JOE HANNIBAL NOW ON KINDLE

I am pleased and excited to be able to announce that the back list of Joe Hannibal novels are now being re-issued as eBooks, starting with first in the series, THE BURNING SEASON, currently available on Amazon Kindle. Up until now, unfortunately, many of these books have been out of print. The older titles will start coming out an on average of two a month and then, in August, an original, never-before-published title --- GOSHEN HOLE --- will be available.

I've written a brief overview of the series that appears as an Author's Introduction to each of the re-issued books. You can preview it here:

AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION

The Joe Hannibal Series

            The first Joe Hannibal story, "The Fancy Case", appeared in a now-defunct small press magazine called Spiderweb. That was 1982. And now, nearly three decades later, Joe and I are still open for business. In the interim, many other fictional PIs—some arriving to considerable acclaim—have come and gone. That makes the Hannibal books and short stories one of the longest-running, still-active PI series on the scene. And, if nothing else, it makes Joe and me a couple of durable old bastards.

            I wrote that first story while I was recovering from kidney stone surgery. This was back in the pre-lithotripsy days, when they damn near cut you in half to get at those pesky little pebbles, so the recovery time was several weeks. In the beginning and through the handful of short stories to follow, Hannibal was stamped from a pretty stereotypical mold—just another a sock-and-shoot PI; another "Mike Hammer wanna-be", if you will. Which was okay, as far as it went. I am, after all, a huge Spillane/Hammer fan and I couldn't dispute my obvious pulp roots if I tried.

            However, by the time I wrote my first Hannibal novel (The Burning Season – 1988), I had begun to focus on giving Joe considerably more depth. This was also true for the recurring cast of characters I had built up around him, as well as those he came in contact with during the course of a given story. There is a saying in the acting profession that goes something like: "There are no small parts, only small actors." Along similar lines, I once heard an old-pro writer say: "Each character in a story should want something." I took that to mean what they should want was to be memorable to the reader, and I have strived to follow that guideline in all of my writing since. 

Joe remained plenty tough, seldom hesitant to throw a punch or a wisecrack if the situation warranted, but I also gave him a very human—and humane—side. To do this I drew upon my own experiences and those of friends and family I had known growing up. Since I came from a deeply-rooted blue collar background it was inevitable, I suppose, for that to start show-ing through. Peers and reviewers alike quickly dubbed Joe Hannibal a "blue collar" private eye. And I had no issue with that. In fact, I kinda liked it.

Initially operating out of Rockford, Illinois, also played a part in shaping Joe's image. Hardly a metropolis at under a quarter of a million people, Rockford provided a backdrop with little in the way of glitz or distinction in and of itself, thereby making Joe seem less urban-oriented than most other fictional PIs who tended to function in much larger, better-known cities. In fact, many of Joe's cases—and this is especially true in the novels—take him out of the city entirely.

The Burning Season is set completely in the moonshine region of southern Illinois; The Brutal Ballet (1992) takes place mostly in the Quad Cities area along the Mississippi River; And Flesh And Blood So Cheap (2001) is set in and around the fictional southern Wisconsin resort of Crescent Lake (patterned after real-life Lake Geneva); The Fight In The Dog (2005) ventures into Chicago but most of the action occurs in rural northwestern Illinois and then climaxes near the Racine-Kenosha area on Lake Michigan; and, finally, The Day After Yesterday (2007) takes Hannibal to the very rural setting of Nebraska's high plains. Only The Skintight Shroud (1988), the second of Joe's novel-length adventures, is set wholly in Rockford.

None of this was the result of any particular plan on my part. In fact, I hadn't fully realized the trend until I began reviewing the books as I sat down to write this piece. Upon reflection, I guess this speaks to my own comfort zone—as a writer seeking to capture scenes and settings to wrap my stories in—lying primarily outside the confines of any city or highly populated urban area. Again … my small-town, blue collar roots showing through and being reflected onto Hannibal and his world. And now, in its current phase, I have completely removed the series from an urban backdrop, even a smaller-sized city like Rockford. Following events detailed in The Day After Yesterday, Joe (like his creator) has relocated to Keith County in west central Nebraska. As chronicled in a handful of subsequent short stories and in the forthcoming new Hannibal novel (Goshen Hole, available soon in e-book format) these days Joe runs a private security patrol serving homes and businesses around popular Lake McConaughy. Although he no longer actively solicits investigative work, out of habit he's taken out a Nebraska PI license and, being who he is, trouble just naturally seems to have a way of still finding him …

Whatever the setting, the Hannibal stories and novels are not lacking (in my humble opinion) when it comes to complex plots, a reasonably solid mystery element, colorful characters, nasty bad guys (including a few who aren't all bad), a healthy sprinkling of sexual encounters, and plenty of action.

As the character of Joe Hannibal has evolved over the years, he has—partly by design, partly at a subconscious level—taken on certain aspects of his creator. In the beginning I was in my thirties, Joe was forty-plus; I have now edged into my sixties, Joe is sort of "frozen" in his late fifties; Joe used to smoke (although I never did), he has since quit; we both drive Honda automobiles; our tastes in music and food are the same; we have the same personal biases, political views, and religious outlooks; we both have the aforementioned blue collar back-grounds; we both fight the battle of a thickening gut; I have developed a bum knee and bad back, Joe now has a bum hip (resulting from being caught on the periphery of an explosion, as related in The Day After Yesterday) … Still, as a fictional extension, Joe remains different from me—and probably a lot more interesting—in many ways. He has an edgy, dangerous side for one thing. He's double-tough and capable of being quite ruthless when backed into a corner. He packs a gun every day of his life, has killed a number of people, and walks around constantly aware and alert to the fact that there are those still alive from previous encounters who would not hesitate, if given half a chance, to do him serious harm. I don't know that I would ever want to be Hannibal, but at the same time if I were to spend a day living in his shoes I hope I'd have the guts and toughness to handle things pretty much the same as he does.

If you are reading these words, that means you have purchased an e-book edition of one of the previously out-of-print Hannibal novels. For that I am sincerely grateful and I hope that by the end of the book you are able to look back and say you enjoyed it. For whatever reason, the Hannibal series has always received decent (albeit limited) critical acclaim—including nominations for an Edgar, an Anthony, and six Shamus Awards—but it has never enjoyed a wide readership. I am in hopes that, through the magic of e-books, this may now be accomplished and new readers will keep coming back for more. Like I said at the beginning, Joe and I are a couple of durable old bastards; we're in it for the long haul.

Persevere … That is the single trait in life that can take you the farthest and gain you the most.

Wayne D. Dundee

Ogallala, Nebraska

May, 2011

For those of you who've supported us in the past, I hope you pay Joe and me another visit. For those of you who may be hearing about us for the first time, I hope you give us a try. In either case, we'll be doing our darnedest not to disappoint

Persevere --- WD

THE BASIC FIRST STEP TO SOLVING BULLYING

            Back toward the end of last year, I posted two blogs about bullying. One of them contained mostly my personal thoughts, the other was a review of an important book on the subject—HEART TRANSPLANT, by Andrew Vachss, Zak Mucha, and Frank Caruso.

            In the interim, unfortunately, not much has changed.

            In the past week, however, two incidents regarding the subject received considerable media attention and prompted me to write what you are now in the midst of reading.

            Incident number one was President Obama giving a strong federal push to anti-bullying measures. For all the good that will do, in my humble opinion … well, let's just say I won't waste any more space on it.

            The second incident took place at a middle school down in Australia. It was captured on video and went viral on YouTube. It involved a pudgy kid named Casey being harassed by a cocky little punk named Richard. The incident captured was, by all reports, not the first time Casey had to endure this kind of taunting, which included often being shoved and hit. This day, however, Casey reached a point where he'd had enough. After being punched in the face twice and jabbed in the stomach twice (to the jeers and cheers of onlookers), Casey grabbed his tormentor, twisted him off his feet, and slammed him to the sidewalk. Watching the news clip of the video for the first time, my reaction was to want to stand and cheer. After watching it a few more times on YouTube, my feelings haven't changed.

            As a result of the altercation, both kids were suspended for four days and subsequently—surprise, surprise—the parents of the punk who got dumped on his ass have come forth with a lawsuit. And Casey's father can only lament that his son is "not a violent kid … He's always been taught not to hit."

            Yeah, and right there is the start of the problem. In the first place, Casey ought to get a freakin' medal. In the second place, what Obama and others who insist on thinking they can fix the bullying problem simply with more legislature and more anti-bullying "policies" (how's that been working out so far, with about a gazillion such policies already in place and bullying practices only continuing to increase?) ought to do is promote Casey as the Anti-bullying Spokesman and send him on a tour showing his video and presenting it as Basic Step One in a real anti-bullying campaign. And, finally, parents like Casey's dad need to understand that, yes, it is fine to teach your kids "not to hit"—but it damn well is acceptable to hit back.

            Yes, I realize my perspective may seem primitive and simplistic. But, damn it, at its core there is a truth that can't be denied.

            I also realize there is a need for rules and policies. But they can only be affective up to a point because they always rely on someone in authority seeing the infraction. Otherwise it becomes just another case of "he said – she said" and there follows stern lectures and cautions handed out all around and then things go on as before … and the bullying victim is once again left to feel that, despite all the talk and all the hype, there really is no help or hope and, just maybe, he or she must deserve the shit sandwiches they are being fed.

           Only when bullies—and everyone else—become convinced that continuing their ways will come at a cost - each and every time will the tide start to turn. Casey showed us a way to start making that turn; I hope enough people are paying attention to the message.

            For another take on this same theme I refer you once again to a powerful, insightful article by Zak Mucha that can be found at http://www.vachss.com/better .

Persevere — WD

           

MY NEBRASKA: The Sioux Army Depot

           

            When I was writing my 2007 novel The Day After Yesterday, I wanted the big climactic scene—in which an exchange of ransom payment for a kidnap victim takes place—to occur in a remote, unique, somewhat ominous setting. And I wanted it to be an actual place. I toyed with several different locales and had about settled on a crumbling old abandoned sugar beet factory with vacant, broken-windowed buildings, tall towers, and a network of sagging conveyor tracks … until one day a co-worker (this was back before I retired from my full-time job in manufacturing) happened to mention something about the old "storage igloos" out in Cheyenne County. When I questioned him further, I first began to learn about the Sioux Army Depot …

            In March of 1942, as part of our country's buildup for World War II, the Sioux Army Depot was established in Cheyenne County near the lower edge of Nebraska's panhandle, about six miles northwest of the town of Sidney. It would go on to become the only U.S. Army Ammunition Depot functioning in Nebraska through WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

            The Sioux Depot was initially under the command of the U.S. Army Ordnance Department and later the U.S. Army Material Command. Its mission throughout its history was the receipt, storage, and issue of all types of ammunition from small arms to 10,000 bombs, all types of general supplies from small automobile parts to jeeps, and various strategic and critical materials. Near the end of its existence it briefly stored a small number of ICBM missiles.

