‘YELLOWSTONE’ RENEWED, ‘DEADWOOD’ RETURNING, ‘HIGHWAYMEN’ RESCHEDULED, ‘BUSTER SCRUGGS’ RECUT – PLUS TWO NEW WESTERNS RELEASED THIS WEEK!

HERE’S AN EXCLUSIVE – FIRST LOOK AT THE NEW POSTER FOR THE NEW WESTERN ‘ANY BULLET WILL DO’, WHICH OPENS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th!

‘YELLOWSTONE’ RENEWED!

The folks at Paramount TV are so delighted with the popular and critical success of YELLOWSTONE that they’ve given the Kevin Costner vehicle an early renewal – the 10^th and final episode of the tyro season will air on August 22^nd, and the cast and crew will be heading back to Utah and Montana shortly. Reactions of Western aficionados to the Taylor Sheridan series have been mixed – Facebook complaints run the gamut from improper calf-delivery to no likable characters to “LONGMIRE did it better” – but all gripes seem to end with, “…but I can’t wait for the next episode!”

The series follows the Dutton family, led by Costner’s John Dutton, and their struggle to hold on to the largest cattle ranch in America, and the attempts of a developer (Danny Huston) and an Indian activist (Gil Birmingham) to take it apart.  It’s the 2^nd most watched series on basic cable, following AMC’s WALKING DEAD.

What with production of YELLOWSTONE’s 2^nd season imminent, it’s fortunate that Costner’s next project, THE HIGHWAYMEN, is already in the can. Made for NETFLIX, Costner and Woody Harrelson star as Fred Hamer and Maney Gault, respectively, the legendary Texas Rangers who got Bonnie and Clyde. Originally announced for October, the date has been changed to March of 2019. The movie is directed by John Lee Hancock (THE ALAMO) from a script by John Fusco (YOUNG GUNS).

‘DEADWOOD’ ROLLS CAMERA IN OCTOBER!

Things are busy at Gene Autry’s old Melody Ranch these days, where WESTWORLD is moving out, and DEADWOOD is coming home. Absent since 2006, David Milch’s series that did so much to reinvigorate excitement about the genre, is returning to HBO. Everyone involved is being tight-lipped about story-lines, returning characters, and whether it will be a series or a movie. What is known is that it will be directed by Daniel Minahan, who directed the series in the past, and has been busy of late helming HOUSE OF CARDS and GAME OF THRONES.

COENS’ ‘BUSTER SCRUGGS’ GETS A TRIM, HEADS TO VENICE!

Tim Blake Nelson as Buster Scruggs

The Coen brothers’ Western series THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS will have its premiere at The Venice Film Festival, which begins at the end of August.  It was originally announced as an anthology series with a difference – six episodes with six intersecting story lines.  You can read the details about the stories and casts from my earlier coverage, HERE.

Of course, an international film festival seems an odd place to premiere a TV series, but the Coens, who brought you the remake of TRUE GRIT and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, have decided to recut the series into a 132-minute movie.  NETFLIX says they will be premiering BUSTER SCRUGGS by the end of 2018, but no word yet on whether it will be in feature form or episodic. Or both (that’s my guess).

INSP’S ‘THE COWBOY WAY’ RETURNS FOR SEASON 4 ON AUGUST 26^TH!

Booger Brown closing in on a steer

Bubba, Booger, Cody, and their wives and youngins make the move to Sunday nights with the 4^th season of INSP’s remarkably popular and enjoyable reality series, THE COWBOY WAY.  The real-life day-to-day challenges and adventures of the Faith Cattle Company partners are a perfect antidote to citified stresses. You can read my Round-up interview with Bubba Thompson HERE. You can read my True West article on the series HERE.

TWO NEW WESTERNS THIS WEEK: ‘A RECKONING’ AND ‘THE IRON BROTHERS’ – AND A THIRD, ‘ANY BULLET WILL DO’, ON THE WAY!

It seems like THE REVENANT made a deep impression on a lot of filmmakers. After years of the sandy, gritty, deserty oaters that took their inspiration from Spaghetti Westerns, independent filmmakers have decided to look to the mountains.

The two new Westerns that open this week were both shot in heavy snow; A RECKONING in Montana, and THE IRON BROTHERS in Idaho and Wyoming.  And at the end of the month, a third Western, ANY BULLET WILL DO, from the writer-director of A RECKONING, Justin Lee, is also snowbound.  Below is an exclusive-to-the-Round-up clip from A RECKONING.

A RECKONING is the story of Mary O’Malley (June Dietrich), a young wife whose husband is brutally murdered. It’s not the first unsolved dismemberment murder in the small community, and the nominal mayor, played by Lance Henriksen, hires a flock of bounty-men to catch the killer. When Mary, with no faith in that rabble, tries to sell her property for a rifle, a pistol, and a horse, to find her husband’s killer herself, only one townswoman, played by Meg Foster, will help.

June Dietrich in A RECKONING

As Mary searches, through stunningly photographed forests, in snow, by lakes, we see she’s correct in her assessment: the bounty hunters are more interested in hunting each other than the killer. The problem is, you never get a sense that she has a plan. She isn’t following tracks, isn’t looking for sign, rarely speaks to anyone, has no suspect. She just rides or walks through stunning visuals. She once makes a comment that she’s sticking to well-travelled roads, assuming the killer would do the same, to look for more victims. But what she travels doesn’t appear to be a road or even a path; she’s just stumbling between trees, until she stumbles upon her husband’s killer, and that’s when the action starts.  A RECKONING is being released today by SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT.

IRON BROTHERS features a pair of real brothers, Tate Smith and Porter Smith, as Abel and Henry Iron, two mountain-men struggling to make a living as fur trappers since their father died.  Lazy and short-tempered Henry blows up at traders who offer him an insulting price for his pelts. In moments, a man is dead and Henry is on the run. At the same time, the more even-tempered Abel has an unexpected run-in with Shoshone hunters. Suddenly a chief is dead, and the Iron brothers are running a gauntlet of dangers on their way out of the mountains, trying to reach the safety of civilization.

IRON BROTHERS

As with A RECKONING, there is a wealth of beauty, but a poverty of incident. As Mary slogged through forest and snow, the Irons slog through snow and more snow. When the action comes, it’s entertaining, but the brothers, despite being engaging at times, mutter a great deal of their presumably improvised dialogue. Many of the conversation scenes are framed ala Ingmar Bergman, and shot in one take. If you have great actors, well-rehearsed, this can be very effective. But if you have actors doing their first film, what you have is a scene that cannot be edited, either to speed it up, or to use the best parts from several takes. THE IRON BROTHERS is co-written and co-directed by brothers Josh Smith and Tate Smith, and is available on many platforms, including AMAZON, from RANDOM MEDIA.

TIM McCOY TEACHES SIGNING, HEMINGWAY CUTS OUT ORSON WELLES, AND MORE GREAT VIEWING FROM ALPHA VIDEO!

THE SPANISH EARTH

Back in the late 1930s, World War II was raging in Europe, but Japan had not yet pulled the sneak-attack on Pearl Harbor that would propel the U.S. into the fray. A group of American intellectuals, among them writers Dorothy Parker, Archibald MacLeish, Lillian Hellman and Ernest Hemingway, took the side of Spain’s democratically elected government, against the fascist Generalissimo Franco, and decided to finance a documentary to try and sway American public opinion. Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens shot the movie, and Orson Welles performed the narration written by Hemingway. But when Hemingway saw the finished version, he found Welles’ delivery too gentle and cultured – he rewrote the commentary, and recorded it himself. It’s a fascinating documentary, and a fascinating document, whether you are a history buff, or a Hemingway fanatic or, like me, both.

‘DEADLINE’ AND ‘INJUN TALK’

In 1948’s DEADLINE, Sunset Carson is a Pony Express rider on his last run. The Western Union Telegraph is putting the Pony Express out of business, and when sabotage and murder occur, Sunset seems a likely suspect. A decent entry in the Sunset Carson cannon, it’s written and directed by Oliver Drake, whose greatest service to Western movie fans was co-writing Yakima Canutt’s autobiography.

But of much greater interest than DEADLINE is a half-hour educational film sponsored by Standard Oil, INJUN TALK.  Apparently the last film directed by B-movie whiz Nick Grinde in 1946, at a powwow, Col. Tim McCoy and chiefs from several tribes tell the fascinating history of Indian sign-language. As a form of communication used then mostly by elders, there was real concern at the time that sign-language would be lost. And Tim McCoy was no casual signer. Before his movie career he’d been Adjutant General of Wyoming, lived for a time on the Wind River Reservation, and was considered one of the most articulate of its practitioners – he taught Iron Eyes Cody among others.

RIDERS OF THE WEST and THE BUSTER CRABBE SHOW

RIDERS was one of eight ROUGH RIDER films that Buck Jones, Tim McCoy and Raymond Hatton made for Monogram in the 1940s, movies that traded on the charm of Western stars who were getting a little too old for the rough stuff. They would have made more but, incredibly, Col. Tim McCoy was drafted – recalled to active Army duty at age 51. Shortly thereafter, tragically, Buck Jones, on a cross-country bond-selling tour, died in a fire in a Boston nightclub, The Cocoanut Grove, along with nearly 500 others.

