• About

Not The Baseball Pitcher

~ Just another WordPress.com weblog

Not The Baseball Pitcher

Monthly Archives: February 2012

February 2012 Book Round-Up

29 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ 2 Comments

32: PI: Drum Beat: Dominique – Stephen Marlowe

33: TH: Gideon’s Corpse – Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

34: CR: McGrave(ebook) – Lee Goldberg

35: MY: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? – Ed Gorman

36: MY: Q.B.I.(Queen’s Bureau of Investigation) – Ellery Queen

37: HR: In The Language of Scorpions – Charles Allen Gramlich

38: AD: The Red Reef(ebook) – James Reasoner

39: TH: Liquid Fear – Scott Nicholson

40: CR: Hope Road(ebook) – John Barlow

41: WE: Death Is The Hunter – Charles G. West

42: CR: Miami Mayhem – Marvin Albert

43: TH: The Cerberus Protocol(ebook) – Joseph Nassise & Jon F. Merz

44: TH: Chronic Fear – Scott Nicholson

45: CR: The Alabaster-Skinned Mule(ebook) – Jochim Vandersteen

46: WE: Matt Jensen, The Last Mountain Man: Massacre At Powder River – William W. Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone

47: WE: Redemption: Hunters – James Reasoner

48: CR: Raining Willie & Cranked: Two Texas Tales(ebook) – Bill Crider

49: CR: My Kind of Game – Marvin Albert

50: CR: The Lady In Cement – Marvin Albert

51: TH: The Deadfall Project – Brett James

February 2012 Movie Round-Up

29 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ Leave a comment

In Old Arizona(1929)

Pete Kelly’s Blues(1955)

Tony Rome(1967)

The Hills Run Red(1967)

Thor(2011)

The Hills Run Red(Un Fiume di dollari)1967

28 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Dan Duryea, Henry Silva, spaghetti western, Thomas Hunter

THE HILLS RUN RED was a 1967 spaghetti western starring Thomas Hunter, Dan Duryea, and Henry Silva. It was a co-production with Dino de Laurentiss and the Spanish Cb Films studio, though the latter had a strong deal with American International.

It appears, to me anyway, an attempt was made for this to appear as a Hollywood production for the American release. Thomas Hunter and Dan Duryea are in the film, not unusual for the spaghetti film genre, but most of the production principals hid behind “Americanized” names. Director Carlo Lizzani was billed as Lee W. Beaver, Ennio Morricone did the music as Leo Nichols, script by Piero Regnoli as Dean Craig.

It’s one of the better westerns in this genre, a revenge story where a man spends five years in prison, courtesy of the government, after the Civil War, betrayed by his friend when they were fleeing with a half million in cash. The low man in the card cut was supposed to stay with the wagon and cash while the winner bailed out and hid. Jerry Brewster(Thomas Hunter) was the loser and the two parted. Unknown to Brewster, his friend, Ken Seagull, grabs the money when he leaps from the wagon, leaving Jerry to get a beating from the Union troops and a five year prison sentence.

When he’s finally released, he returns to his home, only to find it abandoned, in ruins. A diary in his wife’s hand reveals what happened. Seagull had returned home with a large sum of money, refused her a loan, and she and their son were not doing well. He lwearns later that she’d died four years before, the boy, six, had been taken in by the blacksmith.

Seagull had had men watching the prison and, upon his release, had his foreman, the maniacal Garcia Mendez(Henry Silva) send a couple of men to kill him. One knew what he looked like and they intercepted him at his former home. Unarmed(the prison didn’t return his pistols, confiscated, only the empty holsters), Jerry’s running and hiding when a fellow pops up and throws him a pistol. An older man, when it’s settled, reveals the name Winny Getz(Dan Duryea). All through the picture he helps Jerry at convenient times, his motivations unrevealed. I always knew there was something odd about him and we find out at the end of the film.

Henry Silva steals the movie with his over the top interpretation of the black-clad foreman of Seagull, now calling himself Ken Milton.

Nice, violent spaghetti western. Enjoyed it thoroughly. The American release tacks on the obligatory happy ending and the DVD version carries it. On IMDB, it said the original is relegated to now poor VHS copies.

The Hills Run Red trailer

Overlooked Movies: In Old Arizona(1929)

28 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Cisco Kid, O.Henry, Overlooked Movies

IN OLD ARIZONA starred Warner Baxter as the Kid(he won Best Actor Oscar for the role, the second ever given) and was directed by Irvin Cummings and Raoul Walsh(in a cruel bit of irony, Walsh was supposed to play the Kid until a rabbit leaped into his windshield, the resulting accident costing him an eye). Based on the O.Henry short story, THE CABALLERO’S WAY, the Kid of the movie and all future ones was toned down considerably from his origins.

The film also got Oscar nominations for best director, best writing, best cinematography, and best picture.

The film was also notable for several reasons. The first western to use that new sound innovation and the first “talkie” to be filmed outdoors. Also instrumental in the development of the singing cowboy with Baxter singing a song to his love, Tonia(Dorothy Burgess).

