Write about whatever you like in the comments. I really missed comments yesterday! So glad to have them back. I know readers are still there, but it really means something to me to see your words.
September 5, 2026
Sunrise.
Write about whatever you like in the comments. I really missed comments yesterday! So glad to have them back. I know readers are still there, but it really means something to me to see your words.
Posts
45 comments:
That downed tree -- here in the Ann Arbor area, there are a mess of them from storms that came thru the area yesterday mid-day. Power still out in many places.
We've still got a lot of fallen timber lining the streets here from the nasty storm a few weeks ago, and some side streets blocked by downed wires.
Re comments, it's funny how much their absence, and my inability to make them, affect my mood.
Taking our Labor Day week in Santa Fe, off to the desert tomorrow. Even drove by the Santa Fe burning man, Zozobra. Lots of people and alcohol. Like Madison. Now they project faces on him as he screams in agony as he burns. I guess a Spanish thing. The Name means Mr. Gloom.
I’m three miles north of the Detroit city limit. The weather was scary for about two days but it’s perfect now.
In Santa Fe there is a Loretta Chapel where some nuns prayed a Novia in 1877 and an unknown man came and built a spiral staircase to the choir with pegs and no nails and left without payment, and they assumed he was St Joseph the Carpenter. This leads to Sidney Poitier and the Lillies of the Field movie which was filmed in Tucson at a ranch owned by Linda Rhondstadt’s father in 1963. Her grandfather Federico Ronstadt had a huge ranch in the area.
Greatest Western? Shane followed by The Outlaw Josey Wales
Linda Ronstadt and Jerry Brown had a well-known romantic relationship in the late 1970s, when Brown was governor of California and Ronstadt was one of the biggest singers in the country. They dated for several years but never married.
Jerry Browns Great Grandfather had a 4 square mile ranch 75 miles north of Sacramento in 1877. So old ranch money gets you somewhere.
Do you remember when Althouse deliberately turned off comments? Pepperidge Farms does.
One of the best movie lines ever. Captain Terrell referring to Josey Wales: “Not a hard man to track. Leaves dead men wherever he goes.”
“Political Junkie said...
Greatest Western? Shane followed by The Outlaw Josey Wales“
You have to do that by categories, there is no best. Overall I think “The Searchers” does it all, but there are epics, “How the West Was Won.” For modern ones, “The Magnificent Seven”. And of course “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.” Wales was good for the poor grittiness. There was a lot of good tv, Bonanza, Rawhide, Paladin, Maverick.
"Greatest Western? Shane followed by The Outlaw Josey Wales"
I agree 100% with Shane, a beautiful, meaningful film. The next greatest would be The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Clint, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in an epic with so many great lines and quips.
"When it's time to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."
"There are two kinds of spurs in the world: Those that come in through the door, and those that come in through the window."
"Sorry, Shorty."
I have my eye on the pacific ocean .
https://zoom.earth/maps/satellite/
I"m enjoying another blog discussing how pickup truck drivers give the "truck wave" to other pickup trucks, but over the road drivers with serious trucks only acknowledge certain types of trucks.
Seems a little cloudy - a little dreary. But then summer is gone in a couple weeks. And then its hello fall. or "Autumn" to pompous assholes.
Greatest Western? You make the call. But I can tell two that aren't. McCabe and Mrs. Miller and The Searchers. One is a Western for people who don't like westerns. And the other - the Searchers - is hyped because its about "Racism".
If I had to choose, maybe "My darling Clementine" by Ford. Or the "the far country" with jimmy stewart. Or...the Good bad the ugly. Or... I could name 10 others.
Rio.Bravo, Near the climax, Stumpy brings the dynamite. Wayne has Martin’s Dude throw the sticks while Wayne shoots them in midair. The exchange is:
Chance: “Can you throw?”
Dude: “Near as far as you can shoot.”
Chance: “We’ll find out.”
Best western? My favorites are "High Noon" and "Stagecoach".
Since I enjoyed "Thin Red Line" and "From here to eternity" by James Jones, I'm currently reading "Some came running". Like "Eternity" its a monster of a novel. Jones really loved to sling the words. I don't could've gotten through "Eternity" without listening to it on audio. And the same is true of "Some came running".
Jones was a bit of a tragic figure. "The greatest generation ever". In the army in 39 and wounded on Guadacanal and also where he caught malaria. Best selling author in 52, then dead in 1977 after a battle with heart disease. Too many cigs, cigars, and booze.
Unlike "Hem" he wasn't a alcoholic, just a heavy drinker. A victim of the glamorization of smoking and booze. And bad medical advice. When his french doctor first diagnoised (sic) heart disase he recommened Jones cut back his drinking and smoking to a "healthy level" aka 1 bottle of wine at lunch and dinner and 6 cigars a day!
"Some came running" is good novel but its nothing like the movie. And God do the characters drink. Even the women who are supposed to be the "sober" "responsible" ones are tossing back 3 martinis or 3 beers every meal.
“the Searchers - is hyped because its about "Racism".”
According to a film site:
“ Lucy Edwards, the older sister, is abducted during the Comanche raid and later killed. The film strongly implies she was sexually assaulted, though it is not shown or stated explicitly.
Debbie Edwards, the younger girl, is taken alive and kept for years among the Comanche. When Ethan finally finds her, she is living with Scar’s band and is presented as one of Scar’s wives/captives.”
I don’t know if the racism is to Amerinds or against.
Once you know anything about 19th century weaponry then “The Searchers”’ is a non-starter. The fight at the river takes place not long after the Civil War. The ranchers should be using cap and ball revolvers, Spencer carbines, Henry rifles, Winchester model 1866 rifles (which use brass receivers and.not the blued steel of the 1873 model), and breech loading cavalry carbines like the Smith or the Sharps. In the River fight Jeffrey Hunter uses a revolver not commercially available until after 1873., and John Wayne uses a Winchester model 1894 which was not commercially available until — I’ll let you guess.
Well if the left can't kill children, they can always return to the usual party platform of abusing them for kinks:
https://roanoke.com/news/state-regional/crime-courts/article_3f6392f7-639a-50a8-9fd8-5e7d09ea99e4.html
Hey KKKakkk- is there anyone on your side who ISN'T a child molester/rapist/terrorist/(child)murder/pedophile/grifter???
The Searchers is all about John Wayne wanting to kill "Debbie" at the end because she'd become "an Injun" and then changing his mind. Racism is why the elite are always "hyping it".
Its why it was made in the late 50s. Its all part of Hollywoods desire to attack racism and push for civil rights. First it was "Why are we against those nice Hispanics?" then it was "Why are we against those nice Asians?" and finally "What about the blacks?"
Nothing wrong with attacking racism. But it doesn't make it a great western - let alone the best one.
“ Once you know anything about 19th century weaponry then “The Searchers”’ is a non-starter.”
Yes, true, and Clint Eastwood put .45 long cartridges in an 1851 colt navy revolver in his movie, which was a powder and ball pistol. So movie prop men are not smart, meh.
At the heart of "The Searchers" is race war. Comanche v. Whites. That's only part of the Western story. A small part.
Pretty much every good western had Walter Brennan in it.
Ok RC apply your filters, but the Searchers was a great movie.
I enjoy High Noon. Coop and Grace Kelly. But complete crap as history. No western town would've cowered behind closed doors to let some thugs kill the sherrif and take over the town. All those guy back then were Civil war vets, or they'd fought the Indians.
When Jesse James and the Younger Gang tried to rob a bank in some small town they got shot to hell by the locals.
I think the author of the screenplay was thinking of Joe McCarthy and Brooklyn.
"Do you remember when Althouse deliberately turned off comments? Pepperidge Farms does."
Have to admit, crossed my mind.
I have come to respect and admire John Ford movies a great deal more in my old age. One of his underknown westerns is a movie called Wagon Master.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon_Master
It's about a couple of cowhands hired to lead a wagon train of Mormons to Utah. An excellent movie with all the elements of Ford's best films.
My favorite role for Walter Brennan was “Sgt. York” where he was the TN preacher who sang “Old Time Religon” and guided York to Gods.
"Do you remember when Althouse deliberately turned off comments? Pepperidge Farms does."
A soul who has been in crisis does not benefit from torment.
Favorite Westerns:
Tombstone
For a Few Dollars More
Favorite westerns: duel in the sun and the big country. Gregory peck in Both— the baddie in duel, but back to his usual honorable persona in the big country.
I also love any Jimmy stewart western, with his horse Pie. The man who shot liberty valence is stupendous.
Shout out to whichever commenter recommended That Thing You Do the other night. Great movie! Thanks !
Walter Brennan's squeaky voice came from a dose of mustard gas he received in France, WWI. He dabbled in real estate before turning to acting.
For more modern ones, The Unforgiven. Any top 5 list has to have at least 3 Eastwood movies.
Favorite Josey Wales lines:
'...Josey Wales: That's how it goes. When I get to likin' someone, they ain't around long.
Chief Lone Watie: I notice when you get to DIS-likin' someone they ain't around for long, neither.
James Jones spent at least some time recovering at the Kennedy General Hospital in Memphis, which he called Luxor in his fiction.
Some of the redneck bars he drank in were still around in the early ;70s I think.
A good movie tells a story you want to hear of a few people in an arc of time and place.
Yeah, movies rarely use the correct weapons in Westerns. Its just six guns with mettalic bullets and winchesters - shootin the same. And of course, its all smokeless powder. 1855, 1865, 1875, 1885 - it was all the same to Hollywood.
I have a DVD of Unforgiven. I basically watch Richard Harris and Gene hackman and skip the rest. I wish guys like Hackman and McQueen had done more westerns. Now, i understand why Steve McQueen didn't do more Westerns, he'd already done a TV Western and wanted to branch out. But those two guy were naturals.
Old Rivers
Walter Brennan
How old was I when I first seen Old Rivers?
I can't remember when he weren't around
Well, that old fella did a heap of work
Spent his whole life walking plowed ground
He had a one-room shack not far from us and
Well, we was about as poor as him
He had one old mule he called Midnight
And I'd trailed along after them
He used to plow them rows
Straight and deep
And I'd come along there behind
A-bustin' up clods with my own bare feet
Old Rivers was a friend of mine
The sun'd get high and
That mule would work
And Old Rivers'd finally say, "Whoa!"
He'd wipe his brow
And lean back on the reins
And talk about a place he was gonna go
He'd say, one of these days
I'm gonna climb that mountain
Walk up there among them clouds
Where the cotton's high
And the corn's a-growin'
And there ain't no fields to plow
I got a letter today from the folks back home and
They all find crops is dry
Down at the end mom said, "Son
You know Old Rivers died."
Sittin' here now in this new-plowed earth
Trying to find me a little shade
With the sun beatin' down
'Cross the fields I see
That mule, old Rivers and me
Now, one of these days
I'm gonna climb that mountain
Walk up there among them clouds
Where the cotton's high
And the corn's a-growin'
And there ain't no fields to plow
With the sun beating down
Across the fields I see
That mule
Old Rivers
And me
Western Michigan was robbed!
That was disappointing.
It's going to be a long season for Big Blue if they're storming the field after beating a MAC opponent. By one point.
On a play they never should've had.
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