Have gun will travel, has it aged gracefully?

BobSchneider · 09-17-2007, 01:47 AM

Well why I ask is I loved the Have Gun Will Travel radios shows (used to listen to them on knx 1070am in LA and bought the cds of the radio show from ORCAT.) and wondering about get the dvds . Any how Ive never seen an eposide of the tv show of HGWT. Recently I made blind buy of season one Wanted Dead or Alive and was pleasantly surprised and really have enjoyed watching it. How ever Im not so lucky with Rawhide maybe it the first four or five eposides of season are not so hot and I find myself fast forwarding though the eposides to when and if there a payoff. Yes I know this is blasphemy and that Rawhide is well loved personally I find it overrated and almost borring so far. Did Have Gun Will Travel receycle the radio scripts for tv eposides (like dragnet did and god why doesnt someone do a decent b/w years of dragnet dvd sets) or did HGWT tv show use its own scripts? Ive sometime seen HGWT sets on sale for decent prices or used, and I know different actors played Pladin on tv and the chances of seen any season past three is slim, but three fun seasons to watch is better than none. Thanks for any insite

Hank Dearborn · 09-17-2007, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobSchneider

Well why I ask is I loved the Have Gun Will Travel radios shows (used to listen to them on knx 1070am in LA and bought the cds of the radio show from ORCAT.) and wondering about get the dvds . Any how Ive never seen an eposide of the tv show of HGWT. Recently I made blind buy of season one Wanted Dead or Alive and was pleasantly surprised and really have enjoyed watching it. How ever Im not so lucky with Rawhide maybe it the first four or five eposides of season are not so hot and I find myself fast forwarding though the eposides to when and if there a payoff. Yes I know this is blasphemy and that Rawhide is well loved personally I find it overrated and almost borring so far. Did Have Gun Will Travel receycle the radio scripts for tv eposides (like dragnet did and god why doesnt someone do a decent b/w years of dragnet dvd sets) or did HGWT tv show use its own scripts? Ive sometime seen HGWT sets on sale for decent prices or used, and I know different actors played Pladin on tv and the chances of seen any season past three is slim, but three fun seasons to watch is better than none. Thanks for any insite

As per wikipedia:

The Have Gun — Will Travel radio show broadcast 106 episodes on CBS between November 23, 1958, and November 22, 1960. It was one of the last radio dramas featuring continuing characters. John Dehner played Paladin and Ben Wright usually (but not always) played Hey Boy. Virginia Gregg played the role of Miss Wong, before the television series began featuring the character of Hey Girl. Many of the episodes were adapted from television programs broadcast earlier, but some were original to radio.

So, as you can see, it was the radio program copying scripts from television, not the other way around.

As for the early Dragnet, there are about 25 or so episodes that are around from PD companies but the majority are locked away in Universal's vaults where they will likely stay forever. They haven't been syndicated in over 40 years and Universal is not likely to develop an interest in them now.

michael_ks · 09-17-2007, 09:46 AM

I thought that was what I read in Martin Gram's companion book to the series (that ironically, radio segments were often based on tv episodes), but wasn't sure. I do recall that John Dehner was slated to be tv's Paladin as well but there were issues, contractual or otherwise.

As to Bob's original question, yes, like fine wine this series has aged exceedingly well and I only wish the remaining three seasons would get released. As for "Rawhide", I shudder at the thought of fast forwarding through ANYTHING, opening theme included!

BobSchneider · 09-17-2007, 11:10 AM

As to Bob's original question, yes, like fine wine this series has aged exceedingly well and I only wish the remaining three seasons would get released. As for "Rawhide", I shudder at the thought of fast forwarding through ANYTHING, opening theme included![/quote]

Hey honestly I was suprise by my reaction too to Rawhide, (and I like hour dramas) the stories are slow and loaded with filler to pad them out to a hour like gunsmoke (on tv it a hour and on the radio gunsmoke was a 30mins and better in my book). Hey Im as surpised as your are that I find rawhide almost boring, but I guess no accounting for tastes.

David Levine · 09-17-2007, 11:43 AM

I had never seen "Have Gun" until I blind bought the 1st season and I love it. I think it hold up very well.

**HTF Ads**

Gary OS · 09-17-2007, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Levine

I had never seen "Have Gun" until I blind bought the 1st season and I love it. I think it hold up very well.

David, perhaps you can encourage Paramount to rent the remainder of this series out to a certain company so we can get seasons 4-6.

Gary "I'd love to see this show continued on dvd" O.

michael_ks · 09-17-2007, 01:10 PM

Quote:

David, perhaps you can encourage Paramount to rent the remainder of this series out to a certain company so we can get seasons 4-6.

By all mean, yes! (I completely forgot just who it was that posted about 'blind buying' HGWT).

BobSchneider · 09-21-2007, 01:46 AM

Ok Im going over to my used dvd joint this week and see if I can pickup Have Gun Will travel for decent price or else where on sale. Start with season and go from there

michael_ks · 09-21-2007, 09:25 AM

I don't think you'll regret it. "The Outlaw", "Strange Vendetta", "Winchester Quarantine", "The Long Night" and "The Yuma Treasure" are all superb outings in S1. You'll be amazed at how much story telling gets packed into 25 minutes.