Recently, the Encore Westerns Channel started showing old episodes of
Have Gun Will Travel, which I haven't seen in probably 40 years. This program tells the story of Paladin, a rather urbane gun for hire in the old West, played by Richard Boone. Paladin dressed all in black and was prone to quoting Byron as prelude to tossing around a little lead. It's an entertaining program, but frankly I've been totally distracted by how much Paladin reminds me of Bob Dylan, especially as Dylan has decked himself out in recent years (for example, in his movie
Masked and Anonymous from a few years back). Do you think that Dylan has decided to model himself on a hero from his youth, the poetry spouting Paladin? The show originally aired in the mid to late fifties, just before Dylan headed east and proceeded to transform the world of rock and roll. Is his current stage persona an homage to Boone's intellectual gunslinger? I can't stop wondering-- it's partly due to the seemingly ubiquitous cowboy hat Dylan wears nowadays, but mostly, it's the mustache he's taken to sporting. Anybody else struck by the resemblance?
Recently, the Encore Westerns Channel started showing old episodes of Have Gun Will Travel, which I haven't seen in probably 40 years. This program tells the story of Paladin, a rather urbane gun for hire in the old West, played by Richard Boone. Paladin dressed all in black and was prone to quoting Byron as prelude to tossing around a little lead. It's an entertaining program, but frankly I've been totally distracted by how much Paladin reminds me of Bob Dylan, especially as Dylan has decked himself out in recent years (for example, in his movie Masked and Anonymous from a few years back). Do you think that Dylan has decided to model himself on a hero from his youth, the poetry spouting Paladin? The show originally aired in the mid to late fifties, just before Dylan headed east and proceeded to transform the world of rock and roll. Is his current stage persona an homage to Boone's intellectual gunslinger? I can't stop wondering-- it's partly due to the seemingly ubiquitous cowboy hat Dylan wears nowadays, but mostly, it's the mustache he's taken to sporting. Anybody else struck by the resemblance? 
No comments:
Post a Comment