            At its peak, the depot occupied 19,771 acres and included 801 ammunition storage igloos, 22 general supply warehouses, 392 support buildings, 225 family living quarters, 51 miles of railroad track, and 203 miles of roads. As many as 2,100 civilian workers were employed in the day to day activities, along with 40 to 60 military personnel.

            The depot was de-activated in June of 1967, during the Vietnam war.

            All of this may seem like just a lot of dry historical data and details, especially for anyone reading this who lives outside Nebraska and/or is located in a more urban or more densely populated area. To get the full impact of what I'm trying to convey—what the Sioux Army Depot was and what it meant to the area—you must take into consideration the stark high plains landscape in which it was located. The Nebraska panhandle, except for the Pine Ridge area to the north, is a treeless expanse of grassy, rolling hills with widely scattered small towns. Cheyenne County is 1300 square miles in size with a population of just under 10,000, found mostly in four small towns each with a population of under 400 plus the county seat, Sidney, boasting about 6300. You can imagine what the army depot meant to the area when it existed and how economically devastating it was when it closed down. (It is an ironic aside that the community of Sidney saw its first big boom in the 1870s when it was a "wide open" town serving nearby Fort Sidney and then almost a century later boomed again—albeit in a much tamer way—from its proximity to another military facility.)

            To visit the remains of the Sioux Army Depot today, the first thing you are struck by is leftover ammunition "igloos" standing in rows upon rows, almost as far as the eye can see, across a wide, flat expanse now overgrown with high grass and brush. I first visited there in the late afternoon, with dusk descending, and as I topped a low hill and the rows of shadowy igloos first came into sight it was like something out of a 1950s science fiction movie. Visualize something akin to scores of giant egg cartons turned upside down and strewn side by side all the way to the near horizon and you get a rough  mental picture.  (Hey, I'm a writer – I have an imagination.) These igloos are concrete domes with massively thick walls and tall steel-latch doors, standing about twenty feet high at the peak and fifty feet in diameter. They are (and always have been) grass-covered so that, from the air, they would blend into the rolling, grassy landscape and be virtually invisible. The gridwork of streets that served truck traffic between these structures is still mostly in place, though rough and broken and choked with weeds. If you stand in the middle of all this on a sunny day and (again) use your imagination just a little bit you can almost feel the pulse of the bygone activity and energy that ran through here.

            These days the igloos are used by area farmers for grain and equipment storage. Some of the doorways are boarded over, to hold in the grain. Others are secured with heavy padlocks. Several, however, are wide open and you can walk inside.

            The railroad tracks are long gone. The administration buildings located to the south of the igloo field are mostly still standing, some of them with their purpose still evident via faded signs that read Commissary, Hospital, etc. A row of badly dilapidated corrugated buildings where they must have loaded and unloaded freight trains are still standing and the massive crane framework and giant dangling hook still straddle a remaining short section of track.

            As I spend time roaming the grounds, I can't help but feel a kind of sadness, a sense of loneliness and unfinished business hanging over the place. Almost like walking the streets of a ghost town … Maybe some ghosts are watching and walking there with me.

           

            The igloo field served the scene in my book well.

            But, as I trust you can tell from the foregoing, the Sioux Army Depot and its history made an impact on me well beyond just that.

Persevere — WD

Another Look: WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

            In 1962, when this film came out, I was fourteen years old. I remember going to the theater to see it with my parents. That was before the Hollywood rating system but this movie was nevertheless widely advertised as containing content most suitable for adults. I don't remember exactly why I was allowed to attend, other than I generally acted in a mature, sensible way and was always treated accordingly by my parents. By then I'd proven responsible at doing a wide range of farm work with my father and sometimes for neighboring farmers (driving tractors, trucks, baling hay, milking cows, etc.) and was also a trusted babysitter for my three sisters, two of whom were still in diapers. Add to that the fact my mother was always an avid movie fan, up to and including being a regular reader of the old-fashioned movie mags like Photoplay and others. So, since Walk On The Wild Side had been getting a lot of hype (mainly for its "shocking" content and also largely due to solid ol' Hank Fonda's daughter playing what was reported to be a very racy part in only her second movie), Ma was keen to see it. Me, I was keen to go to the movies whenever I got the chance. As for Dad, I'm not sure why he allowed himself to get dragged along … he mostly held out for good ol' shoot-'em-up Westerns. (I'm just guessing, but maybe it had something to do with all that "racy" hype.)

