• About

Not The Baseball Pitcher

~ Just another WordPress.com weblog

Not The Baseball Pitcher

Monthly Archives: May 2013

May 2013 Book Round-Up

31 Friday May 2013

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ Leave a comment

128: AD: The Red Menace: A Red Letter Day(ebook) – James Mullaney

129: SF: The Shores of Space – Richard Matheson

130: CR: Crescendo(ebook) – Deborah Ledford

131: TH: Dead Lions – Mick Herron

132: CR: The Outsider – Lou Cameron

133: TH: Red Stripes(ebook) – Matt Hilton

134: TH: Spycatcher: Slingshot – Matthew Dunn

135: TH: Dead Fall(ebook) – Matt Hilton

136: CR: A Textbook Case(ebook) – Jeffrey Deaver

137: CR: The Chalk Girl – Carol O’Connell

138: WE: West Of The Big River: The Lawman(ebook) – James Reasoner

139: TH: Broken Shield(ebook) – J. D. Rhoades

140: FA: Once Upon A Murder – Robert J. Randisi & Kevin D. Randle

141: TH: The White Mountain – Ernie Lindsey

142: TH: Sledge(ebook) – Ernie Lindsey

143: CR: The Healer – Antii Tuonainen

144: TH: Some Are Sicker Than Others – Andrew Seaward

145: CR: Trace – Warren Murphy

146: TH: Complex 90 – Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins

147: WE: Butch Cassidy: The Lost Years – William W. Johnstone & J. A. Johnstone

148: TH: 18 1/2 Minutes – Ronald C. Meyer

149: AD: Warbirds of Mars: Stories of The Fight!(ebook) – Scott P. Vaughn & Kane Gilmour

150: CR: Lullaby – Ace Atkins

151: WE: Dismal River – Wayne D. Dundee

152: AD: Sea No Evil(ebook) – James Mullaney

153: MY: The Odor of Violets – Baynard Kendrick

154: WE: The Family Jensen: Hard Ride To Hell – William W. Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone

155: CR: Pros & Cons(ebook) – Janet Evanovitch & Lee Goldberg

156: TH: Hard Place(ebook) – Ernie Lindsey

May 2013 Movie Round-Up

31 Friday May 2013

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ Leave a comment

The Crowd Roars(1932)

Alice In Wonderland(1933)

Perfect Understanding(1933)

The Falcon Takes Over(1942)

The Far Country(1954)

Adios Gringo(1965)

The Bounty Killer(1967)

A Man Called Django!(1971)

Silver Saddle(1978)

Parker(2013)

FFB: The Odor of Violets – Baynard Kendrick

30 Thursday May 2013

Posted by Randy Johnson in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

16843296Private eye Captain Duncan Maclain, so known for his military service in WWI, where he was also blinded, is investigating the murder of an actor named Paul Gerente, the ex-husband of Mrs. Thaddeus Tredwell, the fourth Mrs. Tredwell. The mister’s daughter Babs had secretly been seeing him and she was now missing.

Maclain and his partner, Spud Savage, have a number of suspects. And even a man who lived one floor above the victim has confessed to the killing, claiming self-defense, and that one of the Tredwell maids can back his story, being a witness. She’ll claim she wasn’t there though.

And the daughter Babs has gone missing besides.

It doesn’t take the blind man long, all his other senses sharpened from years of training, to figure the man’s story doesn’t hold up. The killing couldn’t have happened the way he said.

Why did the man confess to a killing he couldn’t have committed? And why involve an innocent girl?

Maclain moves into the Tredwell household with his two German Shepherds, Schnucke, his seeing eye animal, and Dreist, who serves more as a bodyguard to look into the matter.

Tredwell’s son is an engineer working for the federal government out of a shop on the home property and has designed a bomb sight for the air service(the time is 1940-41 and America hasn’t entered the war yet). He’s working on an improved model and that may have something to do with all the goings on.

And then the second body turns up. Maclain, going to talk with another maid, finds her dead, beheaded!

An unusual P.I. novel involving a spy angle. It was made in the 1942 film EYES IN THE NIGHT.

For more forgotten books, check out PATTINASE on Fridays.

In Honor of The NBA Playoffs…

30 Thursday May 2013

Posted by Randy Johnson in Humor, Sports

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson

…a little commercial humor!

