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?

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

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.”