The Running Wild in Impractical Outfits Tag

Hold onto your hats and umbrellas, folks -- this is going to be a little wacky!

Thank you to Chloe from Movies Meet Their Match for tagging me with this!  It is rather different from any tag I've ever done, and a bit of a challenge because I am often not very focused on costumes and outfits.  BUT there are some exceptions to that, as you shall soon see :-D

The Rules 

- Put a link to the originator's blog (Autumn Ink) 

- Put a link to your post in the comments there

- Tag people if you want 

- Have fun with the tag and feel free to add things, change locations, or whatever you want. 

- The outfits you choose can be from anywhere you like (movies, books, shows, real life, etc.) and they can be as practical or as impractical as you'd like. Choose with as much flagrant disregard for custom or rules as you choose. 

- You have to bring a different fictional character of your choosing to each location

This seems a little complicated, but let's get started! 

(All titles are linked to my reviews where applicable...)

At the Beach 

I have always loved the swimming suits that the twins and their friends wear in The Parent Trap (1961).  They're so cute and classy at the same time!  I would totally wear this checkered one that Sharon (Hayley Mills) wears at camp.

As for a fictional character to bring along, I choose Canoe (Tom Lowell) from That Darn Cat (1965) -- he could surf and I could read a book, and we'd both be happy.  Or we could both pretend we're helping solve a mystery, and that would be fun too!

Car Wash 

Washing a car tends to be wet and messy, so I think I'd wear a raincoat like the ones featured at the beginning of Singin' in the Rain (1952).  

My fictional companion would be Ensign Nellie Forbush (Mitzi Gaynor) from South Pacific (1958) because she's good at washing things out of her hair, so she's probably good at washing cars too.

University of Glasgow 

Hmm.  I honestly have no idea what one would wear there, but I'm guessing Dark Academia vibes would work, so how about I borrow Sherlock Holmes's (Benedict Cumberbatch) long black coat and blue scarf from Sherlock because it just seems suitable.  I'm immoderately fond of long black coats, and Sherlock Holmes was created by A. Conan Doyle, who was Scottish, so... yup, I think it works.

I'd take along Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith) from the Harry Potter books and movies because I absolutely love her and think she would be incredibly fun and interesting to hang out with!

Abandoned Castle 

I would want to wear good climbing and scrambling clothes in an abandoned castle, so I would go with Lara Croft's (Alicia Vikander) tank top and cargo pants from Tomb Raider (2018).  Lots of pockets to stash treasure or cameras or snacks!  And easy to move around in too.

Obviously, I would bring Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) along because he would probably discover some cool artifact or treasure there, which could lead to an adventure!

A Fictional Place of Your Choosing 

Let's go on a little trip to Rivendell from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit!  I will wear a gorgeous green dress like Eowyn's (Miranda Otto), with a drop waist and swoopy sleeves and lots of layers.

And I will, of course, be accompanied by Boromir, because who else would I visit Rivendell with but my Middle-earth main squeeze?

On the Moor  

I always expect the moor to be a bit cold and damp, so I want to wear Angel's long, long, long black coat from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Angel (1999-2004).  Not his leather one, but that smooth, sleek fabric one he had on BTVS and the first season or so of Angel.  And I would need some time to practice swooshing it around behind me first, just so I could do it justice.

Now, a moor is no place to go alone, so I want Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) and Doctor Watson (Edward Hardwicke) to accompany me so they can guard me against any gigantic hounds we might encounter, spectral or otherwise.  They are, of course, welcome to wear their own long black coats.

Picnic 

Let's have a Regency-style picnic so I can wear this gorgeous, understated dress from Emma (1996).

And if we're picnicking Regency-style, I want Captain Frederick Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds) from Persuasion (1995) to come along.  Perhaps we shall have to have an evening picnic so we can have some candles to lend extra allure to him and make his eyes sparkle.

Summer 

I have always wanted to wear Judy's (Vera Ellen) pink dress from White Christmas (1954).  Summer seems like the perfect time, doesn't it?

Obviously, the perfect fictional character to take along to a trip to the summertime is Olaf (Josh Gad) from Frozen (2011).

Roadtrip 

Hmm.  My number one requirement for a roadtrip is a good pair of sunglasses.  And I happen to have a pair of clunky, round, white sunglasses reminiscent of the ones Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander) wears at the end of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015).  Those are my costume requirement for a roadtrip adventure.

I will take Gaby, Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), and Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) along on this roadtrip because, my goodness, adventure would be absolutely certain to befall us!

In the Woods 

I have a great fondness for buckskin coats, shirts, and jackets, so I want to borrow Thomas O'Rourke's (Alan Ladd) from Saskatchewan (1954).  And some good buckskin pants to go with it, because then I can crash around in any kind of underbrush without getting scratched up AND they'll give me some decent camouflage.