Sea No Evil – James Mullaney

29 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Randy Johnson in ebook

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Crag Banyon, Fantasy/Noir, James Mullaney

SEA NO EVIL is the latest entry in James Mullaney’s humorous fantasy/noir series. Crag Banyon is a private investigator who had clients from Santa Claus to the Greek God Poseidon 17975180in this one. He has an elf partner/assistant named Mannix and a secretary Doris Starburton. To give you an idea how this fun series goes, Banyon stops in one afternoon at his favorite bar and mentions, in P.I. first person of course, it’s even deader than normal. the only customers are a vampire, a zombie, and one of those stitched together corpses that mad scientists are always putting together, then releasing it on the public.

Here, Poseidon and his new wife call Banyon in because he’s been receiving threats to his life. They meet on the outdoors deck of a sea food restaurant over the waters of the bay. You see, a hundred years before old Poseidon had been accused of putting an iceberg in the path of the Titanic. To appease the leprechaun mob, he had to wear an ankle monitor for a hundred years, confining him to water or over water. To come on land would mean his death. It would be coming off in a week.

The ever observant P.I. had noticed a little guy taking more than a casual interest in them from a distance and wearing a parka and a grass skirt. He charges at the little man, only to learn something the Poseidons had forgot to mention. His trident, used to control water, was missing.

Guess who had it!

Banyon was determined not to take their case after nearly drowning for that little omission. Unfortunately, the little man kept trying to kill Banyon and he was forced to take the case to figure out what was going on. Oh, and of course, to stay alive.

I love this series. Mullaney sprinkles pop culture references throughout the story that can’t help but bring a smile to one.

Recommended. Check it out HERE, not to mention the other books in the series. You will be entertained. I promise you.

Overlooked Movies: The Crowd Roars(1932)

28 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Ann Dvorak, Howard Hawks, James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Overlooked Movies

$(KGrHqV,!pEFB)igwR4)BQe5)LW6NQ~~60_35Howard Hawks directed this 1932 racing film. The director had had an obsession with racing since his early years and that knowledge lent the film an authentic air. That a number of real life “racing drivers” were involved in the production helped as well. The Dusenberg brothers helped in the staging of the racing crash scenes.

James Cagney is Joe Greer, top notch driver and the most recent winner of the Indianapolis 500. He’s come home, the first time in four years, for an exhibition race at the local dirt track. Along with him is his best friend Spud Connors(Frank McHugh) who’s met by his wife and son. “Pop” Greer(Guy Kibbee), Joe’s father, is there at the train station with Joe’s kid brother Eddie(Eric Linden), grown up now and with aspirations to be a racing driver. He’s built his own car, with Pop’s help, at the family garage, and is the local star at the dirt track. He’s entered in the exhibition race also.

Joe’s girl friend Lee Merrick(Ann Dvorak) is along, but Joe soft pedals their relationship in front of Eddie, much to Lee’s consternation because she loves him and hates playingimages second fiddle to his racing career. She rooms, it’s never said exactly where, with Anne Scott(Joan Blondell) who has a disdain for men in general and seems, early on anyway, to be a party girl. She hates that Lee sits in the apartment when Joe is away on a race waiting on him to come home.

When Joe’s impressed by Eddie’s driving in the exhibition race and offers him a “real” car, things change. He comes home to find Eddie there, come looking for him, having a drink with Lee and Anne, he goes ballistic. Polite enough until he gets Eddie out, he then hustles Anne out the door a bit later, then laces into Anne, telling her they’re through, that’s he’s taking Eddie with him on the racing circuit.

Crushed by that, Anne is in tears when Anne returns and the pair concoct a plan to show Joe what it’s like to lose someone he loves. Anne will use her wiles, and they are considerable, to win Eddie’s heart. it works too well. For both of them. Anne falls in love, they both do, and it’s the beginning of the end. Joe tries to break them apart, is rebuffed, and throws Eddie off his team. “You’re on your own!” He rages.

1932thecrowdroarsEddie brings his old car for the next race, Joe’s buddy Spud catches him drinking before the start, and sees trouble coming. Sure enough, when Eddie out maneuvers at one spot, he’s enraged and tries to get back at him. Spud puts his car between them and tries to hold off Joe, blocking him all around the track. Joe keeps pushing, bumping Spud, until his friend crashes, the car set fire, Spud burning to death. This sequence was a bit unbelievable for me. We see no one rushing to put the fire out, the race continues, burning fuel across the track, the driver’s running through it every lap. One driver finally pulls off, saying the smell of burning flesh was too much.

Joe, finally realizing what he’s done, spins out.

In the months that follow, Joe’s career takes a nose dive, torn by the scene of his friend burning, while Eddie’s rise. No one knows where Joe is most of the time. He rarely 00379115-786250_catl_500finishes high in a race. Lee is worried, Eddie doesn’t care, happy with Anne.

