Pierce Brosnan as Eli McCullough in The Son. I think that’s a Winchester 1907. Though atavistic in his nature, Eli always carried the best, most modern combat arms available to him, from a heavy muzzleloading Jaegerbusch in the 1840s to an autoloading rifle in the 20th Century. He’d have rocked an AR-15 if he could have. Photo Credit: James Minchin/AMC
There are new trailers out for both The Son and Taboo. Both look fantastic. I really like what I’m seeing with Pierce Brosnan as Eli McCullough in The Son (later in 2017). Dig that Howardian line when grandson Peter (who was righteous in every way in the novel and still came across as a milquetoast whiner) frets about civilization backsliding and Eli says, “You say slides backwards, I say reverts to its natural state.” Yeah, you know where I stand on THAT particular question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIIRkYaI0jM
And Tom Hardy is going full barbaric triumph in Taboo (Jan. 10), which looks delightfully dark and creepy as only London in the 19th Century can. But why do the Brits get it first, I ask you?
Taboo is run by Stephen Knight, who gave us the magnificent Peaky Blinders. I haven’t written about Peaky Blinders here, because there’s nothing frontier-related about a bunch of gypsy gangsters in Birmingham in the 19-teens and 1920s. That don’t mean I don’t love the fookin’ show immoderately, cuz I fookin’ do, right? It’s a brilliantly-written, beautifully shot wild ride with a thin historical basis (there was a Birmingham gang called the Peaky Blinders) and knockout performances from a whole lot of fine actors starting with Cillian Murphy. Tom Hardy’s in that one, too, playing a Jewish gangster and speaking with a nearly unintelligible — and presumably authentic — accent. Oh, and the deliberately anachronistic rock/heavy blues soundtrack shouldn’t work and does. The theme song is Nick Cave’s epic, menacing “Red Right Hand” (see below). The show’s three seasons are streaming on Netflix. Watch it — by order of the Peaky Fookin’ Blinders!
If Taboo is as good as Peaky, it will be very good indeed.
The Frontier Partisan gods are poised to keep giving in 2017.
Saddle Tramp says
Yeah Jim…
Saw the previews to TABOO at the theatre a while back. All the more edgy and menacing under the full affect of the sight and sound at a good theatre.
Tom Hardy.
Nick Cave.
No more need be said!
Speaking of Texans…
I lived and worked with those Texans and with one of their meanest. However a logger from Oregon and our heavy equipment mechanic was one not to be fooled with. As he told me one day how he liked to go into Amarillo just to find a fight. He just liked it. A helluva mechanic as well. Single handedly completely rebuilt our crane.
Also, a supplier of ours from Iowa required eight DPS Officers for a traffic violation. I swear you could hit him with a 20 lb sledgehammer and it would just bounce off and piss him off at worst. His mother worked in the office for the company he worked for. She called one day and it seemed so funny trying to place this guy with his ” mom ” on the phone who was checking on him.
Movies are great and I enjoy em’ as much as the next guy. Entertainment when done well takes you to another place and maybe even changes your perspective. Living it in reality another thing entirely.
Real experience counts.
Long ago on the downtown streets of Kansas City an old black man told me that there were ” man holes in hell “.
How far do you want to go?
Myself, I have traveled a long way from innocence. I have have also opened a few hatched myself, but was fortunate in finding a ladder back out. A perspective was gained for sure. It was detours and storms that got me there. These days I’m looking for a ladder up and not down, but I don’t mind a little entertainment once in awhile. The real work exists outside. I watched the film Jeremiah Johnson when it first came on the screen. A favorite of mine. Found out too late that it’s playing tonight at Quentin’s New Beverly Cinema as a double feature with The Hateful Eight. Sold out! Jeremiah Johnson is an all time favorite of mine. Saw it just short of thumb tripping to Alaska. Rifle and Ammunition was sent ahead to General Delivery at the Post Office in Petersburg, Alaska for when I arrived off the Ferry (as a foot passenger sleeping on deck chairs) from Prince Rupert, British Columbia having thumb tripped there from Kansas City. Alaska was frozen in time like it was still in the 1930’s. A great adventure but as it turned out the 1930’s weren’t for me long term at that time anyway. Each man to his own portal. I went back to the future, but Alaska stayed with me forever.
Jim, I highly respect, appreciate and enjoy your perspective on everything. I understand it’s attraction. There is a reason things change and a reason we regret it. Saving the baby from the bath water should be our noblest effort. Take the good with the bad. Failures abound aplenty! It’s still all up for debate. After I left Alaska and returned to the Lower 48 a High School friend of mine (who always wanted to be a Mountain Man) contacted me to invite me on a canoe trip down the length of the Yukon River starting in White Horse. I passed on the opportunity. He did it. He almost died in a storm as well. He lived off the land. He panned for Gold to some success. I always kind of regretted not doing it. Such is fate. As I said, each man to his own portal…
JimC says
Wonderful stuff as always ST. Oregon loggers are NOT to be messed with.