TWO BIG WESTERNS FOR CHRISTMAS, PLUS BIG GENE AUTRY GIVEAWAY, NEW FONDA/SORBO OATER, GLENN FORD WEST FEST, WE LOSE CHRIS & PIERRE

2 BIG WESTERNS – THE REVENANT & HATEFUL 8 – TO OPEN CHRISTMAS DAY!

We’re getting a wonderful pair of gifts in our stocking this December 25th: two big Westerns opening on Christmas Day!  The last time this happened, Tom Mix was going up against William S. Hart (don’t do research – I’m making it up!)!  THE REVENANT, starring Leo DiCaprio and Thomas Hardy, is the true story of Hugh Glass, a mountain man who was mauled by a bear and left for dead.  It’s written and helmed by Mexican-born Alejandro Gonzalez Inarruti, who swept the Oscars this year, winning Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay for BIRDMAN.  A previous version of the Hugh Glass story, MAN IN THE WILDERNESS (1971), starred Richard Harris and John Huston, directed by Richard Sarafian from Jack DeWitt’s script. 

While REVENANT had long been heralded as a Yuletide release, just this Friday the Weinstein Company announced that Quentin Tarantino’s THE HATEFUL 8, will also open on December 25^th.  Featuring a huge cast of Tarantino favorites – Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Walter Goggins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bruce Dern, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, et al – it’s an all-star ‘bunch-of-people-caught-in-a-snowstorm’ Western.  The writer/director cheerfully revealed that his inspiration was the sort of BONANZA/BIG VALLEY/HIGH CHAPARRAL episodes that would happen mid-season when budgets were tight, and plots would be crafted around a bunch of people caught in a small place.  In spite of those close quarters, the Christmas premiere will be exclusively in 70 mm – the largest 70 mm opening in at least two decades!  It’s been said that Tarantino’s determination to release the movie on actual film, in 70 mm, is what lead Kodak to reverse their decision to shut down their film-stock production entirely.  HATEFUL 8 will broaden its release to crummy new digital theatres on January 8^th. 

I’M IN THE NEW ‘TRUE WEST’ PANCHO VILLA ISSUE!

I’m very proud that my first article as TRUE WEST MAGAZINE’s new Film Editor is in the July ‘All Pancho Villa Issue’, which has just come out.  No surprise, my piece is about the best and worst of the movies about Villa.  Buy several copies today! 

GENE AUTRY FANS!  ENTER THIS GREAT FREE GIVEAWAY!

Gene Autry Entertainment wants to get a verification check-mark on its Youtube channel, and increase their Google + numbers, and they’re giving away THREE great collections of Gene Autry merchandise and collectibles to do it!  Each collection contains DVDs, CDs, books, scarves – each is worth well over a C-note – and to enter to win one, all you have to do is click HERE to subscribe to the Official Gene Autry Youtube Channel, then come back and click HERE to be a Google + follower!  Everyone who does so will be automatically entered to win !  Do it soon – the giveaway ends on June 19^th!

GLENN FORD WESTERNS AND CUSTER FLICKS AT THE NEW BEVERLY!

June is a great month for Westerns at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema!  Sunday and Monday, June 14^th & 15^th , a rarely seen pair of Westerns about Custer will screen, THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (1941), starring Errol Flynn as Custer, with Olivia DeHavilland, directed by Raoul Walsh; and CUSTER OF THE WEST (1967), starring Robert Shaw as Custer, with Mary Ure and Ty Hardin, and directed by Robert Siodmak. (That latter film was shot in Spain at the height of the spaghetti western Renaissance, and Ty Hardin told me some very interesting stuff about the making of the film – including what director was fired the first day.  Read that interview HERE )  

On Wednesday and Thursday, June 17^th & 18^th see Glenn Ford in Edna Ferber’s CIMARRON (1960), starring Glenn Ford, directed by Anthony Mann.  Then on Wednesday and Thursday, Jne 24^th & 25^th, catch the Glenn Ford double bill THE FASTEST GUN ALIVE (1956), and the original Elmore Leonard’s 3:10 TO YUMA (1957), directed by Delmer Daves, and co-starring Van Heflin.  Then Sunday, June 28^th through Saturday, July 4^th, you have a full week to catch Sergio Leone’s masterpiece ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.  Get all the details HERE.

JOIN ‘COPS & COWBOYS’ JULY 18^TH AT LEONIS ADOBE!

