The Book Shelf

Dictionary of the American West, Winfred Blevins, 1993, Facts on File
Review by Ned Buntline
If you want to know what they really said, and what it meant, this is the place to look it up. You'll find something interesting, or funny, or both, on every page.





The Friends of Pancho Villa, James Carlos Blake, 1996, Berkley Publishing Group
Review by Ned Buntline
James Carlos Blake has written only two books. His first, The Pistoleer (see below), was well-received in the book world; the El Paso Herald-Post said that it "captures the music of the West within its pages". His second, The Friends of Pancho Villa, may be better.
Written from the point of view of Rudolfo Fierro, right hand man to Villa, it deals with the Mexican Revolution from the inside out, with all the power and sweep due its subject.
The book is not only very well written, but also provided this gringo with both a thrilling read and an education in the history of the Revolution. Did you know that there were two presidents of Mexico named Huerta, or that Francisco Villa was born with the less-than-intimidating name Doroteo Arrango? I thought not...
Sex, violence, and a good history lesson, all in a engrossing and believable package. What could be finer? Ned B. says check it out.

Lonesome Dove, James McMurtry, Simon & Schuster, 1985
Review by H.P. Tyner
Lonesome Dove is just about perfect. The book is special in its own way, though the rendition of Woodrow F. Call and Gus McRae by Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall in the film is damn near heartbreaking.
Any man who can read it and not cry once don't deserve to live in Texas.

The Professionals, based on the Frank O'Rourke book A Mule for the Marquesa.
Review by Henry Fardan
The Professionals is one of those Westerns that's loved by those who've seen it, but unseen by many people who'd love it. The movie is based, loosely, on the Frank O'Rourke book A Mule for the Marquesa. It's sadly out of print, but you can try to find a used copy on Amazon.

The Pistoleer, James Carlos Blake, Berkley Publishing Group
Review by Ned Buntline
Blake's earlier book; it looks at J.W. Hardin from the inside. If you like this, you'll love The Friends of Pancho Villa, and vice versa.






The Return of Little Big Man, Thomas Berger, 1999, Little Brown
Review by Henry Fardan
If you liked Little Big Man, and I did {even the movie}, you'll like this reprise.
He's got every event from the Little Big Horn to the OK Corral, with everyone who was anyone in the Old West making an appearance. Worth it just for the photo on the jacket of Buffalo Bill and his troupe of Indians on the Grand Canal in Venice. History the easy way.

The Shootist, Glendon Swarthout,
Review by Ned Buntline
This is what the end of the Old West was really like. A true gem. An old gunfighter comes to town to die, but some people aren't willing to wait that long. Their mistake. Read it before you see The Shootist, the movie.

The Film Shelf

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Reviewed works, listed alphabetically:
Alamo, The
Apache: Geronimo on the Warpath
Barbarosa
Bite the Bullet
Cahill: US Marshal
Cat Ballou
Duck, You Sucker (Fistful of Dynamite, A)
Earp, Wyatt
Fistful of Dollars, A
For a Few Dollars More
Frank and Jesse
Geronimo on the Warpath
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The
Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, The
Hang 'Em High
Have Gun Will Travel
High Plains Drifter
Lonesome Dove
Long Riders, The
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The
Missouri Breaks, The
Outlaw Josey Wales, The
Professionals, The
Quick and the Dead, The
Quigley Down Under
Red Sun
Sergeant Rutledge
Shootist, The
Silverado
Tombstone
True Grit
Unforgiven
Wild Bunch, The
Wyatt Earp

The Alamo, a John Wayne film, Batjac
Review by Henry Fardan<
It's John Wayne. It's the Alamo. Sure, it's hokey. Watch it anyway. Then go to San Antonio and see the real thing.

Apache: Geronimo on the Warpath, a Dan Dalton film, 1993, Simitar Entertainment
Review by Henry Fardan
Documentary on the greatest guerrilla fighter in history.

Barbarosa, a Fred Schepisi film, 1981, ITC Films
Review by Henry Fardan
You gotta love Willie Nelson, and I do.









Bite the Bullet, a Richard Brooks film, 1975, Columbia Pictures
Review by Henry Fardan
Gene Hackman. Candice Bergen. James Coburn. And still terrible. Everyone must have needed the money.





Cahill: U.S. Marshal, a Andrew McLaglen film
Review by Henry Fardan
Not one of John Wayne's more successful films, tarnished by a saccarine script and bad child co-stars {both consistent problems for Wayne}.




