Wayne D. Dundee's Blog, page 6

Noteworthy Reads: BLAZE! THE CHRISTMAS JOURNEY by Stephen Mertz

For anyone who hasn't wised up to the fact that a good Western yarn can reach far beyond being just another “shoot-'em-up”, this entertaining tale by Steve Mertz would be a good place to start getting your attitude adjusted.

This latest entry (number 14) in the Blaze! adult Western series --- chronicling the adventures of J.D. and Kate Blaze, the Old West's only husband-and-wife team of gunfighters, as created by Mr. Mertz himself --- has just about everything you'd want in a rousing page-turner: humor, romance, tragedy, adventure, some surprising twists including nice touches of nostalgia and inspiration … and, oh yeah, plenty of gun-blazing action. The cast of characters is well drawn and colorful and along the way we also get a little deeper insight into the backgrounds of J.D. and Kate themselves.
All in all, another fast-paced and enjoyable read from creator Mertz. If you aren't already familiar with the Blaze series, this is a good place to start … and then go out and catch up on the other titles by a variety of veteran writers. You'll be glad you did.

Another Look: LAWMAN (1971, Burt Lancaster)

This largely overlooked Western is a tight, tough action drama with an all-star cast, several of whom give particularly effective performances that help elevate the film to an above-average oater well worth 99 minutes of your viewing time.
The plot is pretty basic. Six cowboys deliver some cattle to the railhead in the town of Bannock. That night they get drunk and rowdy and shoot up the town before riding out. Unknown to them, an old man is is killed by a stray bullet.
Some weeks later, the marshal of Bannock, Jared Maddox (Burt Lancaster), shows in the town of Sabbath, home base for the cowboys. He was out of town chasing a fugitive when the cowboys hit his town and now he's bent on taking the six men back to stand trial --- minus one he already caught up with, who he brings belly down over a horse when he rides into town. “He called me out,” he tersely explains to Cotton Ryan (Robert Ryan), the sheriff of Sabbath. When he solicits Ryan's help in bringing in the others, he learns that the men had been hired by Vince Bronson (Lee J. Cobb), the wealthy rancher who has the town and the whole surrounding area in his pocket --- including the sheriff. The latter won't go up against Bronson to help Maddox, but he is willing to take a message to the rancher to see if he'll cooperate in returning to Bannock with the others to face charges. Maddox agrees to give them 24 hours to turn themselves in before he starts going after them one by one.
Bronson, who genuinely did not know anybody had been hurt or killed in the Bannock shooting, feels remorse for the incident. He figures he could easily buy the judge in Bannock and get everybody off with little or no jail time, but doesn't really want to go to all that trouble. After putting it to a vote among the other men involved and finding none of them wanting to go back either, he's not willing to force them to do so. So he sends the sheriff back try and buy off Maddox.

But Maddox can't be bought. Like a grim, obsessive, borderline psychotic Ahab, he won't be swerved from his mission. With no hand raised to help him and even knowing full well that the judge in Bannock will be bribed by Bronson if it ever gets that far, he sets out to do his duty as he sees it. After the 24 hours are up, he sets out after each of the men. In a series of bloody confrontations, he takes two of them into custody and ends up killing most of the others until it comes to a final violent showdown in the streets of town.
The nuances and undertones of the story and characters are what sets LAWMAN apart. The performances by Ryan and Cobb as two men tormented by their violent pasts and no longer having the stomach for more of the same are especially effective. Same for Robert Duvall in a somewhat minor role that he makes memorable. Sheree North, appearing in a brief romantic angle that seems somewhat forced into the storyline, nevertheless comes across well. Then there's Lancaster, who at first seems almost wooden in his performance --- until you realize he is actually nailing the stoic, emotionless character he is portraying.
Good stuff. Recommended.

