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The wilderness of writer’s block is vast, dangerous, and difficult–if not impossible–to cross. Or is it just the packaging that makes everything look so vast?* (*Image used with permission from the delightful Toy Soldiers Collecting blog, where adventure awaits after a click on the link…) A writer never expects to get seriously lost in this wilderness; like . . . → Read More: Rescue Me, Flint!; or, Of Wagon Train and Writer’s Block   3 comments  Cowboy Moments, Cowboy Mythos, Film Reviews, Men Were Men and Women Were Women, Reel Life vs. Real Life, The Good the Bad the Fugly, Wrangling a Novel  cowboy hero, flint mccullough, frank mcgrath, I need to finish that darn novel, novel writing hell, robert horton, seth adams, terry wilson, wagon train, ward bond, what would a cowboy do It’s a well-worn stereotype that western heroes don’t talk about their feelings. But it’s not that they don’t have them. Western heroes are deep wells of emotion, actually. If you flicked a pebble into one of those wells, that little “plink” would echo and re-echo a thousandfold-fold-fold-fold-fold… Spoiler alert: Coop gets the gal in The Virginian. Take . . . → Read More: Shut up; or, The Eternal Silence of the Western Hero 2 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Film Reviews, Men Were Men and Women Were Women, Movie Quotes, Reel Life vs. Real Life, The Good the Bad the Fugly, What Would Gary Cooper Do? bad day at black rock, cowboy code, cowboy hero, john sturges, owen wister, robert ryan, silver-screen western hero, spencer tracy, the virginian, western cliches I knew where it was going. Anyone who’s done his or her western homework would. There are two American archetypes that were sometimes played against each other in old Westerns. The egghead Eastern lawyer who lacks the skills or stomach for a gunfight is contrasted with the tough Western rancher and ace shot who has no patience for . . . → Read More: Fast Times at Liberty Valance High; or The Reel-Life Politics of Ford’s Anti-Western 9 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowboys Gone Wrong, Cowgirl Mythos, Film Reviews, Men Were Men and Women Were Women, Movie Quotes, Reel Life vs. Real Life, State of the Union 2011, The Good the Bad the Fugly anti-western, cowboy diplomacy, cowboy hero, essential western plots, ford westerns, james stewart, john wayne, lee marvin, man who shot liberty valance, obama western, rick perry western, vera miles, western cliches, western movies, wild west A mighty happy (um, late) birthday to Max Brand! He never thought much of his westerns between May 29, 1892 and May 12, 1944, but I can’t hold that against him for too long. If you had been named Frederick Schiller Faust, you might have wanted to be a high-falutin’ poet too. Unlike many pulp western writers, . . . → Read More: Sagas of Fighting Men and Flaming Guns; Max Brand’s Words Move Me Leave a comment Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Men Were Men and Women Were Women, On This Day in Western History, Pulp Westerns and Paperbacks; Book Reviews, The Good the Bad the Fugly frederick schiller faust, max brand, paperback art, paperback covers, paperback westerns, pulp westerns, western fiction “We deal in lead, friend,” says Steve McQueen. And the 1960s western was born. Exit stage left the single-minded lone gunfighter shooting it out with a single-minded lone villain, the only real conflict between the two being who is the fairest of them all. It had been an epic time–a time when one man’s word had more . . . → Read More: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall; or, The Magnificent Seven’s Professionals ‘R’ Us 6 comments Cowboy Moments, Cowboy Mythos, Cowgirl Mythos, Film Reviews, Men Were Men and Women Were Women, Movie Quotes, Reel Life vs. Real Life, The Good the Bad the Fugly classic western plots, conflicts in westerns, essential western plots, kurosawa, magnificent seven, seven samurai, silver-screen western hero, steven mcqueen, western cliches, western kurosawa, western myth, western samurai, westerns, yul brynner As I was saying before paying work and Valentine’s Day and the call of the West in the form of watching The Stalking Moon, starring Gregory “Awesome Gimlet-Eye” Peck, epic westerns aren’t my cuppa tea. Or joe. I’d just finished spinning my snark about epic westerns in an earlier post when Nuts4r2 “Awesome Gimlet-eyed Film Reviewer” called . . . → Read More: Et tu, Cimarron?; or More Rules for Epic Westerns 2 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowboys Gone Wrong, Cowgirl Mythos, Film Reviews, Men Were Men and Women Were Women, Movie Quotes, Reel Life vs. Real Life, The Good the Bad the Fugly, Uncategorized, What Would Gary Cooper Do? cimarron, epic westerns, glenn ford, land rush in movies, maria schell, men in westerns, Once Upon a Time in the West, racism in westerns, sexist westerns, western cliches, western themes, women in westerns The West has something for everyone on Valentine’s Day… For the breast-loving bucko or buckarette (but be respectful–Hannie Caulder is primed for vengeance)
Raquel Welch in Hannie Caulder, 1971
For the beefcake-loving buckarette or bucko (but if you want him to do anything but pose, he’ll have to put . . . → Read More: How the Western Heart Is Won; or, Happy Valentine’s Day in Cowboylands Westerns = Greek drama. And shut up, Aeschylus is so not rolling in his grave. He’d have appreciated the golden-boy good looks of John Wayne in John Ford’s Stagecoach and the film’s subtle yet sharp critique on so-called civilized society–the stagecoach journey as a vehicle for a development of a humane community that cannot survive in . . . → Read More: Men Will Be Men and Women Will Be Women; or, The Sexual Frontier of Epic Westerns 2 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowboys Gone Wrong, Cowgirl Mythos, Men Were Men and Women Were Women, State of the Union 2011, The Good the Bad the Fugly american west, cimarron, cowboylands, epic westerns, essential western plots, silver-screen western hero, western cliches, western genre, western men, western movies, western themes, western women, westerns, wild west Cimarron!!! Cimarron!!!! The woodwinds and brass crescendo, a chorus of voices swells in epic awesomeness. And “epic” is the target word in 1960′s Cimarron, directed by Anthony Mann et al, a frontier saga that swells with its own importance from the opening credits. Full disclosure: I have not yet completed watching this film. Why? Because I have . . . → Read More: Following the Soundtrack of Dreams; or, Franz Waxman’s Cimarron 2 comments Cowboy Mythos, Cowboys Gone Wrong, Cowgirl Mythos, Film Reviews, Men Were Men and Women Were Women, Movie Quotes, The Good the Bad the Fugly american west, cimarron, cowboy hero, franz waxman, franz Waxman westerns, glenn ford, maria schell, oklahoma land rush, soundtracks gone wrong, western cliches, western movies, western soundtracks, westerns, wild west On January 4, 1847, Samuel Colt sold his first revolver to the United States government, allowing buckskinned frontiersmen and uniformed soldiers everywhere to sheathe their Bowie knives and mail their powder-and-ball kits to their poorer relations. When Samuel Colt, cigar clamped manfully between his teeth, shook hands on the deal for one thousand .44-caliber revolvers to be . . . → Read More: Colt’s .44; or Western History Triggers Countdown 6 comments Buckaroo Gear, Cowboy Mythos, CowboyLands Lists, Cowgirl Mythos, Men Were Men and Women Were Women, On This Day in Western History, State of the Union 2010, The Good the Bad the Fugly, Western World Events Colt .44, colt in westerns, colt invention, cowboy cliches, cowboy facts, gun that won the west, guns in westerns, Samuel Colt |
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