For something a wee bit different

You may have noticed the lack of reviews lately. I'm still having problems getting back to reading so I've done very little of it lately. Of course that doesn't stop me from still buying them! I'm so backlogged in my TBR books now....Thus the lack of reviews - but - one of my more favourite books has always been The Outsider by Penelope Williamson. I've loved all her books - well, I've yet to read Heart of the West even though I know it's one of Keishon's favourites. But she is one of those authors who can write well in many different genres. The books of hers I have read are wonderful. Once in a Blue Moon and Keeper of the Dream along with The Outsider are my favourites. So when I saw that The Outsider had been made into a movie for Showtime and was available on DVD I had very mixed emotions. I'm not one of those who wants to see favoured books made into movies. Nope! Not at all. They did that with Morning Glory and I still have that awful aftertaste. Some people liked it, but I thought they did a horrible job - changed the entire atmosphere of the book. But then I saw the Lord of the Rings movie and saw that it is possible to convert books into movies successfully. When I saw that Tim Daly who I've always thought was hot!hot hot! was cast in the role of Johnny Cain though, I thought "hhmmm - now that could be worth watching". So some months ago I asked a friend if she could pick up a copy for me since they were selling them at a video store in her end of the city. She did and I later went to her place for dinner and to watch the movie - since she loves romance books too and had read this one. At the time, I didn't get the full measure of the movie. There were interruptions and when I want to really watch a movie, I like to get completely involved in it.
I hadn't had a chance to watch it again until last night. I turned off all the lights, put on the surround sound, made myself comfortable and settled in for a two hour, completely absorbed in it experience.


WOW!!!!
This is one heck of a good movie! They did make a couple of changes I didn't quite understand. Johnny Cain became Johnny Gault and Rachel Yoder (played by Naomi Watts) became Rebbecca Yoder. And because they can never put everything into a movie that is in a book, there is a lot of secondary characters and storylines that aren't really covered, but the main story - the love between Rebbecca and Johnny is very well done.
For those who haven't read the book or seen the movie, this is a love story between Johnny, an injured gunslinger who stumbles, nearly dead, onto the property of Rebbecca, a young Amish woman. Rebbecca's husband has been hung near the beginning of the movie by the bad guys. There is a fued between the Amish, who raise sheep, and a local evil cattle barron.
Rebbecca nurses Johnny back to health and along the way, although their cultures are completely different they fall deeply in love. Johnny is a wounded hero type with dark shades of gray to him.
Because it's a made for TV movie, the love scene isn't that explicit but man - is it hot anyway. Naomi Watts does a wonderful job as Rebbecca. And Tim Daly. Oh man - is he to die for in this movie. Mmmm mmm mmm mmm mmmmm. This is an incredible movie based on an incredible book, that I highly recommend. I think I might just watch it again tonight - just to get the parts I missed last night. *grin*

Grade: 5 out of 5

'til later