My Take: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (2016)

Let me get it out of the way right up front: I liked this film a lot.It has flaws and some plot holes you could drive a Humvee through --- but what big-budget action flick these days doesn’t? And, when all is said and done, that’s exactly what it is and all it sets out to be … a big, sprawling, rip-snortin’ Western actioner.I’m not familiar with the original Seven Samurai, so I can’t/won’t try to compare how this newest version stacks up against that. As for the Yul Brynner/Steve McQueen 1960 Western that most readers of this blog are likely more familiar with, I think this one holds its own.
The basic plot remains the same. A peaceful community of lower/middle class working folks is overrun by a ruthless force of hardcases against which they have no chance of fighting back and winning. In desperation, they pool all their meager resources of any value and seek to hire professional gunmen who will fight back on their behalf. The first man they approach for the job – Sam Chisolm, a bounty hunter - is moved not by the price they are willing to pay but rather by what it represents to those offering it. (“I’ve been paid a lot for my services before, but never everything.”) Chisolm takes the job and begins gathering up some other professionals to aid him.This time around, the community is not a humble Mexican village besieged by bandits out of the mountains but rather a small mining community being overrun by a greedy, vicious corporate industrialist looking to drive everyone out of the valley in order to mine all the land for himself. The villain is named Bartholomew Bogue and is a supremely evil cur written to such an excess that it’s like the old Snidely Whiplash/tie-the-fair-maiden-to-the-railroad-tracks days
Denzel Washington, of course, is Sam Chisolm. Joining him are: Christopher Pratt as Farraday, the gambler who dabbles in explosives; Ethan Hawke as Goodnight, the ex-Confederate sharpshooter who is haunted into current inaction by all of his past killings; Vincnet D’Onofrio as mountain man/Indian fighter Jack Horne; Byung-hun Lee as Billy Rocks, an assassin indebted to Goodnight; Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Vasquez, a Mexican outlaw; and Martin Sensmeier as Red Harvest, a Comanche warrior.
My first reaction upon first hearing the changes to the plot structure the listing of characters who would make up “ the Seven” was: OK, here we go again: Political Correctness on steroids --- everything from the greedy, nasty Big Industry guy to Diversity in the form of representation by every ethnic group known to mankind. But you know what? Except for the over the top uber-villainy of the Bogue character, everything else works just fine. Each character has his moment, his back story, and his purpose to the group. And the camaraderie that develops amongst them plays out nicely.What’s more, the female lead --- Haley Bennett as Emma Cullen, a widow from the town --- brought so much to the story via her strength as written and the power of Ms. Bennett’s performance that it wouldn’t have been too far out of line to have made her one of the Seven … or perhaps called it The Magnificent Eight. (Yeesh, now who’s getting caught up in this PC crap!)
The action sequences throughout and especially the big climax (although a bit excessive and too drawn-out) are exceptionally well staged. In fact, all the production values --- acting, photography, set designs, music --- are all top notch. And did I say music? During the closing credits we even get the swelling, stirring strains of Elmer Bernstein’s famous theme from the 1960 classic.
All in all, IMO, this movie is just what we need the most right now --- a big, boisterous, good old-fashioned Western!Recommended.

