A Man Called Shenandoah

A Man Called Shenandoah
TV Series 1965-1966

Talk about underrated TV Westerns from the 60s!

A Man Called Shenandoah starred Robert Horton as a shot up, near dead survivor found on the prairie. Once healed, he realizes he has amnesia and is destined to roam the Western frontier to discover his past and who he was. The doctor who helped mend him gave him the name Shenandoah. (which means "land of silence")

Due to stiff competition from the other networks, (and the fact that there was an abundance of Western action shows on TV at the time) A Man Called Shenandoah lasted only 34 episode. But the well written and original scripts with Horton getting in many tight spots make this series a lost treasure. A big bonus is the notable performance by Robert Horton throughout the short-lived series. I remember it as a haunting and extraordinary portrayal. The past big name Western shows get most of the recognition now, but it is these quality little gems that appealed to me way back then. A Man Called Shenandoah needs to be released on DVD. I only have a couple of episodes. I'm on the hunt to get them all.

Robert Horton had a fine voice and sang the title song for the series. He also cut a LP and if you have it, you're in luck.

The Cage by Talmage Powell

The Cage by Talmage Powell
Avon G1346
Copyright 1969

Sykes touched his bleeding ribs. "That's good. Let him pay! Let the sun, the flies, and the buzzards have him, while me and you tear up a Mexican town with his five thousand dollars!"

Webb Cameron returns to his ranch after a tiring day of pole-setting and wire-stringing to find his wife brutally beaten, raped, and left mentally in a vegetable state. Showing no signs of improvement and unable to control his wife, Cameron builds a cage to keep her from harming herself. Vengeance is on his mind and the trail that is left by the culprits leads into the sun-scorched badlands. With no one to tend to his wife, Cameron locks her in the caged wagon and heads out after them. He believes that if she confronts those who ravished her, she will be will be cured and return back to normal. So his journey begins and along the way we meet a down-and-out prospector, an obscure couple what has a few skeletons in their closet, a band of half-starved renegade Indians, and the two mean bastards that Cameron is pursuing.

This is more than a revenge Western novel. There are some complex characters at play here and a shock or two awaits the reader during Cameron’s hunt for the abusers of his wife. Little subplots are in the novel. Lost honor and brutal survival are hopelessly demoralizing the not-so-merry band of Indians. The ranch couple goes along with Webb Cameron, not to help him, but mainly to restore a personal dignity that was lost. Whenever the story shifts to the villains, Sickly Sykes (who is white) and Columbus George, (who is black) it gets kicked up a notch. They are ruthless and savage boys lacking any sense of humanity, but they will arouse the attention of the reader. The main character Webb Cameron was the least appealing to me, but the others compensate plenty for him. Written in 1969, “The Cage” is a bit different from your traditional Western novel. I liked it – a good dusty story, merciless action, and an excellent ending. Not bad for a 127 page Western novel.

And written by the author that gave us those wonderful PI Ed River novels.

Mackenna's Gold by Will Henry

Mackenna's Gold by Will Henry
Copyright 1963

For comforting an old Apache during his last dying hours, prospector Glen Mackenna is bestowed with the secret location of the Lost Canyon of Gold. Called Sno-ta-hay by the Apache, the canyon is a sacred place where mass amounts of gold are protected by ancient spirits. After memorizing the map even though he believes this is just a fable, Mackenna is then captured by the ugly renegade half-breed Pelon Lopez and his band of outlaw Indians. Pelon wants Mackenna to lead them to Sno-ta-hay and to persuade him to do so he holds a white girl hostage. Well, the adventure begins and along the way there are plenty of killings, a cavalry of Buffalo Soldiers hunting them down, forced alliances with nasty villains, and the truth about the legend of the Lost Adams Diggings at the Canyon of Gold.

What might lie ahead for his companions, he could not begin to imagine. What lay ahead for himself, he did not dare to think about. For the moment, only one thing was to be regarded as absolute certain: in such a company of human animals as that with whom he now loped through the desert night, death was no farther away than the nearest member of the pack.

Written by Will Henry (Henry Wilson Allen) in 1963, Mackenna’s Gold packs quite a bit of action in an evenly-paced Western novel. Though not a masterpiece, the plot that is spun around the quest for the gold is very good. In reality, there is a legend of the Lost Adams Diggings (a man named Adams boasted of finding the gold-filled canyon in 1864) and even today fanatics search for this legendary lost canyon. The Adams tale is the driving force in Mackenna’s Gold. And when you mix in the ragtag pursuit for the gold, Will Henry spins a decent Western story here. But I did have a few problems with the novel, most of them revolve around the characters. Mackenna comes off like a cream puff, he toughens up at the end but his image is cast early in the story. The hostage white girl is never really developed by Will Henry and only seems to be in the story as an excuse to force Mackenna to show the renegades the way. And Pelon is a total enigma. At times he is a vile, violent, ignorant killer and then later he acts almost Shakespearean as he rants to Mackenna about compassion and fate. It’s the pure-blood Native American characters in the story that captivate the reader. Pelon’s mother and sister, who are along on the quest, are the most intriguing of the group. Henry details their past and they play important roles in the outcome of the story. Another Indian called Hachita, who shows compassion towards Mackenna, extends to the reader a sense of the lost wonders of the American Indian way of life. Like a heart that has been touched by the sound of the water and the songbirds in the canyons, Hachita portrays a stature of honesty and morality when compared to all the other characters in the novel. I really liked the Hachita and Henry did a good job with the character.

Overall, I liked “Mackenna’s Gold.” Will Henry always has something going on in the story. The book has an underlying theme about the craze for gold and the consequences of tampering with sacred legend. And the history surrounding the Lost Adams Diggings is so damn interesting, it keeps the reader glued to the pages.

