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Have Gun - Will Travel: The Gold Bar (1961)
Paladin Saving, Building Lives...
This is a serious episode, told in a light-hearted manner. One fine Friday evening, Paladin is approached by a bank president to help him engage in deception - a bar of gold has gone missing, and only one man - the trusted bank teller, who has disappeared - had means to steal it. The bank president engages Paladin to find the man, recover the bar, and have it returned to the vault by first thing Monday morning (when the bank examiner comes on his annual visit).
Paladin locates the teller, but he finds that the circumstances have changed for the teller -there are now other parties to be considered. Paladin must act quickly to save a life, help create a life, and to rebuild a life, for several people. Can he do it? Well, to find out, you must watch the episode.
One more thing: One of the funniest moments in the entire series is in this episode. It begins when the meek teller pulls a gun on the unarmed Paladin. Since he is Paladin, you know he will find a way out of this predicament. But the cunning, and the simplicity, with which he does it is simply not to be missed.
Ida Lupino (famous movie star, and later accomplished director) directed this episode, with great pacing, and humor.
Have Gun - Will Travel: The Return of Dr. Thackeray (1958)
Ordinary Episode, Extraordinary Result...
In this episode, I will not add more about the plot that was covered by previous reviewers. However, in this somewhat ordinary episode there was one extraordinary, and unexpected, result.
In this episode, the title character, Dr. Thackeray (played by the lovely June Lockhart) is being threatened by a group of cowpokes who have been exposed to smallpox, and are ordered under quarantine by her, with the quarantine being enforced - and Dr. Thackeray being protected - by Paladin. This does not go over well with the rambunctious cowpokes, one of them goes so far as to engage in physical altercation with Paladin (from which Paladin emerges victor, of course).
If you look in the credits, you will see that the young cowpoke who fights Paladin is Steve Pauley, played by Johnny Western. Johnny Western was a young actor and a bit of a singing cowboy - no less than Gene Autry had taken a liking to him and helped him early in Western's career. When he got the job on HGWT, Western was thrilled - his chance to play in a scene opposite the legend, Richard Boone as Paladin. So thrilled was Western that he had trouble with his lone scene - how could he bring himself to strike Paladin, his hero? After a few poor takes, Richard Boone realized how nervous the young man was. To his credit, rather than simply asking for another bit player to step in for the inexperienced youngster, Boone offered to work with him on the scene, and with Boone's help, they were able to complete the scene.
Western was so thankful that he went home that night and did what he did best - he wrote a song. The next day, though he was not needed on the set, Western went there, approached Richard Boone, and presented him with a gift - the song he wrote the night before. Boone was stunned. After the surprise wore off, Boone, ever the artist, asked Western could again play the song on his guitar, but with a rhythm that was more upbeat. Western complied, and Boone approved. Boone then went to Herb Meadow (the creator of the show) and suggested they use the song for the theme song of the show. Meadow agreed, and they set up a music production company to act as the business entity that would collect any royalties due for the song - an entity that would be owned in equal parts by Western, Boone, and Meadow.
That song - "The Ballad of Paladin" - is the theme song you will hear at the conclusion of each of the subsequent episodes of Have Gun Will Travel, to this day. And to this day, the royalties are shared equally by Johnny Western, and the estates of Mr. Boone and Mr. Meadow.
You can hear a clip of the song, performed by Mr. Western, at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgvxu8QY01s
Have Gun - Will Travel: Penelope (1962)
A woman of valor, who can find? Her price is far above rubies.
Paladin was a remarkable character. And the fellow who played him, Richard Boone, was a very talented man.
The summary is a line from the episode titled "Penelope". It is recited by Paladin. The quote is from from the Bible, Proverbs 31. Paladin bestows this quote upon a man - a stranger (Lawrence Dobkin) that has met Paladin in the bar of his hotel - who is deeply in love with his beautiful, younger, wife. The man has been away from his wife (Joanna Barnes) and his home (a ranch) for some time. He is planning to return - unannounced - tomorrow. Before he leaves, he gets drunk and tells Paladin that his wife is the best woman a man could hope to find (to which Paladin responds with the quote mentioned above). The husband also assumes that his wife is so exceptional, she will fall prey to any man with designs on her - and he will have to kill them both.
