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Have Gun Will Travel: Season Four, Vol. 2

“Have Gun Will Travel” starred Richard Boone as Paladin, a gentleman/gunfighter who lived in the Carlton Hotel in San Francisco and acccepted jobs that took him to frontier towns.  The series is legendary and sophisticated for its time, tackling themes that were very controversial for its time. Boone cemented his stardom playing the black outfitted gunslinger who would rather settle things peacefully but would fight with fury if needed, carrying a hidden derringer in his belt and his trademark chess piece calling card, which he managed to flash in just about every episode.

This set is the second set for Season 4 (don’t get me started on breaking up season sets-its wrong) and it contains three discs of half hour, black and white episodes.  The episodes varied in theme, some dealing with serious subjects, such as rascism, alcoholism, and corrupt frontier justice.  The series was at the forefront in dealing with some of these themes.  Guest stars included Ken Curtis(Gunsmoke), William Talman (Perry Mason), Ivan Dixon (Hogan’s Heroes), and a plethora of character actors from 60’s television. Writers for the series included Gene Roddenberry of Star Trek fame.

The problem with these half-season sets is they cost more for an entire season, they are not released in a timely manner, and they contain no extras other than previews of other old television series at the beginning of disc one.

Of all the early television westerns, “Have Gun Will Travel” was one of the best.  Boone was fantastic as Paladin and the themes were very sophisticated for the series time.  Paramount/CBS has done a great job restoring the picture and sound of this early 60’s show and you owe it to yourself to view at least some of these season sets.  For fans, this is a no-brainer-pick it up or any of the other season sets.

June 22, 2010 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | Have Gun Will Travel: Season Four, old television series, Paladin, Richard Boone, Vol. 2 dvd review, western