"Have Gun - Will Travel" Killer's Widow (TV Episode 1958) Poster

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7/10
Have Treasure, Will Find
zsenorsock19 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Paladin is called back to the scene where he killed a wanted outlaw. The money he stole was never recovered and Paldin's prospective client thinks paladin stole it. That's the only reason he sent for him.

Angered, paladin decides to try and find the stolen money and collect the finder's fee. While investigating he meets the widow of the man he killed. She's a decent woman who's about to lose her farm so paladin tries to help her the best he can.

Really well written episode that is a good mystery and shows that while Paldin will kill a man, he doesn't like to. Boone is great showing the guilt he feels over killing the widow's husband, and the script gives us a lot of layers.

RG Armstrong is particularly notable as the town sheriff, who won't arrest Paldin on the say so of the town banker, but won't help him either. He knows he'll be around long after Paldin has taken his gun and traveled.
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Paladin Pulls a Hamlet
dougdoepke23 February 2010
So, who's got the missing money? Importantly, Randolph thinks it's Paladin, while Paladin thinks it's Lucy, wife of the man he killed. The bundle is there, somewhere, but where.

Paladin separates himself from other fast-draw artists of the day by an appreciation of life's "finer things". Here, it's specially bred roses that he immediately knows about. Several points to add to zsenorsock's excellent review.

Note the dust on Paladin's shirt as he rides into town in the opening scene— an attention to detail usually overlooked in these hurry-up filming schedules.

After Paladin shoots the man through the window, he has a rare moment of self-doubt about his career with a gun. The scene closes out by enveloping him in expressionist darkness. Needless to say, such "existential" moments were unusual for any TV series of the day, but help make HGWT one of the few Western series worth re-visiting.

Note Roy Barcroft as the roughneck rancher John Griffin. Barcroft's a good example of a guy who started off as a stuntman and double, before eventually working his way into acting parts. He's very good, too.

Anyway, it's an unusual episode when the gunfighter's usual steely self-assurance dissolves into a recognizably human side, making him more than just a cultured high-brow with a fast gun.
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10/10
WHAT!!!
garysteinweg9 May 2024
Warning: Spoilers
At this point (5-7-2024), there are two reviews of this episode. Both are excellent reviews of an excellent episode. I've seen this episode several times over the last few years and I've only recently taken to reviewing episodes I like. I'm going to get to the point of my review.

This is a VERY serious and thought provoking episode, but, the ending is hilarious. I never noticed it before, but over the last few days, I've rewatched the last few minutes at least a dozen times and finally decided to write this. It's the banker (whose money was stolen), and the buyer of the property (who got outfoxed by Paladin) that make it hilarious. When the sale is being finalized, Paladin reveals that he is due $3000 reward money from the banker which solicits a "WHAT!" from the banker. This is quickly followed by the buyer who says the reward is his since he now owns the property which holds the stolen money only to find out that the money was turned in to the sheriff that very morning. An even louder "WHAT!" from the new owner. The timing is hilarious.
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