Distinctly Montana Magazine

90 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 2 3 GLACIER, MONTANA HEAVEN ONLY KNOWS (1947) In this not-quite-classic Western comedy/family film, a heavenly mistake results in a man named Duke being born without a soul. Where he was to be a pious preacher who made a difference in people's lives, he became a saloon owner in- stead—in the little fictional mining town of Glacier, Mon- tana. The archangel Michael goes to correct his mistake, but has to shirk his immortal powers to do it. In the end, Mi- chael is almost lynched, Duke is redeemed after shooting the villain, and Michael takes a stagecoach to heaven, accompanied by the soul of a child who died in town. The New York Times generously said that "On the whole Heaven Only Knows is tolerable entertainment." Yet it is interesting to note that the heel of the piece is an outlaw named Plummer, not unlike our own corrupt sheriff of yore. HOPE COUNTY FAR CRY 5 Not a film or novel but a video game, the fifth entry in Ubisoft's long-running open-world action game franchise took place in a fictional county explicitly based on southwest Montana. The player is able to spray bul- lets, fly attack h e l i c o p t e r s and otherwise maraud over a more or less p h o t o r e a l i s - tic microcosm of Montana. Co n s e qu e n t - ly, the game allows one to splatter fictionalized versions of such real Treasure State loca- tions as Stoney's Kwik Stop in Greenough, the Lutheran church in Melville, and even Flathead Lake Brewing Company with great gouts of blood. You can also hunt and fish, approach bi- son too close, and other simulations of Montana activities. The game manages to be oddly beautiful in its quieter moments, be- fore ending with a nuclear apocalypse. PERSONVILLE/ "POISONVILLE" RED HARVEST BY DASHIELL HAMMET Although clearly based on Butte down to fairly specific geo- graphic details, the great noir writer Dashiell Hammett covered his bases by mentioning Butte as a nearby city. Since he had spent time in Butte himself while in the service of the Pinker- tons, he may have had some urge to use poetic license in his depiction of a Butte-like setting; by the end of the novel, dozens of bodies have piled up in the Mining City. The novel's protago- nist, a detective himself in the service of a Pinkerton-like agency pointedly not named the Pinkertons, really doesn't mind step- 7 THAT NEVER EXISTED MONTANA TOWNS by SHERMAN CAHILL

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