Customer Reviews

I'm Frank Hamer: The Life of a Texas Peace Officer

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It has been many years since I first read this book and I found it very informative. I am sure there are bound to be some errors but on the most part it is historically accurate. It is not only about ending Bonnie and Clyde's murderous spree but about the man that did it and how he became a Texas Police Officer and came up through the ranks to become one of the greatest Texas Rangers who ever lived. The review written by anomie@mail.com, is total bull written buy someone who evidently prefers to believe the glamorized version of the Bonnie & Clyde movie. I have been a Texas State Police officer for 23 years and have read some of the actual reports of Bonnie and Clydes exploits and to contradict anomie@mail.com, Bonnie and Clyde deserve no respect as stated by anomie. Anomie needs to be better informed of the facts before making reviews. Sorry for the rant but I hate for anyone to bad mouth a great man and take up for a couple of cold blooded illiterate killers who were glamorized by Hollywood as a cute loving couple out for a Sunday drive.

This is an excellent biography of one of the greatest lawmen in U.S. history. I've heard a lot of rants from misguided Bonnie and Clyde fans about the book's alleged inaccuracies. Well, there hasn't been a book on Bonnie and Clyde or Depression outlaws published to date (including my own!) that hasn't had some drastic errors in it, one reason being that most of the books, including I'm Frank Hamer, draw heavily from the Fugitives, the ghosted 1934 memoirs of Bonnie's mother and Clyde's sister. I'm not one of these people who presume to know who killed the two highway patrolmen at Grapevine. It may have been Henry Methvin, Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker, or all three for that matter (ballistics evidence indicated three guns were fired). Nor am I one of those misguided worshippers of Bonnie and Clyde, who were really nothing more than a pair of two-bit, scatter-brained, trigger-happy psychos. But all that is neither here nor there, as this is not simply a "Bonnie & Clyde book." This is a biography, and a damn good one, of the man who tracked them down--Frank Hamer, who captured or killed dozens of other criminals and carried with him the scars, and much of the lead, from many gunfights with maggots of the Clyde Barrow sort. Hamer came out of retirement to run down the Barrow gang. The ambush of Clyde and Bonnie was the perfect closing of Hamer's career and a great service to America as well. It was the job he was made to do and one that had to be done. Forget Hollywood. The real Bonnie and Clyde were murderous criminals who deserved just what they got. And Frank Hamer was just the man to give it to them.

Ill start with I read this book because I have a interest in turn of the century-depression era law enforcement, that I have heard of the legend of CPT. Hamer, and have enormous respect for him. This is the only book I have found dedicated to his career. If only a quarter of the book is true, Ranger Hamer must have been a brave, skilled, and most importantly, smart lawman.
That being said, the book does lead to a bit of "larger than life" description of his exploits. I wouldnt go as far as to use Mr. Sprunks assessment of "hero worship", but a liberal dose of added drama seems to be a better term, to me. I dont doubt that the incidents occurred, and its obvious who won, but the writer does tend to almost glamorizing the engagements. I doubt CPT. Hamer enjoyed or relished the incidents. I would think he, as the true professional he was, did what needed to be done in a manner consistant with his era. He used the force necessary to accomplish the task at hand. I dont feel todays standards of use of force issues can be applied to the times in question. Judging from some of the photos of the stacks of dead Mexican bootleggers, I dont doubt CPT Hamer had to use surprise, stealth and superior firepower just to survive. I defy anyone, in the same set of circumstances, not to use the same tactics...and not just survive, but win. Lets see anyone else face down 30 plus armed, violent criminals, intent only on their goal, with only a handful of men and get them to just surrender. Add in being miles from any friendly assests, medical aid, communications, transport/detention facilities, etc., in an unforgiving, hostile climate. More power to you if you do.
I will never understand the obsession our society has with Bonnie and Clyde, but who am I to say? Suffice to say, they were psychotic, cold blooded murderers who dont deserve the underground following they have. What I can say is the right man was picked for the job to take them out. Standard attempts to take them into custody failed, with dead law enforcement officers in the wake. They were dumped exactly as the deserved. Too bad for their victims it didnt happen sooner. The saddest part is if the same situation happened today, the officers would probably be prosecuted themselves. Maybe thats one of the problems this country has today in dealing with violent, degenerate killers.
In an era where every public figures dirty laundry, failings and shortcomings are daily news, we may mistake that this is just another attempt to make a hero out of someone who didnt deserve it. This book was written in a time where writers went out of their way to make a hero. I dont feel CPT. Hamers story needs any assistance in telling of his heroic career, but look at almost any other like bio of the times. I feel he was a brave and honest man, a hell of a lawman and a true hero. I think the book is more of a sign of the times it was written in. Did it all happen just like this? Doubtfull, but is everything written about Daniel Boone, George Washington, and other great American heroes always 100% accurate? Enjoy a great read, and a probably fairly accurate story. Just take it with a small grain of salt.

