Author Archives: Dave Stanton
Old friends
May 7, 2016I confess I’ve lost touch with many of my old buddies from “back in the day.” I suppose this is a common phenomenon; you get married, have kids, build your career, and maintaining old friendships becomes impractical, or is simply no longer a priority. Besides, revisiting the past might not be a good idea. Regardless, as the years go by, every now and then you’re tempted to reach out, for curiosity’s sake if nothing else. … Read More…
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentDegrees of debauchery in Ely, Nevada
April 20, 2015Recently, a reader pointed out that I misspelled Ely (I spelled it “Eli”) in one of my novels. This was much to my chagrin, as Ely is a town I’ve visited, and remember well. My trip to Ely was back in the days before the Internet, before police agencies had much access to computer technology. This was good news for me, because I had a traffic warrant in Nevada, but I lived in California, and … Read More…
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 CommentsThe Neon High Life Sign
December 10, 2014I lived in an apartment off Bascom Avenue in San Jose when I was a teenager. My roommate was a guy named Jan Beers, a cook at the restaurant where we worked. If you assume a man with that last name might be a drinker, you’d be right, but Jan swilled mostly liquor rather than beer. That’s not to say he wouldn’t happily drink beer if it was convenient, but his preference was double highballs. … Read More…
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentJames Crumley’s two brilliant novels
April 13, 2014“The Last Good Kiss” and “The Wrong Case”, by James Crumley are two extraordinary detective novels. The Last Good Kiss, written in 1978, is a novel many fans of crime fiction have never heard of. The novel did not sell particularly well, nor did Crumley’s six other novels. But three of today’s most notable and best-selling crime fiction authors – Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly, and George Pelacanos – cite The Last Good Kiss as a … Read More…
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 CommentsSteven Seagal – the Man, the Myth, the Legend
February 5, 2014Like Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal’s route to action hero stardom came via his martial arts teaching. After training in Japan and achieving a 7th dan rank in aikido (highly unusual for a foreigner), Seagal returned to the US and opened a dojo (a Japanese style martial arts training center) in Southern California. He also served as a martial arts coordinator for a couple of James Bond films in the early eighties, but it wasn’t until … Read More…
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 CommentsThe martial artist movie star – it all started with Bruce Lee.
January 20, 2014Bruce Lee made four movies in the early seventies that left a permanent mark on the motion picture industry, and also on American culture. Lee’s astounding kung fu performances captured the imagination of an entire generation, and launched an enduring American fascination with Asian martial arts. But Lee was not only a martial artist; he was also a trained actor. He began acting as a child, and by the time he was 18, he’d … Read More…
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 CommentsGotta Love Charles Bronson
January 12, 2014For actors of his generation, I always think of Chuck Bronson as second only to Eastwood. When he was at his best (in the 1970s), Bronson was nearly as good as Clint. Unfortunately though, Bronson’s tough guy career got off to late start. He didn’t really hit the big time until The Mechanic, at age 52. He followed this film with five more excellent tough guy movies, which firmly established his status as a great … Read More…
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentLong live Clint Eastwood
September 12, 2013The tough guy action movie genre covers a lot of ground – from sci-fi movies like The Terminator, to war pictures, to Mafia films (Goodfellas, The Godfather), to cop movies, to boxing flicks (the Rocky series), to Bruce Lee’s kung fu movies. Kick ass stuff, all the above. You might think, geez, there are tons of these movies to choose from. But if you only consider the ones worth watching, the list shrinks considerably. The reality … Read More…
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