Remembering Lee Van Cleef

CQ — 8

31, March, 2024 – TaleWriter

Comment & Quote

Comment:

Lee Van Cleef was a masterful villain. Although he didn’t always play the role of the bad guy, it seems those are the rolls for which he is most remembered. Even in his brief appearance on an episode of the ‘Andy Griffith Show’, his character was a heel, stealing purses at a carnival stopping in Mayberry.

He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II as a submarine chaser and then as a sonar-man on a minesweeper.

His movie debut came in 1952 playing Jack Colby in the Western classic, ‘High Noon’ starring Grace Kelly and Gary Cooper. He also made numerous appearances in the early TV Westerns, and usually as the villain.

Van Cleef was good at what he did and well deserving of remembering. Perhaps part of the inscription on his grave marker might say it best: “Best of the Bad”.

. . . And so, I leave you with this . . .

 Quote:

“It’s generally more fun playing the villain…”

~~ Charlie Hunnam (Born on April 10, 1980 in Newcastle, England) ~~

Sources:

wideopencountry.com/

themoviedb.org/

Remembering

Edgar Buchanan

CQ-7

Wednesday, December 8, 2021 – TaleWriter

Comment & Quote

Comment:

Born on March 20, 1903 – Died on April 4, 1979

I didn’t know his name while I was growing up, only knew him as Uncle Joe, and back in the day, Petty Coat Junction was the only TV program I knew him from. I watched Westerns back then but I didn’t pay a lot of attention to names: Lucas McCain was Lucas McCain, not Chuck Connors. As far as the other characters, well, they were just there to generate the story.

Buchanan played many roles on many TV shows, often appearing in multiple episodes of the same series. One of my favorite Western programs is Laramie, and he was in four episodes as four different characters. One I particularly liked was his Tully Casper character teaming with Jess Harper (Robert Fuller) in the Stolen Tribute episode.

(Read an interview with Robert Fuller in Saddlebag Dispatches Summer 2021 issue (https://saddlebagdispatches.com/). Annnd for a shameless plug, you can also read my short story Justice for Duff O’Casey in the same issue.)

There’s no doubt about it, Edgar Buchanan was an excellent Western actor. Though many of his roles exhibited similar characteristics, he always managed to give each character a uniqueness that only a first-rate performer can.

. . . And so, I leave you with this . . .

 Quote: (From Brainyquote.com)

“Acting is magical. Change your look and your attitude, and you can be anyone.”

–––Alicia Witt, actress, singer, songwriter (Born: August 21, 1975)–––

Remembering John Huston

CQ-5

30, August, 2021

Comment & Quote

Comment–––

John Huston:

Just a few thoughts on John Huston.

I wanted to write a piece on John Huston and publish it on August 28, the anniversary date of his passing, but circumstance and a lack of time made that impossible.

The first time I saw John Huston was in 1966 as Noah in “The Bible: In the Beginning…” At the time I was only 11 years old and in the sixth grade. Of course I didn’t know it was John Huston until I was older. To me, the man on the screen was Noah.

When I ran across his name, it was while I was looking up information on Claude Akins. I saw that he’d been in the movie “Battle for the Planet of the Apes”. I didn’t know that but then I saw John Huston was also in the movie as The Lawgiver. I’m not sure whether or not I saw that movie, but I guess now I’ll have to get hold of it to make sure.

Remembering John Huston. Distinctive voice and a man who wore many hats.

. . . And so, I leave you with this . . .

 Quote–––

“Critics have never been able to discover a unifying theme in my films. For that matter, neither have I.”

-also-

“I don’t try to guess what a million people will like. It’s hard enough to know what I like.”

–––Actor, Director, Producer and so much more: John Huston (August 5, 1906–––August 28, 1987)

Thomas Robert Laughlin

CQ-4

Friday, November 27, 2020 – TaleWriter

Comment & Quote

Comment:

Birth Name     Thomas Robert Laughlin

Date of Birth             10 August 1931, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Date of Death           12 December 2013, Thousand Oaks, California

Tom Laughlin

A name from the past for those of you who know who he is. I knew him as Billy Jack, from the movies: In 1967 – “The Born Losers”, in 1971 – “Billy Jack”, and in 1974 – “The Trial of Billy Jack”.

I didn’t know he was dead—has been for going on seven years now. He was 82. He was probably in his early forties when I first saw one of his movies. I thought he was younger.

