I've been looking for a limited edition print of this, but don't see it listed at Western Images Ltd., the gallery that represents him.   I'll have to call and find out when or if it will be available.  Maybe I'll just have to trade in both cars and buy the original (yup his originals are that expensive! and that's if you can even find one).

The image below is a sample of his work:

To learn more about his art, visit the gallery link above or read the on-line article American Cowboy Magazine has available here.

Just one of the images I took with Jamie http://jamiepatersonphotography.wordpress.com/ and Neal http://spoolphotography.wordpress.com/ this morning .

Was a six image stitch will publish more details on this post tomorrow :)

But, this beautiful decor wouldn't be complete with out the use of rawhide lamp shades. Whether in a mountain lodge, southwestern style hotel, or a steakhouse restaurant, you will most definitely see leather lamp shades being used an lamps and chandeliers to enhance the southwestern decor.

For rustic decorating there really is no other choice when it comes to lighting fixtures and lamps. Rawhide has been a choice material for making lamp shades since the pioneer days, and continues to add an authentic look of the American frontier to any southwestern, western or rustic interior where it is placed. Use rawhide lamp shades in your next decorating project and watch the old west come to life in your home!

Then yesterday, the unimaginable happened.  I GOT ACCEPTED TO KNITTY!  That was a shocker.  Well, in my own defense, I must say that I did submit a nice design.  They must get thousands of pattern submissions, though.  Heaps and loads!   Anyway, I'm real sorry I can't tell you what the pattern is here because that would spoil all the fun!  And no writing in guesses as comments.  I think I'd seriously have a heart attack if my design made it to the front page of Fall Knitty.  Double Gulp! 

My best bud Lisa did an excellent job directing the photo shoot, and she took fabulous pictures.  She's a natural at that kind of stuff.  If I had to take the pictures, well, you've seen my sorry photography skills on my blog...  How come my brother got all the photography talent in the family?
Dave's website

So I'm going to need a good book on disc to listen to while knitting and designing this top for the yarn company.  If you have any suggestions, preferably ones with cowboys, cattle rustling and gunfights (and I'm not kidding here), let me know.  A non-western will also do, I guess.  Mysteries are good, too.  They sometimes contain gunfights, but usually no cowboys.

From: PESfilm

1- Philip Hitti In his book History of the Arabs, Professor Hitti assessed the character of Hadrat Ali as follows: "Valiant in battle, wise in council, eloquent in speech, true to his friends, magnanimous to his foes, Ali became both the paragon of Muslim nobility and chivalry, and the Solomon of Arabic tradition around whose name, poems, proverbs, sermonettes and anecdotes innumerable have clustered. He had swarthy complexion, large black eyes, bald head, a thick and long white beard, and was opulent and of medium stature. His sabre Dhul Fiqar, which was wielded by the Prophet on the battlefield of Badr, has been immortalized in the words of this verse found engraved in many medieval Arab records, "no sword can match Dhul Fiqar, and no young warrior can compare with Hadrat Ali." A later Fidayan movement which developed ceremonies and insignia savouring of medieval European chivalry and the modern scouts movement, took Ali for its father and model. Regarded as wise and brave by all the Islamic world, as the idealistic and exemplary by many Fidayan and dervish fraternities, as sinless and infallible by his partisans, and even held to be the incarnation of the deity by the Ghulah (extremists) among them, he whose worldly posthumous influence was second only to that of the holy Prophet himself. The throngs of pilgrims that still stream to his Mashhad at Najaf and to that of his son Husain, the Shi'iah arch-saint and martyr at nearby Karbala, and the passion-play enacted annually on the tenth of Muharram through the Shi'iah world, testify to the possibility that death may avail a Messiah more than life."

2- Sir William Muir In his book, The Caliphate, its Rise, Decline and Fall, Sir William Muir paid his tribute to Hadrat Ali in the following words: "In the character of Ali, there are many things to commend him for. Mild and beneficent, he treated Basra when prostrate at his feet with a generous forbearance. Towards theocratic fanatics, who wearied his patience by incessant intrigues and senseless rebellion, he showed no vindictiveness. Excepting Muawiyah, the man of all others whom he ought not to have estranged, he carried the policy of conciliating his enemies to a dangerous extreme. In compromise indeed and in procrastination lay the future of his caliphate. With greater vigour, spirit, and determination, he might have averted the schism which for a time threatened the existence of Islam, and which has never ceased to weaken it. Ali was wise in counsel and many an adage and astute proverb have been attributed to him. But like Solomon, his weakness was for others more than himself.

