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Monthly Archives: December 2012

Overlooked Movies: The Maverick Queen(1956)

31 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Overlooked Movies, western

maverick-queen-hsBy 1956, Barbara Stanwyck was in her late forties and aging out of the sorts of roles she’d played most of her career(you know movie executive minds). Westerns were her favorite type of film anyway, and it allowed her more time outdoors and riding horses, so she was gravitating more and more toward horse operas. The movie is based on the novel by Zane Grey, which I haven’t read. But by a description I did read, it sounds considerably different from what appeared on screen.

She’s the title character, a maverick queen, with a saloon of the same name. She’s also into cattle rustling and robbery among other things. She owns most of the Wyoming town of Rock Springs. She’s also allied with the Hole-In-The-Wall gang and once had a relationship with the Sundance Kid(Scott Brady), but that was over as far as she was concerned. In her climbKANE-1956-The-Maverick-Queen-Los-indomables-BE000 to power, Kit Banion was attracted to strong men, but had a habit of using them up. But Sundance didn’t see it that way and his jealousy drives much of the plot of this film. Butch(Howard Petrie) doesn’t like it and tries to keep them apart.

Lucy Lee(Mary Murphy) is a young rancher who’s taking a herd of cattle to market at Rock Springs. Her father had been killed sometime in the past and she was determined to hang onto the ranch.

MakeThumbImage.aspxA man, Jeff Young(Barry Sullivan), hails the camp and asks for food. He’s there when Sundance and the gang approach to rustle the herd. He ducks behind the wagon and, when he emerges guns out, he’s wearing a kerchief covering his face from the nose down, getting the drop on the gang, and relieving them of their guns and forcing them to leave.

In town, he bathes, shaves, and dresses in a suit, heading to the Maverick Queen. There he runs into Lucy Lee who’s sold her head to Kit Banion, much to her consternation as she’d sent the gang to steal the herd. Lucy offers Jeff a job getting rid of Butch and Sundance, though he refuses as he has other plans.KANE-1956-The-Maverick-Queen-Los-indomables-ES000-1

Shortly in a poker game, he gets into an argument with Sundance, the gunman accusing him of cheating. Jeff flips the table over before Sundance can shoot him in the belly. It gets him an in with Kit and he introduces himself as Jeff Younger. When asked if any relation to Cole and Jim, he admits to being a nephew just out of prison(they got twenty-five years, he got three). He takes a job as a faro dealer and when a new “job” comes up, Kit volunteers Jeff to help, much to the jealous Sundance’s displeasure.

She wants her fifty thousand back from Lucy Lee, who’s shipping it by train to a bank in a bigger city, and figures Jeff can help her get it back. She’s also attracted to Jeff and KANE-1956-The-Maverick-Queen-Los-indomables-FR000-Belinskywants more.

Jeff is also not who he appears to be. Kit learns that when the real Jeff Younger shows up and sets out to warn her Jeff.

It sets up a slam bang finish with the Hole-In-The-Wall gang and a posse lead by a Pinkerton.

Enjoyed this look at Butch and Sundance, much less likable than the version I was familiar with, the Newman and Redford portrayals.

I’ll be back next week with another Stanwyck-Sullivan western.

Couldn’t find a trailer, but the movie is on Youtube broken into chunks and I’ve included part 1 to give you flavor:

For more overlooked movies, Todd Mason gathers them on Tuesdays over at his blog, SWEET FREEDOM.

December 2012 Book Round-Up

31 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ 2 Comments

272: CR: Seduction of The Innocent – Max Allan Collins

273: CR: Hit Me(ebook) – Lawrence Block

274: SF: A Pleasure To Burn – Ray Bradbury

275: HR: The Dead Man: The Black Death(ebook) – Aric Davis

276: TH: A Killer In The Wind – Andrew Klavan

277: WE: Strike of The Mountain Man – William W. Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone

278: SF: The Quetzel Motel(ebook) Ed Lynskey

279: WE: Poison Mean(ebook) – Peter Brandvold

280: WE: Wyoming Slaughter – William W. Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone

281: MY: The Aluminum Turtle(ebook) – Baynard Kendrick

282: FA: The Wonderful Flight To The Mushroom Planet(ebook) – Eleanor Cameron

283: WE: Sixkiller, U.S. Marshal: Eight Hours To Die – William W. Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone

284: WE: Black Horse Creek – Charles G. West

285: FA: Stowaway To The Mushroom Planet(ebook) – Eleanor Cameron

286: TH: The Bleeding Edge – William W. Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone

287: FA: Mr. Bass’s Planetoid(ebook) – Eleanor Cameron

288: CR: The Accused(ebook) – Harold R. Daniels

289: FA: A Mystery For Mr. Bass(ebook) – Eleanor Cameron

290: FA: Jewels From The Moon and The Meteor That Couldn’t Stay(ebook) – Eleanor Cameron

291: CR: The Posthumous Man(ebook) – Jake Hinkson

292: FA: Time and Mr. Bass(ebook) – Eleanor Cameron

293: CR: Ratlines – Stuart Neville

294: WE: Judge Earl Stark: The Silver Alibi(ebook) James Reasoner

295: CS: Santa’s Christmas Eve Blues(ebook) – Douglas Lindsay

296: CR: Getting In The Wind – Harlan Ellison

297: HR: The Dead Man: The Killing Floor(ebook) – David Tully

298: WE: The No-Account Girl(ebook) – Peter Brandvold

299: TH: A Dubious Artifact(ebook) – Gerald J. Kubicki

300: CR: The Thief – Fuminori Nakamura

301: CR: The Pickpocket(ebook) – Mickey Spillane

302: TH: Phoenix Rising: Firebase Freedom – William W. Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone

303: MY: The Creative Murders – Carter Brown

304: SF: The Energy Scavengers(ebook) – Ryan Sean O’Reilly

By the numbers, this is my best year of reading since I started keeping records. It doesn’t mean the same though. My previous record was 294, but that was all full length books. In this new world of ebooks, you get all lengths of story in one, anywhere from a short story to a very long novel. I have every possible combination in my 2012 totals(something along the lines of one ebook for every two paper).

I have found that novellas work best in ebook form, the length perfect, for me anyway, to read in the early morning hours while drinking coffee. One thing I do like about them, as mentioned earlier, is the format is perfect for shorter form stories that have a limited market these days.

We’ll see what 2013 brings.

December 2012 Movie Round-Up

31 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

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The Durango Kid(1940)

The Saint Meets The Tiger(1943)

The Return of The Durango Kid(1945)

Both Barrels Blazing(1945)

Blazing The Western Trail(1945)

Streets of Ghost Town(1950)

Beware, My Lovely(1952)

The Maverick Queen(1956)

Forty Guns(1957)

The Left-Handed Gun(1958)

7 Dollars on The Red(1966)

Professionals For A Massacre(1967)

Cjamango(1967)

Long Live Your Death(1971)

There’s A Noose Waiting For You…Trinity(1972)

The Amazing Spider-Man(2012)

Hail To The Redskins!

31 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Sports

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Redskins

389_Randy_Johnson_football_card The ‘Skins are in the playoffs!

Hot Damn!

The star tonight was sixth round choice Alfred Morris. The little running back rushed for two hundred yards and three TDs. RG III still wasn’t a hundred percent, but he was still effective as a runner on several occasions and making the Cowboys defense wary at all other times.

28-18 the final score.

Despite being s ‘Skins fan, I find myself feeling for Tony Romo. Yes, I’ve made fun of him in the past. Three picks in the game, though the two in the first period meant nothing(no scores given up), but the third was a killer. Lte in the game that lead to the final touchdown. He’s a good quarterback and this will give people more fuel to pile on him.

New In The House

30 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

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New In The House

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***********************************************************
First the ebooks:

1: Reclaiming The Angel’s Share(review copy) – Chris Fitzgerald

2: To See Blue Skies(review copy) – Chris fitzgerald: the first two are English Private eye Brynn Hollister adventures

and the paper books:

3: Scream Cruise(review copy) – Jim DeLorey: set against Detroit’s annual Dream Cruise, a mile long stretch of hot rods, muscle cars, sport and classic automobiles, we get a thriller with a bomber setting off several blasts and demanding millions of dollars to stop. FBI agent McCoy Johnson is out to stop him.

