Sat 11 Apr 2015
A Western Fiction Review: MAX BRAND – The Trail to San Triste.
Posted by Steve under Pulp Fiction , Reviews , Western Fiction[8] Comments
MAX BRAND – The Trail to San Triste. Warner Books; 1st paperback edition, February 1985. Chelsea House, hardcover, 1927. Dodd Mead, hardcover, 1983. First serialized in six parts (8 March through 12 April 1924) in Western Story Magazine as “Four without Fear,” as by John Frederick.
As it so happened I was halfway through this book when the a brief discussion came up in the comments following Dan Stumpf’s review of Milton Lott’s Backtrack; to wit: there is a big difference between Westerns in the traditional and romantic sense and novels about the West.
You can put Max Brand firmly in the first category, and The Trail to San Triste is a fine example. It’s the story of a young dashing cowboy, nearly a legendary outlaw, who is recruited to go into Mexico and pose as the missing son of the now deceased beloved patron of San Triste. Object: a fortune in gold, silver and rare gems.
Of course there are complications. First John Jones must convince the townspeople that he is the true heir, then the servants of the family, still living, contend with man (a cousin) running the estate now but not loved, and (without giving too much away) is he, by chance, the real heir and does not know it, or is the real heir still alive? And of course, there is a girl. The girl. The girl of John Jones’ dreams.
All told with a flair for the romantic, with plenty of gallantry, bravery, and a sense of justice and what’s right in the world and what makes life worth living. Cowboys and Mexican peasants had a tough life, but you wouldn’t know it from reading this book. Even the deaths that occur toward the end of the book have some meaning, redemption being a solid part of it.
A world such as this never existed, but I enjoyed every minute that I spent visiting it.
April 11th, 2015 at 11:01 pm
I haven’t read this novel but your plot summary sounds very similar to MONTANA RIDES AGAIN which was made into a 1950 film titled BRANDED, starring Alan Ladd. He also is recruited to pose as the missing son of a rich rancher. It’s the old bad guy turns good plot that Max Brand used so often.
April 11th, 2015 at 11:27 pm
According to one source, Brand wrote more than 500 novels and over 400 short stories and novellas using twenty pseudonyms. There aren’t that many plots to go around, no matter where he borrowed them from, including Greek mythology and other classic literature.
I haven’t seen BRANDED and I don’t know why not.
April 12th, 2015 at 1:10 am
Branded gets off to a good start, which I wont go into detail about and then gets bogged down into a mother love western. Alan Ladd is fairly effective, but…it does not live up to its opening moments. And more or less synopsized above. DVD available.
April 12th, 2015 at 5:56 am
The comment about Westerns vs. Novels set in the West as an apt one. I’m just glad we can appreciate both.
April 12th, 2015 at 6:45 am
Agreed! The difference may be small, but it’s distinct, and it’s there. There’s no reason why books in both sides shouldn’t be judged — and enjoyed — on their own merits, not one versus the other.
April 12th, 2015 at 1:05 pm
By the way, I deliberately paired off the two books I reviewed yesterday, this one and the Preston Child one, for a reason, although accidentally when I started reading them.
April 12th, 2015 at 6:06 pm
This is almost the reverse of MONTANA RIDES AGAIN in which an Anglo raised by Mexican bandits is sent north of the Rio Grande to pose as the heir to a large ranch once lost. The Ladd film is good, but lacks the poetry and mythological feel of the Evan Evans novel which is one of Brand’s all time best.
The Ladd film has a good cast though.
Certainly it reflects Brand’s classical bent and such myths of lost sons as Jason and Theseus. Montana, true to myth, turns out to actually be the lost son though Brand left room for a sequel.
As for plagiarizing his own works Chandler famously did it, as have many others.
I love a good Western, but I don’t read it for exactly the same reason as a Western novel. Some writers like Will Henry/Clay Fisher do both well.
It’s the same with the mystery. You don’t read Stanley Ellin’s THE EIGHTH CIRCLE, a novel about a private detective, for the same reason you read Mickey Spillane and but you can enjoy both. You don’t read an adventure story by Joseph Conrad the same as one by Clive Cussler.
I wonder if this came before or after Montana, if it is an early run at the idea or a variation. I think this came first, so MONTANA may be a more polished attempt.
June 26th, 2015 at 10:01 am
You are completely correct about Max Brand.The west he wrote about existed only in his mind,but he made it live in the minds of his readers.Along with Robert E.Howard he could suck you into his story and you never realized that it was a dream and a myth until you finished it and had time to reflect on it.But I never cared.I was just happy to enjoy the dream.