THE WESTERN ERA

 

       I spent most of today Sunday watching movies about Louis L’Amour’s Sacket brothers. A lot of you remember those stories, I’m sure. The best part is that most of those movies starred Tom Selleck, Sam Elliot and Ben Johnson, as did a lot of other westerns. What’s a western without those three? Tom and Sam were such natural “old west” characters.

       I miss the days of good western movies. Today, Hollywood is too removed from reality to know how to make a true western anymore, and not teaching history in school the way it should be taught has stolen children’s minds of the excitement and admiration for how this country grew. There are no westerns on TV anymore, no real heroes, no conception of the bravery and fortitude of our early pioneers.

       I wonder how many of you remember the TV mini-series called CENTENNIAL. That series took western settlement from the early days of the fur trappers and mountain men through the land rushes and pioneers, the Indian wars and struggles, the building of the railroads and the sad killing off of millions of buffalo, the gold discoveries and the growth of big cities like San Francisco, the struggles with outlaws and finally the establishment of law and order in a wild, sometimes cruel land that was sometimes savage and brutal itself. Who else but James Michener could write such great history? The series was based on his book, which is set in Colorado, as is my own series, SAVAGE DESTINY. Michener wrote those “big, fat books” I always loved to read, including one about Hawaii.

       CENTENNIAL inspired my desire to write a big story about the settling of the West. I love using the gradual settlement of a certain area as the background for my books. I try hard to use only truth when it comes to events and places, with only the characters being fictitious. In today’s modern world it is really hard to get your mind and spirit into yesteryear. A writer needs to study hard, to be alone and use every facet of the imagination to be able to place himself or herself into those “old days” of no conveniences, no A/C, no refrigeration, no running water and toilets, no electricity in remote places, no fancy furniture or comfy mattresses, no convenience stores for a quick quart of milk and ready-made butter, no showers and fancy soaps, and worst of all, no ready-to-buy medicine for colds and flu and pain. Yes, the “good old days” were more peaceful and probably better for teaching young ones how to work hard and earn their way, but when it comes to medicine, they were not such “good old days” at all.

       I am sort of rambling here, but watching a movie based on a Louis L’Amour book refreshes my memory of how and why I started writing westerns and history itself. My books are not always westerns. I have covered pre-Revolution years through post-Revolution years, the Civil War, the War of 1812, the Mexican war, the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and other historical novels, but my first love and the bulk of my writing involves my favorite subject of all – the Old West, cowboys, Native Americans, pioneers, outlaws and lawmen.

       It's too bad that today’s TV and movie-makers seem to have abandoned that theme, but what goes around usually comes around, so I always hold out hope that such subject matter will rise again in the minds and hearts of movie-makers and the viewers. I think one of the best movies that depicts the gradual demise of the true “cowboy” is MONTE WALSH, starring Tom Selleck. I always cry at the end of that movie. And the best movie about the end of the old “live by the gun” lawmen and shootists is the movie THE SHOOTIST, starring John Wayne. Not only is that movie a great depiction of the end of an era, but it was John Wayne’s last movie before he died. How perfect and fitting is that? My God, what a career that man had.

       Maybe it’s just my age that makes me nostalgic about those old westerns, and maybe the general public will continue to lose its interest as younger people move in to take over, but there is always hope that “The Wild West” will rise again in the minds and hearts of movie makers and movie viewers. We need more Kevin Costners, one of the few modern men who seems to understand how to make a good western, like OPEN RANGE. It’s one of my favorites. And then, of course, there is DANCES WITH WOLVES. Even YELLOWSTONE is, in its own way, a western. So much of the dialogue in that series is so true and heartfelt when they talk about what is happening to Montana. How absolutely fitting it was that the Yellowstone Ranch ended up being gifted back to the Native Americans. That says a lot.

       Well, so much for my nostalgia. It hurts my heart to realize that most young people have little appreciation for how this country was settled and the bravery it took to do it. But that’s not their fault. It’s the fault of our teaching system that leaves out so much of our important history. I hope you will do what you can in your local school system to bring real history back to our classrooms.