During the shootout at the house where we first meet Waco, he sees the Winchester and offers to buy it, and says "Name your price" Now if "I" were Steve, I would have said let Shelly ( I can't think of her name) go and the rifle's yours,
Okay so Steve was a sniffling wimp, but IMO I'm sure Shelly would have seen in Steve in a better light.
Well, Steve went out attempting to draw on "the fastest gun in Texas" face-to-face, so he wasn't a sniffling wimp at the end.
shareOh, he was a sniveling (or sniffling) wimp all right, but like all such people he tried to prove he was a "real man" without any thought or sense, just an emotional impulse to try to show he wasn't a coward. Just another act of bravado, but with bigger (and more permanent) consequences. That's the most cowardly response of all, typical of such weasley little men.
The fact that he got mixed up with such cutthroats in the first place shows what a wuss he was, trying to impress his girl by showing he could play in the big time. (Remember how he boasted to her in the wagon that if he had been in Dodge City, he'd have stood up to Wyatt Earp? Yeah, right. More empty rhetoric from a loser.) One way or another, no matter what else had happened, sooner or later Dutch Henry or Waco would have plugged him. Maybe the whole gang, for target practice.
Yeah, you've got a point.
shareAnd of course, we've all had cause to comment on how long Lola mourned him.
Time's up!
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However, on second (or third?) thought, he drew on the bad guy, fully aware of the fact that he was probably going to die. Yes, his demeanor was decidedly uncool--he was nervous, excited, and obviously frightened. Yet I don't think that diminishes the valor of his act. The fact that he overcame his fear and attempted to fight anyway was very brave, in spite of his lack of swagger.
shareI don't know. I think he pulled on Waco on impulse, out of frustration and anger, without thinking about it. I doubt he drew knowing he'd be killed. His emotions just got the better of him -- tired of being pushed around, frustrated at being a nobody, angry at being a coward in fact as well as in everybody's eyes, trying to impress Lola well past any illusions that she doesn't realize what he is.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he obviously knew the chance he was taking, but in the unthinking portion of his brain he thought he could get away with it...to the extent he "thought" at all. I think it was mostly an emotional response, where notions of overcoming his fear just didn't come into play. He was reacting, not acting. Also, I disagree -- I think he did have swagger. The problem was, it was empty swagger, with no force or talent behind it. Unthinking swagger is largely what drove him to do what he did -- the worst of both worlds, and all based on his pathetically weak ego.
Hmmm. I can't really dispute your eloquent argument. However, I will reserve a small amount of doubt for the poor bastard.
share"Eloquent?" Moi?!
But fair enough about ol' Steve. After all, he paid for his shortcomings, so some charity is, I suppose, in order...in the way one would pity the village idiot (if I may paraphrase a line from Paths of Glory).