The Old Colts

by Glendon Swarthout

Bat Masterson describes his experiences with Wyatt Earp, working as a reporter in New York City at the turn of the century

Genres: Westerns

239 pages, Hardcover

First published May 20, 1985

About the author

Glendon Fred Swarthout was an American writer. Some of his best known novels were made into films of the same title, Where the Boys Are, The Shootist and They Came To Cordura.

Also wrote under Glendon Fred Swarthout. Twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendon_...

Reviews

[Miles Swarthout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some fine day some smart producer in Hollywood is going to find The Old Colts again and be able to cast it properly to turn into a dandy of a comic Western about two of the most fabled gunmen in the Old West. Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp outlived almost all of their gunfighting and outlaw peers, living well into the 20th Century, Bat even as a sportswriter in NYC, and both of them telling lies to prying journalists right until their very ends. Robert Halmi, Sr., the Tycoon of the TV-Movie, optioned this tale twice, as did one other TV-Movie producing team, but neither could ever cast the right combination of two older movie stars with credible backgrounds in earlier Western films. Some day, some way, we'll get The Old Colts made as a film, since I've now retitled it Mr. Masterson and Mr. Earp to make it more recognizable to moviegoers. This is too expensive a story to ever make as a TV-Movie, though, as it has to be a lower mid-range period feature.

More information about the writing Swarthouts and descriptions of all their adult novels and YA novellas, plus movie trailers of the 9 films made from their stories as well as screenplays (originals and adaptations), are posted on their literary website -- www.glendonswarthout.com

Here are a few more fine Book Reviews which didn't get posted in the other book description here --

"Is there a movie here? Who else but Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster? They would be just about perfect, those two, as Bat and Wyatt in this romp through history as it might have happened. Or should have happened."
Don Freeman San Diego Union

"Go beyond any question of authenticity and there remains a barn-burner of a story written by a fast and exciting scribbler...You won't want to miss it. You'll ride through this wooly tale with no saddle sores, it's fast-paced and smooth. Anyone who can smell the dusty trails and doesn't mind imbibing a little hair-of-the-dog will be sorry when there's no more of it to read."
Wayne M. Anderson Fort Worth Star Telegram

"Among the many good things going for this novel, Swarthout knows the Old West as well as any writer around. He has a certain reverence, even, for the old colts like Wyatt and Bat. He has a flair for the comic, and he has the wit and gift to bring off a spoof like this in such a way that the old colts, far from being tarnished in the telling, gain a humanness that is missing in their biographies. The Old Colts is a wonderful romp."
Dale L. Walker, the El Paso Times

"This is a sprightly, hilarious romp through Western history crafted by a master....It provides a much-needed glimpse of how Kansas might actually have been midway through the second decade of this century. Most (and best) of all, it's fun, from the first page to the last--lean, fast-moving, insightful and authentically written pure entertainment."
Gene Smith Topeka, Kansas Capital-Journal

"Wyatt and Bat surely will join the brotherhood of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as well as their latter-day counterparts, "the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight," in this riotous gallop over the wild American past."
Paul C. Day Tulsa, Oklahoma Tribune

"It's an amusing tale that Swarthout handles with just enough tongue-in-cheek to make it entertaining." Chicago Tribune

"Swarthout has done a good job of illustrating the rapid changes the country went through from the late 1800's, when Bat, Wyatt, and the six-shooters were the law, to the modern automobile-filled cities of the early 1900's, where the pair had to apply for permits just to carry their famous 'six-shooters'...The dialogue between the two tight-lipped cowboys is especially good, their few short words containing the hopes, fears, regrets and love shared between two men whose business it had been--as gamblers and lawmen--to conceal emotion....Swarthout has done an excellent job of portraying two genuine American folk heroes, and the difficulties they face once history and progress leave them behind."
Richard Turner Springfield, Missouri News-Leader

"A MARVELOUS tongue-in-cheek adventure that reunites two legends of the Wild West, Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp, in the bustling New York of the early 1900's...Masterson, who in fact moved to New York City and became a respected sports columnist, and Earp, who retired to California, are brought charmingly to life in this outrageous tale. It is obviously untrue, but Swarthout's style makes you imagine it just MIGHT have happened."
Jim Elrick Aberdeen, Scotland Evening Express

"In any other hands but those of this accomplished writer, it would have become farce, but not with Mr. Swarthout in charge. It's a book to enjoy, completely at variance with his more serious preceding novels. If you like good writing--read. If you like Westerns--read. If you like both--then you're in for a treat.
I guarantee." Jewish Gazette, British Isles

[Jennie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m a little disappointed. I usually love Glendon Swarthout, but this book—which could have been a great story about two aging gunfighters (Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp)—became a very weird depiction of them creating a stage act. Swarthout swears it’s all true, but then claims the written proof was eaten by his cat. I wish I could believe it.

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two-and-a-half stars.

Meh. I truly enjoyed Swarthout's "The Shootist," but this one was just too silly/campy for me. I'm at least partially to blame for not enjoying it very much, though. My mind's eye refuses to see anyone other than Hugh O'Brian and Gene Barry in the roles of Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. So the two clowns I was reading about just didn't cut it.

It was at least slightly amusing to hear Earp and Masterson mention J.B. Books' demise, though.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp back together many years after the Wooly Western days of Dodge City. Bat and Wyatt reconnect in New York City in 1916 and then the fun ensues.

[Deb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book. I just can't wrap my mind around Bat and Wyatt saying and doing such silliness.