Treasure of the Sierra Madre Movie Review.

Title: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart {Fred C. Dobbs}, Tim Holt {Bob Curtain}, Walter Huston {Howard}, and Bruce Bennett {Cody}.

 Gene: Black-and-White, Classic, Adventure, Mexican Western.

 Year of Release: 1948.

 Plot: Out of work south of the border, Fred C. Dobbs and his newfound friend Bob Curtain take a construction job, working hard in the hot sun for a week only to be cheated out of their pay by their boss who has a reputation for not paying his employees around town. Out of money, hungry and tired, the twosome crash at a men's boarding house and overhear a rather crazy old man named Howard talking about gold mining. The next day they catch their cheating boss and get their money after a fist fight breaks out; with money in their pockets and food in their stomachs, the men decide to try their hand at gold mining and hunt up the old man who has the experience and knowledge they lack. The three partners purchase the necessary supplies and head off into the mountains, the two inexperienced men quickly becoming exhausted as they cross the hot wasteland trying to keep up with the old man's surprisingly brisk pace.

 Once they find a suitable place to make camp and set up their mining operation, Dobbs and Curtain find renewed strength to carry out the grueling task of searching for gold. They agree to tell anyone they meet that their hunters, not miners, because they didn't bother to file a claim on the site. Under the old man's direction they work a prosperous vein of gold dust and agree to divide up the findings each night. Slowly, as the piles of gold increase, so does the tension in the camp between Curtain and Dobbs, the latter of whom becomes increasingly suspicious of his partners trying to "bump him off" and "take his goods." Several times the old man tactfully prevents a fight from breaking out between the two but Dobbs continues his downward spiral and Curtain bounces between defensiveness and confusion.

 The climax comes when local Indians ask Howard to help one of their boys who was unconscious after being pulled out of a river, and Howard uneasily leaves the two younger men together alone with all of the gold dust they'd dug up. Dobbs' suspicions finally disappear to show the greedy insanity they gave birth to and the situation in camp becomes dangerous. Curtain gets the jump on Dobbs and takes his gun from him but Dobbs relates by betting that he'll fall asleep before Curtain will, which leaves Curtain very weary the next day and unable to resist when Dobbs turns the tables on him and finds himself at the wrong end of his own gun.

 Likes/Dislikes: This isn't a fast moving movie but it's engrossing and action packed enough to make up for the speed at which it travels. All three men in the story are tempted by the lure of gold and while two {one with experience in these matters} hold up under the strain, one breaks and fails to pass the test. It's a very good movie, well shot and classic, even if the fight scene at the beginning moves terribly slowly. J Highly recommended for its study of human nature.

 Rating: It being a black-and-white, I don't think it's officially rated but my own rating is a G.

 Date Report Written: February 15, 2011.

Jack Frost.

"The door was shut, as doors should be,
  Before you went to bed last night;
Yet Jack Frost has got in, you see,
  And left your window silver white.

He must have waited till you slept;
  And not a single word he spoke,
But penciled o'er the panes and crept
  Away again before you woke.

And now you cannot see the hills
  Nor fields that stretch beyond the lane;
But there are fairer things than these
  His fingers traced on every pane.

Rocks and castles towering high;
  Hills and dales, and streams and fields;
And knights in armor riding by,
  With nodding plumes and shining shields.

And here are little boats, and there
  Big ships with sails spread to the breeze;
And yonder, palm trees waving fair
  On islands set in silver seas,

And butterflies with gauzy wings;
  And herds of cows and flocks of sheep;
And fruit and flowers and all the things
  You see when you are sound asleep.

For, creeping softly underneath
  The door when all the lights are out,
Jack Frost takes every breath you breathe,
  And knows the things you think about.

He paints them on the window-pane
  In fairy lines with frozen steam;
And when you wake you see again
  The lovely things you saw in dream."

                                               ~ Gabriel Setoun.

Triumphant!

That's right; I did it! I really did it with God's help and plenty of encouragement {and technical assisstance at one point} from my best friends and family members.

