Joe R. Lansdale is a badass, genre-bustin’ wild man. He’s a real-deal Storyteller in an American tradition whose avatar is Mark Twain. I picked up his wild, wooly and weird novel The Thicket when I was in Austin and I wanted a real “Texas” read. I got what I was looking for.
Now, I see, it’s been made into an indie film, a passion project of Peter Dinklage.
The caper, per Deadline:
An adaptation of the novel of the same name by Joe Lansdale, the film watches as fierce bounty hunter Reginald Jones (Dinklage) is recruited by a desperate man to track down a ruthless killer known only as Cutthroat Bill. To do so, he rallies a band of unlikely heroes including a grave-digging ex-slave and a street-smart woman-for-hire. Together they embark on a perilous quest to track down Cutthroat Bill that leads them into the deadly “no-man’s-land” known as…The Thicket.
Due in September.
*
Nothing better than a tale from the bloody border between Scotland and England in the 16th Century — when the history of betrayal and conspiracy was recorded primarily in the form of ballads…
Percival Reed, lord of Troughend, was keeper of Redesdale in the latter half of the sixteenth century. His house at Troughend (near Otterburn) was in the heights of Redesdale and gave him a good view over the region and allowed him to guard for invasions from Scotland, though as we shall see this also put his house at considerable risk too. As part of his duties, Reed was responsible for apprehending Scottish reivers who went raiding in Redesdale. One of the most notorious of these families – and who caused much bloodshed, theft and havoc in Redesdale – were the Crosiers, who came from Liddesdale (which lay just over the frontier in Scotland). Reed arrested one of the younger men of the Crosiers, which then led to a wider feud between him and the family – and one which would have deadly consequences for Reed.
The Jolly Reiver takes up the terrible tale.
*
My current nightstand read…
We delved into the triumphant and tragic story of George Rogers Clark in a multi-parter a while back. You can find it starting here.
This slim volume isn’t a full-scale biography of Clark, but rather, as the subtitle suggests, a study of the Revolutionary War campaign in the Illinois Country that sets Clark’s feats in the broader context of frontier warfare. Sterner does a good job of lining out how Clark’s campaign was understood and reacted to by the various native peoples of the region. It’s a nuanced understanding that Clark’s capture of Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes was not a “conquest” of the French and native populations, but it thrust a new element into a complex equation of a range of interested parties. The Indian peoples of the Eastern Woodlands had long played competing Euro-American powers off against each other, and Clark suddenly showing up in the Illinois Country gave them a new opportunity to execute that old gambit.
Sterner’s analysis of Clark’s constantly shifting place in history — well-laid out — cloverleafs in the x-ring:
Matthew says
The Bounty Hunter as a figure of fiction always intrigued me. It probably started with an episode of Batman The Animated Series in which one of the Dark Knights cases is linked to one of Jonah Hex’s. It was mostly a flashback to the Old West. One of the writers of the script was Lansdale. There were sci-fi bounty hunters in Star Wars and the anime Cowboy Bebop (which I may write a review of for this site.)
The thing is I wonder if Bounty Hunters in actually existed as they do in fiction. From what I understand Old West bounty hunters were actually law men who did this as a sideline or Pinkerton agents or something. Of course, there was the professional scalp hunters like the Glanton Gang, but I don’t think any one could made there living solely by chasing wanted criminals for the rewards on the posters back then. I know of course, Bail Bond Agents are sometimes called bounty hunters today, but that is a bit different.
Quixotic Mainer says
Sadly, bounty hunting was sometimes about returning escaped slaves in the pre Civil War era.
Matthew says
Yes, unfortunately.
deuce says
And before that, returning indentured ‘servants’ to their indenturers.
Padre says
Off topic, but I have had a week of Frontier Partisan synchronicity. Church business took me home to Western PA where I started the week with a visit to Fort Ligonier. It’s a great recreation with a superb F&I War exhibit in the museum, as well as George Washington’s handwritten account of his frontier service and his EDC horse pistols. If your travels ever take you east, I highly recommend it. I picked up a copy of ‘Henry Bouquet’s Destiny- The March To Bushy Run’ by Matt Wulff from the gift shop.
I also have an interest in the history of PA Monongahela rye whiskey, which was one of the original frontier spirits and is experiencing quite a resurgence of late. When I looked at the website of the West Overton museum and educational distillery I saw that they were hosting a lecture by none other than your TV colleague Brady Crytzer. So I played hooky from my church assembly Thursday evening and sat in the basement of the original Old Overholt distillery’s grain mill and listened to Brady’s fascinating narrative of the Whisky Rebellion while sipping an Old Fashioned made with Monongahela rye distilled right there on site. Good times!
JimC says
Oh my — that is fantastic. Good times indeed.
Aaron Yetter says
I apologize up front for hijacking this discussion. But I just saw HORIZON. What a film! I’m 49years old and this is the greatest film I’ve seen since The Lord OF The Rings Trilogy.
This film is everything great we love to see. In fact this is the first time I’ve been in a theater in over 10 years. It was like watching for the first time Lonesome Dove, Centennial, Shogun from the 80s and every Clint Eastwood western.
I will not tell any spoilers but for all you who have wanted Blood Meridian put to film it’s in there in spirit. This film opens with a massacre and ends with one and the last 5 minutes leaves you yearning for the next three chapters.
What I watched tonight … I can forgive and understand Kevin Costner leaving Yellowstone.
The only thing that bothered me was some of the weapons didn’t match the period.
Thanks for your time Jim.
JimC says
This is gret to hear. I’ve got commitments with a music festival this weekend, but I plan to hit a theater this week.
Matthew says
At work today, a lady came into the store and talked about Horizon. She had high praise for it. Interestingly, this is the first time she was in a theater in 26 years. (I quipped to my boss she missed a lot of crap.)
David Wrolson says
Re-Horizon-plan to go tonight-really looking forward to it now.
Regarding the English-Scottish border in the 16th Century. I would be remiss if I did not mention my favorite author’s book on the topic. George MacDonald Fraser’s “The Steel Bonnets-History of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers.” I have been slowly re-reading it after quite some time.
Not really a straight history-more episodic really and maybe the hardest GMF book to read which is why I am working on it.
Clyde says
In reference to The Border Ballad part, my great grandmother was an Armstrong. Several years ago I sent info from my family tree to Canonbie, Scotland for verification and was enrolled in Clan Armstrong. A proper reiver clan from “the debatable lands”. If you’re not familiar with the story of Johnnie of Gilnockie give it a go. All this is making me want for “a wee dram.”
JimC says
A proper Reiver Clan indeed.
The Betrayal of Johnnie Armstrong
patrulje says
The trailer dropped for “Thicket”, it is a slightly later timeframe then expected, but should still be entertaining. http://themoviebox.net/19864