A Myth In Action

Subject: A Myth In Action Sat Aug 11, 2012 1:51 pm

Since I have been 'imfirmed' I have learned to really love western movies and watch them with my David on the weekends. Tonight we looked at all his western dvd's to choose one. I started telling him about our Ann and The myth In Action...Audie Murphy.

Well, he started off about how Audie Murphy was his hero.....I told him about Joseph Campbell and Ann Livingston Joiner and her book A Myth in Action.

We have the movie on VCR. It is on as I type.

I tried to tell him Ann's definition of a hero.

My David is a hero, too.

Love,

Betty

Subject: Re: A Myth In Action Sat Aug 11, 2012 2:00 pm

I forgot to say that I know it is not a western. cyclops

Love,

Betty

Subject: Re: A Myth In Action Sat Aug 11, 2012 2:40 pm

I was going to ask if it was To Hell and Back. Has he read the book? (The book, To Hell and Back, I mean, not A Myth in Action.)

What are some of the movies in his collection? I still love westerns - mostly the older ones, where the heroes are still heroic - even if they don't wear white hats.

Ann

Subject: Re: A Myth In Action Sat Aug 11, 2012 2:51 pm

Dear Ann,

I forgot to say that, too. It is To Hell & Back. confused

He loves all the Lonesome Dove series, anything that Tom Sellick ever did (thinks he looks like him and does). He is not so fond of the Spaghetti westerns, but I like them. Sam Elliot, Louis L'Amour, The Magnificent Seven, ....If it has horses and cowboys and open range, he loves it.

I imagine that you and he could have a fine time watching and talking old western movies. Very Happy

Love,

Betty

Subject: Re: A Myth In Action Sat Aug 11, 2012 3:13 pm

I'll bet we would. I am not so fond of the spaghetti westerns, either. If I'm going to have a man-with-no-name for a hero, I would rather it be The Virginian. Heroes ought to be recognizable as "good guys," IMVHO

But I did like the newer version of 3:10 to Yuma especially the ending. (And I would have, no matter who played in it.) I thought the "bad guy" was the most honorable character, because he was totally honest about himself - kind of like Shakespeare's Falstaff.

Ann

Subject: Re: A Myth In Action Sat Aug 11, 2012 3:20 pm

I will order it for David.

I would like to mention that your own book, Redstone's Valley is very, very, very good. I read a little each night without contact lens. It is like when I read Sherlock Holmes in my really blind days, under the covers with a small flash light. I hope you can get the picture of me reading like the child I was. I am that child still when I really enjoy something and it encompasses me body and soul.

Bravo, my friend.

Love,

Betty

Subject: Re: A Myth In Action Sat Aug 11, 2012 4:45 pm

Thank you. I can see it. I am very, very, very glad you liked it.

Annie

Subject: Re: A Myth In Action Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:02 am

Imo, Tom Selleck is the incarnation of the Louis L'Amour hero - par excellence.

And Sam Elliott a close second. Did any of you guys watch the names in the list of crdits for this one film? Honest-to-God amazing! (Even Glenn Ford - who, BTW, did an excellent job of portraying the "dark side" of the hero in the original "3:10 to Yuma.")

This is where characters like Heath Barkley (Big Valley) and Emmett Ryker(Virginian) got their start.

Quote :: The Romance, whether set in the middle ages, the American west with its basis grounded in the same mythological cycle as the stories of Ancient Greece...Jon Tuska, in The American West in Film, relates the basic plot of the legend of Perseus: [which is basically the same plot as the AM film, Gunsmoke, which is basically the same plot as the Virginian segment, "Ryker," which introduces the Sheriff who was the inspiration for Jake Holder of the Redstone Saga.]...European critics have always given more credence to the Western as art than have the Americans, recognizing the mythical quality of the genre. French critic Andre Bazin called it “the American film par excellence,” referring to its forms as “signs or symbols of its profound reality, namely the myth." British critic Jim Kitses also upholds the Western as myth, pointing out that it contrasts the hunter's world of the wilderness with that of civilization: the individual pitted against society.

from "From Duel to Destry: Retelling the Arthurian Legend Onscreen," A Myth in Action.

Alice, if you like the Barkleys, checkout The Virginian series - more heroic individuals than you can easily count.

Annie

Subject: Re: A Myth In Action Sun Aug 12, 2012 1:26 pm

Dear Annie,

The Sackett's is David's very favorite. If I wanted to see him smile a mile, I could say, "Wy don't we watch The Sacketts tonight. cheers

Love,

Betty

Subject: Re: A Myth In Action Sun Aug 12, 2012 1:59 pm

Yep! His smile should be lighting up SA right about now. Very Happy

Love,

Betty

Subject: Re: A Myth In Action Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:15 pm

Saving my comments until I finish the book. So far, I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

Subject: Re: A Myth In Action Mon Aug 13, 2012 5:53 am

I just hope it is as much fun to read as it was to write.

Thanks to you both for the comments.

Ann

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