Not perfect, but it still is a good Western adventure.

Escape from Five Shadows by Elmore Leonard

Escape from Five Shadows by Elmore Leonard
Dell #940, Copyright 1956

Most know that Elmore Leonard cut his teeth writing Western stories. For a young man that grew up in Detroit, he sure supplied the reader with a palpable portrayal of the Arizona Territory in the 1880s. "The Law at Randado" was my first Leonard Western novel. That was many years ago and at that time I thought I stumbled upon a Western that was different from the generic ones that I had been reading. The impact that "Randado" left on me made me seek out Leonard's other early Westerns. And I have read them all. One that is near the top on the list is "Escape from Five Shadows." It's filled with a wide variety of morally different characters stuck and struggling in a harsh piece of the dusty Arizona landscape.

Salvaje looked at his men. There were ten trackers here, and now he watched them remove their army-issue shirts and pants, stripping to breechclouts, then slipping on their cartridge bandoleers again. All of them wore curl-toed Apache moccasins folded and tied just below the knee: and to a man they carried single-shot Springfield carbines.
When they were ready, Salvaje nodded, and they moved off to take the escaped man.

Cory Bowen has been wronged, sent to prison for stealing cattle which he had no involvement in. He's been farmed out of Yuma prison, along with a handful of other prisoners, to work on territory road construction, which the Government has contracted to an iron-fisted independent named Frank Renda. The prisoners are housed in a makeshift convict camp called Five Shadows and Renda holds them there with a few guards, a ruthless gunhand, and a dozen Mimbre Apache police. Posted to watch over the Government's investment is the cowardly Willis Falvey, whom Renda has wrapped around his finger. Together they have been skimming off the money that the Government has allocated for the prisoners' care and the road work. It's become a profitable business for them, at the prisoners expense. Bowen escapes early in the novel and the Mimbre Apache trackers drag him back to Five Shadows. Renda gives him a beating and month's worth of brutal punishment. This is when the novel really takes a turns and we learn that through Bowen, others seek ways to form their own means of escape. And the others are not the prisoners. There is the wife of Falvey, who wants out of this stinking dead end part of Arizona. A girl that lives with her father at the nearby stage station, who is determined to get another trial for Bowen. And my favorite, the Mimbre leader named Salvaje, who is the most righteous and pure character in the whole story.

Not to give anything away, I'll just say that there is an opportunity for Bowen to plan another dangerous escape. Of course he takes it and this intertwines all characters, for some the results offer a weighed relief and for others there is contriteness. The risk for Bowen is great because a new trial is granted for him and he doesn't know it. Getting caught this time means death. "Escape from Five Shadows" isn't Elmore Leonard's best Western novel. (It's tough to compete with his later classics -"Valdez is Coming" and "Hombre") But it is still a well above average one and there is plenty to like in it. First is the remarkable picture of the old Arizona West that Leonard paints for the reader. The smells of horse, leather and dust get in your nostrils. Frank Renda and his gunhand are diabolical, and for some reason I find these characters compelling as hell. Elmore Leonard has Bowen being tormented by these two. He takes a lot of punishment, but remains determined to get out. (I guess that is the will of an innocent man) The best scene is without a doubt when the Mimbre Apache trackers are hunting down Bowen after his first escape. It happens early in the novel and it turns into a game of respect and bravery. A wonderful action snapshot episode in the novel.

I enjoyed this Elmore Leonard novel, but that's easy for me to say because he is one of my favorite Western writers. I have always wished he had written more Westerns. I prefer them over his crime fiction. I have hope that he will write another. It's been too long of a wait.

The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout

The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout
Doubleday hardcover
Copyright 1975

It's 1901 and an end of an era. With the dawn of the new century, we meet a lone man who has outlived his time. And as his days grow shorter, we witness that they run in parallel with the dying of the Old West. Receiving only resentment and greed from others, he bravely decides his own fate and punches a statement onto his own legacy and for the West of the past. Reading "The Shootist" you quickly realize you have a great book in your hands.

Famed and labeled as a "gun man," a"man-killer," an "assassin," or a"shootist," 51 year-old John Bernard Books rides into El Paso to get a second option from the town doctor. Unfortunately the news is the same, he has an advanced case of prostate cancer and can expect an excruciating death in a few weeks. With just his guns, a newspaper and memories, Books takes a room in Mrs. Bond Rogers' boarding house and plans to end his days there. From her son Gillom, the widow is told of the type of man that is living in her back room and she openly conveys bitterness towards him. News leaks out about the dying J. B. Books and between visits from a journalist, undertaker, photographer, ex-sweetheart, and others, (all of whom want to cash in on the reputation of the gun man) two killers attempt to gun down Books in his room. Even ill, Books violently kills both involved in the sneaky assault. Afterwards he realizes that he can not honorably go down in a death bed. J. B. Books plans to add a final chapter to his legend, one that will pit him against three of the fastest and cruelest men throughout the territory.

There is a lot to like in this Swarthout novel. It contains some of the finest writing that I've ever came across in a Western. The author marvelously turns the reader from a newly constructed West of complacency and then swings us into the violent and graphic world of the Old West. And that is explicitly described in the graphic shootouts. It's also filled with intriguing characters that are intertwined in well crafted relationships. Books' interaction with Mrs. Rogers starts spiteful, but ends into one of compassion and sympathy as she realizes that Books is more than just a gunfighter. Books attempts to reach the mean and out of control Gillom. But as his physical strength quickly leaves him, he fails at preventing Mrs. Rogers from losing her son. It is one battle he can not win. As his final day approaches, Books wonders why he deserves this pain and this loneliness that has undone him. Could he have done things different?