The plot is simple. The Kid is a notorious bandit with a $5,000 reward on his head. He’s charismatic though, a sort of Robin Hood who doesn’t steal from folks, but mostly banks or Wells Fargo. When he holds up a stage and takes the gold strong box, he even does a bit of flirting with the female passengers.

Complaints from Wells Fargo gets the army into it and they send Sergeant Mickey Dunn(Edmund Lowe) in with a patrol to run him down. Dunne is a New York boy who dreams of returning there and away from the west.

The two men meet in a barber shop when Dunn stops by for a haircut and the Kid is just finishing and about to have a bath. The Kid is only known to a few in town and the two trade quips about women(The Kid: “I love a girl.” Dunn: “I love one too. At a time.”). They agree to meet later at the saloon for a drink.

Dunn learns shortly from the blacksmith, an old army buddy, that the man he’d been socializing with was the Kid himself.

The Kid’s girl, Tonia, doesn’t seem as true to him. Upon his arrival, she hustles another man out the back door, then makes over him to cover the escape.

He leaves for another job just before Dunn shows up and Tonia makes over him just as much, seeming fascinated by the uniform. She seems a grasping woman as she finds the wanted poster and extracts a promise from Dunn to give her the money when he kills the Kid.

The film follows O.Henry’s story fairly close, besides cleaning up the Kid’s image a bit, with a few minor changes. It had a Los Angeles premiere in September, 1928, but only got wide release in January, 1929.

An interesting picture for me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other Cisco Kid stuff, movies or television, aside from a clip here and there. Just know him by reputation.

For more overlooked films, and related stuff, go to Todd Mason over at Sweet Freedom.

Here’s a clip of James Melton singing My Tonia from the film:

CassaFire – Alex J. Cavanaugh

27 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Alex J. Cavanaugh, space opera

The Vindicarn War was twenty years in Byron’s past, chronicled in CassaStar. He’d kept the promise to his late friend and navigator Bassa to explore space. The vessel Rennather had been his home for a long time now, Byron flying one of their shuttles. A private man, he’d made no close friends in a long time.

That was about to change.

The Rennather was headed for the planet Tgren where ruins of an advanced civilization had been found. The inhabitants were not native, the ruins of the ship that brought their ancestors had been found.

The Tgrens aren’t quite as advanced, no space flight, and suspicion mounts around their technology and their psychic abilities. It doesn’t take long when Byron meets the Prefect’s niece to realize the same sort of psychics were developing in the Tgrens. Athee tested strong in that department and Byron receives permission to start her training. He learns that she possesses an ability that no Cassan female, and few males, are able to learn: the ability to teleport.

Byron and Athee began to draw close, as well as a young translator working in the ruins, much to the older man’s consternation.

The accident, explosion, at the ruins apparently sent out a signal and a giant ship was headed toward Tgren. Seemingly unstoppable, the race was on to find a defense and learn what was happening.

The author knows how to keep things moving as the plot advances. It’s obvious he’s learned from the master, a man who’s influenced so many other good writers. As the old saying goes, a real page turner. I had a fine time with this one and I think Alex Cavanaugh has a bright future in science fiction. The best space opera fiction I’ve read in a while.

Worth a look.

CassaFire goes on sale tomorrow, the 28th, and it and the first book can be ordered here at Dancing Lemur Press.

New In The House

26 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

New In The House


1: Between The Dark and The Daylight and 27 More of The Best Crime & Mystery Stories of The Year – edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg: from 2009, this hardcover was a hell of a deal. Stories here from T. Jefferson Parker, Megan Abbott, Michael Connelly, Joyce Carol Oates, Tom Piccirilli, Patti Abbott, and a bunch more.

2: On The Head of A Pin & The Gift of Fire: Two Short Novels by Walter Mosley(ARC): these two are set up like the old Ace double novels. Due for hardcover release on May 8th.

3: Redemption: Hunters – James Reasoner: latest novel in his Redemption western series. Back up a day for the review.

Redemption: Hunters – James Reasoner

25 Saturday Feb 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

James Reasoner, western

James Reasoner has become one of my favorite writers in just a few years. I’ve gotten to know him a bit from reading his blog regularly and swapping a few emails. He can always be relied on for a great read, whether it’s one of his books or one where he works under a house name.
REDEMPTION: HUNTERS is the second book in his series of the small Kansas town and their new Marshall, former Texas cowhand Bill Harvey. A young man, he took up residence while recovering from a leg gore by an old steer and ended up marrying his nurse, Eden.

In this volume, word comes that a band of Pawnee have left the reservation and are on the warpath. The townspeople are nervous, rightly so, and things aren’t helped when a band of buffalo hunters ride into town late one night one step ahead of the Pawnee after a scuffle that left a group of young males dead, one escaping to fetch the rest.

Bill has another problem. There’s a murderer loose in town and he seems to be trying to incite something between the Pawnee and the town, to what end Bill doesn’t know. And who that mystery person is.

A fine novel and a fine series. I look forward to more entries in this one. Here's a link to purchase it.

