I watched this on the Encore Western Channel. I didn't expect much going in, based on the description on the channel guide, and the film started off slow, but I found myself more interested as the film went on, and half-expected to find out it was based on a true story. If left to itself, the earth would grow grass and many other good things. When you plowed up the grass you were making the earth into something it did not want to be."

He was the devil-killer, and nobody worried or wondered about who was the real devil he was trying to kill." Tom's mother, a Ute Indian. Wise, courageous, intelligent, and strong-willed, Bessie teaches her son Tom about all the old Ute traditions and customs. I am glad I waited until I was older to read this. I don’t think it would be quite as relatable to children under maybe 13. Probably a little older. It’s pretty heavy stuff in my opinion.He stood among the ashes and whispered his sorrow chant, not even saying it aloud. For small griefs you shout, but for big griefs you whisper or say nothing. The big griefs must be borne alone, inside." One of the main causes of the underlying theme of alienation in this story is the dishonesty of the people around Thomas. Blue Elk, a fellow Ute, pretends to befriend Thomas and his family in the beginning of the story. However, Blue Elk's intentions are always selfish and usually mercenary. Blue Elk first leads Thomas's family to Pagosa's sawmill and away from the reservation by filling their heads with the idea that they would make a lot of money. Instead, the family becomes ensconced in chronic debt. Blue Elk lies to Thomas to get the boy to leave his wilderness lodge. Blue Elk then steals all the boy's possessions. Moreover, there is very little use of symbol or metaphor in the narration. Rather, the tale unfolds through a series of actions, with almost half of the story involved with the activity at rodeos. Borland began to focus on fiction writing in the 1960s, publishing his first adult novel, The Seventh Winter, in the first year of the decade. Two years later, he published another juvenile novel, The Youngest Shepherd. Borland published his most famous work, When the Legends Die, in 1963. The novel was later adapted to the big screen and translated into nine languages.

The story is told from the point of view of an omniscient narrator. This narrator is privileged to see the unfolding of the tale through several different characters. This gives the story a well-rounded but sometimes shallow perspective. Though the reader is witness to many variations of opinions, none of the characters is revealed in depth. It's a profession and skill that he is beating the white man at his own game and making some good money in the process. It offends his sense of honor though, when Widmark now asks him to lose a few contests to make the odds better when he rides for real. It's the start of a break in their relationship. Red Dillon is also dishonest. He teaches Thomas to throw rodeo events so that he can up the ante on bets. His cheating often causes the two of them to get into trouble such that they must strategically hide their horses for sudden getaways from the small Western towns in which Thomas rides in rodeos. Time no longer mattered to him. Nothing mattered except those intervals in the arena when he, like the broncs themselves, was a fighting creature wholly devoted to punishment and violence." Borland has made important contributions to the literary world. He is most remembered for his ability to paint vivid pictures of specific geographical areas, through dialect and in-depth visual description. This local color plays prominently in When the Legends Die, which takes place in the southwestern United States.The film was made in 1972, starring Richard Widmark and Frederic Forrest. It was directed by Stuart Millar from a screenplay written by Robert Dozier. It was freely adapted from the novel, updating the action from the start of the 20th century to the present, and cutting out the majority of the original plot, effectively based on only one middle section of the novel. The pace increases, and Thomas ends up riding in a rodeo at least once a week and then riding his own horse to the next town. He gets hurt and feels exhausted. After one big win, Red and Thomas decide to go home and rest until the following spring. Richard Widmark plays Red Dillon, the old rodeo cowboy who becomes Forrest's manager/trainer. A whole lot like the way Robert Mitchum takes on young Arthur Kennedy in The Lusty Men. But we have a far bigger cultural and generational gap than there was in The Lusty Men. Despite his good old boy upbringing, Widmark develops a real affection for Forrest so their break up is pretty painful on both sides. Widmark in his performance as Dillon shows a seamier side of rodeo than other films about the sport never have. Of course Mr. Widmark shows it with style. Red is all about the money, not the sport or Thomas, and scams all the locals at every rodeo Thomas rides in, only to waste all his profits on booze and women and gambling. Thomas doesn't want to go along with the scams but does because deep down he truly loves Red as a father figure. He gets frustrated and tries a couple of times to rebel but fails because his heart isn't really in it.

The title is taken from the saying "When the legends die the dreams end, when the dreams end there is no more greatness." The paradoxical part of the identification syndrome is that until it has been resolved there can be no friendship and no love—only hate. Until we can allow others to be themselves, and others to be free, it is impossible to truly love another human being; neurotic and dependent love is, perhaps possible, but not genuine love, which can be generated only in the self (Hal Borland).

A gambler and an alcoholic, Red owns a ranch in New Mexico. He instructs young Tom as a bronco rider. Tom travels with him to many shows throughout the southwestern United States. He continually exploits Tom for his ability to win him gambling money. Meo Martinez

In the War Wagon, Howard Keel who plays Levi Walking Bear, derides his fellow Indians constantly saying how he's learned to live in the white man's world and beat him at his own game. When the Legends Die is a film about a contemporary Ute Indian who tries to do just that and the effect it has on him. A member of the Ute tribe, greedy old Blue Elk lives in Piedra Town. Blue Elk lies and cheats his own people for monetary gain, while claiming to work for their good. urn:oclc:32365093 Republisher_date 20121013233957 Republisher_operator [email protected] Scandate 20121013222032 Scanner scribe8.shenzhen.archive.org Scanningcenter shenzhen Usl-grade-level 8-12 Usl_hit auto Worldcat (source edition)

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Richard Widmark seems to be having too much fun with his role as Red, a departure from the stoic characters he played for many years, and almost seems to be saying, "I don't care what the other actors do, I'm gonna do what I want." It’s not a happy book. In fact, it’s downright depressing. I don’t think there’s even one happy moment in this story and that’s ok with me. Not everything needs to be sunshine and butterflies. The ending brings a sense of closure at least. I related greatly to Tom’s difficulty in figuring himself out, and to his realizing that he had been led astray by others, instead of blazing his own trail. I read this book for the first time when I was twelve. The first part of the book held a resonance for me that I find it hard to explain. I am not an American Indian. I am not a boy. There were ten children in my family. However, I was often alone by choice, and never lonely, and I was often angry and confused. I see things concretely, and the ways of society were hard for me to decipher. People were often not what they said they were. Animals were easier to deal with. Nature was always a balm for me when the world was too hard to deal with.