10 westerns you must watch ONE

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Directed Sergio Leone
US/ITALY 1966

During the Civil War, Angel Eyes (LEE VAN CLEEF) learns of a shipment of Confederate Army gold that has vanished and sets about locating it. The one man who can identify the gold's whereabouts is a cavalryman named Bill Carson.

Meanwhile a bounty hunter named Blondy (Eastwood) has teamed up with small time bandit Tuco (ELI WALLACH) in a bounty scan. Eastwood's character hands Wallach into the authorities, collects the bounty and then rescues the bandit at the last moment. They then travel from town to town carrying out the same lucrative scam.

However Blondy double crosses Tuco and then Tuco double crosses Blondy and eventually the pair come across a dying Bill Carson who tells Blondy about the gold. Now at this point Blondy is close to death after being forced by Tuco to walk across the desert and now the two must once again become partners to find the gold, but it's pretty obvious that each would double cross the other at the first chance. Van Cleef's character is here brought into the mix and the film ends with one of the most famous shoot outs in celluloid history.

Although there are many who claim Once Upon a Time in the West was Leon's best work, I would go against that and state that this is in fact Leone's best movie bar none. The movie, made by a brilliant director at the height of his powers and starring a superstar in the making, does not waste a single frame. There are many fine moments but for the sheer poetic nature of it the scene where Eastwood and Tuco look down on a Civil War battle takes some beating.

One of the most astonishing things is the way the director changes the tempo throughout - long, near silent scenes are followed by brutal fast paced action and the film never loses its momentum for a single second. Eastwood has never been involved in a better film and even if the star disputed that fact, which he probably would, he would be wrong. This is without a doubt his finest moment - although there were many fine moments to come.

Tonino Delli Colli's camera work is absolutely pitch perfect and the landscapes are breathtaking. And all of the actors, especially the three leads, put in perfect performances. Van Cleef has never been more satanic and Wallach here gives the performance of a lifetime.

In short an excellent movie and, to my mind, the best of both Eastwood and Leone. Both would be involved with bigger and maybe more finacially successful projects but this film is a true work of art rendered in the medium of film.

There are two kinds of people in this world, those who love The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and those that should watch it again.

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WILD WEST MONDAY - A MONTH AWAY

YEP - The next Wild West Monday initiative takes place of the 2nd March - the western genre is popular worldwide and continues to thrill readers across the board and yet most bookshops don't have a western section. So the plan is on 2nd March everyone goes into their bookshop, library or even online and enquires about their western range. If enough of us do this in enough different places then it's bound to register somewhere.

AND NOW ON THE TAINTED ARCHIVE - You can look forward to a month of western based posts, giveaways, guest bloggers and interviews.

The Archive also plans to feature, in no particular order, the ten western movies you must watch and novels you must read to experience the best of the genre. But these lists are personal to me and it would be nice to hear what readers think.

Keep reading.

APPALOOSA

APPALOOSA
Starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen and Rene Zellweger
(15)


I'd been so looking forward to the DVD release of this western starring and directed by Ed Harris. It only got a blink and you'll miss it cinema release and so I was first in the shop this morning for the film's UK release.

To be honest I was slightly disappointed - the period detail is superb and there' s some great acting and of course the Robert Parker source novel is brilliant. But the film fails to gell and the shoot outs, although realistic, just don't have any suspense to them.

It's an okay movie and I'll probably watch it again sometime, if only for Tim Spall's nutty American accent but it's got the feel of a telemovie to it.

The E.I.V DVD release is only average with several special features but these are slim making of pieces that don't add that much to the overall value. The commentary is far better and after listening one gets the feeling that this could have been an awesome movie if the budget had been bigger.

It's a pretty much run of the mill western.

Urban Darkness - Megan Abbott talks with the Tainted Archive

Dame of darkness, mistress of mayhem - you'll have to forgive me as I could go on all day. It's my tabloid sensibilities but both titles fit Detroit born writer, Megan Abbott like a glove.

She was awarded with an Edgar in 2008 for her novel, Queenpin. Her 2005 book, Die a Little (which is currently wowing us over here in the UK) is due to be turned into a major Hollywood film with Jessica Biel in the starring role.