Cat Ballou, an Elliott Silverstein film, 1965, Columbia Tristar
Review by Henry Fardan
Jane Fonda, pre-Hanoi, in a delectable role. She hires Lee Marvin to protect her from Lee Marvin. The first Lee is a drunk {as is his horse, in one of the funniest scenes in Western movies}, the second is a gunslinger with a silver nose. No, really. You gotta see it to believe it. But Marvin got a justly-deserved Oscar for his role{s}.

Fistful of Dollars, a Sergio Leone film
Review by Henry Fardan
The first spaghetti Western. Eastwood became a leading man, Sergio Leone became a legendary director, and harmonicas made a comeback.





A Fistful of Dynamite, a Sergio Leone film, 1971, United Artists {Previously Duck, You Sucker}
Review by Henry Fardan
Another movie that you have to see to love; it's Sergio Leone at his finest. It teams a exiled Irish motorcycle-riding dynamiter {played by James Coburn} with a Mexican bandit with a dozen sons {played by Rod Steiger} against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution, staging a daring daylight robbery of a bank full of gold

For a Few Dollars More, a Sergio Leone film
Review by Henry Fardan
If you don't like this one, you don't like Westerns. Sure it's spaghetti. But fun. Eastwood glares with the best of them.





Frank and Jesse, a Robert Boris film, 1995, TriMark
Review by Henry Fardan
Made for television, but worth watching. It presents the bad boys from Missouri using contemporary 'victim' theology.





The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, a Sergio Leone film, 1967 (originally Buono, il brutto, il cattivo)
Review by Henry Fardan
Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach.
No more perfect type-casting in movie history. While it purports to be about the Civil War, it's really a Western in disguise. "A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery." Don't miss it when Wallach says "if you're going to talk, talk, if you're going to shoot, shoot..." Buy it here.

The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
Review by Henry Fardan
While The Long Riders is probably more brotherly, Cliff Robertson as Cole Younger is still one of the best. It's more about what happened as a result of the Civil War, but it shows what a bunch of Southern boys can do if they put their mind to it. They look and act more like the Old West in this version, too.
Buy it here.

Hang 'Em High
Review by Henry Fardan
Eastwood carries on the Man With No Name franchise.







Have Gun Will Travel, 1957 through 1962, CBS
Review by Henry Fardan
Have Gun Will Travel reads the card of a man... Richard Boone {who was a lot uglier in person than on the screen; my dad and I met him in his favorite bar in Hawaii in the 60s} as the avenging angel of the West. Good snappy dialog, great sneers by Boone, and always a dead bad guy by the end. Paladin did more to create the dressed-in-all-black craze than he's given credit for, as well.

High Plains Drifter, a Clint Eastwood film, Malpaso
Review by Henry Fardan
Eastwood was just warming up for the sweetheart he'd eventually play in The Unforgiven. But here he gets to have fun demolishing an entire town and the egos of everyone in it. Don't miss the part about the red paint.


Lonesome Dove
Film review by H.P. Tyner
Lonesome Dove is just about perfect. The book is special in its own way, but the rendition of Woodrow F. Call and Gus McRae by Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall in the film is damn near heartbreaking. Any man who can watch it and not cry once don't deserve to live in Texas.



The Long Riders, a Walter Hill film, 1980, United Artists
Review by Henry Fardan
The Carradines as the Younger brothers. The Keaches as the James brothers. The Quaids as the Miller brothers. The Guests as the Ford brothers. The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid all over again.
It don't get any better than this.
Buy it here.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, a John Ford film
Review by Henry Fardan
Jimmy Stewart. John Wayne. Lee Marvin. If it was ever better than this, I didn't see it. If you haven't seen it, you haven't seen a Western.<




The Missouri Breaks, an Arthur Penn film, 1976, United Artists
Review by Henry Fardan
The wackiest Western ever made as serious. Brando as a cross-dressing psychopath. Nicholson as a well-meaning rustler who falls in love. Harry Dean Stanton with a father problem. I can't tell if Penn was making fun of Westerns, or just couldn't control Brando {as if anyone could}. Think of this as Apocalypse Then. But don't get me wrong; I loved this film.

The Outlaw Josey Wales, a Clint Eastwood film, 1976
Review by Henry Fardan
A Missouri farmer joins a Confederate guerilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family. Another Western masquerading as a Civil War film. Eastwood in his glory. One of the funniest truly vicious movies you'll ever see. As good in the supporting characters as it gets.

