MovieChat Forums > Have Gun - Will Travel (1957) Discussion > El Paso Stage

El Paso Stage

posted 7 years ago by PlatinumScreen (221)
2 replies | jump to latest

This episode makes me grateful for black and white tv and movies. It's a thing of beauty. The story is superb and tense, but the cinematography takes it over the top.

The shadows that fall on Paladin's face at different points and that scene in the saloon between Paladin and Buddy Ebsen's marshal with the roulette wheel spinning and throwing those moving shadows add so much. For this episode to have been wrapped up in a week's time, they did a wonderful job. Some movies done over months wouldn't look this good.

A poster made a fantastic point on the Richard Boone board about how some stars' looks were better suited for black and white television and movies. This episode is proof of that for Boone in my opinion. He looked amazing.

[–] Lacecap (19) 7 years ago

Well said! Black and white definitely suited Paladin and the many on location settings. It added nuances easily missed if HGWT had been filmed in color.

[–] PlatinumScreen (221) 7 years ago

Lacecap, I read somewhere that Boone wanted to film HGWT in color toward the end of its run, but the CBS execs refused because color television was a passing fad. The humor of that statement aside, ironically the execs were right in HGWT's case because of what you said--the nuances--and the intensity to Paladin's looks and demeanor it added.

For argument's sake, let's say color was the routine for TV shows when HGWT came out in 1957. I don't think it would've been the hit it became had that been the case.