Movie Review: Conagher
February 6, 2010 – 1:10 am
This is a western movie from a Louis L’Amour story by the same title. The story revolves around the lives of two people of the west. We have a recently widowed Evie Teale, played by Katherine Ross, who is sticking to the land her husband brought her to. He then road off to buy cattle and lost his life but know one knew. Her story is about the loneliness of her life even with two children and also it highlights her pioneer spirit, which kept her trying to live her life on her terms. Conn Conagher, played by Sam Elliot, admires a woman with nerve and Evie has plenty of that.
The story has action with the usual array of western characters showing how the western life looked. Conagher is attracted to Evie and moves in and out of her life as time passes and many events and people trying to make him take a pathway that he would be less comfortable with. The question is can Evie keep him from drifting out of her life again.
I recommend this movie because of the actors and how it is portrayed. The movie is a western in the truest since of the word. It is a must see for all western film buffs.
Book Review: Werewolf
February 3, 2010 – 1:10 am
Yes this is a western story written by Max Brand from the trio collection book Men Beyond the Law. The main character of this story Christopher Royal is not beyond the law but the youngest brother of four. He is afraid that he is a coward because he does not want to fight or kill. All of his brothers have proven their bravery with different act that were publicly exhibited. Chris is pushed into killing the brother of a know murder of men Harry Main.
The story has Chris planning his run away from the potential of being gunned down. He leaves and only telling his mother who is also a brave woman. She knows that death would be better for Chris than the life of a fear consumed man. She sends the murder a note telling him where he will be waiting for him at a cabin in the woods.
The story continues and an old Indian is encountered and he tell him the story of his life. I will stop here with my evaluation of the story so that I don’t give away the ending. This is a western story that I would not have picked to read but it is unusual and has all of the qualities needed to be a western story. You maybe should read this story because it is short and evaluate it on your own.
Movie Review: Raiders of Old California
January 30, 2010 – 1:10 am
This Black and White Western Movie is set in 1847 California. The basis of the story is on land grants and how crooked men were able to gain control over large parcels of land and try and rule it like its own kingdom.
Senor Sebastian used his land grant to initially save his life and then it was potentially take away by an act of attempted murder. The ruthlessness of Angus Clyde McKainn draws the attention of a father and son who are a Federal Judge and U.S. Marshal. The story highlights the greed that McKainn has for land and cattle and his total disregard for the law and the little people who have been on the land for many years.
Some points that a modern viewer of westerns would find as not true to the time were the cattle were Herefords in Early California, Comanche warriors and the marshal very seldom missing a shot even on a running horse. Positive things were that they actually had scenes where he horses were running at a full gallop.
This was an interesting movie with good action and some believable parts. If you want to see some older style westerns this could be for you.
Book Review: The Fence
January 27, 2010 – 1:10 am
This is a western story written about that big ranching family that has had the power and respect it always wanted but a chink in the armor results in a disappearance of these things and the death of the patriarch and his son. Everything is thrown up in the air. The sheriff has to find out who committed the murders and why.
Adding to the confusion the sheriff is in love with the granddaughter and things went from bad to troubled to confusing to completely out of control. The story is short but it has many good twists and turns making the reader continue to turn the pages. I personally felt that the story could have been fleshed out more and got the reader into a more complicated and mind-rattling story.
I would recommend this story to the western readers out there who want a good short story that doesn’t take all week to read.
Movie Review: Last Stand at Saber River
January 23, 2010 – 1:10 am
This is a western story by Elmore Leonard ( Get Shorty, Out of Sight ) turned into a movie. The story is about a family that is reunited after the father returns from the Civil War as a changed man but inside he is still the same and the family returns to their home in Arizona.
Tom Selleck plays Paul Cable an ex-Confederate cavalryman who rides back to his strong willed west Texas wife played by Suzy Amis. Together they head back to there home in Arizona angry with each other but willing to see if they can make a new start in their life together. The conflicts between husband and wife have a very difficult time being resolved because so many events and people get in the middle of their business.
Cable is searching for a peaceful life but the war ends and he still has another big battle to complete before he and his wife can begin their healing.
This is an excellent western movie with believable actors playing realistic down home people. The story is engaging and I personally believe that the events in the story happened many more times than we would actually acknowledge. This is a definite see for a western movie I completely enjoyed it.
Book Review: Rainbow Rider
January 20, 2010 – 1:10 am
This is a short story written by Wayne D. Overholser about a small town marshal who had tamed his town but wouldn’t leave because he had fallen in love with the banker’s daughter. He wanted to marry her and prove that he wasn’t a Rainbow Rider. The pressure her aunt was placing on her and her father had drawn them both under the influence of her aunt. This willfulness of her aunt made her completely beyond reason . He had spent all of his money on a diamond ring but she wouldn’t take it. The story begins with the last opportunity to say she would marry him.
