ON ‘MAN FROM DEATH’ SET, PLUS CONCERT TICKET GIVEAWAY, AND DIRECTV DROPS INSP!

ON THE SET OF ‘THE MAN FROM DEATH’

In the second week of the New Year I got a call from Peter Sherayko, the man who, in addition to acting – he was Texas Jack Vermillion in TOMBSTONE –  runs Caravan West, his outfit that provides historically authentic weapons, props, saddles, the horses to wear them, and the men to ride them, for Western movies and TV.  He was working on a new film, THE MAN FROM DEATH, which was shooting at Veluzat Movie Ranch in Saugus, and he invited me to the set on Saturday, the 12^th.  It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

They were shooting in the Mexican Village set, which you’ve seen many times.  The last time I was there, two or three years ago, they were shooting the award-winning Western YELLOW ROCK.  It was kind of like old home week, not only being back on that set, but with YELLOW ROCK crew-members like Peter, who was doing props and guns, saddles and horses; Ardeshir Radpour, a talented actor and magnificent horseman was wrangling; and Christian Ramirez, who was armorer.

Also on-set was gunslinger Joey ‘Rocketshoes’ Dillon.  A multi-award winner for his six-gun acrobatics, he trained Josh Brolin to handle guns for JONAH HEX, Joseph Gordon Levitt for LOOPER, the cast of GANGSTER SQUAD, and many more.  For MAN FROM DEATH he was working with leading man Eric Lim on his fast-draw.

Eric Lim spins guns for teacher Joey Dillon

The composition of the crew was a bit unusual for a Western movie, for any movie really, and it’s encouraging to see how opportunity has opened up.  The writer-director and actor-producer are both Asian-American, and the boom, first assistant director and Steadicam operators were all women.

Peter introduced me to art director Lawrence Kim, who gave me the low-down on the story and the production.

Art Director Lawrence Kim gets out of  range

 before the shooting starts

LAWRENCE KIM:  The film is called THE MAN FROM DEATH.  It was written, and is now being directed by Steven Reedy.  It’s being produced by Eric Lim, who plays Strider, who’s known as ‘Death’.  It’s kind of a mystical, supernatural tongue-in-cheek spaghetti western.  It’s a proof-of-concept for a feature, we hope, and it’s going to be about fifteen to twenty minutes.  I shot a recent feature here, on the Veluzat Ranch, the Mexico town, and coincidentally, my friends here, all the core group, had done a very successful short film before.  Eric wanted to get everyone together to do this western.  The design is kind of post-Civil War, around 1875.  But it’s tongue-in-cheek, because cactus doesn’t really grow out of  wells.  Within our limited budget I’m trying to give the sense of a town; a general store, a cantina, a coffin-maker.  Things like that.  I’m an architect and a production designer.

Peter Sherayko

Lawrence got called away to the set at that point.  I haven’t seen the script, but the scene they were about to film looked pretty climactic.  Eric Lim as Strider, and his friend, played by Dennis Ruel, are sitting in the middle of the street, tied side-by-side to a cactus.  As Dennis explained it to me, “Strider has a list that the bad guys want to get ahold of, and it’s a very important, kind of magical list.  And I’m the bait, so to speak.”  And he’s also got a vest full of dynamite strapped to his chest.  And quite a crew of bad guys surround them: black outlaws, white outlaws, lady outlaws, Confederate soldiers, Union soldiers, and a Samurai! After several takes, they took a break, and I was able to talk to star and producer Eric Lim about how the project came about.    

Dennis Ruel models explosive fashions

ERIC LIM:  I worked with Steve Reedy, the director, about two years ago.  We did principal photography for a project called THE PORCH, which was more of social cause; it was a suicide prevention video.  It was very personal.  And now we wanted to get into a more narrative film.  So we put together a western, a genre we both love, and now we’re working on THE MAN FROM DEATH. 

HENRY:  And this is something you’re hoping will expand to a feature?

ERIC LIM:  Hopefully, yuh.  I think there’s a lot of opportunities these days, with the market kind of changing, shifting towards video-on-demand.  We’re developing the feature script concurrently with this.  We’re hopeful that the idea, the style, the story will resonate into something that can work in a little bit more of a long-form. 

Ticklish Indian gets a make-up touch-up

HENRY:  How would you describe the tone of the movie?

ERIC LIM:  I would say the tone is very edgy in the way, it’s very modern.  It’s taking a lot of the tropes that I think people really love of westerns, of spaghetti westerns, the iconography, the aesthetics, trying to set it in a more modern style of editing, pacing, music, and trying to bring that into a new audience, the kind of people who are reared on new media, or watch some of the big tent-pole action movies.  Our aim of the game is to capture some of that audience, while bringing some of the tropes and the style and the coolness of the spaghetti westerns that we love.

Transplanting a cactus

HENRY:  What’s your favorite western? 

ERIC LIM:  You know, I just watched HIGH NOON; I really really liked that.  I think it was a really strong story.  You know, you have a lot of that spill-over, this parallel between samurai movies and western movies –

HENRY:  Right, because the spaghetti western came out of the samurai in a sense.   

ERIC LIM:  They’re very synonymous with one another, kind of styled with those archetype characters.  They’re so many.  They’re some really cool modern ones like the remake of 3:10 TO YUMA, with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe.  There’s a great samurai movie called 13 ASSASSINS; they’re really great, you know?  I hope there’s a re-birth to those genres, this time and setting, where it was a little more lawless, with traveling warriors.  I think there’s something really cool about that.  Because everyone has to be armed, and everyone has to kind of adapt to  fighting, be self-reliant.  

Mike Gaglio, Joey Dillon, Ric Maddox

HENRY:  How do you like filming at Veluzat Ranch?

ERIC LIM:  This is amazing!  Because you just get in here, the way it’s set up, and it’s so immersive.  Especially being in front of the camera, there’s so little work to do to get yourself immersed in the setting.  You look straight down the main road; you see the border town church.  You look anywhere, you see the stucco, the southwestern look.  There’re no seams.  Pretty crazy that it’s just 30 minutes outside of L.A.  All the crew can drive home and sleep in their own beds at night; that in itself is really amazing. 

Larry Poole

HENRY:  You’re packing a couple of guns; what are you wearing?

ERIC LIM:  Right now I’m wearing the Schofield Wells Fargo; I think it’s a five and a half barrel; a little bit easier for me to spin.  I’ve been working with Joey Dillon, a great, great gun-spinner.  He’s really filled me in, and we developed the character, the logistics of me drawing out the weapons, and so forth.  We went for the Schofields because they have the top-loading aspect, as opposed to the Colt .45s, where you had to load one-by-one.  Since we have a fighting scene, we wanted it to just pop open and be able to cram the bullets in. 

John Wyatt Davis

HENRY:  Tell me, if it really was the old west, would you be more comfortable drawing from the hip, or under the arm? 

ERIC LIM:  You know, I like drawing from the hip.  For the shoulder rig, I see a very pragmatic value of being able to stand sideways, to minimize my surface area.  So I do understand that; I like that a lot.  But there’s something really cool about drawing from the hip. 

I next talked to Eric Ruel about doing his first Western.

DENNIS RUEL:  I’ve been wanting to do a western for a long time.  I’m a martial artist, with a bunch of these guys here, and I always wanted to do a martial arts western, and this is exactly what it’s gonna be. 

HENRY:  What are your favorite westerns?

DENNIS RUEL:  Tough call.  I always liked UNFORGIVEN.  I recently watched the original DJANGO, the Franco Nero.  In Italian – I didn’t want to watch it dubbed.  That was cool to watch.  Sam Peckinpah’s THE WILD BUNCH --  that’s the one I remember watching first, when I was younger, and that was kind of my idea of what a western should be.  

HENRY:  It’s a mind-blowing introduction to westerns.

DENNIS RUEL:  The reason I saw it was I was getting into Hong Kong action.  And John Woo was becoming a big name.  And I was reading articles about where he got his influences from.  And Sam Peckinpah was a big influence to him. 

