Robert B Parker & Ed Harris on Complicated Women

Red Rock Canyon in California, USA

In Ed Harris' movie "Appaloosa," based on the Western novel by author Robert B Parker, city marshall Virgil Cole is the ultimate impersonation of a benevolent dictator. Cole has no interest in accumulating wealth for himself, or extending the power and influence of Appaloosa by conquering nearby towns or businesses. He may have his flaws, but essentially he's a man like Gerald Skibbow in Peter F Hamilton's novel The Reality Dysfunction, who believes in simple values, and expects his citizens to respect the rights of others. 

He may beat up a drunk in the saloon for not leaving when he tells him to, or for using foul language in front of the woman he's falling in love with, the beautiful Mrs. Allie French. Nevertheless, he doesn't hurt others out of a desire to do so. In fact, he relies on his friend Everett Hitch to make sure he doesn't cross the line and abuse the authority he has been entrusted with. In those rare moments when he loses control, he wants Hitch to restrain him, to hold him back, when his emotions temporarily overwhelm him. And Cole always tells the truth. Always.

"No one always tells the truth," Mrs. French tells him, shortly after she gets off the train and finds employment playing the piano in Appaloosa's saloon. 

"I always figured telling the truth was easier." Virgil Cole shrugs. "Tell a man what you think."

"And a woman?" she asks.

This question flusters Cole, and seems to embarrass him.

If Virgil Cole is easy to understand, Mrs. French, or Allie as she prefers to be called, is more difficult. She wears fine clothes, yet has no money. She smiles often, yet speaks demurely, and with lady-like grace. Cole quickly takes to her, and within a few days, he buys a house for them already under construction in Appaloosa, which surprises his friend Everett Hitch. Allie seems equally in love with Cole, yet one day he walks back to the Marshall's office, complains Allie is fretting, and over seemingly inconsequential things such as curtain material.

Hitch: These are a little small for curtains, aren't they?
Cole: Get off with you, you rascally varmint!

Cole asks his friend to go calm her down. When Hitch arrives at the worksite, deserted due to a windstorm, she shows off the foundation and rough framing, and expounds on their great plans for the house. Her eyes gleam with all the hope, joy, and pride she takes in her future with Cole. But then she pulls Hitch into her arms and kisses him passionately. 

Hitch pulls away, and explains, like a father to a child, that they are both with Cole, but he and Allie are not together. She frowns (something she rarely does in public), pulls away, and asks him to leave. Hitch says nothing of the incident to his friend. Still, he can't help but wonder at the kind of woman to whom Cole has pledged his heart. 

But then, Allie French is a complicated woman.

Dragon Dave

Ed Harris & Peter F Hamilton on Strong, Forceful Characters

A farm atop the Great Orme,
in Wales, England.

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to colonize another planet? I think it would have been a lot like those who settled the United States. Most likely, those who traveled to a distant planet or solar system would have brought with them everything they needed, but far less than everything they wanted. Tomorrows settlers might bring power tools and equipment to cut down trees for lumber or to make concrete, but if they wished to be self-sufficient, they would still need to start growing their own food before they developed their manufacturing industries.

Life would be simpler than life today for those who wished to start their own farms or settle a small town. In his novel The Reality Dysfunction, Peter F. Hamilton introduces us to settlers who land on the planet Lalonde. One leader is Gerald Skibbow, who wants to instill in his children and community the simple values he believes worth preserving. He's a hard, strong man, much like the Pilgrims and Puritans who settled America, who saw only corruption in the overcrowded arcologies of Earth. He grows disappointed in Father Horst Elwes, when the Christian priest who accompanies them demonstrates a weak-willed personality. Still, with the help of his fellow settlers and the Ivets, Skibbow believes they can create the society he desires. Perhaps like some of the Indentured Servants who traded transportation to North America for a period of slavery, the Ivets were convicted criminals. Rather than languish in prison on Earth, they opted to start over again on Lalonde. Gerald Skibbow expects them to repay their debt to society by plowing fields and helping to build their little town along the river. Unfortunately, he wasn't counting on the defiant Quinn Dexter, a man who belongs to the Light Bringer cult, and whose will is easily a match for Gerald Skibbow.

It was a similar mix of strong, forceful characters that drew American actor Ed Harris to Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker. He took the novel along on a horse-riding vacation in Ireland, and after reading a few chapters decided he wanted to bring Parker's story to the big screen. Such was his love for the project that Harris ended up not just playing Virgil Cole, but also directing and producing the movie. 

If you ask me, it's not just Virgil Cole who's a strong, forceful character, but Ed Harris as well. More on this Friday.

Dragon Dave

P.S. Peter F. Hamilton is a strong, forceful character too. He's soft-spoken and thoughtful, just like Virgil Cole, but he doesn't wear a gun.

Dr. McCoy and the Lone Ranger

Before Deforest Kelley played Dr. McCoy in "Star Trek," he pursued a busy career in both film and TV.  He was particularly known for his villains, and his roles in Westerns.

In the middle decades of the twentieth century, Westerns were popular on radio, TV, movies, and in literature.  It’s easy to see their allure.  Not only do they capture the pioneering spirit, but they also pit man against a forbidding environment, facing unknown dangers.  Westerns were about survival against the odds, and building something out of nothing.  In many ways, such stories served as the prototype of Science Fiction, the genre that eventually overtook them.  We still dream of battling unknown foes, and taming wild animals and forbidding landscapes, only now on alien worlds.

"What do you say we just mosey on inside for a Mint Julep."

Given Johnny Depp’s involvement, I’ve been looking forward to seeing the upcoming big screen adaptation of “The Lone Ranger.”  I noticed the 1950s TV show on my channel lineup, and decided to watch a few episodes.  In one episode, a group of bad guys capture a stage coach and shoot everyone aboard.  Discovering that the travelers were bank executives, the bad guys change clothes, and drive the stage coach into town.  Everyone at the bank, and even the local sheriff, allow the men to use their documents to steal money from the bank.  When the Lone Ranger, intent on bringing the men to justice, rides into town, the sheriff equates his mask with that of a robber’s, and puts him in jail.  Tonto, using his broken English, gains the help of a local to rescue his friend, and the two ride off to capture the murderers. 

When the Lone Ranger and Tonto capture the baddies, the sheriff needs some convincing before he’ll see past the appropriated documents and believe this masked stranger and his Indian pal. 

The show had nearly ended before I realized the actor playing the sheriff was Deforest Kelley.  The episode was filmed in 1950, fifteen years before he would assume the mantle of Dr. Leonard McCoy, a role that gave him lasting recognition, but also typecast him and effectively ended his acting career.  Kelley’s sheriff was less nuanced than in Dr. McCoy in "Star Trek:" he seemed to alternate between suspicion and approval, with nothing in between.  But his portrayal fit the role so completely that took me that long to identify him.  His performance reveals how completely he poured himself into McCoy, once the more complex character was offered to him. 

"Dammit, Lone Ranger, I'm a doctor, not a...wait,
I am a lawman, ain't I?"

I wish Deforest Kelley could have starred in TV shows and movies after “Star Trek.”  I know he drew solace in how many kids that grew up watching “Star Trek” entered the medical profession.  Given how many times he starred in Westerns, I wonder how many young boys might have been inspired to become cowboys, and work on farms and ranches.

"Hi-yo, U. S. S. Enterprise!  Away!"

Dragon Dave

P.S.  If you have cable or satellite TV, check to see if you have COZI TV.  In addition to "The Lone Ranger," they offer a lot of other great shows from the 1950s, '60s, and '70s.