3- Charles Mills In his book A History of Muhammadanism, Charles Mills assessed Hadrat Ali as follows: "As the chief of the family of Hashim, and as the cousin and son-in-law of him whom the Arabians respected almost to idolatry it is apparently incredible that Ali was not raised to the caliphate immediately after the death of Muhammad p.b.u.h. In the advantage of his birth and marriage was added the friendship of the Prophet. The son of Abu Talib was one of the first converts to Islam, and was Muhammad's favourite appellation of him, the Aaron of a second Moses. His talents as an orator, and his intrepidity as the warrior commanded to a nation in whose judgment courage was virtue and eloquence was wisdom. But the pride and loftiness of his spirit endured not to caution inseparable from the schemes of policy, and continually precipitated him into rashness. His opposition to Abu Bakr would not have ceased if Fatima had lived. But upon her death, six months after that of her father, the Companions of Muhammad relaxed in their friendship to his family. In the reign of Abu Bakr, Umar and Othman, a dignified independence was preserved by Ali. On the invitation of the Caliphs, he assisted in the councils of Medina, but he was principally occupied in the tranquil pursuits of domestic life and the various duties of his religion. On the murder of Othman the Egyptians who were at Medina offered him the caliphate. Indignant that the power of nomination should be usurped by the strangers, Ali declared that the suffrages of the inhabitants of Mecca and Medina alone could be available. The public voice soon echoed the opinion of the murderers, and the scruples of Ali were soon removed. In apprehension of the enmity of A'isha, his relentless fall, and of the whole family out of Muawiyah, he declined to receive in private the proffered allegiance of the chiefs. With his accustomed simplicity, he proceeded to the mosque clad in a cotton gown, a coarse turban on his head, his slippers were in one hand, and a bow instead of a staff, occupied the other."

4- Professor Nicholson In his book A Literary History of the Arabs, Nicholson remarked: "Ali was a gallant warrior, a wise counsellor, a true friend and generous foe. He excelled in poetry and in eloquence. His verses and sayings are famous throughout the Muhammadan East, though few of them can be considered authentic. He can be compared with Montrose and Bayard in the fineness of spirit. He had no talent for the stern realities of statecraft and was overmatched by unscrupulous rivals who knew that war is the game of deceit. Thus his career was in one sense a failure - his authority as Caliph was never admitted while he lived, by the whole community. On the other hand he has exerted down to the present-day a posthumous influence only second to that of Muhammad himself. Within a century of his death, he came to be regarded as the Prophet's successor jure divine; as a blessed martyr, sinless and infallible, and even by some as an incarnation of God. The Ali of the Shi'ite legend is not a historical figure glorified, rather he symbolizes in a purely ethical fashion, the religious aspirations and political aims of a large section of the Muslim world."

5- John J. Pool In his book Studies in Muhammadanism, John J. Pool observed: "The fact is that Ali was too mild a man for the stirring times in which he lived. He was too slow to resolve and too undecided in action. At any time he preferred compromise and delay to energy and promptness, and with fatal results. The death of Ali was an epoch-making event. We come now to the parting of ways. Henceforward the Commanders of the Faithful ceased to be elected by the votes of the people of Medina and Mecca. Arabia was no longer to be the seat of temporal power. For the future, in Islam, might was to take the place of right."

6- Edward Gibbon In his book Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon observed the following about the assassination of Hadrat Othman and the succession of Hadrat Ali: "A tumultuous anarchy of five days after the martyrdom of Othman was appeased by the inauguration of Ali. His refusal would have provoked a general massacre. In this painful situation, he supported the becoming pride of the chief of the Hashimites; declared that he would rather serve than reign; rebuked the presumption of the strangers and required the formal, if not the voluntary, assent of the chiefs of the nation. He has never been accused of promoting the assassination of Othman, though Persia indirectly and secretly celebrates the festivals of that holy martyr. The quarrel between Othman and his subjects was assuaged by the early mediation of Ali, and Hasan, the eldest of his sons, was insulted and wounded in the defence of the Caliph."
While commenting on the failure of Hadrat Ali and matters pertaining to statecraft, Gibbon observes as follows: "A life of prayer and contemplation had not chilled the martial activity of Ali, but in a mature age, after a long experience of mankind, he still betrayed in his conduct the rashness and indiscretion of youth."

