Face to Face - L'Amour, MTV westerns and the kitchen sink

Chris runs the Louis L'Amour project, a blog that pretty much covers everything and then throws in the kitchen sink. Pretty much like The Archive really. The following is a transcript of a conversation we had regarding the works of Louis L'Amour that went off on a tangent.

CJ: The thing that has always gotten me about L'Amour is how much he wrote. I know that technically he's not listed among the most prolific authors, which actually surprised me quite a bit, but he wrote a ton anyway. By my count, there are over 230 L'Amour short stories in print, spread out over various collections. And everyone knows he wrote his fair share of novels, too. That sense of, "Wow, he wrote a ton...I wonder what it would be like to read it all?" is part of what inspired my blog. And the fact that it's largely of one genre (Westerns) intrigued me even more. It seemed incredible that one could write that much within one genre.

GD: I think I originally got into L'Amour because he was always so visible in the book stores when I was growing up and some of his titles sounded very exciting - Crossfire Trail, Hondo, Killkenny. I think his stuff reads so well is because he was very much an outdoors man and loved the West. That definitely comes across in his stories for me. So tell me how many of those stories have you read?

CJ: I've read about 70 of the short stories. I've spaced it all out pretty well by reading some other things in between, but I almost always get back to a point where I want to read some L'Amour. I agree that that sense of authenticity is part of what readers look to from L'Amour and part of what keeps them coming back. If you choose to, you can view his writings as a sort of education about the varied settings in which they take place. In some of my posts, I even talk about the different vegetation L'Amour describes in his stories--everything from creosote to tar bush to grama grass. It's cool to learn about stuff like that while also being entertained
with fast-moving pulp action. As a writer of Westerns yourself, does L'Amour bear any influence on you?

GD: L'Amour is a huge influence on me. Whenever I read one of his stories I find myself making notes about the locale of the story or, as you say of the flora and fauna. And then I use this to create colour in my own stories. But L'Amour isn't my only influence with westerns as I tended to favour the British adult westerns more in my youth and it's only in recent years that I've realised how good Louis L'Amour was. I think he put a lot of himself into his writing and his characters are all composites of different facets of his own character. Not for nothing is L'Amour the most visible western author there ever was. Besides L'Amour what other western writers have you read?

CJ: Not too many. I'm something of a tenderfoot when it comes to other Western writers. Let's see...Frank Bonham, Elmore Leonard, Larry McMurtry, Wayne Overholser, Charles Friend. Enough to whet my appetite and give me some idea of the breadth within the genre. I just remembered that I read McMurtry's Buffalo Girls years ago and loved it. What really actually got me going on Westerns to begin with was Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven. It blew me away when I first saw it back in 1992, and I worked backward from there, checking out older Eastwood Westerns, then some John Ford stuff, and others. One thing I know I need to check out is Lonesome Dove. You've mentioned it more than once here on the Archive. When did you first read it, and what did you think of it?



GD: I actually saw the TV mini-series first and that was pretty damn good - in fact some critics have called it the best western ever. And it was a few years before I read the book. I read Comanche Moon first which is a prequel to Lonesome Dove. And as for Unforgiven - that movie is enough to blow anyone away - it's up there with my favourite Clint westerns and I'd place it alongside Josey Wales and Good, Bad and Ugly as Clint's best oaters. We've got all that - Eastwood, L'Amour, Lonesome Dove - and that's what I love about the western, the sheer variety within the genre. But going back to L'Amour have you seen Hondo? I think this is the best film adaption of L'Amour's work.

CJ: Haven't seen Hondo yet, though it's on the list. I have seen a couple of L'Amour film adaptations, though: Crossfire Trail and The Quick and the Dead. I highly enjoyed both, but probably liked Crossfire Trail the best. The combination of Tom Selleck and Wilford Brimley was hard to beat, though you can't go wrong with Sam Elliot, who starred in The Quick and the Dead. Speaking of L'Amour film adaptations, I recently noticed that a screen version of Catlow has been released on DVD. It originally came out in 1971 and stars Yul Brynner, Richard Crenna, and Leonard Nimoy! How's that for a cast?


GD: I didn't realise Catlow was a L'Amour adaptation and I don't think I've seen it. Though I have heard of the film. There are so many great westerns out there and I think I've seen more than most so I don't know how Catlow slipped off my radar. Well I've just ordered it from Amazon so that's corrected. The Quick and the Dead was too MTV for my liking and I found it hard to take the film seriously but that's just my tastes. In fact my fave western in recent years has been the remake of 3 10 to Yuma which I thought was very good even if it wasn't as essential as the original. Brad Pitt did a great job in the brooding Jessie James too. But I think we've gone as far as we can with realism and need to get back to the escapism of the western again. I've very much looking forward to the True Grit remake and the imminent Jonah Hex movie.

CJ: That True Grit remake should be interesting. As I recall, the original novel was told from the girl's perspective, as opposed to Rooster Cogburn's (Wayne) in the movie. The Coen brothers are directing the remake and I've heard the perspective will shift back to the girl, as per the novel. Looking forward to that for sure!

Back to a comment you made about The Quick and the Dead...you said it was too "MTV." Could you elaborate on that? Was there footage during the credits of Sam Elliot singing karaoke at a post-production party that I missed? (Please tell me there was.)

GD: Everything about the Quick and Dead seemed pop video to me - the visuals, the editing, Decaprio etc. The thing that did surprise me was how well Sharon Stone carried it off even if giving her some Eastwood style shots rankled with me. Ramini's hyper direction style was not suited to a western in my opinion and the film had more style than substance. I too am hopeful for True Grit - I should hate the idea of a remake on principle but the Cohens are interesting and responsible for some great movies so fingers crossed on that one. Course another western I'm looking forward to is Jonah Hex - now that's the type of western that could suite a director like Ramini.

CJ: Ah, I've got it. We're talking about two different films by the same name. "The Quick and the Dead" that I'm talking about is actually based on the L'Amour book and came on HBO back in 1987. You should check that one out. I had actually forgotten there was a "The Quick and the Dead" of more recent vintage, though I'm pretty sure it's not based on the L'Amour novel. The HBO production is straight-up traditional Western through and through--I'm betting you'd like it. From what I understand of Jonah Hex, Sam Raimi would be a good choice of director. When is that coming out?


GD: Jonah Hex is due in June 2010. I was getting confused when you mentioned Quick and dead - I thought that's not L'Amour but then I assumed we'd gone off on a tangent. I've not see the HBO one - we don't always get those western TV movies on over here which really pisses me off. What I wanted to ask is are you as interested and excited by L'Amour as you were when you started your great but unpredictable blog?

CJ: Good question. I go in fits and starts with L'Amour. Sometimes I'm really excited to read him and will get through a whole book (including posts for each story) in a couple of weeks or so. Other times, I feel like taking a break for awhile. I'd say that's probably going to be the case for most anyone regarding any author, though. You can only take so much (insert author's name here) at a time. There will always be more L'Amour for me to read, which makes up for the fact that my excitement waxes and wanes. Are you the same?

GD: Indeed I am - I usually like to change authors or genres every so many books. Though I did once read the Bond series back to back and I've done maybe ten Edge's on the tamp. It's been great talking Chris - we should do it again one day.


CJ: Enjoyed our chat as well, Gary. Yeeeehaaaaa-rchive! (That was a really bad attempt at combining "Yeeehaw" with "Archive." You see, your site is called "The Tainted Archive," and cowboys used to say "Yeeeehaw"...so, um...yeah.) Anyway, your blog is one of my top reads of the day, and I always look forward to the next post. Best of luck with Wild West Monday 4!