HELP FOR SPAGHETTI-CHALLENGED ‘DJANGO’ FANS!

I’ve loved Westerns for as long as I can recall, but I must admit, somewhat sheepishly, that I was not always a fan of Spaghetti Westerns.  It wasn’t that I disliked them – I was too much of a snob to give them a chance.  (Ironically, I had seen and enjoyed several, and not realized where they were made.)   My great awakening came with a wonderful show at The Autry Museum of Western Heritage in 2005, ONCE UPON A TIME IN ITALY, the first major museum show anywhere on the films of Sergio Leone.   

After I devoured all of the Leones, I went to the fabled video store Eddie Brandt’s Saturday Matinee http://www.ebsmvideo.com HERE , which has a tremendous selection of DVDs and VHS Westerns for rent and for sale, and asked for recommendations.  They turned me on to DJANGO, THE HILLS RUN RED, and many others.  It’s seven years later, and I’m an addict of the pasta genre.

Despite my reputation, I occasionally speak to people who are not particularly Western movie fans, and it’s always great to introduce them to this wonderful genre.  Coming up to the release of DJANGO UNCHAINED, I’ve talked to many Tarantino fans, not normally western-watchers, who wanted to be emotionally prepared for the film.  Others have seen it, been intrigued by the genre, and are eager to see more.  For them, and for those of us who have seen a lot, but would like some suggestions of further fun, I’ve asked several Spaghetti Western aficionados from around the country which films they would recommend – and I’m asking you, the Round-up reader, to send me your suggestions. 

I’ll start the suggestions by saying that seeing the films of Sergio Leone (FISTFUL OF DOLLARS; FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE; THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY; ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, DUCK, YOU SUCKER, and MY NAME IS NOBODY) is a must, and the films of Sergio Corbucci (DJANGO, et al) are a must as well.

Here is Quentin Tarantino’s top twenty list (with my comments after some titles):

1)      THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966), starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach, and as with all the Leones, with a brilliant Ennio Morricone score

2)      FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965), starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef

3)      DJANGO (1966), starring the European icon of Spaghetti Westerns, Franco Nero

4)      A PROFESSIONAL GUN/THE MERCENARY (1968), directed by Corbucci, starring Franco Nero, Jack Palance and Tony Musante

5)      ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968), Leone’s epic Western, starring Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, and Jason Robards

6)      A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964), the one that started it all in the U.S., starring Clint Eastwood

7)      DAY OF ANGER (1967), starring Lee Van Cleef and Giuliano Gemma

8)      DEATH RIDES A HORSE (1967), starring Lee Van Cleef and John Philip Law.  This is on practically everyone’s list.  With a great Ennio Morricone score.  I’m told Wild East Productions has the very best quality version.

9)      NAVAJO JOE (1966), directed by Sergio Corbucci, starring Burt Reynolds and the great Aldo Sambrell (read a fascinating interview with Sambrell in Courtney Joyner’s excellent book, THE WESTERNERS)

10)   THE RETURN OF RINGO (1965), starring Giuliano Gemma

11)   THE BIG GUNDOWN (1966), starring Lee Van Cleef, directed by the 3^rd Sergio, Sergio Sollima

12)    A PISTOL FOR RINGO (1965), starring Giuliano Gemma

13)    THE DIRTY OUTLAWS (1967), starring Andrea Giordana (as Chip Gorman)

14)    THE GREAT SILENCE (1968), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Frank Wolff, Vonetta McGee, directed by Sergio Corbucci.  Instead of the usual sun-parched desert, his one takes place during a blizzard, and concerns a  deaf mute gunman facing a string of bounty-hunters.

15)    THE GRAND DUEL (1972), starring Lee Van Cleef

16)    SHOOT THE LIVING AND PRAY FOR THE DEAD (1971), starring Klaus Kinski

17)    TEPAPA (1969), starring Tomas Milian and Orson Welles.  Yes, that Orson Welles.

