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Post by brutalis on Sept 20, 2020 10:52:56 GMT -5
Some random western ramblings and thoughts.
It's only camping if you have a tent and sleeping bag on the ground and cooking over your campfire. It is NOT camping if you are in a Winnebago with all the comforts found at home along with taking a television and cooking on an electric stove/oven.
Every true western child remembers their 1st pair of boots and leather belt with their name upon it. Birthday gifts from grandparents of course.
Nothing better than sleeping in the deep, dark stillness of the woods (excepting for sounds of the night like crickets, birds, bugs, night scavengers, etc) with the light of the stars overhead.
Spring, summer, fall thunderstorms full of thunder, lightning, rain falling with deep scented wet pine trees cleansing the soul.
Winter snow drifting softly as it covers the tree's angle ground in a blanket of white seen through the window in front of a roaring fireplace with a hot cup of cocoa until you bundle up venturing into virgin snow crunching under your feet.
Nights spent visiting grandparents in their mountain home with country music playing in the background as family play Penny poker while you are curled up on the floor with the fireplace warming you and lighting the room as you read your treasured Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid and Two Gun Kid comic books.
Waking before the sun comes up for a drive to the river where you hike over an hour in the dark to that hidden favorite fishing hole (so you get there before everyone else who knows about it) for catching your limit and then cleaning and cooking your catches for breakfast right there on the riverbank.
Spending the afternoon with nothing more than mother nature's scents and sounds of the forest spending the afternoon hiking and wading in the river after fishing all morning.
Time of tranquility and inner peace found walking alone upon the mountain behind the grandparents home while seeing javelina, owls, partridges, squirrels, raccoons, snakes and various other creatures during your early morning or dusk travels.
Sitting on the bank of a river or on damp rocks with your feet and toes wiggling in the mud and rushing water watching tadpoles or dragonflies or fish around you.
Sitting with a book reading as the wind dances and whistles through the treetops above you.
Laying in soft grass looking into the clear blue skies watching clouds drifting along and coalescing into fluffy dream filled images.
Waking to the smells of frying bacon, warm fluffy pancakes with tasty eggs dripping their yoke into a plate three times the size of your normal breakfast since your hunger is enormous when in the mountains.
More to come...
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Post by brutalis on Dec 19, 2020 6:47:49 GMT -5
These cold winter nights remind me of the holidays during Thanksgiving or the occasional Christmas with my dad's retired grandparents up in the mountains in Payson north of Phoenix. On those trips to the hills many a late night was spent sitting by the open fireplace reading my quite tiny collection of Marvel Westerns. It was my chance to indulge as my folks would sit up all night playing penny poker with the grandparents having their fun. My two lazy brothers would sleep, but I took advantage of the adult distraction.
I would tend the fire, hot coco's galore to drink, listen to the small town's only radio station broadcasting country music (when country was king) and read my oh so precious few Kid western comics. Various random issues of Kid Colt, Two Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid and 3 Red Wolf issues. Sitting up all night reading through those issues twice or thrice over all depending upon my parents time spent playing poker. Oh how grand to being left alone to indulge myself poring over those old comics.
This is where my cowboy adoration blossomed and appreciation for 1950's style western adventures grew strong. Wild Kirby and Ayers art. Incredible Jack Keller, Odgen Whitney and Syd Shores work. Back up reprints in every issue from the likes of Joe Maneely, Doug Wildey, John Romita, John Severin and Don Heck and other unknowns to me. Stan's more "subdued" moral stories in comparison to his bombastic superhero stuff.
These were Saturday western movies on print available whenever I craved them. Without having to wait for the weekend to arrive I could read all night long to my hearts desire. With a country music soundtrack and all the hot chocolate I could drink with cold winds whistling through the pine tree's outside the window and at times snow billowing to enjoy safe and warmly inside. It was as close to being an actual part of the old west as a young boy could imagine.
These are treasured memories which remind of simpler days with a loving family. Tears of joy given free reign to flow in the fondest thoughts, emotions and remembrances that can today warm my heart, mind and soul from the cold, cruel torments of today. If only young me could know my western comic book collection would grow to filling up 3 short boxes began from those splendid cold nights poring over my dozen or so western comic books, would he be oh so happy and impressed!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2020 20:42:05 GMT -5
Do other countries have anything like our western mythos? I assume it is something unique to the USA & Canada.
