Why do I write western romances? Even more telling—why do I read western romances? There are many reasons, but the most compelling one is simple. I do it for the cowboys.

Those rugged, hard-working men, so capable, so honorable, so devoted to the women who capture their hearts. I can see the silhouette of a man on horseback, sitting straight in the saddle, and my heart starts fluttering before I even see his face. Crazy, huh? But the image stirs the romantic in me like nothing else. After all, if you’re going to ride off into the sunset with a hunky hero, he needs to have a horse.

It probably started back in my early teen years. I’d outgrown Saturday morning cartoons, so I turned instead to the Saturday westerns. It was the 80′s, the decade that introduced MTV and video games. Westerns were the last thing on anyone’s mind. Well, except for me. I found channels that aired re-runs of wonderful shows like Bonanza, Wagon Train, and The Big Valley. I couldn’t get enough. I started daydreaming my own episodes, writing myself into the script so that I could win the heart of the cowboys I fancied. I had desperate crushes on Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts, at left) from Bonanza and Cooper Smith (Robert Fuller, at right) from Wagon Train. I guess I have a thing for dark-haired men in black hats.

That theme continued into the 90′s when the western made a slight comeback in the television world with shows like Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, The Young Riders, and The Magnificent Seven. I’ve been re-watching The Young Riders on Netflix with my 13 year-old daughter. We both agree that Josh Brolin makes a very dreamy Jimmy Hickok. Although I think the beautiful Palomino he rode played a role in the attraction, too. I haven’t introduced her to Eric Close in The Magnificent Seven yet, but he was another cowboy who made my heart pitter-patter.

Then we could talk about those cowboys from down under. Tom Selleck is now a western icon, but I first discovered him in chaps and hat in Quigley Down Under. I had never been that impressed with him when he was driving around Hawaii in a red sports car, but give him a western makeover and stick him atop a horse, and I couldn’t resist. A man that impresses me in any setting is Hugh Jackman. And he made me sigh mightily when he donned western garb for the movie Australia. Hugh proved to me that you’re never too old for a new cowboy crush.                  

And of course, with the release of Cowboys and Aliens, I would be remiss if I failed to mention my latest crush. Daniel Craig makes a fabulous James Bond, but there’s no comparing 007 to Jake Lonergan to my way of thinking. The cowboy’s gonna win every time.

So what about you?

Who are some of your cowboy crushes?

Well, I admit hubby is not a syfy aficionado, but he does like Westerns and he does love me, so last Friday —Cowboys and Aliens release day— he took me to see it after I worked at the horse rescue in the morning.

Being retired and cheap, we always go to a weekday matinee. Which we did, only to find the theatre amazingly crowded. At least it’s stadium seating, so I didn’t have to whine when folks sat in front of us. And enjoy the movie, we did, in addition to a giant bag of buttered popcorn despite our recent vows at weight-loss. Oh yes. Archetypes, stereotypes, fun plot. Not all that much gore. Nothing we didn’t expect to see. (Although, no spoilers here, a woman romance writer probably would have treated the ending a tad differently. But we knew what we’d find, knowing past works of many of the producers and director.)

About this same time, I read a newspaper article about the new DVD set, “A Big Box of Cowboys, Aliens, Robots and Death Rays” now available. I reckoned I ought to check out C and A’s predecessors. Apparently, most of the collection are B-grade grainy western films from the 1930’s, but they’re still worthy of hee-hawing about to die-hard Western fans.

Likely the most famous is Gene Autry’s 12-part serial The Phantom Empire. In 1935, this series was not only the first musical Western but also The Singing Cowboy’s initial starring role. He and his pals find themselves face to face with an evil scientist in an underground world called Murania, filled to the brim with robots, death rays and other sci-fi gew-gaws. The series is claimed to be a quarter-century ahead of its time.

(For those unwilling to sit through a dozen installments, the series was condensed into Radio Ranch.)

Tim McCoy, 1930’s “cowboy and serial hero” at Columbia pictures, went by such monikers as Lightnin’ Bill and Trigger Tim, and found a starring role in Ghost Patrol. The low-budget western had planes full of money and valuable bonds crashing without any apparent reason in an abandoned mining town full of outlaws. Cowboy-turned G-man Tim is called in to save the day. Disguised as a much-wanted outlaw, he must shoot his way out of trouble when his true identity is discovered.

