Horses, Skies, and Poetry and Cowboys?

 Post by Doris McCraw

writing as Angela Raines

Photo by the Author

April 26, 2022, is National Help a Horse Day. the week is Sky Awareness Week, and April is National Poetry Month.

Cowboy and horse, setting a course by the stars. The lone rider wandering the mountains or desert. Who hasn't read or imagined themselves as that rider?  

Those movies and television shows some of us grew up with sparked an idea. For this post, I thought I post some famous horses and the actor(s) who rode them. But I just can't make it easy. See if you can match the actor and horse. (Answers will be at the end.)

Movies:  

1. Lightning                 A. Roy Rogers

2. Silver                       B. Gene Autry

3. Champion                C. Tim Holt

4. Tarzan                      D. Andy Devine

5. Trigger                     E. Ken Maynard

6. Joker                        F. Bob Steele

7. Brownie                   G. Buck Jones

8. Thunder                   H. Wild Bill Elliott

TV Shows

1. Topper                      A. John Smith

2. Razor                        B. Clint Walker

3. Diablo                       C. Dickie Jones

4. Little Buck                D. Guy Madison

5. Lucky                        E. Chuck Connor

6. Buckshot                    F. William Boyd

7. Brandy                       G. Robert Horton     

8. Alamo                        H. Duncan Renaldo

I can't let National Poetry Month go by without sharing a poem. Although both Charles Badger Clark and James W. Whilt were born before 1900 and wrote about Cowboys and the West, the chosen poem doesn't have an author.

A Prairie Song - Anonymous

Oh, music springs under the galloping hoofs,

Out on the plains;

Where mile after mile drops behind with a smile,

And to-morrow seems always to tempt and beguile,—

Out on the plains.

Oh, where are the traces of yesterday's ride?

There to the north;

Where alfalfa and sage sigh themselves into sleep,

Where the buttes loom up suddenly, startling and steep,—

There to the north.

Oh, rest not my pony, there's youth in my heart,

Out on the plains;

And the wind sings a wild song to rob me of care,

And there's room here to live and to love and to dare,—

Out on the plains.

For those who'd like to read more:

https://fiftiesweb.com/tv/horses/

https://reelrundown.com/celebrities/Horses-of-Famous-Western-Film-Stars-and-their-Sidekicks

Charles Badger Clark

James W. Whilt

 

Until next time, Happy Reading and Writing: Doris McCraw

Answers: Movies: 1-C, 2-G, 3-B, 4-E, 5-A, 6-D, 7-F, 8-H 

                TV Shows: 1-F, 2-E, 3-H, 4-G , 5-C, 6-D, 7-B, 8-A

Forgotten Western Classics: The Spikes Gang (1974)

Lee Marvin had star power in droves. I sat through The Spikes Gang, an episodic western, and was never bored when he was on screen. That’s not to say the other actors were slacking because everyone turns in heartfelt performances—including cameos by Arthur Hunnicutt and Noah Beery, Jr. It's just that Marvin is one of those heavy hitters, like Robert Mitchum or Katharine Hepburn, that chews up every frame he graces. I promptly forgot the screenplay's limitations that plays more like a television movie of the week than a vehicle worthy of a legend who starred in some of the best westerns of his time: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Cat Ballou (1965), Monte Walsh (1970) and my personal favorite, The Professionals (1966).

The plot concerns impressionable Will, Tod, and Les (Gary Grimes, Charles Martin Smith, and Ron Howard), restless teens, who come to romanticize Harry Spikes (Marvin) after finding him near death and nursing him back to health. Eventually they throw in with the charismatic outlaw but instead of high adventure, that Spikes promises, they wallow in hardships, blood, and bank robbing that goes more often awry than turning any kind of sustainable profit. Along the way, they come to realize, too late, that Spikes is no one to admire. The Spikes Gang is based on The Bank Robber, a novel by Giles Tippette, that I'll probably track down at some point. I suspect based on the discursive story that made it to the screen that I'd enjoy the book even more.

Movie trivia – Four movies - Same plot by Kaye Spencer #hollywood #westernfictioneers #movies

   Instead of writing about an April-in-history topic, I’m sharing this delightful bit of movie trivia about four movies with the same basic plot of villagers hiring warriors to defend their towns from returning marauders.

Even if you haven't watched these movies, you're probably passingly familiar with the titles.

A little more about each movie:

Seven Samurai – 1954 – Japanese movie nominated for two Oscars.

Seven Samurai is an epic samurai dram film that takes place in 1586 during the Sengoku Period of Japanese history.Read more HERE.