After the tremendous success of last year’s event, the annual ‘Cops & Cowboys’ fundraiser for The Mid-Valley Community Police Council will again be held at the historic Leonis Adobe Museum in Calabasas, CA.  Built in 1844 as the home to a Basque farmer and his bride, daughter of a Chumash Chief, the Adobe is one of the oldest existing buildings in Southern California, and the C&C is a wonderful time to visit it!  You can learn about ranch life, bid at the regular and silent auctions, play blackjack and poker, have a few drinks in the saloon, enjoy barbecue, country music, line dancing, and more!  Tickets are $150 each ($50 if you’re in the LAPD), and there are opportunities for sponsorship, buying tables, and buying space in the program.  To learn more, please call 818-994-4661, FAX 818-994-6181, email info@theproperimageevents.com or visit http://www.midvalleypolicecouncil.org/event/cops-cowboys-july-18th-2015/ .

SOLIMA’S ‘BIG GUNDOWN’ INTRO’D BY JOE DANTE JUNE 18 AT LINWOOD DUNN

As part of their THIS IS WIDESCREEN series, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will screen Sergio Solima’s THE BIG GUNDOWN, starring Lee Van Cleef, Thursday, June 18^th, at the Linwood Dunn Theatre in the Mary Pickford Center, 1313 Vine Street, Hollywood, CA 90028.  (Note, this is the Hollywood venue, not the Academy headquarters in Beverly Hills).  It’s a very unusual, well-told story, with lawman-turned-politician Van Cleef on the hunt for a degenerate criminal (Tomas Milian) who may be not as bad as the men who want him dead.  This is the new restoration from Grindhouse Releasing which Courtney Joyner and I got to see when we were doing audio commentary for their BluRay release, and it looks spectacular.  The ticket price range is from $3 to $5, and you can learn more about the film, and order tickets HERE  

If you’d like to buy the fabulous 4-disc set from Grindhouse, including a CD of the brilliant Ennio Morricone soundtrack, go HERE .

Also featured with THE BIG GUNDOWN at the Linwood Dunn is the martial arts film DRAGON INN (1967), written and directed by King Hu.

FONDA & SORBO STAR IN ‘JESSE JAMES: LAWMAN’

Based on history you may have missed, outlaw Jesse James pins on a badge, working for a lawman who figures you need the help of a bad man to catch a very bad man in JESSE JAMES: LAWMAN, coming soon from Barnholtz Entertainment (read my interview with producer Barry Barnholtz HERE ) .  Starring Andrew Galligan as Jesse, he’s joined by Peter Fonda as the mayor, and Kevin Sorbo as J. Frank Dalton.  Director Bret Kelly and screenwriter Janet Hetherington collaborated last year on another Western, THE LAST OUTLAW.     

FAREWELL PIERRE BRICE AND CHRISTOPHER LEE

One day apart, we lost two of the true icons of International film.   On June 6^th, Pierre Brice passed away at age 86.  Though French, he gained undying fame in German cinema playing a fictional American, Winnetou, the Apache Chief created by the father of the German Western, Karl May.  Starting in 1962 with THE TREASURE OF SILVER LAKE, Brice would play the role eleven times in the original series of films, often opposite American and British stars like Lex Barker, Herbert Lom, Stewart Granger, and Rod Cameron, and indelibly etched his persona as the heroic, dignified and stunningly handsome chief upon the consciousness of non-English-speaking cinema.  He played many other characters, including Zorro twice, but he will always be Winnetou to his loyal fans. 

On June 7^th, Christopher Lee passed away at the age of 93.  To a younger audience he was Count Dooku in the STAR WARS films, or Saruman in the LORD OF THE RINGS movies, but to us grown-ups he will always be Dracula, a role he first played in 1958’s HORROR OF DRACULA.  For Hammer and other studios he would play every conceivable horror-related character; Fu Manchu five times, and he had the unique distinction of playing Sherlock Holmes twice, as well as his brother Mycroft, and Henry Baskerville.  His imposing form, chiseled features, and deadly stare, combined with his inherent dignity and sense of humor, made all of his screen work a delight, sometimes the only thing worth watching in his films.  For those of you with an interest in astrology, someone on Facebook noted that he and Vincent Price shared the same birthday, May 27^th, and Peter Cushing’s birthday was May 26^th.  Not known for a lot of Western roles, he was very effective as the gunsmith in HANNIE CAULDER (1971), and played a Grand Duke opposite James Arness in the HOW THE WEST WAS WON TV series.  On Monday, June 22^nd, TCM will air eight of Lee’s finest films.  Both men shall be sorely missed around the world. 

THAT’S A WRAP!

TEXAS RISING ends today (or next week if you, like me, DVR almost everything you watch).  Let me know what you think of the conclusion (not that I’ll read it for a week), and tell me if you’re enjoying STRANGE EMPIRE so far.  And who’s been watching Hallmark’s WHEN CALLS THE HEART?  One of the downsides of having so many channels is that you lose track of stuff on channels you don’t regularly watch.  How far are we into season two?  Have a great week!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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