FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE RARE BREED

 The Rare Breed by Thoedore Sturgeon, 1966

An original paperback novelization of 1966 film, The Rare Breed marks one of Stugeon's few excusions into the western  (the others being The King and Four Queens, another film novelization, and Sturgeon's West, an outlier collection of stories, some written with Don Ward).  The film was a romantic comedy set in the West, while Sturgeon's take was a western with traces of romance and humor.

1884.  Martha and Hilary Evans, mother and daughter, have sailed from England with four Hereford cows and one bull in an attempt to introduce the breed to the American west.  Herefords are studier and beefier than the scrawny Texas longhorns that predominate in the west; with the advent of rail due in the next few years, surely the day of the Hereford and the doom of the longhorn cattle drive was sure to come.  It was the dream of Martha's husband to introduce Herefords to America, but he and the six Herefords he had with him drowned in an Atlantic crossing two years before.  Now it's up to Martha to realize her husband's dream.

But things do not go well for Martha.  Both she and Hilary are staunchly nationalistic, placing British values over American.  At a St. Louis cattle auction, Martha manages to inflame the ire of the cattlemen and, due to an unfamiliarity with American auction practices, essentially loses her four cows to underbidding.  Worse, the cows are now meant to be used as milch cows rather than breeding stock.  Left only with the giant bull, Vindictor, to auction off.  Martha manages to reverse course and get an outstanding bid for the animal; the bid came from an unscrupulous rancher bidding for a partner deep in the heart of Texas.  Half the money was paid up front; the remaining half to come when the bull is delivered to the partner down south.

But vindicator was never meant to go down south.  The evil rancher, Ellswoth, intends to claim the bull for himself.  (In the film, this is somehow due his wanting Martha; in the novel his motive is not as clear but it involves vindictiveness and greed.)  Ellsworth sends two of his hired killers -- Simons and Mabry, both as mean as rattlesnakes but nowhere near as intelligent -- to follow the bull on his trip south and to stop it from reaching its final destination.   He hires wrangler Sam "Bulldog" Burnett to keep an eye on the two.  But Burnett is honest and has plans of his own.

Martha and Hilary decide to accompany the bull to Texas and to deliver him personally.  Sam is persuaded to guide them.  Most of the story that follows is a clash of cultures, with Sam and Hilary both displaying pigheadedness par excellence, interspersed with poetic descriptions of the west and detailed descriptions of the cowboy way of life.  The story ends in a rush, tying up all loose ends in a cramped five pages, and basically ignoring the last third of the film.

The major character points of the book are the clashes between the headstrong Hilary and the equally headstrong Sam, with Martha calmly acting as referee.  This comes across as strange because the never truly stated love story is between Sam and Martha.  Also strange is the fact that the best character in the novel is vindicator, the gentle giant of a bull, who faithfully comes when you whistle "God Save the Queen."

A mixed bag but enjoyable and worthwhile reading.  To my knowledge, the book has never been reprinted beyond its original paperback appearance.

The film, if you ever happen to catch it, stars Jimmy Stewart as Sam, Maureen O'Sullivan as Martha, and Juliet Mills as Hilary.  (I have a hard time picturing Stewart as the Sam portrayed in the novel.)  In a sublime bit of casting, Jack Elam and Harry Carey, Jr. are cast as the not too bright Simons and Mabry.  The film also featured an very early score by John Williams, credited as "Johnny Williams."