            So anyway, we all went to see it and my recollection was that we came away neither particularly shocked nor impressed. It was okay, I remember thinking, but nothing special and not particularly titillating, even to a fourteen-year-old. Ma and Dad seemed most shocked by Barbara Stanwyck playing a lesbian. Me, I wasn't even sure what a "lesbian" was at that point and would have never even made the rather vague connection as portrayed in the film if I hadn't read about it in advance in one of Ma's movie magazines. Afterwards, the two things I remembered most about the movie were the scenes where Laurence Harvey got the snot beat out of him by some very nasty thugs, and the scenes where Jane Fonda was slinking around the "Doll House" wearing a skintight dress and smoking a cigarette in a long holder. (Hey, I might have been a "good kid", but I was in my teens, after all, and my hormones sort of forced me to take notice of such things.)

            Recently, I sat down to re-watch Walk On The Side for the first time in many years to see how it held up from a considerably more mature (well, in years, anyway) perspective.

            All and all, it's not a terrible movie. I've seen a lot better, I've sat through a helluva lot worse. By today's standards it is by no means shocking or racy. You see more graphic presentations on prime time TV any night of the week. Yet there is a certain grittiness to it, largely due to the excellent black-and-white photography and the moody, memorable song growled over the opening and closing credits by the gravel-voiced Brook Benton ("One day of praying, six nights of fun … The odds against going to Heaven, 6 to 1"). And the scene where Harvey gets beat up (which includes the involvement of a legless man who pulls himself along on roller-cart using said cart to ram against Harvey's ankles while two other thugs hold him) is still powerful. Also, Fonda still comes across as very sassy/sexy (far more so than Capucine, who is supposed to be the super-alluring focal point of everything) and as far as I'm concerned basically steals the whole show. (Spare me any anti-Fonda rants, please—I loathe most of the political stances she has taken over the years, but I grudgingly give her credit for having the courage of her convictions and  I admit to appreciating her performances in several films over the years.)

            The story is set in the early 1930s. It is based upon, but does not follow very faithfully, the Nelson Algren novel of the same name. It has to do with Dove Linkhorn (Harvey) hoboing across the country from Texas to New Orleans in search of his lost love Hallie (Capucine), an artist who has somehow ended up in a brothel (coyly called "the Dollhouse" throughout the movie) run by Jo (Stan-wyck) who gives Hallie special status and clearly wants to keep her to herself rather than making her available to the customers. Before reaching the city, Linkhorn encounters Kitty Twist (Fonda) who shows him the ropes as far as riding the rails and surviving the hobo life; but they quickly part ways when Dove catches her stealing from a café owner who has shown them some kindness. Through a newspaper ad, Dove traces Hallie to the Doll House and almost lures her away with him. But threats and physical interference from Jo's thugs get in the way. After Dove has been beaten up, Kitty—who, surprise!, has shown up again as a Doll House worker—creates a diversion that allows Hallie to get away and take the injured Dove with her. They return to the café where Dove and Kitty got solace earlier. Unfortunately, Jo and her thugs follow them there and in the struggle and shoot-out that ensues Hallie inadvertently stops a bullet and is killed. A very downbeat ending … somewhat salvaged by a tacked-on ending that shows newspaper headlines (as the closing credits roll and the Benton song plays again) heralding that the "Doll House Gang" has been convicted and brought to justice due to the testimony of "star witness" Kitty Twist.

            Critics at the time generally panned the film. The only things that seemed to get any praise were the song (Oscar-nominated); the striking, luminous-eyed black cat who roamed through murky dark alleys in accompaniment to said song during each set of credits (and promptly ran away, never to be seen again, as soon as filming was complete); and the acting of Ann Baxter.  The somewhat curious casting—Harvey (an Englishman) and Capucine (French) as a pair of Texans, and Baxter, playing a Mexican—got a lot of attention. Although Baxter, as mentioned above, drew accolades, both Harvey and Capucine got shredded. For my money, Harvey's Texas drawl (which he would use again some years later playing William Barrett Travis in John Wayne's The Alamo) was every bit as good as Baxter's Spanish. As far as Capucine … well, she spoke her lines and looked pretty good doing it; I'll leave it at that. Stanwyck chewed up the scenery with the relish of an old pro. But, like I said before, Fonda stole every shot she was in (especially when given wry lines like "I run the candy concession" when Dove encounters her in the Doll House and stupidly asks what she's doing there).

            All in all, this plays sort of like homage to old Warner Bros. movies of the 30s. Not all of them were classics, but they were mostly entertaining and at the very least worth an hour and a half of your time. I'd put this film toward the top of that category.

Persevere — WD

INTERVIEW: Jochem Steen

Jochem Steen is a Dutch writer with a deep interest in the PI genre. This is evidenced by the entertaining and informative Sons of Spade web site that he maintains, plus the one novel (so far) and numerous short stories he has written about his own PI hero, Noah Milano. Additionally, Jochem is a family man with a relatively new addition, works a full time IT gig, and is a rock critic. Busy fellow. But he still found time to grant my request for the following Q&A interview which I think you will find interesting.

WD:   Sons of Spade is a terrific web site, Jochem, packed with news, interviews, the occasional short story, and book reviews. Capturing and presenting all of that clearly must take a lot of time and effort. Can you tell us what prompted you to start the site and how it is working out as far as the work you put in versus the rewards you get in return?

JS:   I wanted to promote my work, so I created the blog. When I discovered a lot of writers were more than happy to work with me it really took off. It’s a very rewarding way to get to know fellow PI-lovers. As for promoting my work, it hasn’t generated the sales I’d want for my novel. But there’s always hope ;-).

