Two Words, One Answer.
Arte Johnson
 Best of the West, Vol. 2: Classic Stories from the American Frontier $24.95 America's richest legends come from the frontier--from the land where the events of a single moment might erase the lines between law and lawlessness, between safety and mortal danger, between heroes and villains. The carefully selected stories in this collection are vibrant proof that the great American West is a fertile ground to storytellers. The most varied collection of short stories by 17 highly acclaimed Western writers, including works from Spur Award Winners Zane Grey, Will Henry, Elmer Kelton, Matt Braun, Loren Estleman, Gary McCarthy, Bill Gullick, and more! Featuring performances by Roseanne Cash, Gary Morris, Ed Asner, and Crystal Gayle. Each volume is expanded to include more stories so you'll have more listening time to the Best of the West.  Arte Johnson Autographed / Signed First Day of Issue Longleaf Pine Forest Red-Bellied Woodpecker/Fox Squirrel Cache $100.00 Arte Johnson Autographed / Signed First Day of Issue Longleaf Pine Forest Red-Bellied Woodpecker/Fox Squirrel Cache Arte Johnson, Comedian and Actor, famous from his days on Laugh-In, the TV Show. ![Bunco [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KFVJPP06L._SL160_.jpg) Bunco [VHS] $14.98 This artless effort was produced for television as a pilot film for a projected series that was not selected by its network as it was believed that the co-stars lacked that charisma required to maintain audience interest, a judgemental miscue because the leads, Robert Urich and Tom Selleck, directly after became very accomplished in that medium. These two are cast as Los Angeles Police Department Bunco Unit detectives deployed in this film for a wide range of assignments, including an attempted apprehension of "Sonny", a version of pimp whose female underlings, instead of being prostitutes, are instead confidence women skilfully taking advantage of eager victims who throng the streets of Hollywood. To help with the planned collaring of Sonny, the two detectives are given specialized Departmental support from "Frankie" (Donna Mills), an undercover officer who is tasked with becoming a member of the scamming entourage, thereby also becoming involved in dangerous situations for her in addition to her new partners, since Frankie must be convincing to her ersatz criminal companions, setting the stage for an expected dramatic climax. Although a number of players perform with gusto, and crisp editing ensures that there is always something going on, a logiclorn script lacks harmony in its dialogue, some of the acting is woeful, and it is apparent that a flock of minor television performers is merely being given a payday, this only serving to expand an element of predictability for a weakly written, slackly directed, and excessively episodic affair. Despite its routine nature and distinct television lineage, the work does provide marginal interest for viewers when illustrating several methods utilized by street based confidence operators, including examples of such common scams as Three Card Monte, the Pigeon Drop, and the Rock in a Box, each of which succeeds due to greed of victims. Urich, Selleck and Mills walk through their roles, finding little of substance to filter from them, but several players are effective in spite of the production's bald devotion to convention, including Richard Bakalyan and Denise Galik, with acting honours going to Diana Scarwid who somehow makes something interesting from a thankless part as pregnant lover of a low rent thug. |
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