When books are a rewarding experience

“As the wind howled, it seemed to be the very soul of the land.”
— A line from Hard Texas Winter

Westerns are one of my favourite categories of books. I read them with an air of anticipation. There is excitement with every turn of the page.

I also enjoy reading westerns because of their historical backdrop as the stories are mostly set in and around the Frontier and the Civil War years.

For instance, the story of Hard Texas Winter (1981) by Preston Lewis begins just six months after the end of the Civil War.

Morgan Garrett, a former Confederate soldier crippled in the war, is riding from Alabama to Santa Fe in New Mexico in search of work and a new life. Tired and hungry in the bitterly cold winter, Garrett decides to spend the night at Crossrock, a small nondescript town in Texas.

On his way there Garrett meets former Union soldier Big Bill Murphy. When Garrett asks the massively-built man the way to Crossrock, Murphy replies with unconcealed contempt for the former Reb, “Just ‘bout two miles the way you’re headed, Johnny.”

I found out that ‘Johnny’ was the nickname given to Confederate soldiers by their Union counterparts during the war. That and "greyback," in reference to the grey uniforms the Confederates wore, were used in a derogative fashion.

Garrett enters the town’s only functional saloon wearing “a gray greatcoat with the faded gold braid in a double knot that signified a captain’s rank” and his useless arm hanging by his side. The saloon is empty save for the saloon owner and his wife and five men sitting in a far corner of the room. They mean trouble.

As the men leave the saloon, one of them deliberately knocks off Garrett’s greatcoat from the chair onto the sawdust-covered floor.

He says, “Oh, I’m sorry, soldier boy…but just a little bump and that coat fell just like the whole Confederate army.”

Garrett sits quietly and swallows the insult. He is in town only for a night, for some food and a warm bed, and he doesn't want trouble.

But gun trouble finds him.

All this action takes place in only the first few pages of the novel and there is already enough reference to the Civil War. In a way it brings the one-time foes, Morgan Garrett and Bill Murphy, on the same side of the battle in Crossrock.

I’m waiting to read the rest of the story as, I’m sure, it continues to unfold in the backdrop of the war.

As I said, there is never a dull moment in a western, a very enriching and rewarding exercise for me. Do you feel the same way about certain genre of books?


For Forgotten Books this week, head over to Patti Abbott's blog Pattinase.

FILMS

The Phantom (1996) and Daredevil (2003)

A couple of superhero films for this week’s Overlooked Films, Audio and Video at Todd Mason’s blog Sweet Freedom.

Kristy Swanson and Billy Zane in The Phantom.

I am a purist when it comes to cinematic versions of superhero comics. I often have reservations about the actors selected to play the mighty roles. They’re all very good actors but they often fall short of both character and appearance as humans, and as I know them in my comic books. For instance, Tobey Macguire looks nothing like the wavy-haired Peter Parker in the Spider-Man comics. I don’t care what they look like behind their masked outfits.

Here’s more food for the speech bubbles…

I’d cross out Michael Keaton in Batman and George Clooney in Batman & Robin, Billy Zane in The Phantom, Tobey Maguire in the Spider-Man series, Edward Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner/Hulk in The Incredible Hulk, Brandon Routh in Superman Returns, Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth in Thor, and Mark Ruffalo as Dr. Bruce Banner/Hulk in The Avengers. That doesn't leave out many.

Ben Affleck in the Daredevil.

Those I’d tick right are Christopher Reeve in the Superman series, Val Kilmer in Batman Forever, Ben Affleck in Daredevil, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the X-Men series, and Chris Evans in Captain America and The Avengers.

I’m not surprised there’re more nays than ayes.

Those who swing both ways are Ryan Reynolds in Green Lantern, Thomas Jane as the antihero in The Punisher, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm/The Thing in The Fantastic Four, because he is permanently cursed with his “orange rocky appearance,” Nicholas Cage in Ghost Rider, Ron Perlman in Hellboy, and Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko/Sandman in Spider-Man 3.

Two masked superheroes I like quite a lot are Phantom—man who cannot die—and Daredevil—the man without fear. They’re both appealing as comic-book heroes.

