Greatest Westerns

[Standing Wolf]

Someone was asking about the Longmire books vs the shows. They start out in the same place as far as characters and relationships, but then they go off in sometimes very different directions. Naturally the books reveal much more about the people, and they sometimes go back in time in a way the show would be hard pressed to do. The bottom line is that they're both wonderful. And the books are still going on. I miss Craig Johnson coming to town for a signing every time a new one us published. He is quite a character.

[Standing Wolf]

If for no other reason I think it's one of Ben Foster's best performances. That movie put him on the map for me.

Change of plans. Whenever possible I like to watch the original production before seeing the remake, and I've been reading really good things about the earlier version with Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. It's not available on any of the services I subscribe to (without paying extra) so I'm just going to get a DVD from Amazon for $10. I'll watch it first, then the remake.

In the course of reading about it, I learned that the original film was based on a short story by Elmore Leonard. He may have also written the screenplay, I can't recall for sure. E.L. wrote a lot of westerns before focusing more on crime writing. He combined the two on occasion, which is how he created the character of Raylin Givens, who became the star of 'Justified'.