As you may have gathered from the title and byline of this blog page, I love Louis L’Amour westerns. I have often described his books as “Harlequin Romance” for Men. I love the allure of the old west, and the romanticized idea of the men and women of that time period that are portrayed in L’Amour’s books. Within his many novels and collections of short stories (there are over 100 books) there are some common themes:
The Good Guys always triumph in the end.
Men act with integrity (even the bad guys usually fight honorably).
Men act like men and treat women with respect.
A man’s word is important.
Honor is respected, cowardice is loathed.
A man deals with his own problems, or as L’Amour liked to put it, he “forks his own broncs”.
Men lived by a "code".
A typical L’Amour plot line goes like this:
A stranger rides into town. He’s not too big, but tough, strong from hard work, and travel stained. His name, if he gives it, may be Nolan, Lance, Borden, Flint, Utah, Sackett, Kilkenny, or Talon. He asks around for work and takes a cowhand job for a pretty lady who has recently inherited her father’s ranch. He works hard, and keeps his shoulder to the wheel, but he doesn’t take any guff, and he rubs some of the cowhands the wrong way. He whips the toughest hand in a fair fist-fight, but is later dry-gulched with a branding iron or shot in the back. While recovering from his near-fatal wounds, he discovers a plot whereby the bad guys are plotting to steal the ranch from the unsuspecting and overly trusting, previously-mentioned pretty lady. With the help of the previously mentioned tough cowhand who was whipped in the fair fight, our hero ferrets out the bad guys plans and reveals them to the pretty lady and “the law”. In the end, he is forced into a gun battle with the bad guy, who turns out to be the step-uncle of the pretty lady. The hero dispatches the bad guy and rides off into the sunset, much to the disappointment of the pretty lady. (There are variations on the ending: sometimes he stays, and sometimes there’s a lingering “maybe” as he considers the merits of ranch life with a pretty lady versus the life of the trail).
I think it’s sad that L’Amour’s depiction of a western man is considered “romanticized”. I believe it’s the way a man still ought to be defined – integrity, independence, respect and the fortitude to stand and fight for what’s right.
If L’Amour were still alive to write his story using today’s idea of a man, would the plot look like this?
A stranger rides into town. His finely featured face has been augmented by a plastic surgeon to project a strong chin and cheekbones. He is a fashionable dresser, and his saddle has a designer name on it. His name is hyphenated. He takes a job at an art gallery, owned by a pretty lady, where he works half-heartedly every day from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM. He files a restraining order against an evil co-worker after he perceives he has been insulted. The co-worker retaliates by filing a civil suit against our hero. They eventually work out their differences over a tofu-and-artichoke-heart lunch where they conspire together to swindle the pretty lady out of her ownership of the art gallery. Before they can act, however, the pretty lady declares bankruptcy and absconds to Europe with all of the cash and assets. In the end, our hyphenated stranger finds himself beside the interstate holding a hand-lettered sign that reads “Anything Helps” and pondering the merits of welfare housing versus life on the trail.
A typical L’Amour plot line goes like this:
A stranger rides into town. He’s not too big, but tough, strong from hard work, and travel stained. His name, if he gives it, may be Nolan, Lance, Borden, Flint, Utah, Sackett, Kilkenny, or Talon. He asks around for work and takes a cowhand job for a pretty lady who has recently inherited her father’s ranch. He works hard, and keeps his shoulder to the wheel, but he doesn’t take any guff, and he rubs some of the cowhands the wrong way. He whips the toughest hand in a fair fist-fight, but is later dry-gulched with a branding iron or shot in the back. While recovering from his near-fatal wounds, he discovers a plot whereby the bad guys are plotting to steal the ranch from the unsuspecting and overly trusting, previously-mentioned pretty lady. With the help of the previously mentioned tough cowhand who was whipped in the fair fight, our hero ferrets out the bad guys plans and reveals them to the pretty lady and “the law”. In the end, he is forced into a gun battle with the bad guy, who turns out to be the step-uncle of the pretty lady. The hero dispatches the bad guy and rides off into the sunset, much to the disappointment of the pretty lady. (There are variations on the ending: sometimes he stays, and sometimes there’s a lingering “maybe” as he considers the merits of ranch life with a pretty lady versus the life of the trail).
I think it’s sad that L’Amour’s depiction of a western man is considered “romanticized”. I believe it’s the way a man still ought to be defined – integrity, independence, respect and the fortitude to stand and fight for what’s right.
If L’Amour were still alive to write his story using today’s idea of a man, would the plot look like this?
A stranger rides into town. His finely featured face has been augmented by a plastic surgeon to project a strong chin and cheekbones. He is a fashionable dresser, and his saddle has a designer name on it. His name is hyphenated. He takes a job at an art gallery, owned by a pretty lady, where he works half-heartedly every day from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM. He files a restraining order against an evil co-worker after he perceives he has been insulted. The co-worker retaliates by filing a civil suit against our hero. They eventually work out their differences over a tofu-and-artichoke-heart lunch where they conspire together to swindle the pretty lady out of her ownership of the art gallery. Before they can act, however, the pretty lady declares bankruptcy and absconds to Europe with all of the cash and assets. In the end, our hyphenated stranger finds himself beside the interstate holding a hand-lettered sign that reads “Anything Helps” and pondering the merits of welfare housing versus life on the trail.
2 comments:
I just wanted to let you know that I've really enjoyed reading your blog. The entries are all very thought provoking and have blessed me greatly. Keep it up!
it would be funny, if it wasnt true
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