Sunday, January 25, 2015

‘ZANE GREY THTR’ SEASON 3 REVIEWED, PLUS ‘AUTRY’ MOVIE LINE-UP, ‘SONS OF LIBERTY’ PREMIERE!


ZANE GREY THEATRE – SEASON 3 – A Review


Largely unknown today, the anthology series was a television mainstay for decades.  While most series focus on a group of people seen week-in and week-out, an anthology, like a collection of short stories, told a different story with different characters with each outing.  Interestingly, only the shows based on suspense of the supernatural – TWILIGHT ZONE and ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and their imitators – persist today.  But there were two particularly notable Western anthology series and, remarkably, after years without exposure, both are now available to enjoy: Encore Western in now airing DEATH VALLEY DAYS, and Timeless Media Group has just released ZANE GREY THEATRE, season three, to home video.  We haven’t been this lucky in years!

The full name is actually DICK POWELL’S ZANE GREY THEATRE, and Powell deserves tremendous credit for creating the series.  He was remarkable talent.  Starting out singing and dancing in Busby Berkeley musicals in the 1930s, he became a big star.  But by the 1940s, those films were considered corny and dated, and his career had been marginalized.  He truly reinvented himself, stunning audiences when he returned to the screen in 1944 as Raymond Chandler’s private eye Philip Marlowe in MURDER MY SWEET.  Overnight he became a convincing tough-guy, and had a long new career. 

With the coming of television, while most film people panicked, Powell and his friends saw opportunity.  In 1952 he, Ida Lupino, David Niven and Charles Boyer joined forces and created FOUR STAR PLAYHOUSE, an anthology series where each star would appear in an episode once a month.  It was highly successful and frequently imitated.   In 1956 he created DICK POWELL’S ZANE GREY THEATRE, telling half-hour western stories from a wide variety of writers and directors.  With twenty-five episodes, Aaron Spelling wrote the most.  Republic and Columbia Western journeyman John English directed the most, at 24, but Budd Boetticher did five and Sam Peckinpah did three.  From the old-timers to the young Turks, Powell attracted them all. 

And did he get actors!  Season 3 opens with TRAIL TO NOWHERE, starring post-Annie Oakley and pre-Victoria Barkley Barbara Stanwyck, and pre-FUGITIVE David Jansen in a tale with noir elements as well as Western ones.  The second episode, THE SCAFFOLD, stars Powell himself as a sheriff standing up to a town that doesn’t want to wait for a trial before their necktie party.  Lloyd Nolan robs a bank out of desperation in #3.  Other stories feature David Niven, Robert Ryan, Harry Dean Stanton, a post-CIRCUS BOY but pre-MONKEE Mickey Dolenz, Julie Adams, Jane Greer, Eddie Albert, Walter Pidgeon, Edward G. Robinson, James Whitmore, pre-HIGH CHAPARRAL Cameron Mitchell, pre-THE TALL MAN Barry Sullivan, Arthur Kennedy,  and Rita Moreno.  Soon-to-be Western stars include James Drury, James Coburn, Michael Landon, Peter Breck, and Dennis Hopper. 

One of my favorites is episode #5, LEGACY OF A LEGEND, starring a pre-VIRGINIAN Lee J. Cobb that could easily have been spun off into a series.   And that happened all the time.  Unlike any other series I can think of, DICK POWELL’S ZANE GREY THEATRE was the launching pad for some excellent series.  THE RIFLEMAN began here as a single episode, as did the series that made a star out of Steve McQueen, WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE.  The same almost happened with the series that made Nick Adams a star, THE REBEL.  The show’s creator, Andrew J. Fenady, told me that he’d already signed a deal with Dick Powell to do the show on ZANE GREY when execs at Proctor and Gamble read it and offered to buy it and commit to a series.  Powell, gentleman that he was, let Fenady out of his contract, saying that he had plenty of shows to do, and wishing him luck. 

In season three there are two episodes which became backdoor pilots for series.  THE LONER became JOHNNY RINGO, starring Don Durrant as the gunfighter-turned-lawman, and Karen Sharpe as his woman.  TROUBLE AT TRES CRUCES, written and directed by Sam Peckinpah, became THE WESTERNER, starring Brian Keith as drifter Dave Blassingame.  Although it only lasted thirteen episodes, many consider it a high water-mark for TV Westerns, and it’s a delight to have one more show, the very first one, and with guest star Neville Brand no less!

Dick Powell appears at the beginning of nearly every episode, after the opening teaser, offering an often pun-filled introduction, and imparting interesting nuggets of history along the way.  Not seen in many years, I don’t know the story of the films’ care and preservation, but I get the feeling we are lucky to have them.  At least one episode is without audio over the end titles, and several episodes have the occasional grease-pencil mark, indicating that they were taken not from finished reels but from editor’s work-print copies.  The quality over-all is excellent.

One of the ironies of the series is that while many plots could be described as in the style or tradition of RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE author Zane Grey, in five seasons, only six of his stories were actually used, and none after season two.  Timeless Media Group and Shout! Factory have taken an unusual step to remedy the situation.  The fourth disc includes the last five episodes of Season 3, plus the feature film ZANE GREY’S FIGHTING CARAVANS (1931), an excellent Western starring an impossibly young and handsome Gary Cooper and the beautiful Lily Damita.

With the level of talent in the writing, directing, acting, and over-all production in DICK POWELL’S ZANE GREY THEATRE, putting on each new episode is like opening a gift – you know you’ll get a surprise of excellent quality.  Season 3, priced at $24.93 (list price $29.93) can be purchased direct from Shout! Factory HERE
  

THE AUTRY ‘WHAT IS A WESTERN?’ SERIES SCREENINGS FOR 2015


from THE OX-BOW INCIDENT


For several years now, The Autry has presented a monthly Saturday film screening under the heading of ‘What is a Western?’, with an entertaining and informative introduction by the Gamble Curator of Western History, Popular Culture, and Firearms, Jeffrey Richardson.  I always learn a lot from his talks.  On Saturday, January 17th, before screening 1969’s TRUE GRIT, he described all the involved machinations that led to the film being made, from losing Mia Farrow, thanks to Robert Mitchum’s kibitzing, to the near casting of Elvis Presley in what became Glen Campbell’s role.

The next film, logically enough, on Saturday, February 14th, will be the Coen Brothers’ 10 Oscar-nominated 2010 TRUE GRIT, starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Hailee Steinfeld.  (Just to keep the record straight, the ’69 version only had two Oscar nominations, but it won Best Actor for John Wayne.)    

There’s no film planned for March, but two great Westerns directed by Wild Bill Wellman will screen in April and May.  On April 18th it’s THE OX-BOX INCIDENT (1943), starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn, and a murderous lynch-mob.  On May 9th it’s YELLOW SKY (1948) starring Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, and Richard Widmark, from a story by the great W.R. Burnett (LITTLE CAESAR).

For the summer, it’s three Western comedies in a row!  On June 13th it’s Bob Hope and Jane Russell in THE PALEFACE (1948); July 11th James Garner stars in Burt Kennedy’s SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF (1969); and August 8th it’s MAVERICK, directed by Dick Donner, starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and James Garner.

A new exhibition will open at the Museum on April 25th, EMPIRE AND LIBERTY: THE CIVIL WAR AND THE WEST.  In conjunction, the three Autumn screenings will highlight the Antebellum, Civil War, and post-war eras: on September 12th , Ronald Reagan is Custer, Errol Flynn is Jeb Stuart, and Olivia de Havilland is ‘Kat Carson’ Holliday in SANTA FE TRAIL (1940).  On October 10th, Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman star in the Civil War drama GLORY (1988).  On November 14th, Clint Eastwood directed and stars in one of the finest – and most shamelessly imitated – post-Civil War dramas, THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (1976).

Every time you attend a screening, you have the opportunity to fill out a ballot and nominate a ‘Fan Favorite’ for the December screening – 2014’s choice was Peckinpah’s RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY.  There is one more scheduled screening of note, though not part of the series.  On Thursday (not Saturday), March 26th, at 7 p.m., see THE IRON HORSE (1924), a silent film directed by John Ford, starring George O’Brien and Madge Bellamy, and presented with a new, part live, part ‘computer-synchronized soundscape’ by composer Tom Peters.   

For years the ‘What is a Western?’ series has steadfastly refused to show anything but 35mm prints, but bowing to the reality that in many cases, such prints simply do not exist, they are showing some Blu-Ray and digital versions, but the majority are still in 35mm.  To put you in the mood for February’s screening, I’m placing the trailers from both versions of TRUE GRIT below.







‘SONS OF LIBERTY’ PREMIERES 6 PM TONIGHT ON HISTORY! 

Who would have guessed, in our clueless-about-history time, that we would have a second mini about George Washington and the American Revolution, even as we are waiting for season two of TURN?  That series’ biggest fault was a meaningless title, when they could have used the book’s title, WASHINGTON’S SPIES, and attracted more viewers.  I’d say, at least you know what SONS OF LIBERTY is about, but there will be those who expect a spin-off from SONS OF ANARCHY.    
Starring Henry Thomas as John Adams, Ben Barnes (Caspian from the NARNIA films) as Sam Adams, and BREAKING BAD’s Dean Norris (the big bald brother-in-law cop) as Benjamin Franklin, it looks pretty exciting, going by the trailer. 





HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BOB STEELE AND RANDOLPH SCOTT!



January 23rd was the birthday of two great Western icons.  Bob Steele, was born 108 years ago.  A Saturday matinee star with 239 credits (!), many of us grew up knowing him as the chilling gangster Canino in THE BIG SLEEP, or the hilariously babbling Duffy on F-TROOP.  That he was a big star for decades was a revelation!  The Music & Movie Network is celebrating by sharing his film, SMOKEY SMITH (1935), for free!  Just go to this link: http://www.movieandmusicnetwork.com/content/movieoftheday    This was announced as a one-day-only link on Friday, but I just checked, and it's still up.  Their plan is to post a different free movie to this link every day!  Incidentally, SMOKEY SMITH was written and directed by Bob’s dad, Robert N. Bradbury, and features Gabby Hayes when he was still just ‘George,’ and ‘Our Gang’ graduate Mary Kornman



Fans of Randolph Scott are celebrating his birthday weekend with a blogathon celebrating the great southern gentleman's life and career.  Check it out HERE.   





THAT'S A WRAP!

Have a great week week, and let me know what you think of SONS OF LIBERTY!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright January 2015 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved



Tuesday, January 20, 2015

‘6 BULLETS TO HELL’ ONE HELLUVAH RIDE!, PLUS ‘HIGH NOON AUCTION’, CONTEST WINNER

‘6 BULLETS TO HELL’ – A Film Review




‘6 BULLETS TO HELL’ is one helluvah ride!  I wasn’t sure if they could pull it off, but Tanner Beard and company have done it – made a movie that is both an homage to the Spaghetti Westerns of yore, as well as an exciting, involving and entertaining stand-alone Western in its own right.  And they did it the traditional way – shooting in Almeria, Spain, on the same locations and sets that Leone, Corbucci, Clint Eastwood and Franco Nero made famous.  They did it, as the Europeans did, without synch sound, featuring a cast speaking four different languages, all post-dubbed later.  And they did it all in twelve shooting days! 

To put you in the grindhouse mood, the movie opens with a pair of well-chosen 1960s Western trailers.  Then, against soaring mountains, and a Western street some of us have seen a hundred times, into town ride Bobby Durango (co-writer and co-director Tanner Beard) and his gang (Ken Luckey, Nacho Diaz, Norberto Moran, Jack Queralt and Aaron Stielstra), who invade a church, terrorize the priest, and when he doesn’t have enough money to satisfy them, they head out of town for the bank where the church’s money is held.  Their actions leave no doubt that they are without morals, and Bobby Durango has no respect for human life.

We move to the desert, where Billy Rogers (Crispian Belfrage), a former fast-draw lawman has hung up his guns, married the beautiful Grace (Magda Rodrguez), and is eking out a bare existence as a farmer.  But they are in love, happy and hopeful, excited that she is carrying their first child.  No sooner is Billy Rogers off to town for supplies then the Bobby Durango Gang appears, looking to water their horses, and finding Grace alone.  She’s raped and killed.

