PIERCE BROSNAN RETURNS
TO WEST WITH AMC’S ‘THE SON’!
AMC, whose consistently
high standards in Western productions have brought us the brilliant Robert
Duvall miniseries BROKEN TRAIL (2006) and the already much-missed HELL ON
WHEELS will present a new Western series in 2017. Entitled THE SON, shot near Austin, it’s
based on the acclaimed bestselling novel of the same name by Philipp Meyer, detailing
the multigenerational rise and fall of a Texas oil family.
Former Remington Steele
and James Bond portrayer Pierce Brosnan rode the range once before, opposite
fellow Irishman Liam Neeson a decade ago in the entertaining but decidedly grim
SERAPHIM FALLS. His character here is family patriarch Eli
McCullough, a role he shares with Jacob Lofland, who plays the character as lad. Though just 20, Lofland is an accomplished
film and TV actor, debuting opposite Matthew McConaughey as Neckbone in the
excellent MUD (2012), playing Kendall Crowe in the series JUSTIFIED (2014), Colby
Pitt in the miniseries TEXAS RISING (2015), and is opposite McConaughey again
in this year’s FREE STATE OF JONES.
Jacob Lofland (right) with Matthew McConaughey
in FREE STATE OF JONES
The character Bronsnan
and Lofland share, born on the day Texas achieved statehood, thus known as ‘the
first son of Texas’, who as a child was kidnapped and raised by Comanche. He maintains their brutal worldview when he
becomes a businessman. Also in the cast
are Henry Garrett, Paola Nunez, Sydney Lucas, and Zahn McClarnon, who plays
Toshaway, the Comanche war chief who captures Eli and raises him as a son.
I’ll have much more
information soon. Below is the very
brief clip I’m allowed to show you. This
LINK will bring you to a very interesting BBC interview with THE SON author
Meyer discussing his novel.
BEFORE THE WHITE MAN
CAME - DVD Review
New from Alpha Video is the remarkable silent BEFORE
THE WHITE MAN CAME (1920). This is the
first film I can recall seeing, set in the now-American West, where white men
figure not at all, because the story takes place before they arrived. Filmed during 1918 and 1919, director John E.
Maple had previously co-directed a documentary, 1918’s INDIAN LIFE, and both
films received special permission from the U.S. Department of the Interior to
film on Crow and Cheyenne reservations in Montana, Wyoming and North
Dakota.
The cast is made up
entirely of Crow and Cheyenne Indians.
In the story, Lone Eagle loves Singing Bird, and the two Crow plan to
marry. But the Sioux chief Great Wolf
desires Singing Bird as well, and when he can’t win her fairly, he kidnaps her,
and all Hell breaks loose. Written by
the prolific William E. Wing, whose 134 silent-movie credits include fifty-nine,
mostly Westerns, for legendary producer Col. William Selig, it’s a complex
story, and in addition to the expected and exciting Western action, there are
unexpected story elements such as feigned insanity. One particularly ‘modern’ surprise is that
Singing Bird, rather than waiting to be rescued, rescues herself in a series of
audacious moves. There are also striking
scenes shot in the snow. Much of the
film has a documentary feel, which is enhanced by the obvious authenticity of
the Indians’ clothing and rituals, and the stunning locations.
Of course, not
everything is authentic: if the white man hasn’t come yet, where did the
Indians get their horses? But this was
produced, after all, as an entertainment, not a documentary, and it succeeds as
that, and as a fascinating time capsule.
The print the DVD is made from is very contrasty, but it is definitely
watchable, and it’s presumably the best copy that exists. In the 1930s the film was reissued with a
music track and narration by Jac Hoffman.
The narration can be intrusive and wrong – early on it describes braves
going through a deadly ‘purification by fire’ ritual which is clearly just a
sweat lodge. But I wouldn’t advise
watching the film without the audio track, since any inter-titles explaining
the plot have been removed.
from REDMAN'S VIEW
Also included from
eleven years earlier – more than a century ago – is the D.W. Griffith Biograph short THE REDMAN’S VIEW. Shot convincingly in Mt. Beacon, New York, it
tells the story of peaceful Indians driven from their land by gun-toting white
settlers. The settlers keep one Indian
girl captive as insurance against attack, and her betrothed brave is caught
between rescuing her, and the urgent need to care for his ailing father in a
deadly ‘Trail of Tears’ situation. Starring
Alfred Paget and Lottie Pickford – Mary’s sister and former stand-in – the
moving story garnered praise from Indian organizations at the time and,
remarkably, is currently scheduled to be remade as a feature. The print quality is excellent. BEFORE THE WHITE MAN
CAME is available from Alpha Video
HERE.
SHADOW OF THE HAWK – by
Ron Honthaner – a Book Review
SHADOW OF THE HAWK is a
handsomely written Western novel whose classical style disguises its unusual
structure. A farmboy is callously
murdered. An aging mountain man recalls,
in his youth, being sold by his father as an indentured servant. A disparate group of individuals share a
stagecoach heading west. Each piece of
the story is beautifully told, and the sequence may at first seem random, but
it is hardly that. What emerges is the
story of three lifelong friends, the mountain man, a lawman, and a freedman who
was once a runaway slave, on a collision course with bad men, and a stagecoach
full of men who will become a posse.
Two of the friends must
reluctantly go against the third, and the blood will spill. And rather than being the generic, faceless pack
that posses are usually portrayed as, here each member is a flesh-and-blood
individual with personal reasons to take part.
It should come as no surprise
that Ron Honthaner should know how to tell a good story: he wrote a couple of
episodes of GUNSMOKE, and soon became Associate Producer on the final five
seasons of that classic series. In fact,
I can’t help thinking that the lives of the characters might have gone a lot
better if Matt Dillon had been around.
But it wouldn’t have been nearly as good a story if he had been. You can buy SHADOW OF THE HAWK, in Kindle or
real book editions, from Amazon HERE.
THAT’S A WRAP!
I apologize for being
over a month behind in my Round-up postings.
I’m happy to say the reason is that True
West has been keeping me so busy, assigning me more stories. I’ll try to not fall so far behind in the
future!
Happy Trails,
Henry
All Original Contents
Copyright October 2016 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved
