This paragraph from Ken Bruen's first novel,is an example of how he can write rings around just about anyone in the field. The finely-chiseled, short sentences contain more meat than many books' giving us an entire culture in one brief paragraph -- Irish angst at its very best:
"Padraig was laid in Billy's Acre...well away from the paying clients. In the days of the poor house they took them there. To the present, your status could be destroyed if anyone belonged to you had been put there. It veered on the Protestant graves, and those were the pits. On Cemetery Sunday, the priest blessing the graves ignored the paupers and the Protestants. The area of Billy's Acre was neglected and overgrown. The caretaker didn't bother with their upkeep, as who was there to complain. The Protestants were well known for their non-tending of the dead. I learned that at school. They believed, 'You passed on.' Why visit the graveyard when no one was home. They didn't just chuck Padraig into the ground. But there wasn't a whole lot of ceremony either. The priest read that dirge in which 'man has but a short time to live and is full of misery.' T'was more fitting to us around the grave than the fellah within it."
-- from Funeral: Tales of Irish Morbidities by Ken Bruen, 1991
Small House of Everything
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
OVERLOOKED FILM: RAGE AT DAWN (1955)
Shortly after the Civil War a the Reno Brothers and their gang of outlaws terrorized Southern Illinois. Frank, Sim, John, and Bill Reno had often been in trouble before. As youths, they were rumored to be responsible for numerous acts of arson and violence. During the war, at least some of them made a good living by joining the union army under one name or another, collecting their singing bonuses, then deserting -- only to start the scan over again. After the war, the Reno Brothers and their cronies became the first organized gang of train robbers in America. Their base of operations was the farm of their sister Laura; also on the farm was thier "good" brother, Clint.
The historical events concerning the gang and their downfall form the basis of Tim Whelan's 1955 western Rage at Dawn. The film was written by Horace McCoy, one of many the writer of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? did during his stint in Hollywood. McCoy based the script on a story by Frank Gruber, a legendary mystery and western writer and later the creator of three television westerns: Tales of Wells Fargo, The Texan, and Shotgun Slade. This was one of director Whelan's last films after a career that spanned four decades.
The plot is a typical one. After the youngest brother (Bill) is killed in a botched holdup, the brothers discover (and dispatch) an informant who was actually a spy for the Peterson (read Pinkerton) Detective Agency. The Agency sends in operative James Barlow (Randolph Scott) to infiltrate the gang. Complications arise in the form (and a pretty good form at that) of Laura, the Reno sister, who despises what her brothers are doing.
The gang is captured and Barlow must race to save them when he hears there is a lynch mob after them. (SPOILER ALERT: He doesn't.) This twist of an ending elevates the film from many other weterns.
Since this one is based on history, we can't let a few facts get in our way. The movie was shot in California, which (for some reason) viewers thought did not resemble Illinois -- especially with the California State flag in the background in one scene, along with telephone wires and a 48-star American flag. Bill was never killed in an ambush; he was hung. Laura was never the innocent as portrayed in the movie; she was complicent and abetting the gang. John Reno was never hung; he ended up in jail. The necktie party was actually three separate incidents. And the gang actually ranged across the mid-West.
The heck with history. The film moves along quickly, even though Scott does not appear until 20 minutes into it. The cast is great. Along with Scott, we have Forrest Tucker (Frank Reno), J. Carroll Naish (Sim Reno), Myron Healey (John Reno), Richard Garland (Bill Reno), Denver Pyle (Clint Reno, the "good" borther), Edgar Buchanan (the crooked Judge), and the lovely Mala Powers (Laura Reno). Also in the cast are familiar faces Kenneth Tobet, Jimmy Lyndon, Arthur Space, Ray Teal, and Howard Petrie. At 87 minutes, this movie is certainly worth your time. It's an above-average western and an above-average Randolph Scott flick -- although somewhat below those directed by Budd Boetticher.
One year later, in 1956, Elvis Presley starred as Clint Reno in Love Me Tender, a musical verssion of the Reno Brothers story.
In a showdown between Rage at Dawn and Love Me Tender, I wonder which would win.
http://www.archive.org/details/Rage_at_Dawn_movie
**********
For more Overlooked Films today, check out Sweet Freedom, Todd Mason's interesting blog.
The historical events concerning the gang and their downfall form the basis of Tim Whelan's 1955 western Rage at Dawn. The film was written by Horace McCoy, one of many the writer of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? did during his stint in Hollywood. McCoy based the script on a story by Frank Gruber, a legendary mystery and western writer and later the creator of three television westerns: Tales of Wells Fargo, The Texan, and Shotgun Slade. This was one of director Whelan's last films after a career that spanned four decades.
The plot is a typical one. After the youngest brother (Bill) is killed in a botched holdup, the brothers discover (and dispatch) an informant who was actually a spy for the Peterson (read Pinkerton) Detective Agency. The Agency sends in operative James Barlow (Randolph Scott) to infiltrate the gang. Complications arise in the form (and a pretty good form at that) of Laura, the Reno sister, who despises what her brothers are doing.
The gang is captured and Barlow must race to save them when he hears there is a lynch mob after them. (SPOILER ALERT: He doesn't.) This twist of an ending elevates the film from many other weterns.
Since this one is based on history, we can't let a few facts get in our way. The movie was shot in California, which (for some reason) viewers thought did not resemble Illinois -- especially with the California State flag in the background in one scene, along with telephone wires and a 48-star American flag. Bill was never killed in an ambush; he was hung. Laura was never the innocent as portrayed in the movie; she was complicent and abetting the gang. John Reno was never hung; he ended up in jail. The necktie party was actually three separate incidents. And the gang actually ranged across the mid-West.
The heck with history. The film moves along quickly, even though Scott does not appear until 20 minutes into it. The cast is great. Along with Scott, we have Forrest Tucker (Frank Reno), J. Carroll Naish (Sim Reno), Myron Healey (John Reno), Richard Garland (Bill Reno), Denver Pyle (Clint Reno, the "good" borther), Edgar Buchanan (the crooked Judge), and the lovely Mala Powers (Laura Reno). Also in the cast are familiar faces Kenneth Tobet, Jimmy Lyndon, Arthur Space, Ray Teal, and Howard Petrie. At 87 minutes, this movie is certainly worth your time. It's an above-average western and an above-average Randolph Scott flick -- although somewhat below those directed by Budd Boetticher.
One year later, in 1956, Elvis Presley starred as Clint Reno in Love Me Tender, a musical verssion of the Reno Brothers story.
In a showdown between Rage at Dawn and Love Me Tender, I wonder which would win.
http://www.archive.org/details/Rage_at_Dawn_movie
**********
For more Overlooked Films today, check out Sweet Freedom, Todd Mason's interesting blog.
Monday, December 5, 2011
INCOMING
A baker's dozen this week.
- Poul and Karen Anderson, The King of Ys, Volume Two. Omnibus of the final two books in the fantasy quartet: Dahut and The Dog and the Wolf.
- [Anonymously edited], DragonLance Tales II, Volume Three: The War of the Lance. Gaming tie-in anthology with ten stories. The introduction is by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman.
- Todhunter Ballard, Blizzard Range. Western. Interesting fact: Ballard was Rex Stout's cousin.
- Wayne D. Dundee, Brutal Ballet. P.I. Joe Hannibal and professional wrestling. What's not to love?
- Alan Dean Foster, The Howling Stones. Sf novel about the Humanx Commonwealth.
- Martin H. Greenberg, editor, Gateways. SF anthology of 19 stories.
- William W. Johnstone, Bats. Horror.
- Richard Kadrey, Sandman Slim. Supernatural noir, the first of the Sandman slim novels.
- "Frances Lynch" [D. G. Compton], In the House of Dark Music. Gothic romance.
- Gregory Maguire, Son of a Witch. Volume Two in the WICKED YEARS, following Wicked and preceding A Lion Among Men.
- Greg Rucka, Patriot Acts. An Atticus Kodiak thriller.
- Phoebe Atwood Taylor, Proof of the Pudding. Another mystery for the Codfish Sherlock himself, Asey Mayo.
- Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, DragnLance Legends, Volume 3: Test of the Twins. Gaming tie-in novel.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
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