Westerns & the Old West

YouTube video by Just Foolin About with Michael Biehn Michael Rooker (Sherman McMasters) talks about working on Tombstone w/ Michael Biehn (Johnny Ringo)

youtu.be/R-l1FxZC_mw?...

Kevin Jarre the day he was fired from directing Tombstone.

Happy Birthday to Scott Glenn, born Theodore Scott Glenn 85-87 years ago today

Happy Birthday to the late Paul Newman, born 101 years ago today

Just got out

Happy Birthday to the late John Belushi, born 77 years ago today

bsky.app/profile/davi...

Happy Birthday to the late Ernest Borgnine, born Ermes Effron Borgnino 109 years ago today

Ernest Borgnine on the secret to his longevity:

Henry King & Gregory Peck on the set of The Gunfighter

THE GUNFIGHTER (1950) [Based loosely on the infamous Old West gunslinger Johnny Ringo (called Jimmie in this film), Gregory Peck plays a man fighting to avoid the shoot-outs his reputation forces him into.] I don't think anyone sets out to make a classic, you just try to make the best picture that's possible. I think even Shakespeare just felt he was writing for a living, just doing his best. I didn't work any harder on The Gunfighter than I did on any other picture. It just turned out to be a classic. There's a lot of fact in The Gunfighter. Jimmie Ringo was a real character, he actually lived someplace in Texas. These gunfighters wanted to have a purpose in life and I like The Gunfighter because it was about one thing, this man's desire to stop doing what he was doing. He had es-tablished such a reputation, such prestige, that everybody was trying to out-do him. Everybody wanted to be quicker on the draw than Jimmie Ringo, who had a repu-tation he couldn't get away from. That was the story - he wanted to get back to his wife and son. Zanuck was in Europe while we were making The Gunfighter and Nunnally Johnson and I had many discus-sions about authenticity. I read a book that Nunnally Johnson gave me called Triggernometry [by Eugene Cun-ningham], which was a history of all the bad men in the West. I looked at many photographs and decided that a man in those days, when he got a haircut, it looked like they had just put a pot on their heads and just cut right up to it. I told this to Greg Peck. Peck is at heart an artist.

He doesn't just want to look like the character, he wants to be that man. I said, "Greg, I think this man should have just a normal straight mustache and this bowl hair cut." Well, he came into the studio the next morning and the mustache was started and the hair was cut. He had gone straight to the barber shop and had it done. From the day that Greg read the part and we agreed we were going to do the picture, he started becoming Jimmie Ringo, in every move, in everything he did. He gave great thought to it. Nunnally saw the mustache and said, "I don't know, Henry, do you think we should put a mustache on Peck? You know, he's our leading man..." I said, "I just had him as a general in Twelve O'Clock High. You can't just have him change his clothes from a uniform to this Western outfit and be the character." Peck felt the same way. He was so delighted with being the real thing. By the time we finished the picture Zanuck was back from Europe. We ran it for him in the projection room one night and he sat, as he generally did, with his wife Vir-ginia. Afterward, he walked her outside and put her in the car and sent her home. They always talked. She was a great sounding board for him. He came back in and said, "I wish I had asked Virginia what she felt, but I'd give $25,000 of my own money just to cut that mustache off of Peck." "Why?" I asked. Zanuck said, "This man has a following of younger people. I'm just wondering if that mustache isn't just sort of going to take the romance off him." I said, "This is not a romantic part. You take the mus-tache off and give him a modern haircut and that's just going to be Greg Peck in a different suit." "Henry," he said, "I couldn't agree more. This picture is a Remington. I want to tell you here with everyone, it's a Remington. I'm just wondering what it's going to do to his following." I said, "Well, that's a gamble we'll have to take."

Johnny Ringo

Attached are Henry King's thoughts on The Gunfighter (1950) & the main character's historical basis, Johnny Ringo:

Happy Birthday to the late Henry King, born 140 years ago today

Happy Birthday to the late John Browning, born 171 years ago today. You invented like 4 or 5 of the guns used in The Wild Bunch, so you're ok in my book

Happy Birthday to the late Dan Duryea, born 119 years ago today

Happy Birthday to the late, great Randolph Scott, born George Randolph Scott 128 years ago today

🙏

David Lambert is Writing and creating artwork related to Westerns and Old West history If you like my writing, podcast appearances or artwork related to Westerns and Old West history, consider buying me a coffee. Because I want one.

If you enjoy this kind of content, consider buying me some coffee:

buymeacoffee.com/davidlambert...

Here's a little bonus goof in the Horrell scene. I didn't have anywhere else to put it.

Cheers! 🤠🍻🤠 & God bless 🙏

David Lambert is Writing and creating artwork related to Westerns and Old West history If you like my writing, podcast appearances or artwork related to Westerns and Old West history, consider buying me a coffee. Because I want one.

🤷‍♂️ Maybe the resentment hadn't built up yet? If I can raise the $12 to buy Lurie's memoir on Kindle, I might be able to offer additional insight (so far I've raised $5, so I only need $7 more)

buymeacoffee.com/davidlambert...

The Horrell Trading Post

The Horrells, Alamosa Bill & Billy the Kid

Lem Jones' Saloon

Lemuel Jones

As for why Wurlitzer renamed the Jones family the Horrells, maybe because he already had (the fictional) Lemuel Jones & that sounds better than Lemuel Horrell? I really have no idea.