WD:   You have said elsewhere that you first became interested in crime fiction and particularly the PI genre from watching Philip Marlowe and Spenser on TV. This, I presume, led to reading the older classics in the genre like the aforementioned Marlowe and, obviously, Sam Spade whom you implicate as the "father" of your site … on through to the current work being done in the genre, which you showcase so thoroughly. What about these "tarnished knights" going down their various "mean streets" appeals so strongly to you?

JS:   I think it’s the superhero aspect of it to a large degree. I’ve loved superheroes since I was a kid. PIs seem to be the more mature variant of the hero who stands up for what’s right, outside the law. Also, most PI novels follow a certain logic, certain plot elements that I like. That means I can pick up most PI novels blindly and know for sure I’ll like them.

WD:   Your first Noah Milano novel is entitled The White Knight Syndrome—was that a homage to the long-established "knight" theme, or was it something more personal relating to Noah himself and the things you are hoping to incorporate into your writings about him?

JS: It’s very much so a homage to the knight theme, it also reflects how Noah has the urge to be a hero, as difficult as it may be for him.

WD:  What made you choose LA as a setting for you Milano stories? You seem to capture the locale quite accurately. Considering that you are writing from Holland, what kind of research do you do to maintain that feel and sense of place?

JS:   The internet is a great invention for writers like me. Also, I’ve visited the USA several times and read a lot about LA.

WD:   Please tell us a little about yourself and your background.

JS: I’m 36 years old, married, a father and an IT-professional. I love comics, crime and rock music.

WD:   Many series writers tend to invest part of themselves into their protagonist. Is that true of you and, if so, what are some of those traits? Also, what do you feel sets Milano apart from other PIs?

  

JS: The sense of humor, the things he likes and dislikes are all me. I haven’t beaten up that many people though. What sets Milano apart from the rest is that he’s a very modern guy. He likes current music, is still young. And of course there’s the important aspect that he used to be a mobster but now tries to atone for the sins of his past.

WD:   What does the future hold, writing-wise, for Jochem Steen? In recent years some very powerful and acclaimed crime writers have emerged from Europe, primarily Ireland and England—any chance we will be seeing some new crime stories (or a new PI, perhaps) written by you but set in Holland?

JS: I’m writing some stuff in Dutch but right now there’s no plans for any Dutch PI fiction. I am working on some short stories involving a new character, a bouncer and unlicensed PI called Danko Flynn. I hope you’ll see him appear soon enough. Also, I hope to feature some of my work in anthologies, so editors, don’t be afraid to contact me.

Thank you for your time and candor, Jochem.We'll keep an eye on Sons of Spade for more of its interesting features and articles, and we'll also be on the lookout for your byline on more exciting stories. Here's wishing you continued success with all of your undertakings.


Persevere --- WD

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TRUE GRIT vs. TRUE GRIT

         Finally saw the Coen Brothers' remake of TRUE GRIT last Saturday night and figured I'd use this space to throw in my two cents' worth, as so many others have already done, on how it compares to the 1969 version starring John Wayne.

            First, full disclosure on a couple of points: 1.) I've never read the Charles Portis novel upon which both films were based, so none of the following will be influenced by how faithfully either film stuck to the book; 2.) I am a huge John Wayne fan so, although I'll try to be as objective as possible, some amount of bias may possibly leak through.

            Having expressed my feelings about the Duke, let me further say that TRUE GRIT was never in the top tier of my favorite Wayne movies. I liked it well enough, but my recollection has always been that it was way too hammy in the "drunk scenes" and the inclusion of Glenn Campbell in a key role really dragged down the entire picture. This wasn't the first time Wayne included—for the sake of helping to attract younger audience members—a popular singing artist of moment in one of his films. Ricky Nelson in RIO BRAVO (and Dean Martin, too, although he's out of a different mold) and Fabian in NORTH TO ALASKA worked surprisingly well; Frankie Avalon in THE ALAMO was even worse than Campbell but his screen time was thankfully very limited. These shortcomings (and a few others) aside, however, I nevertheless found the original TG enjoyable and recognized Wayne's display of acting chops, especially in the quiet camp scene where he tells Mattie about his past life, ex wife and son, etc. I felt his Oscar was deserved … although, as often happens in that particular race, it likely was earned as much for his body of work as for one particular film.

            Now. The remake. The new TRUE GRIT is a very good film. Top-notch production values and direction (as you would expect from the Coens), strong acting across the board. Hailee Steinfeld is superb as Mattie Ross, and as of this date she has just received an Oscar nomination in the category of best supporting actress. Jeff Bridges puts his own distinct brand on the role of Rooster Cogburn and he, too, has just received an Oscar nomination in the best actor category. I would agree both are probably deserving, although I would be inclined more strongly toward Miss Steinfeld. The rest of the cast also turned in good performances, particularly Matt Damon putting a serio-comic spin on his interpretation of Texas Ranger LeBoeuf. I would note, however, that Josh Brolin, who has proven to be a very capable actor in many previous roles, seems ill-suited and used to little advantage here in the role of Tom Chaney.

            As a whole, this new TRUE GRIT may be a more powerful, better-constructed film. It is certainly darker, grimmer, grittier, and thereby perhaps a more realistic representation of the period.

            I think it's fair to remember, though, that the original version was made over forty years ago, at a time when Westerns were still being done in a gentler, more romantic and idealized way.