ITS BEEN THIRTEEN YEARS SINCE I INITIALY READ THIS BOOK. I HAVE BEEN DYING TO READ IT AGAIN BUT CANT FIND A COPY TO PURCHASE. BEING AN AMETUER HISTORIAN ON LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY LAWMEN AND OUTLAWS I FOUND THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS TEXT TO BE ACCURATE AND AUTHORATATIVE. A LOT OF MY INTEREST COMES FROM BEING A TEXAS PEACE OFFICER AND AN AFFICIIANADO OF FIREARMS BOTH MODERN AND HISTORICAL. THIS BOOK IS PREDOMINANTLY WRITTEN IN THE INFORMAL AND WESTERN COLOCIAL WHICH FITS THE SUBJECT MATTER. IT IS A WELL VERSED BIOGRAPHY ON ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING AND COLORFUL FIGURES IN WESTERN HISTORY. IT IS A SHAME THAT MORE WRITERS AND OR MOVIE PRODUCERS HAVE NOT TAKEN INTEREST IN THIS UNIQUE AND POTENT FIGURE. THIS WOULD BE A GOOD SUBJECT FOR A DIRECTOR OF THE ILK OF SAY JOHN MILIUS. BEYOND THAT LET ME SAY IF THAT IF YOU ARE TIRED OF THE TRUMPED UP BONNIE AND CLYDE FLUFF AND WOULD LIKE TO GET A REALISTIC AND HEROIC ACCOUNT OF THE GENTLEMAN LAWMAN THAT ASSISTED IN RIDDING SCOCIETY OF THESE AND OTHER NO ACCOUNTS, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. THE GOOD GUYS STORY, FOR A CHANGE.

As a retired Los Angeles Policeman and detective, I read the original 1968 biography of "I'm Frank Hamer of the Texas Rangers" while recuperating from an injury sustained in one of the LAPD's greatest gun battles with the "Symbionese Liberation Army" in May,1974, where, nearly 11,000 rounds of ammunition were fired by both sides in 90 minutes of hell in South Central L.A. Hamer refused all offers to memorialize him in print and on film until after his death in 1955. He was an unassuming leader in his law enforcement era of the turn of the century. Starting out as a fresh faced young man who pinned on a badge and went out to face insurmountable odds with true bad guys in the waning part of the 1800's and early 1900's in rural Texas. From an innocent youthful lawman, he earned his chops quickly facing down and shooting it out with literally dozens of desperados of the day. He carried the lead in his over six foot frame from being wounded nearly two dozen times in gun fights. I don't remember exactly, and maybe he didn't either, know how many men he shot, and it was certainly nothing he would have bragged about. He was fearless, cunning, stealthful and accurate in his dealings with people and sizing up his adversaries and situations. That's why they called upon him to come out of retirement to put an end to the scourge of Bonnie and Clyde. Despite the ridiculous hero worship of that couple, their gang, and death dealing exploits, Frank Hamer was their worst nightmare and tirelessly out foxed them into oblivion on a lonely, country, dirt road one morning in Louisiana. I have the original hardback book about him, somewhere in my stuff. One day I'll locate it, reread and perhaps shop the story to some of my old Hollywood contacts. We need a top quality western movie made about Frank Hamer's life and times, although I can't imagine who would be well cast in his role, perhaps Tom Selleck would be well chosen and do the part justice. Hamer is folk hero of the finest order not to be forgotten for the contribution he made and the role model he was for so many who came after him to a fine profession of true dedication and leadership. Though there had to be discrepancies in the totality of accuracy, Mr. Frost, Jenkins and Harrison should be applauded for dedicating their efforts at memorializing the man and his lifetime of accomplishments. A fine read about an exceptional life of an original lawman.

I can't say on other portions of Frank's life, but with respect to the Bonnie and Clyde material this book is full of inaccuracies. The authors make the dire mistake of reprinting contemporary newspaper accounts as fact. For example, Bonnie had nothing to do with the grapevine killings, but this book states she kicked one officer over and shot him in the head, as was misreported at the time.

Other items also make one wonder if they know what they are talking about -- the book identifies a very clear picture of W.D. Jones as Clyde Barrow! This is unforgivable and makes everything else in the book highly suspect. This book might make a good drink coaster but it's a little large.

I don't believe I've ever seen anybody read so much that simply is not there into such a small amount of text. I'm referring to some of the responses to my "Frankly Lamer" review that makes a few negative observations about the accuracy of the book with regard to Bonnie and Clyde (B&C). For my brief comments I am accused of being amongst the "misguided worshippers of Bonnie and Clyde" and of attacking Frank Hamer himself. What nonsense. Read my VERY brief comments yourself. You'll see that some of these reviewers could read into my review that I support worldwide communist domination. For example, the June 24th 2000 reviewer stated that I said B&C deserve respect. Where did that come from? Got me.

Let me make a few points clear as air to some of my less-than-friendly fellow reviewers:

1) Before attacking someone's opinion and character, ensure that you are indeed attacking his or her opinion and not something you concocted.

2) Read my review of the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" for a better feel on my opinion on B&C. You'll find it somewhat different than your assumptions.

3) Critiquing a book is not the same as attacking the subject of a book. Do I REALLY need to elaborate on this? True, all histories have errors. It's equally true that each and every one of those errors taints the authority of a book. This book had a few too many for my taste. I found myself questioning the authors in non-B&C sections because of B&C errors.

4) Frank did America a lot of great services, including whacking B&C. However, he is not a god -- brave and fascinating but not a god. Hero worship is for children. By the way, I suspect ambushing booze runners without trying to apprehend them first (if that indeed happened) takes one out of the "great" category. Prohibition was highly controversial at the time and hardly warranted denying someone, even a Mexican, due process or his life. However, if he starts shooting first, kill 'em.

5) As an important part of America's great history, Frank deserves a history with a little more quality control.

In short, I stand by my original review with the exception that I should have stated that Bonnie was "most likely" not at the Grapevine killing, rather than stating my opinion as fact. I can't wait to see what some folks read into this one.