again this past weekend.
The movie
Open Range is available free to Prime Video subscribers. You can even pick up the DVD of it for less than $5.00 if you're not a subscriber.
The movie, which we've seen maybe 3 times since it was released in 2003, was brought to mind when we watched an interview with Kevin Costner, the star of the modern western Yellowstone.
Yellowstone streams on Peacock Premium (with ads) and Peacock Premium Plus (no ads). If you have cable, you can watch on Paramount.
We like this classic western movie so much that we looked up the author and his book on which the movie is based, The Men of Open Range.
Lauran Paine, an author who wrote more than 1,000 books, was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He died in California in 2001, two years before the movie premiered.
Open Range wasn't the only book of his that was made into a movie. In 1957, The Quiet Gun, based on Mr. Paine's novel Law Man, was released.
Intrigued by the fact that only the Open Range book is listed on Amazon, a 2013 release by Dorchester with a scene from the movie on the cover and a title change to simply Open Range, I did a little research to learn more about Mr. Paine.
He was born
Lawrence Kerfman Duby Jr. in 1916, but he changed his name to Lauran Bosworth Paine after he was grown. I'm guessing his parents' divorce in 1921 affected his feelings for his father. I assume he didn't want his father's name which is why he changed it to honor his unche.
In the 1930s, Lauran Paine was a real life cowboy who competed in rodeos and became a stuntman in
Johnny Mack Brown's western movies.
Mr. Paine began writing in 1934 but didn't become successful until after World War II. By 1948, he was a full-time writer.
He wrote over 1,000 books, including hundreds of Westerns as well as romance, science fiction, and mystery novels.
He also wrote a number of non-fiction books on the Old West, military history, witchcraft, and other subjects.
In those days, publishers would only contract a limited number of books from an author. In order to make a living, most popular fiction authors took pseudonyms so they could publish enough books each year to make a living.
Mr. Paine had dozens of pseudonyms. Some of his pen names were: Mark Carrel, John Kilgore, Clay Allen, A. A. Andrews, Dennis Archer, John Armour, Carter Ashby, Harry Beck, Will Benton, Frank Bosworth, Concho Bradley, Claude Cassady, Clint Custer, James Glenn, Will Houston, Troy Howard, Cliff Ketchum, Clint O'Conner, Jim Slaughter and Buck Standish.
He published many books with Robert Hale of London, and those were distributed only in the United Kingdom. In recent years, those books are making their way to the U.S. usually in large print editions.
After reading about Lauran Paine, I gained a new appreciation for the movie Open Range which is rated as one of the best western movies ever made. How sad that Mr. Paine never had a chance to see the movie made from his book.
Takeaway Truth
If you haven't seen it before, it's got everything from beautiful cinematography to a wonderful cast made up of Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner, and Annette Bening and a compelling story about a cattle driver and his men who run afoul of the richest rancher in the area.
Throw in a former gun hand who's in desperate need of redemption and the love he finds when he doesn't even expect acceptance. Then there's the gunfight to end all gunfights!
If you haven't seen Open Range, which Mr. Costner directed, before, do yourself a favor and watch it.
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