Men Like This Never Die

I just recently watched (for at least the 10th time) THE SHOOTIST, starring John Wayne. What a perfect way for an iconic star like him to end his career, going down in a shootout and (in the movie) at the turn of the century, a time when the era of the “wild west” was coming to a close and civilization and the telephone and electricity and automobiles began to take over the “Old West.” It was as though John Wayne himself was walking into history in that movie, leaving us a lasting legacy of the western hero. In the movie he is a gunman dying of cancer, and not long after that movie was made, John Wayne really did die of cancer. I’m sure he knew he had it even when he was making the movie. Even more touching and ironic is the fact that the movie also starred James Stewart and Lauren Bacall, two more of the biggest movie stars of all time who were also being ushered out of their prime movie-making careers when they made THE SHOOTIST.

And then there is Ron Howard, the other major star in THE SHOOTIST. He represented the future of movie making, a young man who grew up during the best years of making western movies and then moved on into the future of new genres and into producing and directing his own movies.

THE SHOOTIST represents all that is John Wayne, all that represents the closing era of big westerns, and is a fitting farewell to one of movie-making’s greatest stars. I always cry at the end of that movie, because to me it represented an honorable and touching “good-bye” to a great man and the biggest star of westerns we have ever had – or ever will again. What I like most about the westerns of the 1950’s through the 70’s is the way producers and directors of the time used real western landscapes as a backdrop for those movies – the “real’ west, usually Monument Valley or the Rockies and other beautiful landscapes of America’s West. It’s a land I love with all my heart, and the one thing that modern western movie-makes forget to include. It’s those grand western landscapes that made so many of the old westerns so great and gave movie-goers the “feel” of the West. Anyone today who films a western should remember that the scenery behind the story is vital to making a good western.

I try to get the same thing across in my books, and apparently I do a decent job of it because I get so many comments about how the readers can picture the landscape and feel as though they are right there with the story characters. That’s because I have traveled the West for a good 30 years now and have visited just about every location I have written into my stories. To say it’s a “ big country” is an understatement. I wish everyone who has never been “west” could go and see just how huge it really is out there. It’s so grand that it makes your heart swell with pride in America. To me the Old West represents the spirit of individualism, pride and independence our forefathers instilled in us as Americans. May such things always live on in our hearts and the hearts of our children and grand-children. Being American is uniquely wonderful and a privilege, and we need to preserve the freedom of the individual spirit this country represents.

Someone like John Wayne represented that “big country” and that American pride and individualism. I think he is still out there riding the prairies, plains and through the mountains. Men like that never really die.

 

It’s 2012 already. Seems like about a month ago I was sponsoring a class reunion for our Coloma Class of ’63. That was last July! Somehow between then and now my grandsons started school, we celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas! I shopped, decorated, wrapped and boom! It was all over and all the decorations are down and packed away. Soon my husband and I will vacation in Vegas and before you know it spring will be here again (which sounds great because we are hunkering down here in southwest Michigan for our first blizzard!).

It always astounds me how fast time goes by – and it’s a little frightening when you’re getting older. In two weeks I’ll be 67, but who cares? I feel 40 and thank God for my good health and the fact that I don’t look my age, thanks to good genes from my 90 year old mother who has always looked 15 to 20 years younger than her age – and who remains in good health! I hope I continue to take after her.

Speaking of spring coming faster than we think, I want to remind everybody to watch my Blog, Facebook, Twitter and my website for news about an on-line Valentine’s Party to celebrate the reissue of my novel, Wildest Dreams, from Sourcebooks and through Amazon. You can pre-order a print copy now, and soon you can order the book as a download to your Kindles! It’s so nice to be “on the shelves” again, and I hope to soon sell something brand new. In July Thunder On The Plains will also be available in print and as an e-book – and before long Amazon will offer my entire Savage Destiny series as e-books!

There has been a renewed interest in westerns in books and on TV, which pleases me greatly. The Old West is absolutely my favorite genre, and I’ve written 57 books, nearly all of them set in America’s Old West. Now many of them will be reissued as e-books. I hope to see resurgence of the genuine, good old historical romance, wherein there was a dark and handsome (macho-man) hero and a strong-willed beautiful heroine with the kind of courage and determination it took to “match” the hero and know how to handle him – and to face the challenges presented to women in the 1800’s Western pioneer era. Oh, how I love writing those stories!

I hope all of you have a successful and healthy New Year, and I look forward to corresponding with many of you through e-mail and Facebook and Twitter, and through continued blogging! Be sure to watch for some blog “tours” coming up! I look forward to “meeting” a lot of you on-line, and maybe I’ll get to meet some of you in April at the huge author book signing at the Romantic Times conference in Chicago! Drive safely in this winter weather!