18)   THE UGLY ONES (1967), starring Tomas Milian

19)    DJANGO, PREPARE A COFFIN/VIVA DJANGO (1968), starring Terence Hill.  Starting out as Mario Girroti, playing villains in Karl May German Westerns, when Franco Nero wouldn’t play Django again, Hill was made up as a dead ringer for Nero, and became Django.  He’d soon become a huge star in the TRINITY films, and still makes Westerns today – he starred in TRIGGERMAN and DOC WEST back-to-back in 2009!  

20)  GATLING GUN/DAMNED HOT DAY OF FIRE (1968), starring Robert Woods and John Ireland, and some of the best work by both men – the Dorado Films DVD is fantastic!

Rick Knight, of DORADO FILMS http://doradofilms.com/index.php HERE and FIRST LINE http://firstlinefilms.com/index.php HERE provided me with the Tarantino list, “…seven of which we at First Line own the rights to.” DORADO and FIRST LINE specialize in European action films of all sorts, including Spaghetti Westerns, meticulously restored.  Dorado has an innovative ‘screener’ program at their website – you can watch some of their movies on-line for free, to help them decide which ones are worth releasing. “We just showed ANY GUN CAN PLAY and GATLING GUN at the Spaghetti Fest in the Clinton Street Theater (in Portland, Oregon) last weekend and plan on showing more of our catalog of 65 to 70 titles around the country as we pick up more theaters who want to participate.

“My favorites for are ANY GUN CAN PLAY (1967, directed by Enzo Castallari, starring Edd Byrnes, George Hilton and Gilbert Roland), which contains all the key elements of a classic Spaghetti Western: greed, bounty killers, double and triple crosses, train robbery, military verses rebels or bandits, flighty women and of course unlikely partnerships. The opening scene has the three mock-ups of Clint Eastwood, Franco Nero, and Lee Van Cleef, all who get shot down by a bounty hunter they call ‘the stranger.’  Another film doing really good on our screeners is Anthony Steffen and Mark Damon in A TRAIN TO DURANGO (1968).  A PISTOL FOR RINGO is a great film with Fernando Sancho and Giuliano Gemma battling, one man against a bandit army. DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST, DJANGO, GATLING GUN, SEVEN GUNS FOR THE MCGREGGRORS all make my list, along with THOMPSON 1880, which includes the history angle of the Gatling and Thompson guns.  They’re always great.  The impossible odds of the lone gunman is usually found in all the genre, making them a man’s favorite and of course the usual love story, of a women falling for the bad boy.”

Wanting the input of someone who was actually involved in the making of the films, I contacted Spaghetti Western star Robert Woods, told him GATLING GUN was one of my favorites, and asked him what his favorites were, among his own works and others. “Good of you to include GATLING GUN, it is fun and one of my favorites. Others include SEVEN GUNS FOR THE MCGREGORS, BLACK JACK, MY NAME IS PECOS, FOUR DOLLARS WORTH OF VENGEANCE, STARBLACK and EL PURO.  There are over forty more Westerns to choose from...including some that I liked and some I didn't... and a bunch of others, including some Italian Comedy, Adventure, the Jess Franco films I did and of course, BATTLE OF THE BULGE.  My favorite Westerns of the past are VERA CRUZ and THE WILD BUNCH.  My favorite Italian Westerns made by other actors include almost everything Tomas Milian did and Clint's THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.”   

I asked C. Courtney Joyner, screenwriter, director and author of THE WESTERNERS, a fascinating book of interviews with Western filmmakers and stars, for his ideas.  He told me he’d worked up a list for his column in the Western Writers of America Round-up.  “I mentioned, in no particular order: CUT THROATS NINE (1972) , HELL BENDERS (1967, directed by Corbucci and starring Joseph Cotten), A MINUTE TO PRAY, A SECOND TO DIE (1968, starring Alex Cord and Robert Ryan), FACE TO FACE (1967, directed by Sollima and starring Tomas Milian), THE BIG GUNDOWN, A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL (1966, directed by Damiano Damiani starring Gian Maria Volonte and Klaus Kinski),  KEOMA (1976, starring Franco Nero, Woody Strode, and directed by Enzo Castellari), DUCK, YOU SUCKER (1971, starring James Coburn and Rod Steiger), MY NAME IS NOBODY (1973, starring Terence Hill and Henry Fonda),  SARTANA - YOUR ANGEL OF DEATH (1969, starring Gian Garco) , COMPANEROS (1970, directed by Corbucci, starring Franco Nero, Tomas Milian and Jack Palance), DEATH RIDES A HORSE, THE GRAND DUEL and NAVAJO JOE.”  Incidentally, a remake of the very violent CUT THROATS NINE, starring Harvey Keitel, was announced more than a year ago, but I’ve heard nothing since.

