• About

Not The Baseball Pitcher

~ Just another WordPress.com weblog

Not The Baseball Pitcher

Monthly Archives: February 2010

February 2010 Book Round-Up

28 Sunday Feb 2010

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ Leave a comment

CR: 23: The Mourner – Richard Stark(Donald E. Westlake)

HR: 24: Jack: Secret Circles – F. Paul Wilson

WE: 25: Matt Jensen, The Last Mountain Man: Snake River Slaughter – William W. Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone

WE: 26: The Loner: The Big Gundown – J.A Johnstone

SF: 27: Star Trek: Inception – S. D. Perry & Britta Dennison

CR: 28: Paydirt: A Wyatt Novel – Garry Disher

MY: 29: Murder In The Gunroom – H. Beam Piper

CR: 30: Primary Target: A Quarry Novel – Max Allan Collins

WE: 31: Have Gun, Will Travel: Perilous Journey – Barlow Meyers

FA: 32: Witch & Wizard – James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

CR: 33: A Bullet For A Star – Stuart M. Kaminsky

CR: 34: Worst Case – James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge

SF: 35: Star Trek: Errand of Fury: Sacrifices of War – Kevin Ryan

CR: 36: Rumble & Tumble – Joe R. Lansdale

WE: 37: Tales of Wells Fargo – Frank Gruber

TH: 38: Run For Your Life – James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge

February 2010 Movie Round-Up

28 Sunday Feb 2010

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ Leave a comment

The Westerner(1940)

Broken Lance(1954)

The Man From Laramie(1955)

Backlash(1956)

Fury At Showdown(1957)

Duel At Diablo(1966)

Stagecoach(1966)

Lawman(1971)

48 Hrs.(1982)

Canadians Win!

28 Sunday Feb 2010

Posted by Randy Johnson in Sports

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

2010 Winter Olympics, Hockey

The Canadian team won the Olympic gold 3-2 in sudden death overtime. Congratulations to them. I watched the game only because I’m American. Don’t know enough about the game to comment on the play.

It was exciting to watch though.

The Trailer Looks Good Anyway

28 Sunday Feb 2010

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Iron Man 2

I’m always leery when Hollywood makes a sequel to a very good, or high grossing, film. Their track record for getting it right is pretty low. I have been surprised, though, on a few occasions(i.e., Godfather 2, Spider-Man 2, The Empire Strikes Back), just enough to make me ever hopeful.

The trialer for Iron Man 2, due for May release, is out. It looks good, not always an indicator of the movie though.

Check it out:

Me And My Three Careers In Sports

27 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by Randy Johnson in Humor

≈ Leave a comment

I’ve been everywhere and done a lot in the sports world. Well, almost. My namesakes have done a lot anyway. Here’s the evidence.

What I’ve learned about this Randy Johnson is that he had a hard life. A divorce, bad investments, and alcoholism landed him living on the streets for awhile before he pulled himself up. Good for him. He passed away last fall at the age of sixty-five.

Next I tried baseball as an Atlanta Brave in 1982.

Then I made my big comeback as a pitcher with the Seattle Mariners after being traded from the Montreal Expos.

(sigh)If only it were true.

I’m Offering One More

27 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by Randy Johnson in Humor

≈ Leave a comment

The other day Bill Crider linked to the funniest, badly worded headlines. They were funny, but not the best I’ve ever seen. So I’ll offer one more without comment. Make Your own jokes.

Thanks to Imagepoop.com

Duel At Diablo

26 Friday Feb 2010

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

James Garner, Sidney Poitier, western

DUEL AT DIABLO is a 1966 western starring James Garner and Sidney Poitier and based on the novel APACHE RISING by Marvin H. Albert, who co-wrote the screenplay. Directed by Ralph Nelson, I didn’t recognize the name until I’d seen some of the other films he’d directed(Lillies of The Field, Charly, Requiem For A Heavyweight, and Soldier Blue among others). A supporting cast includes Dennis Weaver and Bibi Andersson.

