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Tue 13 Jun, 2006 05:02 pm
One of my all time favorite TV westerns is Have Gun Will Travel. Richard Boone could be sensitive or rough as they come. How could Eninem possibly measure up? - edgarblythe
Eminem Goes "Gun" Crazy
by Josh Grossberg
Jun 13, 2006, 2:00 PM PT
Semi-retired from rapping, Eminem is targeting a return to acting.
The hip-hop star, whose film debut in 2002's 8 Mile was a critical and box-office smash, is attached to star in Paramount's contemporary update of CBS' classic TV series Have Gun Will Travel, Daily Variety reports.
The artist otherwise known as Marshall Mathers III will play a modern version of the show's hero, Paladin, a professional gunslinger and West Point graduate in the original series, who, after the Civil War, lends his deadly talents out as a mercenary for hire.
The original TV western, starring Richard Boone, ran from 1957 to 1963 and was hugely popular. His black-clad bounty hunting hero carried a business card featuring the figure of a white chess knight--and bearing the transcription: "Have Gun Will Travel...Wire Paladin, San Francisco."
The big-screen version will reportedly incorporate some elements from the show but will be revamped as a present-day action-adventure.
In a nod to Eminem's rabid fan base Variety reports that filmmakers might tweak the story to take place in the rapper's hometown of Detroit. An Oscar winner for Best Song for 8 Mile's "Lose Yourself," Eminem is also expected to contribute several original songs to the Have Gun Will Travel soundtrack.
The studio will develop the property via Interscope/Shady/Aftermath Films with Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg, music producer Jimmy Iovine, and the rapper likely sharing producer credit.
Paramount is putting Have Gun Will Travel on the fast track and hopes to roll cameras within the coming months.
The film finds the hip-hop legend at a crossroads, both personally and professionally.
After spending a month in rehab last year to kick an addiction to prescription sleep medication, Eminem remarried and then filed for divorce yet again from on-off partner Kim Mathers.
And while he is taking time off from his own recording, Eminem has been keeping himself busy in the studio producing protégé Obie Trice's sophomore album.
He did good in 8 Mile.
But I'm not seeing the Have Gun, Will Travel thing either. His "8 Mile" character was essentially a version of himself. Palladin had layers.
I could maybe see Eminem as Billy The Kid.
I'm guessing that by the time this project is finished, the only connection to the original will be the title...
'Bout as believable as Will Smith as James West.
Not at all.
Hi, snood. I just don't like to see my old favorites altered. They could do the same movie without the tie-in and it might actually be worth seeing. I'm no expert on Eminem, so can't actually say.
No, man - I know just what you mean. Hey, do you remember an old western called "The Outcasts"? It had a black man and a white man who were a former slave and a former slave owner, teamed up as bounty hunters.
How about "The Guns of Will Sonnet"?
I don't recall The outcasts, but did watch the Guns of Will Sonnet. Walter Brennan was one of my favorite character actors.
Re: Eminem - Say it ain't so . . . Sob
edgarblythe wrote:Richard Boone could be sensitive or rough as they come.
Dont know the original movie, but that sounds like Eminem tho..
Palladin was a hired gun in the late 19th Century. He was wealthy, cultured, with a good eye for the ladies. He was an ex military officer who sold his gun to good causes. He could move with equanimity from a pampered life in San Francisco to the rugged territory of the old west on a moment's notice. I don't see how a modern story such as the one with Eminem can have any relevance to the Paladin character. His "Paladin" will be strictly 21st Century.
I didn't watch the show, but my parents did. I feel bad for anybody that was a fan of the original-- I don't see how this could be anything but depressing...Yecch.
I watched Paladin every week from the time it began until it went off the air. Great show. Cannot be duplicated or even have anything close.
I also remember the Outlaws that Snood referred to.
Earl Corey (Don Murray) and Jemal David (Otis Young) were
The Outcasts
from 1967 to 1968. It was the first integrated western. The two men fought side by side and each other, due to their backgrounds.
I loved that show (and I know I'm dating myself) - a former slave owner and a former slave in the old west as bounty hunters.
And it was during the civil rights movement.
Thanks for the pic, Snood. A great show before it's time....or, in spite of it.
Sorry for typing Outlaws instead of Outcasts. I do believe, however that there was also a show by this name.
Outlaws was an hour long series. I don't believe it had a regular cast.
I recall another man playing a black cowboy in the late sixties. I thought at first of Brock Peters, who did play on lots of westerns [This talented man did virtually everything. Played Darth Vader somewhere, was a backup singer for Belafonte on Banana Boat Song - It's a long list, when you start with him]. But, it must have been someone else.
Actually, I think there were a lot of black actors who did guest appearances in westerns. I think Otis Young could still claim being the first who co-starred in one.
I even remember Lou Rawls (yep that Low Rawls) guest starring in The Big Valley once.
Man! I loved that show - Nick, Heath, Jerrod, Audra and Victoria - The Barkleys. Whoo- those were the days....
(just wish they'd have let the black servant buck up every once in a while
)
In those days I lived for my cowboy shows. The spaghetti westerns changed the nature of the genre. I have favorites among both kinds.
One of the things zbout Paladin was that he was a tall, strongly built man with a deep impressive voice. Eminem is small and skinny. He might be good in a dramatic series, but he could never fill the shoes of Paladin.
Steve McQueen was a great dramatic actor in Westerns, not overly physically impressive. But even McQueen, great as he was, could not do Paladin once you saw Richard Boone. Eminem, if he's good, could conceivably be a Steve McQueen type character.
Never watched eminem act, just some random shots on television. Not even judging him. But, as you pointed out, it takes an exceptional man to fill Paladin's shoes and to me it ain't him.
edgarblythe wrote:Palladin was a hired gun in the late 19th Century. He was wealthy, cultured, with a good eye for the ladies. He was an ex military officer who sold his gun to good causes. He could move with equanimity from a pampered life in San Francisco to the rugged territory of the old west on a moment's notice.
One of my favorite scenes from the old Have Gun Will Travel. Paladin comes back to his fancy hotel to see one of his old buddies from a few cases in the wild sleeping in his bed. Although Paladin knew the guy and considered him a friend, the fellow is clearly an outdoors-only type, unshaven, clothing unwashed, going a long time between baths, etc. Paladin asked him what he was doing there, his friend gave him a satisfactory explanation and Paladin decides to help him. As they exit the hotel room, the chambermaid enters, and Paladin turns to her and says, "Burn the sheets".
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