Cowboys, Creatures, and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

People that don’t know what they’re writing about should not be authoring books. This is the case with COWBOYS, CREATURES AND CLASSICS. Portending to be a history of Republic Pictures there is nothing new in its 250 pages—and much that is wrong. Misspellings: Lew Landors (Landers), Phyllis Coats (Coates), Linda Sterling (Stirling), Claire Trever (Trevor), etc. One page states “at a cost of $119,343 ‘Bat Men of Africa’ (should be ‘Darkest Africa’) was the most expensive Republic serial of 1936.” First of all it was in 1935 and it was Republic’s only serial that year, so naturally…And if you figure 1936, “Dick Tracy” cost $127,640. One page states “Buck Jones was a star at Republic.” Hmmmm—he appeared in only one Republic picture, “Wagons Westward” in 1940 and he was not the star. A photo of Lois Hall is identified as Frances Gifford and a photo of Lorna Gray with Ian Keith is identified as Robert Livingston in “Valley of the Zombies”. “Daredevils of the Red Circle” was shot on a budget of $175 (??) then on page 6 the ‘authors’ state “Herbert Yates held producers to a modest budget of 18 thousand to 37 thousand dollars to make serial pictures.” What??? Yet another section has noted actor Lew Ayres directing something called “The Disinherited” for Republic in 1935. At this point, I totally gave up. The text is littered in factual mistakes, the structure is redundant, photos are mislabeled, on and on. Incredibly disappointing.Boyd MagersWESTERN CLIPPINGS

I’m surprised at the amount of five star ratings for this book. In my opinion, most of the content is readily available on web sites. I found no in-depth information that I did not already know, including the short bio’s of Republic stars, cliffhangers and movies. The listing of Republic films takes up about a third of the book. As a result, I found this book very disappointing.

This book is a very sketchy overview of the history of Republic Pictures. It contains plenty of inf minutesormation on Republic reign over the B picture era but does not spend enough time on Republic's last decade omitting any coverage of films like "The Last Command" ( incorrectly referred to "The Last Stand" ). This film was a well budgeted Alamo epic directed by Frank Lloyd (Mutiny on the Bounty) with a b+ cast. It was likely aimed as a pot shot at John Wayne who quit the studio after a nearly 2 decade stint when studio head Herbert Yates welched on a promise to finance an Alamo film for Wayne to star in and direct.While the book reads very well, there are some inaccuracies. ( "The Quiet Man" has a runtime of 129 minutes, not 179.) The Book would have benefitted form some color stills, especially from "The Quiet Man", "Johnny Guitar", and others.

How does Chris Enss keep writing these fantastic and fun books about the west without running out of material? They are always engrossing and I loved this one. As a child, I watched countless Republic Pictures movies spell bound with excitement. It is so much fun to read the stories behind the scenes as if they happened yesterday. And I love the movie posters too. What a fun book. I couldn't put it down. This was so much fun to read. I keep looking through various portions and rereading. Can't wait for you next book Chris, but even you will have a hard time outdoing this one.

I own just about every book that has been written about Republic Studios and this one is very disappointing. There are so many errors and inaccuracies that I finally had to stop reading because credibility was lost.

All you ever wanted to know about Republic Studios, Herbert Yates, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, The Duke and many others are in this book. Chris Enss and Howard Kazanjian are expert researchers and writers who know how to entertain and keep a reader wanting to turn the page. Excellent read and learning experience.

Nice big book. Loaded with information. Glad i got this.

This HB book is beautiful! Great quality and weight to it. My husband is a huge fan of tv and movie westerns and is really enjoying this book! Made for a great Christmas present!

This is a very interesting history of the Republic Studios, a must have for serious collectors

I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for a relative who was absolutely delighted with it.

A very poor book. If you're looking for a comprehensive history of Republic Pictures, this is definitely not it. A complete waste of time, with very little information about the company.