Jess Remsberg(Garner) is headed toward Fort Creel, sent for by his friend Lt. Scotty McAllister, former sergeant with vision of General down the road, when he comes across an army scout tortured to death by the Apache. At the same time, he spots a woman(Andersson) on a horse as it collapses who is being followed by a couple of Indians. When he rescues her, she tells him shes come from Fort Creel and he takes her back, much against her will. Her husband is Willard Grange(Weaver), a freighter in the town by the Fort.

Ellen Grange is not welcomed back by any of the townspeople they pass or her husband. Turns out she’d been recently returned after a year’s captivity of the Apaches when she’d been rescued. Her husband was more concerned with the horse she’d stolen to leave.

We learn why he’d been summoned when McAllister shows him a scalp with a bell tied into it. It had come from his Commanche wife, who’d been murdered and scalped. He’d quit scouting to go looking for her murderer. The lieutenant had gotten it from the Marshall, a gunman, of the town by another fort. He was either the one who killed his wife or knew who did.

Remsberg is convinced to scout for McAllister, who’s got to lead a troop of green soldiers to deliver ammunition and powder, as well as horses, to the other fort. The area between the two forts is filled with Apaches broken off the reservation and on the warpath. Sidney Poitier is a former army sergeant, now horse dealer, who’d sold the horses to the army. He’s forced to go along as the deal was contracted to be for saddle broke horses and he hadn’t had time to break but half before they have to move out. If he wants the rest of his money, he has to go along and work on them on the trip.

Weaver wants to deliver supplies to the other fort as well and gets the Fort Creel commander to let him accompany the troops, much against McAllister’s wishes.

As they are leaving, Garner learns Ellen Grange had run off again, stealing another horse. He’d rescued her a second time the night before when four townies had caught her trying to steal a horse and were intent on “getting what she’d given them Indians for a year,” returning her to her home. I had an idea of why she’d been so hard to return to the Apaches and was proved right. Think on it.

Garner is scouting and looking for Apaches when he finds them trooping along, full village with women and children, including Ellen, reports back. The troops are outnumbered by fighting men two to one and their opponents are not green, then goes out once more. He finds where they set up a new village, at a watering hole, with all warriors but a few gone. There he rescues Ellen- and her baby, the grandson of the chief, Chata, heading back for the troops.

They had been ambushed by the Indians and were pinned down, chuck wagon and extra water destroyed, half the men dead, a number of others seriously wounded. Garner reports the only water holes between them and their destination is one twenty miles away, where the Apache village is situated, and Diablo Canyon, only a half mile away, but the only way in and out is where Chata has most of the band located.

That’s when McAllister comes up with a desperate plan. When darkness falls, the troops set out with the wagons at a hard run. Garner, Poitier, and a couple of men stay behind under the cover of darkness. Chata won’t be in any hurry to catch them as they are pulling heavy wagons. They are to go but a short distance, then turn as though heading toward the water hole where the village is set up. When they draw the Apaches away, Garner, Poitier, and the others are to secure Diablo Canyon, taking care of any Indians left to guard it, then Garner is to take off for the fort for reinforcements. Then the troops switch and make a fast run for Diablo and hope they can hold out.

Garner is pursued by two Indians and hsi canteen has been holed by a stray bullet.

Does he get to the fort? Do the troops arrive in time? Does Garner find the man who killed his wife?

Watch the movie and find out.

FFB: Tales of Wells Fargo – Frank Gruber

25 Thursday Feb 2010

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Forgotten Books, Frank Gruber, Tales of Wells Fargo

Tales of Wells Fargo was a television series starring Dale Robertson as Jim Hardie , an agent that investigated crimes against Wells Fargo and their businesses. Early in the show, he was strictly an investigator, later a ranch owner that worked part time for them. It ran from 1957-62, 167 half hour black and white episodes and the last season expanding to an hour with 44 color stories. It was created by Frank Gruber, one of three westerns he did for television(the other two being Lawman and Shotgun Slade).

The book TALES OF WELLS FARGO is a collection of eight short stories adapted by Gruber from early teleplays from the show. Four were his own written for the show and, of the other four, three were from stories by him, scripts by Steve Fisher. The last was solely by William Leicester.

