Buffalo Bill in the flesh and Custer's last stand

The video embedded below,which was filmed by the Edison Company in 1894 features some incredible footage of actual Old West icons including Buffalo Bill. And below that we have the complete Battlefield Detective documentary looking at Custer's Last Stand.

Black Horse Western charts

 Charts supplied by Black Horse Express

 

Bestselling BHWs on Amazon.co.uk - 1 October

1. Wild Bill Williams (Black Horse Western) by Jack Martin (31 Oct 2012)

Hardcover £12.38

2. The Black Horse Westerns by Abe Dancer, Dean Edwards, Tyler Hatch and Scott Connor (1 Jan 2011)

Available for download now £6.86

3. Crazy Man Cade (Black Horse Western) by Amos Carr (31 Oct 2012)

Available for pre-order £12.38

4. The Ballad of Delta Rose (Black Horse Western) by Jack Martin (29 Jul 2011)

Hardcover  £9.13

5. High Gun at Surlock by Terrell Bowers (29 Feb 2012)

Available for download now £2.74

6. Raven's Feud (Black Horse Western) by Corba Sunman (31 Jul 2012)

Available for download now £2.74

7. Drive to Redemption (Black Horse Western) by Mike Deane (31 May 2011)

Hardcover  £9.13

8. Blood Gold (Black Horse Western) by Scott Connor (31 Jul 2012)

Available for download now £2.74

9. Hour of the Black Wolf (Black Horse Western) by Mark P. Lynch (31 Jul 2012)

Hardcover  £12.38

10. All Guns Blazing by Doug Thorne (30 Dec 2011)

Available for download now £3.43

Countdown to Skyfall: The Best Bond movies

Issue 381 of the world's longest running Sci-Fi magazine, Starburst (on sale now) is a James Bond special. There are some great Bond related articles, including a look at Skyfall within the magazine,but the part I found especially interesting, not to mention surprising was the reader's poll to find the best of the Bond movies.

The magazine compiled a reader's chart of all of the Bond movies upto Quantum of Solace and it was a shock to find Live and Let Die in the top spot - whilst I wouldn't agree that this is the all time best Bond movie I do take solace from the top spot being held by a Moore picture. On Her Majesty's Secret Service came in at number 2 with Casino Royale (Craig's version) at number 3.

It was also surprising to see Connery's highest placing at No 4 with Goldfinger, whilst Goldeneye, which in my opinion is a better bond than Craig's Casino Royale was No 5.

At 6 was From Russia with Love and The Spy Who Loved me was no 7. The rest of the top ten was made up with Living Daylights at 8, You Only Live Twice at 9 and Licence to Kill coming in at 10. I won't list the rest of the charts, you'll have to buy the mag to find out the placing of all of the others but I will tell you that Die Another Day held the bottom spot.

It's an interesting poll and shows that Moore's Bond is held in far higher regard than most people realise. It is also cool to see On Her Majesty's Secret Service so high in the poll as many Bond fans have long considered this one to be vastly underrated.

The poll is bound to split opinion and so just for fun,here are what I consider to be the 10 best Bond movies.

1-Goldfinger
2-For Your Eyes Only
3- From Russia with Love
4- On Her Majesty's Secret Service
5-Goldeneye
6-The Living Daylights
7-The Spy who Loved Me
8-Live and Let Die
9-Licence to Kill
10-You Only Live Twice.

And for the worse Bond film of all time I would definitely vote for Quantum of Solace.

Jack's Back

Several of my westerns are now available as Low Price eBooks.

Arkansas Smith
Savage Slaughter
Arkansas Smith II
A Man called Masters

Visit my Jack Martin page and Amazon US and UK

And this month will see the hardcover publication by Robert Hale Ltd's Black Horse Western imprint of my latest western, Wild Bill Williams.

Franchise Fallout - The Lonesome Dove saga part 3

Before I talk about the original Lonesome Dove TV mini-series I would just like to say that this is as about perfect a western as you can get. All of the sequels and prequels, as good as they were, can not hold a candle to this absolute classic of the genre. In fact many people claim this to be the best western ever made.