As with the previous set, the best part here is the short, an episode of THE BUSTER CRABBE SHOW from 1951. Much like THE GABBY HAYES SHOW and a number of others, Crabbe hosted a half-hour program where he chatted with the viewers, and showed a truncated B-Western. The fun of this one, of course, is watching Buster. The film he shows is GUNS OF THE LAW from the P.R.C. TEXAS RANGERS series. Normally these chopped movies are hard to follow. Fortunately, P.R.C. Westerns tended to be so short on plot that this is probably the best way to watch it!

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

I hope you’re having a grand summer!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright August 2018 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

SUTHERLANDS ‘FORSAKEN’ BOWS, ‘LEWIS & CLARK’ HALT, ‘WESTERN RELIGION’ DISTRIBS, PLUS ‘HATEFUL’, 'LONGMIRE' PEEKS!

DOUBLE SUTHERLAND STARRER ‘FORSAKEN’ TO BOW AT TORONTO FEST

The long-troubled Canadian-produced Western FORSAKEN, starring father and son Donald and Keifer Sutherland, Demi Moore, and Brian Cox, will have its world premiere this September at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), according to Chad Beharriell’s Westerns Reboot site.  Directed by Emmy-winning ‘24’ helmer Jon Cassar; scripted by Brad Mirmman, the story of a son (Keifer) who tries to live down his shootist reputation, and reconnect with his recently widowed minister father (Donald), the Calgary-shot production looked as if it might never see the light of day.

Lensed two summers ago, on May 1^st, DEADLINE: HOLLYWOOD and others reported that the producers might not receive the promised $1.7 million in tax incentives because the Alberta Labour Relations Board ruled that the production had skipped town without paying some of the crew and suppliers. 

Keifer is no stranger to the saddle, having made an early and indelible impression in the seminal YOUNG GUNS (1988) and YOUNG GUNS 2 (1990).  In addition to the recent COLD MOUNTIAN (2003), father Donald starred in DAN CANDY’S LAW (1974) as a Mountie hunting Cree Indian Gordon Tootoosis for another Mountie’s murder.  

‘LEWIS & CLARK’ PROGRESS HALTED!

The lads who mapped the American West for President Jefferson are on an unexpected hiatus, until director John Curran, and cinematographer Rob Hardy can be replaced.  Shooting in Alberta, Canada had already been complicated by weather, but the HBO mini-series was plagued by artistic differences as well.

Produced by Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Ed Norton and others, the six-hour production is based on Stephen Ambrose’s brilliant history, UNDAUNTED COURAGE.  L&C stars Casey Affleck – Robert Ford in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESS JAMES – as Meriwether Lewis, and  Matthias Schoenaerts as William Clark.  Stephen Hill plays York who, despite being Clark’s slave, was a full member of the expedition.    

SCREEN MEDIA ARE CONVERTS TO ‘WESTERN RELIGION’!

WESTERN RELIGION, written and directed by James O’Brien, has been acquired Screen Media for a fall theatrical release, followed by a home video release.  The somewhat supernatural tale of a legendary Old West poker tournament made its debut at Cannes. 

I had the fun of being on-set, and being an extra in a poker-game in this one.  To read about my set-visit, go HERE.  To read about my adventures as an extra, go HERE.  To read my review, and post-production interview with James O’Brien, go HERE

FIRST TRAILER FROM TARANTINO’S ‘HATEFUL 8’!

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!”  Because that’s when HATEFUL 8 opens at a 70mm Panavision theatre near you!

FIRST LOOK AT ‘LONGMIRE’ SEASON 4 – THE NETFLIX YEARS!

LONGMIRE returns, with a new home at Netflix, on Thursday, September 10^th.   In my LONGMIRE article in the upcoming October TRUE WEST, I’ll be discussing the whole A&E/Netflix TV saga with LONGMIRE-creator Craig Johnson, and actor Zahn McClarnon, who plays Navajo Officer Mathias.

POSSIBLE ‘DEADWOOD’ FEATURE IN TALKS

A spokeswoman for HBO has confirmed that preliminary talks have begun about turning the ground-breaking Western series into a TV movie.  Wasn’t that the original idea when the series went off the air?  Timothy Olyphant, who starred as lawman Seth Bullock, just finished his run in the JUSTIFIED series, so the time might be right!

AND THAT'S A WRAP!

Yesterday would have been Robert Culp's birthday!  Have a great week!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

UPDATE! NEW ‘HELL ON WHEELS’, ‘GUNSLINGERS’ REVIEWS, PLUS FIRST LOOK 'ARDOR'; ‘WESTWORLD’, ‘HATEFUL 8’ UPDATES!