Another Look: Walt Disney's DAVY CROCKETT AND THE RIVER PIRATES

As a youngster growing up in the mid-1950s, I was swept up in the phenomena that was Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier like nobody’s business. Knew every verse of the song, which wasn’t hard to learn because for a couple of years you could hear it playing practically EVERY-flippin’-where you went.Born on a mountain top in TennesseeGreenest state in the land of the freeRaised in the woods so he knowed every treeKilled hisself a bar when he was only threeDa-vee, Da-vee CrockettKing of the Wild Frontier  Many a young vocal cord was strained trying to hit the high note on that last syllable of “Da-VEE”, let me tell you. And many a barbered and carefully combed head of hair was turned into a sweaty tangle by having a coonskin cap clamped over it for a hours on end, too. The “official” Davy Crockett hat (and all sorts of other gear and related toys) were channeled through a dime store chain called Kresgie’s (sic?). My folks, God bless ‘em, couldn’t afford the official version so the coonskin cap I got was some ratty, roadkill-looking thing (probably more authentic than the official version) but I nevertheless wore it proudly and constantly for a long time. Getting back to the Kresgie stores, they were making so much money off the arrangement that they pumped “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” over their public speakers with religious fervor. I can only imagine how frazzled the adult employees of those stores must have gotten after hours and days on end of listening to that. I mean, at the time, as a kid, I thought the song was so great that there was no need for any other song to ever be written or performed … But now, as an adult (no wisecracks), I gotta admit that a little bit of that catchy little ditty goes a long way.
So, anyway, the three-part airing of Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier on Disney’s TV show in 1955 was so incredibly popular that it left Mickey Mouse’s papa and his staff scrambling on how to milk its success even more. They re-aired it, they edited the episodes together into a full-length color feature that played in theaters, and they had the marketing department cranking out related products like crazy. But the public wanted more Crockett and Disney wanted to give it to them (and reap additional profits for himself in the process).A problem arose, however, from the fact that the character of Davy in King of the Wild Frontier (following the fate of the real-life Crockett) died at the Alamo. How to tell more tales about a popular character you’ve gone and killed off? The answer was, although I don’t believe the term was in common use at the time (maybe not even in existence) --- a prequel. Go back to an earlier point in Davy’s life and tell some more adventures from there.
Hence, Davy Crockett and the River Pirates.It first aired in 1956, as a two-parter, once again on Disney’s popular TV show. DavyCrockett’s Keelboat Race was shown in November, Davy Crockett and the River Pirates came in December. The following year, the two segments were spliced/edited together for another full-length color feature that played in theaters. I had the pleasure of watching this version again (probably for the third or fourth time – though not for many, many years) when it played the other night on TCM. Both the little kid in me and what pretends to be an adult found it to hold up very well. The tale stems from a meeting between Crockett and the legendary/quasi-mythical river man Mike Fink. As the segment titles pretty clearly indicate, at first the two are pitted against one another in a rough and tumble keelboat race; then they join forces to battle a pack of marauders pretending to be Indians who are attacking/sacking boats that pass by their hideout at Cave-Inn Rock on the Ohio River.The leaders of the gang are the notorious Harpe brothers --- vicious, real-life characters, who truly committed river piracy, among other crimes, and were serial killers responsible for as many as 50 victims. As you might imagine for a Disney feature, this aspect of their villainy is not presented as part of the story here. As a matter of fact, the whole treatment of this adventure is done mostly as broad, semi-slapstick comedy. Jeff York, in the role of loud, boisterous Mike Fink (“I’m half wild horse, half cockeyed-alligator, and the rest o’ me is crooked snags and red-hot snappin’ turtle; I can out-run, out-jump, out-drink, out-cuss, and out-fight any man on both sides of the river!”), pretty much steals the show. And Buddy Ebsen, in the role of Davy’s pal Georgie Russell, displays masterful comic timing honed from years of vaudeville and earlier supporting roles. Fess Parker, as Davy, is the stalwart. And, over-arcing all the fun, there is plenty of excitement and rough-and-tumble action. The production values --- color, music, period touches, supporting players --- are all top notch.
As already mentioned, I enjoyed the heck out of viewing this gem all over again, even after so many years. And you know what else? If I still had that ratty old coonskin cap from decades ago, I likely would have clapped it on and wore it while once again trying to hit the high notes of the ballad whenever it played in the background.Recommended.

Noteworthy Reads: SHARES THE DARKNESS by J.R. Lindermuth

In this seventh installment of the Sticks Hetrick series, author Lindermuth once again brings the fictional setting of Swatara Creek vividly to life … and death, as it were, this being a murder mystery after all.
The power of the Hetrick series (as with all of Lindermuth’s work) is the depth of the characters and the simple yet detailed way the author captures and presents them. The people of Swatara Creek are, for the most part, basically decent, hard-working, middle class folks the reader truly comes to care about. This is on particularly strong display in this entry where the Hetrick character is essentially given a supporting role while center stage is taken by Police Officer Flora Vastine, someone Sticks previously mentored when he was the town police chief before moving on to his current position as a special county investigator.
The main plot this time out revolves around a former classmate of Flora’s who is first reported missing and then found murdered. Other matters involving illegal timbering, auto theft, and some romantic entanglements are also smoothly woven in but, through it all, Flora doggedly follows her own instincts and in the end --- with some timely intervention by her old mentor Sticks --- sorts out the true culprits from the myriad suspects.
Colorful characters, some surprises and twists, nice touches of wry humor, all served up with crisp dialogue and the clear, straightforward narrative of a talented writer make this another highly enjoyable read from Mr. Lindermuth.Strongly recommended.

