Customer Reviews

Ride the Wild Trail

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

 

 

Jensen not only tells a great story, but also gives a great history of the silent movie cowboys. Anyone who is a fan of early western movies needs to read this book. Film history is interwoven into the fabric of this fictional tale based on true events from the lives of these real-life characters. If you are a fan of Tom Mix or the other early western movie stars, then this book is a must-read. It will give you an education about their movie careers as well as about their personal lives, while telling it all to you in the context of an original story that lets you get to know the book's main characters as individuals. This book makes a great gift for any lover of the old west, for fans of old movies, and for anyone who has a passion for a good story. Although this is in the genre of the western, this is a book that crosses categories and would be enjoyed by anyone.

When I saw this book, the cover interested me. I bought it on another website, and I just read it. It is so cool! It's about silent movie cowboys who know Wyatt Earp and they're all getting past their prime, so instead of growing old gracefully, they decide to relive the old days by going on a spree to their old stomping grounds. It is a really funny and sad book, and the story is told like you're listening to somebody tell you the story. I just loved it, especially the part where Wyatt Earp meets a fake Wyatt Earp at a tourist trap. I can't say enough how much I really loved this book.

Good fiction about Tox Mix, Hoot Gibson and Wyatt Earp which captures the infant movie industry and those who invented the western genre and were then dumped by the studios. The book moves a little slowly at times, but has a lot of interesting detail which movie buffs and lovers of westerns will like. In part, the book has some parallels to the movie "Sunset" which was about Tox Mix and Wyatt Earp.

Tom Mix, Hoot Gibson, and Wyatt Earp did know each other and were good friends. In fact, Mix was a pallbearer at Earp's funeral. This is a fictionalized account about the three famed men (along with the narrator) getting together for some last adventures riding the wild trail (what was left of the wild west).

I found the character background to be really interesting and many of the historical details in the book are accurate which makes the book read more like a memoir or travelog than a novel. However, the book doesn't really contain much action. The boys set out to ride the wild trail one last time, but basically all they do is drive around in a car and ride around on trains. Also, the big showdown with the Miller brothers is supposed to be the climax of the story, but it's completely anti-climatical.

RIDE THE WILD TRAIL isn't a bad book. It's a fairly interesting story, but with the famous people the story involves, I expected something a little more entertaining than an average yarn.