7- Thomas Carlyle In his book On Heroes and Hero Worship, Thomas Carlyle observed: "As for this young Ali, one cannot but like him. A noble minded creature, as he shows himself, now and always afterwards, full of affection, of fiery daring something chivalrous in him, brave as a lion, yet with a grace, truth and affection worthy of Christian knighthood. He died by assassination in the mosque at Kufa, death occasioned by his own generous fairness, confidence in the fairness of others. He said: if the wound proved not unto death, they must pardon the assassin, but if it did, they must slay him straightaway, so that the two of them in the same our might appear before God, and see which side of that quarrel was the just one."

8- Dr. Henry Stubbe In his book An Account of the Rise and Progress of Muhammadanism, Dr. Henry Stubbe observed: "Ali was of a brown complexion, a little man with a somewhat large belly, he had a contempt of the world, its glory and pomp. He feared God much, gave many alms, was just in all his actions, humble and affable, of an exceedingly quick wit, and of an ingenuity that was not common. He was exceedingly learned, not only in those sciences that terminate in speculation, but those which extend to practice."

9- Major Price In his book Memoirs of the Principal Events of Muhammadan History, Major Price observed: "His virtues and extraordinary qualities have been the subject of voluminous panegyrics, and his war-like exploits from his youth upwards have been particularly celebrated in the "Khawer Nama," a poem well-known in the East and which may perhaps contend in extravagance with the wildest effusions of European romance. With his acknowledged talents and magnanimity, it is however, difficult to account for the train of civil mischief and perpetual discontent which continued to disturb him for the whole of his reign. His gallant spirit was probably incapable of bonding to the ordinary shifts of political craft, and it is perhaps true that the Arabian chiefs were not yet sufficiently disciplined to see the sovereign authority quietly monopolized by any particular family."

10- J.J. Saunders In his book A History of Medieval Islam, J.J. Saunders observed:"His moral qualities were respectively recognized. He was a brave fighter and an eloquent orator and a loyal friend. Many things of his are quoted to prove his mastery of proverbial wisdom, a gift highly honoured among the Semites. He displayed towards his foes a patience and magnanimity expressive of a humane and generous disposition. His religion was founded on genuine piety. He was shocked by the growing luxury and corruption of the age, and to his many doubts whether Othman was an upholder or a violator of the law may be attributed to the hesitating and ambiguous attitude he adopted towards the regicides, which proved so fatal to his rule and reputation. As his temper was indolent, he drifted rather than led. He was easily outmatched by the astute and the forceful, and he lacked the commanding personality to impose his will on a turbulent society. His authority was challenged by the political shrewdness of Muawiyah, and the furious zealotry of the Kharajites, his inability to overcome either delivered Islam to schism and grave believers were driven to see in a reunion of the Empire under the Umayyads the only escape from tribal and sectarian anarchy. Yet he has been raised by a powerful sect little below that of Muhammad himself, the Shi'ah or party of Ali laid down as an article of faith that he was designated by God and the Prophet to be the lawful Caliph and Imam of the Islam, his three predecessors being treated as usurpers, and that Divine Revelation continued to be interpreted by his descendants, and his supposed grave at Najaf, a sandhill on the edge of the desert six miles west of Kufa, is annually visited by thousands of devout pilgrims who curse his supplanters and revere him as the friend of God and the first of Imams."

I don't know who looks after the Fantastic Fiction listings, but they have Mr. West's books mixed with another Charles West, a teacher from Fresno, California. They also have Tanner's Law listed as coming out in September at $27.95. Signet brought out a paperback in January at $5.99.

Recently, Mr. West has started writing standalones. Before, he did books in groups of three, except for one four volume sequence.

Colt McCrae went to prison at eighteen after being misidentified as part of a bank robbery in which a man was killed. The one that actually did the killing hung and Colt got a ten year prison sentence. Two people could have cleared him, but didn't for their own reasons. One, the actual outlaw for which he was misidentified, a friend of McCrae's, and an embarrassed young woman.