As the next Indy 500 approaches, Lee borrows money from Anne for the fare to Indianapolis. She wants to find Joe and help him, knowing he’ll be there for the race. She gets a job at a restaurant. Joe, we see, is a broken man, both in spirit and resources, riding the rails to get there, picking up dropped fruit from a box car being unloaded. He visits the track, looking for a ride, any kind of job to be around racing. here’s where we see a lot of real life drivers of the time, each with a line or two, turning him down for a job. One says to another that he couldn’t offer him a job in the pits. Not a driver once as great as him.

Poster - Crowd Roars, The (1932)_01All ends well when Eddie is injured by flying debris from another wreck. he has a two lap lead at the time and unless he can get a relief driver, he will be disqualified. Guess who the relief driver turns out to be? It’s a two man job in each car, a driver and a mechanic(not sure what a mechanic can do in the middle of a race though) and Eddie takes that position as we get the exciting finish where Joe has to chase down the lead driver and pass him at the end, with a tire shredding all the while.

One bit of trivia. THE CROWD ROARS was remade in 1939 as INDIANAPOLIS SPEEDWAY with Pat O’Brien in the Cagney role and Ann Sheridan in the Blondell role. Unfortunately, Frank McHugh got to burn again, playing the same character in the remake.

For more overlooked movies and related matters, as always on Tuesdays, drop in on Todd Mason over at SWEET FREEDOM.

Image

To All Those Who Served…

27 Monday May 2013

971287_569661159731870_508391720_n

Posted by Randy Johnson | Filed under History, Personal

≈ 3 Comments

New In The House

26 Sunday May 2013

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

New In The House

161022406041004
1604503213593552
74598cfbf4d7b1a67b158e05e7e108e7cb494aadPandCEshortCover
***********************************************************

1: Star Trek: Into Darkness – Alan Dean Foster: the tie-in novel for the new movie. Foster is a long time favorite whther his tie-in work or his original stuff.

2: Dead Men’s Dust – Matt Hilton: the first novel in the Joe Hunter series.

3: Eye For An Eye(ARC) – Ben Coes: the latest Dewey Andreas thriller.

4: Fool Me Twice – Michael Brandman: the latest in the continuation of Robert Parker’s Jesse Stone series.

and the ebooks:

5: Sea No Evil – James Mullaney: the latest in the Crag Banyon humorous noir/fantasy series.

6: Pros & Cons – Janet Evanovitch & Lee Goldberg: a short story prequel to their forthcoming novel.

Warbirds of Mars: Stories of The Fight! – edited by Scott P. Vaughn & Kane Gilmour

26 Sunday May 2013

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Kane Gilmour, Pulp Adventure, Scott P. Vaughn

SSC#19What we have here is a collection of stories rooted in the pulp world of the thirties and forties. The creators, Scott P. Vaughn(art) and Kane Gilmour(words), in separate introductions, talk about the various influences that came together in this work. WARBIRDS OF MARS is a webzine with newspaper style strips telling the stories. Two books have gathered the early strips into comic book style collections. They even do radio style broadcasts of stories.

Love of all things 1940s, the pulps, superhero comics of the eighties/nineties.

The set-up is Martians invaded Earth in 1944 bringing a halt to WWII. In the strip, it’s 1948 and the world has coalesced into new alliances. Germany and Japan went with the invaders, most of the rest of the world against them.

In the States, New York and everything northeast is a free state, as is California. The Midwest is controlled by the invaders and Germany, the Southwest a constant battleground. Florida is known these days as the “Glowing Keys,” which should tell you what happened.

The main resistance players are known as the Martian Killers:

Hunter Noir, bandaged head, eyes only visible, fedora, trenchcoat, and two pistols, a Mauser and a Colt .45, is the leader

Jack “Bomber” Paris, pilot and former captain of the Wild Hare bomber squadron in the war.

Josie Taylor, lounge singer and girl friend of Paris, she’s a pilot in training and expert with weapons.

Mr. Mask, the result of genetic cross-breeding, half Martian, half human. He wears a gas mask and carries a samurai sword made by himself, and trained in the arts by the blind sensei, Ojiisama, giving a sense of worth and a name.

The team operates out of a base under Coney Island and go all across the country wherever they’re needed.

The way this collection came about is similar to others. Other writers and artists stood on the borders watching this new playground and wanting to get in to have their own fun. Thankfully the two men allowed it and we get this first volume.

Ready for more. Available both in paper and as an ebook HERE.