They all featured some of the real characters that lived in the west. Jim Hardie, in the course of his investigations in these stories, encounters Billy The Kid, Lew Wallace, Belle Starr, Sam Bass, the Sundance Kid, and John Wesley Hardin. He ranges as far north as Montana, south to Lincoln County in New Mexico, poses as a peddler, outlaw, escaped convict, all to solve crimes and/or recover missing money stolen while under Wells Fargo supervision. He’s in town to testify at a robbery/murder trial, the only witness, while also looking for the man really behind it when Hardin rides into town.

I’ve become a fan of Gruber’s writing in the last year, having read his autobiography, THE PULP JUNGLE, and a number of his mysteries. This was his first western for me and everything has been a quick, fun read. I may have to find more of his westerns, not to mention other mysteries. (sigh) The TBR pile grows faster than I can whittle it down.

Music Appreciation: Blackmore’s Night

24 Wednesday Feb 2010

Posted by Randy Johnson in music

≈ 8 Comments

I first came across this band in an article in the April 2010 issue of Realms of Fantasy magazine. Consisting of Ritchie Blackmore, he of Deep Purple and Rainbow renown, and Candace Night. They met in 1989 and started working together. Both had an interest in the Renaissance period and began combining his talents with an acoustic guitar and her vocal talents with renaissance-folk rock, performing in front of audiences dressed in period costumes. The videos have a touch of fantasy elements as well.

To date, they’ve released seven studio albums, a couple of live sets, and are working on a new album. I’m just beginning to learn about them myself and like what I’ve heard so far. Blackmore’s guitar work, especially on the third clip, is exemplary.

It’s a very soothing and beautiful music.

This first clip is the title song of their debut release:

Two more favorites:

And it looks like so much more to check out.

Lawman

23 Tuesday Feb 2010

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Burt Lancaster, Lee J. Cobb, Robert Ryan, western

LAWMAN surprised me when I watched the recording I’d made of it this morning. Released in 1971, I’d expected a good western adventure, a couple of hours of enjoyment, then delete it and go on to the next. It turned out to be much more than escapist fun though.

The three main players were Burt Lancaster as Marshall Jared Maddox, a rigid, straight by the book lawman, Lee J. Cobb as Vincent Bronson, the rich cattle man that had always worked hard and played hard, and Robert Ryan as Marshall Cotton Ryan, an aging lawman, once feared, now living out his days in charge of the quiet town of Sabbath.

Minor roles were filled by Robert Duval, Richard Jordan, Ralph Waite, Albert Salmi, J. D. Cannon, and Sheree North. A number of other of those recognizable faces, but not quite remembered names, populates the town of Sabbath.

The plot is simple. Several months back, Bronson and six men, some his, some small ranchers that had thrown in with him, had entered the town of Bannock, Maddox’s town, to celebrate the end of a cattle drive. Drinking and hoorawing the town, in the shooting and damage, an old man is shot, killed. These weren’t bad men and none knew someone had died as they left town. Maddox had been out of town tracking an outlaw.

Now he rides into Sabbath, Bronson’s town, to arrest the seven men and take them back for trial. Six actually, for one he’d already ran into and had to kill when he was drawn upon.

The once fiery Marshall Ryan doesn’t want any trouble. Bronson owns most of the town. He’s not the “evil” cattle baron one sees in some westerns, but a prideful man that wants to buy off Maddox when he learns what happened, pay for the damages to the town, reparations to the dead man’s family. But both men are equally unbending. Maddox knows how weak the justice system in his town is, knowing they’ll likely get a trial and a fine, but the law must be followed. Bronson and the others don’t have the time to spare.

Robert Duvall and J.D. Cannon are two small ranchers, honest men, Sheree North the woman of Cannon’s character, who just happens to have a history with Maddox. Neither man can spare the time to go through a trial, saying they’d have nothing to come back to if gone more than a day or two. The words are never said about North’s character but from comments made during talks, one gets the impression she’s a former “soiled dove.” Richard Jordan is a young cowman torn between his loyalty to the brand and what he knows is right.

The townspeople want Maddox to leave and approach him armed, trying to force him out. Maddox calmly faces them down, admitting they have enough to kill him, but does anyone have the stomach to be the first one to die.