Six months before he's released, Colt gets a letter from his uncle, telling him his father had been killed, shot in the back. Everyone knows who's responsible, a wealthy rancher named Frank Drummond. He'd bought out or run out every other rancher but Colt's father and uncle.

Upon release, the young man returns home to help defend the ranch he now co-owns with his brother and his uncle's, as well as find his father's murderer. A hired killer named Bone is brought in to stop McCrae.

Yes, the range war plot is not new. Rather well used as a matter of fact. But I like the way Mr. West builds his characters and their relationships. He has an easy, fast flowing style that draws one in. His books and plots have gotten better with each succeeding volume.

Finally, I suppose I'm colored in my opinions by my having a tenuous, very tenuous, connection to the novelist. I worked for his brother twenty-five years ago and the man, now retired, still lives here in Eden, North Carolina. That's how I first became aware of him, as his brother came into the Waldenbooks, where I was working parttime then, every time a new book was published.

Recommended, as well as any of the other twenty-one.

The newly laid roads are very good. But, unfortunately, they are already falling apart in some places. Maybe because of the heavy rains. I am not sure how long the roads will survive. It may be back to square one in a few months.

At one point, we could see the railway track between Bangalore and Mangalore. Its a pity that the Railways is not introducing more trains, especially day trains to Mangalore. It is one of the most picturesque journeys anywhere in India.

The tea break at Gundya junction provided us with an amazing scenery!

Rain prevented us from stopping more frequently during the drive. But whereever we stopped, we witnessed some really amazing scenes.

No wonder this region is considered one of the 11 bio diversity hot spots of the world. "Lungs of India" is what I would like to call this place!

So do you think you can dance? Well, I can't really dance, but this show might just teach you the necessary steps. =)

The plot - In this sequel to the 2006 "Step Up", Andie is a newcomer at the Maryland School of the Arts, and her bad girl streak threatens to keep her from finding her place. She's not exactly the most liked student in school but she soon pairs up with a student very different from her, the popular Chase. The two soon find a group of students to dance in a secret competition that suits Andie's talents. Romance eventually sparks between the two dance students from very different backgrounds.

Forget the words, forget the all so mediocre phrases. Just let the feet do the talking. This movie is all about dancing, dancing and even more dancing. No one could ever stop this people from doing the robots to the slinky. Amazing dance moves that really deserves an Oscar, although I totally agree with the fact that the lead actress can't really dance properly.

The plot is ultimately weak, as it is normal to expect from a show of a different theme. But the sole purpose of watching this show is really... just to see them dance, and yes it's hell bent exciting.

In all, just wait for the freaking DVD and rent it, then just SKIP, yea, you saw that, SKIP to the dances. The words that are mentioned from everyone's mouth are quite useless to really hear. Hmm.

Ratings - 3 out of 5 stars

I rode from Minnesota, across the Great Divide
took a gold pan for my fortune and a suit to find a bride
took along my reasons and left behind my pride
no chance that I would settle 'til I knowed I had arrived

'Cause I'm goin' to Granite City.
I'm gonna find my home.

Well, I came across this roarin' town northwest of Idaho
Had a sweet smell of whiskey, someone playin' pi-an-O
I let go of my saddle, and slid down to my feet
and one-eyed this noisy joint with a sign that just read, "EATS"

Went into that greasy spoon and the voices fell down low
and far at the corner at the end of the bar somethin was movin' nice and slow.
Kick the dust off my chaps and straighten out my hat
Slide my gun across the bar, better not be needin' that

Well, I open my eyes big and wide, put on my yokel grin,
and say, "I seen you boys playin' Lady Luck. Mind if I sit in?"
A little later I'm eatin' steak compliments of these new friends I made
This town is real hospitable, the kind I appreciate

Well I'm here in Granite City.
Think I found my home.

Then along come a silk corsage clingin for dear life
to the finest set of land-lovin hips I seen in this here life.
She says, "Well hello, Cowboy. Or are you a man.
A real man who can, like no other in this land.
With fire in his eyes, and iron in his hand
Hell bent on destruction to defend where he stands."
She said,
"A man to make things happen, not one to let things stand.
One who holds on to honor, don't turn yeller and ran.
Cause if you are, then your my kinda man.
I'm the finest suga-mamma-honey-baby livin' in this land.

And I'm here in Granite City.
I'm gonna make this my home."

