Another episode of Have Gun-Will Travel directed by famed actress Ida Lupino is a more lighthearted diversion than her intense "The Man Who Lost" with a particular painting of a woman named Annie (a work of a famous painter) adored and admired by a small genteel band of remaining aging miners in a ghost town named Bonanza (ha!) where a silver mine (drained of its wealth with those responsible soon fleeing to the point that only a handful of townsfolk remain) once thrived. Now Bonanza is a sad reminder of how a town can go from a booming success to a forgotten blight on a map that looks deserted and uninhabited. What makes this fun, right out of the gate, is how Paladin arrives and even though his walks into the saloon, trying to call attention to the men at the bar by fake-coughing, the miners are entrapped by the painting, and it is clearly the centerpiece of all the focus of the episode. The saloon bartender owns the painting and Ms. Felton (Lillian Bronson; who operates the vacant rooms that exist within the saloon) shows Paladin a room to stay in for the night
Paladin awakens the next morning to find the miners pilfering through his things! Befuddled by their actions, Paladin is soon accused of stealing the Painting of Annie. Saloon bartender, Mr. Foster (Howard Petrie) had actually, in fact, negotiated a selling of the painting to a city slicker named Boucher (Ralph Clanton), for $500 measly dollars, but Paladin, cultured and knowledgeable about art considering he's from San Francisco (a city with several museums), makes sure that all know how much Annie is really worth. But the painting will be stole from Boucher, with a lot of angst and anxiety as a result. Boone, on occasion, could be playful and let his guard down. Have Gun-Will Travel often dealt with serious, thought-provoking subjects, often dealing with crime, human nature, and death. But there are episodes, like "The Lady on the Wall", that took a nice break from the edgy, darker stories that commented on the consequences/mistakes of man in the untamed West. The old miners remaining so transfixed with the painting, only staying in Bonanza because of Annie (I kept thinking "Laura" (1944)), sore and unsettled by its disappearance, Paladin forcing his will into the painting's recovery (and becoming responsible for the revelation of the painting's muse, surprising all in town), and the conversation about purchasing the painting (its worth and history); this was all a nice change of pace. Good fun.
4 Reviews
A poke at NBC's Bonanza?
ebertip18 July 2019
One wonders if this town of Bonanza, with a played out silver mine, is a play on NBC's western Bonanza, which started in 1959. The males of this Bonanza are old men, including actors Moody and Patterson.
The painting in question is finally valued at $50,000, a lot of money in the 1870s.
The Art Will Go On...
cougarannie2 January 2016
A picture of a stunningly beautiful young lady. A once-celebrated symbol of prosperity, synonymous with riches and heady dreams, now slowly subsiding into ruin. And a feisty old woman who harbors a Secret.
No, it isn't "Titanic". It's just another example of the fact that this series never let itself settle into "Formula". Paladin stops over at a mining town abandoned by all but a quartet of old men, an innkeeper/bartender, and an ageing "concierge". The town is clearly on its last legs, supported only by travellers waiting for the next stagecoach.
The bar does have one more celebrated resident... the gorgeous and enigmatically-smiling "Annie" who gracefully accepts the adulation of the remaining locals. Paladin instantly recognizes the work of a Master Painter but doesn't have get to appreciate it for long as next morning she has vanished, frame and all. Who stole her....and why?
No fabulous jewel here, no doomed young lovers. Just some clever detective work by Paladin and a final gesture of gallantry that would melt the heart of an Iceberg!.
No, it isn't "Titanic". It's just another example of the fact that this series never let itself settle into "Formula". Paladin stops over at a mining town abandoned by all but a quartet of old men, an innkeeper/bartender, and an ageing "concierge". The town is clearly on its last legs, supported only by travellers waiting for the next stagecoach.
The bar does have one more celebrated resident... the gorgeous and enigmatically-smiling "Annie" who gracefully accepts the adulation of the remaining locals. Paladin instantly recognizes the work of a Master Painter but doesn't have get to appreciate it for long as next morning she has vanished, frame and all. Who stole her....and why?
No fabulous jewel here, no doomed young lovers. Just some clever detective work by Paladin and a final gesture of gallantry that would melt the heart of an Iceberg!.
Have Painting, Will Recover
zsenorsock28 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Light comic episode about a stolen painting in a dying western town. Paladin finds the town of Bonanza to be a virtual ghost town. The only people in it are a group of old miners (including Hank Patterson, "Green Acres" Mr. Ziffel) a bartender and a housekeeper, Miss Felton (Lillian Bronson). The men in the town come to the bar to drink and admire the painting of the lovely Anne--until one morning they discover the painting is gone. As the only new guy in town, Paladin becomes everyone's immediate suspect.
This is a sweet, funny episode, handled with a nice touch by director Ida Lupino. You can kind of see the ending coming way in advance, but in this case, that's okay--its not the destination, its the journey. Boone gets to play bemused, thoughtful and solves the crime along the way to everyone's satisfaction.
It's a nice change of pace.
This is a sweet, funny episode, handled with a nice touch by director Ida Lupino. You can kind of see the ending coming way in advance, but in this case, that's okay--its not the destination, its the journey. Boone gets to play bemused, thoughtful and solves the crime along the way to everyone's satisfaction.
It's a nice change of pace.
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