Alias Butch Cassidy

by Will Henry

When sixteen-year-old George LeRoy Parker, the grandson of a Mormon bishop, joins forces with obstinate old gunslinger Mike Cassidy, he learns what it takes to become a legend. Original.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Also wrote westerns as Clay Fisher.

Henry Wilson Allen (September 12, 1912 – October 26, 1991) was an American author and screenwriter. He used several different pseudonyms for his works. His 50+ novels of the American West were published under the pen names Will Henry and Clay Fisher. Allen's screenplays and scripts for animated shorts were credited to Heck Allen and Henry Allen.

Allen's career as a novelist began in 1952, with the publication of his first Western No Survivors. Allen, afraid that the studio would disapprove of his moonlighting, used a pen-name to avoid trouble.[3] He would go on to publish over 50 novels, eight of which were adapted for the screen. Most of these were published under one or the other of the pseudonyms Will Henry and Clay Fisher. Allen was a five-time winner of the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America and a recipient of the Levi Strauss Award for lifetime achievement.

Henry Wilson Allen was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Allen died of pneumonia on October 26, 1991 in Van Nuys, California. He was 79.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure how accurate this is, although it reads and feels authentic. For one thing, the author says "George Leroy Parker" was Butch's real name, but elsewhere it says "Robert," although George was one of his aliases. A few other things don't align with the Wiki bio. But it is an engaging read, and it made me wonder if William Goldman was inspired by this book, although I know he started researching for the screenplay a few years before it was written. It's a rootin' tootin' wester, for sure, with the fun old-timey dialect and all, and I wasn't bored for a minute.

[Henry McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting fictionalized account of the early years of Butch Cassidy. Entertaining, humorous. Very tru to the image Paul Newman gave us in the movie.

[Randy Grossman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written in an older style, using eloquent language and avoiding harsh descriptions. Some of it was interesting and humorous, and some was boring. Too many names were changed and too many names were similar and I'm not even sure which "Cassidy" was Butch! I guess I expected it to be along the lines of the Newman-Redford movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". The last third of the book I speed read and it really did not have and build up or climax.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give it four stars just for the writing. I also liked the characters quite a bit. I give it three stars for two reasons. One, although I like descriptive books, there was a whole lot of description in this story that seemed to be description for description's sake. In other words, it didn't really advance the plot or character development much. This overabundance of description may also be there, in part, because very little actually happens in the book. Since it purports to be kind of a biography, I guess that makes sense. We see a bit about Butch Cassidy's early years, and then just a little about his taking up the outlaw trail, and then the story stops. This means there really isn't any overarching plot to the work, and it really doesn't have a strong ending.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will Henry certainly knows how to spin a tale! This is my first encounter with his work and I was really pleased with his well-rounded and full characters. Butch Cassidy, and how he came to be an outlaw, are often documented but somehow lack the humanity. Will Henry brings to this to the almost enigmatic historical figure. The tale here is not so much a western as much as it is a character study of Cassidy's loss of innocence. You feel a sense of bittersweet loss for Cassidy in the end, something that isn't always found in western novels.