Tombstone Canyon features true-life world champion rodeo performer Ken Maynard. Atop his wonder horse Tarzan, he tracks down a mysterious phantom killer in a B-western full of chills, solid camera work, and surprisingly good plot twists. (Or so it’s said. I haven’t watched any of these.)

Riders of the Whistling Skull is a paranormal Western with “The Three Mesquiteers” going on an archeological expedition to find a lost Indian city of gold called Lukachuke. Some say the B-classic is a precursor to Indiana Jones.  More a horror flick than adventure,  Vanishing Riders features cowpoke star Bill Body and his real life son. Father-and-son cowboys in the film, they dress up themselves and their horses as skeletons to drive outlaws out of ghost town Silver Springs.

Not part of this collection is 1969’s West German flick, The Valley of Gwangi,  set about 1880. Here a Mexican circus showman enlists cowboy James Franciscus to enter the Forbidden Valley and wrangle the giant T-Rex, Gwangi, for the show.

These all found like fun. *  Any of you out there know of any other supernatural tales involving our favorite kind of hero, the cowboy? *  Without spoiling things for anybody still wanting to see Cowboys and Aliens…if you have seen it, that did you think?

Five Star Review The Romance Studio

Four Star Web Exclusive Review, Romantic Times

Five Star Review The Romance Studio

Before we get into the world of villains, desperados and scoundrels, I’d like to say how happy I am to be rejoining the Fillies at Petticoat Junction!  Thank you for having me back.   As usual, life has a way of dictating to you, rather than the other way around – I find I’m destined (gratefully so) to write strong hunky western heroes set in small towns!  It’s where I belong and where I’m most comfortable.  

Now on to the VILLAIN:

When I picture a villain, the cliché image comes to mind – a moustache-twirling, evil-eyed man wearing a sinister smirk.  

Wikipedia describes a villain this way:

A villain (also known in film and literature as the “bad guy”, “black hat“, or “heavy”) is an “evil” character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters. A female villain is sometimes called a villainess (often to differentiate her from a male villain). Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines villain as “a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel; or a character in a, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.”

In this quote by film critic, Roger Ebert, we see how much importance he places on villainy. “Each film is only as good as its villain. Since the heroes and the gimmicks tend to repeat from film to film, only a great villain can transform a good try into a triumph.”

In westerns, often the villain is the greedy land baron, the corrupt sheriff or the wicked stepfather.  Villains give a good story, conflict.  They can be the diverse opposite of the hero.  A good villain makes the hero, “heroic.”  

 I’ve certainly written my share of villains, who were evil and sometimes, murderers.  I have written villainesses as well and by far, they are the most fun to write.  But sometimes, a villain isn’t all that evil. Sometimes, they are merely, selfish, uncouth and greedy.  Not nice traits, to be sure, but those characteristic are just bad enough to make a story truly entertaining.  I really believe the success of my last Harlequin Desire, Carrying the Rancher’s Heir, which spent two weeks on the USA Today Bestseller List and 3 weeks on the Borders Top Ten List had a great deal to do with the sworn enemy theme.  Yes, it was a sexy story with an intriguing hero and heroine, but there was a villain that just couldn’t be brought down and his true appeal, to me, was that he really believed he was protecting his daughter, Callie, (heroine) the way any father would.   On one level readers could relate to him.  He was believable in his dastardly ways.   

Thank you Hawk Sullivan!

Sometimes a villain isn’t so much a person, per se, but a reputation or occurrence the hero or heroine has to live down.  That’s the case in my newly released Kindle romance, Smooth-Talking the Hometown Girl.  Kyle Warren comes back to his hometown of Bentley, Arizona to settle his father’s estate.  While there, he learns some things about his “Pop” but even more things about himself.  Wealthy and successful now, Kyle fights to change one woman’s opinion of him and debunk her wary perception about him, even if he has to be slightly devious to do it. 

I’ll challenge you to guess which of these Great Villains of the Silver Screen, holds the #1 Spot. 

The Joker -  Batman

Darth Vader – The Empire Strikes Back

Norman Bates – Psycho

Hannibal Lecter – Silence of the Lambs

Wicked Witch of the West – The Wizard of Oz

Mr. Potter – It’s a Wonderful Life

Nurse Ratched – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Did you guess?  Hang on – I’ll tell you at the end of this blog…

According to AMC these are the Top Seven Western Villains… some might surprise you.