Each of her books are packaged in stunning pulp-style paintings that are as enticing as the prose within. I wondered if Megan has any input into these covers?"

"Luckily, my wonderful editor Denise Roy found Richie Fahey, the artist who’s done all four of my covers. It’s been revelatory for me. I feel like he not only captures the world of the books as they play out in my head, but his covers actually heighten that world, give it new elements. Whatever mental picture I had of the characters gets replaced the minute I see the covers. His vision takes over. It’s a thrill.



Die a Little (currently the only title published in the UK) is wonderfully plotted - the story is on slow burn, serving up enticing little snippets that lead the reader to the twisty, jaw dropping conclusion. The plot is so detailed that I wonder how much plotting Megan did before taking pen to paper or fingers to keyboard?

"Thanks so much, because plotting is definitely the part that comes the hardest for me. I tend to think more in terms of a character arc than a plot. Die a Little was pretty inchoate in its early drafts for just that reason. I had to literally carve a plot out of it. I learned a lot from that experience. But I still lean towards a really classic temptation-sin-punishment arc, which probably says a lot about me. And I still can’t outline. I was talking with Reed Farrel Coleman about that recently—how we resist constructing outlines because we know ourselves and know we would become slaves to the outline. Lots of writers can just use it as a guidepost, but I couldn’t. I’d stop seeing other possibilities. So I try to give myself just enough of a plan to allow me some freedom and room for those moments you hope for, where you surprise yourself."



You mention character ark in your answer but one would imagine with hardboiled/noir literature, where double crosses abound and all is not what it seems that plot is everything. Do the characters come from the plot or does the plot come from the characters?


"I’m a character junkie, to a fault. When I read, I really fall for characters and will follow them anywhere, not even caring where the story goes. That said, storytelling is a true art, and one I admire. I know people who are just born to it, like Hard Case Crime’s Charles Ardai. He’s not an either/or guy. He writes beautiful characters, like his John Blake (Songs of Innocence), whom you just fall for. But you sit down with him, and for any character, he can give you five premises, for any premise, he can sit there and literally map out the book for you, globe-trotting, heists, double-crosses and heartbreak. It’s remarkable. "



Die a Little has a great sense of time and place - it's got that 1950's vibe? Is period important to the story? Could Die a little be set in modern times as indeed it is mooted the film version will be?



"I think Die a Little could be told now—and I know that’s the plan for the possible film adaptation—but it’s hard for me to picture it, since to me it’s so 1950s-specific. That sense of restriction, of containing desire. Of our retrospective and possibly misguided sense that the ’50s was this time of black and white, of this perfect, plastic surface and this roiling chaos beneath it. The story hinges on Lora, the protagonist, peeling back her sedate, repressed world and being shocked, and tantalized, at what she finds. It’s hard to imagine that happening now. So little is hidden."



Tell us a little about your new novel Bury me Deep due for a July US publication.



"It’s loosely based on a famous real-life 1930s tabloid case known as the Winnie Ruth Judd Trunk Murders. This lovely young woman is left by her husband in Phoenix, Arizona at the height of the Great Depression. Very naïve, very lonely, she falls in with these two pretty wild party girls in town. There’s a man involved, a charmer and one of the town’s big players. And things quickly turn very, very dark. I wanted to mix what might be kind of a classic Edith Wharton-style dilemma—a lonely woman slipping from propriety to decadence—with a pulp plot and style. Sort of knock those two sensibilities together and what happened."


So who influences the writing of Megan Abbot?

"The big boys, especially Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain. Always and forever James Ellroy. Lately, I’ve been reading Daniel Woodrell’s novels nonstop. Movies are an abiding influence too—for Bury Me Deep, it was all those wild little pre-Code movies from the early 1930s, like Three on a Match and Baby Face—they’re like a window into the dirty 30s. There’s a frankness, an honesty, humor and also a real darkness. "

It will be no surprise for Megan to list films as a major influence. She is well known as something of a film buff and recently talked noir on the excellent OUT OF THE PAST PODCAST. So for fun I put it to Megan that she's stranded on a desert island and can have three films which she can watch over and over again. What would they be?