UPDATED 7-14-2015 -- SEE 'ARDOR' STORY!

HELL ON WHEELS Season Five – A TV Review

Looks like a cold day in Hell!

On Saturday, July 18^th, AMC’s HELL ON WHEELS returns for its fifth, and sadly final, season.  There will be seven episodes this summer, and then the final seven will air sometime in 2016.  The first episode of the new season, CHINATOWN, written by Jami O’Brien and directed by David Straiton, welcomes back Cullen Bohannan (Anson Mount), who has switched his allegiance from the Union Pacific Railroad to the Central Pacific, in the race to complete the Transcontinental Railroad.  The episode begins with a dream, and then takes off with a bang – literally – when Cullen, leading a crew blasting their way through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, gets more of a charge than he bargained for.

When the series first began, Cullen’s motivation was revenge for the killing of his wife and child.  He has a new wife and child now, and what drives him is the need to find them.  He has a new obstacle to his work, in that much of the crew is Chinese, and communication is difficult.  Moreover, while he’d had no problems working with his largely Irish and freed slave crews, they had leaders – Psalms, Elam Ferguson – who, while sometimes adversarial, were often helpful, and looked out for their people.  Cullen now faces a sinister new menace in the suave Chang (Byron Mann), the Chinese-American jobber who provides the Chinese labor for the railroad, and is in a struggle for power with Cullen. 

While season four had a high mortality rate among favorite characters, Cullen’s previous antagonists are back, from Southern Pacific Railroad chief Doc Durant (Colm Meany) to the Scandinavian you love to hate, Swede (Christopher Heyerdahl).  If the opener seems a bit choppy, it’s because so many story-lines need to be re-started, and new ones introduced.  With CHINATOWN (“Forget it, Jake”), HELL ON WHEELS season five is off to a promising and exciting start.  And for anyone who doesn’t remember just where last season ended, on Saturday AMC will be showing all of season four as a lead-in to HELL ON WHEELS season five.        

GUNSLINGERS Season Two – A TV Review

The docudrama series GUNSLINGERS returns to AHC – The American Heroes Channel – on Sunday, July 19^th, for a second season outlining the lives of famous badmen and good.  As with most post-Ken Burns documentaries, the format is predictable: a mix of narration, historic photos, expert commentary, and reenactments.  While this setup has becoming overly familiar, GUNSLINGERS added two variations which make it considerably more enjoyable and involving than most of the genre.  First, the leads in the cast of the reenactments are actors as well as reenactors.   In addition to knowing how to ride and shoot convincingly, overall they give credible movie-quality performances, often working with a higher level of script, direction, and production values. 

Second, each story is narrated by the central character.  Although the telling does not include an awareness that they are telling the story of their own demise, there is an amusingly arrogant, “Here’s the nonsense they said about me, and here’s the truth,” attitude to the proceedings.  It’s hard to know how factual and how fanciful the self-awareness is.  Some legends, like Tom Horn and Bat Masterson, wrote extensively (and often self-servingly) about their lives, but most did not.  But even if what went on in the heads of these men is largely guesswork, it’s based on fairly solid history, as opposed to the recent Bill O’Reilly fiasco, LEGENDS AND LIES, which interviewed some of the same experts, but then used discredited history and made embarrassing errors. 

The second season opens with BUTCH CASSIDY – THE PERFECT CRIMINAL, revealing a man much more akin to the Paul Newman/BUTCH CASSIDAY AND THE SUNDANCE KID version than the William Holden/WILD BUNCH take.  The telling is entertaining, the action is extensive, and the cinematic approach underscores both the similarities and differences between the movie version and the admittedly cloudy historical record.  Ample time is spent on the different theories of Butch’s demise – whether he and Sundance died in South America or made it back home – and family interviews and scientific details give it a satisfying legitimacy. 

The other five episodes of the season will be SETH BULLOCK – SHERIFF OF DEADWOOD (Timothy Olyphant’s character from the DEADWOOD series), BAT MASTERSON – DEFENDER OF DODGE, BASS REEVES – THE REAL LONE RANGER, BILL DOOLIN & THE OKLAHOMBRES, and DEACON JIM MILLIER – THE PIOUS ASSASSIN.  DEADWOOD fans will want to catch THE SETH BULLOCK episode in particular, as Robin Weigert, who played Calamity Jane in the series, and DEADWOOD creator David Milch are among the commentators.    

If you’d like a preview of GUNSLINGERS, three episodes from season one, Tom Horn, Wild Bill Hickok, and Billy the Kid, will be shown earlier in the day.

