Scott Harris's Blog, page 4

Movie Review: Colorado Territory

“Colorado Territory” is a 1949 movie starring Joel McCrea. I watched it recently for the first time and really enjoyed it. In candor, it’s not a great movie, but it’s fun to watch and well worth the 94 minutes. McCrea and his co-star Virginia Mayo are fun to watch. Plus, the scenery is stunning and

Forum Featuring Johnny Gunn

When — and why — did you first fall in love with Westerns? My grandfather had a complete collection of Zane Gray, and I read every one. Westerns have a flavor you don’t find in mysteries or traditional romance. A sense of right and wrong. I think “Shane” is a good example of that. Who

Forum Featuring Ash Lingam

When — and why — did you first fall in love with Westerns? I would say that my love for Westerns stems back to when I was a boy. I grew up on a small crop farm in the American Midwest. Besides corn and beans, my dad raised ponies and sold them on the side.

When All Hell Breaks Loose

Russ Towne is a friend who writes books in a variety of genres, including children’s books — which I love. But in the past year or so, Russ has worked his way into the world of Westerns, and he is a welcome addition. We’ve done a few projects together, which have all been enjoyable. Russ’

Mile 29: Quit?

My last entry was about how many words you could/should you be writing — and I mentioned that there will be tough days, maybe many in a row, where you simply feel you’ve got nothing left to put down on paper, at least nothing that someone would want to read. You wouldn’t be human if,

Movie Review: How the West Was Won

“How the West Was Won” was originally released in 1962. It was an MGM “epic” and one of its last ones, running three hours and requiring an intermission. In the simplest of terms, the movie is spectacular. Here is a partial — and I stress partial — list of stars: Carroll Baker, Walter Brennan, Lee

Forum Featuring Brent Towns

When — and why — did you first fall in love with Westerns? I liked watching Westerns as a kid, but it wasn’t until a friend gave me a heap of paperbacks in a paper bag that I really became hooked. I think I was 12 at the time. After that I used to scout

Showdown at Possum Trot

“Showdown at Possum Trot” by David Watts is good old-fashioned Western fun. It’s got plenty of bad guys, including one very bad guy (Horse Diggins) who runs the whorehouse but, of course, wants to run everything. It’s got a stand-up sheriff with a quick temper and a quick gun, a whore with a heart of

Mile 28: Pace

By now, you should have a few words down, maybe even a few thousand, and be well on your way toward finishing the first draft of your first novel. At some point, you may have asked yourself, how many words should I be writing a day, a week, a month? It’s a fair question and

Movie Review: Broken Lance

“Broken Lance” is a 1954 film starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner and the beautiful Jean Peters. It was directed by Edward Dmytyk. Matthew Devereaux (Spencer Tracy) is an old-school Irishman who has spent a lifetime building a huge cattle ranch — 50,000 cows spread over a huge section of an unidentified state. He has three