A box of books arrived on my doorstep from Bear Manor Media, a publishing house that is cranking out a number of great books, almost the equivalent of one a week. With so many books being published, a few of them in the box warrant mention just in case these books slip under the radar.
By Bill Levy
The Warner Bros. western series Lawman starring John Russell, Peter Brown, and Peggie Castle was originally broadcast on ABC-TV for four seasons, between September 1958 and June 1962. As played by steel-eyed John Russell, Dan Troop is a no-nonsense marshal who has little patience for outlaws or hypocrites but will stand up for underdogs and outsiders. He also displays a warmer side with his mentoring of his young deputy (Peter Brown) and, beginning in the second season, in his relation- ship with Peggie Castle’s beautiful Lily Merrill.
Lawman: A Companion to the Classic TV Western Series is the first book to focus fully on this television western, re-familiarizes veteran viewers and introduces new fans to this exceptional television western and its three-dimensional leads. It features a Foreword by Will “Sugarfoot” Hutchins, a discussion of why Lawmanstands out from other television westerns, a history of its creation, episode summary capsules, a “Recollections” chapter with recent interviews of Lawman alumni, and photos covering the show’s four years.
I have a policy not to write a negative book review, instead choosing not to do a review at all and avoid the uncomfortable position of “warning” people and insulting the author. This is a good book as the subtitle aptly describes what you get: a companion piece and not historical documentation. There are no dates of production, budgets, complete cast lists, and very few behind-the-scenes details for every episode. I say this only because I was privy to the Warner archive many years ago and gathered such immaculate details for such TV westerns as Cheyenne and Maverick. Even newspaper archives online provide thorough search engines that allow anyone the ability to seek out trivia from press releases, reprinted in the newspapers, for various episodes. When I first saw this book being advertised, I expected to see that type of material within the pages. Instead, the book appears to be a review of each episode, having watched the series on DVD. If you idea of behind-the-scenes trivia is “Robert Wilke was a great western villain” or “Mickey Simpson and Fred Graham took part in the classic donnybrook against Victor McLaglen’s Sergeant Quincannon in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949),” then this is a book for you. If you are a fan of the TV series, you should have a copy of this book. Otherwise, just be aware in advance what is contained within the pages.
By Yoram Ben-Ami
To some, she was the female Tarzan. To others, she was the sexiest pin-up of their teenage years. She was Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. The making of the 1984 movie Sheena was an adventure worthy of a behind-the-scenes book, and that's what the film's executive producer, Yoram Ben-Ami, has written in My Adventure with Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
Completed days before actress Tanya Roberts's tragic death, My Adventure with Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is a tribute not only to its hard-working star but to the scores of technicians who made the first major studio film shot entirely in Africa. Ben-Ami was there for all of it and writes about working with Roberts, dealing with a director who wouldn't take "no" for an answer, and a rhinoceros that wouldn't take direction.
Sheena was controversial for its portrayal of a white heroine who rises to "save" African culture. The film could not be made today, but it was made, and it offers historical perspective of how far we have come and how far we have yet to go.
Israeli-born American producer Yoram Ben-Ami had just scored a hit with Lone Wolf McQuade when he embarked with director John Guillermin, stars Tanya Roberts and Ted Wass, and a menagerie of trained animals to mix with the wild animals of Africa and make what everyone thought was going to be the box office smash of 1984. Ben-Ami's behind-the-scenes tales make for exciting, informative, funny, and sometimes touching reading.
Yoram Ben-Ami has produced more than a dozen films including Lone Wolf McQuade, Jury Duty, The Lion of Africa, and Stone Cold. All the more worthwhile to read this book if you loved the movie. Who better to tell the behind-the-scenes story than the producer himself?
By Aubrey Malone
Shane has often been described as the most perfect sagebrush exemplification of Hollywood’s Golden Age. A masterpiece of tone and technique, it was George Stevens’ atmospheric valentine to an era if not a genre. Alan Ladd gave an emblematic performance in it. Jean Arthur excelled as the woman he falls in love with but cannot have. Van Heflin was pitch perfect as her decent, rough-hewn husband. Jack Palance won an Oscar nomination for playing the Luciferean villain Jack Wilson and so did Brandon De Wilde as the tow-headed Joey Starrett who idolizes the mysterious stranger riding into the valley to purge it of evil. The film, like the much-loved novel upon which it was based, was largely seen from Joey’s eyes. In his odyssey from child to man, mirroring Shane’s cathartic journey from gunfighter to farmhand and back to gunfighter again, we see two separate dramas playing themselves out. They do so against the backdrop of the majestic Teton peaks, and a range war that pits venal cattle barons against primitive farmers trying to eke out a living on Wyoming’s hard soil.
Aubrey Malone analyses every aspect of this groundbreaking film in the present book. It draws on a multiplicity of sources, many of them rare. He studies the day-to-day events of the shoot as well as the symbolic import of the film in a book that’s as detailed as it’s wide-ranging. Copiously illustrated both with stills from the film and candid shots of the stars between takes and off the set, this is a thorough study of Hollywood’s definitive western.
By James Stratton
Possibly Alfred Hitchcock's most popular and elaborate film, North by Northwest follows advertising executive Roger Thornhill's frantic cross-country race to free himself from a false murder charge and a mistaken identity pursuit by foreign spies. To me, this is the quintessential Hitchcock movie, and a perfect example of how to craft a story for cinema.
In a series of lively, self-contained chapters geared to both film buffs and casual viewers, the book explores all of the structural and thematic elements that combine to make this one of the master of suspense's most remarkable achievements. This is not a making-of book but rather a number of essays analyzing the movie from all ends of the spectrum. As a fan of Hitchcock, and a subscriber to bi-monthly newsletters consisting of essays, this book is a feast for a movie that can never have enough essays.