Have Gun, Will Travel

GUNMAN WHO PLAYS GOD Richard Boone stars as Palladin, the gunman with a card saying "Have Gun, Will Travel". In the days when this was made, he was seen as a forward thinking liberal gunman, even into the sixties and seventies, and especially today. It was like most TV series in that all the corrupt people were white males, and especially so in this one. A lot of people today don't realize this, but this was how nearly every Western was in the fifties, even on TV. The problem with Palladin was that he never minded his own business, even when he made it his business. He always wanted to play God. In the show, he's always right, but his philosophy led too much to the modern day "scapegoating".

Have Gun, Will Travel offers, in the character of Paladin, a protagonist who was atypical amongst the lineup of 1950's western drama heroes. He was the erudite gunslinger, the gentleman-bounty hunter, the fixer of situations gone bad and a constrained vigilante. Contrary to what has been written in another review, Paladin didn't seek to play "god"; however, his line of work may have required that he play any of the roles of judge, jury and executioner, depending on the situation. While not pretending to the status of "god," Paladin could quote with ease passages from the King James Bible or Shakespeare, prior to dispatching the villain at hand. It would also be impossible for Paladin to engage in extensive moralizing, as the show made no pr...