User Reviews

HAVE GUN - WILL TRAVEL "The Great Mojave Chase" 1957

HAVE GUN – WILL TRAVEL was a Western series that ran on television between 1957 and 1963. The series was very popular and was always in the top ten of the television ratings. The series ran for a total of 225 episodes. Richard Boone headlines as "Paladin", a gun for hire, if the cause is right. Working out of San Francisco, Boone places ads in newspapers offering his services. $1,000 and he is your man. While handy with a gun or fists, he tries to settle the problem without violence. (Not very successfully as a general rule)

In this episode, the third of the series, Boone enters a contest held in a small town in the Mojave Desert. The local big-wig, Lawrence Dobkin, bets that no one can evade his posse for 48 hours. So far nobody has won the wager. Dobkin is also the rights holder for the local water. And he charges top dollar for the town use of said water.

Boone hits town riding an ex-army camel. He makes a 5,000 dollar wager with Dobkin he can evade him and his men. Dobkin gives 2-1 odds and bets his water rights. Dobkin has won the wager in the past because of his knowledge of the local water holes. He and his men would stake out the holes and wait.

This does not work with Boone and his new trusty steed. Boone outruns Dobkin, his men and their horses. Of course there are several "minor disagreements" about the terms of the wager. Guns are pulled and lead flies, though no blood is spilled. Boone wins the wager and hands the water rights to the townsfolk. He also gives them his camel.

This episode was written by STAR TREK creator, Gene Roddenberry. The episode was again directed by long time western helmsman, Andrew V McLaglen.

While not as good as the first two episodes, it still is a decent time-waster.

Again, "Have Gun-Will Travel" humanizes a seemingly cruel monster (see the results of the chase and how he reacts when a gun is dropped on the ground) with land water rights that has brought a little town named Mojave to its knees paying hefty fees in order to have the only water available to them thanks to a legal loophole found by a man named Billy Joe Kane (Lawrence Dobkin, with a smiling face and sneaky disposition akin to a charming politician). Kane owns the Mojave's surrounding land and water, all the power to squeeze the town dry of the profits they might encounter from outside visitors. Kane runs this Mojave Chase where a traveler enters the contest, must ride into the desert on the outskirts of the town, and outwit him and his posse who know all the watering holes.

One such visitor, Paladin, reads of the chase in the San Francisco newspaper, heads out to Mojave after purchasing a camel (camel's have an ability to "pack" gallons of water allowing it to survive out in the desert longer than horses) from an old koot (who bought it off of a tired Calvary officer and pal to Paladin), and will narrowly escape with "betting money" and land rights deed (the up-for-grabs wager between Paladin and Kain, interrupted by a book testifying facts about camels) after Kane and high-tempered, trigger-happy brother Dever (the always reliable character actor Claude Akins) almost arrest him for illegally unethical practices (the secret about camels and water they hold in their humps).

The chase will commence as Paladin doesn't have his gun (Dever took it) and no water, just his camel and intellect, while Kane, Dever, and other members of his entourage follow in high pursuit, canteens full of water, guns, and the numbers game. How do you think it will turn out? Who "hired" Paladin? The town will pay his customary fee ($1000) in exchange for water rights. "The Great Mojave Chase" is essentially a man hunt where one man uses his brains and survival instincts to outwit his pursuers. Ultimately it is the one with the water who will come out on top. Fun diversion, with an effective use of the hot sun and intimidating desert setting of the main plot, but not as fulfilling on an intellectual level as the last episode, "The Outlaw". Still, this episode allows Paladin to escape the odds by outsmarting those who had made a profitable living off of cheating and outnumbering other competitors unable to win the chase. You say, "How will he be able to remain active and alert out in that hot sun and desert while Kane and his boys have all the luxuries he doesn't?" That's the draw to this episode's story: we watch as he finds ways to even the odds. The cool parts of this episode is Boone's moments with the camel such as how he gets the animal to collapse its legs and let him mount or dismount. Boone is very comfortable and relaxed, smiling with delight at the response of others to his having a camel as a riding animal. When it is time to get serious, though, Boone's Paladin does, and we see that he is one cool customer when the odds seemed stacked against him.

Palladin takes on a survival contest in the Mohave desert that no man has ever won before. To give himself an edge, he brings along a surplus army camel and when he discovers local businessman Billy Jo Kane (Lawrence Dobkin) owns the town's water rights, and is selling water at $1 a gallon, he makes that part of the bet against his $5,000.

Boone is at times funny and cold blooded in this episode. Palladin senses the greed and blind stubbornness in Kane and pushes him to make a bet that he'd probably be better off not making. The episode is helped by the appearance of Claude Akins as one of Kane's henchmen (Akins would later co-star with Boone in a 1973 episode of "Hec Ramsey") and Mayberry's favorite drunk, Hal Smith (he played Otis) as the proprietor of a restaurant that gets the locals together to hire Palladin.

Gene Roddenberry penned this amusing romp.

A water baron sells precious H20 for $1 per gallon to the denizens of the Mojave desert. Paladin decides this is heinous and solicits the townspeople to employ his services to reclaim their water rights. Paladin bets $5,000 cash against the water rights on himself to win in the race across the Mojave Desert.

Look for Claude Akins as a henchman for the water baron.

Paladin's Horse: A camel, Ezekiel

Paladin's Gear: Concha black hat, black Western button down shirt, white tie, black pants, black holster with colt, derringer, regular Western saddle...the spurs have been abandoned. The necktie comes off, too.

Paladin Shoots: At Billy Joe Kane, Water Baron, and his posse

Forgot To Duck: Shoulder hit by Holt

Paladin Shoots: Holt

Paladin Kills: No one in this episode

Paladin Disarmed: 2

Accumulated Kills: 1

Total Kills: 1