Thinking about getting that written on a calling card, “Have Gun — Will Travel” just like Paladin in the late 50s, early 60s Western TV and radio show of the same name. I obviously wasn’t around to see any of this show on TV, but I was watching Stand by Me over Thanksgiving and the fellas were singing the theme song throughout the movie. Interestingly enough, the theme song was also sung as a cadence in the movie Full Metal Jacket, one of my all time favorites. I have been watching Have Gun Will Travel on DVD via Netflix and the series has become some sort of a guilty pleasure. The Western genre really has some gems and this series does not disappoint. Hell, Charles Bronson even shows up in the first season.
A great theme song for a great Western. Queue it up. And while we are at it, what is your favorite Western?
L.A.S
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 5:53 PM:
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…hands down.
dwatt
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 5:56 PM:
I always thought “Have Gun – Will Travel” would be a sicko band name. Good call.
Chris
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 6:04 PM:
Tombstone.
RUPTUREreport
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 6:26 PM:
Outlaw Josey Wales
Brad
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 6:41 PM:
High Noon is an amazing movie with an amazing theme song, and I’ll always love Winchester ’73. Gonna have to agree with LAS though… those Clint Eastwood movies are hard to beat.
Andrew
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 6:51 PM:
Sergio Leone’s are obviously great.
I also love the Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne in a John Ford film. So good.
More recently, I dug the 3:10 to Yuma remake a few years back and Deadwood was a great tv show. Wonder if Milch will ever make those movies.
Clifford
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 7:21 PM:
You’ll probably really dig Wagon Train if you want vintage TV western.
Django is great camp. And The Wild Bunch is a classic.
Nels
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 7:25 PM:
Hand down – Once Upon a Time in The West – uncut.
doug
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 7:43 PM:
Saturday night TV with my Dad,circa 1961 : Navy Log, followed by Paladin, and then he would make a big bowl of popcorn for Gunsmoke.
RJ
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 9:24 PM:
The Magnificent Seven, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Duck, You Sucker.
Adrian
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 9:36 PM:
The Searchers.
Bateman
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 10:19 PM:
Michael,
Got a huge smile seeing this on your blog. Only 24 years old, but have seen every episode of Paladin. Thought I was the only sane person under 60 years of age who watches/watched Paladin. That business card! oh man.
Thanks
Drew
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 10:20 PM:
The Searchers / One Eyed Jacks / McCabe and Mrs. Miller
JFD
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 11:00 PM:
Although I was under 10 at the time, I enjoyed The Rebel (with Nick Adams as Johnny Yuman), The Rifleman (with Chuck Connors). and, of course, Maverick (with James Garner). They remain favorite TV series.
Kenyan
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 11:08 PM:
Mister Sergio Leone….ALL THE WAY!
BLV
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 11:26 PM:
High Plains Drifter
RUPTUREreport
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 11:50 PM:
Clint Eastwood owns the western. He’s probably got 5 in the top 10 easy.
xtimx
on Dec 1st, 2009
@ 11:57 PM:
less recent: high plains drifter
more recent: the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford.
maximillianstarbuckle
on Dec 2nd, 2009
@ 5:42 AM:
Red River is a classic. John Wayne & Montgomery Clift. Can’t argue with the Great Spaghetti Westerns and the great John Ford and Sam Peckimpah.
Paul
on Dec 2nd, 2009
@ 9:30 AM:
Obviously, Fievel Goes West has the best western theme song ever… Just kidding, I don’t remember how that goes at all.
thelast1augh
on Dec 2nd, 2009
@ 9:34 AM:
Outlaw Josey Wales.
Best Cast: Magnificent Seven
Best fistfight scene: that one country store fistfight in Shane.
