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Niven Busch (1903–1991)

Author of The Postman Always Rings Twice [1946 film]

21+ Works 362 Members 6 Reviews

About the Author

Includes the name: Busch Niven

Image credit: Sélection du Reader's Digest

Works by Niven Busch

The Postman Always Rings Twice [1946 film] (1946) — Screenwriter — 91 copies
Duel in the Sun (1944) 66 copies
California Street (1959) 45 copies
Duel in the Sun [1946 film] (1946) — Original novel — 32 copies
The San Franciscans (1962) 28 copies
The Furies (1948) 24 copies
The Titan Game (1989) 9 copies
In Old Chicago [1938 film] (1938) — Screenwriter — 9 copies
Pursued [1947 film] (1947) — Screenwriter — 9 copies
The Actor (1961) 8 copies
The Hate Merchant (1953) 6 copies
Distant Drums [1951 film] (1951) — Screenwriter — 4 copies
They Dream of Home (1944) 4 copies
The Man from the Alamo [1953 film] — Writer — 3 copies

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I usually don't read political fiction and this book strengthened my position. It was dry and complicated with election statistics and strategy. The best chapters involved the relationship between the protagonist and his wife. Her insight about the man she had boosted into the Presidency was the only saving grace.
 
Flagged
JanaKrause | Apr 14, 2022 |
An unhappily-married woman and a drifter do some murder.

1/4 (Bad).

Lana Turner is pretty great, despite having crap material to work with. Everything else about the movie is bad.
½
 
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comfypants | 1 other review | Jun 16, 2020 |
Those of you who have seen the movie starring Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones are familiar with the story; the book is a bit more detailed and has a different ending.

Surly Senator Jackson McCanles, the despotic ruler of the Texas ranch Spanish Bit, gets a burr put under his saddle by the arrival of orphaned Pearl Chavez. The precocious 12 year-old is a poor distant relation to the long-suffering, secret drinking, mother to four sons, Mrs. Laura Belle McCanles.

The curvy half-breed girl, who is not modest about nudity, inspires an instant fixation in the handsome, spoiled, bad-boy second son, Lewt McCandles. The two become lovers when they are 15 and 17, respectively, and declare themselves affianced by breaking a dime in half. However, Lewt is full of teenage boy swagger and cowboy machismo and blows Pearl off.

When she is 19, Pearl becomes engaged to ranch foreman Sam Pierce, whom Lewt murders in fit of jealous rage the night before the wedding. For the next two years, Lewt lives as an outlaw, aided at first by the Senator’s money, then by a series of robberies and murders.

When Lewt sends a secret message to Pearl to join him in exile, so that they can continue their toxic relationship, the stage is set for a deadly showdown.

Busch works a lot of historical accuracy into this novel, capturing a slice of history - when the West was truly wild, before the arrival of the civilizing influences of towns and railroads. For example, the senator can no longer afford to finance Lewt’s outlaw lifestyle because of “The Great Die-Up of 1887”. I’m sure this book would be just as successful if published today, but the nudity and sex scenes would be more explicit.
… (more)
 
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memccauley6 | May 3, 2016 |
Vance Jefford is the daughter of New Mexico cattle baron Temple Caddy Jefford, fondly known as TC. Vance rejects the traditional stereotypical female role and becomes TC's right hand man, learning all she can about business tactics. Even love becomes secondary, and perhaps Vance learns these lessons from her beloved patriarch a bit too well.
A western with a strong female protagonist may seem like an oxymoron but Busch pulls it off masterfully.
Hot passion, jealousy and ruthlessness are all endemic to this thundering saga of the old American west.… (more)
2 vote |
Flagged
victorianist | May 8, 2011 |

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Statistics

Works
21
Also by
5
Members
362
Popularity
#66,319
Rating
3.8
Reviews
6
ISBNs
37
Languages
2

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