Lonesome Dove is where we were first introduced to the one time Texas Rangers Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrea (Call and Gus) played respectively by Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall. The two men are firmly in their twilight years and where Gus is content to laze away his days, Cal hungers for the adventures the two men once shared. When Jake Spoon rides back into Lonesome Dove with stories of the riches to be made in Montana, Call decides to start off on an epic cattle drive to Montana - "Oh about twenty five hundred miles that way!"

Er Kenny Rogers(?) and Gus

The entire thing runs for 6 hours and so it gets to offer a story as big as the west itself - but it is for the characters that the show is so loved by so many people, myself included. There's something deeply involving in the friendship between Gus and Call, and both actors play their parts to perfection. Duvall gets the best screen time but then Gus is a  good natured, fun loving character and he seems to have much more heart than his partner, Call. Duvall is so good here that you can honestly say he has never played a better role- and this is an actor with several iconic movie roles behind him, but still he has never been better than he is here.

Tommy Lee Jones offers the prefect opposite as Call, but even although the character seems emotionless the actor does a great job in conveying the inner man beneath the necessarily hard surface with by playing the subtext in his eyes. It's another stunning performance and together Gus and Call may just be the best buddy/buddy combination we've ever seen on screen anywhere.

It had originally started off as a project for James Stewart, John Wayne and Henry Fonda before being adapted into the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by author Larry McMurtry, and in the mini-series Robert Ulrich plays the third lead, Jake Spoon who would have been played by Henry Fonda had the movie been made. And although it is an enticing thought to imagine the film with Wayne, Stewart and Fonda  it is perhaps the best thing that it never got made. No two hour movie could have truly done such a large story justice and the mini-series format was much more suitable. Ulrich though is perfect as Jake Spoon, a character who seems to be just as lazy as Gus, but far more spiteful and cowardly, nevertheless when he comes to his end,  friendships are sorely tested. Danny Glover is another important case member as the one time slave, Deets and Rick Schroeder plays Newt Dobbs, a 17-year-old whose mother was a prostitute named Maggie and whose father may be Call.

Original US broadcast attracted an estimated 26,000,000 homes, unusually high numbers for a Western at that time. The western genre was considered dead by most people, as was the miniseries. By the show's end, it had earned huge ratings and virtually revamped the entire 1989–1990 television season. A favorite with audiences, as well as critics, Lonesome Dove garnered many honors and awards. At the 1989 Emmy Awards, the miniseries had 18 nominations and seven wins, including one for director Simon Wincer. Another miniseries of significantly lower TV ratings and less critical acclaim, War and Remembrance, won the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries. Yet, Lonesome Dove found success later, when it won two Golden Globes, for Best Miniseries and Best Actor in a Miniseries (Robert Duvall).

We lost several characters during the epic story which is as much about death as it is life, but no matter how solemn things become there is a genuinely moving feeling of hope running through what is  basically a very dark story. Author Larry McMurtry has told interviewers that he is puzzled by the way so many people identified with what is anything but a feel good story. None of the characters truly get what they want out of life and theirs is a cruel and hard existence.

 Funny at times, brutal at others but never less than compelling. Lonesome Dove is a close on perfect adaptation of a perfect western novel. And needs to be seen by everyone and not just western fans.

Kindle Paperwhite: A massive success

Reviews of the new Kindle Paperwhite model have been uniformly positive - the increased contrast and screen lighting is a massive hit with gadget lovers - with many claiming it is the best eReader you can buy and improves dramatically on the already superb Kindle. The Paperwhite is smaller, thinner (6.7″ x 4.6″ x .36″ versus 6.8″ x 4.7″ x .40″) and black where the Touch is slate gray.

Tainted Stats

Weekly Stats Report: 24 Sep - 30 Sep 2012
Project: THE TAINTED ARCHIVE
URL: http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/

Summary

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total	Avg
Pageloads	746	753	641	526	698	518	536	4,418	631
Unique Visits	553	554	482	431	454	416	421	3,311	473
First Time Visits	520	522	445	411	424	389	399	3,110	444
Returning Visits	33	32	37	20	30	27	22	201	29