Noteworthy Reads: TOUGH JOB IN DRIFTWOOD by Richard Prosch

Richard Prosch writes with a distinct voice that has, in recent years, made him one of my favorite authors.
I savor not only the way he spins a yarn, but also the tales that he tells. He has written primarily of the Old West as set mostly in Nebraska and some of Wyoming. A native of Nebraska, his love for the state, the region, and the unique frontier stories he grew up listening to shine through in his writing. TOUGH JOB IN DRIFTWOOD is a collection of seventeen such stories, each one a gem in and of itself.
The cover blurb sums it up nicely: A wrecked wagon spells trouble for a Niobrara river man; the leader of a roadhouse band needs a tough man for a dangerous job; a gambler bets on the outcome of a western showdown; a pulp fiction character haunts a woman's memory of her husband.
Old gunnies, laconic lawmen, John Coburn, Whit Branham and a host of villains bring the action, humor and irony Prosch is well known for.
Old favorites and five brand new tales firmly establish Prosch as an exciting new voice in Western fiction.
Richard’s 2016 Spur Award-winning short story “The Scalpers” is unfortunately not included in this collection. It is available on Amazon, however, as part of a short eBook anthology titled WESTERN TALES – Volume 10 from Western Trailblazers. It includes other fine stories by Philip Dunlap, Eric Bowen, and Troy Smith. It is reasonably priced and I would encourage anyone who appreciates good Western fiction to check it out also.
But then, I encourage readers who like good stories, period, to check out anything with Richard's byline featured. You won’t be sorry.

Noteworthy Reads: TORN AND FRAYED by David Cranmer

This seventh installment of the Drifter Detective series is penned by series creator David Cranmer, coming out from behind the Edward A. Grainger byline that he uses for his popular hardboiled Western stories featuring Cash Laramie, the Outlaw Marshal. 
In addition to his fine writing skills, Mr. Cranmer, as most everybody knows, is the head honcho behind the Beat To A Pulp webzine and books --- a publishing concern that has provided an outlet to a wide range of talented writers telling a wide range of entertaining tales.
The Cash Laramie tales are at the core of it all (although the BTAP features are branching wider and wider all the time) and the Drifter Detective series – featuring one Jack Laramie, by name - is a direct extension of that; Jack, you see, is the grandson of Cash. As a mobile PI operating out of a DeSoto-drawn horse trailer in post-WWII Texas, he seeks to dish out the same kind of justice his grandfather did in the 1880s Old West.It’s a creative concept done well throughout the series to date. A variety of fresh settings and problems handled with the distinct flair of a slightly modernized “town tamer”. When Jack Laramie gets involved, things are gonna get shaken up and they might not be resolved to everybody’s satisfaction, but they’re likely to be better than they were.TORN AND FRAYED is a somewhat moodier, more nourish entry than much of what has come before - with some interesting Ross Macdonald/Lew Archer touches. The writing and the twists make it all go down as smooth as a belt of good bourbon at the close of a hard day.Strongly recommended.

