Have Gun - Will Travel (TV Series) Birds of a Feather (1958) User Reviews

Have Cannon, Will Fire

[zsenorsock · 7/10 · 7 April 2007]

When Paladin reads about a dispute over railroad right of way that's threatening to destroy a town, he rides out unbidden to help the sheriff of the town, his old friend Quinn (Harry Bartell). Once there, he finds his friend cowed by the armies of gunfighters the warring factions have hired. Paladin decides to end the dispute on his own, despite the presence of another top gun for hire, Coe (James Craig).

Paladin uses his head to figure out a way to end the dispute without violence while turning the other cheek to Coe's belligerent threats. Coe is played by the kind of forgettable James Craig, one of those guys who's done dozens of western roles but never seems to stand out in any of them. Veteran radio actor Harry Bartell plays Quinn (he was the announcer for the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and played "Nero Wolfe" among many roles) but doesn't get much to do. After introducing Quinn, the script kind of forgets him and he doesn't get an opportunity to redeem himself in Paladin's eyes, which seems kind of odd now that I think of it. But perhaps Paladin was blinded by the obvious talents of Molly (the breathtaking Joan Marshall, future wife of director Hal Ashby), Quinn's beautiful daughter. I know I was!

The script has some nice turns in it and the action is well directed, including some tense moments when Coe tries to goad Paladin into a gun battle. The cannon comes into play at the very end and reminds me of the way James Garner used one in "Support Your Local Sheriff". Bottom line is this episode is good enough to overlook the flaws...and besides, there's Joan Marshall!

Of eagles and vultures

[hudecha · 7/10 · 25 August 2018]

A fairly minor, but good-humored and entertaining episode. The birds of the title are of course, on one side the greedy (and ugly) representatives of the railroad companies, possibly not that far from some of their historical models; on the other their hired hitmen, Paladin and his adversary-turned-pal Coe, who in comparison to their employers are meant to appear rather straightforward and even "honest" - in that case it is probably a strongly idealized versions of the real Mr Coes, considering that it is unlikely there ever was any gunman coming any close to Mr. Paladin. Skinny cats are generally less morally repellent than fat ones, that is a rule shared by Western and noir films. Where there is a big difference between them is that in a noir, Paladin's main bright tactical idea - buying the enemy's strongman instead of fighting him - would certainly not appear particularly original and brilliant. As pointed out in a previous review, the authors certainly had in mind the pattern of Red Harvest. Paladin's trick here, though, is not one bit as devious - and deadly - as those used by the Continental Op in Hammett's masterpiece. But in the brawny, unsophisticated good old West, it makes him something a modern Machiavelli. And at the end he seems to discover and promote on his own railroad diplomacy - one has to believe that after his departure the sheer force of his arguments will have indeed compelled the two company representatives to give up their armed feud in exchange for the win-win advantages of legal agreements, because otherwise his original promise to his old pal the sheriff will not have been really fulfilled.

The first re-telling of Dashiell Hammett's "Red Harvest"?

[clyons · 10 December 2010]

I just saw this episode, and immediately recognized the basic plot elements--talented stranger arrives in town divided between warring gangs, and ends the conflict by playing one side against the other.

Three years later, Akira Kurosawa released "Yojimbo", which retold Hammett's story in feudal Japan, and was much truer to the bloody nature of the original novel than HGWT could ever be. A few years after that, Sergio Leone took the story back to the American West in "A Fistful of Dollars", and they've never stopped remaking it since--last time was with Bruce Willis.

But this is the first time I know of that somebody took Hammett's basic idea and shifted eras and settings. They even tip the hat to Hammett's 'Continental Op' by referring to a Continental Divide Railway.

I wouldn't call this one of the best HGWT eps I've seen, but it's a fascinating bit of pop cultural history, nonetheless--they even beat Kurosawa to the punch. No mean feat. But I doubt he ever saw this episode. He was influenced by the same original source--the genius of Dashiell Hammett.