Customer Reviews

Have Gun Will Travel Collector's Edition: Hanging Roy Carter, Pancho, Black Handkerchief, Fatal Flaw

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"Hanging of Roy Carter" is a tense episode where a man is about to be legally hanged for something he did not do. A stagecoach was robbed and several people were killed, one of which was the son of the prison warden. Roy Carter is the son of a wealthy man and he is wrongly convicted of the crime, sentenced to be hung in the prison and that is to happen soon.
Paladin is on the trail when a man tries to rob him. After he thwarts the robbery the father of Carter rides up and they learn that this is the man that robbed the stage. Paladin goes to the local lawman and signs an affidavit stating those facts and clearing Carter. However, the warden is adamant about carrying out the sentence on schedule so Paladin gets himself named as an official witness and enters the prison with his sole task being to delay the hanging until the governor can intervene. Paladin is forced to manipulate events for a few hours so that the hanging does not take place and he is able to do so with the help of the prison chaplain, Robert April.
There is a great deal of tension in this episode, particularly between April and Paladin. The chaplain is at heart a very good man, yet he is afraid to take a stand against the warden. Gene Roddenberry was the author of this episode and it has his signature stamp of being a bit more cerebral with a lesson in morality and courage.
In "Pancho" Paladin is hired by the wealthy landowner Mexican Don Luis Ortega to escort his fiery daughter Soledad to the United States. On his way to meet Ortega, Paladin encounters an outlaw band and has his horse taken. A young man called Doroteo leads the band, he is a peon fighting against the exploitive landowners and he covets Soledad. Doroteo is an idealistic youth that believes that his destiny is to lead his people to freedom, so he is full of contradictions.
When Paladin and Soledad are on the trail Soledad expresses her desire to engage in romance with Paladin but he respectfully declines. When Doroteo and his band capture Paladin and Soledad, she almost succumbs to Doroteo's entreaties that they get married. However, Paladin is able to regain control of the situation and when Doroteo walks away Paladin learns that his revolutionary name is Pancho Villa.
The naive and romantically inclined Soledad and Doroteo are the characters that make this episode work. Having a rich woman marry a poor yet idealistic young man is a staple of the romance genre. In this case, with Paladin's help the woman is unwilling to give up her life of privilege to engage in the romantic role as a consort to a revolutionary.
"The Black Handkerchief" has Paladin hired by a wealthy woman to rescue her brother that is about to be executed in a small town. When he talks to the sheriff Paladin learns that he has a signed confession from the brother. However, when Paladin interviews the brother, he learns that he is innocent and signed the confession in a foolish move to get his family's attention. The crime was committed by three men that are still in town so Paladin makes it known that he is looking for the real killers and he makes himself what appears to be an easy target. One by one he is able to goad the killers into action.
Paladin utters one of the best lines in the series in this episode. "I chose my own life and my own probable way of losing it, and that's my responsibility." This sums up Paladin's selected course in life and his knowledge of where it will most likely lead. It also demonstrates his idealism once again, where he puts his own life on the line in order to rescue a foolish young man.
"Fatal Flaw" is an episode where a man-Satan engages in an "every man has his price" event. Paladin is with noted Marshal McKendrick and they have just had a battle with a criminal gang led by Ashburne. The two of them have managed to capture Ashburne, although McKendrick is wounded. Without horses in the middle of a snowstorm they manage to find a dwelling that appears abandoned. Ashburne is chained to a table while Paladin tends to the Marshal. Ashburne immediately begins to "negotiate" with Paladin and the Marshal in an attempt to buy his freedom.
When Paladin goes out to get firewood he is attacked by a young woman, the owner of the house. McKendrick then learns that he is to be relieved of his duties as a Marshal, ending a decades-long career in law enforcement with low pay. Ashburne is then able to talk McKendrick into letting him go, but Paladin is able to intercept him and kill him before he can escape. However, as he is dying Ashburne informs Paladin that he is a sensitive human after all.
In a world where long-time workers are discarded with nothing more than a thank you, this episode will appeal to most people. Although he is technically bribed, Marshal McKendrick is a character you can sympathize with and you feel no dislike for him. While Ashburne is sleazy and manipulative, at the end you manage to have a bit of sympathy for him as well.