Billy Rogers returns home to find his dreams shattered.  Strapping on his guns, sometimes with the help of Sheriff Morris (co-writer and co-director Russell Quinn Cummings), he sets off to track down and kill the entire Bobby Durango Gang.

The rest of the story details the gang’s man-by-man pursuit by Billy Rogers, and manages never to be repetitive.  There’s plenty of action – hard-riding, gunfights and fistfights – set against Olivier Merckx’s stunning cinematography.  Merckx makes full use of the beautiful vistas and stark expanses of the Tabernas region, giving you a better sense of the vastness of the land than you usually had in the classic Spaghetti Western era, making extremely effective use of aerial photography and, when shooting indoors, allowing the white heat of the outdoors show unfiltered through the windows. 

London-born Crispian Belfrage is no stranger to the cinema West, having previously appeared in DONNER PARTY, WEST OF THUNDER and DOC WEST.  His character’s quest for vengeance must carry the movie, and he is utterly convincing in his pain and his rage.  Tanner Beard is the self-obsessed villain who never cracks a smile, and his brutal confidence make him a worthy adversary – we’ve seen many an innocent used as a human shield, but the sight of him effortlessly carrying a squirming woman while firing around her is something lovely to behold.  Other performances are all convincing, except when minor characters are purposely ‘over-the-top’, as is the tradition of the Euro Western. 

Tanner Beard and Russell Quinn Cummings have previously collaborated on the fine LEGEND OF HELL’S GATE, shot in West Texas.  6 BULLETS is a film whose genesis was the result of chance meetings at the Almeria International Western Film Festival between Beard and Cummings, and festival men Chip Baker and Danny Garcia, both credited writers as well as producers on the film.  The fifth writer is Jose Villanueva.  Many from the same group of men are currently working to produce two more Westerns, THOU SHALT KILL, and REVEREND COLT, the latter to star James Russo.  

6 BULLETS – The Red Carpet Interviews


CRISPIAN BELFRAGE – Lead Actor


Crispian Belfrage & Catherine Black


HENRY:  Now, this is not your first Western movie. 

CRISPIAN BELFRAGE:  That’s right.  I did DONNER PARTY, with Catherine Black, actually (Crispian’s date this night).  That was more of a proper American history film, but it is a Western, isn’t it?  Then I did another one, an Italian Western with Terence Hill, DOC WEST, for Italian television.  So that was good fun.  And now 6 BULLETS TO HELL.  I think that’s it.

HENRY: So far.  Most actors today haven’t had your Western experience.  What draws you to the genre?

CRISPIAN BELFRAGE:  I don’t know.  It’s one of those things – I remember when I was a boy, looking at a poster of OUTLAW JOSIE WALES every day, when I was about 6, 7, and I just wanted to be Clint Eastwood in OUTLAW JOSIE WALES.  And it’s just weird that I kind of have a slight affinity for that kind or area, that period.  I have a great love for it.  It’s one of those things that came around, one of those things in your life where you can go, oh my God, I actually get to do a lead in a – especially a spaghetti -- Western, shooting them where they did THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.

HENRY:  So that historical location really meant something special to you.

CRISPIAN BELFRAGE: Right there; it was really strange, Spain, the only desert in Europe.  Incredible.  And to have no licenses there?  Well, there were licenses, but a license to do whatever you want.  Making a cowboy film, a Western film in America, there are so many rules and regulations.  Out there we could just do anything we wanted.   

HENRY:  What’s your next Western going to be?

CRISPIAN BELFRAGE:  I’ve just been offered another Western; it’s actually being written at the moment.  Five women in a gang, and five men in a gang, with a spiritual sort of ghost backdrop.  It’s a film that I’m working on in London, at the moment, with the same director.  And a couple of other movies – a horror movie called CUTTER, and one other film called THE RECTORY, about Harry Price, who was a parapsychologist in the 1930s, so a very different kind of odd character.  Are you going to watch (6 BULLETS)?

HENRY:  Absolutely.  I saw the first twenty minutes, but then I had computer problems. 

CRISPIAN BELFRAGE:  It’s much better to see it blown up.  You’ll love it.


TANNER BEARD – Writer, Director and Lead Villain



Russell Quinn Cummings & Tanner Beard


I’d interviewed Tanner Beard over the phone, and we’d exchanged many emails, but this was our first face-to-face-meeting.

HENRY:  Hi, I’m Henry Parke from Henry’s Western Round-up.

TANNER BEARD:  Henry, how are you – finally in the flesh?

HENRY:  How are you doing?

TANNER BEARD:  Great, really hard to complain. 

HENRY:  This is very exciting.  So now tell me, now that you’ve shot a Western in Texas and one in Spain, how do the two experiences compare?

TANNER BEARD:  Polar opposite, believe it or not.  One thing about it, in Spain it’s called ‘Texas Hollywood’, which are the two places I’ve lived in my life.  So when I got there, I thought the sign was for me at first.  They’re both so historical.  But shooting in Spain was like the Clint Eastwood version, and shooting in Texas was kinda like the John Wayne version, the different styles of filmmaking.

HENRY:  In the original spaghetti westerns, they often had problems with people not speaking the same language when they’re acting together.  Did you run into that?

TANNER BEARD:  We had four different languages being spoken on-set, and that’s just between ‘cut’ and ‘action.’  That was the actors and crew.  There were probably eleven or twelve different countries involved in the film as far as cast and crew goes.  So it was very true to the way they used to make them back in the sixties.

HENRY:  Now you shot in Spain, you edited in Texas.  What was the editing process like?

TANNER BEARD:  Familiar, thank goodness, because Silver Sail is also in Texas, we’re based in L.A. and Austin.  So it was very cool for us to be working on footage from a different country, in your home-town neighborhood.  Made it easier for us to do all the a.d.r. (dubbing) – we had three months of a.d.r. because we shot it in the tradition of shooting without sound, just like they used to do back in the day.

HENRY:  What’s your next project, hopefully a Western?

TANNER BEARD:  We do have another Western in the works, called THOU SHALT KILL, that we’re working on, but in front of that we have a Christmas movie called JUST BECLAUSE, that I co-wrote with the co-director of this one, Russell Cummings.  Flipping the coin a bit, going 180 degrees and doing a Christmas movie, and jumping back in the saddle. 

HENRY:  Thank you so much.

TANNER BEARD:  Thank you; so good to finally meet you, man. 


RUSSELL QUINN CUMMINGS – Writer, Director and Actor

HENRY:  This is your second Western, one in Texas, one in Spain.  What are the differences.

RUSSELL QUINN CUMMINGS:  Well, there’s no rules over in Spain, so shooting a western is very different.  You’ve got people speaking different languages.  Where we shot at was the only desert in Europe, so it’s a lot like America in a way, but you know it’s something special when you’re there.  I can’t really explain it – it’s the lighting, it’s the spirit of all those old westerns that are there.

HENRY:  Did you grow up watching spaghetti westerns?

RUSSELL QUINN CUMMINGS:  I grew up watching all westerns. 

HENRY:  What are your favorites.

RUSSELL QUINN CUMMINGS:  My favorites?  Have to go TOMBSTONE, FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.  I love HONDO. 

HENRY:  I saw HONDO here in the Chinese a couple of months ago, in 3D. 

RUSSELL QUINN CUMMINGS:  Did you?

HENRY:  Any more westerns in your future?

RUSSELL QUINN CUMMINGS:  We have a couple in development.  Hopefully we can go back to Spain and do another one.


JOSE VILLANUEVA - Writer


Jose Villanuevo


JOSE VILLANUEVA:  Oh hi, Henry.  Nice to meet you.  I read your stuff all the time.

HENRY:  What was it like making a Western in Spain?

JOSE VILLANUEVA:  Actually I wasn’t there.  I wrote it out here in California.

HENRY:  I got tricked by your name – until you spoke I thought you were Spanish. 

