WESTERN NOVELS
BADMAN/THE
WAR WAGON
CLAIR HUFFAKER
After
a stint in Yuma Prison in Arizona, the Badman of the title, Jack ‘Taw’ Tawlin,
returns home to Pawnee Fork, South Dakota, to visit his wild younger brother,
Jess. The sheriff and citizens are fearful of Taw’s violent reputation for
gunplay and brawling. Reluctantly, as he does not want to return to prison, he
agrees to help Jess and his partners rob Old Ironsides—a steel-reinforced
stagecoach transporting $300,000 worth of gold dust.
What
follows is a Western version of a hardboiled crime novel—in particular one of
Richard Stark’s Parker novels in which the heist always goes wrong. Throw in
Taw’s attraction to Jess’ mistreated wife and you have an ingenious, tense,
bolting stagecoach of a novel.
A
veteran of World War II, Badman author Clair Huffaker became one of the most
prominent and successful writers of Western novels and screenplays for two
decades. During the height of the Western’s popularity, he wrote the screenplay
adaptations for five of his twelve novels—Flaming Lance (filmed as Flaming Star),
Posse from Hell, Guns of Rio Conchos (filmed as Rio Conchos), Badman (filmed as
The War Wagon), Seven Ways from Sundown, and Nobody Loves a Drunken Indian
(filmed as Flap)—which starred many big name actors including John Wayne, Kirk
Douglas and Elvis Presley.
He
also wrote other successful Western films, such as 100 Rifles (Raquel Welch/Jim
Brown), The Devil’s Backbone (Chuck Connors), The Comancheros (John Wayne), and
Chino (Charles Bronson). His other major film credits include Hellfighters (John
Wayne), Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (Mike Henry), and more. He was a mainstay
writer for the Western TV series Riverboat, The Rifleman, Rawhide, Bonanza,
Lawman, Colt .45, Outlaws, Destry, The Virginian and Daniel Boone. He even
broke away from Westerns long enough to write an episode of Twelve O’Clock
High.
The
original source for Badman was Huffaker’s short story Holdup at Stony Flat,
published in Ranch Romances. Subsequent editions of Badman carried the title
The War Wagon to tie in with the movie, though there was only one edition with
artwork from the movie on the cover. No matter the title, Badman packs its lean
128 pages with cracking action and deft plotting—a real deal for the
twenty-five cent cover price of the original Crest edition.
For
the movie, the war wagon was built mostly of plywood painted to look like iron.
To complete the illusion, metal clanging sound effects were added when the war
wagon’s doors were open or slammed closed. For many years, at least through the
1980s, the deteriorating remains of the war wagon were displayed in The
Boneyard—a collection of old outdoor movie props, which was part of Universal
Studios’ Backlot Tour.
The
opening credits for 1967’s The War Wagon mirrors the book’s first pages as the
full 47.5 feet, from the lead horse to the back end, of the war wagon flies
across the prairie at top speed, horses frothing at the gallop and a troop of
outriders racing behind—amazing. However, the film swiftly diverges in nearly
every detail.
Badman was the first Huffaker novel I ever read and I was engrossed in it from start to finish. Love the movie as well, though I agree that they are very different from each other.
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