40 Films in Robotech: The Long Riders (1980) and son of Digging Star Wars shares his writing on Robotech Novels Universe and Robotech Stories online roundtable

 

Sometimes, Robotech writer Jack McKinney would reference an aspect of a genre of film without mentioning a specific title. We include these instances in the 40 Films in Robotech list sparingly…but offer them as an opportunity to include some new-to-the-blog titles, like this one...

 ROBOTECH MENTION:  

Page 134 of Jack McKinney’s Robotech book Southern Cross tells the tale of Dana Sterling and her 15th Alpha Tactical Armored Corps taking on gigantic alien power-suited warriors known as “Bioroids” on a massive Robotech Masters cruiser…

Admittedly, this could be any western from any decade pre-1985. We chose The Long Riders since the falling, shot cowboy in the film's climactic end shootout is quite dramatic...in slow-motion with several cutaways to extend the action of the body falling from a rooftop head over heels in a bloody descent. 

 SYNOPSIS:  

IMDb sums the film up as: “The origins, exploits and the ultimate fate of the Jesse James gang is told in a sympathetic portrayal of the bank robbers made up of brothers who begin their legendary bank raids because of revenge.”

 AWARDS & KUDOS:  

Composer Ry Cooder won LAFCA Best Music Award from Los Angeles Film Critics Association for his work on The Long Riders. 

 OTHER COOL FACTS:  

Three sets of real brothers (or half-brothers) were cast as the three sets of sibling characters in the film: the Carradines, Quaids, and Guests.

Another cool fact is that Digging Star Wars isn't the only online entity celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Robotech. Our good friends at Robotech Novels Universe have had several celebrations this year including the Golden Gloval Awards and this roundtable on Southern Cross that features my son Henry reading a school report he wrote on why Southern Cross is important to the Robotech storyline. I've cued up his read, but in case that doesn't work it's at the 40-minute in mark...

Thanks to Robotech Stories and Robotech Novels Universe for recognizing Henry in this way!

 ROBOTECH REASON:  

“Old” westerns are referenced a good deal in the Robotech novelization – perhaps because the two writers that make up the pen name Jack McKinney, James Luceno and Brian Daley, met on the writing staff of the 1986 animated TV series The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. That show pushed the “western in space” thing to the extreme. Clearly, some of that flavor trickled into their Robotech writing.

To read my ⭐⭐⭐ (out of a possible 5 star) rating for The Long Riders on Letterboxd, click here.