She was downright direct, this apple and spice filly,
And something to look at, all dolled up and frilly.
She fastened my gazed like a bobcat on its prey.
But still precious, like a fawn, on a new spring day.

I had to grab for my glass before I could speak,
afeared some internal therm-O-meter would peak.
I said, "If I'm to understand your well put proposition,
I wanna be sincere about ensuing indiscretions.
I'm an honest man. I truly am.
I hold my virtues high, lived a code all my life.
And before me and you can do the hoochie coo,
not a single sheet can fly, lessin' your the marryin' kind.

Cause I'm here in Granite City
I wanna make this my home."

She stood there and smiled, like she heard it all before.
From where we stood to the eastern shore, probably heard it all and more.
And before I could fall over backwards with desire
two Red River lips parted and blew a little fire
"I am." she said.
Oh Lord! She said, "I am."

But she wants a "princess wedding, a new weddin' dress,
And a chartreuse trousseau, she won't settle for less,
She wants a band, 15 bridesmaids and a speech from the mayor
and a wagon load of wedding gifts and fifty dollars for her hair.

Cause she's here in Granite City.
She's gonna make this her home.

Well, this here's where miners meet and weddin's don't come cheap.
So I gave her all my money and worked without no sleep.
Til the day finally arrived when I could build a home,
then I ran back to that little town to make that girl my own.

But she wasn't at the waterhole. She wasn't in her room.
She wasn't at the General Store or at the "EATS" saloon.
I searched high and low, asked everyone I saw.
Climbed the highest peak and yelled til my vocal chords were raw.

Well I never broke a promise, and I never told a lie
And I'm sure to keep a secret til the dreadful day I die
I've had enough of lovin', had enough of Fool's Gold,
goin' back to Minnesota, somewhere's east of Idaho.

And those girls from Granite City.
You leave well enough alone.

I'm here in Granite City.
And I wanna go home.

It was alright, but honestly kind of boring. It was a super short book, only 150 pages, so it felt like I was reading the script for some half-hour TV show. Basically Dan Rodelo used to be a gunfighter until he left that life behind and became an honest man. He then got accidentally caught up with an outlaw and served a year in jail for a robbery he never committed, and is now on his way across the desert to find the money that was buried and return it, clearing his name. No real plot twists or surprises, although Dan’s motives for finding the money are kept hidden till close to the end. And there’s a girl - whom Dan gets. Hooray!

So, now that I know what that kid in Grade 8 was always reading, I’m probably done my excursion into Louis L’amour books =P

Por primera vez el Festival Internacional de Cortometrajes ‘Almería en corto' ha elegido la imagen corporativa de su edición anual mediante un concurso de ideas; y también por primera vez el público podrá conocer todos los trabajos que se han presentado a esta convocatoria que ya tiene ganador, el creativo holandés Frans-Erik Bennekers.

La cita es en el vestíbulo de la Diputación de Almería, organizadora del Festival, en su sede principal, el Palacio Provincial de la calle Navarro Rodrigo de la capital almeriense. Hasta finales de este mes de julio estarán expuestos los 60 carteles presentados por parte de diversos autores procedentes de diferentes puntos del país.

La obra ganadora es el trabajo del diseñador holandés afincado en la localidad almeriense de Roquetas de Mar, Frans-Erik Bennekers, con un cartel titulado ‘Ojo', premiado con un único galardón de 2.500 euros, y que mostrará la cara de ‘Almería en corto' por todo el mundo. Este artista también presentó otra opción al igual que la mayoría de empresas y diseñadores que concursaron con más de un trabajo para tener más posibilidades de convencer al jurado.

Este jurado ha estado compuesto por Pablo Juliá, director del Centro Andaluz de la Imagen; Bernardo Díaz Nosty, catedrático de Periodismo en la Universidad de Málaga; Elías Palmero Villegas, diseñador y fotógrafo; Ignacio Ortega Campos, director del Área de Cultura de esta institución y Antonio Sánchez de Amo, director de comunicación de ‘Almería en corto', que han tenido en cuenta, a la hora de seleccionar la imagen ganadora, el aire nuevo que aporta, ya que se trata de un fotomontaje, que además puede ser bastante atractivo para el público a pie de calle. Además destacaron de la obra ‘Ojo' su capacidad de sintetizar la esencia del cine en corto, su indudable impacto y su carácter rompedor con la línea mantenida en las anteriores seis ediciones.