4: The Thief(review copy) – Fuminori Nakamura: the award winning Japanese writer’s first novel published in the English language.

5: The Terrible Chrunadryne – Eleanor Cameron: another children’s novel by the author of the beloved Mushroom Planet series.

Cjamango(1967)

29 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Helene Chanel, Ivan Rassimov, Mickey Hargitay, spaghetti westerns

600full-cjamango-posterCJAMANGO(pronounced Cha-mango) is not a terribly original film. It owes more than a little to the few years earlier A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS. The tall, stoic stranger, two groups feuding over stolen gold, and Cjamango playing them off against each other.

Ivan Rassimov(billed as Sean Todd) plays the title role and all he’s after is the gold he’d won in a poker game that was stolen from him. He’d won a pile of cash and was leaving, promising to return when the other players struck it rich again. One of them, a barrel chested Mexican wants to play one more hand. He picks up a pair of double saddle bags sitting on the floor and offers it up. Bags of gold dust, worth way more than Cjamango’s cash. When pointed out, the Mexican says “It’s only gold.”

He deals out one hand, cards face up and after four cards holds three kings, Cjamango has a possible club flush, which has the bandit gloating. Cjamango gets his flush and we neverzivotinje 2 slim DVD COVER see his opponent’s last card, the man declaring him a cheat(though he dealt the cards). Before Cjamango can claim his winnings, two gangs burst in and start shooting. Cjamango isn’t wounded much, a crease, and spies the town drunk, Hernandez, being paid off with a bottle of liquor for informing on the gold in the saloon.

That’s where our hero goes first, the old man’s home, to find out who stole his gold and cash.

The two gangs are lead by El Tigre(Piero Lulli) and Don Pablo(Livio Lorenzon), two veterans of the genre. the two men own ranches and they’ve had a falling out. The gold has disappeared and each swear the other has it.

CJAMANGOCjamango hangs around, visiting each, and declares that he wants his gold. Don Pablo sends a quartet after him and they jump him in the saloon, quickly dying in a shootout. Cjamango finds himself helped by a mysterious stranger, Clint(Mickey Hargitay), who has been nosing around, claiming to be a liquor salesman. He has a black bag with samples. But he’s pretty good with a gun.

There’s a beautiful woman, Pearl(Helene Chanel), daughter of the town drunk, who’s on the periphery just trying to survive.

There’s also a small boy, Manuel, all alone after Do 92324Pablo pulled a trick on the town, grabbing the boy’s father, declaring him with the plague, and burning him alive. It empties out the town, they never give a reason why Pablo wanted the town free of any but his men and himself, and no one whats to help the boy, fearing the plague. Pearl is the only one who cares, paying one farmer money to take the boy to a convent. he swears he will, only to dump the boy outside of town. The boy constantly follows Cjamango around begging for help and gets right annoying at times. Cjamango shows he’s not quite the stoic loner that he presents in these sequences.

cjamango_sean_todd_edoardo_mulargia_001_jpg_kzkbCjamango sets up El Tigre, spilling to Don Pablo about a shipment of guns, and while they attack the wagon and El Tigre rushes to get his guns back, he finds his gold in El Tigre’s locked building, hiding it.

Everyone is after him, Don Pablo finally grabbing him. Clint shows up to inform that information to El Tigre, who grabs him to check that out. Once he rescues Cjamango, he plays the boy off for the location of the gold. The only way he can get the location is to tie the boy to a fence post with a bundle of dynamite roped into his hands and lighting a long fuse.

It all sets up a battle royal with Don Pablo’s men, who raid the ranch, bodies falling everywhere. Cjamango and Clint escape, working together to get at the gold. Don Pablo and two men take off with it, followed by El Tigre and two of his gang, the six ending up back in town for the final showdown. Cjamango and Clint are not far behind for the finaljj14 showdown. There we learn who Clint really is, certainly not a liquor salesman.

