The blog of a Western fan, for other Western fans

“Each man has a song and this is my song.” (Leonard Cohen)

Cattle

  Git ‘em up! Move ‘em out!   Movie titles with livelinks can be clicked on to go to our reviews of those pictures.  

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Bounty hunters

  Wanted: Dead or Alive   The whole notion of allowing or even encouraging people who are not sworn officers of the law to apprehend

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The Captivity Narrative

  Taken by Indians   The so-called captivity narrative, a story about a person of one tribe or race or religion taken and held by

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Review of Stay and Die

  Blowing my own trumpet again   I crave your indulgence dear e-reader, for another mention of my recent novel Stay and Die. But I

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Marston three-barrel

  Pretty nifty   I followed up Jean-Marie’s comment on Helena’s three-barrel pistol in the 2013 The Lone Ranger. You know me and derringers.  

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Glory (Columbia, 1989)

  Interesting story though not a very good film   Although it is not a Western, I watched Glory on Netflix the other day. It’s

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The Wagon-Train Western

  Wagons roll!   I have been prompted by reading Kim Newman’s book Wild West Movies (review of that when I have finished it) to

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Even farther West

  Then what?   Today’s little essay concerns an aspect of the Western which I have noticed and maybe you have too. It kind of

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Surrounded (MGM, 2023)

  New Western   Surrounded is a beautiful-looking film, shot in New Mexico (that wonderful pink light) by Max Goldman, better known for rock videos

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WESTERN BOOKS

  Reading the West     On Jeff Arnold’s West we have reviewed or discussed various Western books – mostly biographies, novels, history and film

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Walk Tall (Fox, 1960)

  Pretty darn good   By 1960, the B-Western, in the sense of a one-hour second feature, was all but dead, but producer/director Maury Dexter,

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Wind River (Lionsgate, 2017)

  Winter Wyoming   We’ve reviewed some of Taylor Sheridan’s Western or semi-Western films on this blog, the likes of 1883 and 1923. Wind River

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Draw! (HBO, 1984)

  Kirk’s last Western   Draw! was Kirk Douglas’s last Western. It was a TV movie made by Douglas’s own Bryna Productions (named for his

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Hats

  Another old post I have revised!   Hats off to the Stetson   There are three main ways to distinguish a cowboy: his horse,

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Wolf Song (Paramount, 1929)

  Coop’s first sound Western – though not really   Wolf Song, released in March 1929, dates from the period of transition between silent and

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Charles Stevens

  Indian Charlie   Charles Stevens was colorful character actor of the Western. For most of his professional life he claimed to be Geronimo’s grandson,

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The Western in the 1920s

  L’Alliance brisée: Le Western des anneés 1920 by Jean-Louis Leutrat   The Western movie certainly took enormous strides forward in the 1920s, even before

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New TV show

    Readers in the US might be interested in this e-mail I received from INSP:     Hi Jeff,   I hope you’ve been

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Western film music

  Notes from the prairie   How important music can be to a Western!   It must have been even more so in the early

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