1. Walter Brennan  – My Darling Clementine
2.  John Wayne – Red River
3. Jack Palance – Shane
4. Eli Wallach – The Magnificent Seven
5. Lee Marvin- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
6. Lee Van Cleef – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
7. Richard Boone – Hombre  

My favorite villain(ess) from a movie is the character Kathy Bates played in Misery.  She scared the stuffing out of me.  My Western villain has to be, more recently, Russell Crowe, in 3:10 to Yuma.  So what famous villain from a novel or movie scares you the most? Who’s your favorite dastardly scoundrel and do you secretly love to hate them?  Did you guess right?  Post a comment and you’ll be entered into a RANDOM drawing for a $10 Amazon Gift Card.  

#1 Villain of the Silver Screen:

Hannibal Lecter

I have been waiting over a YEAR for this movie to come out!!! Seriously don’t remember when I’ve been so psyched for a movie to hit the big screen. And that was even before I knew Harrison Ford would be cast as Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde—*sigh* A western writer whose favorite movies are Independence Day, 3:10 to Yuma, and Wild, Wild West (with Will Smith), this movie is like all those wrapped into one!

Even cooler, I’d read the 2006 graphic novel this movie is based on.  My oldest son likes graphic novels (anything to get teens to read!) and it’s  likely no surprise a title like Cowboys & Aliens would appeal to me.  I really enjoy reading Sci-Fi and Steam Punk, makes me wish my creative brain went in that direction.  Just hearing the buzz that this graphic novel was being brought to the big screen after Comic-Con last year had me going all shrieking-fan-girl    There’s also an interesting story behind this novel’s progression to the big screen. Seems Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, chairman of Platinum Studios, the comic book company behind Men in Black and Witchblade, came up with the concept and trademarked the name Cowboys & Aliens back in 1997. He then took the name and a cover illustration to the movie studios to try and get them interested before a book had even been written. Universal Pictures and DreamWorks bought film rights based on his concept pitch! The original screen writer hired by the studio became sidelined with other projects and the movie never got off the ground. In 2004 Columbia Pictures acquired the film rights, but again, never made it through story development. Rosenberg rounded up his own writers, Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley, with penciler Luciano Lima, and published the graphic novel in 2006.  After the huge success of the novel’s release–thanks to an insane funding/promotional campaign by Rosenberg–Universal Pictures and DreamWorks re-acquired the rights and BA-DA-BOOM, I get my movie  

Makes it all sound so easy, huh? The previews look amazing!

Here’s a short synopsis of the movie: In 1873 Arizona, a loner named Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) awakens with no memory of his past and a mysterious shackle around his wrist. He enters the town of Absolution where he learns that he is a notorious criminal wanted by many people, including Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), who rules the town with an iron fist. Absolution soon faces an even greater threat when alien spaceships attack the town. While his shackle holds the key to defeating the aliens, Lonergan must ally with Dolarhyde and other former enemies to make a stand against them.

For those who haven’t seen a movie preview….enjoy

Twenty more days!!! Anyone else counting down?

The Outlaw Josey Wales is my favorite western movie classic, and certainly a favorite western read. A gritty western with touches of humor and a slight splash of romance, what I like most about this story is the detail to history and the stark portrayal of good and bad in EVERYONE. At the start Josey Wales is a peaceful Missouri farmer. He’s driven to revenge by the brutal murder of his wife and son by a band of pro-Union Jayhawkers — Senator James H. Lane’s Redlegs from Kansas.

Wales joins a group of pro-Confederate Missouri guerrillas/bushwhackers led by William T. Anderson. At the conclusion of the war, Captain Fletcher persuades the guerrillas to surrender, saying they have been granted amnesty. Josey Wales, still holding a grudge, refuses to surrender. As a result, he survives the massacre of the men by Captain Terrill’s Redlegs, who’ve now joined the Union Army. Wales intervenes and guns down several Redlegs with a Gatling gun.