The Bounty Killer(El Precio De Un Hombre)1967

25 Saturday May 2013

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Richard Wyler, spaghetti western, Tomas Milian

Actor Tomas Milian was one of the giants in the spaghetti western genre. Born in Cuba in 1932, he was the son of an army general arrested in a dictatorship overthrown in 1933. The4159114 father committed suicide in 1945 which the boy Tomas saw happen. Trained at the Actors Studio, he’d appeared on Broadway in several plays and was spotted by Italian director Mauro Bolognini which led to a long career in Italian cinema. THE BOUNTY KILLER(also released in the U.S. as The Ugly Ones) was his first western. It had a better plot than a lot of spaghettis, probably because it was based on a novel by Marvin H. Albert, a fine writer in a number of different genres.

Bounty_KillerAs a long time fan of spaghetti westerns, and having seen more than a few starring Milian, I saw the beginnings of the character he forged in most of his movies(after the fade of Eurowesterns, he carried it on to other types of films). A barely controlled psychopath, calm one minute, a laughing hyena the next. Violent and nice at the same time. Charismatic to most people he encountered.

The film opens with two men being pursued by a third. That man is bounty hunter Luke Chilson(Richard Wyler). He kills one, the other getting away. That man goes to the small town of New Chacos to find a young woman named Eden(Halina Zawlewska, billed as Ilya Karin), to tell her that Jose Gomez(Milian) needs help. He’s being transferred to a Federal prison and will stop at a way station the next day for the noon meal.

Chilson shows up and claims the life of the outlaw when he won’t surrender,004cbbeccoverweb taking him for the reward.

They call New Chacos a village. But we only see a few buildings: a blacksmith shop run by Miquel(veteran spaghetti actor Mario Brega), a saloon with rooms upstairs run by a man named Novak(Enzo Fiermonte, billed as Glen Foster) where Eden works, a general store run by an older couple(no credits on IMDb), and a young cowboy, Marty Hefner(Manuel Zarzo). Jose grew up there when his family came north from Mexico for a new life. The parents ended up being murdered and the town folk remembered the quiet young man who killed a soldier in self-defense, but went to prison anyway.

bountykillerhh5At the stage station the next day when the transport ferrying Jose stops, there just happens to be a young woman having lunch. Eden of course. Five guards with him, they come in to eat, Jose sitting at the table where Eden, during a distraction she arranges, slips him a gun, then leaves. The next distraction is a couple of men riding up, warned off by the deputy in charge, just enough for Jose to kill the pair left inside with him while the pair of men charge in guns blazing. No one is left alive, the five guards, the two innocents running the stage stop, and we begin to get the idea of the sort of man Jose has become.

Chilson gets word of the escape and that Jose was aided by a mid-twenties blonde with blue eyes. It gives him thought and when he hears of the reward, three thousand, he headstitle back to New Chacos, arriving ahead of Jose and his band of outlaws. The townspeople are not receptive to him. The bar owner Novak has been recognized by Chilson as a respected ex-lawman who’s renounced violence. The blacksmith is a childhood friend of Jose. The elderly couple remember the quiet boy and the cowboy Marty doesn’t like the way the bounty “killer” is questioning Eden. They all conspire to knock Chilson unconscious, tie him up, and wait for Jose to arrive.

180px-TheBountyKiller_Poster9A move they soon come to regret as Jose barely restrains his men from killing Chilson, promising they can have him when they are ready to leave. he grows increasingly erratic as the drink to excess while waiting for a wagon load of goods to arrive< The plan is to empty the general store and take all to Mexico to sell. Jose laughingly promises to send the old couple the proceeds from the sale.

Chilson has been strung up and taunted with gunshots all around, a knife barely missing him, kerosene from a lantern dripping onto him from a punctured lantern hanging over his head, all the while Jose lies on a bed pulled outside, drinking and laughing insanely.

It's Eden that cuts him loose during the night and he's seen riding off the next morning, setting the whole pack of outlaws after him. It was amusing to the the old wife of thethe_bounty_killer general store owner outraged that he would ride off and leave them at the mercy of those cutthroats. Novak points out that they were responsible for being under the thumb of the outlaws.

Not to fear. Chilson is not about to let a bounty that size go easily. He’s merely setting up for the final showdown with Jose and his outlaws, aided bu Novak and Eden. A nicely choreographed explosion of violence.

The reviews on IMDb were all over the place for this one. From badly acted, badly filmed, never should have made it to film to slow at the beginning with a great ending to an overlooked classic. I enjoyed it. It was neither the best spaghetti western I’ve seen or the worst.

← Older posts
May 2013
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Apr   Jun »

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...