A LIFE IN BOOKS

 The first episode of my new You Tube series...a life in books

The John Wayne movie that never was

 

Billed as being by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins, this is actually a novelisation by Collins of an unproduced script that Spillane wrote around 1959 for John Wayne.

The original screenplay was titled the Saga of Celeb York and during the time of writing Spillane and Wayne were good friends - in the introduction to the book Collins points out that the reason the script was never filmed was largely down to the fact that Wayne's company, Batjac lost a lot of money on the movie, The Alamo. 

Wayne of course directed, produced and starred in the Alamo and although the movie took a sizeable slice of the box office it failed to make money given it's huge production costs.

Had the Alamo made money then Wayne' next project would likely have been Spillane's screenplay, but instead Wayne opted for a string of safe though successful westerns, such as North to Alaska.

Reading the expertly written novel one can't help thinking that this was a missed opportunity - the books reads in a very visual style, perhaps because the source material was of course a screenplay. And most of the beats that take us from plot point to plot point are set out in a very filmic fashion. It's very easy to visualise the scenes in the reader's mind, which speaks volumes of Collins skill at penning a narrative.

In an untamed desert ruled by outlaws, Trinidad, New Mexico, appears to be an oasis of civilization. Sheriff Harry Gauge rules his town with an iron fist, a fast gun—and an unbridled thirst for power.

Rancher George Cullen would rather take a bullet than give in to the greedy sheriff's land grab. But a cattle empire isn't all Gauge wants—he also has his eye on Cullen's beautiful daughter, Willa. So Cullen gets word out that he's hiring the fastest gunslinger money can buy. When a stranger rides in, townsfolk wonder if this is the rancher's hired gun. Whoever he is, the stranger won't be pushed . . . and his aim is deadly.

It's a very good book and totally engrossed the reader throughout - I especially liked the way that the character of York was introduced and I felt it was a nice touch that the air of mystery was retained for most of the book. Is the gunman really Caleb York or some other shootist? Reports are  that York was shot down some time back by Wes Banion.

There's nothing truly original about the plot - it's your standard oater material but it's put together with skill and is truly an entertaining traditional style western.

Sexterns: Sex in the West

 In 1939 the western saw something of a revival - with war brewing in Europe, Hollywood's thoughts turned to America's own heroic past and the nature of Americanism itself. Europe was dominated by dictators and Americans began to distrust the continent which it felt would eventually drag them into a war. Far better to celebrate America itself with its unique brand of self reliance, democracy and of course heaving bosoms.

Warner Brothers, the home of the swashbuckler placed Errol Flynn into a series of lavish and expensive westerns following the success of 1939's Dodge City. Warners also placed two of its biggest stars James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart (miscasting if ever there was any) in the oater, The Oklahoma Kid. During the early war years the western did well at the box office and when Howard Hughes cast Jane Russel in the dire but successful, The Outlaw (1943). It heralded the arrival of sex in the western. And this was continued in 1946 with Duel in the Sun, a film so infused with sweaty eroticism that one critic dubbed it, "Lust in the dust."

However to be fair on The Outlaw,  I've always enjoyed it and still watch it from time to time. The storyline concerning Billy The Kid, Pat Garrett and  Doc Holliday may be  barking mad and the film itself  ponderous , but it is so corny that it's highly watchable. And the advertising posters (as above) greatly exaggerated the amount of cleavage Jane Russel displayed in the picture. In fact the finished film is tamer than a standard Carry On movie. But what The Outlaw did was allow the western to tackle more adult themes than the simple good guys V bad guys motif of earlier oaters.

However the sex content was soon seen as a gimmick as the western in general became much more mature in theme. Without the westerns of the Forties paving the way we would never have seen the introspective classics of the Fifties. Perhaps one of the earliest westerns with any real significance was The Ox Bow Incident (1943) which was a sombre look at the effects of mob law.  It became apparent that audiences were now demanding more depth from their westerns. No longer was it all black and white, as shades of grey, FIFTY SHADES IN FACT, coloured the celluloid holding our western dreams.

Westerns now displayed an interest in psychology and psychoanalysis - this was demonstrated in 1947's, Pursued,  in which Robert Mitchum played a troubled loner who is dogged by a childhood trauma which is revealed to the viewer in a series of flashbacks. And by the end of the decade westerns heroes could no longer be the perfect square jawed men in white hats. In 1948 Howard Hawks gave us Red River which benefited from John Wayne's best performance to date and Wayne's character, Ted Dunson was something of a blueprint for the western anti-heroes of the next decade.

John Ford, arguably the finest ever American director of westerns, returned from his wartime service to enter one of his richest periods - his cavalry trilogy which ended the decade are among the finest westerns ever made. In 1946 he took the OK Corral  legend and gave us a fine and complex movie in, My Darling Clementine. What the film lacked in historical accuracy it made up for with it sheer brilliance in storytelling and acting. The film introduced many of Ford's trademarks - the townsfolk gathering together to hold a square dance in their half built church is just one example of the importance of community that Ford was at pains to point out in all of his films and not just his westerns.  It is an irony with Ford that although his westerns celebrated the freedom of the frontier they preached the importance of civilization. Later Ford would give us his three Calvary movies, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande in 1948, 1949 and 1950 respectively . It is a sense of community and service to one's country that link the three movies and hold them together like glue.

As the Fifties dawned the western was changed forever and the coming years would see some of the best movies ever made -  oaters that could hold themselves alongside the best of any other genre and it was during the Forties that this transition truly started. It may have all started out with a preoccupation with large breasts but it ended up looking much deeper.