Andrew A. Erish teaches film history and aesthetics at Chapman University, and recently wrote the terrific biography COL. WILLIAM N. SELIG – THE MAN WHO INVENTED HOLLYWOOD.  “Off the top of my head, how about BLINDMAN (1971) with Tony Anthony and Ringo, the TRINITY films (BOOT HILL (1969), MY NAME IS TRINITY (1970), TRINITY IS STILL MY NAME (1971)) with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer --especially the first one.  Another Terence Hill film I recently saw called THE MAN FROM THE EAST (1972 - not to be confused with the Tom Mix film made for Selig!), the film with John Philip Law and Lee Van Cleef,  DEATH RIDES A HORSE, James Coburn and Bud Spencer in A REASON TO LIVE, A REASON TO DIE (1972). I'm sure the Round-Up readers are big fans of Corbucci - COMPANEROS is always worth mentioning - one of my favorites, as well as the original DJANGO.”

Now located in Baton Rouge, Eric Spudic operated Spudic’s Movie Empire in Van Nuys, California, and now runs it on-line.  He used to have Friday night screenings at his store, and introduced me to many of my now favorite Spaghetti Westerns.  “I loved DJANGO UNCHAINED, Henry! Maybe a bit long, but it does the trick. I would recommend DEATH RIDES A HORSE, starring Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law;
MASSACRE TIME (1966), starring Franco Nero; A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL, starring Klaus Kinski; GRAND DUEL, starring Lee Van Cleef.  And of course the TRINITY series with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. I just found out that films like THE UNDEFEATED and ALVAREZ KELLY were partly filmed here in Baton Rouge. Maybe I'll have to hunt down the locations!”  If you’re trying to track down hard-to-find movies on DVD or VHS, visit Eric’s site: http://www.spudicsmovieempire.com

Rick Knight of Dorado films put me in touch with Jason Zachary Pott, who runs an independent comic publishing company called NEOtrash Comix.  Based in Portland, Oregon, he brought comic artists and writers together.  “I found that we all had a common interest in Spaghetti Westerns and being a former Film Student, I decided to start a group based around these films: The PDX Spaghetti Western Assoc. & Support Group.” 

Among Jason’s suggestions are DUEL IN THE ECLIPSE (1968) Directed by Jose Luis Merino. “A strange SW where the Gunslinger is into astrology, and times his revenge killings to take place during a solar eclipse. This is, by far, one of the weirdest SW's I have seen in awhile and you either love it or hate it. I choose love.  THE UNHOLY FOUR (1970).  Four inmates in an insane asylum inmates (one played by Woody Strode) are set free when some bandits set fire to their sanitarium as a diversion so they can rob the bank.  THE DIRTY FIFTEEN (1967) A bounty hunter and a group of bandits he is after are all blamed for a family's slaughter by an angry town. A very solid SW and worth the viewing time.  THE FORGOTTEN PISTOLERO (1969)  This is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE Spaghetti Westerns! This was the SW that introduced me to Lenard Mann and instantly I became a fan! The whole film is based on a Greek Tragedy and is absolutely brilliant!   GOD FORGIVES…HIS LIFE IS MINE!  (1968)  A solid bounty killer tale with the lead played by Dean Reed (ADIOS, SABATA!), written by Euro-Crime filmmaker, Fernando DiLeo and by the director of the Spaghetti Western classic, GATLING GUN. I love the grimness of this film.  BANDIDOS (1967) directed by Massimo Dallamano. Story about an expert gunslinger whose hands are mangled by his protege. He joins a circus sideshow to find another young gun to tutor in the way of the pistol so he can use them as a weapon of revenge. Love this one. Dallamano was Leone's director of photography on the first two "Dollar" films but was shut out of the third film by Leone himself. It is said Dallamano made this SW out of anger towards Leone and even though it was made with a minimum budget compared to the "Dollar Trilogy", some consider it equal to Leone's works.  RED BLOOD, YELLOW GOLD (1967) George Hilton, Edd "Kookie" Burns and George Martin play Union soldiers who get caught selling arms to the South. Before they are executed, they are given the choice to go on a suicide mission for a pardon. I love George Hilton SW's and this is one of his best!”