JOSE VILLANUEVA:  I’m Cuban, I was born in Cuba, but I’ve been here for a long time.  (Writer/Producer) Danny Garcia contacted me, and we started a collaboration, and this script came out of one of our collaborations.  You know we love Spaghetti Westerns, so it’s our homage, and he wanted to shoot it al Almeria Studios, and so it’s really our love of that genre that got us to write the film.  So I’m very proud.  I haven’t seen the finished film – I’ve only seen a working print, so I’m very excited to see it tonight on the big screen.

HENRY:  Do you think you have any other Westerns in your future?

JOSE VILLANUEVA:  I’ve got three or four that Danny and I have been working on.  And Tanner actually has one of them – he actually wrote the screenplay from our story.  So hopefully in the next two or three years I’ll see my name on other westerns.

HENRY:  I know that Danny’s been putting together REVEREND COLT with James Russo – is that one of your?

JOSE VILLANUEVA:  That’s one of ours.

HENRY:  Jimmy Russo and I worked on films together when we were in high school.

JOSE VILLANUEVA:  Wow, that’s fantastic – I’m a big fan of his.  So when Danny said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna give James Russo our script,’ and he loved it, that was a thrill.  Hopefully we’ll see that film some day, get it made.


OLIVIER MERCKX - Cinematographer


Olivier Merckx and me


HENRY:  Is this your first Western?

OLIVIER MERCKX:  Yes; actually I did some music videos we shot at the same place, it was Western, but this is my first Western feature. 

HENRY:  What was it like shooting in Almeria?

OLIVIER MERCKX:  I love it.  It was the fourth or fifth time I shot there.  The first time was in ’96, and nobody knew this place.  It was really different at that time; no highway, no internet.  I was not especially a western fan – I saw Westerns when I was a kid, and I saw SILVERADO in theatre, but after spending one week there I became a western fan, a true one.  Finally I end up doing this movie there, and I hope I will do more there.

HENRY:  How did you become part of this project?

OLIVIER MERCKX:  It’s funny; because I love Almeria, and I heard about the Western Film Festival.  It was the first one.  I took a ticket and went there alone as a tourist.  And I met Danny (Garcia) there, he was the organizer.  And we talked, and he said, “I really want to do a Spaghetti Western here.”  And I said I’m really interested to work with you on that.  Give me a call.  Two years after, he called me.  “We had some problems; we were expecting to get more money.  But we’re going to do it anyway, because the actors are coming.  Are you in?”  I said okay, I’m in.  And I was not supposed to be the cinematographer.  I was just supposed to do Steadi-cam.  And like two weeks before we shoot, Danny calls me.  "We don’t have a cinematographer because he got a bigger job.  You want to do it?"  I said, yeah why not?!  And so I went there, and my biggest problem was that I didn’t have a lot of preparation for the project.  But I knew the place, and I was such a Western fan I said, I want to do it. 

HENRY:  How long a shooting schedule did you have?

OLIVIER MERCKX:  Only twelve days.  I know it’s crazy, and I never worked so hard in my life.  We had to shoot really fast, but that was the only way we could do it.

HENRY:  Was a lot of this story-boarded in advance?

OLIVIER MERCKX: No – nothing!  No storyboard, no shot-list!  And sometimes you had to deal with the people there.  Because we shot during the summer, during the tourist season, and they didn’t want to close the park for us.  I show you an example.  We are shooting the bank.  And in MiniHollywood, they have this Coke machine in front of it.  I said let’s move the machine.  They move it in front of the window.  What do you do, guys?  I need the window for the light.  “No more, buddy; we won’t change it anymore.”  Every day was a surprise you had to deal with.  Every day you were trying to find a solution.  Sometimes you are supposed to have extras, and they don’t show up.  That’s why I was in the movie, as the priest in the beginning.  They were supposed to have an actor from France, but he got a more interesting project.  So I did the lighting, set the camera, did the scene, then take off the costume and get back behind the camera.

HENRY:  Do you think that it helped, working for speed, that you didn’t have to stop to record dialogue?

