The Dog of the South is a 1979 novel by Charles Portis. [1] [2]
The Dog of the South is included in the Library of America of Portis' Collected Works. [3]
Ray Midge's wife, Norma, has run off with Guy Dupree, her ex-husband – in Ray's Ford Torino. From reading credit card receipts, Ray learns the couple are in Mexico. He packs up a Colt Cobra and goes after them, determined to get back his car (and his wife, maybe).
Jack Wilkie, bail bondsman, is also after Dupree. Ray does not tell Jack about Mexico, because Ray wants to get his car back alone. Jack figures out this deception and follows Ray out of town. Ray is able to ditch Jack when Jack gets drunk in Laredo and again when Jack's car breaks down in Mexico.
In Laredo, Ray is inspired to ditch drunken Jack, when an old clown gives Ray a card that says, “Kwitcherbellyachin”. The receipts lead him to the Hotel Mogador in San Miguel. Norma and Dupree are not there. He figures they have gone to Dupree's farm in Belize.
In San Miguel, Ray meets Dr. Reo Symes, who needs a ride to Belize, after his bus - "Dog of the South" - breaks down. Dr. Symes' mother lives there, and Symes wishes to ask for the zoning rights to an island she owns. Ray and Symes travel together to Belize. They have an entertaining, if at times, fractious relationship - mostly due to Dr. Symes' eccentricities.
In Belize, Ray finds Dupree's farm with the help of a kid named Webster Spooner. Ray confronts Dupree, which mostly consists of harsh words from both sides. Norma is no longer with Dupree and Dupree has sold Ray's car. Ray finds his car scrapped in an auto-parts store, but he decides the trip was never about the car, anyway.
A hurricane hits Honduras. After the chaos, Ray is in a hospital, where he finally finds Norma. She is sick, and Ray nurses her back to health. The two return to Arkansas together. A few months later, Norma leaves again. This time, Ray does not go after her.
The New York Times wrote that Portis's "people have dignity and determination and an abiding respect for each other's obsessions." [4] Kirkus Reviews called the book "a funky, off-center book that never guns its motor and yet is always arriving at some place that's green and fresh and funny." [5]
In a retrospective article, the Chicago Tribune called The Dog of the South "the most enjoyable Portis offering." [6]
Norma Rae is a 1979 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. The film is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton – which was told in the 1975 book Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance by reporter Henry P. Leifermann of The New York Times – and stars Sally Field in the title role. Beau Bridges, Ron Leibman, Pat Hingle, Barbara Baxley and Gail Strickland are featured in supporting roles. The film follows Norma Rae Webster, a factory worker with little formal education in North Carolina who, after her and her co-workers' health are compromised due to poor working conditions, becomes involved in trade union activities at the textile factory where she works.
Laredo is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and seat of Webb County, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Founded in 1755, Laredo grew from a village to the capital of the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande to the largest inland port on the Mexican border. Laredo's economy is primarily based on international trade with Mexico, and as a major hub for three areas of transportation: land, rail, and air cargo. The city is on the southern end of I-35, which connects manufacturers in northern Mexico through Interstate 35 as a major route for trade throughout the U.S. It has four international bridges and one railway bridge.
True Grit is a 1969 American Western film directed by Henry Hathaway, starring John Wayne as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, Glen Campbell as La Boeuf and Kim Darby as Mattie Ross. It is the first film adaptation of Charles Portis' 1968 novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Marguerite Roberts. Wayne won an Oscar for his performance in the film and reprised his character for the 1975 sequel Rooster Cogburn.
Clinton Earl Portis is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons. He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the second round of the 2002 NFL draft. Portis was best known for being the starting running back for the Washington Redskins for seven seasons, in which he gained an average of 81.2 yards rushing per game, for which a select panel of celebrities included him as one of the 80 Greatest Redskins.
11:14 is a 2003 neo-noir black comedy thriller film written and directed by Greg Marcks. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of Rachael Leigh Cook, Ben Foster, Clark Gregg, Colin Hanks, Shawn Hatosy, Barbara Hershey, Stark Sands, Hilary Swank, Patrick Swayze, and Henry Thomas. It follows five different storylines that all lead up to a series of events that happen one evening at 11:14.
I, the Jury is a 1982 American neo-noir crime thriller film based on the 1947 best-selling detective novel of the same name by Mickey Spillane. The story was previously filmed in 3D in 1953. Larry Cohen wrote the screenplay and was hired to direct, but was replaced when the film's budget was already out of control after one week of shooting. He was replaced at short notice by veteran TV director Richard T. Heffron.