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 27, 2020 23:38:17 GMT -5
Do other countries have anything like our western mythos? I assume it is something unique to the USA & Canada. Maybe the Australians? I know the Germans have long had a love affair with American Westerns. I've even seen an American "Old Shatterhand" movie based on the novels of German author Karl May, which were the source of a bunch of German movies. |
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Post by brutalis on Dec 27, 2020 23:38:54 GMT -5
Do other countries have anything like our western mythos? I assume it is something unique to the USA & Canada. I could presume comics based upon their historical culture should be around. More in the humor, Asterix comes to mind. Conan is a kind of historical fantasy in the same vein. There are French, Italian, Belgium and British western comics out there like Lucky Luke, Tex and Blueberry. But the western cowboy is fairly much an authentic American piece of history. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 28, 2020 1:49:14 GMT -5
Do other countries have anything like our western mythos? I assume it is something unique to the USA & Canada. Russia has somewhat similar fascination with the Cossacks and their eastern frontier. I’m pretty sure both Argentina and Mexico have their versions of our westerns. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 28, 2020 6:54:10 GMT -5
Do other countries have anything like our western mythos? I assume it is something unique to the USA & Canada. Russia has somewhat similar fascination with the Cossacks and their eastern frontier. I’m pretty sure both Argentina and Mexico have their versions of our westerns. Robert Taylor was in a movie from the 60s I’ve seen parts of, “Savage Pampas,” set in Argentina. It’s an army versus outlaws/ rebels and sorta/ kinda based on Argentine history. Looks like many an American Western except for the uniforms. |
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Post by brutalis on Jan 1, 2021 11:36:49 GMT -5
Dagnabbit! With ALL the Marvel toy figures they have and repetitive cranking out of the same figures in repaints why can't they give us the western part of the Marvel Universe? I want the thrill of having Two Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt, Red Wolf, Outlaw Kid, Iron Mask, Gunhawk and others. I get it that they would never be big sellers to the regular market, but isn't the collector crowd something that has a stronger presence today? Gimme my cowboys and Indians before I go on the warpath! That would be how the West is fun!!!
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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 1, 2021 14:26:30 GMT -5
Dagnabbit! With ALL the Marvel toy figures they have and repetitive cranking out of the same figures in repaints why can't they give us the western part of the Marvel Universe? I want the thrill of having Two Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt, Red Wolf, Outlaw Kid, Iron Mask, Gunhawk and others. I get it that they would never be big sellers to the regular market, but isn't the collector crowd something that has a stronger presence today? Gimme my cowboys and Indians before I go on the warpath! That would be how the West is fun!!! I'm sure someone out there has crafted their own one-offs of some of those characters. Of course, someone has!   I looked disdainfully at the popularity of the GI Joe/ Johnny West figures. They were dolls, dammit! Just couldn't cotton to the idea of dressing up my toy cowboys and army men. I was glad I was beyond the age of the target audience when they came out. However, as a fan of the old Daniel Boone show, which didn't have an accompanying Marx or MPC playset, my brothers and I took to naming figures we already had as characters from the show. That's as close as we got to "action figures," I guess.  Left to right, that's "Cincinnatus;" "Yadkin;" and "Dan'l." We had those other two guys, but they didn't have names. We had an Indian who was "Mingo," too. |
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Post by brutalis on Mar 7, 2021 16:35:58 GMT -5
Growing up my grandfather's were big time John Wayne western movie watchers. Every time one played on television (long before VHS/DVD/Blue-ray) it was sit back and time to enjoy. The Duke made plenty of great films as a cowboy but I preferred Kirk Douglas, Randolph Scott and Joel Mcrea as my top three which I enjoyed most when they saddled up. Scott and Mcrea were born with boots on you would think and Douglas just had a certain flair for the western.
There is an endless list of cowpokes and rannie's I could go on about but even today when one of those 4 has a movie I come across on television I will usually stop the channel surfing and watch the rest of the movie. Even though i likely have them all on DVD and may have recently just watched, there is a comfort and pleasure in watching these grand actors of the west.
