Frontier Partisans

The Adventurers, Rangers and Scouts Who Fought the Battles of Empire

Working The Trapline — Deep In The West

November 11, 2022, by JimC

There’s plenty of Frontier Partisan drama to be had over the next few weeks, with an East India Co. Amazon Prime limited series and the return of My Cowboy Soap Opera.

The English drops today, November 11, on East India Co. Amazon Prime. Lady Marilyn and I will be watching this weekend…

An Englishwoman arrives into the West in 1890 looking for revenge on the man she sees as responsible for the death of her son, and meets an ex-cavalry scout and member of the Pawnee Nation by birth with whom she discovers a possible shared history.

 

 

*

Season 5 of Yellowstone starts on Sunday. Hard to believe that Taylor Sheridan’s tornado of a contemporary Western touched down five years ago. Whut?

I had a conversation a few weeks back with a friend who owns a ranch out on the sage southeast of here with her husband, and she was just railing about how much she hates That Show because it distorts people’s expectations of ranching. Apparently they’ve had young folks showing up looking for ranch work expecting spanking new Dodge Rams, a co-ed bunkhouse with Ryan Bingham singing the sun down and such like. She didn’t say anything about ranch horses worth as much as a house.

Sheesh. You’d think people would get that Yellowstone is a, shall we say, heightened reality. I really wonder about people sometimes.

I had to get stern with the lovely lady though, and tell her not to be dissing My Cowboy Soap Opera. A man’s gotta defend what he loves…

Lady Marilyn, who has a sharp eye (and ear) for such things, informs me that Robert Earl Keen’s Shades of Gray will be featured in the premier. Sheridan digs his Americana music, and uses it effectively in his storytelling. This story song is perfect for the vibe of the show, which is, to say the least, morally ambiguous — but hard drivin’ as hell.

Right or wrong, black or white
Cross the line you’re gonna pay
In the dawn before the light
Live and die by shades of gray

*

While we’re in Western territory, my music buddy Mike Biggers reminded me yesterday of a Shake Russell song that Waylon Jennings said was one of his very favorite songs. It’s a beauty and we’re gonna learn it up.

 

 

 

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Comments

  1. Matthew says

    November 11, 2022 at 7:19 am

    Sheesh. You’d think people would get that Yellowstone is a, shall we say, heightened reality. I really wonder about people sometimes.—

    Well, it’s a common complaint that something is not a realistic representation of fill in the blank. It’s not really a strong argument since fiction is by it’s nature not real. Making it fiction by nature distorts the reality. This may be why I like horror, science fiction, fantasy, superheroes et cetera. It doesn’t pretend to be real.

    Reply
    • JimC says

      November 11, 2022 at 7:31 am

      There are significant storytelling advantages to a world that is blatantly not “real” yet is internally consistent and has that “reckless verisimilitude” that is my benchmark. Shakespeare isn’t “real,” fer cryin’ out loud.

      Reply
      • Matthew says

        November 11, 2022 at 7:49 am

        I like “reckless verisimilitude.” I has to be internally consistent. (I wonder sometimes how internally consisting the real world is though.)

        It’s also weird what people think is real. People don’t like Howard or Tolkien because “it isn’t real”, but they think James Bond is a realistic take on espionage. (Nothing against Bond.) People who talk about realism only know a certain small area of reality because that’s all anyone knows.

        Reply
        • JimC says

          November 11, 2022 at 9:20 am

          That’s funny — I have a colleague who hates fantasy and loves James Bond. It annoys her when I point out that James Bond IS fantasy.

          Reply
          • John Maddox Roberts says

            November 11, 2022 at 9:35 am

            Virtually all historical films are fantasy. Scots complain that Braveheart has no connection whatever to historical reality and they’re right. It is also one of the most breathtakingly entertaining movies ever made. A truly realistic war movie would consist of guys sitting around, bored out of their skulls because that’s what a war is like, even in a hot war zone. Combat is a brief spasm followed by more boredom. Screw reality.

  2. Ugly Hombre says

    November 13, 2022 at 12:00 am

    https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/yellowstone-director-taylor-sheridan-defends-015004110.html

    Seems the Woke no fun squad is trying to dry gulch Sheridan for not have cowpokes in his show who are now Glen- but used to be Glenda or some such clap trap.

    *”Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan is defending the hit series after critics claimed the show, which premieres its fifth season on Sunday on Paramount Network, aligns with conservative values.*”

    *“They refer to it as ‘the conservative show’ or ‘the Republican show’ or ‘the red-state ‘Game of Thrones,’ ” Sheridan told The Atlantic. “And I just sit back laughing. I’m like, ‘Really?’ The show’s talking about the displacement of Native Americans and the way Native American women were treated and about corporate greed and the gentrification of the West, and land-grabbing. That’s a red-state show?”*

    Yelp.. lol Sherridan keeps telling them he is woke as hell I believe him- he probley still drinks “cowboy coffee” by the gallon every day with Texas shaketail heads in it for extra kick. Woke who the hell is woke…

    *“Yellowstone” actor Jen Landon mused about the reason for the show’s nationwide popularity to The Atlantic. “There was such a need and a hunger for this show,” she told the magazine. “A demographic of people who I normally associate with not knowing how to open Netflix managed to find Paramount and watch this show because they needed it, because they couldn’t relate to anything else.””*

    That’s a fact its a hit with the cowboy crowd. Even my amigo the 86 year old thumb buster wizard is hooked on it. Maybe its a Conservative show because it makes money and Sheridan is making good movies and TV shows that people like to watch?

    Woke! who the hell is Woke!?

    Don’t go in the bunk house pards- Glen is having a cow- lol.

    Reply
    • JimC says

      November 13, 2022 at 6:41 am

      Woke/anti-woke — culture war terms that shouldn’t mean fuck-all to a storyteller. Jack Carr had a similar reaction — The Terminal List is taking on the intersection of Big Pharma and the military/political apparatus. That’s “right wing” and “anti-woke”? Really?

      Most real artists hate labels of any kind, and I think that’s where Sheridan and Carr are at. It’s sure as hell where I am.

      Reply
  3. Ugly Hombre says

    November 13, 2022 at 10:00 am

    “Dubbed by some critics as “anti-woke,” but despite that, or perhaps because of it, last year’s Season 4 topped the ratings charts, reeling in more viewers than any other program outside of the National Football League. Even so, cast members have been repeatedly snubbed for awards, and the program has yet to win an Emmy.”

    Yeah I don’t know why the “Woke” who ever the hell they are- worry about what people who don’t think like them like and want to watch. And stifle awards for actors etc and so on who play in productions they don’t like.

    I don’t know much about the show only watched it a few times but what I saw was fun well done and acted. Sheridans great first movie Sicario- had a female main character.

    I don’t give a hoot in hell if people want to watch “woke” I don’t want to watch it and won’t pay to see it have at it. not my concern if some like it- watch it.

    I will never tell anyone to turn off “Broke back” and turn on Alfredo Garcia instead.

    Don’t give a chit- don’t know why they seem to.

    Reply
    • Matthew says

      November 13, 2022 at 10:32 am

      Yeah I don’t know why the “Woke” who ever the hell they are- worry about what people who don’t think like them like and want to watch.–

      Probably some deep seated insecurity.

      Reply
      • Ugly Hombre says

        November 13, 2022 at 12:27 pm

        Well- they have really fouled up American film. I am love movies DVD’s are secondary to books in the clutter in my rude hut. Western, Asian all types and kinds. Hooked on HK films until the Chicoms wreaked them. There used to be fist fights in Manila to get in to see the latest Shaw brother’s production circa 75′. K.F. to see the K.F. lol

        I check the “Now Showing” listings at the movie houses once in a while. A vast woke wasteland. Bleh.

        I think the last movie I saw in a theatre was “Rambo 5” what a fantastic film! A non- P/C dastardly combination, of Hong Kong and Peckinpah complete with using the KF grip to go full metal Aztec.! Why did it not win “Best Picture”? lol

        Where the hades is my DVD of Hong Kong’s “Black Cat”? When I am elected that will be on the “Woke” re-education play list. 24 is coming up fast. Need to review. No, no- best leave them to their own devices.

        lol

        Reply
        • lane batot says

          November 14, 2022 at 9:30 am

          Ha! I love ALL the “Rambos”–my “guilty pleasure” that I’m I don’t in the least feel guilty about! And I’m so confused about being “woke”–I’ve heard folks with entirely opposite political views call themselves that. I just sic my dogs on any of them that show up on my property…..

          Reply
  4. Ugly Hombre says

    November 14, 2022 at 11:41 pm

    Lol! Well the good thing is- there are hundreds of thousands of old Un-Woke mind- boggling movies to watch.! It too bad American film has been infected.

    Rambo 5 was a fluke and the critics were horrified. Ha ha!

    Heck the “Woke” even tried to spike old John Wayne movies- rumor is old Stalin tried to have the Cheka do the Duke in so you know for sure he’s on the permanent “Woke” chit list.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09cRWhE_jXU

    Old HK movies are hard to find now and some are rare and expensive but you can still get Samo Hung’s “Eastern Condors” 87′ reasonable- its a HK combination of Rambo and the Dirty Dozen. (Fight scenes clip above). You might like it. Old HK un- woke action not for kids.

    Wat? People call them self woke? WTH? You sure its not “Un-woke”? wth? lol

    Reply
  5. Jean says

    November 16, 2022 at 4:17 pm

    I thought this was coming to PBS in November but something must have changed.

    Reply
  6. J.F. Bell says

    November 17, 2022 at 2:39 am

    Suppose I’ll be the outsider on this one – I made it as far as Season III and haven’t felt much compelled to pick up anything after. I suspect the things that appealed early on have been outnumbered some by now, and I’m particular about abandoned plot points and dangling story threads.

    Still a Sheridan fan. That’s more for his movies than his television, though.

    …never did care for Ryan Bingham all that much.

    Reply

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