La diputada del Área de Cultura, Caridad Herrerías Moya, ha recordado que el VII Festival Internacional de Cortometrajes ‘Almería en corto' se celebrará aprovechando el puente de la Constitución, del 5 al 13 de diciembre de 2008, con lo que esta cita vuelve a la fecha de sus orígenes: la de la realización del entonces festival nacional, que se desarrolló durante cinco ediciones.

Los responsables políticos y técnicos ya están barajando novedades en la cita de este año de forma que se vean beneficiados tantos los realizadores almerienses como el resto de cortometrajistas españoles e internacionales, así como el público que acuda a las proyecciones tanto de cintas en formato 35 mm como las de vídeo de lo que sería el X Certamen Nacional en este formato.

Film ini muncul pada tahun 2007, dan di sutradarai oleh Stewart Hendler dan cerita ini ditulis oleh Christopher Borrelli. Rating film : 15+

I've totally forgotten the exact steps for this one so I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Yum!

I found a great website called Cowboy Poetry.  It has a vast collection of poems all divided into catagories.  My favorite catagory was the Cowboy Love Poetry.  You just have to check out First Kiss by Tony Blisard.  It is about the typical regretful cowboy.  This site is also a fabulous resource to other sites and events.  Here is the link http://www.cowboypoetry.com/ .  Check it out and let me know what you think.

"300 year old prehistoric shark caught off a fisherman's net caught off the Whaling Station at Albany, WA.

It was broardcast on the TV in the night [so you mightn be able to find an archive for it] and they sold the Jaws to compensate the fisherman for the damage to his nets."

does anyone know anything about this story?

C'era una volta il west,quarto film in tema western diretto da Sergio Leone,è un'epopea,che celebra in un certo senso la fine di un'epoca,quella del cinema western,e ne canta il de profundis,attraverso un'opera straordinaria,di gran respiro,pur molto dilatata nei tempi cinematografici.

E' anche un'opera ambiziosa,la prima nella quale Leone ha un budget all'altezza,la possibilità di schierare un cast di livello eccelente ma non solo;vengono chiamati attori di grido,come Henry Fonda,Claudia Cardinale e Charles Bronson,che interpreterà il ruolo più intenso della sua carriera.

Un film in cui tutto sembra studiato per ore,fin nei minimi particolari;dagli sguardi dei protagonisti,una delle fissazioni di Leone,all'ambientazione,passando per una colonna sonora che è possibile definire sontuosa,composta dal solito,grande Morricone.Un film che celebra un genere moribondo,e che rivolge lo sguardo con nostalgia ad un'epoca ormai irrimediabilmente chiusa,ad un west selvaggio e crudele;ci sono tutti gli ingredienti delle storie classiche,dal cattivo Frank (Fonda),alla bella Jill (Cardinale),dall'uomo della vendetta,Armonica (Bronson),al bandito dal cuore d'oro,Cheyenne.

Personaggi che si mescolano e si integrano in una storia dal canovaccio classico,ormai collaudato.

Una stazione di un paesino del west;tre uomini sono uccisi da Armonica,un misterioso individuo chiamato così per la sua abitudine di suonare lo strumento a bocca.I tre erano in attesa di Frank,un crudele,spietato killer al soldo di Morton,industriale affetto da una tubercolosi ossea,che sogna di congiungere il west da una costa all'altra.Armonica resta ferito leggermente,e si rifugia in una taverna.Qui incontra Jill,una donna completamente spaesata in un ambiente tipicamente maschile (memorabile la scena della tinozza d'acqua,considerata buona solo da bere dal proprietario della taverna) e incontra anche Cheyenne,un fuorilegge che ha una banda con un segno distintivo,uno spolverino.Armonica racconta a Cheyenne di avere ucciso tre uomini con lo spolverino,ma il fuorilegge nega che i tre fossero della sua banda.

Nel frattempo Frank e i suoi uomini sterminano la famiglia McBrain,il padre e i suoi tre figli;McBrain si era da poco sistemato nella zona,dove aveva acquistato dei pezzi di terra,e aveva invitato a vivere nel suo ranch Jill,che aveva accettato.La donna si fa accompagnare alla fattoria,e trova i corpi della famiglia Mc Bain;decide comunque di restare,e durante la notte sente,in lontananza,il suono di un'armonica.