OLIVIER MERCKX:  That’s all they did in the ‘60s, and it works in the spirit of Spaghetti Westerns.  But the funny thing, because we were shooting that in a tourist attraction, whenever we start to shoot, they put on the music.  But it was Morricone music!  So you’re shooting a western and great Lord, you have Morricone music! 

HENRY:  That’s what Leone had done --

OLIVIER MERCKX:  That’s right, for the  third one (THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY) he had the music already recorded, and played on the set. 

HENRY:  I was struck by how much you used light contrast, how you let things white out in windows and doorways. 

OLIVIER MERCKX:  I didn’t have enough equipment, and we had to shoot so fast that I can’t put flags around the actors because it took too much time, so I had to deal with that. 

HENRY:  But it really worked; it was a great effect.  That and the steady-cam, and some of the aerial photography gave it a very unique look.  You really used the desert so well.  Sometimes in films you get a quick look at the desert, and they zoom in on the character.   

OLIVIER MERCKX:  But it’s so beautiful there you have to use it.  For the big screen you have to see the beautiful landscape.  That’s what I like to see when I see a western.  Even in the western town we try to use everything.  Because we shot in two places.  We shot in Mini-Hollywood, which Leone built for FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE.  And the other one, Fort Bravo, it’s more like a studio, now.  It’s a tourist attraction, but the other one is more like Disneyland.  In Fort Bravo you can shoot every any direction almost.  In Mini-Hollywood it’s more difficult.  It’s still beautiful, but you have to be more careful.  You think, ‘I’m going to shoot there,’ and suddenly there are fifty tourists there.  And you cannot say, ‘Go away.’


JACK QUERALT - Actor


Olivier Merckx with Jack Queralt


HENRY:  In the film you play Bad Boy, one of Bobby Durango’s gang.  How did you get involved with 6 BULLETS?

JACK QUERALT:  I’m from Spain, and it happened because I shot a movie called ORSON WEST, also shot in Spain – a kind of homage to Orson Welles, who wanted to make a film in Spain.  Later on we went to the Almeria Film Festival, and one of the producers knew me, and said, “I want you to play one of the characters in my Western.”  And I was so excited, because with my father I was always talking the Sergio Leone movies with Clint Eastwood.  And I really as an actor was wanting to be a part of it.  Especially in Almeria and Tabernas, where they had shot all of those movies – hundreds of them. 

HENRY:  What was the bst part of doing a Western?

JACK QUERALT:  Just to be there, to feel that atmosphere when you are in Almeria, and you perceive all the people that passed their time there, all the shooting.  It was a big challenge, because I was wanting to be my best.  My father always said to me, “Son, you should do a Western, because your eyes get the right expression for it.” 

HENRY:  Has your father seen it yet?

JACK QUERALT:  My father watched it in the Almeria Film Festival.  He was real impressed.

HENRY:  How do you like playing such a mean guy?

JACK QUERALT:  The last movies I’m shooting in different parts or Spain and Italy, I’m always playing a bad guy.  But I want to change a  little bit, because my eyes and my expression can give a lot, and not just a bad guy; as a good guy too.

HENRY:  What’s the next movie we should be watching for you in?

JACK QUERALT:  Right now I’m shooting a scary movie called EVIL BEHIND ME.  We’re shooting in English, but it’s a Spanish film.  We shoot already the trailer last weekend, and I’m the lead character.  The shooting starts in April, for about a month.  Later on we’re going to present it at the Sitges Film Festival in Barcelona, just for horror films.   

HENRY:  There’s a lot of connection between Westerns and horror films.  People who work in one often work in the other. 

JACK QUERALT:  Actually this is my second horror film.  The first one was shot in Roma, SUHERIO, with Fabio Testi, one very popular actor in Italy.  Do you know him?

HENRY:  Absolutely.

JACK QUERALT:  I think he shot some Westerns in the past. 

HENRY:  In the seventies, yes. 

JACK QUERALT:  Exactly, like with Franco Nero, too – I know him.  My part was very short.  I was the bad guy, just five or six scenes; no more than this.  But good scenes are good enough. 


