Have Gun – Will Travel
A Matter of Ethics
TV Flash files “A Matter of Ethics” as a desk essential hour — Have Gun – Will Travel (1957–1963) on CBS, season 1, episode 5, aired 1957-10-12, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E05: listed hour 5 of 225 in the Have Gun – Will Travel guide, hour 5 of 39 in season 1. It aired 1957-10-12 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Winchester Quarantine” (S01E04). Next is “The Bride” (S01E06).
Essential hour: “A Matter of Ethics”. A Matter of Ethics — titled as the adult-western thesis, sophistication as a gunslinger trait instead of a punchline.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A wanted killer offers Paladin $200 to protect him from a lynch mob, and Paladin has to decide whether to take more money to let the lynch mob have the man... or let him go.
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Matter of Ethics sit in the Have Gun – Will Travel guide?
S01E05 is listed hour 5 of 225 — hour 5 of 39 in season 1, season 1 episode 5.
When did Have Gun – Will Travel S01E05 air?
A Matter of Ethics aired 1957-10-12 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Boone's Paladin and the calling-card ritual. The knight-for-hire brief is clear in the weekly form; you do not need a origin-mythology marathon.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Have Gun – Will Travel is a chess-piece knight for hire: Paladin's calling card cooler than most heroes' faces, Richard Boone's Broadway grit in a gunbelt. Watch it now as adult-western antihero cool — sophistication as a gunslinger trait, and the Wire Paladin card as brand-before-branding.
The calling card is cooler than most heroes' faces. (I said spoiler-free. The card is the spoiler.) *Have Gun – Will Travel*, CBS 1957–1963, 225 episodes across six seasons, also a concurrent radio hit: Richard Boone's Paladin, a chess-piece knight for hire with San Francisco manners and a gunbelt. Kam Tong as Hey Boy for much of the run; Lisa Lu as Hey Girl. Adult-western antihero cool. The group chat would have made the chess knight a stan logo by lunch.
Filed against
- Richard Boone as Paladin
Richard Boone's Paladin sold Have Gun – Will Travel as a chess-piece knight for hire — calling card cooler than most heroes' faces, Broadway grit in a gunbelt. Adult-western antihero cool before the term got a think piece. TV Flash files…
- Kam Tong as Hey Boy
Kam Tong’s Hey Boy kept Have Gun – Will Travel’s hotel a chessboard — Paladin’s calling card cooler than most heroes’ faces, Richard Boone’s Broadway grit in a gunbelt, adult-western antihero cool. Sophistication as a gunslinger trait,…
- Lisa Lu as Hey Girl
Lisa Lu occupied Paladin’s household as Hey Girl on Have Gun – Will Travel — a chess-piece knight for hire, Richard Boone’s Broadway grit in a gunbelt, and a 1950s adult-western that sold sophistication as a calling card. Cooler than most…