EXCLUSIVE TO THE ROUND-UP!  FIRST LOOK AT ‘ARDOR’: ARGENTINEAN WESTERN OPENS IN THEATRES & VOD FRIDAY JULY 17^TH!

Pablo Fendrik wrote and directed this tale of mercenaries who kill farmers and claim their land, until a mysterious man emerges from the Rainforest to save the kidnapped daughter of a farmer! The film stars Alice Braga (ELYSIUM) as the daughter, and Gael Garcia Bernal (Che Guevara in THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES) as the avenger.  Read my review in next week’s Round-up! 

WEDNESDAY’S ‘WORD ON WESTERNS’ HONORS WORTHY WOMEN OF THE WEST! 

At noon on Wednesday, July 15^th, The Autry’s Crossroads West Café is the place to be for Rob Word’s A Word on Westerns, where a delicious lunch is followed by an engaging discussion of a Western movie topic led by filmmaker and historian Rob Word, with guests who know the industry first-hand.  I’m not going to post a tentative guest list until I get the okay from Rob – already some expected guests had to drop out because of schedule conflicts or health concerns.  But Rob always gets an excellent panel built around an interesting topic, in this case, Women of the West.  Incidentally, the program is free, but the lunch is not, unless you can trick someone into picking up your tab.  By the way, as these events have gotten more and more popular, attendees have begun to arrive earlier and earlier to assure having a seat.  As a result, the rumor is that the doors will close at noon – so get there early!    

As a teaser, here is a great woman of the West, Jacqueline Scott, at a previous Word on Westerns luncheon, talking about working with Henry Fonda and James Stewart. 

JOHN BERGSTROM ON ‘WRITER’S BLOCK’ THURSDAY

Hosts Jim Christina and Bobbi Bell will be joined by Western singer/songwriter John Bergstrom Thursday night at 8.  A native Angelino, John, whose 4^th album is entitled BUTTERFIELD STAGE, performs a mix of traditional and original songs, with such intriguing titles as Throw Down The Box, Latchkey Cowboy, Red Rocks of Sedona, and St. Francis Dam, the last referring to the dam that collapsed and killed about 500 (again I say, “Forget it Jake.  It’s Chinatown!).  You can learn more about John (to help think up call-in questions) HERE.   You can listen to the show live (at ‘Listen Live 2’) HERE,  And listen to this or any previous programs on podcast HERE. 

REDBIRD’S CHILDREN OF MANY COLORS INTERTRIBAL POWWOW JULY 17-19!

Next weekend, Moorpark College will play host to an annual intertribal powwow that brings together many tribes, including native people from Alaska, Hawaii, the First Nations People of Canada, and Central and South America. All are welcome to the powwow, which is part  ceremony and part social, and is both a meeting place and a market place.  Most importantly, it’s a place where youngsters can learn from the wisdom and experience of their elders.  Among the many activities offered are singing, dancing, honoring ceremonies, arts, crafts and food booths, other nonprofit associations, tipis, story tellers, flint knapping, traditional craft demonstrations, and many opportunities throughout the weekend for people to experience the intertribal circle.

Friday night features an open flute contest, and Saturday is the Powwow Princess Contest.  It’s an outdoor, family friendly event, and a $2 per vehicle contribution is suggested.  You can learn much more HERE.  Moorpark College is at 7075 Campus Road, Moorpark, CA 93021, in Ventura County.    

ENNIO MORRICONE TO SCORE TARANTINO’S ‘HATEFUL 8’!

According to DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD, HATEFUL 8 director Quentin Tarantino revealed at COMICON today that Ennio Morricone, five-time Oscar-nominated composer, and winner of an Honorary Career Oscar, will score the new Western, his first original Western score in four decades!  Follow this link to a DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD interview at Comicon with Tarantino HERE.  : 

FIRST PEEK AT ‘WESTWORLD’!

The subject of the Comicon panel was the series PERSON OF INTEREST, but HBO producer surprised the assembled with a trailer from the upcoming miniseries WESTWORLD, based on the Michael Crichton/Saul David 1973 film about vacationers who indulge their fantasies with human-like robots in ‘safe’ environments.  That man in the black hat is Ed Harris, taking on the role Yul Brynner played, of a robot who develops a mind of his own.  WESTWORLD should start airing sometime in 2016. 

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

The August TRUE WEST should be on the newsstands soon.  My column this month, A Quarter-Century Tribute, celebrates the 25^th anniversary of DANCES WITH WOLVES!  I also review the movie YELLOW ROCK.  

Have a great week, and I’ll see you next weekend!

Happy Trails,

Henry,

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

MELODY RANCH HOSTS 20TH ANNUAL COWBOY FESTIVAL!