I'm published!!!!!! :)

Check out my book at this site {it should be up at Amazon in about a week}: https://www.createspace.com/3563293

Thank You Jesus!! Praise God!! I'm a published author now. :) Yahoo!!!!

Flight of Shadows Book Review.

Title: Flight of Shadows.
Author: Sigmund Brouwer.
Gene: Futuristic, Sci-Fi Thriller, Action/Adventure.
Plot: In this sequel to Broken Angel by the same author {didn't read it}, Caitlyn Brown has managed to go nearly two months since escaping her former life but when she's suddenly threatened by her not-very-bright-or-gentlemanly boss, Caitlyn plunges back into a situation she thought she'd left behind. Tracked by a ruthless bounty hunter and the authorities, Caitlyn teams up with a shady illusionist who she doesn't fully trust named Razor; he in his turn puts all his skills to work to uncover the mystery of who Caitlyn is and why the government wants her found at all costs. The end takes them by surprise.
Likes/Dislikes: The plot, while interesting once or twice, is lame and so unbelievable that it's not even worth getting into, all of the characters save for Theo, Billy, and Pierce, have crude, disgusting minds and dirty thought-trains {especially the bounty hunter, it so would have been nice not to have had any part of the story told from his gross viewpoint!}, and the vocabulary of the book is almost worse than watching an R rated porn movie, even if it isn't graphic, it's still there and the reader's imagination can follow the hint. Granted, Theo was very funny, and Pierce and Billy were the most gentlemanly and honest characters but other than that this book wasn't worth reading. You'd think that a book about someone with wings and healing blood would be interesting but when it's written like this one is; it's destined for the fireplace. The cover of the book says it's set in an "all-too-plausible future," I disagree however because the future {to me} doesn't look like it'll decay into a Mad Max world any time soon. Still, if you'd like a sample of the book, here's a link to read the first chapter: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Flight-of-Shadows/Sigmund-Brouwer/e/9781400070336/?itm=1&USRI=flight+of+shadows#CHP
Rating: R, and it is not recommended at all.
Date Report Written: February 19, 2011.
This book was a review copy courtesy of WaterBrook Publications; I was not required to write a positive review.

Excerpt: Ranger's Apprentice Book 9: Halt's Peril.

"One Raven Pass?" Horace repeated. "Why One Raven?"

"One raven is sorrow," Will said absently, repeating the old proverb.

Halt nodded. "That's right. The pass is the site of an old battle many years ago. A Scotti army was ambushed in the pass and wiped out to a man. Legend has it that since then, no bird-life will live there. Except for a solitary raven, who appears every year on the anniversary of the battle and whose cries sound like Scotti widows weeping for their men."

"How many years ago did this happen?" Horace asked. Halt shrugged as he rolled up the map and replaced it in his map case.

"Oh, three or four hundred years back, I suppose," he said carelessly.

"And how many years does a raven live?" Horace asked, a small frown furrowing the skin between his eyes. Halt rolled his eyes to heaven, seeing what was coming.

Will tried to step in. "Horace. . . ."

Horace held up a hand to forestall him.

"I mean, it's not as if it's breeding there and this is it's great-great-great-great-grandson raven, is it?" he said. "After all, it's one raven, and one raven can hardly have great-great-great-grandsons on its own, can it?"

"It's a legend, Horace," Halt said deliberately. "It's not meant to be taken literally."

"Still," said Horace doggedly, "why not call it something sensible? Like Battle Pass? Or Ambush Pass?"

Halt regarded him. He loved Horace like a younger brother. Even like a second son, after Will. He admired his skill with a sword and his courage in battle. But sometimes, just sometimes, he felt an overwhelming desire to ram the young warrior's head against a convenient tree.

"You have no sense of drama or symbolism, do you?" he asked.

"Huh?" replied Horace, not quite understanding. Halt looked around for a convenient tree. Luckily for Horace, there were none in sight.

Greeting Followers!

I'd like to welcome Lexi Ramsey to this interesting little blog! Hope you like it here!! :) And do please tell all your friends about it and The Letters of Askpen blog too!