The Wonderful Country
Encyclopedia
The Wonderful Country is a 1952
Western
novel
written by Tom Lea
. The book is set in Chihuahua and Sonora
, Mexico
, and Texas
and New Mexico
in the United States
. It was filmed
in 1959.
After the financial success of The Brave Bulls
, Lea wanted to write a story that he had been thinking about since he was a child, "...write about this borderland and about the people on both sides of the river".
When he gets to Texas he breaks his leg and has to stay put in the town while he heals. He is approached by the head of the Texas Ranger Division in Puerto about joining after the Captain confirms his identity and lets him know that he, Brady will not be prosecuted for killing his father's murderer. He also is enamored by the ranger captain's daughter, Louisa Rucker.
After killing a man who injured a friend, he returns to Mexico again, and is sent on an impossible errand to deliver a load of gunpowder by General Marco Castro, the brother of Cipriano. The wagon blows up before it is delivered. After returning to Chihuahua, Cipriano Castro sends Brady on an errand to assassinate a rival Salcido, however the Castros are suspicious of him and have him followed. During his sojourn in Chihuahua, he meets an acquaintance from Puerto and learns that the man he killed was a criminal with a reward for his death.
Wanted in the United States and now distrusted in Mexico, he makes his way back to Texas and on the way assists a lost column of Buffalo soldiers that is deep into Mexico fighting Apache Indians. Back in Texas Brady joins the Texas Rangers
, as part of a deal for his being a wanted man, and helps them fight the Apaches back in Mexico.
A crucial character to the story is Brady's horse, a black Andalusian
stallion named Lágrimas ("tears").
's review, the magazine said about it: "...is an honest book written with obvious care and even reserved passion..." But, the review continues by saying that Lea is better at landscape development than character development: "Neither Brady nor anyone else in the book is a successfully developed character, but with all its weaknesses The Wonderful Country is still a western plus. What is extra comes in Author Lea's fine descriptive writing, a love for the West that is conveyed with grace and dignity, an authentic sense of place."
Lou Rodenberge, of McMurry College, said that the novel is: "...the best to date of all fiction created from materials of border life", from "The Southern Border" in A Literary History of the American West.
"One of the finest of all Southwest novels by a Southwesterner, whose power with pencil and paint is perfectly matched by his way with words". Said Lawrence Clark Powell.
) starring Robert Mitchum
(also executive producer with his company, D.R.M. Productions, producing) and Julie London
, directed by Robert Parrish
, and Robert Ardrey
adapted the book to the screenplay. Lea also has a bit part as Mr. Peebles (the barber). Satchel Paige
has a cameo role as the leader of an Afro-American unit of the U.S. Cavalry, the Buffalo Soldiers.
Parrish went to Lea and ask him if he [Parrish] could direct it. The only money that Lea received from the picture was for his role as the barber.
1952 in literature
The year 1952, in literature involved some significant events and new literary publications.-Events:*J. L. Carr takes over as headmaster of Highfields Primary School, Kettering, which will eventually furnish the subject matter for his novel, The Harpole Report.*November 25 - Agatha Christie's play...
Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by Tom Lea
Thomas C. Lea, III
Thomas Calloway "Tom" Lea, III was a noted American muralist, illustrator, artist, war correspondent, novelist, and historian....
. The book is set in Chihuahua and Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was filmed
The Wonderful Country (film)
The Wonderful Country is a 1959 Technicolor Western film based on Tom Lea's novel of the same name that was produced by Robert Mitchum's DRM Production company in Mexico. Tom Lea has a cameo as a barber.-Plot:...
in 1959.
After the financial success of The Brave Bulls
The Brave Bulls
The Brave Bulls is a 1949 Western novel written by Tom Lea about the raising of bulls, on the ranch Las Astas, for bullfighting in Mexico....
, Lea wanted to write a story that he had been thinking about since he was a child, "...write about this borderland and about the people on both sides of the river".
Plot
Martin Brady, at age 14, flees to Mexico from Texas after he kills the man who murdered his father. Now, fourteen years later, in 1880s Mexico, he is called Martin Bredi. He is a hired gun for a rich Mexican rancher and Chihuahuan warlord, Cipriano Castro. Brady starts to feel like he would like to return to Texas. Castro send him north to Puerto, Texas, to guard a load of silver ore, with the intention of smuggling arms back to the Castros.When he gets to Texas he breaks his leg and has to stay put in the town while he heals. He is approached by the head of the Texas Ranger Division in Puerto about joining after the Captain confirms his identity and lets him know that he, Brady will not be prosecuted for killing his father's murderer. He also is enamored by the ranger captain's daughter, Louisa Rucker.
After killing a man who injured a friend, he returns to Mexico again, and is sent on an impossible errand to deliver a load of gunpowder by General Marco Castro, the brother of Cipriano. The wagon blows up before it is delivered. After returning to Chihuahua, Cipriano Castro sends Brady on an errand to assassinate a rival Salcido, however the Castros are suspicious of him and have him followed. During his sojourn in Chihuahua, he meets an acquaintance from Puerto and learns that the man he killed was a criminal with a reward for his death.
Wanted in the United States and now distrusted in Mexico, he makes his way back to Texas and on the way assists a lost column of Buffalo soldiers that is deep into Mexico fighting Apache Indians. Back in Texas Brady joins the Texas Rangers
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
, as part of a deal for his being a wanted man, and helps them fight the Apaches back in Mexico.
A crucial character to the story is Brady's horse, a black Andalusian
Andalusian horse
The Andalusian, also known as the Pure Spanish Horse or PRE , is a horse breed developed in the Iberian Peninsula. Its ancestors have been present on the Iberian Peninsula for thousands of years. The Andalusian has been recognized as an individual breed since the 15th century, and its conformation...
stallion named Lágrimas ("tears").
Reception
In TIMETime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
's review, the magazine said about it: "...is an honest book written with obvious care and even reserved passion..." But, the review continues by saying that Lea is better at landscape development than character development: "Neither Brady nor anyone else in the book is a successfully developed character, but with all its weaknesses The Wonderful Country is still a western plus. What is extra comes in Author Lea's fine descriptive writing, a love for the West that is conveyed with grace and dignity, an authentic sense of place."
Lou Rodenberge, of McMurry College, said that the novel is: "...the best to date of all fiction created from materials of border life", from "The Southern Border" in A Literary History of the American West.
"One of the finest of all Southwest novels by a Southwesterner, whose power with pencil and paint is perfectly matched by his way with words". Said Lawrence Clark Powell.
Adaptations
It became a 1959 film (with the same titleThe Wonderful Country (film)
The Wonderful Country is a 1959 Technicolor Western film based on Tom Lea's novel of the same name that was produced by Robert Mitchum's DRM Production company in Mexico. Tom Lea has a cameo as a barber.-Plot:...
) starring Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
(also executive producer with his company, D.R.M. Productions, producing) and Julie London
Julie London
Julie London was an American singer and actress. She was best known for her smoky, sensual voice. London was at her singing career's peak in the 1950s. Her acting career lasted more than 35 years...
, directed by Robert Parrish
Robert Parrish
Robert R. Parrish was an American actor, film editor, film director, and writer. He received an Academy Award for Film Editing for the 1947 film, Body and Soul....
, and Robert Ardrey
Robert Ardrey
Robert Ardrey was an American playwright and screenwriter who returned to his academic training in anthropology and the behavioral sciences in the 1950s....
adapted the book to the screenplay. Lea also has a bit part as Mr. Peebles (the barber). Satchel Paige
Satchel Paige
Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime...
has a cameo role as the leader of an Afro-American unit of the U.S. Cavalry, the Buffalo Soldiers.
Parrish went to Lea and ask him if he [Parrish] could direct it. The only money that Lea received from the picture was for his role as the barber.