Sunday, August 29, 2010

The USA's love affair with...


Sandra sent me the link to this captivating article titled The USA's love affair with legendary criminals. I'd be interested in what folks think of the article and the photo claiming to include Wyatt Earp, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Teddy Roosevelt and Judge Roy Bean, among others.

15 comments:

Ron Scheer said...

Enjoyed this. The writer fails to note that Earp was also a faro dealer and had shot and killed a fellow buffalo hunter in his earlier years.

Just watched THE LEFT-HANDED GUN last night, where you get to see the glamorizing of a killer yet again.

David Cranmer said...

Ron, But like Doc Holliday, Wyatt always managed to drift to the right side of the law when it counted. What did you think of that photo? I've seen it before but don't believe it includes all those folks.

David Barber said...

Interesting article. How cool would that be if the picture is the real deal. All those "names" on one shot!

Ron Scheer said...

The photo is cool, but it could be anybody. Notables who roamed around the frontier had a way of bumping into one another like it was a "small world." But that many in one place? I dunno.

David Cranmer said...

Hard to tell from the long distant shot. Maybe there's a couple famous faces in the mix and folks are trying to find other notables where there isn't.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Now we just love politicians that cheat, steal and do us in. I think we were better off loving criminals with no pretenses.

David Cranmer said...

Patti, You know about four years ago I gave up on politicians. I still vote and always will. But believing one side is better than the other and getting all worked up over election results is not for me anymore.

Charles Gramlich said...

I'm busy making my own legend as John Marsten in Red dead redemption.

Anonymous said...

Ron, As an aside -- I think there's a lot less glamorizing of Billy the Kid in THE LEFT-HANDED GUN than I was expecting. As a drama, not a doco, it's a well-shaped piece of work done on a fairly modest budget, and well acted by some good players.

Keith

Deka Black said...

Cool photo, very cool. But.. who is Mr. Rooselvelt in it? I mean, He was a huge man, and in the image...

Craig Clarke said...

I feel slightly ridiculed, this article being from outside the U.S. Also, I find it very interesting that Teddy Roosevelt is listed among this line-up of criminals.

But maybe that's just my weird sense of humor.

David Cranmer said...

Charles, Wish I was a gamer. That sounds like my kind of sin.

Chap, The 1958 film has completely flown under my radar. I see where Vidal revisited and revised the material in 1989 with a TV-movie entitled Billy the Kid. (Wikipedia.)

Deka, He was much more rugged in the early days. Still, I highly doubt that’s him.

Craig, That is why my post title is shortened because I found the inclusion of Roosevelt, Earp, and Masterson absurd. Actually, it was a snarky approach to an article that had little to do with most of these men.

Alyssa Goodnight said...

That was an excellent article! And that's truly astounding if all those characters agreed to pose together. Then again, maybe some of them were just scoping out the train situation, fully intending to do a bit of hijacking at a later date. (Hijacking doesn't seem like the right word...)

Alyssa Goodnight said...

Hold up. They were planning a hold up. :)

David Cranmer said...

Alyssa, Some of these guys were ahead of their time so hijacking would be fine. :)