Best Scene: (obvious, I know, but still…) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awskKWzjlhk&feature=related
Best Character: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u5A0H6PkqE
Also, if you liked High Noon, check out this short my friends made for the 48 hour film fest (http://www.48hourfilm.com/ ). They came in 2nd in Boston. They did a rewrite of the amazing theme song Brad mentioned and I put together the backing music. http://www.vimeo.com/4590537
ad ease
on Dec 2nd, 2009
@ 10:21 AM:
Yeah, has to be ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’. Tarantino owes a lot to Leone. NIce Bronson cameo too.
Shane
on Dec 2nd, 2009
@ 11:10 AM:
I haven’t seen many westerns, but 3:10 to Yuma and Tombstone are great. Shane is a pretty good one too. People always quote that one around me. I wonder why.
Also, that theme song was sung by the boys in Stand By Me when they go looking for Ray Brower.
Jota
on Dec 2nd, 2009
@ 11:29 AM:
The Good The Bad and The Ugly
Ms. P and C
on Dec 2nd, 2009
@ 2:14 PM:
One Upon A Time in the West is the non plus ultra. And Claudia Cardinale’s in it too.
Money
on Dec 2nd, 2009
@ 6:44 PM:
If all you needed to get a job was to have a gun, only the liberals would be out of work. I am not up too much on the old stuff but I love Unforgiven.
ad ease
on Dec 2nd, 2009
@ 8:41 PM:
One of my all-time favorite film quotes:
How can you trust a man who wears belts AND suspenders? Man can’t even trust his own pants.
-Frank (Henry Fonda) from ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’
Money
on Dec 3rd, 2009
@ 1:25 AM:
Does Blazing Saddles count?
Bunny
on Dec 3rd, 2009
@ 3:49 AM:
“Tell them Valdez is Coming”. The big leather bag in the wagon in front of the sod house is pretty great. I also liked the novel more than the book. Not in that ‘I preferred the book’ way, but I really liked the book.
Tintin
on Dec 3rd, 2009
@ 11:55 AM:
Check out Boone’s bad guy opposite Randolph Scott in, The Tall T. Obscure and until recently not available on DVD. Boone is the most likeable nasty SOB I’ve ever seen…next to me.
tons of land
on Dec 3rd, 2009
@ 10:48 PM:
outlaw josey wales is brilliant. numerous other eastwood movies are up there as well, but I’m continually surprised by the number of people who have not seen the Robert Altman film McCABE AND MRS. MILLER. sit down with that at 9pm with a 6 pack or your beverage of choice and you will go to sleep riled up and contented. Leonard Cohen soundtrack doesn’t hurt either. love that movie.
Clemmons Harrison
on Dec 4th, 2009
@ 11:43 AM:
Anything Clint for me and everybody has covered it pretty well but I’d like to add
Pale Rider, Unforgiven and The Proposition w Guy Pearce based in 1880s Australia–wicked!
scott
on Dec 7th, 2009
@ 12:51 PM:
gentlemen, i’d like to introduce Have Gun Will Travel
http://www.myspace.com/hgwt
thank you kindly
Robert
on Dec 17th, 2009
@ 12:28 PM:
Have Gun, Will Travel–the greatest tv western series ever, with the greatest character ever.
Best Western Movie–Once Upon A Time In the West,; Best Cast and Score: The Magnificient Seven; Best Story: High Noon;
and MOST OVERRATED: HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER–I have a lot of issues with this film–acceptable to me as a horror movie posing as a western.
PS: If I were one of the few survivors, I would wire Paladin, asap.
Colorado Bob
on Dec 18th, 2009
@ 11:05 AM:
When I was in high school a laundry soap manufacturer offered the Palladin calling card in it’s boxes of detergent. I kept that card for a few years, and it always smelled like Tide. Not very authentic, but I’d give my eye teeth to have it today, Plus the Hopalong Cassidy lunch box, Roy Rodgers six shooters……. But I do still have my Davy Crocket coonskin cap! Ah, good times.
bob in exile
on Dec 31st, 2009
@ 11:15 PM:
The first time I ever heard the words “kung fu” was on have gun will travel…about 1954. A few years later David Carridine made them more popular. But a chinese character that Paladin was trailing was the first .