Have Gun - Will Travel (TV Series) The Posse (1959) User Reviews

Have Rope, Will Hang

[zsenorsock · 9/10 · 29 April 2007]

One of the best episodes of the series is enhanced by a strong supporting cast: Denver Pyle, Harry Carey Jr., Ken Curtis and Perry Cook.

Palladin is riding somewhere when he sees a posse ride by. Later he comes across a man named Dobie (Perry Cook) who invites him to share his campsite. Although suspicious, Palladin agrees. When the Posse arrives, Dobie claims Palladin was holding him prisoner and is the killer the posse is looking for. He convinces them with planted evidence, while Palladin says nothing in his own defense other than recite famous quotations that show what a cultured and learned man he is. The cowboys are not impressed.

Though the Sheriff (Harry Carey Jr.) kinda wants to bring Palladin in for a real trial, he yields to a powerful local rancher (Denver Pyle) who sees no reason to deal with rights and trials and stuff like that. It looks pretty bleak for Palladin. He even has to stomach being beat up by Curly (Ken Curtis, far from Festus at this point and at his sadistic best).

Unfortunately the device they use to get Palladin out of the hangman's noose at the last moment is pretty flimsy story wise, as is the way they suddenly discover the real culprit is Dobie.

But the episode is so well done (and has a surprisingly grim ending) that I kinda forgave its flaws and enjoyed its strengths.

The Ox Bow Incident ala Paladin

[roycevenuter · 8/10 · 14 June 2016]

At the start of the third season of "Have Gun-Will Travel," this episode featured several prominent actors who played a seminal part in other excellent shows in this series. Ken Curtis distinguishes himself by portraying an entirely different personality and mind set as contrasted with his long-standing portrayal of Festus Haggen on "Gunsmoke" or even the two other rather slap-sticky roles Curtis fulfilled for this series. This was a television show which gave disciplined carte blanche to actors and actresses who truly wished to stretch their creative resumes and break new ground dramatically and artistically.

"The Posse" begins in media res, like many of the episodes by simply jumping Paladin into the hubbus, reminiscent of "The Ox Box Incident"

the great feature length film from the 1940's starring Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews. "The Posse" is a masterpiece in terms of exploring in considerable depth and range, the power of the character's intuitive abilities to unmask treachery, dissimulation, greed, and murderous intent. The story keeps the audience in suspense until nearly that last inch of footage. Throughout much of the fierce interrogation that transpires, seemingly leading to imminent catastrophe, the protagonist is not permitted to utter a word in his defense. Tension thick enough to sever with an ax. Dobie O'Brien again proves his versatility as an actor of tremendous range and tone. Denver Pyle, another HGWT reliable histrionic force, provides just the right blend of power, blindness, lack of humility and pompous indignation. Harry Carey, Jr. who played roles in 12 HGWT episodes, continues to stretch himself here as a dramatic complicator, neither initiating nor resolving a conflict, yet making the fabric of the plot deeply intriguing. Paladin declaims a speech, the sort of message aimed at the mind in a situation in which words and careful arguments would probably just be wasted. I thought that Paladin's two comments garnered from Erodius were stilted, very academic, and, again, aimed at a scholarly, dispassionate audience, not people anxious for and eager to consummate summary justice. This episode is not to be missed, however; it adds important dimensions to the character development of its chief protagonist who is, nonetheless, proved to be all too human in this allegory of the old West, demonstrating as history has often done, that bad things can readily happen to good people unless good is equally poised and more crafty.