List Price: $50.99 Our Price: $40.79YOU SAVE $10.2!
Buy it
DVD Have Gun Will Travel - The Complete First Season
The first season of Have Gun--Will Travel makes it easy to see why this Western series was an overnight success. Making its debut on September 14, 1957, the half-hour show ranked no. 4 in the ratings for its entire first season, which ran almost completely uninterrupted (minus a one-week preemption) until June of 1958--a punishing schedule unheard of in present-day television. (It ranked even higher in subsequent seasons, holding the no. 3 spot, behind Gunsmoke and Wagon Train.) Richard Boone was perfectly cast in the lead role of Paladin, a cultured gunslinger whose West Point education, impeccable style, literate sophistication, and distinguished Civil War service made him unique among Western heroes, and the prototype for many dashing figures to follow. Based in San Francisco's ritzy Carlton Hotel, he scans newspapers to locate trouble throughout the wild West, then cagily markets his services (via his legendary calling card, "Have Gun--Will Travel") as a hired gun, moral arbiter, voice of reason, and reluctant killer of badmen. Understanding the complexities of frontier justice, Paladin (whose full name is never revealed) could turn on those who hired him if he suspected dubious motivations. He wore black, but he traveled in an ethical gray zone.
Running about 25 minutes each, these 39 episodes are consistently good and economically plotted, since Have Gun boasted stellar talent on both sides of the camera. Each episode began with the memorable theme by legendary film composer Bernard Herrmann, and most of the first season was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, who worked regularly on Gunsmoke, Rawhide, and Perry Mason before graduating to a prolific big-screen career. Regular writers included Gene Roddenberry (who created Star Trek six years later), and budding maverick Sam Peckinpah co-wrote episode #22, "The Singer." In addition to series regular Kam Tong as Paladin's Chinese-American manservant Hey Boy (a "Coolie" stereotype, but Tong handles it with dignity, especially in "Hey Boy's Revenge"), Have Gun offered a who's-who of 1950s and '60s guest stars, from genre stalwarts like Victor McLaglen (Andrew's father), John Carradine, Strother Martin, and R.G. Armstrong, to promising newcomers like Angie Dickinson, Warren Oates, and Charles Bronson (the last starring in "The Outlaw," one of the season's finest episodes). Each episode is accompanied by background information and guest-star profiles, and while picture quality is quite good overall, the audio quality suffers from a low-level mix with noticeable hiss from aged source materials. Fortunately, this won't prevent anyone from enjoying a first-rate TV series that thrived for another five seasons, until cancellation in 1963. --Jeff Shannon
Review(s): DVD Have Gun Will Travel - The Complete First Season
Have Gun - Will Travel
Great Paladin flick. Brings the early days of adult westerns to life. Have Gun - Will Travel will take you back to the early San Francisco barbary coast westerns. Richard Boone has a style and poise that are extremely realistic. Takes you back to yeaster year. Great pick.
Quality Still Shows - As Does Talent
Pretty much everything that needs to be said about Paladin's story has been said here - except his origin episode, available but not on this DVD. You need to see this. Not to give anything away, but he is a lot more than you think he is..
Second, though Paladin might quote Browning or Pliny to some local yokels who look at each other wondering who this consarned dude in black is talking about, the thing I like about his lifestyle is the way he consorts (and I use that word correctly) with some of the ladies of Old San Francisco at his suite in the Hotel Carlton. In one episode, he is escorting a lady down the stairs who is obviously still adjusting her clothing and whom he does NOT walk to the door: pretty daring stuff for 1957 TV! In the same episode, Paladin whispers something into the ear of a particularly attractive woman who appears to either be a (term again used advisedly..)mulatto or asian. Believe me, no other 1950's western "hero" EVER talked to a woman who wasn't white, and especially not whispering something which made her giggle. Then again, she's coming down the same staircase...perhaps a menage?
At the very same time, Paladin is a complete gentleman: he always doffs his hat in the presence of a lady, even if he is the only one to do so. And he never talks down to Hey Boy either, who is in a way his assistant (and associate).
Boone was likely the best actor in the complete era of the Cowboy TV Show. There were up-and-comers (Steve McQueen, Gene Barry, Hugh O'Brien, Wayde Preston) and guys who had already been there (Guy Madison, Roy Rogers, Jock Mahoney, Scott Brady). But on acting talent, Boone had 'em all covered every time.
