Movie Review: The Miracle Rider

Movie Review: The Miracle Rider It is 1935 in the Panhandle area of Texas, home to the Ravenhead Tribe Indian Reservation.    The Ravenheads are a peaceful, hardworking tribe.  Sadly, their land is secretly situated on top of the largest deposit of X-94, an ore with tremendous explosive power, in the world.  Somehow, a white… Continue reading Movie Review: The Miracle Rider

Movie Review: Union Pacific (1939)

Movie Review: Union Pacific (1939) The Civil War might still be going on, but the United States has to consider what will happen after the war.   Government approval is given to build railways that will link the eastern half of the country with the western,   The eastern end of the line is being… Continue reading Movie Review: Union Pacific (1939)

Comic Book Review: The Thrilling Adventure Hour

Comic Book Review: The Thrilling Adventure Hour by Ben Acker & Ben Blacker The Thrilling Adventure Hour, it turns out, is a continuing theatrical performance and podcast in the style of old-time radio.  As such, it’s full of action, comedy and thrilling adventure.  This is their first illustrated tie-in graphic novel. The contents range from straight-up science… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Thrilling Adventure Hour

Book Review: Waco’s Debt

Book Review: Waco’s Debt by J.T. Edson This book is part of the “Floating Outfit” series, about a particularly illustrious group of cowboys who work for the OD Connected ranch in Texas.   As the title suggests, the star of this volume is Waco, one of the youngest members of the crew.  Waco’s foster father… Continue reading Book Review: Waco’s Debt

Book Review: Spur #30 Boise Belle

Book Review: Spur #30 Boise Belle by Dirk Fletcher I’m not sure what this type of book is called in the marketing department, so I’m going to borrow a phrase from the pulps and call it “spicy Western.”   This is a subgenre of the Western, usually in long-running paperback series, in which a tough… Continue reading Book Review: Spur #30 Boise Belle

Movie Review: Santa Fe Trail

Movie Review: Santa Fe Trail This 1940 production stars Errol Flynn as J.E.B. Stuart, Ronald Reagan as George Armstrong Custer, Raymond Massey as John Brown and Olivia de Havilland as Kit Carson Holliday. Stuart and Custer, newly graduated from West Point, are assigned to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.  There they battle the rogue abolitionists under… Continue reading Movie Review: Santa Fe Trail

Movie Review: Blue Steel

Movie Review: Blue Steel This is a 1934 Western starring John Wayne, Gabby Hayes and Yakima Canutt. Wayne’s character witnesses a safe robbery by the Polka-Dot Bandit.  But Sheriff Hayes witnesses the events just after that, and thinks Wayne is the bandit.  While Wayne trails the bandit and Hayes tags along in hopes Wayne will… Continue reading Movie Review: Blue Steel

TV Review: Bonanza

TV Review: Bonanza I recently watched a dozen episodes of this classic Western series (1959-1973) on a Mill Creek discount DVD release.  Apparently, some episodes from the first two seasons have fallen into the public domain.  But not the music, so the evocative opening theme was dubbed over with twangy generic “Western” music. Ben Cartwright… Continue reading TV Review: Bonanza

TV Review: The Adventures of Jim Bowie

TV Review: The Adventures of Jim Bowie I watched several episodes of this 1950s television show via a Mill Creek DVD.  As you might have guessed, this series is a heavily fictionalized story about the famous land speculator and knife fighter, Jim Bowie, popularizer of the blade that bears his name. The series is primarily… Continue reading TV Review: The Adventures of Jim Bowie