Paladin, Have Gun Will Travel. Hired at exorbitant rates to solve problems, he solved them to his own opinion, not that if the guy who hired him.
Gil Favor, Rawhide. Worse than a dick, he would become an asshole at the drop of a hat. Withholding information from his employees, and insisting they work harder without explanation, like a bank failure that would make their cattle worthless after some time.
Nick Barkley is cast as a typical wealthy rancher that was capable of taking advantage of smaller neighbors. This type of character appears in many 1950’s movies like Shane.
Fortunately Nick’s impulsive hotheaded nature is balanced by brothers Heath and Jarrod and his mother.
Really? I didn’t watch the miniseries, but understanding Call required getting inside his head, which a TV miniseries couldn’t do. (It also helps to read the other books in the series, particularly Dead Man’s Walk, which covers Call’s and McCrae’s youth.) In Call, McMurtry takes the archetype of the cool and laconic cowboy and turns it inside out. His silence isn’t a strength. Call is a man hamstrung by his inability to understand emotions in himself or other people, and his silence isn’t a strength, as it’s often portrayed in westerns. He suffers for it. He’s actually a tragic character.
I read the books. He’s tragic, for sure. He takes way too long to acknowledge his son.
I get his need to be a strong leader but hanging his friend is really a dick move. But, maybe that’s just me.
Ben Cartwright must have terrorized everyone in Nevada Territory. Adam, and later Hoss, simply disappeared and no one, not even Little Joe, ever questioned it.
The man was married three times, and apparently no one ever thought this was suspicious.
“Well, you see, Your Honor, my first wife died from eating poison mushrooms. My second wife died from eating poison mushrooms. My third wife died from a crushed skull. She wouldn’t eat her mushrooms…”