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 13, 2021 14:27:57 GMT -5
Growing up my grandfather's were big time John Wayne western movie watchers. Every time one played on television (long before VHS/DVD/Blue-ray) it was sit back and time to enjoy. The Duke made plenty of great films as a cowboy but I preferred Kirk Douglas, Randolph Scott and Joel Mcrea as my top three which I enjoyed most when they saddled up. Scott and Mcrea were born with boots on you would think and Douglas just had a certain flair for the western. There is an endless list of cowpokes and rannie's I could go on about but even today when one of those 4 has a movie I come across on television I will usually stop the channel surfing and watch the rest of the movie. Even though i likely have them all on DVD and may have recently just watched, there is a comfort and pleasure in watching these grand actors of the west. I love all of these guys, but I hope you also stop the channel-surfing when you see a Jimmy Stewart Western, from "Destry Rides Again" (1939) to the hard-nosed fifties Westerns directed by Anthony Mann, like "Winchester .73" (1950); "Bend of the River" (1952); "The Naked Spur (1953); "The Far Country" (1954); and The Man from Laramie (1955); and on to 60s Westerns like -- of course -- "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962); the Civil War-set "Shenandoah (1965); the surprisingly entertaining "Bandolero" (1968); and finally, his brief but powerful appearance in "The Shootist" (1976). There are others as well, and nearly all of them are well worthy of more than one viewing. |
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Post by brutalis on Mar 13, 2021 16:46:02 GMT -5
Growing up my grandfather's were big time John Wayne western movie watchers. Every time one played on television (long before VHS/DVD/Blue-ray) it was sit back and time to enjoy. The Duke made plenty of great films as a cowboy but I preferred Kirk Douglas, Randolph Scott and Joel Mcrea as my top three which I enjoyed most when they saddled up. Scott and Mcrea were born with boots on you would think and Douglas just had a certain flair for the western. There is an endless list of cowpokes and rannie's I could go on about but even today when one of those 4 has a movie I come across on television I will usually stop the channel surfing and watch the rest of the movie. Even though i likely have them all on DVD and may have recently just watched, there is a comfort and pleasure in watching these grand actors of the west. I love all of these guys, but I hope you also stop the channel-surfing when you see a Jimmy Stewart Western, from "Destry Rides Again" (1939) to the hard-nosed fifties Westerns directed by Anthony Mann, like "Winchester .73" (1950); "Bend of the River" (1952); "The Naked Spur (1953); "The Far Country" (1954); and The Man from Laramie (1955); and on to 60s Westerns like -- of course -- "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962); the Civil War-set "Shenandoah (1965); the surprisingly entertaining "Bandolero" (1968); and finally, his brief but powerful appearance in "The Shootist" (1976). There are others as well, and nearly all of them are well worthy of more than one viewing. Jimmy Stewart stands tall as a favorite for me and I did forget adding him to the list as my cowpoke love runs deep. Too many fun actors in wonderful movies providing the cowboy way of life so my list is long and deep. Whether it is 50's or 60's or 70's, if it is a western my channel flipping will always stop. Sometimes seeing one as I pass through the channels will spark the urge to dig out the DVD so I can watch unedited and without commercials. Especially when it is one I haven't seen in awhile the desire for kicking back and immerse myself runs strong. |
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Post by berkley on Mar 13, 2021 16:52:05 GMT -5
Do other countries have anything like our western mythos? I assume it is something unique to the USA & Canada. I'm not sure there's a genuine Canadian western mythos as opposed to one that's been borrowed from the US. Alberta is known for the Calgary Stampede rodeo, and while I imagine that the rodeo contests came out of their farming and ranching culture, I wonder about the western-style accoutrements - the cowboy hats and boots, etc. I suspect that part of it came about as an imitation of popular American western culture, but I admit I haven't really looked into the history of it. Maybe it evolved naturally, contrary to my suspicions.
But anyway, I don't think there's any Canadian tradition of gun-slingers and all that kind of thing. No Canadian equivalent of the famous gunfight at the OK Corral, or anything like that, as far as I'm aware, or mythic characters like Wyatt Earp or whoever. Gabriel Dumont was once employed in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, but he's nowhere near as famous in Canada as American western heroes.
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Post by brutalis on Mar 14, 2021 12:00:07 GMT -5
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police would definitely be considered as historical western counterpart to the Arizona/Texas Rangers and US Marshall's. I do know of one cowboy in Canada I remember hearing of. A black cowboy who took one of the 1st cattle drives from America to Alberta. There were so few cowboys in Canada and he saw his chance to make it big. He chose to stay, bought up land and cattle becoming a major rancher there. Had to look him his story on the internet as I couldn't remember his name. It is John Ware. Now I need to see if there is a book out there on him.
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 14, 2021 12:16:40 GMT -5
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police would definitely be considered as historical western counterpart to the Arizona/Texas Rangers and US Marshall's. I do know of one cowboy in Canada I remember hearing of. A black cowboy who took one of the 1st cattle drives from America to Alberta. There were so few cowboys in Canada and he saw his chance to make it big. He chose to stay, bought up land and cattle becoming a major rancher there. Had to look him his story on the internet as I couldn't remember his name. It is John Ware. Now I need to see if there is a book out there on him. There are a few RCMP movies here and there, ranging from Gary Cooper in “Northwest Mounted Police” to “Saskatchewan” with Alan Ladd and of course, Nelson Eddy in “Rose-Marie.” And who could forget Sgt. Preston of the Yukon on TV? There were a couple of serials, too. |
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