The Paladin character is a one-of-a-kind: there has never been another like him, and praise be there hasn't been some hackneyed "remake" of Paladin starring some young Hollypunk either. Buy this upon my guarantee that you will like it. But be warned: Paladin sells no wolf tickets - when he threatens, he follows through. He likes talking lovingly about his weapons...and never denies he is a hired gun. Thus, he may be the only "bad guy" to ever star in a successful cowboy TV series. And every episode begins with a spoken threat from him. Unique, no?
Have Gun still great
It's not just a nostalgic bent that enables us to enjoy "Have Gun." The show was not a typical shoot 'em up western with a little moral sometimes imbedded. But this series had wit and charm with an intelligent well-rounded, sometimes rascally, hero that was, I think, unique in its day and still enjoyable now.
Related DVD's Have Gun Will Travel - The Complete First Season
Episode for episode, the second season of Have Gun, Will Travel (1958-59) is even better than the first. With a bona fide hit on their hands, CBS didn't mess with success, and these 39 episodes pushed ratings even higher with sharp direction (mostly by first-season veteran Andrew V. McLaglen), a wide variety of attention-grabbing plots, and intelligent, sensible dialogue. All of the first season's strengths are carried over, and while 41-year-old star Richard Boone (as the refined gunslinger-for-hire Paladin) is rarely given a serious test of his talents, he commands his role with depth, humor, and impressive displays of physical agility. (By comparison, series regular Kam Tong had almost nothing to do this season; he's relegated to routine duty as Paladin's Chinese hotel valet... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Richard Boone DVD Release Date: Released the 10 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $44.99 Your Price: $35.99YOU SAVE $9!
Buy it
The uniquely cool talent that propelled Steve McQueen to movie stardom is fully evident in the debut season of Wanted: Dead or Alive. Having just boosted his big-screen potential with a starring role in The Blob, 28-year-old McQueen was reluctant to accept the role of bounty hunter Josh Randall in this trend-setting series; he balked at the demanding schedule and thought himself too contemporary for a Western series, but the producers (including Four Star Productions cofounders Dick Powell and Ida Lupino) were convinced that McQueen was perfect for the role, and the still-struggling actor couldn't refuse a $750-per-week salary. Once committed, McQueen developed Randall into an antihero with conflicting qualities of danger and compassion: With his infamous "Mare's Leg" (an... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Steve Mcqueen DVD Release Date: Released the 07 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $39.92 Your Price: $31.94YOU SAVE $7.98!
Buy it
Hailed as one of the best episodic television series about World War II, ABC's Combat! arrives on DVD with its first 16 episodes in a heavily annotated four-disc set that's sure to please its longtime fans. The men of King Company's second platoon (a.k.a. King Two) are the focus of this gritty and realistic series; led by Lt. Gil Hanley (Rick Jason) and Sgt. Chip Saunders (Vic Morrow in an Emmy-nominated performance), King Two fought its way across France for five seasons, beginning in 1962 with the 16 episodes gathered here. The storyline kicks off shortly after D-Day and carries the platoon up to the liberation of Paris, which concluded the season (the second half of season 1 is featured in a separate four-disc set). Cast members rotated in and out of service (Tom Lowell's Pvt.... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Byron Paul - James Komack - Tom Gries - Bernard McEveety (II) - Jus Addiss DVD Release Date: Released the 20 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $39.99 Your Price: $19.97YOU SAVE $20.02!
Buy it
there are some good episodes and some slow ones in here. 'Waste I and II' from disk 4 are excellent. Did you see the beautiful girlfriend that Mexican dude had! Also good is 'deadly image' and 'the Vaqueros' is an absolute classis desert revenge story. The encounters with the Mexican bandits are usually good. Rifleman is good, but sometimes I wonder if he had to wear jeans that tight! (just look at the picture on the cover)! but that's ok. Lucas is all man is this show. some of the most masculine honorable series made were made back in the 1950s! They could have improved the show with less of that cranky old sherrif dude. The interactions with the boy are nice and classic. to go through most of the disks disk1 'sharpshooter' a little slow 'home ranch' ok. some good... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Rifleman - Chuck Connors DVD Release Date: Released the 29 January 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $49.98 Your Price: $44.98YOU SAVE $5!
Buy it
I watch 2 or 3 episodes every day. Great way to use my time waiting for the MLB playoffs. More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Vic Morrow DVD Release Date: Released the 30 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $39.99 Your Price: $31.99YOU SAVE $8!
Buy it