Much deeper indeed.

Book Review: Sioux Dawn by Terry C. Johnston

 I first read this book, the first in the Plainsmen series, a few years back but h

aving fond memories off it, which were rekindled when I did my post on The Indian Wars, a week or so ago I decided to read it again. Once again it grabbed me from the first page, even prompting me to put Stephen King's third Dark Tower (the middle section with Jake's paradox was boring me) aside. I'll return to that book one day, having enjoyed the first two Dark Tower books, but Terry C. Johnston has put me in the mood to do a few epic westerns before I do so.

Now this novel which uses the Fetterman massacre as it main thrust is a mixture of both fact and fiction. Presenting the story through the eyes of the fictional Irish immigrant Seamus Donegan allows the author a certain amount of leeway in presenting the story of this dreadful period of American history.

On 21st December, 1866, Captain Fetterman and an army column of 80 men, were involved in protecting a team taking wood to Fort Phil Kearny. Although under orders not to "engage or pursue Indians" Fetterman gave the orders to attack a group of Sioux warriors. The warriors ran away and drew the soldiers into a clearing surrounded by a much larger force. All the soldiers were killed in what became known as the Fetterman Massacre. Later that day the stripped and mutilated bodies of the soldiers were found by a patrol led by Captain Ten Eyck.

The thing that I admire with Sioux Dawn is that the author manages to keep the story moving forward with the momentum of good fiction, and yet he doesn't skimp on including historical facts,and the reach of his research is all encompassing. The novel really gives us a taste of frontier life and can be appreciated on more than one level - as an enjoyable read and also a history of what really happened. It both entertains and informs which is not always an easy thing to pull off.

Excellent and, to my mind, the best of all the Plainsmen books.

The Genre too tough to die

 "One of the most vapid and infantile forms of art ever conceived by the brain of a Hollywood film producer." ...Dwight Macdonald, The Miscellany 1929

"The western remains, I suppose, America's distinctive contribution to the film."...Arthur Schlesinger Jr, Show April 1963

Geographically and historically the concept of "The West" is very loosely defined, when associated with the literary and film genre of the western. With the possible exception of the Eastern Seaboard almost every part of the USA had been called "The West" at some stage in the country's history.

The federal government defines "The West" as including the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. But from the movies and books both Kansas and Nebraska can be added. And maybe Hawaii and Washington should be removed. The West of popular imagination usually contains those areas associated with the final frontiers of American settlement - anything West of the Mississippi River. An area associated with cowboys, Indians, outlaws and lone lawmen.

Amongst the earliest western literature with artistic merit were the works of James Fennimore Cooper, his most famous works being 1826's Last of the Mohicans - though by the true definition of the genre none of the author's works are strictly westerns. The books were set in colonial America and featured the British rule but true westerns are set in independent America.

EZC Judson, writing under the pen name Ned Buntline was an early writer of traditional westerns. He earned himself the nickname of, 'Father of the Dime Novel' and turned Buffalo Bill into a figure of mythic proportions. However the first western with the classic ingredients was Owen Wister's The Virginian in 1902, which largely invented the guidelines that western writers still follow today.



The names Louis L'amour and Zane Grey have dominated the genre for many years and still do to some extent. But an early European champion of the genre was Karl May with his popular Shatterhand books. He wrote over 60 books but Shatterhand remains his most famous character. Indeed Shatterhand was revived by B.J. Holmes in a series of books for the successful UK western house, Black Horse Westerns.

The cinema has always had a love affair with the western and during the silent era there were many hundreds of westerns made. Most of these have been lost but there are still some prime examples of early westerns to be sought out by fans.

Some of the most important silent westerns that still exist and can be found on DVD or in many cases for free download from archive.org include:

The Iron Horse (1924) directed by John Ford
The Covered Wagon (1923) directed by James Cruze
Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1914) directed by D W Griffith

In cinematic terms there is little doubt that the Golden Age of the western took place between the years 1940 - 1970. There were many classics before and since but during these years there was never a time when most major studios didn't have at least one western in production.

During the Fifties and Sixties in particular the western also dominated the small screen with many western TV series being aired. Among the most well known are:
Bonanza
Gunsmoke
The Big Country
The Virginian
The Rifleman
Have Gun will Travel
Wyatt Earp
Wanted Dead or Alive

The modern era has also seen many classics of the genre, both on the screen and between the covers - Lonesome Dove, Sons of Texas, Blood Meridian, Tombstone, The Unforgiven to name but a few. And of course in recent years we've seen the Coen's re-make of True Grit, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. Those though are just the tip of the hay bale - for instance check out the excellent Netflix westerns series, Godless.

The Western truly is THE GENRE TOO TOUGH TO DIE. Kevin Costner is working on a new western and there is a remake of Butch and Sundance in the works. American greats like Dusty Richards and  Larry McMurtry continue to write quality western works. And British western house, Black Horse Westerns are continuing to bring out new western fiction written by writers from all over the world. Among these you will find such loved writers as B. J. Holmes, Ben Bridges, Jack Giles,Nik Morton,  Ian Parnham, Mathew P. Mayo, Chap O'Keefe, Jim Lawless and myself, Jack Martin. And this is just a small selection of the writers producing all new traditional westerns under The Black Horse banner. And of course there is the story of John Locke who became the worlds' first self published writer to sell a million eBooks on Amazon, and several of his titles are westerns. Mind you Locke was recently discredited when it emerged that he had paid for many positive reviews which helped sell his books.