After the man passes out in the bar, the man's servant comes to tell Paladin that the wife is indeed the object of another man - the foreman - back at the ranch.
Paladin journeys there to tell the wife of her husband's impending arrival. She is miserable without him. She loves him, but believes that, since he has spent so much time away from home, searching for his fortune (a fortune she does not want), her husband does not love her. What she does not realize is that her husband loves her so much that he began his search entirely for her.
The manner in which Paladin manages to get the husband to drive the foreman away without killing him, and to resist the temptation to also challenge Paladin to a duel over his wife, is one befitting Paladin's prowess as a master strategist.
In the end the husband is victorious (he has defended his and his wife's honor without the need to kill) but also crushed (he assumes his wife does not love him). To the husband's astonishment - and profound joy - he discovers his wife, whom he cherishes deeply, cherishes him as well.
His quest accomplished, Paladin takes his leave. But not before bestowing upon husband and wife a recitation of the entire quotation that he mentioned earlier...
"A woman of valor, who can find? Her price is far above rubies. So that he shall have no need of spoil. The heart of her husband safely trust in her, And he shall have no fear of loss of gain. She does him good and not evil, All the days of her life."
Richard Boone was a very talented man.
The Tall T (1957)
Calssic Star in Classic of the Genre...
All the elements of a great western are here. Great story (Elmore Leonard got $5,000 for one of his early stories). Great script (Burt Kennedy really knew what he was doing he would later become a good director also). Great direction (Budd Boetticher, perhaps the best "less is more" director there ever was). Classic western plot (lone man rides in from the wild, fights/destroys the wild & lawless elements, leaves the place a little more civilized then he found it).
Best of all is the cast: Maureen O'Sullivan as the middle aged newlywed (cold on the outside, fiery on the inside), John Hubbard as her husband who "ain't much". Arthur Hunnicutt as the stage driver (and loyal friend to the hero), Skip Homeier & Henry Silva as two young thugs who attract almost as much sympathy as they do fear, and the two leads Richard Boone (the villain, as a violent man with decent tendencies) and Randolph Scott (the hero, as a decent man with violent tendencies). What made Randolph Scott so good, was his ability (very rare among leading men) to bring out the essence of the villain he was facing you see in Scott's face all you need to know about the villain. Fear, sympathy, hope, disgust it is all there. Of course, this requires an exceptionally talented actor to play the villain. Here, in Richard Boone, he has one. Boone's Frank plays the mirror image to Scott's Pat we see in each, what the other might have become had they taken a different road in life. Look at the actions of the two men. Scott, the hero, menaces no one, yet winds up killing three men. Boone, the villain, menaces everyone, yet winds up killing no one. Boone went on to stardom when, according to Hollywood legend, Scott was offered the lead in a new TV show "Have Gun Will Travel" and in declining, suggested Boone instead.
Earlier in his career, Randolph Scott was stuck with B movie directors and casts that could not play off him in an interesting way. Later in his career, he would produce films (with his partner, Harry Joe Browne, he formed the "Ranown" production company), and had more say in things. He did not sign A-list stars for his films they were not the big budget variety but he had a knack for finding up and coming actors who would go on to stardom (Richard Boone, Pernell Roberts, Claude Akins, James Coburn, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, James Best, Lee van Cleef, the list goes on) who could play up to, and off of, him. If you want to see more of this extraordinary star, see "Seven Men From Now", "Ride Lonesome", "Commanche Station" or "Buchanan Rides Alone", as well as his last film, the legendary "Ride The High Country". Some are on DVD, others on TV. Each of these will provide a look at a classic star in a classic genre.
Ulee's Gold (1997)
"Peter Fonda was never an action star"...