So, I was a bit disappointed with the choice of Billy Zane as the jungle hero in Simon Wincer’s The Phantom. The only thing that worked in Zane’s favour was his broad smile. It was the smile of the Phantom.

The ghost who walks and guardian of the eastern dark dons a suit, assumes the name of Kit Walker, and travels to New York to track down a wealthy but crazy man called Xander Drax (Treat Williams) who will overcome anything, or anyone, to possess three magic skulls that will give him unimaginable powers. He takes the Phantom’s girlfriend, Diana Palmer (Kristy Swanson) hostage, guarded by Sala (Catherine Zeta-Jones in a semi-villainous role).

The story was average and more or less in keeping with many stories in Phantom comics. Zane’s appearance as the Phantom was not convincing at all though he tried hard to fit into the purple-coloured body-hugging suit, sitting astride Hero, his majestic white stallion, and Devil, his brave wolf, by his side.

The Phantom’s masked appearance in 2013 would have been more cutting edge, like Christian Bale’s Batman. Unfortunately, there is no Phantom movie on the cards.

If you have read Daredevil comics, you’ll know that Ben Affleck was born to play blind lawyer Matt Murdock in the film version directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Everything about Affleck, either as Murdock the lawyer wearing a suit and dark glasses and carrying a blind man’s cane or as Daredevil in a crimson body suit and mask with twin canes, his deadly weapons of choice, was perfect.

Daredevil is more human than the accidental superhero he becomes (the consequence of a mishap with toxic waste that renders him blind but gives him superhuman vision and other senses) as he pursues his father’s killer and arch enemy, the Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan), and his hired assassin, Bullseye (Colin Farrell). An excellent superhero film.

Like The Phantom, the makers of Daredevil aren't thinking of a remake of the man without fear. I’m hoping Steven Spielberg buys the rights to the ghost who walks at least.

VINTAGE COMICS

The Freedom Train

Freedom Train by Howard Lockhart Fogg, an American artist
who specialised in railroad artwork.

Freedom is fought hard and won. In a novel concept, America ran the Freedom Train from 1947 through 1949 to remind its citizens not to take their freedom, as enshrined in the principles of liberty and democracy, for granted. Two years after the Second World War ended, Attorney General Tom C. Clark mooted the idea of the Freedom Train so that Americans did not forget the sacrifices made by the country and its people during successive wars. The idea was approved by President Harry S. Truman.

Christened the Spirit of 1776 on September 5, 1947, the Freedom Train travelled over 37,000 miles through more than 300 cities in 48 states for 413 days, capturing the imagination of Americans wherever it went, as did the distinctive red, white, and blue colour scheme of the locomotive. 

What was significant about the train was that it carried the original versions of the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Truman Doctrine, and the Bill of Rights among other rare documents and artefacts.

The bicentenary of the Freedom Train was celebrated in 1975-1976 when a similar locomotive called the American Freedom Train toured the country.

The historic journey was captured in popular culture including comics which, admittedly, first caught my attention. Until then, I didn't know about the Freedom Train, a fascinating piece of America's history.

MUSIC & LYRICS

Funkytown by Lipps Inc

There are some songs that stay inside your head forever. Songs that you'll find yourself humming for no rhyme or reason several years after you first heard them. Funkytown by Lipps Inc. is one song that has refused to go away. Written by Steven Greenberg and performed by Lipps Inc, the 1980 disco hit was sung by Cynthia Johnson. I have no idea who these people are but I enjoyed their music, especially the very funky beat of Funkytown, from the album Mouth to Mouth. It was a big hit in many countries including India. Check it out below.

For previous Music & Lyrics, see under Labels.

BOOKS

The Snake by Mickey Spillane (1964)

A Mike Hammer mystery for Friday’s Forgotten Books at Patti Abbott’s blog Pattinase.

“The pull on the door was enough to rock the car and ever so steadily the corpse of Blackie Conley seemed to come to life, sitting up in the seat momentarily. I could see the eyes and the mouth open in a soundless scream with the teeth bared in a grimace of wild hatred.”

My copy of the book

Finally, I read a Mickey Spillane paperback after more than two decades. Everything has its own time and place. With me, it’s books.

I don’t remember my first impressions of Mike Hammer, the iconic private investigator created by an iconic crime fiction writer. The Snake, the eighth novel featuring Hammer, gave me some idea.

Hammer is a strong character. He is a tough, no-nonsense detective with a propensity for violence that can at times turn your stomach. In fact, it follows him wherever he goes. He is fearless to the point where he, often intentionally, gets into hostile situations because he knows he will get out alive. He kills easily and effortlessly with his inseparable .45 Colt.

He is open about his investigation and does not hesitate to lay it out before NYPD, in particular Capt. Pat Chambers of the homicide division. Pat is a very close friend and their love for the same woman, Velda, does not come in the way of their friendship or respect for each other. 

Velda is Hammer’s brave, beautiful, and seductive secretary who loves her boss enough to risk her life for him. She has nothing to fear because she knows Hammer is watching her back.

The Snake is a sequel to The Girl Hunters in which Velda vanishes. I haven’t read that book yet.

The story begins with her sudden reappearance and offering protection to Sue Devon, a young girl on the run from her stepfather, Sim Torrence, a former district attorney who is fighting for the state governorship with an eye on the White House.

Sue believes Sim is out to kill her because he thinks she knows something about the $3 million a gang of robbers stole and botched thirty years ago. She is convinced Sim killed her mother, Sally Devon, a showgirl and the gangsters’ moll, for the money. The girl also keeps talking about someone she refers to as the Snake. 

Hammer would probably have stayed out of it if hired killers, operating separately, hadn't taken potshots at him and Velda at the same time, in their desperate bid to eliminate Sue. He kills two of them and wounds the third seriously.

With both he and Velda in trouble, Hammer steps into the firing line to investigate why the girl is wanted badly. He's the sort of guy whose sympathies are with the underdog though, you suspect, he also has a penchant for reckless adventure.

Hammer’s investigations take him back thirty years, to the gang of robbers, to Blackie Conley and Sonny Motley and others who botched the heist, to double-cross, to a young DA who sent them to prison for long years, and finally to the mysterious Snake.

In The Snake, Mike Hammer is constantly on the move, fighting and firing his way out of desperate situations. But, he’s not infallible. In this novel at least Hammer goes into one blind spot too many and is trusting to the point where it nearly costs him and Velda dearly. I found that unusual and I wonder if he’s usually that way in the other novels.

Mickey Spillane has written a cracker of a mystery where the characters, from Hammer downwards, seem all too real, in the kind of story that might have actually taken place in mid-20th century New York. The end is a real humdinger, one I didn't see coming.

First lines from the book: You walk down the street at night. It’s raining out. The only sound is that of your own feet.

FILMS

35 underrated actors who deserve better

I haven’t seen any films that would qualify for Overlooked Films at Todd Mason’s blog Sweet Freedom this week. I did, however, dash off a protest letter to my DTH cable operator demanding the restoration of TCM which was taken off the air last year. They have promised to look into my grievance. Meanwhile, here’s something to bite into…

I have drawn up a list of 35 actors who, in my opinion, are underrated in spite of landing major roles in many films. They are a big part of mainstream cinema and yet I can’t help picturing them on the kerbstones of the Hollywood walk of fame. These are actors whose films I have enjoyed watching immensely. I have also had the satisfaction of watching every one of the 20 films listed below. I chose them because I remember them well, over a 20-year period I’m familiar with. I am aware that I have left out many fine actors, both underrated and forgotten, who should have made it to this list. But then, all lists are subjective and so is this one. I’d be delighted if you made additions (or subtractions) to it.

Jeremy Irons in The French Lieutenant's Woman, 1981

Kevin Kline in Consenting Adults, 1982

Michael Biehn in The Terminator, 1984

Josh Brolin in The Goonies, 1985

William Hurt in Children of a Lesser God, 1986

Richard Dreyfuss in Stakeout, 1987

Emilio Estevez in Young Guns, 1988

Jeff Daniels in The House on Carroll Street, 1988

Tom Selleck in An Innocent Man, 1989

Ray Liotta in Goodfellas, 1990

Tim Curry in Oscar, 1991

Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs, 1992

Harvey Keitel in The Piano, 1993

Bill Paxton in Tombstone, 1993

John Goodman in Born Yesterday, 1993

Woody Harrelson in Natural Born Killers, 1994

Forest Whitaker in Species, 1995

Christian Slater in Broken Arrow, 1996

Bill Pullman in Independence Day, 1996

Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator, 1998

15 honourable mentions: Kiefer Sutherland, Colin Firth, Don Cheadle, Kevin Bacon, Matthew Broderick, Alan Rickman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mathew Modine, Liev Schreiber, David Morse, Alfred Molina, Tom Skerritt, Robert Carlyle, Gabriel Byrne, and Powers Boothe.

Now why didn't I think of reviewing one of these films?

BOOK BUYS

Readings from the raddiwala

Some of the best books and comics in my collection have come from the ubiquitous raddiwala, but more about that later.

The raddiwala is roughly an old paper mart or a scrap dealer whose main business is to buy old newspapers, magazines, and books from residential and commercial premises. He also buys all kinds of other used stuff that you no longer use, like faucets, stoves, copper wires, utensils, and iron pipes, to give you an idea. Most of these items are recycled and at some point find their way back into your home, as brand new items. You wouldn’t know.

Mumbai recycles everything, even school notebooks and textbooks after your kid has passed out of an academic year, an annual ritual. The city has become one big recycle bin. 

The raddiwala usually operates from a small shop often wedged between bigger shops on either side, selling fancier stuff. Like the omnipresent paanwala (betel leaf and tobacco seller), the raddiwala is found in all lanes and bylanes of Mumbai, as he is in every part of the country. His shop is easily distinguishable by the row of magazines and plastic containers hung from the corrugated iron roof. The raddiwala sits on a flat cushion or a wooden bench in front of a pair of weighing scales and a room lined with heaps of old newspapers. He usually lives in the hole in the wall, with his wife and kids.

The raddiwala is an important part of the commercial milieu of Mumbai. He comes from a poor background, mostly from the northern Hindi speaking belt of the country, but he can be enterprising too. He often deals in old newspapers and new mobiles at the same time and he may also have a chain of raddi shops across the city.

The current rate for old newspapers and magazines is Rs.9-10 per kg (less than 25 cents). It varies according to the ‘going’ price in the recycle market. The raddiwala weighs your old papers, calculates, and pays you cash on the spot. No questions asked. 

Most houses in Mumbai prefer to call the raddiwala home. He comes over to your place on his bicycle with a dirty sack and portable weighing scales in tow. He ties up your old newspapers into a neat bundle, hooks it up to the scales, and turns it towards the light so you can see the reading and calculate, lest you feel you’re being cheated. The exchange of paper for money is usually preceded by a little haggling over the price offered or the reading of the scales or both.

In Mumbai, people cultivate their raddiwala in the same way they cultivate their barber, grocer, vegetable vendor, and tailor. You seldom go elsewhere. The more you buy from the same place, the better the bargain and treatment you’ll get.

The raddiwala has been my favourite haunt for secondhand books for many years, though they’re much smarter nowadays, selling the used novels they get in their raddi to professional secondhand book dealers who know their value as well as you do. 

Nonetheless, I have bought some fine books and comics from raddiwalas in the past. My most memorable acquisition from the raddiwala was half-a-dozen vintage Phantom and Mandrake comics under the erstwhile Indrajal imprint published by Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd, owners of The Times of India. I bought them for Rs.50 ($1) only to have them eaten by termite a few months later.

Three purchases from the raddiwala I cherish are the 160-page The Science Fiction Book: An Illustrated History by Franz Rottensteiner, a hardback illustrated edition of Futuredays: A Nineteenth-Century Vision of the Year 2000 by Isaac Asimov, and Cows of Our Planet: A Far Side Collection by Gary Larson. They cost a pittance.

On the face of it, these books may not seem much. They do when you buy them from the raddiwala.