I’ve been
fortunate enough to receive wide acclaim already for my Sundown Press novel THE PEACEMAKER, including 5 star
reviews from 2 of the most successful western authors in the business. Spur
award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-nominated author ROBERT VAUGHAN describes it
as ‘a great book’. Meanwhile RALPH COTTON (also a Pulitzer-prize nominated
novelist) writes: ‘For pure writing style, McBride’s gritty prose nails the
time and place of his story with bold authority. …this relatively new author
has thoroughly, and rightly so, claimed his place among the top Old West
storytellers.’ I’m very grateful to both Robert & Ralph for their fantastic
support.
One of
the biggest influences on me, writing THE
PEACEMAKER and my other western novels, was HOMBRE – the 1961 book written by ELMORE LEONARD, and the superb
1967 film made from it.
Book
and film are both set in 1880s Arizona. The central character is John Russell, a white man kidnapped by Apaches
as a child and raised by them. This is historically accurate: various Native
American tribes carried off Mexican and American women and children during
raids, and some of the boy captives grew to be warriors amongst their captors.
Here’s a real Apache captive: SANTIAGO (or JIMMY) MCKINN, a Mexican-Irish boy
held by Geronimo’s band until 1886.
I saw the movie long before I read the
book, and it instantly became one of my favourite westerns. I particularly
liked PAUL NEWMAN’s John Russell, an effortlessly cool, counter-culture loner
who, after being freed from Apache captivity, returns to them. He prefers
living with wild Indians to (supposedly) civilised white society.
I read the novel much later. Indeed I got
my copy signed by Elmore Leonard himself at a reading he gave in England c.
1990. He struck me as a charming man. One of the observations about writing he
made was that he enjoyed writing the first 100 pages of a book (typically 300
pages long), and the last 100, but he hated the middle 100, which he likened to
being stuck in the middle of a tunnel.
I
was struck by the differences between book and film.
Usually films are edited down from books, but
in the case of HOMBRE, the movie
expands on the novel, beefing up the main female protagonist’s part, giving a
really juicy role to DIANE CILENTO
adding extra characters and scenes and
also dialogue (courtesy of the renowned team of IRVING RAVETCH and HARRIET
FRANK JR.) that might be just as taut and effective as Leonard’s. And adding salty
humour that the book lacks. (Newman almost stumbles upon Cilento undressing.
She’s irate he’s not made his presence known sooner.
Cilento:
‘You could at least have cleared your throat.’
Newman:
‘I couldn’t. My heart was in it.’)
The book is done via first person
narration from the least memorable of the colourful bunch of characters Leonard
assembles. This style of reportage can have a distancing effect, especially
when the central character – John Russell – is so mysterious, a man of few
(barely any) words, who keeps his emotions deeply hidden. And the film
definitely improves on the book by letting Russell articulate about what really
angers him – the treatment of the Apaches by the white man. In the novel most
of that’s left unsaid.
All of which sounds like a criticism of
the book and yet… HOMBRE is one of
the few novels I would willingly give 5 stars to. The writing is so good! As
one critic put it: "Nobody writes less and says more than Elmore
Leonard." The prose totally reflects its desert setting by being spare,
stark and uncluttered, with barely a 3 syllable word in view; in brief
exchanges of dialogue words impact almost like bullets. Characters
(particularly Russell) fascinate as much by what’s not revealed about them as
what is. It’s only at the end that you realise what a tense, riveting,
white-knuckle ride this book has been. An extra-ordinary novel.
As for
the film, it’s every bit as good, with tremendous performances from the cast.
DIANE CILENTO plays one of the most memorable female characters in western
film, RICHARD BOONE is an outstanding villain
and there’s first rate
performances by two of America’s greatest character actors –
FREDERICK MARCH
and MARTIN BALSAM.
In smaller roles you’ve also got CAMERON MITCHELL and FRANK
SILVERA before they re-united in TV’s ‘High
Chaparral.’
Like that
show, HOMBRE captures the harshness
and astonishing beauty of Southern Arizona through its great location
photography. That’s something I’ve tried to reflect in my writing, particularly
in THE PEACEMAKER, which is set in
the same environment. I’ve also followed HOMBRE
in aiming for a spare, economical writing style and laconic dialogue,
appropriate for the setting of the book. I’ve tried for a similar tautness and
gritty authenticity, while my hero, Calvin ‘Choctaw’ Taylor does owe something
to the outsider quality of John Russell as Paul Newman portrayed him.
I’m not
claiming for one minute to be as good a writer as Leonard; but I don’t mind
admitting that I aspire to be!
Action in HOMBRE
BLURB for THE PEACEMAKER:
Eighteen-year-old scout Calvin
'Choctaw' Taylor believes he can handle whatever life throws his way. He’s been
on his own for several years, and he only wants to make his mark in the world.
When he is asked to guide peace emissary Sean Brennan and his adopted Apache
daughter, Nahlin, into a Chiricahua Apache stronghold, he agrees—but then has
second thoughts. He’s heard plenty about the many ways the Apache can kill a
man. But Mr. Brennan sways him, and they begin the long journey to find
Cochise—and to try to forge a peace and an end to the Indian Wars that have
raged for so long. During the journey, Choctaw begins to understand that there
are some things about himself he doesn’t like—but he’s not sure what to do
about it. Falling in love with Nahlin is something he never expected—and finds
hard to live with. The death and violence, love for Nahlin and respect for both
Cochise and Mr. Brennan, have a gradual effect on Choctaw that change him. But
is that change for the better? Can he live with the things he’s done to survive
in the name of peace?
Buy it on Amazon — or read
free with Kindle Unlimited — here:
EXTRACT:
Choctaw blinked sweat and sunspots out of his eyes and began to lower the field
glasses; then he glimpsed movement.
He used the glasses again, scanning nearer ground, the white sands. He saw
nothing.
And then two black specks were there suddenly, framed against the dazzling
white. They might have dropped from the sky.
They grew bigger. Two horsebackers coming this way, walking their mounts. As he
watched they spurted into rapid movement, whipping their ponies into a hard run
towards him.
The specks swelled to the size of horses and men. Men in faded smocks maybe
once of bright colour, their long hair bound by rags at the temple. They had
rifles in their hands.
Breath caught in Choctaw’s throat. Fear made him dizzy. His arms started to
tremble. He knew who was coming at him so fast.
Apaches.
And you killed them or they killed you.
****
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