"Peter Fonda was never an action star"... So said Roger Ebert. That captures the essence of Fonda's performance, which is also the essence of "Ulee's Gold". There are those actors of past and present who visibly try to get you to notice them - Alec Baldwin, Robin WIlliams, and Marlon Brando are examples. There are those who do not try, and yet they still attract your attention - Gary Cooper, Steve McQueen, Randolph Scott - because of their charisma in what they say and do, regardless of how seldom they say and do it. Then there is the rarest of all actors - those who seem to be trying to get you to NOT notice them. Then, when their time to shine (their "close up", if you will) come along, you not only notice them, but you remember them. The only two actors I have known to do this are Spencer Tracy and Henry Fonda. In "Ulee's Gold" Peter Fonda shows he too has this ability, even if he seldom gets a chance to use it. In viewing this film, I saw much of Henry in Peter's performance. If you were to view "My Darling CLementine" you would also see the parallels in Henry's performance - how he calmly subdues a drunkard who is shooting up a saloon, and the easily Peter calmly walks into a nest of agitated bees. And the way both men act when harm threatens their family - they are calm and patient on the outside, but only until it is time to act. Then, they perform acts of cunning and bravery. Most of the time, they don't seem to be doing much at all. But you must still watch them because when they do something, you don't want to miss it. Henry made a number of exceptional films over a 45 year career - many good, but none wildly phenomenal. Peter mad the most influential film of his generation ("Easy Rider") while still in his 20s and has not come close to that level since. With "Easy Rider", we knew Peter was an icon. With "Ulee's Gold", we discover that he is Henry's son.
Comanche Station (1960)
The Western, Distilled to its Essence...
Howard Hawks was once asked about his recipe for making a great film. His reply: "Three good scenes, no bad scenes". I would humbly add two other rules: A great film is one where no additional scene is needed, and no existing scene could have been cut. Few competent directors violate the first rule. The mark of a great director is the ability to follow the second. Many inferior directors are too shallow or too vain to understand this - they constantly strive to include superfluous or redundant scenes - Just To Make Sure You Got The Point - when it is wiser to let the audience decide what is important. John Ford was the master at this. Hawks, Wilder, Eastwood, also come to mind. With Commanche Station, Budd Boetticher showed that he knew how to distill a great story (with many elements of a Greek tragedy) to its most basic human elements - Obsession, Greed, Loyalty, Irony, and above all, Honor.
Not only did Boetticher direct a great film, Burt Kennedy (later to become a fair director himself) constructed a great script.
Some good scenes: A conversation between a woman who was taken captive by Commanches (and held for a time) and the stranger who has just paid her ransom... Nancy Lowe: If-if you had a woman taken by the Comanche and-and you got her back... how would you feel knowing? Jefferson Cody: If I loved her, it wouldn't matter. Nancy Lowe: Wouldn't it? Jefferson Cody: No ma'am, it wouldn't matter at all.
Or two friends, hired guns both, contemplating the need to commit a horrible crime for money: Frank: You want to go to work, do you? Dobie: Work? Frank: Making an honest living? Dobie: Oh, no, I don't think I could do that. I could cowboy some. Frank: Well, what will that get you? You work yourself to death for somebody and likely they will have to take up a collection to bury you.
Or a conversation between an honorable man and a young man trying to decide whether he will try to become one: Dobie: A saddle and a shirt, that's all Frank had. It sure ain't much. Jefferson Cody: Sure ain't. Dobie: It wasn't his fault, though. Jefferson Cody: No? Dobie: No, he never knew anything but the wild side. Jefferson Cody: A man can cross over anytime he has the mind.
As for the performances, they are uniformly good. Nancy Gates, Skip Homier, Richard Rust, and Claude Akins hit the right tone - never going too far for a laugh or a tear.
And Randolph Scott was perfect - A word I do not use lightly. Roger Ebert once said that Marlon Brando and Paul Newman started out on the same path: Both came on the scene in the early 1950s, both studied the Method, both looked good in an undershirt. But Brando went on to see what else he could throw in to his performances while Newman went on to see what he could leave out (Newman once said that he was dissatisfied with many of his early performances because "you could see the acting"). In Commanche Station, Randolph Scott provided the inspiration for such an approach. This is what makes a performance (indeed, a film) memorable - by distilling your performance to only that which is necessary, you allow the viewer to remember what is important to them, not what they are told should be important to them.
If I were held to only half a dozen westerns to be labeled as essential, this would be one of them (The others: My Darling Clementine (1946), Shane (1953), The Searchers (1956), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Unforgiven (1992)).