Senator Lane puts up a $5,000 bounty on Wales. Wales begins a life on the run from Union militia and bounty hunters while still seeking vengeance and a chance for a new beginning in Texas. Along the way, he unwillingly accumulates a diverse group of traveling companions despite all indications that he would rather be left alone. His companions include a wily old Cherokee named Lone Watie, a young Navajo woman, and an elderly Yankee woman from Kansas and her granddaughter rescued from a band of Comancheros.

In the final showdown, Josey and his companions are cornered in a ranch house which is fortified to withstand Indian raids.

The film  was inspired by a 1972 novel by Forrest Carter, originally titled Gone to Texas and later retitled The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales.  I’m much more inclined to curl up with a book than turn on the tube–but as far as movies go, this is one that can hold me captive from the first scene to the last. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it! I watched it again last summer on the History Channel.

The script was worked on by Sonia Chernus and producer Bob Daley, and Eastwood himself paid some of the money to obtain the screen rights. Michael Cimino and Philip Kaufman later oversaw the writing of the script. Kaufman wanted the film to stay as close to the novel as possible and retained many of the mannerisms in Wales’s character which Eastwood would display on screen, such as his distinctive lingo with words like “reckon”, “hoss” (instead of “horse”) and “ye” (instead of “you”) and spitting tobacco juice on animals and victims. The characters of Wales, the Cherokee chief, Navajo squaw and the old settler woman and her daughter all appeared in the novel In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Here’s an original movie trailer:

I found a site with favorite quotes from the movie. Here’s a few of my favorite:

Josey Wales: Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is.

**

Laura Lee: Kansas was all golden and smelled like sunshine.
Josey Wales: Yeah, well, I always heard there were three kinds of suns in Kansas, sunshine, sunflowers, and sons-of-bitches.

**

Josey Wales: When I get to likin’ someone, they ain’t around long.
Lone Watie: I notice when you get to DISlikin’ someone they ain’t around for long neither.

**

Carpetbagger: Your young friend could use some help.
[holds up a bottle of patent medicine]  This is it… one dollar a bottle. It works wonders on wounds.
Josey Wales: Works wonders on just about everything, eh?
Carpetbagger: It can do most anything.
Josey Wales: [spits tobacco juice on the carpetbagger's coat] How is it with stains?

***

Josie Wales: You be Ten Bears?
Ten Bears: I am Ten Bears.
Josie Wales: I’m Josey Wales.
Ten Bears: I have heard. You are the grey rider. You would not make peace with the Bluecoats. You may go in peace.
Josie Wales: I reckon not. I got no place else to go.
Ten Bears: Then you will die.
Josie Wales: I came here to die with you. Or to live with you…I ain’t promising you nothing extra. I’m just giving you life and you’re giving me life. And I’m saying that men can live together without butchering one another.
Ten Bears: It’s sad that governments are chiefed by the double tongues. There is iron in your words of death for all Comanche to see, and so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron. It must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life… or death. It shall be life.

Eastwood has called The Outlaw Josey Wales an anti-war film. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said:

“As for Josey Wales, I saw the parallels to the modern day at that time. Everybody gets tired of it, but it never ends. A war is a horrible thing, but it’s also a unifier of countries. . . . Man becomes his most creative during war. Look at the amount of weaponry that was made in four short years of World War II—the amount of ships and guns and tanks and inventions and planes and P-38s and P-51s, and just the urgency and the camaraderie, and the unifying. But that’s kind of a sad statement on mankind, if that’s what it takes.”

 

Lonesome Dove, written by Larry McMurtry, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning western novel and the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series. Can you imagine the daunting task that native Texan and screenwriter Bill Wit tliff took on when he adapted Larry McMurtry’s novel to film? First, he needed to rein in the sprawling 843 page story while still retaining its majestic essence. Wittliff’s work was also made more difficult because, in the novel, McMurtry uses the narrator’s voice to reveal information about characters and to describe events. To provide the same information in the film, Wittliff needed to create dialogue and provide visual cues that did not exist in the novel.

A Southwestern Writers Collection is housed at Texas State and many of the original documents he used while creating this western classic can be viewed online at:

http://www.library.txstate.edu/swwc/ld/ldexhibit.html

The web exhibit features storyboards, costumes, including Gus’s boots, and even Gus’s dead wrapped body.

