Have Gun - Will Travel (TV Series) First, Catch a Tiger (1959) User Reviews

Have Grudge, Will Settle

[zsenorsock · 8/10 · 29 April 2007]

A man named Mordain (radio star Harry Bartell) has had the judge and the sheriff who arrested his son and had him hanged shot and killed by a mysterious gunman. Now Palladin figures he'll be after him since he brought Mordain's son in. Rather than wait for the gunman to come after him, Palladin decides to go to town and meet him head on. Only he doesn't know which of the three men around Mordain is the killer.

Pretty good, tough episode directed by Ida Lupino. It features the fetching Pamela Lincoln as Mary (she was in the infamous "The Tingler"). sadly, Lincoln only did a handful of roles before taking twenty years off before reappearing in "Tootsie" then vanishing completely. John Anderson is solid as Dunne, but Bartell doesn't seem angry enough as the man who so desperately wants revenge.

Watching on DVD also allows us to see a huge problem in the episode: in a gun battle with Dunne, Dunne clearly has the drop on Palladin. Our hero should be dead. All he has to do is pull the trigger. But no, Palladin is allowed to draw his weapon and shoot Dunne instead. It looked that way at regular speed, at slo-mo its almost laughable how badly Palladin is outdrawn. Also, the stunt Boone is again clearly seen in the fight scene with Huston (Dan Megowan). A little editing could have fixed both these problems.

Nevertheless, a fairly good action packed episode.

It Ain't Motel Six

[dougdoepke · 27 February 2010]

So which of the three hard-cases is Fred Horn, the gunsel hired to kill Paladin. We don't know, but Paladin better find out quickly since they're all packed together in a small hotel and he isn't going to get a second chance.. There's some suspense, but what distinguishes this episode is a touchy topic for the time—what used to be called "white slavery". Comely, young Mary (Lincoln) has been sold to hotel-keeper (Calder) for $50. Now she has to pay him off by offering, shall we say, special services to paying guests (I like the way this service is subtly suggested and the way she anxiously touches her hair when Paladin prefers hot water instead. I also like the way the script has Walt {Anderson} indicate how rural poverty can cause this awful thing to happen.)

Good thing the script keeps us guessing because it's a cheaply produced entry, confined basically to a single indoor set. The cast does include two Dragnet favorites, viz. Bartell and Harris, along with that fine Lincolnesque actor John Anderson. One incidental point to note. Most of the town exteriors in these TV Westerns were filmed on sound stages. One dead give-away is when you see a single object (usually a person) unnaturally cast more than one shadow, as happens in this episode. The multiple shadows are caused by the multiple klieg lights illuminating the set. As far as I know, no attempt was made to disguise or offset this intrusion. Seems odd to me, given all of Hollywood's famed expertise..