Have Gun - Will Travel (TV Series)

The Mark of Cain (1962)

Richard Boone: Paladin

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Quotes 

• Dr. Avatar : Then perhaps you know what these are?

  Paladin : Yes. They are used to measure what Lombroso has termed the stigmata of degeneracy - certain cranial abnormalities, a low sensitivity to pain, primitive instincts found in cannibals, cave dwellers, apes, animals and habitual murderers - in short, the mark of Cain.

  Dr. Avatar : And that is why I have come back to America.

  Paladin : Oh. A shortage of murderers in Europe this year?

  Dr. Avatar : There's never a shortage of wife killers - murders of passion, momentary rage, that sort of thing. My interest is in the habitual murderer. The man who kills 10, 20, 30 people. For him it is not circumstance, or unrequited love, or even small prejudice that drives him to kill. No sir. With him it is constitution. He cannot help himself. And that is the mark of Cain.

  Paladin : And that is what you hope to find in the wild west?

  Dr. Avatar : Well, sir, in the words of Lacassagne, societies get the criminals they deserve.

  Paladin : And what will you do with one if you catch him?

  Dr. Avatar : I shall make a detailed record of his skull measurements and his reflexes. Ah my. The James boys. The Daltons. Cherokee Bill, Jake Trueblood, Tom Horn! The very names come rolling off the tongue like thunder. How long I've dreamt of meeting some of them face to face.

  Paladin : The only one of that bunch that's left alive is Jake Trueblood and you don't want him.

  Dr. Avatar : Why not? He's on my list. He's practically the head of it.

  Paladin : Jake's not a murderer. He's never killed anyone. Except in a fair fight.

  Dr. Avatar : Perhaps so, but after 20 or 30 times would you not agree that a pattern tends to emerge?

  Paladin : What makes you think Jake will let you get that close to his skull?

  Dr. Avatar : For $1,000, Mr. Paladin, I expect you to arrange the details.

• Temuchin - Paladin's Fencing Instructor : Control, gentleness, concentration, and TERROR! With those qualities Genghis Khan conquered half the world! Now, for your first lesson. My dear Sir, it will take many hundred hours of intensive practise before you are permitted to even touch an actual sword.

  Paladin : Now, Mr Temuchin, I am paying for this lesson

  Temuchin - Paladin's Fencing Instructor : Of course, but.

  Paladin : I would like to have a lesson with a real sword.

  [And a real swordfight ensues] 

• Paladin : [First lines]  Certain marks of degeneracy shared with lower animals of habitual criminals, you call this the mark of Cain. Have you looked at yourself?