The story builds as first one, then another tries him, some dying, some arrested, and when the inevitable confrontation at the end comes, it didn’t go at all like I thought.

A different kind of western directed by British director Michael Winner and written by Gerald Wilson, with musical score by Jerry Fielding.

← Older posts
February 2010
S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28  
« Jan   Mar »

Recent Posts

  • July 2015 Movie Round-Up
  • July 2015 Book Round-Up
  • It’s Been Fun
  • For Your Amusement
  • Drummer of Vengeance (Il giorno del giudizio)1971

Blogroll

  • Alan Dean Foster
  • Anthony Neil Smith
  • Astronomy Picture of The Day
  • Barry Eisler
  • Beat To A Pulp
  • Bill Crider
  • Bookgasm
  • Broken Trails
  • Cap'n's Blog
  • Carl V. Anderson
  • CBS Radio Mystery Theater
  • Charles Gramlich
  • Chris La Tray
  • Cullen Gallagher
  • David Cranmer
  • Dayton Ward
  • Ed Gorman
  • Evan Lewis
  • Fear On Demand
  • Frederik Pohl
  • Gary Dobbs
  • George Kelley
  • Harlan Ellison
  • Hollywood Memorabilia
  • Hour 25
  • J F Norris
  • J. D. Rhoades
  • James Reasoner
  • Jeff Mariotte
  • Jerry House
  • Jim Winter
  • Joachim Boaz
  • Joe Lansdale
  • John Scalzi
  • Kevin Tipple
  • Larry D. Sweazy
  • Laurie Powers
  • Lee Goldberg
  • Martin Edwards
  • Meridian Bridge
  • Nik Morton
  • Old Time Radio
  • Old Time Radio Show Catalog
  • Open Range
  • Patti Abbott
  • Paul Bishop
  • Paul D. Brazill
  • Radio Tales of The Strange & Fantastic
  • REH: Two Gun Raconteur
  • Richard Robinson
  • Scott Cupp
  • Scott D. Parker
  • Secret Dead Blog
  • Spur & Lock
  • The Rap Sheet
  • Tipping My Fedora
  • Todd Mason
  • Victor Gischler
  • Western Fiction Review
  • WordPress.com

Archives

  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008

Categories

  • Alan Steel
  • Andrew Bergman
  • Animation
  • Ann Sothern
  • Art
  • authors
  • Blues
  • Books
  • Busby Berkeley
  • Chap O'Keefe
  • Christmas
  • Comics
  • Crime
  • Drama.Overlooked Movies
  • ebboks
  • ebook
  • Ebooks
  • Edward G. Robinson
  • family
  • fiction
  • Forgotten Books
  • Franchot Tone
  • Gary Dennis
  • Geraldine Fitzgerald
  • Graphic Novels
  • grumpy cat
  • Historical
  • History
  • Humor
  • Humphrey Bogart
  • idiots
  • Joan Crawford
  • John Blumenthal
  • Johnston McCulley
  • Kasey Riley
  • Lee Van Cleef
  • Max Allan Collins
  • Melvyn Douglas
  • Michele Giradon
  • Mike Bond
  • Mike Marshal
  • Motorhead
  • movies
  • music
  • Mystery
  • Overlooked Movies
  • Paul Draker
  • Personal
  • Peter Lorre
  • Poetry
  • politics
  • Quarry
  • Radio
  • religion
  • Rex Kusler
  • Robert Barnard
  • Robert L. Fish
  • Robert Mitchum
  • Robert Ray
  • Robert Ryan
  • Robert Woods
  • Robert Young
  • Romantic Suspense
  • Science Fiction
  • Science?
  • spaghetti westen
  • spaghetti western
  • Sports
  • Sydney Greenstreet
  • Television
  • The Lawson Family
  • The Wild Wild West
  • Thriller
  • Timothy Ashby
  • Tony Anthony
  • True crime
  • Uncategorized
  • Western
  • William Berger
  • Youtube

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Not The Baseball Pitcher
    • Join 460 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Not The Baseball Pitcher
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...