"I wish I had listened to birds more often. I wish I had more schooling. I wish I had paid more attention to the most beautiful country God ever made. I wish I had married and settled down, and had a son to leave my guns to. I wish I had not left home so young. I would like to know what became of my people. I wish I had not been such a loner all my life. I wish I had been more worthy of love, and given a damn sight more. God I wish I had it to do over again. I would do it better."

This is J.B. Books' story and it is a lonely and sad one. He is the last of his breed. And as he waits for the end, preparing to meet his God, Books will not let them (the townspeople and the new West) reduce him into a remnant or relic. J.B. Brooks will give them something to talk about. When he is gone, the vultures might take his horse and saddle, his watch and guns, his photograph and corpse- But they will not get his reputation, or be able to sell his name, or go away with his soul. Those three he will keep. They are his most important valuables. Like he tells the reader, "There is still a lot of me to kill."

On the back flap of this hardcover edition, the publisher states that "The Shootist" will rank with such Westerns as "Shane" and "The Ox-Bow Incident." I'm not going to disagree. Because just like those two, this Glendon Swarthout novel is more than a Western, it is classic American literature.

The Muleskinner by Robert MacLeod

The Muleskinner by Robert MacLeod
Fawcett R2253,
Copyright 1967

Way, way back when I was in Junior High, I remember seeing this novel in the school library on one of those rotating paperback racks. Alongside it was Pierre Boulle's "The Bridge over the River Kwai," Jack London's "Smoke Bellew," Audie Murphy's "To Hell and Back," and I recall Eric Williams' "The Wooden Horse"- all were in the form of hard cover paperbacks that school libraries stocked in those days. I read those four, but I never did get around to Robert MacLeod's "The Muleskinner." I've always enjoyed his Westerns and recently obtaining a copy of this one, I opened it up for two days and read it.

"They began to get the stench, sickly, almost tangible on the hot, still air. Up ahead, a dozen buzzards floundered into the air. A million flies were buzzing. Under the trees was a clumsy big carreta, four dead oxen and six dead Mexicans-two men, a women, a young boy, an older girl, and a naked girl child, all torn by the beaks, hideous and bloated. They had all been scalped."

Ben "Ox" Davis runs freight, and can handle mules better than any man in the Arizona territory. He's tough and gets downright brutal when he has to use his fists, but believes in living a honest life having regards for the needs and feelings of others. On one of his hauls he comes upon the aftermath of a stagecoach robbery where it seems all occupants have been shot down. But later he finds two who have survived, one being Gwen Goodfield who Ox falls hard for. At first it looks like renegade Apaches are on a murder spree, but we find out that this is the work of a gang of vicious robbers. Gwen takes up with Ox's rival, Lew Barnes. And now Lew is flashing new money around Tuscon, making town folk suspicious of Lew's nice guy nature. Things really heat up when Ox saves a Mexican kid who was raised by Apaches. The vindictive saloon crowds aren't convinced that the kid is not Apache and want his scalp. Ox has his hands full protecting the kid and making runs with his mule team, not to mention trying to convince Gwen that Lew Barnes is a bum. After Ox's swamper is killed, along with more murderous holdups, and then the kid goes missing - the root cause of all the trouble is discovered and Ox is determined to settle the score.

As always, you get a bit of western education when you read a Robert MacLeod novel. MacLeod captures the hard life of a muleskinner. The toil these men take driving mules to get their heavy loads from one location to another, the history of legally selling Apache scalps, the boom of prosperous growth in the West - it's all in this novel. I liked all that. As for the storyline, I'll call it an average Western. Ox may be vivid and broad, but he is too gaga around Gwen for my type of Western hero. Gwen is so naive that I wanted Ox to give her a good kick in the butt. But if you can overlook that, there is plenty of murder and fisticuffs to make it enjoyable. And the struggle of survival, the excellent descriptions of the dusty drives on the mule wagons, and the subplot revolving around the misidentified Apache kid, are expertly told.

Robert MacLeod is one of my favorite Western authors. Reading his novels you can sense his natural attraction to the West and it's clear that he has done a lot of research. "The Muleskinner" may not be his best work, but it is good and for me worth the read. (After all, I waited over 40 years to get to it)

This is the cover of an earlier paperback edition.
Fawcett Gold Medal D1786

Hangtree Range by William Hopson

Hangtree Range by William Hopson
Lion Books LB156, Copyright 1952

During the 40s/50s, William Hopson wrote short stories for all the leading Western pulps. Many were dark with an edge to them, which made them stand out from the other "average" fare Western short stories. "Hangtree Range" is the first novel of his that I've read, It's about the struggles of iron-hard men caught in the human soul destruction of a feuding range war.

He had been a hard, callous, brutal man, spawned in the backwash of a generation that killed for four years and then come home to kill again. He had picked up where they had let off, hiring his guns for a price in a ruthless war where many men would be doomed to die.

With the Civil War long over and the Apaches defeated, life in the Arizona Territory was expected to be safe and prosperous. But powerful organized sheep herders have moved in, threatening the free gazing land that the cattle barons have thought of as their own. The blood feud has spread throughout the territory and it becomes difficult to define where on the fence some individuals sit. The western code is "an eye for an eye" vengeance, and each side settles the score by hanging the opposition. When Ed Allen's younger brother is mistaken as a killer for the sheep barons and strung up, Ed reins his mount loaded with his Winchester and .44 Smith & Wesson. You see, Ed Allen is one of those western men with a past. He was an ex-cavalry scout during the Apache wars and going after men like those who killed his brother, is bored in his marrow.