As usual, the director is the most in-demand person on a set, so I just had a chance to ask Steven Reedy what his Western influences are.

Director Steven Reedy

STEVE REEDY:  Oh man.  3:10 TO YUMA, which is kind of recent.  But it’s an incredible movie.  Because Christian Bale’s character is fighting just to be appreciated by his kids – which is so badass.  And then of course you have Russell Crowe being such a badass on every actual physical level; and what a way to juxtapose it.  And Sergio Leone is incredible because he’s such a creative genius.  I think those are good ones that come to mind.    

There were a number of familiar faces among the cowboys on the set.  Actor and musician Mike Gaglio, from AMERICAN BANDITS – FRANK AND JESSE JAMES was there.  He had a role in the first season of HULU’s web western comedy series QUICK DRAW, and they like him so much they asked him back for season two – a nice surprise, considering they killed him off in season one.  I’d first met Byron Herrington, author of the non-fiction Western CAMPO – THE FORGOTTEN GUNFIGHT, on the set of THE LAST DUANE, and he tells me he, too may have a continuing role on QUICK DRAW. 

Ardeshir Radpour and Willy Clark

I’d last run into Willy Clark a couple of months ago, when he was armorer on the set of WESTERN RELIGION.  Since then, he and Peter Sherayko had been off to Old Tucson, Arizona, to work on HOT BATH AN’ A STIFF DRINK 2.  They’re already talking about making HOT BATH 3, and they haven’t even released HOT BATH 1 yet (I saw a rough cut, and it’s a lot of fun).  “Matthew Gratzner, the director, said this second one would definitely be a movie to go to a theatre to see.  Between the stagecoach, the whiskey warehouse shootout, the explosions, there were about two-thousand blanks.  We were going through 250, 300 blanks (a day); the Gatling-gun scene, and stuff like that.  All in all, everything worked out well, no incidents, except we did have one horse run over a sound guy, knock him down.  He went to the hospital; took twelve stitches in his chin, but he was back on the job the next day.  The weather’s what beat us up.  We were working some 6:30s to 6:30s, and we were down to the teens some nights.”  I told him when my wife and I were in Old Tucson a couple of years ago, it was 104 degrees.  “The time we were there, we were lucky to make the 60s.  Mostly it was the 50s during the day, and went down at night.  Down to the 30s, down to the teens a lot.  We’re hoping the third one comes around.  They might be coming to California in March.”      

Me with Rick Groat

The fact is, most of the folks making Westerns know each other, most are friends, and they’re quick to help each other when a few more buckskinned bodies are needed. Ric Maddox, star and a producer on the DEAD MEN Western web series was there to shoot and ride.  Likewise, Rick Groat was there, taking a break from his own film, currently in pre-production.  “I’ve been working on this one for a year and a half.  RIDE THE WANTED TRAIL.  I’m the writer-producer-director on it.  Right now we’re all set with it.  We’ve got Wolf Brothers Entertainment co-producing.  We’ll go into production on it mid to late summer.  It’s looking pretty good.  And most of these guys you’re looking at, you’re going to see in it.”

At 'Action!' all the cowboys run like Hell!

WIN TICKETS TO SEE ‘NEW WEST’ FEB 20th AT REPERTORY EAST PLAYHOUSE!

Hopefully you’ve noticed that we have a new sponsor here at the Round-up, the OutWest Western Boutique and Cultural Center in Newhall – just go to the top left corner of the Round-up, click their logo, and you’ll be magically transported to their wonderful store. 

They also sponsor the OutWest Concert Series at the Repertory East Playhouse , at 24266 Main Street, Newhall, CA 91321.  Coming up on Thursday, February 20^th, SCTV Presents The OutWest Concert Series: An Evening with NEW WEST!  Award-winning NEW WEST brings their own brand of Western ballads, story songs and cowboy swing to entertain you.  Raul Reynoso, Michael Fleming and David Jackson return to the Western stage with their engaging performance style!  Don’t miss this opportunity to enjoy Michael Fleming’s memorable original songs, the trio’s sweet harmony, Raul Reynoso’s world class guitar work and David Jackson’s show-stopping numbers.  Dress up!  SCTV will film, and you just may be on TV!  Tickets $20.  RSVP and Purchase tickets at OutWest 661-255-7087.

And one lucky Round-up reader will win a free pair of tickets to the concert.  To enter, first make sure you live someplace where you can actually get to the concert from (we have lots of readers in Russia, but I doubt they can make here).  Then send an email to  swansongmail@sbcglobal.net, with ‘New West ticket giveaway’ in the subject line.  Make sure to include your name, snail-mail address, and phone number.  And here’s the challenging part: Michael Fleming is Festival Director for a Santa Clarita event that will celebrate its 21^st anniversary April 24-27.  Make sure to name that event in your email!  Please be sure to send your entry by 11 pm Saturday, February 8th.  The winner will be selected randomly from all correct entries.  And below is a sneak preview of NEW WEST.

DIRECTV DROPS INSP!  NO MORE ‘VIRGINIAN’ OR ‘HIGH CHAPARRAL’!

(AND MAYBE WE CAN GET IT BACK!)

We DirecTV viewers who look forward to Saddle-Up Saturday had a rude surprise this Saturday  morning: no Westerns – in fact, no INSP at all!  The satellite company which recently made headlines when they jettisoned THE WEATHER CHANNEL has now dropped the station with the exclusive rights to a pair of the finest western series ever made, THE VIRGINIAN and THE HIGH CHAPARRAL, in addition to airing BIG VALLEY, BONANZA, and western-ish family shows like DR. QUINN and LITTLE HOUSE. 

To be fair, DirecTV says they didn’t ‘drop’ INSP.  A statement at their website says, “DIRECTV offers smaller programmers an opportunity to buy airtime on our programming lineup. Inspiration, channel 364, is one of the networks that paid DIRECTV to air its channel. Unfortunately, Inspiration decided to no longer purchase that airtime as of 1/31/14. DIRECTV did not drop the network, Inspiration simply decided they no longer wanted to purchase airtime. If you like classic TV shows like Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons, or Matlock, we suggest Hallmark Channel (Ch 312) or Hallmark Movie Channel (Ch 565).  If you like religious programming like Billy Graham, Campmeeting, and other inspirational shows, we suggest GEB America (Ch 363) or God TV (Ch 365).”

And if you like Westerns like HIGH CHAPARRAL and THE VIRGINIAN, I guess you can drop dead.  Does DirecTV have a point in claiming they didn’t ‘drop’ INSP?  Sure, but it’s a distinction without a difference: either way, we’re not getting the series we want, from a network that has proved its value, and has steadily growing popularity.  And while INSP apparently no longer wants to pay to have their network aired, they’re offering it for free to DirecTV.  At the same time, DirecTV is paying licensing fees to air the many unpopular ‘junk’ networks we all zap past on our way to the good stuff. 

I’m not saying the folks at DirecTV are bad guys – in fact, they’re one of the first TV services to add the new and very entertaining PIVOT network to their line-up.  But the only chance we have of getting INSP back on is by letting them know that we value the quality Western programming that is synonymous with INSP, and we’re willing to go somewhere else if we can’t get what we want.  Frankly, the way my DirecTV bill has been going up of late, we’d already been talking at my house about checking out DISH and the various cable companies. 

I was a school-kid when these shows were originally aired, which was also when STAR TREK began, and we had to picket and write angry letters and generally raise Hell when, year after year, NBC cancelled that classic show.  And we won for three years, not because we were pests, not because the network saw the error of their ways, but because NBC became convinced that there was money to be made off of us.  Today there is money to be made off of INSP fans, and money to be lost if DirecTV doesn’t bring the network back.  Please go to the following site -- http://www.iwantmyinsp.com/  -- and sign the on-line petition.  And call and register your disappointment at DirecTV’s actions, and encourage them to pick up INSP, by calling 1-844-GET-INSP.

