missed this show all of these years… Oh I hate modern TV I agree. I have a lot of 50s- 70s shows on dvd that I watch alot.
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Yes, that’s one I liked when I was around 12 – it was on repeat in Singapore, they had quite a few 50’s and early 60’s shows showing on TV there, so I caught quite a few shows I’d never heard of. Mum and dad liked Westerns and they really liked this one, and Richard Boone popped up a few years later as Hec Ramsey, one of a million TV detectives in the 70’s.
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It was such a different show. I have the set on DVD and all of the seasons are good the first four are the best but still. I remember Richard Boone in a b movie with Joan Van Ark…The Last Dinosaur
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Ah, Joan Van Ark, another blast from the past 🙂
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Knotts Landing comes to mind when I think of her.
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