But this turns a bit different, when the reader expects Allen to settle up with bloody revenge, he uses his learned talent to bring law abiding justice to the men responsible . He plans to corner them and bring the cattle gunmen to the town of Wilcox for trial. On his way a posse of sheep baron gunmen force a change in his plans, which results in one of the most efficacious endings I've read in a western story in a while.

I was so impressed with this William Hopson novel, that I will definitely read another. No fooling the reader here, an atmosphere rich in abode cantinas, haunting cottonwood trees, desert arroyos, and a taste of "Ox-Bow" in your throat. This is no "good guy vs. bad guy, good guy gets girl" western. Hopson carefully plots out the chain of events, including the backgrounds of the characters (which is important to the story) to create a dark western noir novel. You're left thinking there are no good guys in the story, just a few with a small puddle of humanity left in their gut. Even that seems not to be enough.

"Hangtree Range" is a Western winner....

The Bounty Killer by Marvin H. Albert

The Bounty Killer by Marvin H. Albert
Gold Medal 760, Copyright 1958

Marvin Albert had talent and was a versatile author. Crime fiction, adventure thrillers, westerns, P.I. mysteries, movie adaptations, screen plays-he covered the field. He had a way of building a strong introduction to a story and using that as momentum to guide the reader through the entire novel. From 1956 until 1964, he authored seven Gold Medal Westerns. You won't find anything extraordinary about these early Westerns by Marvin Albert, they are just good solid stories.

Before anyone realized what he was going to do, Faradin took two fast steps to Luke's prone figure, raised one booted foot, and deliberately brought it down with all his strength and weight on Luke's right forearm that leaned against the bar rail.
"You'll never scare anybody with that fast gun again, bounty hunter," Faradin said.

The bounty hunter's name is Luke Chilson. He's young and tall, raised with humble fiber to be polite and play by the rules. Burt Faradin just escaped from a stage where he was under guard to Yuma prison. Luke heads out to get him and stops over in the sleepy town of Westgate Wells. Later Burt Faradin arrives and teams up with his boys waiting in the town, and now Luke finds himself in a "snake pit" situation. The town is just a lone waystation supplying goods to a mining camp miles away. Westgate Wells is isolated and all are trapped with Burt Faradin holding most of the cards. But our boy Luke is a brave man and sets out to make things right. Violent action heats up and he gets busted up fairly bad in an excellent fight scene in the story. Beaten so bad and unable to use a gun and move freely, Luke relies on his wits to even the score and bring justice back to Westgate Wells.

I call these good-clean westerns, as was the norm for the day. No real dark mysterious characters in these novels. The good guys and bad guys are clearly defined and there are no gray areas in their character. There is always a girl in the story and the two leading men have an interest in her. The town folk are the frighten rabbits, unwilling to support a man who arrived to hunt down his man. When put together by a good author like Marvin Albert, this story comes together into a fine 50s Western. Not the author's best Gold Medal Western, (The Law and Jake Wade, Posse at High Pass are superior) but a suspenseful one and still worth a read.

The Gold Medal Westerns by Marvin Albert:

The Law and Jake Wade (1956)
Apache Uprising (1957)
The Bounty Killer (1958)
Renegade Gun (1958)
The Reformed Gun (1959)
Rider from Wild River (1959)
Posse at High Pass (1964)

Later using the pseud. Al Conroy, he wrote four Clayburn westerns that were published by Dell.

Valdez is Coming by Elmore Leonard

Valdez is Coming by Elmore Leonard
Fawcett Gold Medal T2918, Copyright 1970

" Just a little war, if he wants it," Valdez said.

As most Elmore Leonard fans know, the author started out writing short stories for Western magazines and his first novels were Westerns. In 1961, Elmore Leonard wrote a short story for Western Roundup called "Only Good Ones." Later in the decade, he was looking for an idea for a new novel and started searching over his past work. He took "Only Good Ones," made it the first chapter in his book and wrote the classic Western novel, "Valdez is Coming."

Powerful Frank Tanner and his men have a suspected Army deserter and his Apache wife trapped in a shack. Seems this deserter killed a friend of Tanner's six months earlier, and he wants him dead. It's turning into a big spectacle as humble Bob Valdez, a part-time constable from the Mexican side of town, arrives at the scene. Valdez goes down to talk the man into giving himself up. Tanner's men start firing and Valdez is forced to kill the man to protect himself. The man turns out not to be the one Tanner was after. Later, Valdez wants to take up a collection for the widowed Apache wife, but gets plenty of hostility from Frank Tanner on that idea. On one trip to see Tanner about the money, Valdez is ridiculed, humiliated, and left to wander and die bound to a wooden crosspole. But Valdez survives, and when he comes back he comes back as a different Bob Valdez. A Valdez from the past....

Valdez brought up the barrels of the Remington from his lap, and with the ten-bore explosion close in from of him, the Mexican came out of the saddle...His eyes were open and he had his left arm tight to his side.The shotgun charge had torn through his side at the waist.
Valdez smiled, "You ride to Mr. Tanner, all right? Tell him Valdez is coming. You hear what I said? Valdez is coming. But listen friend, I think you better go there quick."

Valdez enters Tanner's compound and kidnaps his woman. His plan is simple, "If I have something he wants, then maybe we make a trade. Give me the money and I give you your woman." Tanner and his men go after Valdez, but they find that isn't so easy. Valdez and the woman develop a respectful and sympathetic relationship during the ordeal, which Leonard gracefully presents to the reader. This isn't a story about vengeance, it's about correcting a wrong, a noble attempt to seek justice. Valdez is a modest man, who possesses a hidden courage to do what is right. This is a profound novel, with dynamic characters -some displaying a nature of extreme brutality, and others showing compassion and sensitivity. It's flawlessly written and has one of the best (and traditionally different) endings I read in any Western novel.
Truly an American Western Classic....