‘LEGEND OF JESSE JAMES’ STAR CHRISTOPHER JONES DIES AT 72

A handsome, charismatic and talented actor whose star burned briefly but brightly in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Christopher Jones has died in Los Alamitos, California, from complications related to cancer.  The son of a grocery clerk and a mother who would die in 1960 in a mental institution, Jones had a tough childhood, and lived for some time in Boys Town.  His first big break in acting came in 1965, when he was cast as the title character in the Western TV series, THE LEGEND OF JESSE JAMES, opposite Allen Case as brother Frank. 

Though the series lasted only one season, it was peopled with strong casts and directors, and put Jones on the map.  This led to his starring in the feature CHUBASCO, where he met and married co-star Susan Strasberg.  In 1968, Jones starred in the greatest of all scare-your-parents-out-of-their-wits movies, WILD IN THE STREETS, where he plays a pop-star who campaigns to lower the voting age to 14, is elected president, and sends everyone over 30 to concentration camps with an LSD-laced water supply.  He went on to star in THREE IN THE ATTIC, THE LOOKING GLASS WAR, A BRIEF SEASON, and in David Lean’s second-to-last film, RYAN’S DAUGHTER (1970).  The latter was his biggest film, but a disappointment for Jones – reportedly Lean had another actor dub his lines – and during the filming in Europe, his friend Sharon Tate was murdered.  Jones said he had a nervous breakdown as a result.  He lost interest in acting, and refusing Quentin Tarentino’s entreaties, came out of retirement for only one film, MAD DOG TIME (1996), for director Larry Bishop, who had acted with Jones in WILD IN THE STREETS.

Fortunately, Jones had saved his money, and was a talented painter, which is how he spent much of his time.  His three-year marriage to Susan Strasberg produced one child.  He also had a son by Cathy Abernathy, and four children by Paula McKenna.

‘MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST’ RED-BAND TRAILER!

Quick warning – this trailer is a HARD-R FOR LANGUAGE!  Don’t share it with your kids unless you’d share the most coarse parts of DEADWOOD with them:  it’s that rough.  But it looks very funny, and beautifully shot.  Let me know what you think!

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

Have a great week, folks!  And if you’re a DirecTV subscriber, please take the time to complain about the loss of INSP.

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright February 2014 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

‘LONESOME DOVE’ 25TH ANNI, ‘SWEETWATER’ GIVEAWAY, ‘WHEN CALLS THE HEART’ SNEAK!

‘LONESOME DOVE’ 25^TH ANNI TO BE CELEBRATED AT AUTRY’S ‘COWBOY LUNCH’ WEDNESDAY

For a few months now, on the third Wednesday of every month, Rob Word has hosted the ‘Cowboy Lunch @ The Autry’, an informal 12:30 gathering of western movie and TV fans to chow down and then listen to “A Word On Westerns”, where Rob and his guests talk about the making of particular western films.  This Wednesday, January 15^th, falls in the month that marks the 25^th anniversary of the brilliant mini-series adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s finest novel, LONESOME DOVE.  Rob has put the word out to folks involved in that mini-series, its sequels and series spin-offs, and all of us fans will be chomping at the bit to see who shows up.

Rob Word has a strong track-record with this sort of event, and a history in the entertainment business.  He’s produced documentaries on Roy Rogers, was the creator and producer of YOUNG DUKE, a series built around John Wayne’s early films, and co-wrote and produced the film WYATT EARP: RETURN TO TOMBSTONE, which returned Hugh O’Brien to his most famous role, and was actually shot in Tombstone, Arizona, where the events happened.  Back in 1983, Rob, Pat Buttram and others created THE GOLDEN BOOT AWARDS to honor the stars of the genre, and ran them for a quarter of a century, until they ran out of people to salute.  Since they stopped in 2008, the search has been on to find a regular place for western fans and filmmakers to get together. 

Martin Kove, Robert Duvall, Rob Word

“We’ve been having what I call the Algonquin Cowboy Lunches at the Saddle Ranch Chop House for over five years now.  People keep asking when the Golden Boots are coming back, and they’re not.  When we did the first one in 1982, we didn’t even call it the Golden Boot.  It was a tribute to Bob Steele.  We had it at the old Masquers Club, and the fire marshal turned up and said we had too many people there.  We had to turn one hundred people away at the door.

