14 replies to this topic

[dodge]

As serious students of Bond, Americans in particular will want to check out at least the first season of this trailblazing series. The parallels between Richard Boone's Paladin and Connery's cinematic Bond are striking.

Caveat: Please...I make no suggestion of theft. I claim that great ideas are in the air--and that the parallels are, as I've said, quite striking.

Have Gun Will Travel ran from 1957-1963. though Fleming, of course, had been writing Bond books for a few years, the Bond we know and love is still years away.

Origin and setup: The series was originally pitched as about a contemporary detective who gains his clients through the newspapers. Wisely, the producers chose to set it in the West. Paladin gains most of his clients through the newspapers, sending off his card: "Have Gun--Will Travel/Wire Paladin, San Francisco." About half the episodes begin with Paladin in the Carlton Hotel lobby, dressed in full dandy regalia. Within five minutes, he's sent off his card and arrives at his destination, dressed in his gunslinger outfit: black with a holster sporting his logo: a silver knight chess piece. For the opening episodes, he also wears a dandy's white necktie with the black shirt. This is, also wisely, dropped in favor of the open-collared black shirt.

Run: Over six years the show ran for 225 episodes that exhibit, in the first season, astonishing variety. Also an impressive list of talent: Charles Bronson, Strother Martin, Julie London, June Lockhart, Gene Rodenberry, Sam Peckinpah, Dan Blocker, Pernell Roberts, Jack Lord, John Carradine... Minus the commercials, these are 25-minute shows, shot in black and white. Therefore, these are like very well done short stories, compared to the novel-length Bonds.

Timeline: somewhat unclear. After the Civil War and based on internal references, the later 1870s or in the 1880s. However, the producers took their liberties, as one upcoming episode involves Little Big Horn, and another has Paladin meeting Oscar Wilde eon the author's American tour.

Character: Paladin is, first and foremost, a businessman whose fee is generally $1000. And which he is prepared to use any means to collect, when he's stiffed--including firing a cannon at a bulding where the villain's holed up. However, he occasionally waives the fee for an indigent soul...or raises the fee dramatically for a richnik (demanding $10000 once for a single day's work.) His services range from being a bodyguard to a sleuth to a hired gun. He has a strong moral code and an equally strong sense of honor, but he can be as brutal the job demands. He was educated at West Point and is a polyglot.

Parallels with the future cinematic Bond:
1) Paladin has a Bondian love for fine clothes. He takes one assignment when he sees a man being bullied--and admires the cut of the man's suit. He recognizes the suit as a Brooks Brothers suit, a style he used to wear when he worked as a bouncer. On one assignment, he takes his fee from an impoverished tailor in one custom-made suit every year.
2) Paladin is a connoisseur of both fine food and liquor. He presides over a wine-testing event once, floors a western cook by instantly recognizing the spices she has used, and is familiar with the cuisine of various groups that he calls on, including some Armenians. Unlike Bond, for the most part--Paladin is shown to eat and drink with gusto--without in the least slowing down a 25-minute story.
3) Paladin is familiar with several martial arts. Years before Goldfinger, he flips a gun-toting, man-hunting woman--who falls in love with him almost instantly. Judo and boxing are his preferred fighting styles--and Boone himself had boxed throughout college and the service, holding the title of light heavyweight champion. Note, though, Aikido rather astonishingly shows up in several episodes. And Boone--who'd also studied dancing to make his moves and falls more graceful--pulls these moves off with panache.
4) Paladin is the only actor I can think of who rivals Connery's Bond for charm, sex appeal and toughness. Paladin is a rakehell, who has to leave town now and then because of jealous women or their angry fathers. With the gun-toting, man-hunter, he completely conquers her by purring the loveliest poetry in her ear, in the most seductive fashion. Brutality? Paladin's as brutal with his mouth as he can be with his fists: never, never waste his time or try to snooker him in business. Get to the point and stop wasting my time, he roars time and again.
5) Paladin shares Bond's occasionally gratuitous cruelty. Nothing that quite matches Bond's cheerfully cold-blooded shooting of Strangeway. But Paladin also sets up a number of his foes for beat-downs or shoot-downs. The closest scene to Bond's sangfroid: when he breaks a vow of peace he's made...removes his gunbelt...and tells a tough, "Of all my sins, this is the one that I'll enjoy the best." The smackdown now begins.

Differences:
1) Paladin is far more literate than Bond, and fond of quoting poetry or drama. In this sense, he will be echoed years later in Robert Parker's Spenser mystery books.
2) From episode to episode, we see Paladin the business man rising in money and power. In one episode, we learn casually that he's the President of the San Francisco Stock Exchange. In another, when someone questions his credit-worthiness, the hotel manager laughs with delight. The mayor and he are on a first name basis. We learn that he spends $2000 a year on cigars.
3) More than any Bond before Craig, Paladin uses his wits to get what he wants, avoid violence, or get the upper hand. The chess knight is on his holster for a darned good reason.
4) Two of Paladin's most appealing, and distinguishing, traits are his humor and his warmth. Paladin frequently laughs with delight and warmly bonds with many whose paths he crosses. The look on his face when he sees a well-dressed Englishman in a wild Western town--a civilized man he can talk with--is simply a joy to behold.

Parting notes:
1) Your abitility to enjoy this astonishing show will depend on your ability to get into the half-hour format, the absence of color--and the budget-limited sets, as well as the occasional fights that don't work. By and large, the fights do work--and one episode, when the woman Paladin loves is slapped and knocked to the ground, features Paladin un-caged--one of the most brutal beatings seen on TV or the screen.

2)Have Gun Will Travel doesn't detract in the slightest from Connery's achievement. But it does offer fascinating parallels from the American side of the pond, years before Sir Sean arrived.

3) Our only chance to see what Boone could do with a real Bond-style role is not available now to the public. One episode of the later Richard Boone show, entitled "A Tough Man to Kill" featured a still whip-thin Boone as a Bond-like bounty hunter. This was around 1964. And the one still I've seen of Boone with an automatic rifle is terrific.

[TheSaint]

Ironic, considering Boone was Don Hamilton's choice to play Helm.

[dodge]

Ironic, considering Boone was Don Hamilton's choice to play Helm.

Thanks for that. Boone was also instrumental in ensuring that Hawaii 5-0 was shot in Hawaii--and was offered the lead role. Best info that I've found so far is that after the cancellation of the well-reviewed Richard Boone Show--featuring a repertory cast--he was left with a rather large hole in his heart, turning to the bottle. He'd have made a splendid Helm, or anything else that he chose.

[dodge]

Thank God! Friends, share in the wonderful news: this trailblazing thread hasn't been, as I'd feared, utterly ignored! Today, near tears, I entered my New Communiques and found the following:

FROM SANTA
Dodge,

I never expected to write to you again after your...stunt last summer. My Gawd, after flirting with me shamelessly on-site for nearly two years, you showed up on my doorstep dressed in a turquoise T-shirt reading 'MY PARENTS WENT TO A BANGKOK BROTHEL BUT ALL I GOT WAS THIS T-SHIRT'...knee shorts...and--black patent leather Buster Brown shoes! The horror of it! As a proper British lady, I still had to be a good host. So I allowed you to chase me round the sofa. Or to try to chase me. Those little legs of yours just aren't much good in a chase. In despair, I plumped down on the sofa, at which you instantly jumped on my lap. Then you placed your head on my patooties and--EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!---you began to suck your thumb. You filthy little beast!

Anyway, though, here I am sending you this PM to say: After reading reading your post on 'King Richard', I coughed up the dough for the first season. I did that, and I confess, for the almost certain pleasure of telling you that you're quite mad: a non-Bond before James Bond? An American actor, years before Connery, nailing the part to perfection? And this American actor was the same one I could only recall as a fat, bulbous-nosed buffoon he became later on?

It pains me to admit this, but you're absolutely right: Richard Boone, in his prime, was the only man on earth to give the then-future King a rollicking run for his money.

Don't ever come to Spain again. But I'm grateful to you, pardner.

Santa


FROM JUDO CHOP

Well, Dodger, you've pulled off a minor miracle. Yeah, I spent my twenty bucks for the first season of a black and white TV show from a half-century ago, starring an actor I only knew as the heavy in countless middling films. I wasn't buying your argument, but honor compelled me to cough up the dough. No way to argue, after all, unless I'd had a look.

The first season arrived with six slipcases holding 6-7 episodes each. Because I was sure you were wrong, I immediately went to the Episode in Question, wherein Boone Non-Bond flips his version of Pussy Galore, a half-decade before Connery. I was expecting a hip-throw, or something like that, passably well-done. Instead, like Con-Bond, BNB is seated...and neatly, precisely, with total, cool eocnomy, he throws her over his shoulder, barely appearing to move. The look in his eyes--and the look in hers--bring the scene in GF to mind compellingly.

I went back to the beginning and am watching the shows now in order. As you've mentioned, the 25-minute episodes can't begin to match the epic grandeur of the better Bonds. The black and white takes some getting used to. Generally, the action is well-enough staged but on a couple of occasions, the gunfights played out on a green stage are hootably incompetent. The fistfights suffer now and then from obviously pulled gut-punches--otherwise, they're very good, occasionally terrific.

I'm looking forward to dipping into this classic collection when 25 minutes is just right for my time and energy. James Bond remains and Connery remains, but in an odd way my love of them has been deeply enrichened by this Western parallel.

All best to you--and give Santa a little more time. Women are rightly leery of men who show up in patent leather shoes.

All best,

JC


FROM 00TWELVE

Dodge, I gotta tell you, the two last things I needed were: 1) to have to shell out $20 for an old TV show starring--get real, Richard Boone? Fat, old, red-nosed Richard Boone? 2) the slightest possibility that you were right and I'd get hooked.

I'm hooked. The parallels with Bond, as you point out, are stunning. And the rail-thin Boone as Paladin is up to Connery in every way. Who'd have ever guessed that Richard Boone had this kind of acting range at his beck and call--and that he'd get the chance to use that range in episodes this short? He's witty, charming, gracious, crude, blunt as the kick of a mule, tough as nails, occasionally downright mean, learned and sexy.

Bravo, little friend.

P.S. My wife hates you for coming between us. I've just ordered the second season. Maybe when I finish that I can cut down and spend more time with her.

Your pal,

00T

FROM ZORIN INDUSTRIES

Dodge, Dodge, Dodge, Dodge.

I and all the Zorinians send you our warmest regards. I started off with the second season, in order to view episode entitled 'The Ballad of Oscar Wilde', which you'd praised. Have I told you that I'm British? Well, as a proper Brit--and a damned learned one too--I hoped to make short work of you (no pun intended on your height) by viewing an episode that hadn't a chance of working since it was penned by a Yank. To my utter astonishment, it was absolutely brilliant! It began with a slam-bang scene in which Paladin 'auditions' for the job of bodyguarding Oscar, competing with three thugs. My gawd! Fast and furious. Now, Wilde's flamboyant dress, on his American tour, is greatly toned down for TV and there's no suggestion of his sexual proclivities. That said, he's convincingly and quite sympathetically rendered. And Paladin's familiarity with Wilde's work is essential to the story: he manages to slip a clue to Oscar, on how to escape, in one of Wilde's own epigrams. The crowning touch was their final exchange: Paladin comments on the importance of choosing one's enemies carefully. Oscar looks at him and says, "That sounds like something I'd say. Lord, I wish I'd said that!" Paladin answers gravely, "You will, Mr. Wilde. You will." The fun of this literacy, for a British gentlemen (have I mentioned that I'm British?) is knowing that it's based on an actual exchange between Wilde and his nemesis, the painter James Whistler. Wilde-style, the script-writer simply 'borrowed' the exchange.

Hats off you, little man. And yes, by all means, if you're ever out this way, we'll go lawn-bowling together. If, that is, you swear to wear those infamous Buster Brown shoes.

Sincerely,

Zorin

[AMC Hornet]

Funny, I used to watch 'Have Gun, Will Travel' late at night in the 80's, and never thought of it as a proto-Bond. I enjoyed the mixed styles of stories, such as the one where Paladin and two other men are confined by a jealous husband until one of them confesses to being his wife's lover. In that one the dialogue was more in the spirit of the Twilight Zone than Gunsmoke.

But yes, a fine series and worth re-viewing. I had no idea it had run for so long.

And for those interested in watching superannuated hamasauruses duking it out (pun intended), check out John Wayne's final film 'The Shootist' for a deadly confrontation with RB. And does anyone remember Lauren Bacall's character's name?

[Safari Suit]

I'm not making any promises but I imagine you might get a better response if you re-posted this in the "Spies, Spoofs and Spin-offs" sub-board. This seems like their kind of bag.

I enjoyed your thoughts but I don't know anything much about Have Gun, Will Travel, and I am not familiar with Boone in thin or fat form. The only thing I know about HGWT is that it inspired this poorly made but mildly amusing cartoon:

Note how it even spoofs the US TV practice of the time of airing "teasers" at the start of the show; e.g. a clip from later in the show aired at the beginning to try and hook viewers.

[dodge]

I'm not making any promises but I imagine you might get a better response if you re-posted this in the "Spies, Spoofs and Spin-offs" sub-board. This seems like their kind of bag.
I enjoyed your thoughts but I don't know anything much about Have Gun, Will Travel, and I am not familiar with Boone in thin or fat form. The only thing I know about HGWT is that it inspired this poorly made but mildly amusing cartoon:

Note how it even spoofs the US TV practice of the time of airing "teasers" at the start of the show; e.g. a clip from later in the show aired at the beginning to try and hook viewers.

You may be right. But what kept me from doing that was reluctance to see this great show being taken as a spoof. Or as a spin-off, when it preceded Bond. It'll be interesting to see if anyone at all feels inspired to gamble on something they don't already know. As for me, I've reassessed my opinion that Eminem is all wrong. True, he's four inches shorter than Boone was...but if he's smart enough to see the grandeur of HGWT, I say let him run with the thing. He may rock.

[dodge]

It's come to my attention that Paladin is not amused by my outrageous antics in attempting to drum up interest in Have Gun--Will Travel. I apologize to him, but to nobody else, and accordingly set the record straight--with strict promises to behave:

1) I am not a Little Person. I'm 6' tall, weigh 175 pounds.
2) I don't wear black patent Buster Brown shoes or knee shorts or moronic T-shirts.
3) I'm not in my teens or even barely out of them.
4) I don't sit on women's laps and suck my thumb.
5) I don't want to go lawn-bowling with anyone.
6) I do believe that anyone who hasn't seen at least a half-dozen episodes of this brilliant series is culturally challenged--and a gladneysandingmorrfleschliffer.

[Qwerty]

[Moderator's Note: Topic moved to Spies, Spoofs & Spin-offs forum]

[Napoleon Solo]

Sam Rolfe, the co-creator (with Herb Meadow) of Have Gun--Will Travel, developed The Man From U.N.C.L.E., writing the pilot script and producing the first season of MFU.

Rolfe's involvement with HGWT was even greater. He wrote several HGWT scripts (without Meadow) and became associate producer during the final third of season 1 and producer at the very end of that season. He produced all of season 2 and was still producing when he left the show in season 3. Even so, he still came back in the final season to write the season opener, which explained Paladin's origins.

Edited by Napoleon Solo, 04 January 2010 - 04:14 AM.

[Napoleon Solo]

Sam Rolfe, the co-creator (with Herb Meadow) of Have Gun--Will Travel, developed The Man From U.N.C.L.E., writing the pilot script and producing the first season of MFU.

Rolfe's involvement with HGWT was even greater. He wrote several HGWT scripts (without Meadow) and became associate producer during the final third of season 1 and producer at the very end of that season. He produced all of season 2 and was still producing when he left the show in season 3. Even so, he still came back in the final season to write the season opener, which explained Paladin's origins.

One more note: Meadow and Rolfe's initial take was to feature a contemporary (for the 1950s) bounty hunter. CBS liked the character but suggested it be turned into a Western. Eager to make a sale, Meadow and Rolfe did.

[dodge]

Sam Rolfe, the co-creator (with Herb Meadow) of Have Gun--Will Travel, developed The Man From U.N.C.L.E., writing the pilot script and producing the first season of MFU.

Rolfe's involvement with HGWT was even greater. He wrote several HGWT scripts (without Meadow) and became associate producer during the final third of season 1 and producer at the very end of that season. He produced all of season 2 and was still producing when he left the show in season 3. Even so, he still came back in the final season to write the season opener, which explained Paladin's origins.

One more note: Meadow and Rolfe's initial take was to feature a contemporary (for the 1950s) bounty hunter. CBS liked the character but suggested it be turned into a Western. Eager to make a sale, Meadow and Rolfe did.

Thanks for your updates, Napoleon. I'd read of the original pitch and, though it still would've been interesting, I think the change was for the better. Paladin's scouring through several newspapers daily for his next assignment--then riding off a long ways to meet them--has more meaning and impact when there are no telephones, faxes, etc. In a couple of instances in the first two seasons (all I've seen so far), Paladin arrives, uncertain as to whether he'll even take the job. Other times, he has to play hardball to collect his fee--collection agencies then not being what they are today. Fashion-wise, it's also dated less in our minds than it would have if set in the 50s. Any suit from the 50s would look old to us today, whereas a dandy's from the 1880s still appears more or less timeless.

Cheers again. Am looking forward to season 3, after I've had a short break.

Am also verrrrry curious how one director--Andrew McLaglen--came to direct an astonishing half of the 225 episodes. Luckily for us, he was a decent director. And yet some of the more interesting episodes, I've noticed, had different directors: e.g. buzz kulik. Season 3 will feature episodes directed by Ida Lupino and Boone himself. Any inside skinny on McLaglen?

[Jackanaples]

Andrew McLaglen was the son of John Ford company regular Victor McLaglen. He even directed his dad in an episode of HGWT, "The O'Hare Story" from Season 1. In addition to all his tv credits he also directed the movies FFOLKES, THE WILD GEESE and THE SEA WOLVES.

Meant to respond to this thread quite a while ago, but I got distracted. I'm a big HGWT and Richard Boone fan; to the point where I bought bootleg dvds of THE RICHARD BOONE SHOW, HEC RAMSEY and GOODNIGHT, MY LOVE (a made for tv 1940's private eye movie co-starring Boone with Barbara Bain and Michael Dunn!)

I've seen "A Tough Man to Kill" and it's pretty good. It is indeed Paladin in the present and with more time to work with and tell an interesting story. But ultimately I like Paladin more than Shannon.

I loved reading that Donald Hamilton liked Richard Boone for Matt Helm. What a fantastic movie that would have been.

[dodge]

Andrew McLaglen was the son of John Ford company regular Victor McLaglen. He even directed his dad in an episode of HGWT, "The O'Hare Story" from Season 1. In addition to all his tv credits he also directed the movies FFOLKES, THE WILD GEESE and THE SEA WOLVES.

Meant to respond to this thread quite a while ago, but I got distracted. I'm a big HGWT and Richard Boone fan; to the point where I bought bootleg dvds of THE RICHARD BOONE SHOW, HEC RAMSEY and GOODNIGHT, MY LOVE (a made for tv 1940's private eye movie co-starring Boone with Barbara Bain and Michael Dunn!)

I've seen "A Tough Man to Kill" and it's pretty good. It is indeed Paladin in the present and with more time to work with and tell an interesting story. But ultimately I like Paladin more than Shannon.

I loved reading that Donald Hamilton liked Richard Boone for Matt Helm. What a fantastic movie that would have been.

Well, jack, now you've got me drooling. How can one of the world's leading Richard Boone fans, moi, get to see Tough Man to Kill? Here's another interesting story, in case you're not aware of it, with thanks for your post: the best guide to Boone's career, 'Knight Without Armor in a Tarnished Land', makes a strong case that one episode of the Richard Boone Show had a powerful influence on Marlon Brando's Don Corleone. The episode was called 'The Mafia Man', eight years before The Godfather. Boone and Brando were buddies and would act together, in '68. in Night of the Following Day. Anyway, the author cites some of the facial expressions and tics, as well as line deliveries, that are paralleled--if not imitated--in Brando's stunning performance. I haven't seen the episode, since it's not legally available, but I wouldn't rule out Brando's starting from Boone's turn and taking it to a new level.

[dodge]

Another interesting...parallel:

The famous, beloved first reveal of Sean's Bond is mostly visual but partly due to his imposing, slightly explosive "B": "Bbbbond. James Bbbbond."

Paladin introduces himself, always, with an explosive "P". "My name is Ppppaladin."
Now, since everyone else addresses him with a soft P, and since Boone himself uses everywhere else a completely natural, American delivery, I got to wondering about that.

My conclusion: Business and authority. Paladin has a strange name. It's not a name that many of his listeners could even spell. He'll lose authority and control if he has to repeat his name, correct the pronunciation or explain his origins.

Balladin, you say? That's a strange handle for a man. What are you, Indian? Hindu? Greek? Sorry, I pronounced it wrong? You say it's pronounced Fall-a-din?

From a business standpoint, he needs to assert control from the instant he arrives. He may be thousands of miles from home. He doesn't know his employers and faces the chance they may stiff him if they get the upper hand.

So: My name is Ppppaladin--and make sure you get it right.