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 "Hey Boy.") Future Star
Trek creator Gene Roddenberry hit his stride this season,
writing nearly a dozen episodes including the playfully spooky "The
Monster of Moon Ridge," and other contributors included novelist
Irving Wallace and Bruce Geller, who would later create Mission:
Impossible! And while McLaglen helmed the vast majority of
episodes, Have Gun set a TV milestone when Ida Lupino (with
"The Man Who Lost," featuring Jack Elam) became the first woman to
direct for a TV Western series.
The "Wire Paladin"
production notes provided with each episode are thoroughly
researched, providing extensive guest-star credits and making
wide-ranging connections between Have Gun and many other TV
series, films, and serials of the '40s, '50s, and '60s, especially
Roddenberry's Star Trek. Among the noteworthy guest stars are
Lon Chaney Jr., Charles Bronson, Harry Morgan, Joseph Calleia, Harry
Carey Jr., Suzanne Pleshette, Morey Amsterdam, Vincent Price, Edward
Platt, and many stalwart character players from TV's golden age. The
season starts well with "The Manhunter" (in which Paladin is forced
to kill a young gunman and faces the wrath of his vengeful family),
and Paladin's unique brand of frontier justice is memorably
dispensed (along with generous quotes from Shakespeare, Milton,
etc.) in such highlights as "The Man Who Wouldn't Talk" (with
Bronson), "The Ballad of Oscar Wilde," "The Moor's Revenge" (with
Price), "The Scorched Feather" (with Chaney) and several others. The
opening credits are slightly modified as the season progresses, and
Paladin's travels take him into the mountains (for some outdoor
adventures late in the season) and even to Alaska, the series' most
distant destination. Image quality suffers in later episodes (some
mastered from vintage kinescopes or murky syndication prints), but
the fact that all 39 episodes are fully intact is a blessing to
anyone with fond recollections of this superior TV Western.
--Jeff Shannon