“We did it for twenty-five years, but it kind of limped along at the end, because after Roy and Gene died, within 90 days of each other, and Clayton (Moore) died a year and a half later, it almost ended right there.  I said no, twenty-one years isn’t a good number.  Let’s keep it going until twenty-five, and end it big.  It’s hard to get the studios involved.  It’s hard to get corporate sponsors when you’re dealing with a genre that’s dying.”

After a few months, Bo Hopkins suggested getting together for lunch at the Sportsmen’s Lodge.  Bruce Boxleitner, Martin Kove and James Gammon attended, telling hysterical stories – that’s where the ‘Algonquin’ part of the name came from.  It grewe too large for The Sportsmen’s, moved to the Saddle Ranch Chop House on Sunset.  Wanting to take it to another level, Rob proposed a series of lectures at The Autry.  The Autry was delighted, because during the week what they mostly get is busloads of school-kids. 

The first event, this past September, was a tribute to the WYATT EARP TV show, coinciding with EARP regular Morgan Woodward’s 88^th birthday.  The next month was a tribute to THE LONE RANGER series, and Clayton Moore’s daughter Dawn attended.  “Last month was the weapons of TV westerns.  Hugh O’Brien was there talking about the Buntline Special; Johnny Crawford talking about the RIFLEMAN rifle, of course.  John Strong, a producer, brought the pistols that Wayde Preston had, from COLT .45.”    

The event is open to everyone, and don’t get there late, because last month, folks had to be turned away.  Again, the topic will be LONESOME DOVE, and in February it will be the HOW THE WEST WAS WON TV series.  Better start blocking out the third Wednesday of every month on your calendar. 

‘SWEETWATER’ CONTEST RESULTS!

We have two big winners of the SWEETWATER Blu-Rays!  The names of Devin Sabas of Crystal, Minnesota, and David Moore of Hemet, California, were randomly drawn from my black Stetson full of the names of all the folks who answered all of the questions correctly! 

For those who are curious, or who want to kick themselves for not entering, here, once again, are the questions, but with the answers…

#1.) Lovely January Jones may be best known for MAD MEN, but she is not a stranger to sagebrush.  She’s starred in two previous western films, one made for TV, and the other a modern-day Western.  What are the titles?

Answer: LOVE’S ENDURING PROMISE, a Hallmark movie from the pen of Janette Oke, whose WHERE GOES THE HEART series premiered on the Hallmark Channel last night; and THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA, directed by the excellent actor and director Tommy Lee Jones.  Tommy Lee, incidentally, recently finished directing and starring in the western THE HOMESMAN, co-starring Hillary Swank, Meryl Streep and John Lithgow.  A remake of THE COWBOYS, with Tommy Lee Jones in the John Wayne role, is in development. 

#2.) Ed Harris is also comfortable in the saddle.  Like January Jones, he’s done one western for the big screen, and one for the small.  He also did a film where he jousted on a motorcycle.  Name all three.

Answer: APPALOOSA, RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, and KNIGHTRIDERS, although one entry also informed me of a movie called WALKER, from 1987, directed by Alex Cox, where Harris plays a 19^th century American mercenary who became the President of Nicaragua!  I’ll have to track that one down.

#3.) It’s not Eduardo Noriega’s first rodeo either.  What was his previous western?

Answer: BLACKTHORN, where he co-starred with Sam Shepard, who plays Butch Cassidy, living under another name, and hiding out in Bolivia.

#4.) While villainous Jason Isaacs was never in a western before, he was in two films plotted in North America in the 18^th century, one set in Canada and one set in the United States.  Name them both.

Answer: BATTLE OF THE BRAVE and THE PATRIOT.

#5.) Stephen Root, who plays a very unpleasant character in SWEETWATER, has the longest western career of almost anyone in the movie, starting with a guest shot in a series in 1990.  He had a regular role in a modern-day western series, voiced Teddy Roosevelt once, did a modern western for the Coen brothers, and did two westerns with Johnny Depp.  Name any three of the six.