For my companion, I choose Sergeant Saunders (Vic Morrow) from Combat! (1962-67) because he never, ever, ever gets lost in the woods.  And I probably would get lost without him.

Dancing in the Rain 

This is tricky, because you don't want to dance in the rain in something too flimsy, as it will turn see-through and improper really quickly.  But you want something that is swooshy and twirly.  So I choose this bias-cut dress that Nora Charles (Myrna Loy) wears in The Thin Man (1934).  It looks like it would be super fun to twirl around in, but it wouldn't get too immodest if it was soaking wet.

And I will be dancing in the rain with Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) from The Blue Dahlia (1946) -- he's such a gentleman, he's holding the door open for me!

Paris 

If I ever actually went to Paris, I would base my entire wardrobe around Audrey Hepburn.  For this particular visit, I want to wear her green dress from How to Steal a Million (1966).  It looks so comfortable, yet elegant! And it comes with a cute jacket, too.

I want Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) from An American in Paris (1951) to show me the town.  I really only would want to visit Paris in the 1950s or 1960s, you see, so I'm sure he would be the perfect companion.

In a Cottage with a Garden 

I would love to live in a cottage with a garden!  I love growing flowers, and I love the idea of a real walled garden, and I want to just have a cozy, quiet life there, wearing some of Kathleen Kelly's (Meg Ryan) outfits from You've Got Mail (1998), especially this one:

And I shall invite Shane (Alan Ladd) from Shane (1953) to marry me and live there in our quiet and cozy and calm life because he needs the rest.

Circus or Masquerade 

Well, if I'm going to a masquerade, I need a mask, and that means I am totally wearing this delicious outfit worn by John Reid (Armie Hammer), aka The Lone Ranger (2013).  I have always wanted to wear that whole outfit, with all its layers and its low-slung gun belt and its perfectly wonderful hat.

As for who to take with me, well, the Lone Ranger rarely goes on any adventures without Tonto, so I'd better bring Tonto (Johnny Depp), don't you think?

Fun Bonus Question- It's the 20's (or some other era) and your husband's been murdered. What's your outfit?

Let's assume I lived back in the 1950s and had a dreadful husband (NOT my Cowboy), and I'm not particularly sad he's gone.  BUT, I must preserve propriety by wearing black, so I'll be borrowing this perfectly devastating dress from Betty Haynes (Rosemary Clooney) in White Christmas (1954).  

I'd team up with Sgt. Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) from The Big Heat (1953) to figure out who killed my husband, and then maybe we'd just stay teamed up after that, him being a widower and me being a widow...

Well, that's that!  I don't know if you had fun reading this, but I sure had fun figuring it all out!

I'm going to tag a few blogs who like movies and such.  If I don't tag you and you want to play, go ahead!  And, if I did tag you and you don't want to play, that's fine too :-)

Charity at The Sacred and the Secular

Emily at The Flapper Dame

Eva at The Caffeinated Fangirl

FlickChick at A Person in the Dark

Jocelyn at Classic Film Observations and Obsessions

Kayla at Whimsically Classic

Rebecca at Taking Up Room

Autumn 2022 To-Do List

I've got a really busy autumn ahead of me, so let's do this!  Here are a whole lot of things I want to accomplish, goals I want to reach, and fun stuff I want to try between now and the end of November.

~ Publish My Rock and My Refuge -- I am planning on a November release, I just don't have a date picked out quite yet.  I'm starting to gather up stuff for a book launch goody package, though, which will include the above bookmark...

~ Finish my third Classics Club List

~ Start a new Classics Club List and read 2 books for it

~ Read 12 books off my TBR shelves

~ Watch 3 movies off my TBW shelves

~ See Marlowe in the theater

~ See See How They Run in the theater

~ Watch Andor on Disney+

~ Host an Oktoberfest gathering

~ Go to Colonial Williamsburg for the brick firing

~ Make pumpkin cream cheese muffins

~ Host my TENTH annual Tolkien Blog Party!  

I definitely have a busy autumn ahead!  How about you?  Any reading or watching or creating plans for the next few months?

Farewell to my Summer 2022 To-Do List

Labor Day has come and gone.  While summer weather tends to linger through September here, leaves are starting to turn different colors and pumpkin spice everything is filling the stores, so... time to see what I checked off of my Summer To-Do List and start gearing up for an autumnal one.

(Any idea why I snapped this picture at the Zane Grey museum?)

~ Keep pushing My Rock and My Refuge closer to publication Check!  I expect to have a release date set by the end of this month -- probably in November, but before Thanksgiving.

~ Start reposting my old Femnista articles here Check!  I've posted a couple already, and will continue to do so.  It's fun getting to discuss them in the comments here.

~ Read 3 books from my current Classics Club List Check!  I read five, which means that now, I only need to read ONE more book and I'll have finished my third batch of fifty books!  Anyway, the five I read this summer were:

• Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
• What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge
• The Black Swan by Rafael Sabatini
• What Katy Did Next by Susan Coolidge
• These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder (review to come)

(Couldn't swim for six weeks because I broke my arm while rollerskating,
so I read by the pool while my kids swam.)

~ Read 12 books off my TBR shelves  Check!  I read nineteen :-o  Quite a few of those were from being laid up with my broken arm, and going on a couple of short road trips helped a lot too.

• Jane Eyre (Manga Classics) by Charlotte Bronte, Crystal S. Chan, and SunNeko Lee
• Liar by Jan Burke
• The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found by Karina Yan Glaser
• Emma (Manga Classics) by Jane Austen, Crystal S. Chan, and Po Tse
• What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge
• The Count of Monte Cristo (Manga Classics) by Alexandre Dumas, Crystal S. Chan, and Nokman Poon
• Seventh City by Emily Hayse
• Pride and Prejudice (Manga Classics) by Jane Austen, Crystal S. Chan, and Po Tse
• Murder by the Book by Rex Stout
• Sense and Sensibility (Manga Classics) by Jane Austen, Stacy King, and Po Tse
• Bones by Jan Burke
• The Black Swan by Rafael Sabatini
• Hamlet (Manga Classics) by William Shakespeare, Crystal S. Chan, and Julien Choy
• What Katy Did Next by Susan Coolidge
• Rose Petals and Snowflakes by Kendra E. Ardnek
• From These Dark Depths by Vanessa Rasanen
• Great Expectations (Manga Classics) by Charles Dickens, Crystal S. Chan, and Nokman Poon (review to come)
• The Cherokee Trail by Louis L'Amour (review to come)
• Bowdrie by Louis L'Amour

(from my Instagram account)

~ Watch 6 movies off my TBW shelves Check!  I watched ten, again partly because I was laid up with a broken arm and couldn't do much but sit in the recliner and read or watch movies for ten days.  The DVDs I got off my TBW shelves were:

Blood Alley (1955)

Vengeance Valley (1951)

Paris When it Sizzles (1964)

Moonfleet (1955)

The Saint Takes Over (1940)

Death on the Nile (1978)

Redhead from Wyoming (1953)

Leverage season 5 (2007-08)

The Saint in Palm Springs (1941)

Wild Harvest (1947)

(my downfall)

~ Go see Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris in the theater  Fail.  It was only here a couple weeks, and I was either gone or busy the whole time.  Booo :-(

~ Go see Vengeance in the theater  Fail.  Just never got there.

~ Co-host Legends of Western Cinema Week once again Check!  Visit this post for a complete roster of links to all the contributed posts.

~ Go to Tweetsie Railroad with my whole family Check!  We had a wonderful day there :-)

~ Go to Colonial Williamsburg Fail.  Never got around to it.  Partly because of the broken arm, and partly because of going other places and having lots of busy stuff going on.

(never had a cast, just surgery to put in a plate, and then an arm brace)

~ Find a good copycat recipe for Dole Whip Check!  DKoren shared one that we all liked so much, we made it multiple times.

~ Make red, white, and blue popsicles for our Independence Day party Check!  They turned out really cute, though we ended up not eating them at the party.  But we shared them with friends a different time instead.

That's a wrap on the summer of 2022 for me!

"Guns of the Timberland" (1960)

It's Alan Ladd's birthday today, and you know I usually mark that occasion by reviewing a movie of his :-)  This year is no different!

Guns of the Timberland (1960) is based on the Louis L'Amour book Guns of the Timberlands (which I reviewed here).  Well, sort of.  The book is about a guy who owns a lot of land with good timber on it, and someone is trying to cut down his trees without his permission, which leads to a lot of trouble.  The movie is about a guy who has a contract and government permission to cut down trees on a specific mountainside for the railroads, but people in the area don't want him to because then the mountain will erode and ruin their farms and ranches.

It's like the same story, but flipped.  And with a different point.  The point of the book was that personal rights should not be impinged on by the greedy and powerful.  The point of the movie is that progress should find a way to go forward without hurting people in the process.  The cool thing is, both stories are quite strong and interesting!  But it's not like a movie adaptation of a book so much as a movie inspired by a book.

What's especially interesting about this is that Louis L'Amour, actually hung out on the set of the film, where he made friends with Alan Ladd!  (Check out the photo of them together here on the L'Amour website.)  In fact, L'Amour later dedicated his book The Broken Gun to Alan Ladd and his best friend William Bendix.  (My review of that one is here.)  So, I guess L'Amour was okay with the changes made to his story for the movie.  Maybe he was used to that by then.