Quite enjoyed this one, but one must be a fanatic about the genre(I am).

A few thoughts.

This was Ivan Rassimov’s first lead role and he has a certain style that serves him well. He appeared in a number of cult films later in his career.

imagesShot on a shoestring budget, there wasn’t a drop of blood shed anywhere despite the large number on men shot to death. No red blotches on shirts or the woman shot in the back. Another hilarious thing was most of the males wore bell bottom pants(a brief fashion rage for a couple of years in the mid-sixties). It jumps around quite a bit also, the editing sloppy, as Cjamango is sen lying on the saloon floor at the beginning, then next scene riding up to Don Pablo’s ranch. Direction was by Eduardo Mulgaria and a decent music score by Felice Di Stefano.

One final note. The actor playing the kid, Valerio Fioravanti, grew up to be an Italian terrorist that was accused of the Bologna training bombings, though he denied being involved.

The Three Faces of Me

28 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Sports

≈ 5 Comments

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Randy Johnson

I’m everywhere.

389_Randy_Johnson_football_card41ySAEKVfNL._SS400_41ZQ-Hm4LyL._SS500_

FFB: Getting In The Wind – Harlan Ellison

27 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Forgotten Books, Harlan Ellison

16137372Another collection of early Ellison. Not really a forgotten book(this edition is just out), but some of his early work published under the name Paul Merchant and a few other pseudonyms.

These stories were all published over a ten year period, mid-fifties to mid-sixties, in men’s magazines of the era. Considered risque at the time, they are rather mild compared to today’s fiction.

But they are Harlan Ellison’s work as a young man trying to put food on the table for his family. And a harbinger of things to come. The collection starts off with one of Mr. Ellison’s fine introductions where he speaks of the collection, how it came to be, and a few other things.

The stories herein:

1: THIS IS JACKIE SPINNING

2: DEAD WIVES DON’T CHEAT(as by John Magus)

3: PRIDE IN THE PROFESSION

4: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A ZILCH WRITER(as by Paul Merchant)

5: GOD BLESS THE UGLY VIRGIN

6: A BLUE NOTE FOR BAYOU BETTY(as by Derry Tiger)

7: GANG GIRL

8: THE GIRL WITH THE HORIZONTAL MIND(as by Price Curtis)

9: AN EPISODE OF SUNBATHERS

10: CARRION FLESH(as by Paul Merchant)

11: THE SILENCE OF INFIDELITY

Worth a look.

For more forgotten books, as always, drop in on Patti Abbott every Friday at her blog, PATTINASE.

Ratlines – Stuart Neville

26 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ 2 Comments

13584309Though based partly on fact, RATLINES is mostly fiction. This thriller is set in 1963 Ireland. They are preparing for a visit from the young American President Kennedy.

Something has happened that may or may not be connected. A German national has been murdered, the third of three foreigners dead within a few days of each other. Lieutenant Albert Ryan of the Directorate of Intelligence has been assigned to find out who’s doing the killing and stop them.

You see, the three men all have a connection. They were Nazi sympathizers and had lived in Ireland since the war. There were other such people living int he country as well and Ireland wants that secret kept.

A note is found on the dead German addressed to Otto Skorzeny promising “We are coming for you!” Skorzeny is a former Nazi commando living in Ireland.

As Ryan probes the case, which he has no taste for as he fought for England in the war and protecting Nazis goes against all he believes, he discovers that Skorzeny is a most dangerous man, more so than the public persona he projects nowadays.

I’d never read any of Neville’s work before. This was quite an absorbing story set against true events. Skorzeny was real, the politician backing him was real, and later stated no such person ever lived in Ireland. As mentioned, the rest is fiction.

Well done and written. Had a quite good time reading this one. The book goes on sale next week, January 1.

Something of A Milestone For The Blog

26 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Randy Johnson in Personal

≈ 8 Comments

I went over 200,000 hits on the blog today. Not much compared to most folks out there, but since I do it for fun, I don’t mind. It is gratifying that that many folks have checked out my meager efforts though.

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