At this point things began to really happen. A friend that the sheriff had put in jail came visiting and a con artist was discovered in their community. All of the events lead up to a conclusion that was predictable but not out of line.
I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to any western reader. It is short and quick to read with several good twists.
Movie Review: The Shadow Riders
January 16, 2010 – 1:10 am
This is a Louis L’Amour story of two brothers immediately after the Civil War. Each of the two older Traven brothers fought on opposite sides but are now heading home. The oldest one Daly played by Sam Elliot, fought for the Confederacy and was caught up in two separate events that almost took his life. The first incident he was saved by a Confederate detachment that was going to continue the war after getting more arms and money by trading grain and slave in Mexico. The Second event he was saved by his brother Mac played by Tom Selleck, who was a Union officer during the War.
The Confederate rebels were ravaging the countryside becoming killers, thieves and kidnappers. The rebels took the sisters of Mac and Dal and Dal’s sweetheart Kate played by Katherine Ross. The plan was to sell the women to brothels in Mexico and the men into slave labor in the Mexican silver mines. With this money the rebels could buy more guns and bullets.
The Traven brothers were determined to end the war in this part of Texas and they set out to free the hostages by destroying the Mexican connection and the rebels that felt they needed to push the war on.
I definitely enjoyed this movie even as it was very simplistic but it had all of the parts of a good western movie actors, scenery, and story. I would recommend this movie to any western movie fan.
Book Review: The Leather Slappers
January 13, 2010 – 1:10 am
Book Review: The Leather Slapper One story out of three.
This is a western short story in a trio of stories from the book Rainbow Rider by Wayne D. Overholster. This story is about a gunman who is working for a large land company working out of northern New Mexico and it moves to press claims for land into southern Colorado. The main character is Rick Marvin who is having some conflicts with his conscience about railroading honest hard working people off the land that they had before the Grant Company came along.
He meets a woman on the wrong side that is against the Grant Company and it is the final straw that drives him into a headlong fight against the Company. This pits him against the company and his old partner Pete Fargo who only goes where the money is and until now the winning side.
This is a good western story with not too many side turns and is a very easy read. I will recommend this story as a different pace for the western reader.
Movie Review: Far and Away
January 9, 2010 – 1:10 am
I classified this movie as a western. The story began in Ireland and ended up on the rolling plains of Oklahoma. This is a love story with a truly American twist in that the lowly commoner wins the love of the gentry of the old country. Joseph Donnelly played by Tom Cruise holds his father as he dies after explaining, that a man is nothing with out land. The land is a man’s soul. Shannon Christie played by Nicole Kidman shows Joseph a flier from America about free land and tells him she is running away to America to get some of the free land. She has her mother’s silver spoons and that will get her to Oklahoma and the free land.
With many twists and turns the two opposite people cross the Atlantic with Joseph as Shannon’s servant. Arriving in Boston the two young people start to separate but are thrown together by a cruel act of fate. They become close and depend upon each other as Shannon gets a taste of being poor and looking for every meal. Things continue to happen and some bad events happen and they are separated.
The story continues and Joseph awakens to his dream and ends up in Oklahoma where he meets Shannon again. I wont spoil the ending for you but it is a great story with epic vistas and real American history in it. I rate it as a movie to see and it is close to my top 100 best western movies.
Book Review: Soldiers Farewell
January 6, 2010 – 1:10 am
This western story is written by Johnny D. Boggs who has won a spur award for one of his western stories. This story was interesting but I had a hard time getting involved while reading it. The style that it was written, made it hard to get into the flow of the story. The author wrote it as a diary of a boy covering a long period of time.
I definitely disagree with the dust jacket review of the story. The dust cover said it was about how a stage stop got its name. In my observation after reading the book it presented its self to me as a boys growth to maturity during a hard time in western history. The time was just prior to and during the Civil War involving a family, where the mother had died and the oldest son had gone to West Point. The oldest son graduates and become a Dragoon part of the Army protecting the travelers of the west. The complications of the beginning of the Civil War hits this family of strong minded men hard. The impact was so complete that it threw them apart. Father against son and brother against brother which was a common happening during this time frame.
The story to me would have been more engaging and a better read for me if the style had been different. I would recommend this book to western readers who would like to view a different style of story telling. I am trying to evaluate all styles of writing as I progress on proof reading the story I wrote in the month of November.