Mission Statement: LEGISLTIVE DRAFTING INSTITUTE for CHILD PROTECTION

LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING INSTITUTE for CHILD PROTECTION









 This new and unique organization has come to the fore in the ongoing fight against the predators who prey upon our young and vulnerable. The Mission Statement below --- from none other than Andrew Vachss, who has been on the front line of this battle for many years --- explains things better than I can. After you've read through it, please click on the LDICP link to learn still more and to hopefully support them any way you can.
Link: http://www.LDICP.org 




MISSION STATEMENT The Legislative Drafting Institute for Child Protection (LDICP) is the natural evolution of a collective anger, frustration, and disappointment. I believe all of us involved share those feelings, but here I speak only for myself.      After decades on the front lines of what I regard as the only “Holy War” worthy of the name, I accepted that I could fight individual child abusers ... sometimes with a success that shocked the cynical ... but I wasn’t laying a glove on child abuse itself. I could change individual lives, but I wasn’t making change.      So I tried drafting legislation, only to see those bills “tweaked” into less powerful versions, versions demanded by the truly powerful. Some were so larded with “earmarks” that their original intent was buried under heavy layers of patronage and payoffs. I tried to form a child-protective lobby, but watched it become nothing I wanted to be part of. I once taught Continuing Legal Education courses, but eventually realized I was revealing strategies and tactics to those I had spent my life opposing.      I learned that the overwhelming majority of American voters want children to be protected. But I also learned that this isn’t a high enough priority to impact politics. No one can run for office in America without taking a position (even if that position is to adroitly straddle fences) on hot-button topics such as abortion, gun control, capital punishment. The voting public demands no less. But when it comes to child protection, a vapid blanket statement that the candidate “loves children and supports the American family,” is all that is ever required.      So what’s left? At their core, all courts are courts of equity. Simply speaking, that means courts exist to produce justice. This result is to be achieved by interpretation and enforcement of existing law. But when the neutrality that justice requires is hamstrung by fundamentally unfair laws, this result is at best elusive, and at worst unobtainable.      What is needed are laws that actually accomplish their intent. Laws which are clear on their face, with no vacuous “open to interpretation” language, no handicapping earmarks, and no loopholes through which perpetrators can slither. Laws so clearly written that the public can demand their passage. And demand that in such a way that politicians – who are as reactive as amoebae to harsh light – do the right thing. Laws that allow grassroots organizations not only to create their vision of child protection, but to fight for that vision. Laws which clearly reveal who is serious about this “issue,” and who is serious only about seeking grants.      Why this emphasis on specific legislation? Because virtually all “child advocacy” is just that: flabby adjectives, devoid of actual content. There is no value to being “pro child,” because that label can fit virtually anyone or anything. That which allows for endless interpretation is, by definition, an empty vessel. Instead of being “pro child,” what if people could be “pro” a specific piece of legislation? What if, instead of demanding our politicians “care,” we could demand they pass such specific legislation? What if we could force the legislature to act?      Confronted with an actual piece of legislation, there’s no place to hide. The reality is that no answer is a “no” answer. Confronted with an actual bill ready to be enacted, no action is action ... the action of being against that very bill. Instead of the welcoming shade of rhetoric, we could put all legislators in a single bright spotlight:
Behavior is the Truth.       After a long period of planning and the sacrifices of many too modest to be named here, the Legislative Drafting Institute for Child Protection is now a reality. The LDICP has partnered with Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which has contributed its own funds to internships and its own resources to drafting courses. However, the LDICP is free-standing in all respects, meaning its budget will not become part of the law school’s coffers, and will be administrated separately and independently at all times.     The LDICP is not a lobby – it exists solely as a resource.      The purpose of the LDICP is to create, upon request, highly specific legislation to accomplish the goals of self-organized, grassroots organizations which intend to achieve a child protective objective. The passage of each piece of legislation is the goal, each time. So: no legislation to “form explanatory groups,” or “fight child abuse” or “raise public awareness.” Examples of what legislation might be requested include: Closing the loophole in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act that allows non-lawyer volunteers to “represent” children in abuse/neglect cases. Raising the stakes for “circle of trust” crimes. Requiring victim reparations in child pornography cases. Extending the statute of limitations in “vulnerable victims” cases. Establishing a Secure Treatment Unit for “the worst kids in the state” – any state, as the plan would be to construct and operate such an institution as a model, and to allow for independent monitoring and evaluation of its effectiveness. But these are illustrative examples, not suggestions.      The technique is straightforward and simple: the LDICP will draft research reports and ready-to enact legislation. All the research will be done prior to release, including constitutionality, statistical analysis of need/benefit, and conflicts with existing laws. The legislation will target an impact area that may range from the federal level down to the municipal, depending on the requesting group. The LDICP will then make the drafted legislation public. Publication ensures that there would be no “tinkering” with the bill. An example of such tinkering occurred in the passage of the National Child Protection Act of 1993. In its final form, legislators had deleted a provision that had been in the original draft, which would have held an organization that allowed access to children strictly liable if it had failed to check its employees or volunteers against any criminal registries and the employee or volunteer was later found to have been registered. Publication of LDICP legislative drafts will deter tinkering, by making it clear if anyone attempts to alter, add, or delete provisions from the legislation as originally drafted.      So the test is not just for politicians, it is for all of us. When the right tools are provided, how those tools are used reveals the truth.      Any group requesting LDICP work products will have to commit its own resources to passage. This doesn’t mean a mere Facebook page (although one would not be barred); it means actual bodies-on-the-line, volunteer commitment. It means lobbying behind a “my vote depends on your support for this bill” campaign. The LDICP is not a think tank, and will respond only to requests that outline a specifically-defined child protective goal.      We have a working group established, and have already sketched out fund-raising goals. At this time, we believe two million dollars ($2,000,000) is necessary to bedrock-establish the LDICP. That amount will allow it to run for a 2-3 year trial period beyond the initial “proof of concept” phase, in which we are now engaged. If you want to contribute, you are welcome. And we need money, sure enough. But there are many other ways to participate, including, but not limited to, putting together your own grassroots group and requesting the legislation you believe will make a difference in the protection of our children ... all our children.​​ -  Andrew Vachss