Westerns have also made the transition to eBooks and the excellent publishing house, Piccadilly Publishing is reissuing western classics in the new electronic format, and of course the popular Edge series is also available in eBook. The Edge books, for instance, are a particular favorite of mine and I am proud to say that I was instrumental in initially bring the series to eBooks, but the reissue program is now in the industrious hands of Malcolm Davy.

So if you've never tried  a western then maybe now is the time to do - they've never been so easily available and online giant Amazon has many titles at good prices.

Come on saddle up and let's ride.

Take a look at my Jack Martin page at Amazon - click HERE

Deadwood The Movie delivers a great ending to a TV masterpiece

When HBO abruptly cancelled Deadwood after three excellent season, fans were left furious and immediately started making their voices heard and although it took HBO a long while to admit their mistake, it took a whole lot longer for Deadwood to return to the screen - 13 years in fact. And they've been thirteen long years with the actors having obviously aged in that time, some of them unrecognizably so and recognizing this series creator, David Milch moves the story forward to 1889 with South Dakota about to be granted statehood.

This is a great hook because it allows for character who left Deadwood to return for the state celebrations and seems perfectly natural. Of course, with such a time jump Milch has to imagine what those passing years have been like for the characters and he doesn't miss a beat, remaining true to each and every character as well as the original series. It's quite an achievement but five minutes into the TV movie and it seems as if the foul mouthed citizens of Deadwood have never been away.

The Deadwood series was unmistakably Ian McShane's show, but the movie very much belongs to Timothy Olyphant who puts in a great performance as the Wyatt Earp-alike, Seth Bullock but all of the characters shine in one way or another.  Gerald McRaney for instance is brilliant as the manipulative  George Hurst. But going back to Ian McShane's iconic Al Swearengen -  the story arc between McShane's character and the one time prostitute, Trixie is a vital element of this movie and it delivers wonderfully

The movie, like the TV series,  also luxuriates in its dialogue, often lyrical and Shakespearean, which is  challenging to decipher. It always has been, but the reward for careful viewing is dialogue that challenges, surprises and delights.

“I’d not prolong the chewing up, doc, nor the being spat out — not go out a cunt.”

Deadwood originally came about during a golden time for televison, when networks including HBO, FX, and AMC debuted shows such as The Wire, The Shield, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad, and this TV movie wraps things up in an exciting and worthy fashion. There’s a particularly tragic tinge to the circumstances of the movie: Writer and creator David Milch recently revealed he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, making the entire affair feel particularly elegiac. Even so, this script is among the greatest things he’s ever produced.




Deadwood now has an ending and it's a brilliant one at that

The Genre that's too tough to die

"One of the most vapid and infantile forms of art ever conceived by the brain of a Hollywood film producer." ...Dwight Macdonald, The Miscellany 1929

"The western remains, I suppose, America's distinctive contribution to the film."...Arthur Schlesinger Jr, Show April 1963

Geographically and historically the concept of "The West" is very loosely defined, when associated with the literary and film genre of the western. With the possible exception of the Eastern Seaboard almost every part of the USA had been called "The West" at some stage in the country's history.

The federal government defines "The West" as including the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. But from the movies and books both Kansas and Nebraska can be added. And maybe Hawaii and Washington should be removed. The West of popular imagination usually contains those areas associated with the final frontiers of American settlement - anything West of the Mississippi River. An area associated with cowboys, Indians, outlaws and lone lawmen.

Amongst the earliest western literature with artistic merit were the works of James Fennimore Cooper, his most famous works being 1826's Last of the Mohicans - though by the true definition of the genre none of the author's works are strictly westerns. The books were set in colonial America and featured the British rule but true westerns are set in independent America.

EZC Judson, writing under the pen name Ned Buntline was an early writer of traditional westerns. He earned himself the nickname of, 'Father of the Dime Novel' and turned Buffalo Bill into a figure of mythic proportions. However the first western with the classic ingredients was Owen Wister's The Virginian in 1902, which largely invented the guidelines that western writers still follow today.



The names Louis L'amour and Zane Grey have dominated the genre for many years and still do to some extent. But an early European champion of the genre was Karl May with his popular Shatterhand books. He wrote over 60 books but Shatterhand remains his most famous character. Indeed Shatterhand was revived by B.J. Holmes in a series of books for the successful UK western house, Black Horse Westerns.

The cinema has always had a love affair with the western and during the silent era there were many hundreds of westerns made. Most of these have been lost but there are still some prime examples of early westerns to be sought out by fans.

Some of the most important silent westerns that still exist and can be found on DVD or in many cases for free download from archive.org include:

The Iron Horse (1924) directed by John Ford
The Covered Wagon (1923) directed by James Cruze
Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1914) directed by D W Griffith

In cinematic terms there is little doubt that the Golden Age of the western took place between the years 1940 - 1970. There were many classics before and since but during these years there was never a time when most major studios didn't have at least one western in production.

During the Fifties and Sixties in particular the western also dominated the small screen with many western TV series being aired. Among the most well known are:
Bonanza
Gunsmoke
The Big Country
The Virginian
The Rifleman
Have Gun will Travel
Wyatt Earp
Wanted Dead or Alive

The modern era has also seen many classics of the genre, both on the screen and between the covers - Lonesome Dove, Sons of Texas, Blood Meridian, Tombstone, The Unforgiven to name but a few. And of course in recent years we've seen the Coen's re-make of True Grit, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. Those though are just the tip of the hay bale - for instance check out the excellent Netflix westerns series, Godless.