Anyway, the movie is about two friends, Jim Hadley (Alan Ladd) and Monty Walker (Gilbert Roland) who bring a team of loggers to a small town called Deep Well.  They have a contract to cut timber to make into railroad ties for the railroad that's coming through the area.  They plan to clear-cut a specific mountainside and then move on.

They bring a jolly crew of lumberjacks to town for that purpose, played by the likes of Noah Beery, Jr. and Johnny Seven.  They're loud and rowdy, but they're mostly very nice guys here to do their job.

Trouble is, the people of Deep Well are Greatly Displeased by this idea.  They know from past experience (via a nearby town that's now a ghost town) that clear-cutting a mountainside like that will bury their ranches and farms in the valley with mud the next spring and ruin them.  They do everything they can to undermine the loggers, from sabotage to delaying tactics to outright violence.

Now, you and I know that the sensible thing to do here would be to only cut down SOME of those trees.  There's plenty of timber on the other side of the valley too, so surely they could take some trees from one side and some from the other, and that would leave enough trees still standing to keep the mountainside from washing away.  But nobody suggests that in the movie.  It's cut all or cut none, as far as everyone's concerned.

Right in the middle of this conflict are two ranchfolk: Bert Harvey (Frankie Avalon) and Laura Riley (Jeanne Crain).  Bert is a young kid who wants to be either a cowhand or a lumberjack, he's not picky which, so long as whatever he becomes is Tough and Manly.  He works for Laura Riley on her farm, which is right below where the loggers plan to cut timber.  Bert has an unfortunate habit of breaking into song now and then, since he's played by a teen heart throb of a pop star.  The first time I watched this, I sat through his songs, but the second time, I just fast-forwarded them because, well, I'm not here for Frankie Avalon. 

Laura Riley is very Anti-Logger, except when it comes to Jim Hadley, when she's extremely Anti-Logger.  Probably because she can't stand the fact that he's actually a nice guy, and he's always polite and well-behaved around her, which clearly any woman would hate.  

When they first met, before she knew Jim was an Evil Logger, she took quite a shine to him.  Which is probably why she spits fire at him for the bulk of the movie.  I bet she feels betrayed by him turning out to be someone she feels she shouldn't like so much.  So she makes a point of being ornery and mean and taking every opportunity to show Jim that she'd much rather hang out with her foreman, Clay Bell (Lyle Bettger), who is kind of snappish and quick-tempered, but not such a bad guy himself.

If you feel you're about to faint of shock from learning that Lyle Bettger is playing a non-villainous character in this, you're not alone.  I nearly did myself.  He's actually not a bad dude.  Nobody in this movie is a Bad Guy!  They're just antagonistic toward each other because they have opposite needs and wants and desires.  Which is probably why I like the movie, because everyone is actually quite nice.

Well, mostly.  They do mean stuff sometimes.  Clay Bell dynamites the road the loggers need to use so they have to go really far around to get to the timber.  And then Jim Hadley starts to think the townsfolk might be right and they shouldn't cut ALL the trees down, which makes his partner Monty Walker get Very Angry and go do some sabotaging of his own, which somewhat accidentally leads to young Bert Harvey getting into Mortal Danger.  And Monty almost comes to a rather horrifying end, and does end up dying, which makes me sad.

I really wish they had delved more into the disintegrating friendship between Jim and Monty.  They're jolly pals at the beginning, a good team who work and play and brawl well alongside each other.  And then, they start disagreeing, and the next thing you know, people are blowing trees up and yelling insults and having huge fights and considering axing each other.  It could have had a lot of juicy character development in there, but it didn't, and that's a bit disappointing.

In the end, the town does not get buried in mud.  In fact, the loggers and the townsfolk work together to stop a big forest fire, and they all get to be good friends after all.  (Any wonder why I like this movie?)

The loggers leave... but someone jumps on the train with them at the last minute, and it's not Bert Harvey, it's Laura Riley, who has decided loggers aren't detestable after all.  Or, at least, Jim Hadley isn't.

And we all go merrily off to cut timber on some other mountain and ruin someone else's town, or something.  But at least we saved the ranches and farms around Deep Well.  Yay!

Also, who knew Lyle Bettger had such a nice smile?  I didn't!

Is this movie family friendly?  Yup, though there's a scene with people trapped in a burning forest that is pretty intense and might scare young kids.  There are some fist fights and shooting incidents, too.

There aren't many westerns about loggers (I can only think of one other that even includes them: North to Alaska [1960]), which is weird because logging was such a huge part of western expansion.  I'm really glad this movie exists to fill that gap a little.  And most of the loggers in this are jolly fellows, singing on their way to work and going about their business with enthusiasm mixed with the necessary caution such dangerous business requires.  

One other interesting note: the screenplay was co-written by Aaron Spelling, who also produced it.

Happy birthday, Alan Ladd!  <3