The epic four-part six-hour mini-series focuses on the relationship of retired Texas Rangers and their adventures driving a cattle herd from Texas to Montana. McMurtry originally developed the tale in 1972 for a feature film entitled The Streets of Laredo (a title later used for the sequel), which was to have starred John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and James Stewart. That didn’t happen, but thank goodness, McMurtry later resurrected the screenplay as a full-length novel. It deservingly became a bestseller and won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The mini-series won six Emmy Awards and was nominated for 13 others.

Casting for this epic was pure genius. Who better to portray these multi-faceted aging Texas Rangers who to this day represent the epitome of courage, loyalty and everything we think of when we think “American West?”

Robert Duvall is Captain Augustus McCrae, co-owner of the Hat Creek Cattle Company, and considers himself the brains of the outfit. Generous, humorous, and lazy to the point of eccentricity, he serves as a foil to the more serious, practical Call. When not working, which he does as little as possible, Gus pursues his three chief interests in life: women, alcohol and cards. He is well known in the territory for his loud voice, superior eyesight and accuracy with a revolver.

Tommy Lee Jones is Captain Woodrow F. Call, Gus’s partner in the company. Less verbose and chatty than McCrae, Call works long and hard and sees no reason why others should not do the same. A former Texas Ranger, he served with Gus when both were young men. Though Call has utter disdain for lazy men who drink, gamble and whore their lives away, he has his own secret shame, which he hides carefully from his comrade. Call’s ability to manage unmanageable horses is also well known.

Danny Glover plays a magnificent role as Joshua Deets, an ex-slave and former Ranger. When the story starts he’s a ranch hand at the company. On the drive, he serves as scout. A remarkable tracker and morally upright man, he is one of the few men whom Call respects and trusts.

Before he hit the NY streets as a cop, Rick Shroder played Newt Dobbs, young orphan raised by Gus and Call. His mother was a prostitute named Maggie Tilton, who died when he was a child. He knows his mother was a prostitute, and has no idea who his father might be. Most other observers, notably Gus and Clara Allen, are quite certain that Call is his father. Call eventually comes to this realization privately, but is never able to admit it explicitly.

Anjelica Houston is Clara Allen, a former love of Gus’s She declined his marriage proposals years ago, and now lives in Nebraska, married to a horse trader who is comatose, having been kicked in the head by a horse. They have two girls, though she is afflicted deeply by the death of her sons. Though separated from Gus by many miles and years, she still holds him fondly in her heart. In contrast, she has utter contempt for Call.

Diane Lane is the lovely young Lorena Wood, a kind-hearted young woman who was forced into prostitution by her lover, then abandoned in Lonesome Dove. Lorena is silent, strong willed, and intimidating, refusing to submit meekly to her various admirers. Discontent with her line of work, “Lorie” hopes to leave the dead town and find her way to San Francisco. Gus is her champion, and who could ask for a better one?

Secondary threads with characters of July and Almira Johnson and Blue Duck are intricately woven into the plot and throughout the journey of the cattle drive. You can’t help but be enamored by the characters and caught up in their adventures. Watching the story unfold brings laughter and tears every time. The music that accompanies the panoramic scenes does a beautiful job of enhancing the grandeur of the vast landscape and feel of the untamed west. I often listen to the original soundtrack, composed and conducted by Basil Poledouris. Lonesome Dove spawned the follow-up miniseries, Return to Lonesome Dove.

Trivia facts about Lonesome Dove:

* Robert Duvall, who has appeared in over 80 movies, told CBS that Augustus McCrae, the character he played in Lonesome Dove, was his all time favorite role. We can see why.

* The characters of July Johnson and Roscoe bear the same names as the sheriff and his sidekick who track James Stewart and Dean Martin in the movie Bandolero! (1968). Also, the sequence where Stewart and Martin discuss Montana resembles a similar scene in Lonesome Dove.

* The book, and the character Gus, is mentioned in country singer George Strait’s song “That’s My Kind Of Woman.”

So, fess up. How many times have you watched Lonesome Dove? Only last weekend it was the AMC Weekend Western – and I confess I watched parts again. Do you think it stands up to the test of time?

Have you watched Streets of Laredo or Deadman’s Walk which precede the story?

If you’re a western lover and you’ve never seen this movie, well, I’m just sad for you. But your situation is subject to change. Netflix night!

