Open Range

I liked the movie Open Range. I think that Craig Storper did a great job in producing it. The only thing I saw that was'nt that good is sometimes you could tell the sky was fake. Besides that the only problem I had was Charlie fired about ten rounds out of an old colt revolver wich were six shooters. I liked the actors for the most part. Robert Duvall is one of my favorite actors and his characters are always good. I think that Kevin Costner did ok certain things about him bugged me but im really not sure what they were. Annette Bening was a good actress in the movie but I think that they needed to get a younger and pretty girl for the part. 
The plot of Open Range was good I liked it because over all the part about pepole not liking free grazers was realistic. The music in the film enhanced the film by making it more dramatic and allowing you to expect what would happen. Some times I like to watch movies that dont have music durring exciting parts because it makes it seem more realistic. I would recomend the film to people who like westerns and adventure.

Laughing

The last time that I have laughed untill I cried was in seventh grade at my grandparents cottage on Lake Erie. We were sitting at the dinner table listening to my great uncle Ted tell some funny storie and jokes. I can't remember what they were about all I remember is laughing the hardest I have ever laughed.

American Aspirations

I do not believe that Ivans family would have regretted letting him escape the hard life. I believe that they would have been proud of him for liveing a better life and getting an education, because parents whant to see their children succeed. I think that they would be proud of him knowing that he will be making money and leading a life with out the hardships of working on a ranch. I think that the American Dream effected the Doig family like almost every other settler family. The doig father and mother worked hard to make sure their child grew up stong and got a good education, even though the parents themselves were going through hard times. This is true about almost all of the peole living in the depression and after the depression.

American Drean

I do not think that Ivans family would have regretted pushing him to succeed. I think that Ivans grandmother and father were verry proud that Ivan went to college and escaped the hard life of homesteading, because most parents want to see their children have a better life than they had. The American dream caused the doig family to move west and try to start a better life. Though they might have enjoyed the life on the raches better than in the city it was harder and challenging, and they didnt do so well. what happened to the Doig family relates to most homesteader families because most of the time the parents had trouble getting started or starting their new life, but their children did better than they did.

mountains

The little Belt mountains are not as high as the Crazies. but that is just a guess because i have never been in the Little Belts i have only seen the m from the highway. the Little Belts look alittel more like big rolling hills indtead of sharp cliffs and drop offs jettin out. I do not think that the settlers coming into the mountains would have know what they were getting into, becasue most of them came from back east and the mnountains back east are as big as our foothills.

Favorite Character

In the book that we are reading my favorite character is Charlie. Charlie is my favorite character in this story because he is a great father, and the story probablty wouldnt have been a story if there was no Charlie. Charlie is a great father, his wife died and he had to raise his boy. He was also a hard worker and new how to have fun. The part in the story when Charlie starts talking about riding broncs is my favorite. I like this part because it reminds me of Will James books like Smokey the Cow Horse.

Gender Roles in the Frontier

When we read Indian Country we read alot about women on the frontier and how they had different personalities and responsibilites. I had always known that the settler women came out west and did some men work, but I just never really thought about how some of them had a eastern mind set and were weaker and less willing to do mens work. One other thing that I have never really thought about is the Indians keeping white women alive, let alone giving them back to the white men. In most stories and movies the Indians kill all of the women and children. One thing that I have read about is cavalry men being captured and stripped then forced to walk back to the camp and tortured, and because of this they were instructed to keep one round of their pistol for themselves.

Critique The man Who Shot Liberty Valance

              There were many differences between the movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, and the book written by Dorothy Johnson. In the movie they changed many of the characters names, and the name of the town. In the book nobody really liked Rans Foster and he was ungratefull, when in the movie he was a likable guy who was well mannered. they also changed the personality of the owners of the resturant that he worked in.
              The characters in the movie were different from what I had in mind except for John Wayne because I knew he was in the movie. I had in magined Rans as a younger man in his twenties instead of late fourties, and  I had imagined Hallie as a brunette instead of a blonde. Those characters differed in my imagination. I had imagined Rans to be a little more built, a little less friendly and more manly and rugged. I had imagined Bert Pretty much the same as he was in the movie, except I imagined him to be more hostile with Rans, and to so a little bit more affection towards Hallie. The only thing different that I imagined for Hallie was her hair color, because the girl in the movie was pretty much a babe.
             I must say that the version of the story that I liked better was the movie. I liked the movie better  mainly because it had John Wayne, but I also enjoyed it because I think it got more in depth into the characters lives. The movie was also more exciting, and had more scenes and parts that i think made for a better storie. It would have been dumb if the movie ended right after Libery was killed like in the movie.

indian country

In the story Flame on The Frontier Sarah and Mitchell have a love for the indian way of life. I believe that they enjoy this way of life better than the white mans for a few reasons. I think that when living with the indians in large camps they might feel more secure and protected from attack than they would be with just a few men to protect them in the middle of nowere. I also think that they would enjoy the freedom of living with the indians, and having the opportunites to do more activities and such in their free time than they would with a white settler family.
I enjoy reading novels by Dorthey Johnson because she does not romantasize the indian and settler life as much as many other authors, and i like her style of writing. I believe that Dorthey Johnson writes her stories to give you and idea of how difficult life would have been when living on the frontier, and to try to give the reader a in depth look at the life indians and settlers lived on the frontier.

Journal #1

When I Think of the wild west i think of cowboys hearding cattle from Nebraska or Montana and all of the boom towns, and minning towns. But the thing that i think of most about the wild west is indian tribes and cavalrymen. i think about indians going on war parites to steal horses and weopons, and the buffalo hunts, and the women gathering berries. I also think of the cavalry men searching for indian camps and how depressing and scary it would be to teravel through unknown territory to an unknown fate.