The Wayward Bus is a novel by American author John Steinbeck, published in 1947. The novel's epigraph is a passage from the 15th-century English play Everyman, with its archaic English intact; the quotation refers to the transitory nature of humanity. Although considered one of Steinbeck's weaker novels at the time of its original publication, The Wayward Bus was financially more successful than any of his previous works.
Charles McColl Portis was an American author best known for his novels Norwood (1966) and the classic Western True Grit (1968). Both Norwood and True Grit were adapted as films, released in 1970 and 1969, respectively. True Grit also inspired a film sequel and a made-for-TV movie sequel. The second film adaptation of True Grit was released in 2010.
Pierre Lynn de Lappe, also known as Peter Brown, was an American actor. He portrayed Deputy Johnny McKay opposite John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop in the 1958 to 1962 ABC-Warner Brothers western television series Lawman and Texas Ranger Chad Cooper on NBC's Laredo from 1965 to 1967.
Norwood is the first novel written by author Charles Portis. It was published in 1966 by Simon & Schuster. The book follows its namesake protagonist on a misadventurous road trip from his hometown of Ralph, Texas, to New York City and back. During the trip, Norwood is exposed to a comic array of personalities and lifestyles. The novel is a noteworthy example of Portis's particular skill rendering Southern dialect and conversation.
True Grit is a 1968 novel by Charles Portis that was first published as a 1968 serial within The Saturday Evening Post. The novel is told from the perspective of a woman named Mattie Ross, who recounts the time when she was 14 and sought retribution for the murder of her father by a scoundrel, Tom Chaney. It is considered by some critics to be "one of the great American novels." True Grit is included in the Library of America of Portis' Collected Works.
Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn is a fictional character who first appeared in the 1968 Charles Portis novel True Grit.
Dr. Leonides Gonzalez Cigarroa High School is a public high school located in Laredo Independent School District in Laredo in Webb County in south Texas. Grades nine through twelve are taught there. It serves students living in south Laredo. It has a student population of about 1,300. The school's namesake is a late medical doctor.
Enforcer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
New Frontier is a 1939 American Western film starring John Wayne, Ray "Crash" Corrigan, Raymond Hatton, and Jennifer Jones. This was the last of eight Three Mesquiteers Western B-movies with Wayne. A restored 35 mm copy of the film exists, and was screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as part of a 2007 John Wayne centennial retrospective, which included The Big Trail, The Searchers, and True Grit. The leading lady is Jennifer Jones, billed as Phylis Isley, in her film debut. The director was George Sherman.
The Last Dog on Earth is a 2003 young adult novel written by Daniel Ehrenhaft. It follows Logan, a lonely 14-year-old boy who adopts a dog from an animal shelter and names her Jack. The pair's relationship is soon threatened by an incurable prion disease spreading across the nation. Infected dogs become unnaturally violent and bloodthirsty, culminating in the deaths of several people. As public fear heightens and the government intervenes to control the outbreak, Logan struggles to reform his life and remain with Jack.
True Grit is a 2010 American Western film directed, written, produced, and edited by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. It is an adaptation of Charles Portis' 1968 novel of the same name, starring Jeff Bridges as Deputy U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn and Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross. The film also stars Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and Barry Pepper. A previous film adaptation in 1969 starred John Wayne, Kim Darby, and Glen Campbell.
The 2012 Nuevo Laredo massacres were a series of mass murder attacks between the allied Sinaloa Cartel and Gulf Cartel against Los Zetas in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, across the U.S.-Mexico border from Laredo, Texas. The drug-violence in Nuevo Laredo began back in 2003, when the city was controlled by the Gulf Cartel. Most media reports that write about the Mexican Drug War, however, point to 2006 as the start of the drug war. That year is a convenient historical marker because that's when Felipe Calderón took office and carried out an aggressive approach against the cartels. But authors like Ioan Grillo and Sylvia Longmire note that Mexico's drug war actually began at the end of Vicente Fox's administration in 2004, when the first major battle took place in Nuevo Laredo between the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas, who at that time worked as the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel.
Goggles! is 1969 children's picture book by American author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats published by the Penguin Group in 1998. The book is about two boys finding motorcycle goggles. Goggles won a Caldecott Honor in 1970. The illustrations consist of mellow colors created using Keats' signature style of a combination of painting and collage.
The True Grit film series consists of American western dramas, including theatrical and made-for-television installments. The plot follows the adventures of Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn in the Old American West, and detail his role in bringing justice to outlaws and bandits who wrongfully terrorize small towns and villages. Each movie includes his voyages with women he is tasked with protecting, despite his apprehensions.