On Saturday and Sunday, April 20^th and 21^st, the Veluzat family’s Melody Ranch welcomed fans of western art, movies, poetry and culture to the 20^th Annual Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival.  The event, which started two decades ago as strictly a cowboy poetry festival, held in the Santa Clarita High School Auditorium, has grown by leaps and bounds.   When the 1994 earthquake toppled the auditorium, the Veluzat family offered the use of what had once been the Monogram Movie Ranch and then Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch.   It’s been the Festival’s home ever since, and that weekend is the one chance the general public has each year to visit Southern California’s finest western movie town.

Indian posing for visitors

 

Visitors posing for Indian

And boy, did they visit!  I haven’t seen any official numbers, but everyone I spoke to confirmed that it was the largest attendance on record – I arrived on Saturday at noon, and had to wait on line fifty minutes for the shuttle bus that transports visitors to the ranch.  Happily, the ranch is so big that once you arrive, even with thousands of visitors strolling along the famed western street seen most recently in DJANGO UNCHAINED, you never felt mobbed.  And while I waited, in addition to studying the program schedule, I read a 12-page booklet I’d been handed, called MOVIE MAGIC AT MELODY RANCH.  Written by Leon Worden, it gives the most clear and concise history of filmmaking and television production at the ranch that I have read.

 

 

Dodging horses and lariats, I spotted a new addition to the event (actually added last year), a display by the Art Directors Guild.  Walking across the porch, where artists sketched free while-you-wait ‘Wanted Posters’ of visitors, I entered the storefront and found a striking collection of film production art, including set sketches from BIG HAND FOR A LITTLE LADY; designs from DEADWOOD, THE MISSOURI BREAKS and SILVERADO; Albert Brenner’s costume designs for ZANDY’S BRIDE and MONTY WALSH; blueprints for a Mission building from THE MASTER GUNFIGHTER; and a three-dimensional paper model of the western street for DJANGO UNCHAINED.  

 

BIG HAND FOR A LITTLE LADY

 

Costume designs for ZANDY'S BRIDE and MONTY WALSH

 

Unidentified saloon design

 

Paper model of the western street for DJANGO UNCHAINED

 

 

At 2 p.m. I hurried over to the hangar-like building that houses the Melody Ranch Museum, which contains props, sets, vehicles and other production-related displays.  There by the big saloon set was the dedication ceremony for a framed display honoring two series that were filmed extensively at Melody Ranch: GUNSMOKE and DEADWOOD.  Writer/historian Julie Ann Ream, whose uncle Glenn Strange played the bartender at the Longbranch for many years, was coordinating the event.  Attendees included DEADWOOD regulars Geri Jewell and Ralph Richeson; GUNSMOKE – AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION author Ben Costello, and Inga Ojala, daughter of Arvo Ojala, the man whom Marshal Dillon would out-draw and shoot at the opening of every GUNSMOKE episode (Arvo was a legendary quick-draw artist, who taught Jim Arness how to shoot him).     

Julie Ann Ream with several men I'll need her to i.d.

 

 

A closer look at the GUNSMOKE and DEADWOOD display

 

Ralph Richeson, Ben Costello, Inga Ojala

 

Speaking of quick-draw artists, there I ran into quick-draw champion gunslinger Joey Dillon.  Joey trained Joseph Gordon Levitt in gun use for the recent LOOPER.  I asked him what his next film was.  “REACH ME.  It’s a cop drama, modern day, starring Thomas Jane, Sylvester Stallone, Kyra Sedgwick, and Nelly.  Tom Jane does some quick-draw gun-twirling, so they had me on-board to help teach him how; then they gave me a part as a gang-banger that he gets to kill.”  Sounds a little Arvo Ojala and James Arness to me.   I mentioned to Joey that I’d recently interviewed Thomas Jane (you’ll be seeing the interview here shortly) about his next project, MAGNIFICENT DEATH FROM A SHATTERED HAND, a western he co-wrote, and will direct and star in with Jeremy Irons and Nick Nolte.  “I’ve read it.  We did a lot of talking about it when I was doing this other movie with him, so we’ll see.”   

 

Joey Dillon demonstrating the sideways spin

Michael Biehn popularized in TOMBSTONE

I hurried back to the western street, looking in on the various entertainments and businesses that lined the boardwalk.  There were several places to have your picture taken in a western way, from the low-tech stick-your-head-through-hole-and-grin style, to a green-screen set-up offered by one of the event’s sponsors, Logix – Smarter Banking.  They also gave away a cool flip-book of a gunfight shot on that very street.

There were many choices for western clothes and cowboy hats, and one innovator had a vast collection of women’s shoulder-bags made from the long part of cowboy boots.  The delicacies offered along the way included kettle corn and jerky, which all cowboys know combine all the major food groups.

Shoulder-bags made from boots

 

Sampling gourmet jerky by Papa Nacca's

 

Ed Erlac

 

At the bend in the road I reached the Buckaroo Book Shop.  Drifting inside (I do a lot of drifting and moseying in western towns), I met western novelist Ed Erdelac, who writes the Merkabah Rider stories about a Hasidic gunslinger – you can learn more about him HERE .

Steve Deming

Beside him was cowboy poet Steve Deming, who told me that he became a poet out of necessity.  “When I was eleven years old, I found myself unable to afford a Mother’s Day card.  So I wrote a poem; and she loved it so much that she encouraged me to continue writing poetry.  So when I got into horses about thirty-five years ago I changed to the ‘cowboy poetry’ genre.”   His recent book THE SOURCE – POEMS OF THE TRAIL, won the Academy of Western Artists’ poetry book of the year award You can learn more about Steve’s poetry HERE.   

Peter Sherayko and Lenore Andriel

In front of the book store, a table was covered with all the different foreign editions of the DVD of YELLOW ROCK, the multiple award-winning Western shot at both Melody and nearby Veluzat Ranch.  Co-writers and co-producers Steve Doucette and Lenore Andriel were there – Lenore also stars in the movie, opposite Michael Biehn and James Russo, taking a break from writing their next western script, which might be either prequel or sequel to YELLOW ROCK.  To learn more about YELLOW ROCK, see the trailer, or purchase the movie, go HERE.  Coming soon is Randy Miller’s original score on CD.

 

Steve Doucette

 

Another Yellow Rocker, Peter Sherayko, who wrote the book – actually two books -- on western movie authenticity, was eager to talk about his next project, THERECKONING OF SCARLET WATERS , on which he’d just signed on as a producer and actor.  He’ll be portraying TEXAS JACK, the same real-life gunfighter he played in TOMBSTONE. 

Also there was actor David R. Booth, and White Wing Entertainment producer Terri Marie.  Terri was a protégé of the excellent director Irvin Kershner, perhaps best known for his STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.  But he also directed RETURN OF A MAN CALLED HORSE, and 35 episodes of one of the best western series of all time, THE REBEL.  Kershner tried to put together one more western film before he died in 2010, and now Terri Marie is trying once more with that project.

 

Barn facade, with soundtage B beyond

 

Continuing on the street, passing the Children’s Corral and the Rancho Camulos table – the historic ranch where the novel RAMONA was both conceived, and later filmed by D. W. Griffith – I passed through the open door of a barn, which turned out to be a façade, and soon found myself in the land o’ food.  There was a wide and appetizing array of chow, from burgers to Mexican food to Indian fry-bread specialties, but as usual I headed straight to the Cowboy Cultural Committee, where I got their famous peach Cowboy Cobbler, cooked in Dutch ovens, and got a ten dollar cup of coffee: every year they have a new tin coffee-cup design, and my wife could not be less pleased that I have found something new to collect and cram into the kitchen cupboard.  On the other hand, it comes with as many refills as you can drink for both days. 

brewing cowboy coffee

The focus of the festival has shifted more and more away from cowboy poetry to cowboy music, and next to the Gold Rush Food Court is the Melody Ranch Stage, the biggest of the four venues that present continuous music from its finest practitioners.  Among the excellent acts I was privileged to hear perform that afternoon were Native American musician Tracy Lee Nelson; The Band of the California Battalion, a recreation of a Union Civil War brass band; Fort Worth singer/songwriter Ginny Mac; and a pair of legendary and brilliant bands, The Sons of the San Joaquin and Riders in the Sky.  I didn’t manage to see Baxter Black, Don Edwards, Hot Club of Cowtown or The Saddle Cats, but heard great things about all of their performances.

Tracy Lee Nelson

 

Band of the California Battalion

 

Ginny Mac

Son of the San Joaquin

 

Riders in the Sky

 

I distract Joey the Polka-King in mid-song!

After scalding my throat with as many coffee refills as I could handle, I made my way through the Trading Post and Mercantile Row areas, checking out their wares and visiting the booths of The Autry, True West Magazine, the William S. Hart Union High School District and others.  I ended my visit by dropping into the Buffalo Soldiers exhibit.  It was a wonderful way to spend a day, and like I say, it only comes along once a year, so don’t miss it!  It’s $20 for adults, and ten for kids, and if you want to make sure you know when the next one is coming, you can visit their website HERE and register for updates. 

 

WESTERN FICTIONEERS ANNOUNCE ‘PEACEMAKER AWARD’ NOMINEES

The Western Fictioneers, an organization of professional western fiction writers dedicated to traditional western storytelling, has revealed their nominations for their 3^rd annual Peacemaker Awards.  The Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Robert Vaughan, who started writing novels at the age of nineteen, fifty-five years ago.  Under various names he’s authored about 350 books, roughly a hundred of them westerns, the first being a Jake Logan entitled CHEYENNE BLOODBATH.  Among the competitive awards, nominees for Best Western Novel are CITY OF ROCKS by Michael Zimmer, UNBROKE HORSES by D.B. Jackson, APACHE LAWMAN by Phil Dunlap, and WIDE OPEN by Larry Bjornson.

The Best Western Short Story nominees are Christmas Comes to Freedom Hill  by Troy Smith, Adeline by Wayne Dundee, Christmas For Evangeline by C. Courtney Joyner, Keepers of Camelot by Cheryl Pierson, and The Toys by James J. Griffin.  Incidentally, the last three nominees were all published in SLAY BELLS AND SIX GUNS, a collection of creepy Christmas stories published by Western Fictioneers.

The Best Western First Novel nominees are HIGH STAKES by Chad Strong, WIDE OPEN by Larry Bjornson, RED LANDS OUTLAW – THE BALLAD OF HENRY STARR by Phil Truman, LAST STAND AT BITTER CREEK by Tom Rizzo, and SIPPING WHISKEY IN A SHALLOW by Mark Mitten.  The winners will be announced on June 1^st.  You can learn more about the Western Fictioneers HERE

 

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!

And speaking of TCM (okay, nobody was), have I mentioned that the segment I was interviewed for is now viewable here?








THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

Built by cowboy actor, singer, baseball and TV entrepreneur Gene Autry, and designed by the Disney Imagineering team, the Autry is a world-class museum housing a fascinating collection of items related to the fact, fiction, film, history and art of the American West. In addition to their permanent galleries (to which new items are frequently added), they have temporary shows. The Autry has many special programs every week -- sometimes several in a day. To check their daily calendar, CLICK HERE. And they always have gold panning for kids every weekend. For directions, hours, admission prices, and all other information, CLICK HERE.



HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

Across the street from the Hollywood Bowl, this building, once the headquarters of Lasky-Famous Players (later Paramount Pictures) was the original DeMille Barn, where Cecil B. DeMille made the first Hollywoodwestern, The Squaw Man. They have a permanent display of movie props, documents and other items related to early, especially silent, film production. They also have occasional special programs. 2100 Highland Ave., L.A. CA 323-874-2276. Thursday – Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. $5 for adults, $3 for senior, $1 for children.



WELLSFARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

This small but entertaining museum gives a detailed history of Wells Fargo when the name suggested stage-coaches rather than ATMS. There’s a historically accurate reproduction of an agent’s office, an original Concord Coach, and other historical displays. Open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Admission is free. 213-253-7166. 333 S. Grand Street, L.A. CA.


WESTERNS ALL OVER THE DIAL


INSP’s SADDLE-UP SATURDAY features a block of rarely-seen classics THE VIRGINIAN and HIGH CHAPARRAL, along with BONANZA and THE BIG VALLEY. On weekdays they’re showing LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, BIG VALLEY, HIGH CHAPARRAL and DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN.


ME-TV’s Saturday line-up includes THE REBEL and WAGON TRAIN. On weekdays it’s DANIEL BOONE, GUNSMOKE, BONANZA, BIG VALLEY, WILD WILD WEST, and THE RIFLEMAN.


RFD-TV, the channel whose president bought Trigger and Bullet at auction, have a special love for Roy Rogers. They show an episode of The Roy Rogers Show on Sunday mornings, a Roy Rogers movie on Tuesday mornings, and repeat them during the week.


WHT-TV has a weekday afternoon line-up that’s perfect for kids, featuring LASSIE, THE ROY ROGERS SHOW and THE LONE RANGER.


TV-LAND angered viewers by dropping GUNSMOKE, but now it’s back every weekday, along with BONANZA.

AMC usually devotes much of Saturday to westerns, often with multi-hour blocks of THE RIFLEMAN, and just this week began running RAWHIDE as well.  Coming soon, LONESOME DOVE and RETURN TO LONESOME DOVE miniseries!


THE WRAP-UP

That’s it for this week’s Round-up!  I’ve been attending the TCM Classic Film Festival for the last four days, and I’ll have plenty about that next week, as well as my review of the new DVD restoration of THE GRAND DUEL, and hopefully my review of the new Pat Buttram biography.

Happy Trails,

Henry

 

All Contents Copyright April 2013 by Henry C. Parke – All Right Reserved