Monday, January 27, 2020

Classic TV: Have Gun, Will Travel (1957)

CBS came up with their own Lone Ranger, if ya will, except that Paladin, the hero of Have Gun, Will Travel, didn't wear a mask, and was an Old West equivalent to a private detective, hiring himself out to folks in need.

Richard Boone had the title role as Paladin, and even directed a fair number of episodes over the course of the show's six seasons (1957-63). Paladin only used his gun if he had no other alternative.

The guest stars during the six year run included a who's who of television, including William Conrad and Ken Curtis (who created a prototype for his Gunsmoke role of Festus in one episode, and sang in another).

Edit, 11/5/23: Had to change the video.


Have Gun, Will Travel currently airs Saturday mornings on Me-TV, anchoring its mid-day Western block.

Rating: A.

5 comments:

Mike Doran said...

Kam Tong, who played Hey Boy, never appeared on Hawaii Five-O.
Kam Fong did appear on Five-O, playing Chin Ho for most of the run.
Two different guys.
#lookthingsup.

hobbyfan said...

Oh, thought it was the same guy with a different spelling. I'll clean that up.

magicdog said...

This was often referred to as the thinking man's western; less gunplay, more talk and logic on the part of Paladin. Interesting that the character was given that name (though no accident). The dictionary defines a paladin as "a knight renowned for heroism and chivalry".

magicdog said...

Addendum: Also of course, for Paladin's chess insignia on his holster!

hobbyfan said...

A white knight in black. How quaint. They've tried remaking this, but it never gets past the talking stage......