            Still, upon re-viewing the original TRUE GRIT, which I purposely did before going to see the new one, I found it also to be realistic and somewhat grim in many of its scenes. And I gained a better appreciation for Wayne's portrayal of Rooster (perhaps now seeing it through the prism of time as someone who has himself grown older, crankier, and thicker through the middle as opposed to the relatively young sprout I was back in '69). It struck me, too, that despite recent comments dubbing that version as being tilted primarily toward the Wayne/Rooster role it really wasn't—not that much more so than the current version. There are entire long scenes early in the movie centered on Mattie and her various dealings, with Wayne being absolutely no part of it (other than as a discussion point in some instances). As for Kim Darby's portrayal of Mattie in the original, while it is not as powerful as Miss Steinfeld's, I think it is underappreciated, probably in large part due to sharing scenes with the afore-mentioned Mr. Campbell. (No matter that Wayne also shared scenes with Campbell—whoever he was on-screen with, he simply blew them away; as Montgomery Clift famously said after seeing screenings of RED RIVER: "When Wayne comes on camera, I just disappear.") The rest of the cast was made up largely of old-pro character actors (Robert Duval, Strother Martin, John Doucette, etc.) all of who provided yeoman-like performances and gave the whole thing a nice, comfortable feel.

Comparisons:

The original > 1.) Has a better opening sequence, giving us a more complete feel for Mattie, her family, and the low character of Tom Chaney; 2.) The lead-up to Rooster Cogburn is better, giving us a brief glimpse of him in action and allowing us to learn a number of things about him before Mattie actually confronts him for the first time; 3.) The "rat writ, writ for a rat" scene (absent from the new film and, from what I understand, also no part of the book) gives us a very telling - and important, I think - glimpse into Cogburn's character and what makes him tick; 4.) The scene where Mattie skips the ferry and rides her horse across the river is better done and includes the classic line from Rooster – "By God, she reminds me of me" – which gives us another peek into his character and also is the first clear sign of his growing admiration for the girl; 5.) The big one-against-four shootout in the meadow is more rousing, partly due to Elmer Bernstein's wonderful music, partly due to seeing Duke twirl his famous Winchester, but largely because, well, it's John Wayne, man; 6.) Having LeBoeuf die at the outlaw's hideout (and here I don't know if this was in the book or not) is effective because it finally allows Rooster to show grudging respect for the man with the great line: "Damn Texican, saved my life twice … once after he was already dead."; 7.) Finally, I like the more upbeat ending with Duke saying: "Well, come see a fat old man some time" as the camera goes to freeze-frame with him jumping his horse over a three-rail fence in response to just being told he was too old and fat to be jumping fences.

The remake > 1.) The spot-on perfect performance by Hailee Steinfeld will last in filmgoers' memories for a long time; 2.) Jeff Bridges' portrayal of Rooster is gutsy for its distinction and for veering Cogburn away from drunken, quasi-charming buffoonery toward mean, grungy, dangerous nastiness; 3.) The LeBoeuf character, not only because of Damon's superior acting skills, is written and presented in a more layered and entertaining way; 4.) The cabin scene with Quincy and Moon is better written here due to the knife that is brought into play coming from a hidden place – I could never understand, in the original, the logic of Rooster handing a weapon to Quincy in such close quarters; 5.) The Rooster vs. four climax here, while not quite as rousing as in the original (for reasons noted above) was far better choreographed and edited, making it still very exciting in its own right.

Quibbles/Flaws > 1.) The word emphasis in certain phrases from the original have always bugged the hell out of me. There were a number of different places where this occurred, but the most prominent one was Mattie cheering LeBoeuf after he shot Lucky Ned, proclaiming: "Some bully shot!" —like bully and shot were all one word, bullyshot. It should have been: "Some bully shot!" That may seem a stupid quibble to some (or most) but, like I said, it's been bugging the piss out of me for forty-plus years so I wanted to get it off my chest; 2.) After Mattie is snake-bitten, the whole reason Rooster rides out with her on Little Blackie is because that's the only horse he could catch. This is clearly stated in the original. In the remake, however, they ride right past Pepper's horse, still standing in the meadow … Why didn't Rooster take that second horse along so they could switch to a fresher mount after Little Blackie started to play out? Serious oversight in a key scene, to my way of thinking.

Bottom Line: Both versions are very good films, capable of standing proudly on their own merits.

One hopes that the popularity of the new version is due to the viewing public's hunger for more good Westerns like Hollywood seldom makes any more. I have to wonder, though, if the new version would be as successful if not for the popularity of the original and, moreover, the enduring popularity of John Wayne. Thirty-odd years after his death, Wayne rates among the top favorite male movie stars in poll after poll. Yet there are many who still despise him and his image. I think part of those who went to see the new TRUE GRIT were life-long Wayne fans (like me) hoping this remake would do justice to our icon; while others were Wayne haters who went hoping the new one would give them cause to put down Duke's version and then (as some have hastened to do) praise the superiority of this one. That, by turns, saddens me and pisses me off.

But I nevertheless give props to the new TG. Like I already said, it is a very good film.

Tell you what, though: After another forty years, when movie viewers think of TRUE GRIT, I'll bet the one they think of first will be the Wayne version.