I write contemporary westerns for Harlequin Romance, but I think they always have a bit of a Canadian twist. It’s in our attitude, they way we view things, the things we say.  There are similarities to our neighbours to the south, but I love to celebrate the differences, too. And I love love love that Paul Gross took the bull by the horns and made the movie GUNLESS.

Paul Gross is the guy who was a Mountie in Due South and was well-known for the line, “Thank you kindly.” In Gunless he shows up north of the border in Barclay’s Bush as an outlaw, The Montana Kid, but he can’t find a single person to duel. If an outlaw can’t be an outlaw, what on earth is he supposed to do with himself, anyway?

The scenes are ripe with Canadian dry wit and practicality.  When the villain, played by Callum Keith Rennie, has the heroine, Jane in his sights, he says she’s not worth the bullet. “She most certainly is worth a bullet,” The Montana Kid argues, and an outraged Jane says, “HEY!”  When he asks where he’s ended up, a little Chinese girl states, “The Dominion of Canada.” “Oh,” he grumbles in his gravelly voice. “Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse.”

Dustin Milligan plays a shiny-faced Mountie at the local outpost, who happens to be sweet on Jane. Then there’s Graham Greene who plays the token Indian absolutely deadpan: “You gotta learn to tie up your horse, chief.”

But it’s not all one liners and Canadian politeness. There *is* a bounty hunter on his trail, and there is, of course, a shoot out at the end. And romance. Don’t forget romance! After all, a good outlaw needs to be reformed – and get the girl!

Cat Ballou,  Cat  Ballou

She’s mean and evil through and through!

How many Western movies can you name that feature a Greek chorus (a group of singers that comment on the story, as in the classic Greek plays)?  I can only think of two.  One is the recently released RANGO, with the little singing owls.  The other is the 1965 comedy classic, CAT BALLOU.

Like RANGO, CAT BALLOU is a spoof on Western themes.  The Oscar-nominated movie, which I just rented and watched, is just as fresh and funny today as it was 46 years ago.

Cat (Catherine) is played by a young, Barbie-esque Jane Fonda.  She delivers an entertaining performance, but it’s the supporting cast that carries the show.

Let’s start with our Greek chorus – comedian Stubby Kaye and the incomparable Nat King Cole.  You’ll be singing their Oscar-nominated ballad long after you’ve heard it – you’ll find a YouTube link at the end of this blog.

But on with the story.  Aspiring schoolmarm Catherine arrives in Wolf City, Wyoming to discover that the Wolf City Development Corporation is trying to take her father Frankie’s ranch.  Frankie is being threatened by hired killer, Tim Strawn, alias Silvernose (did anybody else catch the silver beak on the hawk in Rango?) .  When Catherine, her two likeable rustler buddies and an educated Indian named Jackson Two-Bears can’t stand up to Strawn, she sends for legendary gunfighter Kid Shelleen, played by Lee Marvin, who also plays Strawn.

This film is worth seeing for Lee Marvin’s Oscar-winning performance alone.  As Kid Shelleen he won not only the Oscar (for which he gave 50% credit to his horse) but the Golden Globe and pretty much every known acting award on the planet.  Shelleen arrives, a drunken bum whose pants fall down when he draws his gun.  From the moment he rolls out of the stage boot, this is Marvin’s movie.

Strawn succeeds in killing Frankie.  When the city fathers won’t punish him, Catherine becomes outlaw Cat Ballou and vows to “make Wolf City bleed.”  When her gang robs the train carrying the city payroll, that promise is fulfilled.  Moved by unrequited love for Cat, Shelleen cleans up his act (the scene is priceless), goes after Strawn and kills him.

Meanwhile, Cat has a showdown with the head of the Wolf City Development Corporation and ends up shooting him.  Arrested, she’s sentenced to hang, which leads up a rip-roaring final action scene.  If you haven’t seen CAT BALLOU, you’ve missed out.  If you have, it’s worth a second look for old times’ sake.

Here’s the link to the song.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xABVf_1pq5k

I have always loved westerns. As a kid, I can remember lying shoulder to shoulder on the TV room floor with my older brother as we watched Clint Eastwood shoot and snarl and glare his way through a host of spaghetti westerns. I thought he was the coolest thing on earth and couldn’t decide if I wanted to marry him, or grow up to be just like him. My mother suggested neither was a viable possibility, given the age gap and the fact that she would ground me forever if I even considered shooting my way through life. But those dire warnings did nothing to curb my love of the Old West.