MIKE SCHNAPP – DJ turned Actor


Mike Schnapp


MIKE SCHNAPP:  I was lucky enough to play Deputy Johnny Green in 6 BULLETS TO HELL.  I’m somebody who grew up watching movies my whole life, and watched Westerns and Spaghetti Westerns.  To be honored, to be able to be any part of that was so interesting.  And rewarding, because I got to work with professionals and actors – and I’m no actor.  I’m just some dude who looks kind of crazy.  And Danny met me and said, “Hey, you’d look great in red underwear, with my hat on sideways,” and I said, okay.  And it actually happened.  I DJ’d for his film festival in Madrid, and he said, “Stick around and be in my movie!”  And to be able to come to Hollywood, and see the movie become a real entity at the most real theatre ever is a freakout. 


BAI LING – Actress


Bai Ling


Not involved in 6 BULLETS TO HELL, Bai Ling is none-the-less a Western aficionado, featured notably in the WILD WILD WEST movie.  She’s currently starring in and producing a Western, called YELLOW HILL (go HERE to see my Round-up article).  

BAI LING:  I like your shirt.

HENRY:  Thank you.  I’ve been covering YELLOW HILL in the Round-up.  How do things stand?

BAI LING:  We did the short film, and we want to do the feature film.  Right now we’re in the process of making it.  So I’m very excited, because it’s about this woman who comes back for revenge.  So it’s very challenging, very very fun.  Kind of like Clint Eastwood in the early movies.  But it’s more than that.  It’s really exciting.

HENRY:  Well, I’ve spoken to your director, Ross Bigley, and seen the short version, and I was very impressed.

BAI LING:  You like it?  That’s cool.

HENRY:  What other projects are you working on?

BAI LING:  I’m very excited for 2015 – I have many movies to present to you.  The first one is called THE KEY, based on a prize-winning novel.  I got the lead, which was written for a white actress.  It’s very provocative, very sexy, very sophisticated, so I’m looking forward to it.  Right now I’m shooting SAMAURI COP 2, which is action and comedy – I’m very excited about that.  


HIGH NOON AUCTION JAN 24-25 IN MESA, ARIZONA


Amsel's 'Shootist' art


Steve McQueen's MAGNIFICENT 7 gun



As it does every year, Brian Lebel’s High Noon Show and Auction presents an astonishing array of historical west and fictional west items up for bid.  With 410 lots to bid on, I can only give you a taste of the variety of their offerings, but if you go HERE , you can preview every amazing item – and buy it, for that matter.  There are pages of wonderful guns, but two stand out: Tom Horn’s Winchester Model 1894 30-30 (est. $125,000 - 175,000), and Steve McQueen’s MAGNIFICENT 7 prop shotgun (est. $12,000 -14,000).  There’s a beautiful letter and sketch by Charlie Russell to Harry Carey (est. $90,000-150,000), many other items from the Harry Carey Jr. estate, and Amsel’s original painting for the poster from John Wayne’s final film, THE SHOOTIST.  Among many items from the estates of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans is Dale’s charm bracelet presented to her on THIS IS YOUR LIFE (est. $12,000-16,000).  There are spurs, saddles, beautiful Indian beadwork, a Dentzel carousel horse, Andy Anderson wood carvings, Bohlin bridles and Ortega hackamores.  There are Kurt Russell costume and prop items from TOMBSTONE.  Why not buy yourself a piece of history?


Dale Evan's charm bracelet


Charlie Russell letter to Harry Carey


Kurt Russell's Wyatt Earp costume from TOMBSTONE


Tom Horn's Winchester





LISA MCNUTT WINS OUR CALENDAR CONTEST!



There will be much celebrating in Gilbert, Arizona when word reaches its inhabitants that local favorite Lisa McNutt has won the beautiful Western Calendar from the delightful folks at Asgard Press.  She correctly identified Max Brand’s most famous character as Dr. Kildare, Luke Short as the pen name of Frederick Gilley Glidden, and Zane Grey’s favorite sport as fishing.  If you haven’t won, you might want to break down and buy one for yourself.  Here’s their link: http://asgardpress.com/15-Westerns

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

Have a great week, and I’ll see you in the same spot next week!

Happy Trails,

Henry


All Original Contents Copyright January 2015 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved