Have Gun - Will Travel (TV Series) The Princess and the Gunfighter (1961) User Reviews

Roamin' Holiday?

[cougarannie · 9/10 · 11 January 2016]

A Montenegran Princess has vanished from her suite at the Carlton, and her ministerial "minders" fear she may have been kidnapped. They discretely hire Paladin to find her and bring her back, as her continued presence is all that can keep Montenegro safe from from political turmoil.

Paladin locates her with relatively little effort, and it seems Princess Serafina, like the lovely Audrey Hepburn's character in "Roman Holiday", is simply tired of the structured, tightly regulated life she's been forced into from birth, is thrilled with her first taste of "Freedom", and is not the least bit interested in returning to rule a minor Adriatic Nation flanked by Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia.

Now, what woman could possibly resist a man who quotes both Aristotle and Marcus Aurelius to her over a smouldering campfire? (Between "assignments" and trysts with the San Fancisco Ladies how does Palain ever find time to READ anything?)

Seriously, this episode is all about Duty, be it self-imposed or inherent, and makes a good point. The ending is bittersweet, leading us to ask if "accepting the prison of one's self" just might be the key to True Freedom.

The Romantic, the Scholar and the Democratic Partner

[roycevenuter · 10/10 · 14 June 2016]

"The Princess and the Gunfighter" is one of my favorite episodes in the "Have Gun-Will Travel" series; and it is unique. Paladin does not shoot his pistol; in fact, there is no violence whatsoever in this story. The main focus of the plot involves Paladin as helper, a guide, and briefly the promise of something far more intimate, possibly more lasting - a distinct departure from the other 224 episodes in which Paladin usually makes it quite clear that he is an inveterate bachelor.

This is certainly Paladin's most pensive and philosophical episode. In guiding a stranger through a perilous land, he employs the wisdom of a Sanscrit saying, advice from Aristotle about tyranny, democracy and anarchy, and two very poetic utterances from Marcus Aurelius. In each case, Paladin's delivery of these examples of sage advice about life, is presented with considerable empathy and tenderness and all of them apply to a certain innocent young lady trying to find herself.

This episode also demonstrates Paladin's patience and his droll sense of humor as well as distinctly-compassionate fatherly qualities.

Just as Robert Frost's persona admits that he "took the (road) less traveled by and that has made all the difference," the destination Paladin arrives at by the end of this episode leaves him a little sad, and more than a bit wistful.

Everything considered, I find this episode uniquely delightful and quite a departure from many other tension-saturated episodes where the fist and the pistol are king. Two human beings reaching hopefully through the bars of their existence, touch, just briefly.

Duty over love

[wjefferyholt · 24 February 2011]

Paladin is obviously a ladies' man, but in the first three seasons you never get the idea of a truly emotional relationship, but only sexual. There is something so clearly romantic about this episode and finally sad too. We see Paladin as both a cavalier, and a stoic, and how he is almost cursed with a sense of duty to those who hire him and a personal responsibility to his ideals that he will even lose the love of a lifetime rather than reject who he has become from an act of will. In a way the relationship is of equals, a princess of Europe and a prince of America in the West.

This episode clearly shows the vast improvement of the series during the forth season.