Persevere, pilgrim  — WD

INTERVIEW: Peter Brandvold

Peter Brandvold is a hugely popular author of action-packed Westerns. He has written dozens of books, under his own name as well as the pen name Frank Leslie. He also has written under the Ralph Compton banner and has done a number of titles in the popular Longarm series.

Recently, Peter graciously agreed to do a Q&A interview with yours truly. I think you will find what he had to say enjoyable and quite informative.

WD:   Peter, you have quite a varied background, growing up on ranches and farms in South Dakota, later attending college (earning a B.A. in English), took a Creative Writing course at the University of Arizona, and taught English at the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation in Montana. All the while you dabbled on and off writing articles and some fiction, eventually settling on penning rousing, wildly adventurous Westerns which have become quite successful. Please expand on this, in your own words, for our readers.

PB:  I didn’t grow up on farms or ranches, but lived around friends and family who had them so I spent a lot of time in the country.  I lived in little towns that could probably qualify as “country,” even more so today when most of the little towns in the Midwest are going the way of the wooly mammoths.  I lived all over North Dakota because my dad was good at his job—he was a soil conservationist for the Dept. of Agriculture—and got promoted a lot.  But I loved the small town life, especially visiting friends and family on farms and ranches; riding horseback a lot, and driving grain trucks when I could just barely see over the dash. Getting into all kinds of “country” trouble.  But I’ve always had a very vivid and dramatic imagination, and from a very early age I knew I was going to be a writer.  I was in the 5^th grade when I read several Jack London, John Steinbeck, and Ray Bradbury stories, and a great story by Roald Dahl called “Beware of the Dog”. It's about a British fighter pilot recovering in a German hospital, though he doesn’t know it’s German because they tell him he’s in England. But then he sees this German sign that says, “Beware of the Dog,” etc.  Just a great story, and the vivid way it was written, creating that whole world with all the sights and smells and horrors ... Man, I knew I wanted to do that myself.  Everything leading up to it was just paying the bills in the most efficient way I could.  But living and teaching on that little remote Montana Indian reservation for five years was great experience for a Western writer.  And that’s what I always knew I’d write—Westerns; because those were the only movies I really loved from a very early age, and those were the first novels I read for fun.  My God, I had a toybox full of pistols and shell belts and neckerchiefs and battered hats.  In my head, I was always a cowboy. I think I still am, though I haven’t ridden a horse since Montana. I’d like to have enough acreage again to run a few in a big pasture, and ride up around Horsetooth Mountain, close to where I live now in Colorado.

WD:   You strike me as what I would call a "natural" storyteller. How much did the English and Creative Writing courses—versus your life experiences and what I suspect was this very strong natural gift—impact on what we see in your work today?

PB:   English and creative writing courses were great at opening up my world for me, my world of literature and writers.  I mean, I’ve read a broad range of folks—Harry Crews to Graham Greene, John Updike, Saul Bellow.  I love Tolstoy, and A Sportsman's Sketches by Turgenov is probably my very favorite book of al time. I’m always flipping through it to re-read passages here and there, though I think I have to whole thing memorized.  I like poetry—Ted Kooser, Elizabeth Bishop, Donald Justice, Mark Strand, Mary Oliver, James Galvin, who writes about the country here in northern Colorado. All this was grist for the mill.  A writer needs to read anything he can get his hands, be curious about everything you see, and all the books and movies out there.  It’s strange and wonderful how when you’re writing and you’re entire unconscious is completely opened up what things from your past or what you've read and heard will drift into your mind and somehow flavor what you’re writing at that very moment. So to answer your question in a nutshell: Those classes introduced me to things to read and taught me how to go about finding them.  They made me more curious and aware of the whole wide world of literature out there.  But they did very little for me, practically speaking, as far as learning how to write. That’s something you really can only teach yourself with a lot of hard agonizing.

WD:   You cover a wide range of the West in your numerous books, and generally use a large cast of characters (many of whom end up dead when they tangle with your protagonists)—how do you keep track of all the places and character names you have used so as not to unintentionally repeat any of them?

PB:   Yeah, new characters and plot ideas turn up in my head all the time while I’m writing, and I just go with it.  I censor nothing.  Writing is such a blast for me because it’s all about discovering what my unconscious is going to throw at me next, and I often really have no idea.  It’s even happening as I type this—holy shit!!  I do have a hard time keeping track and I usually write too fast and hard, working up a sweat, to be able to slow down and write things down. So I usually jot names or places or the type of horse a particular character is riding after I’m done with that sprint.  I sometimes screw up, however, and I’ll get emails telling me this guy fired nine shots from his six-shooter and this gal was riding a paint on p.32 but the paint was suddenly a coyote dun on p.102, and I really hate doing that because it’s sloppy.  I should catch it in the galley proofs, which I usually try to read very carefully.  I hate sloppy editing.  Seeing one typo in one of my books will really make me wince.  Or a flub like the one in my second book, BLOOD MOUNTAIN, where I have a one-armed man pushing himself up off a wagon bed with “both hands.”  Oh, man ...

WD:   You have several series going—Sheriff Ben Stillman, Cuno Massey, Gideon Hawk, Yakima Henry, and Lou Prophet. All are hard, tough men on the Western frontier. I find it very commendable, however, that each is a very distinct character with mannerisms and qualities all his own. Can you give us some background on how you created each of these memorable hombres and how you maintain their individuality?

PB:   Not really.  I guess I just see each one as a person—and we don’t know any two people alike, do we?  Unintentionally, I gave Gideon Hawk and Yakima Henry similar features—dark hair and green eyes, and they’re both half-breeds—but in my head they seem very distinct, not very alike at all.  In fact, they’re almost polar opposites, psychologically speaking. Yakima tries to avoid trouble, as where Hawk goes looking for it.

WD:   Do you move in sequence when writing about these characters—i.e., one book about Stillman, then one about Prophet, then one about Yakima, etc.? If not, is there any particular pattern that you follow?

PB:   The pattern is pretty much dictated by my publisher.  They offer me contracts based primarily what seems to be selling best at the time.  I sort of like having the decision made for me.  I really don’t have any favorites amongst my characters, don’t even mind writing to of the same series back to back.  I just love getting into that world, saddling up, and touching steel to flank.

WD:   You have lived and/or traveled extensively throughout most of the country where your stories take place. This, I expect, provides much of the necessary description, history, etc., that you need to tell your tales. Do you do much additional research? If so, please describe.

PB:   I travel all over in my truck and trailer, and that’s fun because I can then set books where I am at any given time, and it just makes the writing so much more immediate.  I can just look out the window and see a turning cottonwood and know exactly how to describe the sunlight playing on it.  Or how a particular ridge looks or the way shadows slide across a mountain slope with the sun’s movement.  I wrote The Guns of Sapinero up in the Wasatch Mountains, outside the little ghost town of Tincup, and since I was on open range there were cattle all over the place.  They’d wander through my camp whenever they wanted, and I’d see them in the willows when I was fishing my favorite creek.  One morning I woke up to my trailer pitching up and down.  I rolled out of bed, looked out the door, and there was a big Angus heifer using the front corner of my trailer for a scratching post!  That image went into Guns when my hero wakes up to a scratching sound outside his cabin. 

WD:   You spend much of the year "RV-ing" around the country—much like a roaming cowboy of old—stopping to camp and spend time where and when it suits you . Sounds pretty enviable. Can you expound on this lifestyle for our readers?

PB:   It’s a lot of fun.  When I get bored with a place, I pack up and move elsewhere.  I spent one winter near Quartzsite, Arizona, and several summers in the Colorado mountains.  I also spent a good part of last summer in North Dakota, staying in a couple of little towns I grew up in as well as one close to Minot, where I have an ill aunt, my Aunt LaVerne, who was/is like a second mother to me and certainly filled a big gap when my blood mother died in ’98.  We had a good time touring the countryside together, LaVerne showing me where the old farm was and that sort of thing, and telling stories of the old days like what they did all winter and where they had to pick up coal.  That’s what become available when you can travel a lot and at will.  I love it.  I’ll always have my trailer.  I’m not going to say it doesn’t get lonely at times, though, because it does.  It requires one to go out and make new friends and that’s always been hard for me.  But you can’t beat the quiet time for writing.

WD:   You write under your own name and also as Frank Leslie. I assume you chose that name after "Buckskin Frank Leslie", a gunslinger of some renown around Tombstone, AZ, during the time of Wyatt Earp. Leslie eventually shot and killed Billy Claiborne, one of the survivors of the OK Corral shootout, and very possibly also killed Johnny Ringo (despite popular claims via recent movies that it was Doc Holliday). Can you comment on this?

PB:   Nope, you got it.  I like the old-West baggage the name "Frank Leslie" carries.  It’s the same thing with Fred Glidden calling himself "Luke Short".  It’s kind pulpy, isn’t it?  I love pulp and all it’s history so I guess the name is also a nod to that pulpy tradition.

WD:   Finally, what does the future hold, writing-wise, for Peter Brandvold and Frank Leslie? I know you currently have a "weird Western"—entitled Bad Wind Blowing—appearing as an Amazon Kindle original, Peter. I also know, via our e-mail exchanges, that you soon will have a book series of "weird Westerns" coming out. Please tell our readers more about that and about any other news you care to share.

PB:   Yeah, I’m working on a weird western series for Berkley tentatively called Dust of the Damned. I’m pulling out all the stops on this one.  I have vampires and werewolves and beautiful Indian witches and even dragons.  My hero is a bounty hunter who specializes in hunting a particular breed of werewolf that helped the North win the Civil War at Gettysburg, and the heroine is beautiful deputy United States Marshal, Aubrey Coffin.  Together, they take on the weird frontier and also make the mattress dance a time or two.  Ha!  I have several other books done and they should be out over the course of the next year, including another Rogue Lawman called Gallows Express and two more Leslie books, Revenge At Hatchet Creek and Dead River Killer, respectively.  Right now my Leslie book, Bullet For A Half-Breed is on the racks, as well as my latest Lou Prophet yarn, The Devil's Winchester.   

WD:   Thank you for your time and candor, Peter. This was an interesting, informative interview. I trust our readers—and your many fans, I'm sure—will enjoy it. And I urge anyone who's reading this and hasn't checked out any of Peter's exciting, action-packed yarns to get your butts in gear and give them a try. You'll be glad you did. You can find Peter's books at any full-service book store and also through Amazon and other internet outlets. You can learn more about Peter by checking out his blog at http://peterbrandvold.blogspot.com or visiting his web site www.peterbrandvold.com .

Persevere --- WD