This movie is considered a motion picture masterpiece. Interestingly enough, Seven Samurai has achieved a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 100%. For the curious among us, and for what it’s worth, here is a link to a list of movies with the Rotten Tomatoes 100% approval rating: RottenTomatoes Ratings

The Magnificent Seven – 1960 version (not the 2016 remake)

 In 2013, this movie was selected for the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”-Read more HERE 

¡Three Amigos! – 1986 – western comedy set in 1916 (Steve Martin is a co-screenwriter.)

Originally, Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi were the Three Amigos and Steven Spielberg was going to direct, but Spielberg wanted Steve Martin, Bill Murray, and Robin Williams. Also, Rick Moranis would have played Ned had Martin Short been unavailable.Read more HERE.

Contemplate this movie with Robin Williams and Bill Murray in it. Over-the-top comes to my mind.

A Bug’s Life – 1998 – computer-animated comedy (Pixar Animation Studios)

While the film was purportedly inspired by the Aesop fable, The Ant and the Grasshopper, the underlying plot is the same as Seven Samurai. Read more HERE.

Since we're all engaged in variations of sheltering-in-place, enjoying a few hours of comparing and contrasting the plots and characters in these four movies would provide an entertaining diversion.

Do you know of other movies with the same basic plot?

Until next time,
Kaye Spencer


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RESEARCHING THE WEST by MEG MIMS

I love research. Always have, always will... and I soak up lush, wonderful details in the westerns I've read. Most of them since DOUBLE CROSSING, my western mystery set in 1869, was published -- but I cut my teeth on television and movie westerns since early childhood.

Did I rely on all that when I started writing my book? Heck, no! I knew costumes, sets and such generated in Hollywood were far from accurate. I spent months delving into fashion changes from hoops to bustles, what a Bowie knife looked like, Colt revolvers, train schedules and routes, what a UP Pullman Palace car looked like versus the CP Silver Palace car, Texan cowboys, etc. etc.

I knew better than to rely on western TV and movies, where the soiled doves wore glittering gowns worthy of a Ziegfeld Follies girl. Other big problems are the cliches stemming from dime novels of the 1800s, still popping up in current western novels. Lawmen tracking murderers who kill without reason. Helpless women who sat around waiting for their man to rescue them.

Pioneer women that I've researched knew how to handle weapons and protect themselves, how to survive snakebites and nurse sicknesses or wounds, and many adapted after being kidnapped by Indians. I rather doubt they lounged around in the stable (after pitching some clean hay) with their bosom exposed like Jane Russell.

Okay, maybe that is an extreme example. But take for example the Stetson hat.

Some writers have their heroes wearing these famous hats as far back as the 1850's. Check out this link for a fascinating history on how John B. Stetson got started making the trademark hats in 1865. Yep. AFTER the Civil War. Or weapons -- here's a link to a great website on military sabres, rifles, revolvers, etc. manufactured during the 1800s. And here's another link, similar to it. With dates of when those weapons were in use.

Trains are another big pitfall for writers. I've read some books where characters found their way west on the railroad before the Civil War or immediately after it ended. The first railroad crossed the vast expanse of the American west in May of 1869, when the Union and Central Pacific lines joined together at Promontory, Utah. For the first time, travelers could ride from New York to Chicago to Omaha and then to Sacramento -- not San Francisco. That took another few years. Other rail lines to Kansas and Arizona and Montana were completed by the mid 1870s or late 1880s.

I've read and seen a wide range of stories with either the total absence of native Americans or a bloodthirsty savageness of tribes (and not always the right ones in the right spots!) set on revenge. Savagery happened on both sides. The main point is to avoid "stereotypes" --  characters need reasons for the choices they make in our stories. Readers might forgive a modern word or phrase in dialogue, but when such things add up, they're "thrown out" of the story and may give up reading the rest of the book.

I love a good, juicy western where I can walk the dusty streets or ride the prairie on horseback, smell the goods on display in a general store, taste the grit in the air or touch the sweat-soaked shirt of the hero. Go beyond the visual. Make sure your characters have a goal and a motive in mind. And for your reader's sake, do the research.

They'll thank you with great reviews and word-of-mouth sales in your future career.

Meg Mims is an award-winning author and artist. She writes blended genres – historical, western, adventure, romance, suspense and mystery. Her first book, Double Crossing, won the 2012 Spur Award for Best First Novel from Western Writers of America and was named a Finalist in the Best Books of 2012 from USA Book News for Fiction: Western.

She is currently working on the sequel, Double or Nothing, which will be released this year. Interested in a sneak peek? Check out Meg's blog for The Next  Big Thing!