Noteworthy Reads: SEX CRIMES - THEN & NOW by Alice Vachss

In an updated volume that features the first SEX CRIMES book published over twenty years ago --- the “then” from this current title --- plus updates and several thousand words of all new material --- the “now” --- this is a fascinating, disturbing, eye-opening book. If you think you know how the criminal justice system works for prosecuting rape and other sexual abuse crimes from news reports and TV shows … you don’t. This important work by Alice Vachss will set you straight. You won’t like what you learn. It will make you angry, as it should. It also should make you pay closer attention in your area and do everything you can to demand more from your local authorities and prosecutors. The corruption and deal-making that goes on in political systems – large or small – ought not come as any surprise. But when it comes at the expense of justice for those who’ve already suffered unspeakable crimes --- as documented here by case file accounts --- it is appalling and disgusting.Unfortunately, too few communities and/or cities have anyone like Alice Vachss at work for them.
From the cover blurb: In an even better than the original spellbinding sequel, Sex Crimes NOW finds Alice Vachss returning to prosecution – this time in a remote rural county. Still the same, she insists to a jury: “I don’t have to prove motive. The motive for rape is rape,” and battles a system hell-bent on freeing a monster.
Highly recommended!

Noteworthy Reads: BLAZE! BLOODY WYOMING by John Hegenberger

Prolific author John Hegenberger, known prior to this for entertaining mystery thrillers and science fiction, has now entered into the Western genre and his first title is a corker.

This twelfth title in the exciting BLAZE! Adult Western series from creator Stephen Mertz and Rough Edges Press, BLOODY WYOMING is a full-tilt action yarn that throws the husband-wife gunslinger team of Kate and J.D. Blaze into one of their most harrowing adventures.
The cover blurb reads as follows: All J.D. Blaze wanted to do was celebrate his wife Kate’s birthday, but when you’re the Old West’s only pair of husband-and-wife gunfighters, trouble is never far away. A savage attack and a dangerous injury not only threaten Kate Blaze’s life, she also finds herself a captive of twisted killers and unsure of her own identity. But J.D. will battle with his wits, a pair of rock-hard fists, and a blazing .45 to find Kate and free her before it’s too late!
Without giving too much much away, that sums it up pretty good.If you like your Westerns fast-paced and chock full of gun-blazing action, you don’t want to miss this one!