"Come load up your wagons, hitch up your mules, don't mind when the city folks call you damn fools, it's a life that we've chosen, we make the rules, we're the teamsters who haul to Mojave." The original twenty mule team drivers transporting Death Valley borax to the railroad 165 miles away used to sing this song. It's used to great effect in this film, a collection of interviews interleaved with lots of excellent archival material, narrated by actor Eddie Arnold. As the song says, living in Death Valley was indeed something one had to choose to do; the harsh climate, sometimes reaching over 130 degrees in the summer, discouraged most settlement. Even one of the native Shoshone interviewed here bluntly complains about the desert heat. (The Shoshone had more sense than the whites, however, traditionally retreating to the coolness of the mountains for summer.) Yet from 1900-1930, Death Valley was the last place where the Old West really existed: a gold strike in 1904 brought in prospectors, miners, and homesteaders. The last of the frontier-born children and a few survivors among their parents give glimpses into that culture which has now vanished. Just like a good "Western," there was drinking, fighting, gambling and boom-or-bust incomes. (Floozies and cancan dancers aren't mentioned.) This film is a testimony to the Old West mythos, a time and a place far removed from our cyber world. Its cinematography is gorgeous, and the script and interviews are informative. Recommended for budgets that can take the heat. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Reagan)
Death Valley Memories
(1995) 57 min. $250. Carousel Film & Video. PPR. Color cover. Vol. 11, Issue 4
Death Valley Memories
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