Cowboy's Libarary - Real Western

Real Western > Movies, Books & Games

Movies, Books & Games

Other Materials for Cowboys

Here we will introduce movies, videos, books and other matter for those of you who enjoy cowboy & western stuff.

Photograph collection books

The Idaho Cowboy : A Photographic Portrayalby David R. Stoecklein(ISBN 0922029024)

Along The Cowboy Trail by Robert Dawson, Tammy Leroy (ISBN 0967888107)

Cowboy Gear : A Photographic Portrayal of the Early Cowboys and Their Equipmentby David R. Stoecklein (ISBN 0922029113)

Ranching Traditions : Legacy of the American West by Kathleen Jo Ryan (ISBN 0896600327)

Books

Gene Kilgore's Ranch Vacations : The Complete Guide to Guest and Resort, Fly-Fishing, and Cross-Country Skiing Ranches in the United States and canada
by Gene Kilgore (ISBN 1562614185)

Magazines

Western Horseman Homepage

American Cowboy Homepage

TV MOVIES

Lonesome Dove
A movie based around a cattle drive with many bends and turns in the story. A four part made-for-TV movie. A highly recommended piece of work by the Web Master. It was once aired on NHK as "The Dream of Montana" in Japanese. The original version is sold on VHS in the U.S.

Return to Lonesome Dove
The sequel to Lonesome Dove. The cast is different than the original, but some say it is better than the first. Only sold in the U.S.

MOVIES

Pure Country
A popular singer for all ages, George Strait stars in this movie about a country musician such as himself. Full of great George Strait music, the movie also has a good story and is made very well. Recommended not only for fans of George Strait, but for all. The soundtrack is also worth the buy. Though subtitled and Japanese voice-over versions were available in the past, they have since gone out of sale, and only the English version is available now.

8 Seconds
The true-story of famous rodeo cowboy, Lane Frost. A must see for those who love rodeo. English version available only in the U.S.

GAMES

extreme rodeo
A PC rodeo game for Windows. It contains the six events of bullriding, barrel racing, bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, calf roping and bull poker (bullfighting).

The player becomes the rider, and controls the movements with the keyboard, mouse or joystick. You can use force feedback enabled joysticks, and they viberate when the bull kicks. (I bought a joystick for this, but it wasn't as good as I had expected)
In bullriding, you attempt to stay aboard your bull by trying to stay centered by moving your mouse, keyboard or joystick. You get a score if you stay aboard for 8 seconds. There are sounds of the crowd and announcements through the ride, following which you can replay and view your ride. There are a number of bulls to ride and arenas to ride in, and is quite entertaining. In barrel racing of course, you attempt to race your horse around three barrels as fast as you can. It is fairly hard to adjust speed and direction with a mouse or joystick. You can review your ride afterwards as well, from which you may get a good laugh.

Head Games
The power it takes to operate is nothing to sneeze at either. You need Windows 95/98 (NT will not work) with a DirectX6 driver, and a compatible 3D hardware accelerator/video card. Without this, it is so slow it's not worth playing. You need at least a Pentium 166MHz CPU, but we would advise Celeron 500MHz or higher.
We have been unable to confirm the game's sales in Japan, so you should take a peak in a PC shop, should you have the opportunity to visit the U.S. According to the page above, there are also bullriding only games available as well.

Professional Bullrider, Professional Bullrider 2
A PC rodeo game for Windows. It is a bullriding exclusive game, and the controls are the same as extreme rodeo, but the graphics on this one are more detailed.

Other than enjoying bullriding exclusively, it also contains a role-playing aspect, where you travel from one arena to another, winning prize money and advancing to the finals. You can also view an advice video by Tuff Hedaman and Ty Murray. Other than being able to select from current professional bullriders, you can also create your own rider.

Sierra Sports

As is with today's games, you also need the machine power capable of handling the game to play it. It requires Windows 95/98 (NT will not work) with a DirectX6 driver, and a compatible 3D hardware accelerator/video card. Without this, it is so slow it's not worth playing. You need at least a Pentium 166MHz CPU, but we would advise Celeron 500MHz or higher.

Professional Bullrider 2 has also been released, but I have yet to see either game being sold in Japan.