My Favorite Western Novel - FLINT

My usual reply when someone asks me to name my favorite Western novel is generally, "Anything by Louis L'Amour." I realize that is a pretty broad answer considering the volume of work he published, but I never met a Louis L'Amour novel or story that I didn't like.

There's a lot of good ones and it's near 'bout impossible to pick just one.  My favorites of his characters are Tell Sackett, Milo Talon and Lance Kilkenny. I really like The Sackett Brand because it embodies the attitude that I have toward family and I love all of the Kilkenny novels.  The idea of a lone gunfighter who saves the day and rides off into the sunset is iconic for anyone one who loves the Western genre.

However, if I'm going to have to pick just one, then I'd say my favorite Western novel is Flint by Louis L'Amour. This is a novel that has it all. 

The man who assumes the name of Jim Flint is an orphan who came from nothing due to the kindness of a stranger and had everything in life, only to abandon it all.  He finds love in an unexpected place and decides he wants to live again. 

As a youngster, this story had a huge impact on me because Flint was the kind of man that I wanted to be.  A man capable of taking care of himself, yet wanting more out of life than living it alone.  He was a somewhat flawed man who overcame his hurdles by helping other people.  It is a story of hope.

Yet with all Louis L'Amour stories, Flint if full of great quotes that illustrate the author's perspective on life. 

"He had come to New Mexico wanting no trouble.  He had wanted no trouble at Horse Springs, wanted none on North Plain, but long ago he had discovered that one has to make a stand.  If a man has to run, there is nothing to do but keep running. And if a man must die, he could at least die proud of his manhood.  It was better to live one day as a lion than a dozen years as a sheep."

That quote is by far one of my favorites in all of literature and one of the best of L'Amour's lines, and he had a lot of great ones.

Flint is a novel that I highly recommend.  I've lost count of the number of times that I've reread it.  As a matter of fact, I think I'm going to crack it open again. 

What's your favorite Western novel? 

The Infant Carrier: A Collection of Short Stories

The Infant Carrier: 

A Collection of Short Stories

Prequels to the Ray Corngrower Saga

The first book of the Ray Corngrower Saga has been newly re-booted with more editing and a great cover.

About the Book:

Like the contemporary Native American tribe the characters in this book are law abiding or criminals. Deputy Ray Corngrower walks a thin line between the Red World and the White World, while trying to regain his spiritual beliefs and balance his love life and work with Special Agent Jan Meyers of the FBI.

Get the Ebook or Add it to your TBR (Too Be Read) Pile:

Get the Paperback or Add it to your TBR (Too Be Read) Pile:

Get the Full Ray Corngrower Series Ebooks Here!

Get the Full Ray Corngrower Series Paperbacks Here!

Jessie's grandmother in beautiful regalia.

About the Author: Jessie Cox is a Native American author bringing us tales from his life experiences being raised on Creek land by his grandmother as a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, a variety of jobs including Law Enforcement, Chief Engineer, Gold Prospecting, Freelance Writer/Columnist, and his time of living and working in the Alaskan tundra. Find Jessie on his Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Author DB, and Amazon ]
Jessie's grandmother in beautiful regalia.  

Reviews:

Author Elizabeth Delana Rosa praises the series saying, “I am a big fan of this series. I do not usually read mysteries; in fact, I’m known to shove them off onto another reviewer who does reviews for my site. However, I know Jessie and I said, “I would give an honest review.” To be honest, it took me a while to get it rolling, but once I got started I couldn’t stop. Every book stands on its own but as you read them together you get a larger and larger picture of the community and characters. I enjoyed how the mystery and suspense contained Native American legends. I found the viewpoint new to me and intriguing, to the point I went back to the author to tell me more stories. I, also, loved how you almost hear an old man’s voice telling us the tale. I love how the words flowed. Some would want to fault the author on his wording but for me the wording is what makes it. It’s showing the author’s Oklahoman and Native American roots. I can’t say enough about this series and can’t wait for the books to come.”

Top 10 Western Movie Gunfights

What do you consider among the best gunfights in a Western movie? There are a ton of great movies to choose from and selecting just ten of the best is an almost impossible task. There are even several movies with more than one excellent gunfight, making picking just one from that movie extremely difficult. Yet every Western fan has some favorites. Here are my favorite, starting with number 10.

10. QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER

9. SHANE

8. THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES

7.  HIGH NOON

6.  ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST

5.  TOMBSTONE

4. TRUE GRIT

3. THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

2.  OPEN RANGE

1. UNFORGIVEN

What do you think? Which ones should have been ranked higher? Did I leave out any that should have been included?

Top 10 Western One-liners

Narrowing down this list to just ten was extremely hard to do. A list of top ten one-liners could be made exclusively from a single movie like Tombstone or The Outlaw Josey Wales. It could be made entirely of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood quotes. Yet I've tried to make it as inclusive as possible, highlighting some of the best of the genre. Here they are, in no particular order.

• "Get out of Dodge." – Matt Dillon, James Arness, Gunsmoke

     A line that's often overlooked in some of the other lists I've seen online, probably because it's a television series and not a movie. But you can't mention anything in the Western genre without including Gunsmoke.

• "I'm your huckleberry." – Doc Holliday, Val Kilmer, Tombstone

     There are a myriad of lines from the movie that could have been included on this list, this is just one of them.

• "Well, you may not know this, but there's things that gnaw at a man worse than dying." – Charlie Waite, Kevin Costner, Open Range

     One of the best Westerns made in recent times.

•  "I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I require the same from them." – John Bernard Brooks, John Wayne, The Shootist

     A great line from John Wayne's last film. Perhaps one of his best quotes and a good philosophy to live by.

• "You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig." – Blondie, Clint Eastwood, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

    A quote from the movie that gave a major boost to Eastwood's career and perhaps the best of the Spaghetti Westerns.

• "A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an ax, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that." – Shane, Alan Ladd, Shane

     A great line from a pivotal Western that influenced everything that came after it.

• "It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have." – Will Munny, Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven

    One of Eastwood's best films that has influenced me and my writing a great deal.

• "Dying ain't much of a living, boy." – Josey Wales, Clint Eastwood, The Outlaw Josey Wales

    A ground breaking film for it's time that was one of the first of the Hollywood Westerns to portray Native Americans as more than ignorant savages. 

• "That'll be the day." – Ethan Edwards, John Wayne, The Searchers

     In my opinion, the best movie ever made, in any genre. Period.

• "I hate rude behavior in a man. I won't tolerate it." – Woodrow Call, Tommy Lee Jones, Lonesome Dove

     An iconic quote from an epic novel and movie. 

These are just a few of my favorites. What are some of your favorite lines? Are there any left out that should have been included? 

Six-gun Saturday: 1872 Colt Open Top

The 1872 Colt Open Top bears the distinction of being the first revolver designed by Colt to fire metallic cartridges and was the precursor to the legendary 1873 Colt Single Action Army.  

The Open Top was an entirely new model and didn't reuse parts from earlier percussion revolvers.  It was the first gun made by Colt that could load cartridges from the rear of the cylinder.  

Photo of an original 1872 Colt Open Top
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Until the extension for Rollin White's breech loading patent was rejected by the U. S. Government in 1870, all previously converted Colt revolvers, such as the Thuer conversion and the Mason-Richards conversions of such weapons as the 1851 Navy or the 1860 Army had to be loaded from the front of the cylinder and the cartridge pushed into the chamber with a loading lever similar to the percussion models.

The Open Top was designed in 1871 but didn't go into production until the following year.  Only about 7,000 were made during the production run and it used the .44 Henry rimfire cartridge.  The thinking behind using that particular cartridge was so that people could use the same ammunition in both their rifle and their handgun.  

Colt submitted the gun to the U.S. Army for testing as part of a contest among gun makers to provide a new service revolver.  The Open Top was rejected because the Army wanted a larger caliber with a stronger frame.  

The frame of the gun was redesigned with a top strap and a more powerful center-fire cartridge was invented, the .45 Long Colt.  The new design went into production in 1873 and became the Peacemaker.  

The Immortality of the Western

Every few years or so, rumors start up again about the supposed "death" of the Western.  It seems to go on a cycle and if the rumors are to be believed, then the Western has died a thousand times. 

Yet, the genre is still around and going strong today. Granted, it is not nearly as popular as it was during the Fifties and Sixties, but it is a long way from being dead.

Iconic Western actor John Wayne believed in the durability of the genre. 

"Don't ever for a minute make the mistake of looking down your nose at Westerns. They're art–the good ones, I mean.  They deal in life and sudden death and primitive struggle, and with the basic emotions–love, hate, and anger–thrown in.  We'll have Western films as long as the cameras keep turning. The fascination that the Old West has will never die."

