Have Gun Will Travel: The Complete Series

This was the first big hit for Richard Boone. Many episodes were written by Gene Roddenberry before he created Star Trek. Takes me back when I was 13. Its worth the trip.

For movies and TV, I usually rate the product and not the production. However, I must say I enjoyed HG-WT a great deal. I had never seen it before so. I cannot say if there are missing scenes or bad edits; I don’t think there are. About the product: it arrived safely with no damage. There was a slipcover for the plastic disc container. The container was my only problem and it is minor. I am not a fan of the spindles that overlap and the flip pages. Episodes and discs are sometimes in a crummy order and it is easy to lose your place. When you have a Season X Volume Y Disc Z setup you may lose track, like I did by almost skipping half of Season 5. Also, sometimes the discs are on the spindles tightly and can be difficult to remove. However, that was my only complaint. The visuals were quite good for a 60 year old television program. It was clear enough and no bad areas or muddy scenes. The audio was also good and there is closed captioning. I believe each episode is fully intact. As far as the show, I was quite impressed with a lot of the stories and how detailed and intellectual they are, especially for a half-hour episode. There were some clinkers and some obvious coincidences but overall this is a quality show. Other than my personal preferences regarding storage I can fully recommend this show and this complete series compilation.

Have Gun Will Travel was decades ahead of other prime time television series, in large part due to Richard Boone. For example, the show offered viewers a look at women exercising their own agency, that is, in stories told from their perspective, not a male intepretation of it. In one episode Paladin helps a woman doctor (June Lockhart), rejected by the community because of her gender, gain acceptance. In another he assists with the election of woman mayor. Women are not just saloon girls, or wives, or domestics, they are fully realized people.The same progressive attitude informs the show's take on minorities. In one episode Paladin helps Hey Boy locate his brother, who, like other Chinese, is being abused by the railroad company where he works. This sympathetic portrayal was unique in its era, and the network at first refused to to air. Boone threatened to leave the series if it was not broadcast, and the network caved.The treatment of other minorities -- Native Americans, blacks, east Indians, mixed race characters, Japanese, etc. -- is similarly supportive. Black characters demonstrated actual agency, rather than being reduced to servants, performers, and other background players. Boone also took on anti-Semitism when Judaism was never portrayed on the small screen. In one epispode he speaks in Hebrew and engages in a discussion of the Torah and its commentaries. Another celebrates a Jewish wedding.Behind the scenes was equally as revolutionary. Women directed Have Gun, notedly Ida Lupino, who did 12 episodes. They wrote scripts. The show's crew (those who gave their best, Boone hated sloppy or lazy work) was treated very well by the star. He encouraged them to bring their families for extended on location shooting in northern California, Bend, New Mexico, and elsewhere.Finally, many (but not all) of the scripts are outstanding. Rod Serling, Bruce Geller, Gene Rodenberry, and many others wrote for the show. The plots are not black and white, good versus evil. There is not always a "happy ending". Events and outcomes are nuanced, looking as much to the background and motivation of the characters as the action. And Paladin himself engages in introspection and thought, offering touching and insightful soliloquys on everything from feminity, to mortality, to the nature of his profession. For me these brief musings are the most brilliant part of the series.The show ultimately reflects Boone's own ethos: equality, justice, rule of law, compassion, forgiveness, a passion for the arts, and broad and deep interest in literature and history.This series is subtle, deep, and important. Yes, there are weak episodes. But overall it is outstanding, and remains unchallenged for treating characters and issues with a sympathy and understanding not repeated in broadcast television for many years afterwards.Have Gun Will Travel needs to be celebrated and remembered and praised for its thoughtful treatment of important social issues. This is Richard Boone's masterpiece -- an outstanding actor, a principled and often prickly individual who saw the inequities of the world, and sought to remedy them.

I was raised on the old westerns..

I watched this series all the time when I was a kid. It’s great to see them again.