My weekend viewing consisted reruns of Bonanza and The Big Valley. I then graduated to Little House on the Prairie. When they made a mini-series of Lonesome Dove, I was in heaven. Even the television series that followed staring Eric MacCormack and Scott Bairstow was must see TV for me, although it wasn’t really until they reformatted the program in the second year to “The Outlaw Years” that it really got interesting. I even watched Young Guns. If that doesn’t show my dedication to the genre, I don’t know what does.

Even now, my DVD shelf is riddled with westerns. Unforgiven, 3:10 to Yuma, Deadwood. The latest version of True Grit was probably one of my favourite movies of 2010 and I can’t wait to add that to the shelves.

My brother was no help with my addiction at all. If anything he was my number one enabler. With his Time Life Old West series and love of the great Indian chiefs, he became my go-to source for information and bedtime stories. And my brother, great storyteller that he is, had plenty of tales to tell. Sitting Bull, Custer’s Last Stand, all things Comanche. Even now, his Time-Life Old West series are my first stop for research. Thankfully big brother only lives a few streets over and is willing to lend the books out for an extended period with no late fee being charged.

I can’t say there is any one thing about the western genre that draws me, but rather a plethora of things. The way of life was gritty and harsh, the justice meted out with an immediacy that didn’t always allow for fairness or rebuttal, the landscape was harsh and uncompromising. But there was an honesty about it as well, a sense that they were building something new and important and were willing to risk what they needed to and work themselves to the bone to get it.

With all of that going for it, who wouldn’t want to write a story set in the Old West? When I started writing romance, it was even a question for me. It didn`t matter how many people told me westerns were a hard sell. I knew I loved reading them and surely I couldn`t be alone in that. Turned out I was right and THE OUTLAW BRIDE found a home at Carina Press. It seems only fitting that my dream of becoming a published author would be brought to fruition by a story set in a period that is near and dear to my heart – the Old West.

To say thanks to all of those who love the genre and keeping it alive, I`m giving a copy of my new release, THE OUTLAW BRIDE away. Just leave a comment to be entered into the drawing.

Novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter, Larry McMurtry (born 1936) is a man of staggering accomplishments.  His twenty-four published novels include The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment and his 945 page masterpiece, LONESOME DOVE. 

Chances are you’ve seen the TV mini-series based on the story.  Whether you have or not, the 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning book is a thrilling read, offering more depth than the excellent TV version.

A love story and an epic of the frontier, LONESOME DOVE has been called the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America.  It’s the story of two aging cowboys, former Texas Rangers, who organize a 2,500 mile horse drive from Mexico to Montana.  Stealing the herd from a gang of Mexican cattle rustlers, they battle horse thieves, angry Indian tribes and a renegade half breed killer named Blue Duck to reach their new land.

LONESOME DOVE  is a gritty, realistic read, filled with sweeping description and pulse-pounding action.  But what makes it most memorable is its vivid interweaving of characters.  Here are a few:

Gus McCrae, the central character, is lazy, wise and fiercely brave, a man who understands the secret pathways of a woman’s heart.  Robert Duvall’s portrayal of Gus in the TV version is unforgettable, probably his greatest role ever.

Captain Woodrow Call, Gus’s best friend, is a man whose self-imposed moral code is so lofty that he refuses to admit his own humanity or acknowledge his illegitimate son.  Wonderfully played by Tommy Lee Jones in the TV version.

Newt, Call’s teenaged illegitimate son who grows from boy to man.

Lorena, the beautiful, strangely innocent prostitute who joins the trek to find a new life.

Jake Spoon, ex-ranger and card sharp, Lorena’s ne’er-do-well lover.

Clara, Gus’s tough, womanly first love, now married to a rancher.

July Johnson, a good-hearted settler in search of his runaway wife and baby.

Deetz, former slave, soldier and master horseman.

Blue Duck, half-breed Comanche, and the meanest, ugliest, most evil villain to stalk the pages of a book.

LONESOME DOVE is not a story for the faint-hearted.  People die, most of them in gruesome, graphic ways.  But if you want to completely immerse yourself in a sweeping epic of the American West, I have three words for you.  Read this book.