I’m sure Tom Laughlin has popped into my head at some time or other since I last saw one of his movies (mid 70’s), but I’ve never had the inclination to look him up on the net—until this week, and I find out he’s dead.

No matter your age, there are a lot of folk we grew up listening to, reading, watching, and we’ve lost many of them—lose more of them every year. Yesterday I watched a movie, “Last Train from Gun Hill”, staring Kirk Douglas (Born: December 9, 1916, Amsterdam, N. Y.—Died: February 5, 2020, Beverly Hill, CA) and Anthony Quinn (Born: April 21. 1915, Chihuahua, Mexico—Died: June 3, 2001, Boston, MA).

Equally, no matter the age of the ones we’ve lost, it feels as if we didn’t have them around nowhere near long enough.

The bottom line to this piece is this: It doesn’t matter how many years we are allowed on this earth, they fly by, especially when viewed in retrospect. Don’t waste it. We all have so very little of it left.

. . . And so, I leave you with this . . .

 Quote:

“Finally, she mused that human existence is as brief as the life of autumn grass, so what was there to fear from taking chances with your life?”

— Mo Yan, February 17, 1955 —

Note: This post is from a piece I wrote at an earlier time. I just updated it a bit.

Reading

CQ-3

Sunday, June 14, 2020 – TaleWriter

Comment & Quote

Comment:

If you are going to write, then you are going to have to read. We’ve all heard this maxim (or some version of it) before. I don’t like it. Not because of what it says, but because of how it is said–you have to read. Makes it sound like a chore. If you want to write and have to read, then you might have a problem. Reading (reading for the sheer enjoyment of it) or being read to should have already been a part of your life before the thought of writing ever crossed your mind.

I feel for people who don’t read past the first page or two of a book before declaring it “not for me.” They are missing much. I know we don’t all like to read the same things, and that’s good, but it is also good to try reading something you are not naturally drawn to. I have read a lot of good stories that I would have missed had I not pounded my way through a hard chapter or two.

— And so, I leave you with this —

Quote:

“It is often said that one has but one life to live, but that is nonsense. For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction, biography and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time.”

~~ Louis L’Amour, Education of a Wondering Man  (1908—1988) ~~

What I Write

CQ-2

Thursday, May 21, 2020 – TaleWriter

COMMENT & QUOTE

Comment:

I like Westerns, and by that, I mean American “Old West” Westerns. It’s a time to write in—not just to write about. The Western is more than genre, it’s a style. Almost any genre can be written in the style of an American Western: Mystery, Thriller, Supernatural, Science Fiction, Romance, they all fit, they all work, and because they are more often than not based in our past, they don’t go flat with age.

I like to write “Traditional Westerns”—good guys against bad guys, cattle drives, bank and train robberies, even a little romance (as long as it doesn’t go too far)—but—I also like to mix genres, in particular Horror and Westerns. I’m working on a series of stories in a fictional place called, Shadow Valley, a mixed genre Horror-Western series of stories, and it is a lot of fun coming up with the characters that populate them.

Sometimes I feel like 90 percent or more of what I write needs to be edited via the delete button, and sometimes I know it does, but I keep plugging away because sometimes I get almost 10 percent of what I write, right . . . eventually.

—And so, I leave you with this—

Quote:

“In Hollywood, the woods are full of people that learned to write but evidently can’t read. If they could read their stuff, they’d stop writing.”

~~ Will Rogers (1879—1935) ~~

Introduction

CQ-1

Sunday, May 17, 2020 – TaleWriter

Comment & Quote

Comment:

My name is Jacob Bayne, and I’m a writer—a writer of fiction, usually. I have written a poem or two and I hope to again if the right words ever pop into my head, but for the most part, I tell stories.

I started this blog in or around early 2014 and I worked at it for a while and then less often, and then I ignored it completely. Now here I am trying again. I deleted all of my old posts, but I’m going to try and incorporate what I can of them into certain new posts. The frequency of my posts is yet to be determined, but I’d like to be able to get on a schedule of at least once a week.

Comment & Quote will be geared toward writers and readers, but I hope all who venture this way will find some measure of inspiration or a degree of worth for stopping by.

Writing is not a simple or easy thing. You have to have thick skin and a hard head. You have to be willing to learn, then learn some more, and continue to learn. You never know it all. But you can’t give up, because to give up is to lose.

…And so, I leave you with this…

Quote:

“He never knew when he was whipped . . . and so he never was.”

~~ Louis L’Amour (1908—1988) ~~