What would you like to see?

[mikelange]

Assuming the production was done well -- what book or series of books would you most like to see done as a movie or miniseries? There are a number that I'd like, but if I had to pick only one it would be the original Terry C. Johnston trilogy about 1830's fur trappers: "Carry The Wind", "Borderlords", and "One-Eyed Dream". I have no doubt the PC equivalent of bean counters can rip 'em to pieces on details gotten wrong, but those books were, for me, as an adult, the same as the old Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone shows when I was a kid -- made me remember just how much I loved the early American frontier. Very likely I'd still be shooting modern guns and almost completely in the dark about my country's history if it hadn't been for those books.

 

[oomcurt]

I also love Johnston's books. great writer IMO...to bad he died. There are more books than those three about Titus...all I have read so far have been great. One thing about his books...he does provide footnotes so his writings are based on fact. I would love to have all his books made into a movie series. Now, as to if all that happened in his books happened in real life...regarding the characters themselves...who knows. But...it is entirely possible they did...and no doubt more than once to more than just one person. That is why I am so taken with the fur trade era....with other historic periods there are military documents as to which side did what to who and when...not so always with the fur trade... there, there is room to imagine or speculate...to me, it would be boring as hell to reenact something that was so documented it would be like performing a play that was done over and over and over.

 

[Birdman]

Don't remember the author n such but back in the late 70s I read a whole series on The White Indian, the main characters name was Reno. It revolved around a young white boy captured and then adopted by Senaca natives. It ran through his life from early on through his teens and into adult hood. There were something like 14 books in the series. If I read them now I could probably pick them apart historically wise but back then they seemed great.

 

[musketman]

Assuming the production was done well -- what book or series of books would you most like to see done as a movie or miniseries?

I would like to see the Foxfire series done, they can get this guy to do it...

Roy Underhill from the Woodwright Workshop (PBS)

 

[longshot47]

I'll second the motion on the Foxfire series [why has'nt PBS thought of that?], and would be more than content to see a full replay of the Woodwrights shop while Foxfire is in production.
Where is Roy now??
~Longshot

 

[Kiltiemon]

I've never seen the foxfire series... do you mean making a series of the foxfire books?

Agreed... Underhill would do a bang-up job of it.
Team him up with David Holt. Holt did the two series: "fire on the mountain" and "folkways" for Turner many years ago!!! :grin:

Jim aka kiltiemon

 

[musketman]

I've never seen the foxfire series... do you mean making a series of the foxfire books?

Yes, from cabin building to fiddle making to muzzleloaders, it would be a great series if done right...

 

[MSzychulda]

What an increadible idea. I think the foxfire series books are one of the best resources. Also the book "Back to Basics" has some great content for an instructional series. There are just not enough "how to" videos out there. Roy Underhill is a great idea, maybe co-host with Madeline Stowe? I would watch it for her alone......

 

[musketman]

What an increadible idea. I think the foxfire series books are one of the best resources. Also the book "Back to Basics" has some great content for an instructional series. There are just not enough "how to" videos out there. Roy Underhill is a great idea, maybe co-host with Madeline Stowe? I would watch it for her alone......

I just emailed PBS and Roy Underhill about the idea, I'll post any answer I her here... :thumbsup:

 

[Kiltiemon]

Yes!!! Madeline Stowe as the "Tool Girl"!!!

She has amazing effects on mine!!! :grin:

Jim aka kiltiemon

 

[fluggies4]

There are definitely more than three of Terry C. Johnston's books based on his Titus Bass character. I have read five, and am now on the sixth. Check Amazon or Chapter's online, that's where I get them. Very well written and would make a great movie or miniseries, if well done.

I remenber when the book "Follow the River" came out. Good read, and I couldn't wait to watch the TV movie they made of it. Big disappointment, as it was poorly done, and it portrayed the frontier as if it was a jaunt through the daisies in a public park. :hmm:

 

[mikelange]

Nine, actually, if I'm not mistaken. The three I mentioned were the first to come out, and, IMHO, the best.

I agree with your evaluation of "Follow The River" as a TV-movie. The final scene, when the Shawnee who'd captured Mary Ingalls returned her baby.... Bad TV is one thing. This was distortion of the truth by producers and consultants who apparently have no conception that such a thing as "truth" exists. No degree of "sensitivity" justifies outright lying.

 

[RangerThacher]

I'd like to see a good historically accurate version of Kenneth Roberts' "Northwest Passage." The old one with green fringed buckskin and glengarry caps just doesn't cut it. Or Graves' "Sargeant Lamb's America" would make a great film too.

 

[dwarvenchef]

I'm still looking for PC books to read. I tend to have a problem with fiction but love to read real accounts. I would love to see a PC movie on pre-1840's Fur era. Something that would show what it was like in the begining.

 

[musketman]

What an increadible idea. I think the foxfire series books are one of the best resources. Also the book "Back to Basics" has some great content for an instructional series. There are just not enough "how to" videos out there. Roy Underhill is a great idea, maybe co-host with Madeline Stowe? I would watch it for her alone......

I just emailed PBS and Roy Underhill about the idea, I'll post any answer I her here... :thumbsup:

I got an answer today...

Thanks Randy,

I have long enjoyed the Foxfire books, and have used them as a source in dozens of the shows so far. But I would love to have the chance to interview and shoot the work of the real folks in the mountains. This would be a lot more expensive than the way we work now, but it would be the real thing! We shot a show this year at the Museum of Appalachia that came close, but still ....

Live sharp!
Roy