The Professionals, a Richard Brooks film, 1966, Columbia Pictures
Review by Henry Fardan
The Professionals is one of those Westerns that's loved by those who've seen it, but unseen by many people who'd love it. It stars Lee Marvin {in one of his best roles, not coincidentally as a character named Henry 'Rico' Fardan}, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode {in an unsung performance; he didn't even get his name on the poster}, Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy, and Claudia Cardinale, along with a great supporting cast.
Suffice it to say that it takes place along the Mexican border during the Mexican Revolution, and there's enough gunplay, sex, and general hoorah in it to satisfy any Western film buff. Besides, where else besides The Wild Bunch are you going to see a great Western film where they use a machine gun? It's often available in bargain bins in the oddest places. Buy every copy when you find it; give them to your friends. The movie is based, loosely, on the Frank O'Rourke book A Mule for the Marquesa. It's sadly out of print, but you can try to find a copy.<

The Quick and the Dead, a Sam Raimi film, 1995, TriStar
Review by Henry Fardan
Gene Hackman, while as good as ever, must have needed the money. Sharon Stone needed something, I'm not sure what. A good film when you need a laugh. As for Leonardo DiCaprio, unfortunately he didn't stay dead...



Quigley Down Under, a Simon Wincer film, 1990, Pathe
Review by Henry Fardan
Those who love big-bore guns and long-range shooting will love this film. Those who like Tom Selleck will like this film. I like both. I like Australia, too. I liked the hell out of this film.



Red Sun, a Terence Young film, 1993, UAV
Review by Henry Fardan
Toshiro Mifune. Charles Bronson. Ursula Andress. Swords and guns in the Old West. What more can you say? Mifune buffs will love it. I sure did.





Sergeant Rutledge, a John Ford film, 1960, Warner Bros.
Review by Henry Fardan
John Ford was ahead of his time in the treatment of both subject matter {accusations of rape} and the historic role of blacks in the military. But the magnificent Woody Strode in the title role {along with his unsung work in The Professionals and other Westerns} makes this film a must-see.


The Shootist, a Don Siegel film
Review by Henry Fardn
Sabotaged by the decision to use Opie as his costar, Wayne allowed some of the brilliant possibilities of the book to slip away. [Read the book first.] Playing an old gunfighter dying of cancer, as he was himself, it's still a magnificent swansong to his career. Any regrets at what-might-have-been aside, if you like Wayne {and I surely do}, you have to see him here.

Silverado, a Lawrence Kasdan film, 1985, Warner Bros.
Review by Henry Fardan
A great homage to the Western film. Where else will you find Danny Glover and John Cleese {in a hilarious role as the town sheriff} in the same film?




Tombstone, a George Cosmatos film, 1993, Hollywood Pictures
Review by Henry Fardan
Tombstone is one of two recent versions {the other is Wyatt Earp, reviewed elsewhere} of what may or may not have happened at the OK Corral. This one has Kurt Russell as Earp and Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday. Russell doesn't know how to do low-key, and they keep asking him to. Kilmer is brilliant as Holliday {even though I liked Quaid's rendition better}. See them both.

True Grit, directed by Henry Hathaway, 1969, Paramount
Review by Henry Fardan
John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn. If you can stand the wretched child they got to play alongside him, you'll love this film.< It may be one of Wayne's best ever. (And the uncredited film debut of Wilfred Brimley, also a good thing.)


The Unforgiven, a Clint Eastwood film, 1992, Malpaso
Review by Henry Fardan
Clint Eastwood. Gene Hackman. Morgan Freeman. Tough. Mean. The last word on the hard men of the Old West.





The Wild Bunch, a Sam Peckinpah film, 1969, Warner Bros.
Review by Henry Fardan
Peckinpah reinvents the Western. Sure, it's 1913. It's still the Old West in the minds of these guys. So what if they're using 1911s and Thompsons. A bank robbery on horseback is a Western, dammit. Be sure to look for the Old Man in the Mexican village.

Wyatt Earp, a Lawrence Kasdan film, 1994, Warner Bros.
Review by Henry Fardan
Wyatt Earp is one of two recent versions {the other is Tombstone, reviewed elsewhere} of what may or may not have happened at the OK Corral. Costner tries to play it emotional, and he doesn't know how. But Dennis Quaid is truly marvelous as Holliday. Don't miss it when he tells the fair ladies of Tombstone to "kiss my Rebel dick".