Elmore Leonard's Western novels should be revered and not forgotten. He wrote eight excellent ones and you can't go wrong reading any of them. Besides this novel, my other personal favorites are "Hombre" (the classic Apache-raised John Russell story) and "Forty Lashes Less One." (a Yuma prison story) It's been 30 years since Elmore Leonard wrote a Western novel, and that's too long. I hunger for another one. I hope he will reward us again.

"The Bounty Hunters" (1953)
"The Law at Randado" (1954)
"Escape from Five Shadows" (1956)
"Last Stand at Saber River" (1959)
"Hombre" (1961)
"Valdez is Coming" (1970)
"Forty Lashes Less One" (1972)
"Gunsights" (1979)

The Long Riders by Dan Cushman

The Long Riders by Dan Cushman
Gold Medal d1733, Copyright 1967

I’ve been reading a lot of westerns this summer. I don't know why, but sitting out on the patio and sweating with a western paperback stuck to my fingers seems to appeal to me lately. Dan Cushman was a versatile writer, who started in the pulp short story days and later turned over many quality adventure, mystery, and western novels. In "The Long Riders", we have a cattle drive story- where a few powerful men suppress an inferior group, until someone helps them take a stand.

He dived for the gun and got hold of it, and Broadbaker, waiting half a second, jumped and came down on his forearm with both feet. He had his arm under the high insteps of his boots, pinning it to the ground. And he turned grinding, bearing down with all his weight. He felt the bones crack. It was a good feeling.

Leo Glass and partner Old Dad receive a proposition from Kid Maybee. The Kid has a checkered past and is laid up after taking a vicious beating, that included a bullet in his chest. The Kid has 400 head of cattle that need to be moved and he offers Glass and Old Dad a cut if they take them to Montana. The cattle are part of a larger drive that is run by Andy “man-eater” Broadbaker. Broadbaker is moving his stock further west to claim grazing land that the government has secured for the Indians. By taking a group of poor homesteaders with him, along with some political pull, Broadbaker has plans to be the big land baron in the new territory. Along with Broadbaker, are a bunch of experienced cowboys and gunhand Billy Grand. (whose “pistols were swifter than weasels in a henhouse”) Also included in Broadbaker's group is Polly, part of the influential Arbogast family, who Broadbaker expects to marry. Knowing that Leo Glass and the homesteaders plan to cut north halfway through the drive, Broadbaker schemes ways to force them westward with him. He needs the whole group to insure he has the numbers to take over the grazing land promised to the Indians. The homesteaders, treated no better than the cattle, turn to Leo Glass for leadership. After learning that Billy Grand shot a boy in the back, Glass confronts the gunslinger, outdrawing and killing him. Broadbaker suspects that Polly has taken a liking to Leo, and roughs her up for disrespecting him. Realizing that Glass has become the major obstacle for Broadbaker and his plans, he sets out to eliminate him. The time comes for Leo Glass to move his group north and Broadbaker makes his final violent attempt to stop them. The two men, without weapons, meet to settle all scores.

"You bitch!" he said through his teeth. "You little ungrateful bitch. You'd choose him, the long rider." He back-handed her across the face.

"The Long Riders" is written in a pulp style, and has everything that made those westerns admirable; a good-ole cowboy, the opposing powerful one, a rotten gunslinger, a girl who both men want, and the young kid who looks up to Leo Glass and is taken under his wing. Even the titles of each short chapter have a pulp ring to them, “The Girl with the Whip,” “Plan for a Showdown,” “Kid Maybee’s Story” are examples. I really enjoyed the Kid Maybee character, too bad he was only in the story briefly; but gunhand Billy Grand and Leo Glass made up for that. You sense the confrontation building within them as you are flipping pages. And the reader is not disappointed when they meet in a gunslappin' showdown.

The echoes of the gunshot were gone, and the trail of smoke from Glass’ pistol. Nobody moved as the cattle came on. A horsefly lit on the back of Grand’s neck and crawled leisurely, drinking his sweat.

Dan Cushman tries to spice up the girl interest (Polly) in the story, but I found it average. That said, everything else makes this a worthy story. The relationship between Glass and the boy Will Pattison is quite touching, and should be appealing for younger readers. The final battle between Broadbaker and Glass is exceptional. They meet hand-to-hand using their gun belts, lashing each other raw “Spanish–quirt style” with the buckles. If you like western stories written in the pulp style of the 30s/40s, this one is good. I can take them as long as I don’t knock off too many in a row.

In the late 40s, Dan Cushman wrote short stories featuring the western pulp hero -The Pecos Kid. These were quite popular and the stories were headlined in the magazine called “The Pecos
Kid Western,” which was published in 1950/51.

Reprints of these stories are easily available. I have seen them in local dollar stores. (Leisure Books published them)

Apache Tears by Robert MacLeod

Apache Tears by Robert MacLeod
Pocket Book, Copyright 1973

I have always been fond of the western novels written by Robert MacLeod. I’ve read them when they were first published and have been revisiting them recently. I have always wondered whatever came of him. Searching, I find little information on the author. I hope he is still with us; his novels are well worth taking a look at.

The black rage took him like a dog with a rat, and shook him almost blind. He began to swear-vile, dirty obscenities he had almost never used, and got the lariat off the saddle and trotted toward the corral. Tomorrow was too long to wait. Eddie Burke had no right to live that long.