The Western truly is THE GENRE TOO TOUGH TO DIE. Kevin Costner is working on a new western and there is a remake of Butch and Sundance in the works. American greats like Dusty Richards and  Larry McMurtry continue to write quality western works. And British western house, Black Horse Westerns are continuing to bring out new western fiction written by writers from all over the world. Among these you will find such loved writers as B. J. Holmes, Ben Bridges, Jack Giles,Nik Morton,  Ian Parnham, Mathew P. Mayo, Chap O'Keefe, Jim Lawless and myself, Jack Martin. And this is just a small selection of the writers producing all new traditional westerns under The Black Horse banner. And of course there is the story of John Locke who became the worlds' first self published writer to sell a million eBooks on Amazon, and several of his titles are westerns. Mind you Locke was recently discredited when it emerged that he had paid for many positive reviews which helped sell his books.

Westerns have also made the transition to eBooks and the excellent publishing house, Piccadilly Publishing is reissuing western classics in the new electronic format, and of course the popular Edge series is also available in eBook. The Edge books, for instance, are a particular favorite of mine and I am proud to say that I was instrumental in initially bring the series to eBooks, but the reissue program is now in the industrious hands of Malcolm Davy.

So if you've never tried  a western then maybe now is the time to do - they've never been so easily available and online giant Amazon has many titles at good prices.

Come on saddle up and let's ride.

Take a look at my Jack Martin page at Amazon - click HERE

 

The award winning Tainted Archive

This blog has been honoured by being listed among the top twenty western fiction blogs on the wild west web - HERE

Gunsmoke.

I've just started watching Gunsmoke from the very first episode - twenty seasons in all, 635 episodes , so I guess I'll be watching awhile.

Episodes in the first season are 30 minutes long, but later in the run they were increased to fifty minutes and I must be honest I'm more familiar with the radio show than the TV series. I've got many of the radio episodes in MP3 format and regularly listen to an episode or two on my commute to and from work. So although I've always been aware of the TV version I can't say that I've ever really watched it.


The series was shown over here in the UK, originally retitled, Gun law and it was a big hit over here. The national newspaper, The Daily Express even ran a cartoon strip called, Gun Law which remained in the newspaper from 1957 - 1958.

Alas, I was too young to catch the series on TV and although I've always loved westerns the only TV oaters that I remember from those dim distant days of childhood are Bonanza, Rawhide, Maverick and High Chaparral. 

Daily Express - Gun Law

'Get the hell out of Dodge.'

I've watched the first five episodes last night and enjoyed them all - John Wayne introduced the first episode with the following words -

'Good evening. My name's Wayne. Some of you may have seen me before; I hope so. I've been kicking around Hollywood a long time. I've made a lot of pictures out here, all kinds, and some of them have been Westerns. And that's what I'm here to tell you about tonight: a Western—a new television show called Gunsmoke. No, I'm not in it. I wish I were, though, because I think it's the best thing of its kind that's come along, and I hope you'll agree with me; it's honest, it's adult, it's realistic. When I first heard about the show Gunsmoke, I knew there was only one man to play in it: James Arness. He's a young fellow, and maybe new to some of you, but I've worked with him and I predict he'll be a big star, so you might as well get used to him, like you've had to get used to me! And now I'm proud to present my friend Jim Arness in Gunsmoke.'

Vintage Western Review: The Lonely Man 1957

Directed by Henry Levin.
Paramount Pictures.
Main Cast: Jack Palance, Anthony Perkins,Neville Brand, Robert Middleton, Lee Van Cleef.
Black and white
88 minutes
Original Release Nov 10 1957

Early hours of the morning, and I'm lounging on the sofa, my pipe filled with a Virginia/Perique mixture, a glass filled with a creamy porter from Brains, and I'm just flicking through the TV channels, so many of them with nothing to watch when I stumbled on this western, which I don't think I've seen before, on Netflix.

It was odd seeing Jack Palance in a role such as this -  he was usually cast as the bad guy, playing the part in some memorable westerns including of course Shane, but here he's the leading man. Technically, he's a bad guy but he's determined to go leave his life as a gunslinger behind him at the outset of this movie and provide a life for his son, Riley (Anthony Perkins).

The plot is quite simple - Gunslinger, Jake Wade (Palance) rides into save his long abandoned son Riley (Anthony Perkins) and provide him with some kind of future after the death of the boy's mother. The son though hates his father, is totally fixated on his dead mother and acts like a petulant child - seems that even then Anthony Perkins had cornered the market on playing dead mother fixated young men. Though Perkins doesn't display this by dressing up as his late mother and running around with  a carving knife, but instead refuses to accept anything from his father. The pair end up torching the family home and moving out together - at the first town they try to settle in they are moved on because of Jake's gunslinger past, and so they go to the home of Ada (Elaine Aiken), a women who looks wonderful in a pair of blue jeans. The woman's in love with Jake but all he can think of is providing some kind of future for his son.

Jake: What do you do for a living?
Riley: Nothing...I get along.


Soon the ;past catches up with Jake, in the shape of enemies from the past and it is revealed that Jake is going blind - what good's a blind gunfighter?

I'm surprised this movie is not better known - I pretty much have a good knowledge of western movies, and I can't say I'd ever heard of this one. It doesn't follow the standard structure of such movies, and the performances are quite excellent. It was also filmed in Vistavision which gives a clarity to the black and white images, unusual in itself since most Vistavision pictures were filmed in colour. The scenes in which Palance and his small band try and round up the wild horses are breathtakingly filmed, and look quite beautiful, and the inevitable final showdown is brilliantly staged. The female lead played by Elaine Aiken in her debut performance, and I don't think I've ever seen a woman fill a pair of jeans so well, but incredibly she didn't go onto have much of an acting career though did become one of the leading acting teachers at the Strasberg Theatre Institute. She is brilliant here and pulls of the part of a women torn between father and son with gusto.


You can't beat a good western - I've always said that, it's my favourite genre, And I really enjoyed this movie. Tonally, I found it not dissimilar to the Anthony Mann westerns of the same period and Palance and Perkins are both excellent, as are the rest of the cast.

Book Review: Little Big Man by Patrick Berger

I first came into contact with Little Big Man via the Arthur Penn 1970 movie - that film is something of a revisionist western and is generally considered a classic movie. I love the film myself but after finally getting around to reading the source novel, the movie has been somewhat diminished for me and I consider the novel to be vastly superior.

 I  can't understand why the movie changed the story somewhat; expanded the role of the character, Mrs Pendrake for instance. I suppose it was to give Faye Dunway more to do in the picture but it takes away from the depth of the story when later in the movie, Jack Crabb discovers her working as a prostitute, when in the novel this particular story-line was given to a character who Jack mistook for a long lost niece, and promptly spends much of his energy on earning the money to get her schooled properly, to turn her into a woman like Mrs Pendrake. This section of what is an epic story is far more powerful in the novel than in the movie, and is perhaps the biggest change from book to screen. Maybe if a lesser actress had been cast in the role then she would have been given a  smaller, though pivotal role in proceedings.

Though it is true that whilst Mrs Pendrake is far more of a secondary character in the novel,  her influence on Jack Crabb is felt throughout his life, particularly in the way he places women, or at least those who, he considers to be proper women,on a pedestal. For Jack Mrs Pendrake represents the perfect woman, and she often comes into his thoughts when he has dealings with those of the opposite sex.

The novel is famous for mixing in fact with fiction, and for the way Jack Crabb interacts with actual historical figures throughout his story, and the main ones throughout the narrative are Wild Bill Hickok and General Custer, though Jack also comes into contact with a young Wyatt Earp, though his brief interaction with Earp was for some reason not used in the movie. Still, that I can understand since Earp doesn't really have that much to do with where the narrative is heading and that's to show how Jack Crabb became the only white survivor of the Battle of the Little Big-Horn. Though western readers will know that it was Wild Bill Williams who was actually the only white survivor of the battle - check out Wild Bill Williams by Jack Martin for the lowdown on that.

The basic premise, both movie and novel, are virtually identical - the story is told by Jack Crabb, more than a hundred years old at the start of the book, and takes us through a history of the period known as the Wild West. As a young boy Jack saw most of family slaughtered by the Cheyenne Indians and he is carried away and brought up by the tribe. Later he is brought back to white civilisation and adopted by the Pendrake family, only to leave again when he discovers that the supposedly prim and proper Mrs Pendrake is actually a bit of a wild eyed slut whenever she gets the chance. From there Jack moves back and forth between Indian and white culture as an entertaining, often thrilling as well as humorous story moves towards the demise of Custer and the beginning of the end for the Indian way of life. Jack's various times with the Cheyenne throughout the story really drives the narrative and are by far the best parts of the book. The Indians call themselves the Human Beings and look down with puzzlement at the whites who they see as being vulgar and  infantile with no understanding of the centre of the world.

Larry McMurtry in his introduction to the 50th anniversary edition of the book called it, 'An American masterpiece. Up there with Twain and Hemingway'

Who am I to argue with that?

An excellent tall tale......

Sounds of the Old West

It was actually my first book published - back in 2009 I took the step from amatuer to professional writer when Robert Hale published my novel,  Tarnished Star as part of their Black Horse Westerns series. The hardcover did really well, remaining their fastes selling title, selling out its first print run on pre-orders alone. Fast forward to the 2018 and the book, now retitled LawMaster has been optioned for a film (although it seems stuck in development hell) and is now available as an audiobook read by the talented Marcus Litch. The reader does a great job in bringing the title to life.

All Sheriff Cole Masters wants is to raise a family with the woman he loves. But upholding the law in an era when gunfire speaks louder than words can be a risky business. Cole makes an arrest for the brutal murder of a saloon girl but the killer is the son of a wealthy rancher and it’s clear the old man will do anything to see his son set free. Soon the peace of the small town is shattered with deadly force and Cole finds himself a lawman on the run for murder. The rancher wants Masters dead and the two deadly gunmen on his tail are sure they can do it. Soon blood will run as Cole Masters attempts to reclaim his tarnished star.

About the author: Gary Dobbs is the man behind the Jack Martin pen-name and had a string of popular westerns to his name. He also writes on criminal and military history. His debut western, The Tarnished Star (now known as LawMaster) remains the fastest selling Black Horse Western ever. Adventure fiction, and particularly westerns, holds a special place in the author's heart, and he intends to be produce western fiction for as long as there are readers who want it.

The book can be found at Audible  - 
In fact if you sign up for a trial with Audible you can get the audiobook of LawMaster for free.

 iTunes also carry the book. -

• Available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.
• Category: Western
• Published: Jul 15, 2016
• Publisher: Piccadilly Publishing
• Seller: Smashwords
• Print Length: 157 Pages
• Language: English
• LawMaster by Jack Martin
• Requirements: To view this book, you must have an iOS device with iBooks 1.3.1 or later and iOS 4.3.3 or later, or a Mac with iBooks 1.0 or later and OS X 10.9 or later.
   
   
  And of course that powerhouse Amazon carry the title in both audiobook and eBook - you can even find the Tarnished Star hardcover on Amazon.
  
  
  I am of course immensely fond of this book - it started me on the writer's life of late nights at the keyboard, huge coffee consumption and perpetual poverty.
  
  
  Listen to a Sample of the audiobook below:
   
   
   
   
  
  
   
   

 

ON MY eReader with Ben Bridges AKA David Whitehead

This is the first in a regular section in which the Archive quizzes writers about the contents of their eReaders. First up we have David Whitehead -

David Whitehead is a prolific English writer and arguably (hey, there's no argument about it) one of the most influential British western writers of the past thirty years. Born in London in 1958, he sold his first book, THE SILVER TRAIL, in 1984. It marked not only the first appearance of his popular continuing character, freelance fighting man Carter O'Brien, but also the first time he used his best-known pseudonym, Ben Bridges. Since then David has written more than seventy books; westerns as Ben Bridges, Glenn Lockwood, Matt Logan, Doug Thorne, Carter West and ten under his own name. In addition to this he writes romantic fiction as Janet Whitehead and has co-authored nine thrillers with Hollywood screenwriter Steve Hayes. David's entire back-catalogue is now available on Kindle, where all of his westerns are now being reissued under the Ben Bridges byline. For more details about David's work, please go to www.benbridges.co.uk.


Of course David is no stranger to the digital format and he is one of the men responsible for the wonderful Piccadilly Publishing House, a digital publisher that has for several years been bringing new and classic adventure fiction into digital print. Find them HERE but be warned, take a few pennies because while you are there you will buy.


OK so - So Drum Roll please.
and it's over to David Whitehead:

Last night I finished reading WAR CLOUD’S BRIDE by Sundown McCabe, whose real name is Roger Norris-Green. I’ve always been a sucker for Australia’s Cleveland westerns and now that they’ve finally started appearing in digital form, I’ve started getting enthusiastic about them all over again.

WAR CLOUD’S BRIDE tells the story of a drifter named Steve Brand, who gets involved in a manhunt – or more accurately a woman-hunt – when rancher’s daughter Alison Carter is abducted by a Cheyenne war party. But there’s more to the story than just that, of course. Long-buried secrets come to light as the pursuit unfolds, and the plot climaxes with a thrilling river-chase and of course, the obligatory final reckoning with the bad guys.

Overall, this is a fast-moving western, and certainly among the best Cleveland westerns I’ve read in a while (my favourite still remains BELFREY JUAREZ by Clint McCall – check it out if you can find a copy). Characterisation is sketchy but adequate and the author builds a neat sense of location. I doubt the wisdom of naming one character Brand and another one the very similar Brandy, but that’s only a minor technical quibble. WAR CLOUD’S BRIDE is well worth reading and I’m glad to see more Sundown McCabe titles finding a new readership in digital print. 

Time to Ride West

This is one of those posts where I push my own books - Hey, I've been delivering a lot of original content on this blog for many years so from time to time you have to indulge me with a little self promotion. I specifically want to point readers towards my western novels that have been made available in eBook by the publishers -

First up is LawMaster (original title Tarnished Star) which was my first published novel and remains to this day Robert Hale's fastest selling western hardcover. I'm immensely proud of this book and the eBook edition from Piccadilly press is available now. Just do a search for LawMaster by Jack Martin and you'll find it saddled up and ready to go over at Amazon.

Picadilly Publishing also have the eBook version of Wild Bill Williams - and there is also an audiobook version available of this title from Audible -

Official records show that some 80,000 Welshmen made their home in the place now known as the Wild West, though the true figure is likely to have been much higher. This is the story of one of those men.

William Williams, otherwise known as Wild Bill Williams, was no stranger to trouble. It seemed to follow him like a shadow. But even as a survivor of the Little Big Horn, as he claimed, he'd never before had to face the kind of trouble he found in the town of Stanton. When the bullets start to fly and the blood begins to run, ....Wild Bill is never far behind.

If you do pick up any of these titles then please please leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads which helps get the books noticed.


The western genre is my first love and you can read all about the origin of my pen name, Jack Martin by clicking.HERE

Arkansas Smith: the name was legend. Once he had been a Texas Ranger, but now he was something else entirely. Some said he was an outlaw, a killer of men and fast draw. Others claimed he was a kind of special lawman, dispensing frontier justice across the West and bringing law to the lawless.
Arkansas Smith arrives in Red Rock looking for those who shot and left his friend for dead. He vows to leave no stone unturned in his quest to bring the gunmen to justice and, soon, those who go against him must face the legendary fast draw that helped tame the West.

Crowood Publishing which are these days the holders of the Black Horse imprint have two of my past Jack Martin titles available in the ebook format and these are Riding the Vengeance Trail and Arkansas Smith. Again both of these titles are priced quite low and will provide some great western adventure for your eReader - even if I do say so myself.

There was a time when Thomas Fury was happy. A young wife, a child on the way and a farm to tend had kept him busy, but he’d enjoyed the toil for he knew that he was building a future for himself and his family. That future, though, was shattered one afternoon when five riders, led by Luke Marlow, rode in. Soon gunshots rang out and Thomas Fury’s world fall apart. Now Fury rides the vengeance trail, driven on by a desire to deal out justice to those who have destroyed everything that mattered to him. Fury will not stop until every one of those five men lies dead in the ground, for then – and only then – will he reach the end of the Vengeance Trail.


 If you search any of these titles on Amazon you can request a sample so you can start reading the book before even parting with the small amount of cash required to buy the actual book. eBooks can be read on computers, tablets, eReaders and even smart phones via the free Kindle APP.

Come on - there's nothing to lose and you may get a few hours of solid reading pleasure

THE WESTERN 2017 ANNUAL ROUNDUP

When I first started The Tainted Archive, way back in 2009 it was to write about my love of the western genre and also to promote my first western novel, The Tarnished Star. Over the years the blog has changed and become something that encompasses all of pop culture. My writing's branched out also - as well as the westerns, which I still write, I've been publishing non-fiction historical work through Pen and Sword Books and next year will see the publication of my first crime fiction hardcover. However the Western is still foremost on my mind, it remains the genre which I love the best - earlier this year in fact saw the publication of my eighth novel for the Black Horse Western imprint with Massacre at Red Rock. And I intend to get to work on a new western novel early in 2018.

The western's been pronounced dead, interred, buried and burned more times that Donald Trump's upset the Twitterites. Strange then that a genre that's been on it's last legs for decades is still alive and kicking. The back end of 2017 saw Netflix launch a western mini-series in Godless that just may be the best TV oater since Lonesome Dove. Godless is an absolute triumph that rewards binge viewing; tightly written, brilliantly acted  and excellently executed. This is one show that western fans will not want to miss. There have also been more rumours from HBO that the long awaited Deadwood TV-Movie is finally off the ground and moving towards production, but we've had this news before so it's a case of waiting....and waiting...and waiting.......

There have been scores of low budget western movies this past year, most of them straight to DVD but some of them enjoying limited theatrical releases. OK, many of them have been forgettable but there have been some nuggets of pure gold in amongst the pyrite. On particular movie I would urge the reader to view is Tombstone Rashomon directed by Brit Alex Cox.

The movie was crowdfunded and shows not one but five differing versions of the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral, each from the perspective of the different lead players. It's an interesting movie that could have benefited from a larger budget, but even in its lower than low budget state it remains a fine viewing experience. Another low budget and more traditional western I would point fans towards is The Ballad of Lefty Brown, a straight forward revenge western that shows a real love for the genre.

With a much larger budget and a big name cast, Hostiles (which I've not seen yet since it doesn't get a UK release until Jan 2018) looks hugely promising - already it's gathered good reviews and the trailer promises an intelligent western movie.





The western's continued to put in a strong showing in the literary world - Robert Hale's Black Horse Western imprint, now owned by Crowood Press, continues to put out hardcover westerns on a monthly basis, most of these books also become available digitally and as large print paperbacks. And speaking of eBooks the excellent Piccadilly Publishing continue to release classic and original westerns. And of course over in the US there are several major publishers that continue to put out western novels. I must mention Craig Johnson's modern day oater, the Longmire series which, enjoys strong sales and is helping to bring mystery readers towards out beloved genre. In fact given all the classic westerns coming out in eBook, not to mention the stuff coming out from small and self publishers then there has never been an easier time to get your hands on a western fix.

The Western Writers of America 2017 Awards:

Historical Nonfiction
Winner: The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, The Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History by Paul Andrew Hutton (Crown)
Finalists: American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains by Dan Flores (University Press of Kansas); The Earth is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West by Peter Cozzens (Alfred A. Knopf)

Biography
Winner: Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary by Joe Jackson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Finalists: Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde by John Boessenecker (Thomas Dunne Books); Nobody Rich or Famous: A Family Memoir by Richard Shelton (University of Arizona Press)

Contemporary Nonfiction
Winner: New Deal Cowboy: Gene Autry and Public Diplomacy by Michael Duchemin (University of Oklahoma Press)
Finalists: The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and One of the Deadliest Days in American Firefighting by Fernanda Santos (Flatiron Books); Stories From Afield: Adventures with Wild Things in Wild Places by Bruce L. Smith (University of Nebraska Press)

Traditional Novel
Winner: The Mustanger and the Lady by Dusty Richards (Galway Press)
Finalists: The Contractor by James C. Work (Five Star Publishing); News of the World by Paulette Jiles (William Morrow)

Contemporary Novel
Winner: Off the Grid: A Joe Pickett Novel by C.J. Box (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Finalists: Jasper Spring by James T. Hughes (Dog Ear Publishing); Hidden Star by Corinne Joy Brown (FriesenPress)

Mass-Market Paperback Novel
Winner: Return to Red River by Johnny D. Boggs (Pinnacle)
Finalists: Widowmaker Jones by Brett Cogburn (Pinnacle); Frontier: Powder River by S.K. Salzer (Pinnacle)

Juvenile Nonfiction
Winner: The Wolves of Currumpaw by William Grill (Flying Eye Books)
Finalists: Entertaining Women: Actresses, Dancers, and Singers in the Old West by Chris Enss (TwoDot); Sissy Bear at the Fort by Holly Arnold Kinney (Fur Trade Press)

Juvenile Fiction
Winner: Trouble Returns: A Ruby & Maude Adventure by Nancy Oswald (Filter Press)
Finalists: The Green Colt: The Adventures of Wilder Good by S.J. Dahlstrom (Paul Dry Books); Saddle Up! by Donna Alice Patton and Emily Chase Smith (Chase Smith Press/Redwood Digital Publishing)

Storyteller (Illustrated Children’s Book)
Winner: Seasons of the Bear: A Yosemite Story by author Ginger Wadsworth and illustrator Daniel San Souci (Yosemite Conservancy)
Finalists: Voices of the Western Frontier by author Sherry Garland and illustrator Julie Dupré Buckner (Pelican); Big Buckaroo Goes to the Special Olympics by author Rachelle “Rocky” Gibbons and illustrator Jason Hutton (Tate Publishing)

Short Nonfiction
Winner: “‘Master of Ceremonies’: The World of Peter Biggs in Civil War-Era Los Angeles” by Kendra Field and Daniel Lynch (Western Historical Quarterly)
Finalists: “Cowboys & Millionaires: How Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders Bonded as Brothers Before Leaving to Fight in the Spanish-American War” by Mark Lee Gardner (True West Magazine); “Touching History: A Grandson’s Memories of Felix Marion Jones and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows” by Will Bagley (Utah Historical Quarterly)

Short Fiction
Winner: “Odell’s Bones” by Troy D. Smith (Cane Hollow Press)
Finalists: “Comanche Camp at Dawn” by Johnny D. Boggs (Giacobbe Fritz Fine Art/Nocona Burgess); “Umpire Colt” by Johnny D. Boggs (High Hill Press)

Poetry
Winner: “Ain’t A Hermit” by Floyd Beard (self-published, produced by Butch Hause)
Finalists: “Ballad of a Basque Sheepherder: Shaniko, Oregon” by Matt Schumacher (Redbat Books); “Diamonds” by Ann Sochat (TwoDot)

Song
Winner: “Halfway Down The Devil’s Road” by Jim Jones and Allan Chapman (East Mountain Music)
Finalists: “Tularosa Rose” by Doug Figgs and Les Buffham (Slash DC Music); “The Cattleman” by Jeff Posey (Buckskin Friend Music)

Drama Screenplay
Winner: Hell Or High Water by Taylor Sheridan (Film 44/OddLot Entertainment/Sidney Kimmel Entertainment/CBS Films)
Finalist: Desierto by Jonas Cuaron and Mateo Garcia (Esperanto Kino/ Itaca Films/CG Cinéma/STX Entertainment)

Documentary Script
Winner: The Drift: An American Cattle Drive by Geoff O’Gara (The Content Lab)

First Nonfiction Book
Winner: The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and One of the Deadliest Days in American Firefighting by Fernanda Santos (Flatiron Books)

First Novel
Winner: Jasper Spring by James T. Hughes (Dog Ear Publishing)

The western is even represented in new media, with several podcasts that western fans will find enoyable. So take a seat around the virtual campfire and check out Voices of the West . Another show which I enjoy is Westerns with Dad , in which father and son team, John and Scott Bernhard watch and talk about classic western movies. A recent episode that I very much enjoyed compared the John Wayne True Grit with the Cohen's remake. Another great podcast is Hellbent for Letterbox, which again focuses on western movies and is hosted by Paxton Holly and Michael May. There are also scores of podcasts that present Old Time Radio westerns but one I would urge you all to try is TimesPastWesterns - this particular podcasts cherry picks the best of old time radio for our western pleasures.


So this long dead genre seems to be very much alive and kicking, and no doubt the next classic western is just around the corner. So saddle up, there's plenty out there to enjoy.

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

In anticipation of the forthcoming re-make of the Magnificent Seven, the Tainted Archive rolls out reviews of the original movie, its sequels and the TV series.

"A pallid, pretentious and over-long reflection of the Japanese original.' New York Times

Given it's iconic status in the western moviescape, it may come as a surprise to hear that John Sturges' 1960 movie, The Magnificent Seven was largely a box office disappointment - during the year of its original release it placed well behind movies such as the Elvis Presley vehicle, G I Blues. But when the film was released in Europe it became a smash hit, being particularly popular in the UK and Germany.
Of course over the years the movie has gained its well deserved classic status, (in fact it remains the second most  played movie on American television) and watching the movie today it feel like what it is - a genuine screen classic which regularly features in top ten lists of the best western movies ever. Opening with Elmer Bernstein's rousing theme tune - a song that could be argued to be THE WESTERN THEME rather than just another western theme. It's a really exciting, rousing piece that once heard can never be forgotten. So iconic did it become that it was used in television adverts for Malboro Cigarettes and also for comedic effect in the James Bond movie, Moonraker.

The film starts proper with Calvera (Eli Wallach) and his bandit army riding into a small Mexican village and pushing the residents about. Eventually the residents decide to fight back but rather than buying guns and fighting themselves they hire Chris (Yul Brynner) to protect them. Soon six other gunmen join Brynner's team and we have the magnificent seven.

The film doesn't really put a foot wrong in the way it is structured - the first part of the film deals with the seven coming together. Next they arrive at the Mexican village and there are some great character moments here, but ironically it is Hortz Buckholz (the actor most forgotten by participants in pub quizzes when asked to name the seven actors) who shines the brightest. He has some great moments, not less his discovery of the women the villagers have hidden from the American gunmen. Steve McQueen also stands out as does James Coburn - between them these two give us the two coolest most laid back characters in the entire movie. The middle section of the film sees the seven training up the villagers and they initially drive off Calvera (Wallach) and his men but the film builds up the tension for the return of Calvera and the final climatic shoot-out.

The real star of the movie though is the lean script - the dialogue is particularly good with few words wasted and virtually every line carries the story forward in some way. Though of course the action scenes, particularly the gunfights are excellently blocked and acted out.

'The old man was right, only the farmers won. We lost.' Chris' (Brynner's) final line as he and McQueen
 ride off into the sunset.

A western then that truly is magnificent.