When I thought about reviewing a book for Miki’s animal theme issue, Cockfighter by Charles Willeford seemed an obvious choice. After all, how many hard-boiled classics bring you straight into the cockpits of Florida and Georgia to witness gamecocks tearing at each other with steel spurs?

According to Don Herron’s biography of Willeford (titled appropriately: Willeford), “Willeford was always perturbed that no reviewer had caught on that Cockfighter was consciously modeled on the Odyssey, complete with a one-eyed fighting cock standing in for the Cyclops.” I personally don’t see the Odyssey connection either, but that doesn’t change the fact that Cockfighter is one of the great hard-boiled works, and like other Willeford novels, a fascinating portrayal of a man refusing to compromise his artistic vision regardless of the cost.

The book focuses on Frank Mansfield, who lives by his own rigid code of conduct, and for the single-minded pursuit of his artistic vision – to be awarded the Cockfighter of the Year medal.  Part of Frank’s rigid code is a self-imposed silence which he’ll end only after achieving his goal. His reason for his silence is he felt that shooting off his mouth years earlier cost him a match and potentially the Cockfighter of the Year award. He doesn’t bother to explain this to anyone around him. As far as they know, he’s suffering a physical malady – and of course, he doesn’t see any point in correcting them.

As the book opens, Frank is doctoring the bill of his last gamecock, making a razor-thin cut and then penciling in the line to make it look as if the bird has a broken bill. After a string of bad luck, Frank needs to win big, and if the gamblers think his bird is injured, he’ll get better odds on his bets. All he accomplishes with this is screwing himself. The doctored bill ends up costing him his last bird, his Caddy, his trailer, and whatever money he had left.

This doesn’t deter him, though. A true artist will find a way, and, to Frank, cockfighting is a thing of pure beauty. Relentlessly, he pushes on, unwilling to waver in his quest. This theme of an artist doggedly pursuing his vision and refusing to compromise can be found within other Willeford books. In The Woman Chaser, this artistic pursuit ends up costing the protagonist, Richard Hudson, his sanity. In  Cockfighter, the cost is somewhat less – whatever family Frank has left, his finacee, and any chance of a normal life. Hell, this same theme can be seen in Willeford’s own life. Willeford’s books went mostly unnoticed until Miami Blues (which featured his denture-wearing cop, Hoke Mosley) was published in 1984. You make money in this business with series characters, and now that Willeford was on the verge of commercial success, how did he follow up Miami Blues? With an unpublished work titled Grimhaven, which has Mosley killing his daughters and hiding their bodies in the shower stall of his fleabag motel.

You got to admire a guy like that.

And you sure as hell got to admire anyone who wrote the way Charles Willeford did.

Copyright(c) 2003 by Dave Zeltserman