In “Apache Tears,” we are introduced to Neil Douglas, a hardened and loyal scout leader for the Cavalry at Camp Verde. Douglas is ending his tour with the army and there has been bad blood between him and the other scout leader, Sergeant Eddie Burke. Things reach a point where Douglas and Burke have it out in a fisticuffs brawl and Douglas, being an ex-boxer, whips him good. Recuperating, Eddie Burke vows retaliation. After his release from the army, The general of the post offers Douglas a job to escort archaeologist, Dr. Garnville Whitman and his daughter Jennie, to the ancient Citadel ruins. The pay is good, so Douglas accepts the offer to lead, make camp, and stay with them for the duration of their studies. As the days wear on, Douglas helps the shy Jennie to stand up to her father and show some independence. Jennie eventually falls for him. Douglas likes the girl, but his past associations with women have mostly been whores, and he’s a bit careful expressing his feelings. (But there is a spark, an affection is there) Eventually Eddie Burke and his albino Indian scout Whitey, arrive to settle things up with Douglas and they plan to do it through Dr. Whitman and the girl. Circumstances have forced Douglas to leave Jennie and her father alone at the site, while Burke advances with thoughts of murder and threats of rape. Enraged by failing to protect Jennie, Neil Douglas is now alone where he is at his best, and vows revenge seeking the impious Burke and Whitey.

Robert MacLeod as always, gives the reader an excellent insight on the western way of life. He shows how this life was hard and uncertain, especially with the dangers encountered by army scout leaders and the Indians who work under them. Through the character of Jennie, we see a girl of society who came west, and must be shaded from the harsh life and ills that women here resort to. The relationship between Jennie and Neil is wonderfully told. Jennie -who finally loses her shyness and can now express herself; and Neil -who teaches her how to do this but can’t express his own feelings to her. MacLeod likes to mix real western figures in his stories. In this one we have General George Crook, Mickey Free (who pops up in many MacLeod novels) and even a later reference to George Custer. There is the constant conflict between Douglas and Burke, which carries over between the Indian scouts that they lead. These were tough seasoned men, who must be brutal to survive alone in this hostile territory.

The bodies would be stinking too much if they lay in the heat all day tomorrow. “Let the coyotes have them!” “No” Neil said, “The smell isn’t anything new to you. Major Trumbull won’t believe us, without the bodies.”…Later the Apache scouts lugged the sacks over and dumped out five tangled-haired, bloody Apache heads.” Chalk Eye said in Spanish, “You think Major Trumbull will believe these?”

This is another Robert MacLeod western that I thoroughly enjoyed. Highly entertaining and well written. For some reason, it seems he’s been an underrated author and overshadowed by others. I never understood why. Robert MacLeod's western novels were some of the best published during the 60s and 70s.

Known westerns by Robert MacLeod:

The Appaloosa (1963) Gold Medal
The Californio (1966) Gold Medal
The Muleskinner (1967) Gold Medal
The Running Gun (1969) Gold Medal
Ambush at Junction Rock (1970) Gold Medal
Six Guns South (1972) Gold Medal
Apache Tears (1973) Pocket Book
Feather in the Wind (1976) Pocket Book

EDGE: The Loner by George G. Gilman

EDGE: The Loner by George G. Gilman
Pinnacle Books, Copyright 1971

"He was now a killer of the worst kind. A man alone."

I've had a few EDGE books collecting dust for years, and I never picked one up. It seemed I always passed them up to read another western. I finally forced myself to read the first in the series, created and authored by British writer Terry Harknett under the pen name George G. Gilman. I found it enjoyable enough, even with it's violence and cruelty, though I'll most likely not become a big fan of the series.

This story introduces the reader to Edge, Josiah (Joe) Hedges just back from the Civil War, who finds his little brother viciously murdered on the Iowa ranch. He knows immediately who mutilated and killed his brother and sets out to seek vengeance in his own special way. We go chapter after chapter with him on his quest, and along the way Edge lets no obstacles stop him. After leaving behind a trail of blood and butchered bodies, he finds the men responsible for his brother's murder and ... well you can guess how he settles the score.

Of course this is not your typical western; it is in your face, harsh, and goes down like snake venom. Wherever Edge goes, brutality and destruction follows. The first couple of chapters, which deal with the torture and murder of Edge's brother, are really good and surely hold your interest. The following chapters leading up to the final showdown, have Edge traveling and running into continual encounters with unmoral people, and he sets them straight. If Gilman was trying to get the reader to like Joe Hedges, it didn't come across. (he may of wanted it that way)

Edge is a western nihilist, who carries a neat assortment of weapons, including a honed razor knife concealed in his shirt collar which when used provides the most horrific occurrences in the story.

...the knife buried itself into the back of his throat. He gagged on blood and steel and his teeth clanged down on to the blade. His only sound was a gurgling, but his eyes blurred by tears, reveal the full extent of the pain. Then the stock of the Henry completed his execution, cracking against his forehead, splitting the skin and laying the flesh open to the bone.
"You don't fool around," the girl said.
"Now he knows it, too,"Edge said.

The story is not complex and it is a quick read. To me, each chapter is actually a story in itself, containing its own amount of gore and violence. I found I like it best when I read a chapter, then later picking it up to read another chapter -like reading a book of stories. The western setting descriptions are weak, but that's not what George Gilman was slamming into the reader. I can see why there is a following for the series, it can be attractive to readers with it's raw violence, vengeful plots, and a touch of humor thrown in. I'm sure I'll read a few more, but I know I'll never tackle the complete series. Not for the all western fans, I'll take mine in small doses.

Will Penny by Tom Gries

Will Penny by Tom Gries (and Bob Thomas)
Ballantine U5134, Copyright 1968

"What do I know about love?"-Will Penny

There are times when someone will mention a western movie to me and I’d answer, “Oh, that one is on my top-ten list of favorite westerns.” But in reality I’ll say that to well over ten or even twenty movies, so lately I am careful about say things like “that’s my favorite this-and-that….” Which brings me to Will Penny and I’ll leave how high this western film is rated to others. But there was a novelization written for the film and now I have a new respect for books written after movies are filmed.

I usually don’t read film novelizations, but when I found this one I had to give it a go. The story of an old cowpoke that finds love while trying to protect a mother and her young boy is just as strong in words as it is on film. Lonely Will Penny battles with this new discovery of love and family, something he has never known or felt. There is the heartwarming friendship between the cowhands; Penny, Dutchy and Blue. The pages capture the freedom they share and the way of life they love. We can smell the fresh, cold mountain air and snuggle in the warmth of the mountain cabin. Thrown in the story are some crazy inbreed villains that provide some good western action; and I can’t help but enjoy reliving the story through the pages of the novel.

But of course the strength of the story is Will Penny finding something he never had or felt. Love. The love he found with Catherine and family bond discovered with Button. And yet he has to let it go, because to Will Penny love cannot survive in his world. He realizes that a time for a woman’s love and family has past for him. He has limitations now because of his age, and life would be harder and more uncertain. Will Penny don’t risk the chance, and walks away.

"A man can't change, not when he's lived one way most of fifty years. I came closer with you than I ever done, I wish it woulda happened long ago. It's too late for me."

All that was wonderful in the movie is captured in the novel. I may have enjoyed it so much because the movie was exceptional, I’ll never know since I saw the film first. But I do picture Charlton Heston as Will Penny and Joan Hackett as Catherine when I read it, and why not they were terrific. I certainly enjoyed this enough, to take a chance and read more novelizations of films. As for Tom Gries, the writer and director of the movie, he created a magnificent western film and a memorable western character in Will Penny.

There is even a statue of the Will Penny character in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma.

Guns of the Timberlands by Louis L'Amour

Guns of the Timberlands by Louis L'Amour
Bantam 1390, Copyright 1955

Continuing with some recent discussions on Louis L'Amour, (Steve Lewis has an excellent post on Mystery*File) I recently finished this early work by the author. "Guns of the Timberland" has your good guy vs. bad guy theme, with a subtle view on the impact of over foresting thrown in.

The novel is a battle between "good guy" Clay Bell, rancher who enjoys his land and free life; and wealthy Jud Devitt, who is a man who gets what he wants. Devitt is after the timber on Bell's land, he plans to make a large profit selling needed lumber to the railroads and no one is going to stop him. Devitt brings in gun-hands and lumberjacks to insure the stripping of the forest. Bell has his ranch hands, who are fairly seasoned and tough.

Louis L'Amour was a good writer and could tell a story, but you always knew the outcome. I usually don't mind that; but after reading many of the novels, I found I was just reading to finish them. "Guns of the Timberlands" is one of his finest westerns and he paints an excellent picture of the western landscape. In this one he has some good ol' barroom fights and good ol' cowboy killin' -one fight is pretty brutal involving a lumberjack smashing the face of one of Bell's men with his calks. But we know there will be a final one-on-one battle between Bell and Devitt, and we will know who will win, and we will know who gets the girl......


Note: I will always have a strong heart for Hondo, which is my personal favorite by Louis L'Amour. (and a damn good John Wayne movie)

Rio Bravo (DVD) director: Howard Hawks

Rio Bravo (DVD) director: Howard Hawks (1959)

After seeing this wonderful film many times, I viewed the DVD last night for the first time and it's magnificent. The DVD lets us see how beautifully filmed this movie really was. From the brilliant, subdued lighting on the sets to the enhanced sound; this DVD brings a totally new experience for the viewer seeing this film.

The story, if anyone doesn't know, is about Sheriff John T. Chance taking a stand with a few misfits while surround by hired gunmen in his own town. Chance is holding a cattle baron's brother in the jail for murder. Directed by the great Howard Hawks, this has become one of the best westerns made by Hollywood.

Almost flawless, except in my opinion, for a little overacting by a young Angie Dickinson and some underacting by Ricky Nelson. But the trio of John Wayne, Dean Martin and scene-stealer Walter Brennan more than make up for them. In fact this may be Dean Martin's and Walter Brennan's finest performances on film.

Leigh Brackett contributes to the screenplay and it seems that everything she brings to Hollywood is always gold. The story is from a short work by B. H. McCampbell whom I never heard of. I would love to know more about the original story, so if anyone knows more please drop me a comment or E-Mail.

It's a whole new experience viewing this masterpiece on the Two-Disc DVD Special Edition. Warner Bros. is definitely doing something right here. Fabulously entertaining, almost perfect in every way, it's on my top shelf to stay for Western DVDs. Truly wonderful!

My Rifle, My Pony and Me - Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson (a small treat in the movie)

The Day the Sun Came Out by Dorothy M. Johnson

The Day the Sun Came Out by Dorothy M. Johnson.
Short Short in Bar 4 Roundup of Best Western Stories.
Perma M3035, Copyright 1955.

I remember reading Dorothy M. Johnson's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" after seeing the movie a dozen times. Surprisingly different than the John Ford movie, but you could see how Hollywood would of used the story as a base for the screenplay. The story has a wonderful strong, passive western ending, which I believe wasn't again achieved until Elmore Leonard's "Valdez is Coming." Dorothy M. Johnson was an extraordinary talent, who didn't write western stories-she wrote western literature.

"The Day the Sun Came Out" is equally as good. The story is told through an eleven year old boy traveling with his Pa and two younger sisters. They have left their home for a more prosperous life towards the mountains. They are with little provisions and almost out of food. Along the way they come upon Mary, a young woman who wants to travel with them. The father can't feed another mouth, but reluctantly allows Mary to go along to look after the girls. Soon they are out of food and the father heads out alone to seek provisions. Mary and the boy wait with the girls for his return. Days pass and they are starving. Mary finds a large mushroom-fries it up, eats some of it, but doesn't share with the others. The boy hates her for not sharing, even after begging for the sake of the girls. He later learns that she was waiting to see if it was poisonous, risking herself to save the others. Mary is fine in the morning and the others eat. The last sentence of the story is "My stepmother was a wonderful woman."

Wonderfully told through the eyes of the boy. An enjoyable, heartwarming western frontier story. This short story is just one of the gems in this collection from 1955.
Included are:

Thirst by John Prescott
War Party by James Warner Bellah
The Killer Came to Call by Bennett Foster
The Bretnall Feud by Steve Frazee
The Makings by Norman A. Fox
River Crossing by Lester Dent
The Man Who Talked Too Much by Jack Schaefer
Pride by Ernest Haycox
Mountain Medicine by A. B. Guthrie Jr.
Westward the Egg by R.W. Krepps & H.L. Gold
Manuel by William Heuman

The Hands of Geronimo by Lewis B. Patten

The Hands of Geronimo by Lewis B. Patten.
ACE 31620, Copyright 1971

Lewis Patten wrote western stories and wrote a lot of them. They are all fast reads and enjoyable. There is a lot of his work out there and can be picked up easily. When you want good 50s/60s/70s vintage westerns, Patten delivers. This is one of many favorites.

Renegade Apaches under Geronimo attack a stagecoach leaving Jonas Bailey’s woman for dead, killing her baby and kidnapping her young son. Bailey determined to get the boy back, tags along with the U.S. Cavalry to go after the renegades. The story is told through Jonas Bailey, who is just a ranch hand. He knows nothing about the ways of the Apaches or the U.S. Cavalry. During his journey, he learns about the hardships soldiers endure on a long campaign. Months and months go by taking them deep into the deserts and mountains of Mexico. They become weak, starving and ragged, with their clothes literally falling off them, yet continue with their pursuit. Bailey observes how the Apaches are even worse off, but they are able to live on less and continue their drive deep into Mexico. After a long painstaking hunt, they finally reach the renegades and Bailey makes an attempt to rescue the boy. The ending is very good, with plenty of action.

Lewis Patten uses historical events in the story. Geronimo’s escape to the mountain sanctuary is factual. He also takes the liberty to use other actual characters in the story, like Tom Horn and Mickey Free. He probably made the renegade Apaches more vicious then they really were, but Patten does show the struggles they encounter during this time period. Patten shows their strong ability to survive with very little and their pride to remain free.

Overall a well told western story. It shows a snapshot of life in a U.S. Cavalry campaign. Patten captures the interaction of officers, Apache scouts, Mexican Federales and civilians. But the best part is Jonas Bailey and the story he tells, as he learns and adapts through the hardships of the long journey to save the boy.

Someone told me that it is difficult to find a copy of this paperback. I don't know if that is true.

The Appaloosa by Robert MacLeod

The Appaloosa by Robert MacLeod.
Gold Medal s1330, Copyright 1963

Having seen the Brando movie many times, I decided to give the novel a read. I wasn't expecting anything great, I was wrong. The Appaloosa is a marvelous novel.
Matt Fletcher is a buffalo hunter, fighting off the Comanche and Cheyenne at Adobe Walls. He pulls out with an Appaloosa pony taken from a dead Comanche, which he plans to stud on his ranch.
Chuy Medina, a Mexican gun-hawk, admires the pony and wants it. Fletcher ragged from his journey from Adobe Walls, shows the power of the buffalo gun to change Chuy's mind. Eventually, Chuy steals the pony off his ranch to save face. Fletcher sets out on a journey to retrieve the horse and his dignity.

It's a wonderful story. From the Texas Panhandle to the deserts of Mexico, descriptions of the landscape are beautifully told. MacLeod historically tells of the Battle at Adobe Walls, using men who actually fought the battle in the story. What makes "The Appaloosa" special is how Fletcher confronts relationships. Relationships between a man against a man, a man hoping for prosperity through the pony and a relationship between Fletcher and Trini, a Mexican whore-which is heartwarming. Traveling to Mexico and returned to Texas with the pony, we see Fletcher fighting inner conflicts within himself. During the final "shoot out", we witness him confronting them.

Plenty of action and violence in the novel. Which is pretty descriptive for the date it was written.

I believe, Robert MacLeod only wrote a handful of western books. I grab them, when I see them.

Note: As for the movie, The novel (as always) is better.

Sabadilla by Richard Jessup

Sabadilla by Richard Jessup
Gold Medal 1048, Copyright 1960

Was looking forward to reading this western for a while, and finished it this weekend. Juan Cortez, the Sabadilla, is sort of a wanted revolutionary outlaw driven out of Mexico by the Federales. Trouble takes him into the Texas town of Coley, where the town sheriff has his hands full with a town ready to explode. This has a tough sheriff, a "Walter Brennan" type deputy, lynch mobs, a powerful cattle owner, gunslingers, and the fast gun and fast quirt of the Sabadilla. Jessup isn't afraid to have major characters die off during the course of the story and even the end isn't "happy" like many western from that era. There is something about the loner western character and this quick story (126 pages) captures it. There are better ones out there, but this one is good. Jessup captures the inner-haunts that the Sabadilla carries within: "How cold, Sabadilla? Would you let a thin line in the middle of the Rio Grande stop you? Would you let such a little line, so small that no one has seen it and perhaps never will, take away your warmth and your fire, Sabadilla? "