"Oh, boy, that’s tough, but I’m going with my first reaction: Scorsese’s Mean Streets, Robert Altman’s California Split and Howard Hawks’s Bringing Up Baby. Gee, that’d be a weird mix. But you’ve got gangsters, sin, gamblers, guilt, losers and a tamed leopard. What more could you want?"


Finally Megan contributes from time to time to the Rap Sheet Blog. Will we ever see a solo Megan Blog?


"No. It’s too much work! I am amazed at how you folks do it. It takes me a half-day to write on those posts. I’m not a natural at it, but I envy those who are. "


Megan's web site

CLINT EASTWOOD WINS AWARD AND ARCHIVE STATS

Full story HERE

CLINT EASTWOOD has been named a modern master for his accomplished film career throughout the years. The actor/director was presented with the Modern Master Award by actor Sean Penn at the Santa Barbara Film Festival on Thursday (29Jan09).
Penn - who won an Oscar for his role in Eastwood's 2003 movie Mystic River - lavished praise on the filmmaker at the ceremony by declaring that working with him was one of the highlights of his career.
Penn told the crowd, "He is the director actors dream about. His career is one of continuing jazz."
Eastwood thanked Penn for the statuette recognising his decades of work - the film festival's highest honour - but assured the audience he had no plans to quit moviemaking.
He said, "There's a ton of people I haven't worked with. That's a fun thing about making movies. There's a lot of people, there's a lot of new parts that come along you need faces for.


Clint is the Archive's all time favourite person so good on him.


CHECK BACK LATER FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH THE DAME OF DARKNESS, MEGAN ABBOTT.


Weekly stats for THE TAINTED ARCHIVE:

Weekly Stats Report: 26 Jan - 1 Feb 2009
Project: THE TAINTED ARCHIVE
URL: http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total	Avg
Pageloads	170	135	118	155	171	183	203	1,135	162
Unique Visitors	110	100	77	87	102	108	134	718	103
First Time Visitors	67	69	51	60	69	68	90	474	68
Returning Visitors	43	31	26	27	33	40	44	244	35

MORE Essential western reading

The latest issue of Black Horse Extra is now online.

This is a huge online magazine that is presided over by Keith (Chap O'Keefe) but written by various Black Horse scribes.

The magazine is well produced and so varied that it wouldn't be out of place in the newsagents for a hefty cover price.

News, articles and so much more - as well as a rundown on the latest Black Horse titles.

Well what you waiting for - go here




New Black Horse westerns (List from the latest Black Horse Extra)

NEW BLACK HORSE WESTERN NOVELS Published by Robert Hale Ltd, London The Shadow Riders Owen G. Irons 0 7090 8613 0 Sharpshooters in the Hills Ron Watkins 0 7090 8692 5 Blast to Oblivion Chap O'Keefe 0 7090 8700 7 Lanigan and the Silent Mourner Ronald Martin Wade 0 7090 8703 8 Long Road to Revenge Eugene Clifton 0 7090 8704 5 Too Many Sundowns Jake Douglas 0 7090 8706 9 Die This Day Dempsey Clay 0 7090 8705 2 The Guns of Caleb Jones Alan C. Porter 0 7090 8707 6 Left-Hand Gun Walt Masterson 0 7090 8718 2 Guns of Virtue Peter Wilson 0 7090 8721 2 Anderson's War Jackson Davis 0 7090 8722 9 Daughter of Evil H. H. Cody 0 7090 8723 6 War Smoke Michael D. George 0 7090 8725 0 Comanche Country Greg Mitchell 0 7090 8729 8 The Bullion Trail Ed Hapgood 0 7090 8734 2 McGuire Manhunter Scott Connor 0 7090 8735 9 On the Great Plains Logan Winters 0 7090 8736 6 Rawhide Ransom Tyler Hatch 0 7090 8743 4 Reprinting: A Gunfight Too Many Chap O'Keefe 0 7090 8456 3

Essential western reading

I'm directing everyone over to Ray's Broken Trails


where you'll find an article called The Western: An Overview. Here Ray's combines his vast knowledge of the genre with his skill has a writer to produce a wonderfully easy to read and informative piece on the state of the genre.

Essential reading for genre fans and those curious about the genre.