Rio Conchos

 

A tight 1964 Western based on a Clair Huffaker novel, translated to the screen by Joseph Landon and directed by Gordon Douglas.

The cast is led by a superlative Richard Boone, with an early and impressive appearance by Jim Brown and Tony Franciosa having a blast in a “never cast it that way these days” role.

The late Elmore Leonard was once asked what actor gave voice to his dialogue as he conceived it—he said, one man, Richard Boone.

Boone’s performance is nearly the entire show here. From leer, to snarl, to quiet moment, to tough or incredulous line readings—top hand the entire way.

Unfortunately, what keeps this film from traipsing into A territory is a wooden performance by Stuart Whitman. His cavalry officer is so ramrod straight and present in too many scene to really shake off this imposing effect.

But…what is good here, is very good.

Well worth a look or a second look for those who are already fans of tough-minded westerns.

“The Therefore Hog” by A.B. Guthrie

 

We went downstairs, where Slaughter said he’d have a little hair of the dog and wound up with most of the pelt.

This brief tale by Guthrie was selected as one of the 100 Best by Mr. Lewis.

I shall split with the fine editor here. I usually dovetail with his tastes just fine, but this first-person dialect laden story is of the “I’m joshin’ with ya in this ol’ yarn” variety.

Your tolerance for such fare may be higher, and in that case this may be a winner for you.

A Thunder of Drums

 

This 1961 film stars Richard Boone as a hardened cavalry officer and George Hamilton as the fresh lieutenant with much to learn.

What drew me to this, initially, was the supporting role played by Charles Bronson, but, I must admit, this was a bit of a letdown as he plays against type as a lazy recruit with a mindless chuckle.

Didn’t quite work for this viewer.

But we do have a script by James Warner Bellah based on his superlative story, “Command.”

The cavalry aspects of the script have an authentic snap to them but, unfortunately the non-military elements are middle-grade soap opera.

What does shine here is Richard Boone. Tough. Wise. Authoritative.

If there is a reason to view this B-Western he is it.

Superlative performance.

Comanche Captives by Fred Grove

 

From here he could see the pattern of the white-topped encampment. Wagons, tongues pointed inward, corralled in a rectangle: that shape because, in event of attack, it allowed greater movement and afforded easier penning of stock without the confusion and whirlpool effect of the circle, a defensive tactic learned from Mackenzie. The troopers’ shelter tents just outside. Next the mules and horses, then the sentries. Besides being staked out, sidelined and guarded, most of the animals wore chain-connected leather hobbles attached to picket ropes. Until just before dark the stock had been grazed away from the train, which assured grass near camp when moved in later. Baldwin’s own mount was on iron picket pin and hobbles close to the ambulance.

This 1963 Spur Winning novel might best be called a “Calvary Procedural.”

It is tight on cavalry protocol, not just battle tactics, but the minutia of travel, bivouac, and all the other mundane aspects usually glossed over in action-only novels.

Lest I make that sound like the novel is event-free, not at all. It is terse and swiftly paced. Grove has a way to weave his details so that the day to day feels part and parcel of the narrative without being mere “info-dump.”

The plot is simple: Get these people from here to there safely.

In many respects it is one of formula but, it is more than that. While not a delve deep into character story, we still learn enough along the way about these individuals via their actions and reactions to events to come to know them.

It is easy to see why this one picked up top honors.

Comanche Vengeance by Richard Jessup

 

Ryan had bellowed for one of the cowhands to bring coffee up to the rim, and Sarah’s hands were so cold she could hardly hold the tin cup. She did not drink all of the coffee. She kept half of it and stuck her trigger finger into the warm liquid, grimacing in pain when the needles started biting the flesh back to feeling. But it worked, and once she had the right forefinger loosened up, she stuck it in her mouth to keep it warm.

This 1957 Gold Medal novel from Jessup runs an early Hannie Caulder revenge trail. Where the cinematic Hannie had to be taught to be ready for the vengeance trail, Sarah Phelps has no need of a teaching hand.

After a vicious opening she hits the trail and falls in with a gentle but steadfast companion who aids and abets the long road to vengeance with no expectation of return.

A lot of territory and time is covered in 126 pages—at a higher page count the novel might pack an increased wallop for further scene development but Jessup still has the chops to make the terse version of the revenge trek more than interesting.

A solid Western novel.

“Stickeen” by John Muir

 

I never have held death in contempt, though in the course of my explorations I have oftentimes felt that to meet one's fate on a noble mountain, or in the heart of a glacier, would be blessed as compared with death from disease, or from some shabby lowland accident. But the best death, quick and crystal-pure, set so glaringly open before us, is hard enough to face, even though we feel gratefully sure that we have already had happiness enough for a dozen lives.

This 1909 short story by noted American naturalist, John Muir, has the merit of the author’s grand way with describing Nature [with a capital N] in all its glory.

Nature here being a glacier in Alaska.

The location of the story and it being a dog story, as Stickeen is the name of the loyal hound here, unfortunately brings immediate comparisons with other Yukon dog stories, notably those by Jack London.

Where Muir is, indeed, emphatic with his eye for landscape, he lacks the vigor, the immediacy, the hunger for blistered raw life that London has.

While not a bad story, the shadow of London loomed so large while reading that I could never shake the thought, “Brother Muir, I dig your life and love of the outdoors, but Jack beat you to this realm and he wins with two-fisted brio.”

“You Can’t Win ‘Em All” Starring Charles Bronson & Tony Curtis

 

What would happen if you took the tropes of a Spaghetti Western, the kind where you have two lovable rogues in pursuit of a casket of jewels, added in saloon fights, Turkish cave villages instead of Mexican adobe villages, switched the gunplay from six-gun to machine gun, kept the horses and set it all in the Turkish Revolution of 1922 as opposed to the Mexican Revolution?

Well, the result may look very much like this film.

The two leads play well together, the original director, Howard Hawks, may very well have turned this into something more.

As it is, it is fast, fun, and not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

I, for one, would have loved to see these two leads take a second shot at teaming up.