The Bride is a little different from the typical (as typical as a western about a traveling gunfighter for hire can be) episode of "Have Gun-Will Travel" as Paladin assists a young mail-order bride who gets off a stage awaiting her future husband, not knowing that he will not be showing up as scheduled, reasons yet undetermined. Paladin simply wants to help Christie (Marian Seldes) get to her destination, the farm place of her soon-to-be husband, knowing that she isn't accustomed to the heat and other dangers such a place as "Three Rocks" and its surrounding desert and rocky hills entail. Something is fishy as Louis Dryden isn't home when they reach his place and when a man claiming to be him shows up (Mike Connors), not seemingly fitting the profile the letters sent to Christie from him would lead her to believe, Paladin might stumble upon the sinister truth. Really a twenty-minute journey where Paladin befriends a woman he seems to fancy (Seldes is pleasant, awkward, short-sighted ( to the point she trips easily), and sweet), but the final minutes does allow the gunfighter to emerge as Dryden's ranch has plenty of cattle worth the right price for a villain to kill for. I was amused at how Christie always seemed concerned about her appearance, hoping to look perfect for a man she has never met, feeling plain and not presentable. You can tell Paladin is pleased to put her worries to rest with compliments that often relax her nervousness. While there's nothing particularly noteworthy or memorable about "The Bride" I like the friendship that develops between Paladin and Christie and as it occupies the running time of the episode, I think their camaraderie is warm and harmonious. It just shows a side to Paladin that we don't normally see: sometimes he does lend his services to someone without asking for a fee.
Review of The Bride
