Stroll down memory lane with C&I as we highlight some of our favorite stories from Octobers past.
From wrapping up Longmire’s final season to sharing the latest fall fashion trends to ranking our favorite John Wayne and John Ford films — C&I’s October issues are packed with the best of the West. Because it would be impossible to choose our favorite issue, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite October stories. Happy reading, folks!
The Magnificent Seven
Issue: October 2016
Excerpt: It’s the story of seven hired guns who come together to defend a tiny town against ruthless bandits. They may be outnumbered, but they’re committed to helping the helpless, and they’re willing to fight. The 1960 film The Magnificent Seven — a western reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai — became a bona fide classic on the strength of that premise and the characters who carried it out. Actors Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Eli Wallach led a packed cast under the direction of John Sturges, with an iconic musical score by Elmer Bernstein.
Photography: courtesy Sony
The End Of A Longmire Journey
Issue: October 2017
Excerpt: For faithful viewers of Longmire, the modern-day western crime drama based on the novel franchise by Craig Johnson — and, yes, you can count most of us who ride for the C&I brand in that band of fans — the start of Season 6 can’t come quickly enough. Granted, this particular 10-episode run will likely be a profoundly mixed blessing, no matter how excellent those episodes might be, since it will be the final season for the series that Netflix picked up in 2014 when it was canceled by A&E (reportedly because it appealed to an older demographic that was unappealing to advertisers, despite it scoring respectable ratings over three seasons on the cable network).
Photography: Ursula Coyote/Courtesy Netflix
The Ford Wayne 14
Issue: October 2014
Excerpt: The professional partnership — of Wayne as star, Ford as director — created some of the most respected and admired films ever made. Their association dates back to the 1920s, when Ford was making silent films and Wayne was a student at the University of Southern California. Before he was the most popular western actor in Hollywood, The Duke served as a prop man, stuntman, and extra in several Ford productions, including Four Sons (1928), Strong Boy (1929), and The Black Watch (1929).
Photography: United Artists/Photofest
Art Gallery: Jack Malotte
Issue: October 2019
Excerpt: For 40 years, Jack Malotte’s artwork has captured the beauty of the Great Basin region and spoken to the political and environmental issues that plague it. A tranquil landscape; a stormy night sky; a stoic cigarette-smoking, sunglasses-clad Native American set against a mining backdrop with military jet and eagle overhead; a depiction of a nuclear future that would be strikingly beautiful if it weren’t for the horrific subject matter — the soft-spoken artist’s work speaks loudly.
Photography: courtesy of Jack Malotte
Rory Feek’s Extraordinary Life
Issue: October 2020
Excerpt: When Rory Feek looks out the window of the home on his Tennessee farm, he sees two things that will forever bookend his story: on his left, the cross memorializing where his late wife, Joey, is buried; on his right, the special schoolhouse he built for their young daughter, Indiana, who has Down syndrome. This is the life Feek lives now, building his own version of Mayberry in Columbia, also known as Muletown for the mules that were trained for military service here during World War I.
Photography: courtesy The Presshouse
More Than An Indian Taco
Issue: October 2013
Excerpt: What we know as fry bread is commonly believed to have been born on the Long Walk, the forced march led by Col. Christopher “Kit” Carson and the U.S. Cavalry in 1864 that relocated thousands of Navajos to Bosque Redondo in New Mexico. Along the way, displaced American Indians were forced to subsist on the limited U.S. government rations that were alloted them. Processed flour, salt, and sugar were combined and fried in lard to make a kind of bread that would become part of Native food culture for years to come.
Photography: courtesy Tocabe
Mountain Moods
Issue: October 2019
Excerpt: There were no snow machines available, but that didn’t stop the pursuit of après-ski inspiration for our 2019 fall fashion shoot. Honey Hollow Ranch, a log cabin-esque wedding and special events venue resplendent with stone hearths and knotty pine, served as the moody mountainside backdrop for this annual C&I photoshoot.
Photography: Scott Slusher
Sweet Home Alabama
Issue: October 2018
Excerpt: Pine trees rooted in the rich, black topsoil of southern Alabama tower above the mossy wetlands of this Gulf state’s lower half. It’s in this part of the country, where behind a woodland curtain you’ll find open fields rolling into swamp bottoms, that a Birmingham-based family decided to build on their own piece of land.
Photography: William Abranowitz
Circus Cowgirl
Issue: October 2024
Excerpt: Trick rider Kansas Carradine tells C&I about her experience riding at the “end of the world” through the wilds of Argentina, enduring diverse terrains and unpredictable elements for the 2024 Gaucho Derby.
Photography: Kathy Gabriel
The Landmarks Of Killers Of The Flower Moon
Issue: October 2023
Excerpt: For fans of the book by David Grann (and those interested in the Scorsese movie) about the Osage murders and subsequent birth of the FBI in 1920s Oklahoma, the places connected to Killers of the Flower Moon have a new significance. Explore the locations across Osage, Oklahoma, that held the truth of the Osage Reign of Terror and served as inspiration for the film.
Thunderheart And Incident At Oglala
Issue: October 2022
Excerpt: Thirty-plus years ago, two films were inspired by a violent clash that continues to have repercussions today. While Thunderheart And Incident At Oglala brought new attention to the case of Leonard Peltier, he remans in prison 45 years after his conviction. Now almost 78 and in poor health, he continues to be on the minds of many who are advocating for his release and clemency.
A look back at some of our October covers.
Browse our archive library and purchase an original copy of your favorite October back issue here.