Answer: YOUNG RIDERS, HARTS OF THE WEST series, LEGEND OF TARZAN – TARZAN AND THE ROUGH RIDER animation, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, RANGO, THE LONE RANGER.

#6.) Finally, the original story writer, Andrew McKenzie, chose the name of Sweetwater for the town, as an homage to a classic Western movie.  Name it.  (Note: There are actually two legitimate answers to this.  I know which one Andrew intended, but to be fair, I’ll accept either one.)

Answer: ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, directed by Sergio Leone from a screenplay by Sergio Donati and Leone, or THE COMANCHEROS, directed by Michael Curtiz and John Wayne, uncredited, from a screenplay by James Edward Grant and Clair Huffaker. 

In ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, Frank Wolff is the doomed Brett McBain, the visionary who is trying to build the town of Sweetwater out of the desert.  Sergio Donati has been a mentor to Andrew McKenzie, and in recognition, and because of the obvious parallels in the stories, Andrew named his town Sweetwater in tribute. 

Nobody named the second choice, but I include it because, oddly enough, early in THE COMANCHEROS, Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams appears as a gun-runner named Ed McBain, who is travelling to the town of Sweetwater. 

HALLMARK'S ‘WHEN CALLS THE HEART’ EPISODE 2 – A SNEAK PREVIEW

If you enjoyed Saturday night’s premiere episode, Lost and Found, I can give you a hint about what’s coming next Saturday.  In Cease and Desist, the widows of Coal Valley, still recovering from the loss of fifty-seven men, mostly husbands, in a mining disaster, have a new and unexpected problem to face.  Their homes are owned by the mining company, and the women and children must move out to make way for new miners.  While some women accept defeat all too gracefully, others want to put up a fight.  Young teacher Elizabeth Thatcher (Erin Krakow)  use her expensive and sophisticated education to search for a legal loophole.  Miner’s widow Abigail Stanton (Lori Loughlin) tries negotiating a dangerous deal that will send the windows into the mines.  Will either tactic work?

DIRECTOR NAMED FOR NERO-STARRER ‘DJANGO LIVES!’

Joe D’Augustine, who worked in editorial on KILL BILL #1 & #2, DEATH PROOF and INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, and in the extended English-language version of THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, and who previously directed the noir-ish comedy  ONE NIGHT WITH YOU, has been named to recommence the Django saga that stopped when Franco Nero last played the role in DJANGO STRIKES AGAIN in 1987.  As Round-up readers know, the premise of DJANGO LIVES takes the ageing gunfighter to Hollywood circa 1915, where he is working as a technical advisor on Western movies, as lawmen like Wyatt Earp and outlaws like Al Jennings really did, and runs afoul of racketeers.  It’s scripted by Eric Zaldivar and Mike Malloy, the men behind the remarkable SCARLET WORM (read my review HERE  )

RUMOR CENTRAL – TARANTINO FINISHES 2^ND WESTERN SCRIPT!

THE HATEFUL EIGHT is said to be the title of Quentin’s next sagebrush saga, the title at least presumably an ironic response to the scramble to remake THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.  Deadline: Hollywood further posits that he wants Christoph Waltz and Bruce Dern to star!  They both did well for him in DJANGO UNCHAINED!

THAT’S A WRAP!

Mike Gaglio, me, Joey Dillon on MAN FROM DEATH set

I’m delighted to welcome a new sponsor to Henry’s Western Round-up, OutWest, purveyors of literature, thrilling video, fine music, elegant clothing, and just about everything else that relates to a Western life-style.  You’ll find a link to their on-line store on the top left-hand corner of the Round-up, and you owe it to yourself to take a look, and to visit their store if you’re around Santa Clarita way.  Next week I’ll be sharing my visit to the set of THE MAN FROM DEATH, and reviewing season one of THE RIFLEMAN, which has just been released on DVD.  Have a great week!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright January 2014 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved