September 21, 2007 Bonus Blog
Strong reactions to several items on the blog. Here's my favorite:

If Actors Can Act So Can Locations
"I cannot understand the complaints from otherwise intelligent people -- no names cited -- about movies that are not filmed precisely on the location of the scenes depicted. Westerns in particular.

"Jeez. They're movies.

"In the first Western, New Jersey substituted for the High Plains. John Ford managed to shoehorn the entire West into, what, Monument Valley? That's not much different from today, when Toronto subs for any number of American cities in romantic comedies, detective thrillers, etc.

"By the way, I hate to slip a secret but the man who plays Jesse James in the movie that opens today is not Jesse James. He's an actor. Can you believe that? Brad Pitt, or some such mug. Hollywood has strange ways.

"If actors can act, so can locations, so we should suspend belief for a couple hours and enjoy ourselves.

"Second, 'Remington's Kodak Moments,' is what True West needs more of. It was an 'I didn't know that' moment for this reader. A new angle on an old subject."
—Dan Buck

Speaking of Remington, my good friend Jim Hatzell provided me with some great images of pith helmets which of course Freddy wore out here in Arizona in 1888 (the time period for our Mickey Free project). Here is a photo featuring Jim's models:



More Jesse James—What Were They Actually Wearing Info
"They were dressed in long linen dusters, had the collars turned up, and white handkerchiefs about their necks. They were not masked exactly, but masked so they couldn't be identified, by having their hats pulled well down over their faces."
—Eye witness reports to the Winston train robbery of 1881

I'll bet the producers of the new movie wish they had this little tidbit (above) so they could have had Ed Miller say his lines and then be recognized, later, when Jesse offs him. Oh, well, as the headline said for The Alamo: "Too True To Be Good." Ouch!

Classic Onion Headline de Jour
Sharper Image Vows 'We Will Be Undersold'

"Courage can't see around corners, but goes around them anyway."
—Mignon McLaughlin