Have Gun - Will Travel (TV Series) Show of Force (1957) User Reviews

Have Rifles, Will Sell

[zsenorsock · 7/10 · 1 April 2007]

There's actually not a lot of poker playing in this episode. The poker game is just a device in the first scene for Paladin to win a crate full of old, useless rifles. He takes them to where he's hearing about a possible range war between Valdez (Rodolpho Acosta) and Matt Garson (Joe Bassett) and his men over disputed territory. Paladin plays it smart, and uses the rifles in an unexpected way to stop what looks to be a violent clash.

Cleverly written script and a strong performance from Boone make this a pretty strong episode. Ned Glass plays the role of Bernard, the guy who thinks he's pulling one over on Paladin by betting him the old rifles. Boone has a nice scene where instead of being amused, he laughs to see how he's been conned and later shows Bernard how he managed to turn the junk into gold.

Heroes Always Win

[lexyladyjax · 8/10 · 6 September 2011]

Veteran character actor Ned Glass makes his second of three appearances as Bernard, a poker player who tries to cheat Paladin by dumping 50 outdated rifles on him for a wager. Paladin finds a use for them and gets a payday for his trouble. When Paladin's up against the corral he faces the firing squad with great presence of mind and courage.

No women appear in this episode. It's very much as the West must have been in places at the time: dry and dusty with women thin on the ground.

Paladin's Horse: Buckboard drawn by two horses, a borrowed horse belonging to Valdez with wide white face blaze and white stockings on front legs

Paladin's Gear: Black concha hat, black Western button down shirt, black pants, black holster with Colt

Paladin Shoots: Martin's minion Russ in shoulder and another unnamed minion

Deaths: No one dies

Paladin's Total Kills: Manfred Holt, Anonymous Jailbreak Team 3, Miguel Rojas

Total Kills: 5

Worthless guns to the fairest bidder

[hudecha · 7/10 · 11 September 2018]

In this episode, Paladin takes a strongly original approach to selling his services and his uncommonly-acquired load of rifles - offering them at both sides of a violent feud at the same time, more like a Renaissance condottiere in Italy than a righteous medieval knight. Well, eventually he provides both rifles and services to the right side, brave and gunless Mexican farmers at risk of being despoiled of a fairly-owned land bequeathed to them. But before that he has offered them first to the wrong side, the land-grabbing bigwig white farmer - maybe he knew in advance it would be the wrong side and has just been seeking a confirmation, but what if his offer had been accepted?... Fortunately it is not and the Mexicans can have him and his guns - only, as we spectators know and he is not telling them, these guns are totally worthless - at this stage, the moral compass of Paladin appears to have slightly erred. Not so, because Paladin had another bright idea in the first place, make worthless fake weapons worthwhile by using them to impose a real curfew and surrender, by then the title of the episode is fully explained. We should have known that for the twisted sense of humor of Paladin, as a bloodbath-hating, gun use-reluctant gunslinger, the appeal of earning his wages with useless guns, without firing a shot, would be high. Bright ideas, average rendering into a story - the Mexican characters are not very convincing, in particular, though the scene of the night trap is rather well filmed.

Okay Entry

[dougdoepke · 24 February 2011]

Paladin wins worthless rifles in a card game and tries to unload them in a range war.

Early episode shows Paladin as unbeatable in contests and unerring in judgment. Frankly, I prefer the more humanized knight errant he sometimes is, especially in later entries after the series had established itself. Dragnet favorite Vic Perrin gets an extended and well-conceived role as an honest lawyer. This is also one of the few entries without a woman in either a major or minor role. That the camp Paladin sides with is Hispanic reflects, I believe, the rise of the civil rights movement than gaining momentum in the popular culture. Be that as it may, there's some suspense as a showdown between the rival camps draws near. All in all, it's a fairly routine episode, with Boone, nevertheless, looking and acting impressively.

Paladin portayed as war expert

[ebertip · 6/10 · 16 May 2019]

With a batch of antique guns, Paladin tries to stop a war over land. He sides with Mexicans who have a letter showing a transfer of land, which was not properly recorded. The Mexicans are outnumbered but Paladin alludes to Washington at Trenton, supposedly outnumbered. In fact, Washington outnumbered the Hessians at Trenton. A tag line for the episode: what good is proof to a dead lawyer?

OK Timewaster

[gordonl56 · 6/10 · 20 March 2016]

HAVE GUN - WILL TRAVEL "Show of Force" 1957

HAVE GUN – WILL TRAVEL was a Western series that ran on television between 1957 and 1963. The series was very popular and was always in the top ten of the television ratings. The series ran for a total of 225 episodes. Richard Boone headlines as "Paladin", a gun for hire, if the cause is right. Working out of San Francisco, Boone places ads in newspapers offering his services. $1,000 and he is your man. While handy with a gun or fists, he tries to settle the problem without violence. (Not very successfully as a general rule)

In this episode, the 9th the series, Boone is up late in San Francisco enjoying a high stakes poker game. Luck is on his side as he cleans up at the table. One of the other players, Ned Glass, puts up a box of 50 rifles he has against a $1000 wager from Boone. Boone wins this game as well.

The next day when he checks the goods, he finds that the rifles are all old 1830's style muskets and more or less worthless. He has been had! Later in the day Boone reads a newspaper story about a dispute in cattle country south of San Fran. It looks like a possible range war is brewing over the ownership of a piece of land.

Boone sends off a letter to each of the parties involved, Rodolfo Acosta and Russ Conway. He offers the rifles to both sides. (Without saying that they are worthless) Boone takes the rifles by buckboard, first, out to the ranch of Russ Conway. Things don't go well as Boone takes an instant dislike to Conway. When Boone decides to move onto Acosta's ranch, guns are drawn and Boone needs to fling a little lead to escape. Acosta and his brother, Peter Coe, have papers showing that they own the land in question. Boone of course offers to help the brothers out.

There is now a bit where the brothers think Boone is pulling a scam after they see the state of the firearms. Boone soon talks the two into going with a plan of his. They are going to fool the Conway bunch that they are out-gunned. They set up all the old rifles behind rocks and it looks like an army is waiting when Conway rides up. Boone now applies a few knuckle persuaders to Conway's head and has him sign a letter stating that Acosta and Coe do indeed own the land.

Boone returns to San Francisco with a fistful of loot from the happy as punch brothers.

Not good, but not bad either, the comedy bits with Ned Glass did not work for me. But, having said that, the episode is still a watchable half hour time-waster.