Have Gun Will Travel

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. Boone was the perfect to play Paladin and I always liked him in his movies.

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 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 an 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.

Unknown's avatar

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

55 thoughts on “Have Gun Will Travel”

  2. Pingback: Have Gun Will Travel – MobsterTiger

  3. Have heard of it but never seen it. It does sound different, which is no surprise if Roddenberry created it. My dad liked the Westerns when I was a kid – Gunsmoke, Bonanza, similar movies – but I never got much into them. My mom, years ahead of the curve in this respect, I think disliked them both because they were simplistic and because they normally depicted Indians as the enemy.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I didnt’ get into them until a few years ago…I started with movies and then the old 30 minute Gunsmoke shows and this one…they were really good! Gunsmoke doesn’t do that on the Indians as much…Matt Dillion takes up for them.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  10. Not familiar with this show but I’d like to check it out. Recently I’ve started watching some “nostalgia” TV (cuz current stuff is mostly unwatchable!) and stumbled across The Rifleman, which I thought was pretty good. It takes a minute to get past the “cheesiness” of 50’s and 60’s TV – it almost reminds me of watching a local theater play rather than TV – but the stories and the characters are really refreshing compared to modern day stuff. Thanks for the tip!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. The two westerns I like are…the early Gunsmoke…black and white…not cheesy…it’s downright gloomy….and this one….the Gunsmoke is the ones with Dennis Weaver as Chester…I didn’t like it later on as much.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    2. The Rifleman was shown at midnight at my neighborhood tavern when I was 19. We used to meet our neighbor there every night to watch. Yes, we could drink beer legally when I was 19. Possibly the first show about a single parent.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. I don’t know if ma was keen on me and my bro’s growing pile of tatty ‘Combat!’ ‘Battle’ ‘Blood Lust’ ‘Eerie’ and ‘Creepy’ (and later ‘Zap’) comics compared to the unopened pristine collection of Classics Illustrated she’d bought us now and then. You can lead a kid to culture but you can’t feed it to him, or make him read it! Still, apparently reading was better than watching brain-rottingTV according to the child rearing specialists of the time.

        Liked by 4 people

      2. Yea….if it’s forced an automatic reject comes up. I never forced music on Bailey…certainly not the Beatles…and it worked…he loves them.
        Poor moms…they try so hard and we always manage to block what they want.

        Liked by 1 person

  13. I’ve been meaning to revisit this show . I think you gave me the nudge. I dont go back in time for tv but I will for this ( Twilight Zone, Bugs Bunny and the Flintstones are exceptions). I’d be interested to read the credits to see if Peckinpah penned a few episodes. Boone is high on y list of solid actors. I caught most of his films. Another one of my old babysitters.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Great guess CB…he is credited with writing a bit on the show.
      I do like Boone a lot. He is one of those actors…even in a bad movie…he is good.
      It was a quality show…I’ll give it that.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. I’m a bug Sam guy. Read a great bio on him (re-read in order) so that is where my guess came from. Pretty sure he did this early Gunsmokes also, In the clip you posted, Janice Rule is the guest star. Man did I dig her.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. The early Gunsmokes are great…gloomy but totally realistic…not like the laterr color ones. I never saw these as a kid…only the later ones. Dennis Weaver and black and white…go together.
        I remember her in the Twilight Zone…yea I can see why you like her.
        You reminded me…Pat Garett and Billy The Kid needs a rewatch soon.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Sam was a good writer. He knew that stuff. Janice was in the Chase with Brando (and lots of other good actors). She was nasty sexy good.
        Pat Garret is a fave of course. Cant go wrong.So many great scenes starting with R G Armstrong putting a shot gun to Kristofferson’s head and telling him “To repent you son of a bitch” The the Dylan song. Now I have to go watch it again Max.

        Liked by 2 people

      4. Sorry! But it’s a great thing! I’ll look up some more from Rule.
        You brought back a great memory. In 1977…a 10 year old Max talked my mom into taking me to the theater to see a “scary movie” called The Car…and R.A. Armstrong played a real bastard in it…he was great.

        Liked by 2 people

      5. I have to re-watch that Max. Thanks. R G popped up in lots of films. He was a Peckinpah guy. Interesting dude. Intense, intimidating presence. Probably a sweetheart of a guy. His ‘Bob’ character in Pat Garrett is memorable.
        Janice was Ben Gazzara’s wife.

        Liked by 2 people

      9. I first saw him in a bad 70s tv movie about finding dinosaurs…he was in it and Joan Van Ark. I can’t believe I remember that lol.

        Liked by 1 person

  14. On the ‘Gunsmoke’ trail I used to make my brother (and even my John Wayne serious Western loving father) laugh by dragging my foot behind me and gasping out ‘Mr Dillon! Mr Dillon!’

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  15. I thought most American westerns came to the UK in the fifties and sixties, but if this one came I never saw it. I loved westerns, pretty much lived on a diet of them from childhood to teens (felt I’d ‘grown out’ of them by then, but I was just distracted by boys and music!)

    $1000 in the 1800s – wow, he priced himself high!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I never watched it until a few years ago…and never heard of it but it was huge at the time. I always liked Richard Boone as well.

      He was worth it! And…if you were a good person he would waive the fee.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. Haha!

        I saw Richard Boone in many films when I was a kid. It always amazes he how much violence we fifties and sixties kids watched – and didn’t turn out bad as a result of any of it.

        Liked by 1 person

  16. I recognize his face, his outfit, the name of the series, and a snapshot of his calling card, but that’s as far as it goes. I remember it being on the TV but no idea whether it was at home or grandparents’ house. Sounds like I need to see it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  17. I have fond memories of this, mum and dad watched it first time round but I caught in 1969/70 when it was repeated on Singapore/Malayan TV. They had loads of 50’s/60’s US shows, like Love That Bob, Dobie Gillis, Mod Squad, Julia, Family Affair, Combat, My Favorite Martian, Green Acres and many more – but all of them utterly forgotten these days, especially in the UK where most of them didnt air (bar the Martian/Green Acres duo). Such a shame for the good ones not getting shown anywhere….

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  18. Pingback: Gunsmoke, the Early Years – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Leave a comment