The Western will never die for one simple reason.  It is the one contribution to literature that is entirely and uniquely American.  Just as the great works of the Greeks and Romans are remembered today, so will the Western be remembered thousands of years from now. 

For some reason, some folks seem to want the Western to die or they at least want society to believe that it has, perhaps because it is not politically correct and may offend some people's delicate sensibilities.  However, there are much more offensive things in other genres than there will ever be in the Western.  The so-called offensive things in the Western are historical fact. 

There is nothing wrong with any aspect of the genre.  Some folks prefer the classic Western with the hero wearing the white hat versus the villain who wears the black hat.  Personally, I prefer my Westerns of the gray anti-heroic type.  

I enjoy all of John Wayne's movies and watch them time and again, but my biggest influences are Clint Eastwood's movies, from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly to The Outlaw Josey Wales to Unforgiven.  However, perhaps my biggest influence is legendary writer, Louis L'Amour. 

The Western is not as popular as it once was, but that is not because there is anything wrong with the genre.  The reason that popularity has waned is because society has drifted away from the principles and ideals portrayed in the Western films and books of the past, as well as the ones being written today. 

Whenever I meet new people and tell them that I'm a writer, the first question they ask is about the kind of stories that I write.  When I tell them that I write Westerns, most of them generally frown and mutter something about not reading Westerns.  To which I always ask, why not? 

There are a lot of great Western stories being written today, all over the world.  In addition, the Western lends itself well to blending with other genres.  There are a lot of great Western mystery stories and a lot of Romance Westerns, even Horror Westerns.  Generally, there is some kind of Western story for everyone. 

Any story can be told as a Western and can be told better as one in my opinion because of the great tapestry that the backdrop of the Old West provides. 

There's no reason to change anything about the genre.  If we do that, then we aren't writing Westerns anymore.  The genre has gotten along just fine like it is and will continue to do so.  

Regardless of what some tenderfoots may think, the Western is just too tough to die.  

Six-gun Saturday: The Colt Peacemaker

Colt SAA cal .45 Factory Engraved  shipped 1893
Image from Wikimedia Commons

Although there was a plethora of gun types used during the westward expansion of this great nation, perhaps the most popular was the Colt Model 1873 Single-Action Army or the Peacemaker as it came to be called.

It revolutionized the revolver and is considered by many to be the greatest handgun in history.  Along with the gun, Colt introduced the .45 Long Colt cartridge and it was the second gun produced by Colt to use cartridge ammunition, the first being Colt's 1872 Model Open Top.  It was the redesigned Open Top model that became the Peacemaker.

It was designed by William Mason and Charles Richards as a result of a contest among gun makers to supply the U.S. Army with a new service revolver.  The Peacemaker won the contract and became the first revolver for the Army to use metallic cartridges.

It has a long and storied history as a military service weapon, most famously with Custer's 7th Cavalry at Little Big Horn.  Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders were armed with the Single Action Army when they made their charge up San Juan Hill. General George S. Patton used one during the Mexican Punitive Expedition of 1916 and carried it throughout World War II.

The first generation of the Peacemaker was from 1872 – 1941.  Production was stopped during World War II so that Colt could fill other orders for the war. 

Movie Still from Rio Lobo

The rise of the Western as a genre in Hollywood and on television created a customer demand for the gun, so Colt resumed production with the second generation of the Peacemaker in 1956 and lasted until 1974. 

It was used in hundreds of movies, sometimes erroneously in movies set before 1873, such as Rio Lobo.  The most famous Hollywood Colts are the ones used by John Wayne in many of his films. 

The third generation of the Peacemaker began in 1976.  The Single Action Army has inspired clones and influenced gun designs since it was first produced.  There have been many copies and replicas made.  The most popular replica is made by Uberti, one of which I happen to own.

The Colt Single Action Army is still in production to this day.

A Fistful of Dollars

Sources:

Miller, David. Illustrated History of Guns. Pepperbox Press. Kent, United Kingdom. 2011

"HistoricalFirearms Colt Single Action Army." Feb. 22, 2013. Web. Aug 24, 2013. 

"Colt Single Action Army." Military History. Sept 2, 2011. Web. Aug 24, 2011. 

Interesting Links:

John Wayne's Single Action Army from Rio Lobo on Curator's Corner