Anyway, you can read Ma'am Jones of the Pecos 👇 It's good!

archive.org/details/maam...

Deputy Bell: But I had some biscuit on me.

Excerpt from Wurlitzer's published screenplay: BELL: Fell in with a bunch of Mescaleros. They was jest off the reservation and I was plenty suspicioned of them. I had some biscuit on me and I give it to 'em and they rode on. Billy reaches down for paper. Underneath the paper there is a Colt Army .44 revolver. Billy puts the paper over the revolver and looks out at Bell. Bell is chewing on a stalk of grass. Billy carefully puts the revolver inside his pants, underneath his nightshirt. BELL: There ain't nothin' to makin' biscuit. Git yourself a quart to a half gallon of milk. Throw in a couple chunks o' tater. Let 'er set two or three days. Thin 'er down 'bout like buttermilk. Thin 'er some more. Billy stands up. Ext. outhouse Billy comes out. BELL (standing up and following a few feet behind Billy): Put in some sody. Throw in sugar 'n' bakin' powder. Put in a little salt and bacon grease. Then enough flour to make a soft dough with blisters. Shove 'er in the oven.

Excerpt from Ma'am Jones of the Pecos: When asked for his recipe, Sam said, "Why, they ain't nothin' to makin' biscuit; anybody can do it. Course you got to have salt 'east. Git yoreself 'bout a quart to a half-gallon o' buttermilk, if you got any, and if you ain't, git some sweet milk and let 'er sour. If you ain't got no milk you can use water by maybe throwin' in a chunk o' tater, or two or three if they're little. It's better to throw in a chunk of sourdough if you got it, pretty good size. Let it work two or three days, however long it takes. Then thin 'er down 'bout like buttermilk. Pour out 'nough for yore biscuit, and thin 'er some more. This here's yore starter. "Git you a cup of that there 'east - not too big a cup. Put in some sody or bakin' powder, whichever you got. You don't need to measure no sugar nor bakin' powder - jest throw 'er in. The sugar is to kill the taste of the sody if you got too much. But maybe you ain't. Put in a little salt and a little grease. Bacon grease if you got it. Can use taller but it ain't so good. Put in 'nough flour to make a soft dough with blisters in. Git it as soft as you can.

Continued excerpt from Ma'am Jones of the Pecos: "And don't use a spoon; mix it with yore hands. "It cooks better in a Dutch oven, but if you ain't got one you can use a stove oven. Better git you a Dutch oven 'cause it'll lift the lid offen one. But if you got to use a stove, get the oven plenty hot. "And shove 'er in!"

In Rudy Wurlitzer's script, Deputy Bell gives his biscuit recipe to Billy the Kid while he's in the outhouse getting a gun. The recipe comes straight from Ma'am Jones of the Pecos. Peckinpah rightfully cut it, though it would've made Billy's deadpan "Helluva story, Bell" even funnier

Alamosa Bill: I don't suppose there's any other way we could work this out? ...Well, let's get to it. Ten steps? Billy the Kid: Suits me.

Billy the Kid: You count them. ...You ain't thought of another way, have you? Alamosa Bill: No, I can't come up with nothing. Billy the Kid: Get to it.

Alamosa Bill: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight- Alamosa Bill turns early but Billy already has his gun pointed at him & he shoots him down & walks over to him & puts his on his chest & under his coat. Billy the Kid: That wasn't ten, hoss. Alamosa Bill: I never could count.

Excerpt from Ma'am Jones of the Pecos: "Ten steps?" asked John. He and Riley were at the doorway of the chosa. "Suits me." "Then start counting." Riley said nothing. "Any other way to settle this?" asked John. "No." "Then start counting." Standing back to back, they began walking away from each other, stepping and counting simultaneously. As they said "ten," each whirled and fired. John dropped his six-shooter and ran to Riley, who had fallen. He bent over the man and unbuttoned his shirt. Riley looked up. "Oh, John, I forced this on you," he said. And he closed his eyes. When Barbara and Marion reached them, John stood by the body sobbing. Barbara placed her fingers on Riley's wrist. She opened his shirt. There were three bullet holes over his heart, so close together that all could have been covered with a playing card. "Do you know who this man's friends are?" she asked. "I do," replied Turner. "Go to them. Tell them to bring a wagon and to come unarmed. Tell them I said so."

Eve Ball's version of John Jones shooting Riley dead, including some dialogue, was lifted for the 10 paces duel between Billy & Alamosa Bill. Historians doubt a 10 paces duel ever happened in the Old West & the twist Wurlitzer added shows why: a 10 paces duel would be a matter of who cheats first

Ooooooooo nice!

Happy 51st Birthday to Balthazar Getty, born Paul Balthazar Getty

Happy 61st Birthday to Diane Lane

Somehow I briefly forgot he was in Dead Man, haha

Happy Birthday to the late John Hurt, born 86 years ago today

Happy Birthday to the late Bill Bixby, born Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III 92 years ago today

Happy 73rd Birthday to Jim Jarmusch. I know I recently posted this 🧵 where Rudy Wurlitzer, John Lurie, Alex Cox & I accuse you of being a thieving snake, but I still do like a bunch of your movies.

Cheers! 🤠🍻🤠 & God bless 🙏

Happy Birthday to the late Robert E. Howard, born 120 years ago today. In addition to creating Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane, etc, he also wrote a bunch of Westerns

I blocked her because her account was a nightmare. If we ever crossed paths on here I doubt it would be a worthwhile interaction for either of us.