Recommended.

FFB: Miami Mayhem – Marvin Albert

23 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ 3 Comments

It seemed like a simple job. Miami P.I. Tony Rome’s ex-partner, Ralph Turpin, needed some help. The cheap hotel he worked for as a sort of house dick had a drunk woman passed out in one of their rooms. A rich man’s daughter, the word was out that she was missing and they didn’t want the bad publicity. Rome was offered $200.00 if their name was kept out of it

Rudolph Kosterman was the self-made rich man that was the girl’s father. Rome returned the girl and refused questions other than that she was fine, nothing had happened, and the hotel wanted no trouble.

Late the next day he was visited by the daughter who wanted her diamond encrusted gold daisy pin returned. When Rome convinced her, he didn’t take it, by insisting she should go to the police, she wanted to hire him to find it. A present from her father, it had a sentimental attachment and she didn’t want her father to know anything about it.

In short order, he’s waylaid at his office by two men, taped to a deck chair on his boat, the STRAIGHT PASS, and chloroformed, to awaken to a boat obviously searched. His car and office as well. Something small as the phones were screwed apart.

Since he had nothing else going for the moment, it had to be the daisy pin. A little investigation with the insurance company showed it was worth a few grand. Not enough to be worth all the trouble someone was going to.

Then old Kosterman hires him to find out what’s bothering his daughter. Everything must be kept in-house. No cops.

Things start to go sideways when he arrives early in the morning to his office only to find his ex-partner dead on the floor with a bullet through his forehead and his .45 lying on the floor beside him, one shot fired. Blood pools away from him and going out the door told Rome that one shot hit someone. And bad.

I’ve always like Albert’s westerns, but this is the first of his Rome P.I. series I’d ever read. I have one of the other two and have my eye out for the third. I covered the movie starring Frank Sinatra this past Tuesday on Todd Mason’s Overlooked Movies.

Recommended.

As always, on Fridays, for more forgotten books, check out Patti Abbott over at Pattinase.

The Cerberus Protocol – Joseph Nassise & Jon F. Merz

23 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in ebook

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Jon F. Merz, Joseph Nassise

Captain Memphis Stone, an Army Ranger was on leave in Geneva after several months of war games in Russia. All he wanted was good food, good music, and possibly the company of a good woman.

The accident at the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN complex called him back to duty. Every communication from inside was cut off and the last thing seen before the recording stopped was a flash of energy.

Stone was to head the team going in to rescue the scientists trapped and get them ready for first aid help.

The warped doors were opened and the dozen entered darkness, the only vision was from their night goggles. The first thing they saw was blood, lots of it, splashed on walls, floor, ceiling.

No bodies though.

Then the creatures attacked from out of the black. Panther-like monsters the size of tigers, but with eight legs and razor-sharp barbs on their tails.

It was one of those barbs that saved Stone’s life. As the screaming and gunfire started, a tail of a creature leaping over his head caught him along the temple. When he came to, everyone else was dead and he started thinking about how he was going to get out.

Scooping up a weapon loaded with grenades, which was another good move, he started out, only to run into a humanoid like thing with porcupine-like quills over it’s body. the grenades Stone fired didn’t hurt it, but the force drove it back into a vacuum chamber sufficient to allow him to lock it away, just before he was overwhelmed by a sense of terror as it looked out the window at him.

After several weeks of answering questions and getting medical treatment, Stone was awaiting the results of the hearing that he was sure would exonerate him.

In stepped a man he hadn’t seen in five years: his old commander from Iraq: Darius Trent, who greeted him with a job offer. The card he handed him had a stylized three-headed dog and thre words in latin: deny, defend, destroy.

Politely declining, Stone went into the hearing prepared to continue his career as a Ranger.

It was the shortest discharge in history.

Cashiered out for medical reasons, he was off the base with the clothes on his back in just a couple of hours. His personal effects would be shipped to him later.

When he called Trent to accept the job, he learned what it was all about.

THE CERBERUS PROTOCOL had been started by Truman after papers were found indicating the Nazis had been funding occult experiments during WWII that had opened a rift into an alternate universe. The eight-legged panthers had been mentioned, as well as other creatures. But Stone was the only one who had seen the humanoid beings.

No longer under government control, but with the President’s blessing, funded by private sources, there was a base in Maine and Stone was the first member of HELLSTALKER ONE, the team that would guard the gates of Hell, combating these creatures as a rift opened and closing it with a device developed by Cerberus’ science division.

Of course, Stone would have to recruit his team.

From the list, he got three: Ulf Schwarzwalder, the German, Alena Beresovky, Russian, and Colin “Jock” MacIvers, Scottish. All were, or had been, special forces trained in their countries. All were wary of each other and all three were wary of Stone.

Of course that’s not all the action in this one. the tale is a nice set-up for the series to come. I look forward to future entries.

Today’s Humor: Why You Should Never Trust Your Brother…

22 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Humor

≈ 3 Comments

That’s a big ouch!

← Older posts
February 2012
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
26272829  
« 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

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...