Or, "Ride Out With Mister Pedantic!"
Because if you're not here for the finely-applied pedantry, then - why are you here?
Well, here you are going to get my thoughts, and several screenshots, on the subject of "Mackenna's Gold" the film not the novel, because I have detailed notes and, having gone to the bother of making them, you don't get to avoid the subject. Art!
This is Julie Newmar in her most famous role, that of Catwoman on "Batman" and she's here because she's also in MG. as Hesh-Ke, the sultry Apache woman who's also mute, and had a relationship with Mackenna himself. How splendid, a woman who cannot talk back to you! although you also need to take into consideration that she is rather handy with a knife.
Right. To set the scene, recall that the US Cavalry were on the prowl, probably a whole company of over 100 men, all grimly determined to be of service - no, hang on, that was "Forbidden Planet" - all grimly determined to track down Colorado's gang. Art!
This is as much as I can get of his gang in one shot. There's Colorado, Hachita (played by the very unsmiling Ted Cassidy), Sanchez, Hesh-Ke, two squaws, Monkey, a couple of other Apaches, and a couple of Mexicans. About twelve in total, with Inga and Mackenna as hostages. INNOCENT HOSTAGES. Put a pin in that, we'll come back to it later. Art!
These two shots are the best I can get to show how large the group had become, with another dozen or so people now added, not all of whom show up in the credits. There's Ben Baker, The Editor, The Preacher, The Storekeeper, Old Adams, the chap acting as Old Adams' eyes, the Older and Younger Englishmen, two nameless stooges of Baker's and possibly a couple more.
My point is - and I don't apologise for labouring it here - the group is now twice the size it was before.
Then, as they all head for the 'watering hole' at 'the old Grogan place', at 1:02:37 -
- the US cavalry mounts an ambush and kills about fifteen of the group.
Oooops.
We see lots of characters sprint off this mortal coil, despite many loud protestations that they are Very Important People, or have captured Colorado, only to be shot dead. Having their sleep unjustly disturbed, these cavalry troopers are out for blood! Innocent hostages? Who cares - we got woken up early! The news that Judge Bergeman's daughter had been kidnapped by Colorado's gang? Pshaw! Our slumbers were broken!
Mackenna, being a level-headed chap, and not trusting the discretion or morals of the cavalry (a caution vindicated by Sergeant Tibbs' later behaviour), grabs the reins of Inga's horse and flees, followed by Colorado, Hachita and Hesh-Ke.
However - a word you may have expected to crop up - there are a couple of loose threads here. Art!
Here we see 'Older Englishman' after he is unhorsed, without being shot. What happened to him? We don't find out! Given that the cavalry's sleep was disturbed, they probably roasted him alive impaled on a casserole spit. Art!
Surprisingly enough for a blind man, Old Adams survives his horse being shot from beneath him, and then staggers across the melee. The cavalry probably roasted him alongside Older, except on two casserole spits, on account of him being rather on the heavy side.
So, it was only blind luck that the two INNOCENT HOSTAGES got away from this mini-massacre, hmmmm? One supposes the US Cavalry motto is "Shoot first, shoot last, shoot in-between and if they're dead you control the narrative". If they got enough information from the drunken squaw about what was going on to mount an ambush, then they knew there were two INNOCENT HOSTAGES present. I dunno. Sleep-deprivation does odd things to you.
This has been a Pedantic Hair-Splitting Intro, thank you for reading.
Droning On
One thing the Special Idiotic Operation in Ukraine has brought to the forefront of military attention is the use of drones. Most recently these have been blowing up Ruffian oil refineries, averaging almost one per day. Only this afternoon another one was hit.
Rather than go into any detail on Ukraine's aerial assault on Mordor, I would like to post an illustration of their marine equivalent. Art!
I made a popular post on Twitter yesteryon, stating "The convention is that "Ukraine doesn't have a navy"That might need to be amended to "Ukraine doesn't have a *conventional* navy".
Because these engines of unpleasantness have sunk Ruffian warships costing many tens of millions of pounds EACH. The two above to port are intended to be submarine, meaning any damage inflicted to a target is below the waterline and thus a lot more deadly and hard to assuage or repair. The others will impact directly on the waterline, and Ukrainian operators are trained to hit the warship hull, then direct follow-up drones into the void thus created.
This Sceptred Isle, being an - you may be ahead of me here - island, one can bet with some confidence that the Royal Navy is looking on all of this with horrified fascination.
Proof!
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi Part Two
A.k.a. as 'Small earthquake in Chile, not many dead'. You ought to recall that Conrad recently posted about the ex-pub "Murphy's Bar" with a pretty good if I say so myself photograph taken from a passing bus as of yesteryon.
The plot thickens. In fact it seems as stodgy as my current Sunday Stew. Art!
The above was during it's - er - 'heyday' and you can appreciate how tacky it was, probably up on the local PTA* list.
Conrad has used the power of teh Interwebz to discover that MA has been empty since December last year, and that planning permission has been sought to turn it into an - drum roll, please -
H.M.O.
"His Majesty's Official -"?
"Helping Mordor Occupy"?
"Has Many Outcomes"?
None of the above. "House in Multiple Occupation", which seems to be code for "Sublet Into Apartments" a.k.a. "Landlord Making A Killing". One Mr. Bislim Hoxha has submitted planning proposals, which is where the plot thickens still further, because "Hoxha" is an Albanian surname. Art!
Say hello to Enver Hoxha, the dictator who ran Albania as his personal fiefdom for decades.
Any relation? Art!
"City In The Sky"
The Doctor is, unusually, explaining his motivations and methods.
‘I do plot, and plan, and prevaricate.
I could sit down and explain what I intended to do, and why, and what
alternatives there might be, and what I’d have to take into account – but there
usually isn’t time.’
Mike rubbed his blistered face.
‘Oh, and there isn’t much time now?’
‘There certainly isn’t!’ replied the Doctor. ‘We’ve not only thwarted the Lithoi’s plan to
destroy your township, but we’ve spread news of them up and down the coast. Their secret is out and they will take
drastic measures to prevent humans from threatening them.’
He didn’t elaborate. Drastic
included the one scenario he feared above all else, the deliberate release of
another engineered disease like The Phage, except that this one would need to
be even more deadly, a pathogen of rare and particular lethality. One cooked up in a hurry that killed every
living thing stone dead, regardless of species.
More than needing to elaborate, he needed to make amends. Six people were now dead, killed by the
Lithoi’s flying eyes. A human being
might only carry the freight of this moral burden for a decade or two, until
mortality intervened and removed the guilt: the Doctor would carry his
self-imposed sentence for several centuries, at the very least.
Ah, the downside of having a centuries-long lifespan, hmmm?
"Daybreakers"
Conrad has finally gotten around to watching this DVD purchased second-hand last year, which came out in <gulps> 2009. Art!
I remember taking Darling Daughter to see it all those many years ago, and particularly remember one jump-cut scene making her - well, jump.
Seeing it on DVD gives one the opportunity to appreciate those details the directors (the Spierig brothers) brought to it. I may come back to this if I can get decent photos of it from my television screen. Otherwise, there's always "Mackenna's Gold"!
Finally -
We have a new 7-week Schedule up for work, which features altogether too many of the 'Work 9 hours Monday but only 7 hours Thursday' where you start later in order to finish on time. Conrad not happy about this, but can console himself that at least one does not need to work one Saturday in three.
* "Pubs To Avoid"
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