Intanto la storia si ingarbuglia;alla fattoria arriva Cheyenne,convinto che qualcuno voglia far incolpare lui e i suoi uomini dell'eccidio;apprende così da Jill le vere motivazioni dell'arrivo della donna,che in realtà è una ex prostituta,convinta da Mc Bain a venire a vivere al ranch.L'uomo le aveva raccontato di essere in procinto di diventare molto ricco.In realtà nel ranch non c'è il becco di un quattrino,e la donna,che ha già sposato in segreto McBain,è la legittima erede del ranch.Nel frattempo Armonica uccide altri due killer di Frank,che erano venuti nella fattoria per eliminare la donna.

Frank irretisce Jill e cattura Armonica,che però viene liberato da Cheyenne,che svela all'uomo dall'armonica il piano originario di McBain;acquistare i terreni la attorno,più tutto il necessario per costruire una stazione di posta;McBain era convinto,infatti,che sui suoi terreni sarebbe passata la ferrovia di Morton.

Gli uomini di Cheyenne,usando il materiale che l'irlandese aveva previdentemente acquistato,costruiscono la stazione di posta;nel frattempo lo sceriffo mette all'asta i terreni,che diventerebbero,per soli 500 dollari,di proprietà di Frank,se all'ultimo istante non arrivasse Armonica ad offrire 5000 dollari.I soldi sono quelli della taglia sulla testa di Cheyenne,che viene così catturato dagli uomini dello sceriffo.

Morton corrompe gli uomini di Frank,per sbarazzarsi del killer,ormai fuori controllo;ma inaspettatamente è proprio Armonica a salvarlo.Ma è un espediente,perchè Armonica rivela a Frank di essere il fratello di un uomo costretto a stare sulle spalle di Armonica proprio mentre,con un cappio al collo,ascoltava il suono dello strumento.

Il duello si conclude con la morte del killer,Frank;così Armonica può consegnare a Jill la stazione di posta,proprio mentre arriva il primo treno.La donna è ormai ricca,e invita Armonica a restare con lui.

Ma l'uomo va via con Cheyenne,che nel frattempo si è liberato;ma per Cheyenne non c'è futuro,perchè Morton gli ha sparato e Cheyenne spira tra le braccia di armonica,proprio mentre il suono della locomotiva,simbolo del progresso,lacera l'aria.

Nelle scene finali,le più alte e liriche dell'intero cinema di Leone,c'è il rimpianto per un mondo in dissoluzione;è proprio la locomotiva,che sostituisce in qualche modo il cavallo,il simbolo della fine di un'epoca,sottolineato dalle struggenti note di Sean Sean,mitica colonna sonora di Morricone.

Un film straordinario,epico,grandissimo.Un sogno che dura tre ore,attraverso la violenza tipica del west,genetica e strettamente legata a quel mondo ormai scomparso.I volti di Armonica e di Frank,di Cheyenne e di jill sembrano mescolarsi in una saga che mostra la commozione del regista nel desrivere un mondo selvaggio,con leggi dure,ma in cui i ruoli sono rispettati.E ancora una volta il finale è amaro,ma allo stesso tempo in linea con il racconto.Armonica va via,anche se al fianco di jill potrebbe trovare la felicità e la tranquillità.Ma il richiamo della prateria,dell'avventura,è per lui troppo forte,come per l'uomo senza nome di Per un pugno di dollari,o di Monco,o di Biondo.........

Giudizio:

Charles Bronson: Armonica

Henry Fonda: Frank

Claudia Cardinale: Jill McBain

Jason Robards: Manuel "Cheyenne" Gutiérrez

Gabriele Ferzetti: Morton

Paolo Stoppa: Sam

Woody Strode: Stony, membro della banda di Frank

Jack Elam: Snaky, membro della banda di Frank

Keenan Wynn: Sceriffo

Frank Wolff: Brett McBain

Lionel Stander: Barista

Al Mulock: Knuckles

Fotografia: Tonino Delli Colli

Montaggio: Nino Baragli

Effetti speciali:

Musiche: Ennio Morricone

Scenografia: Carlo Simi

Costumi: Carlo Simi

Charles Bronson è Armonica

Henry Fonda è Frank

Claudia Cardinale è Jill

Jason Robarts è Cheyenne

Le locandine originali del film