"Have Gun - Will Travel" The Night the Town Died (TV Episode 1960) Poster

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8/10
Have Good One, Will Direct
zsenorsock28 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Richard Boone once again grabs the directors reigns, and again he's picked an excellent script to direct. He turns this into a atmospheric, tense and cool episode set in a ghost town.

Paladin is hired by Frazier (Vic Perrin) to keep him and his fellow conspirators to keep from killing Aaron (Barry Cahill) who is coming to town to get revenge. It seems Frazier and the other people of the town hanged his brother after the civil war as a collaborator. Now Aaron is coming back or revenge. The thing is, the townspeople know they did wrong. They want to forget and move on. Only Aaron won't let them.

Boone does an effective job as both director and star of this well written episode. It brings up a lot of questions about guilt, honor, duty and life. One of the best of the third season.
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Not a Good One
wrbtu17 May 2010
I love the "Have Gun, Will Travel" series, which is one of the best of all the TV western series. Unfortunately, this episode is not among my favorites. Simply put, it's too talky, too staged, & too preachy. The moral issues at hand are important, but the small, one-set staged performances are just not my cup of tea. The actors seem capable enough, but their delivery seems more forced than sincere. Each seems to wait patiently for their turn in a round-table type of debate, & during each actor's turn, they over-emote by yelling at each other. This series includes many other episodes that handle issues just as significant as this show's, but do so in a more dynamic fashion without seeming to be a stage play.
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SPOILER ALERT: Stagey but tense and well-acted drama
jpeterrich15 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Both of the reviews above have merit, but I'm going to lean more to the first. Different in many ways from all the other episodes in this outstanding series. Ending is a surprise and works for me. No one physically dies in the end, a rarity for Have Gun...yet the guilty townspeople all are effectively dead; hence the title.

And I'd want to watch Richard Boone act in a used car commercial...
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