This is a massive collection of 35 discs containing 225 episodes. I had no idea "Have Gun Will Travel" was such a prolific series. It averaged a whopping 38 episodes per season, unheard of today. The manufacturing date is around 2018. I have two complaints related to packaging and disc quality. First, the discs are crammed into a plastic box with exceptionally tight spindles. The discs are difficult to remove from the spindles without damage. Both strength and finesse are required to remove the discs from the box. Second, one disc was corrupt, season 1, disc 4. This disc was not recognized as a valid disc on three different DVD players and four computers. Fortunately, I have been able to order that single disc from another vendor for $6, increasing my total cost for the series. One corrupt disc out of 35 is a ratio of 3%. My experience with most DVD sets is that corrupt discs make up 5% to 20% of the total set, so this set is unusually good. Quality control for mass duplication of DVDs by manufacturers is generally poor.

For whatever reason, the theme of the series changes after the first season. Initially in the first season, the main character, Paladin, is a sophisticated, Bible quoting, Shakespear quoting, philosophical gun for hire. He uses his wits to preserve life and avoid gun fighting. The angst and the tension that creates makes for a unique western series. Starting in season two and there on, there is a lot more gun play, and for whatever reason, the producers of the series seemed to think it necessary to have a different writer for every story. The continuity of the character is lost as a result.

This set brings back memories of the era of TV westerns. Pallidin is the main character and Richard Boone portrayed him well. He was a most talented actor and he brought a sophisticated quality to the lead charactor, that is a quality missing in programming today. I also liked the fact that each episode had a distinct message about human qualities and the results of peoples actions…good and bad.

Una de mis favoritas de mi niñez. Los diálogos, las actuaciones y tomas son excelentes.Por ser solo de media hora los guiones van al punto central de la narrativa.

This is a great (reasonably priced) box-set that contains a massive (complete) collection of this unusually ‘intelligent’ western TV series w/ Richard Boone in the title role. Despite the presence of the word ‘gun’ in the series name - this professional gun-fighter is more like a proto- James Bond sort of character who generally tries to use his intellect rather than fire-power to solve whatever issue arises in each episode. Paladin is a sophisticated individual who can attract the ladies with his charm & wit but is also lightening quick with his ‘custom’ six-shooter when he can’t achieve his goals via other, more reasonable, means. The quality of the dvds is excellent and there are interesting ‘notes’ included with each episode that give background to the story and actors. Many notable writers contributed scripts to this long-running series - including over 20 by ‘Star Trek’ creator Gene Roddenberry - and the music was provided by legendary Hollywood composer Bernard Hermann. I noted that some reviewers took exception to the ‘packaging’ of the discs. They are, admittedly, sorta all jammed into the box - but there is such a pile of them that it would take up massive shelf space if they were more spread out - personally I don’t see it as much of a problem. Even tho I’m an oldster, I didn’t see much of this show back in the day when it originally aired on TV - I am really enjoying it now - happily binge-watching my way through all 200+ episodes!

Great to remember the old , cowboy series.

A gift

So far pretty good. Watched the first bunch of disks. The series itself is superb. Even though filmed in black and white, the stories and characters are not, instead they are complex and interesting and all is told in 25 minutes... Quality of the DVD picture is sharp and clear... The packaging and storage of the DVDs is simple but decent, and not as bad as some commenters tell us. I have seen much worse.Extras per episode are just text and include details about the episode This could be about writers (like Gene Roddenberry, later Star Trek, who wrote about 20 episodes) or about the director. Also the guest cast is discussed including a short bio. It's all not very extensive but enough for some trivia.Examples: Charles Bronson and George Kennedy, who both appeared quite a number of times in this series. So there are many more very famous stars who started off here or were still very young. Richard Boone, playing the main character Paladin, is an fine actor with a wide variety of subtle facial expressions, voice intonation and body language. Making this very human and believable, despite it being fantasy.After being introduced to HGWT via Youtube, I am glad to have the series now in high quality resolution (as far it goes with old tv series).I am happy with it and recommend this whole-heartedly. For the price and quality you can't go wrong. Good stuff.