In New York City, Ally Lamaj’s WILD EAST PRODUCTIONS (http://www.wildeast.net/spaghetti-western-collection-c-1.html) has a staggering twenty-six volumes of Spaghetti Westerns, most of them double-features, and with the highest possible standards of quality – often with interviews and other special features.  When I asked for his recommendations among recent releases, he suggested NEST OF VIPERS (1969), starring Luke Askew, which is double-billed with TAILS YOU LOSE (1969) starring John Ericson.  THE BRUTE AND THE BEAST/MASSACRE TIME (1966) stars Franco Nero and George Hilton, and their version features two different English-language soundtracks.  KILLER ADIOS (1968) comes paired with KILLER CALIBRE 32, both starring Peter Lee Lawrence, the German-born star of many Spaghetti Westerns, who died at just thirty.

I would also strongly recommend, from Wild East, KILL THEM ALL AND COME BACK ALONE, starring Chuck Connors, and ARIZONA COLT, starring Giuliano Gemma, which is paired with ARIZONA COLT – HIRED GUN, with Anthony Stephen in the lead.

WESTERN VIXEN BARDOT HEADIN’ FOR RUSSIA TO SAVE FRANCE’S ELEPHANTS

Brigitte Bardot, lovely star of such westerns as VIVA MARIA! (1965), SHALAKO (1968) and FRENCHIE KING (1971), may be heading to Russia in Gerard Depardieu’s wake -- and what a wake he would make!  Depardieu (has he made any westerns?) announced his intention to become a citizen of Belgium to escape France’s 75% tax rate on the wealthy.  When he was denounced by the French government, he joked that he already had heard from Russia’s Vladamir Putin that his passport was in the mail.  Unexpectedly, Putin agreed and said Russia would be delighted to have him.  Bardot’s reasons for following are quite different.  A longtime animal activist, she denounced Lyon Zoo’s intention to euthanize a pair of 42 year-old elephants dying of tuberculosis.  On her foundation’s website Bardot says that should the elephants be put down, she will request Russian citizenship, “…to flee this country that is now just a graveyard for animals.”

JOSH BROLIN ARRESTED ON NEW YEARS EVE!

The New York Daily News and TMZ have broken the story that Western star Josh Brolin, of YOUNG RIDERS/NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN/JONAH HEX/TRUE GRIT - fame was arrested just before midnight in Santa Monica on New Years Eve for ‘public intoxication on New Years Eve for 'public intoxication.' Isn't that like arresting someone for wearing green on St. Patrick's Day, or for voting on Election Day? Aside from Roy and Gene and Hoppy, in today's world, how many of our cowboy heroes would have been locked up for 'public intoxication' once a week? HAPPY NEW YEAR!.’  Isn’t that like arresting someone for wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day, or for voting on Election Day?  Aside from Gene and Roy and Hoppy, in today’s world, how many of our cowboys heroes would have been locked up for ‘public intoxication’ once a week? 

CONGRATULATIONS TO RFD-TV FOR 2ND ROSE PARADE WIN!   

For the second year in a row their float won the Exceptional Merit in Multiple Classifications Award! This year it was for CLASSIC TRACTOR FEVER! Last year it was a Roy Rogers Tribute, featuring the actual Trigger and Bullet on the float! RFD-TV shows Roy Rogers episodes and movies every week!

I'm having some software problems -- it won't let me upload pictures to go with the articles.  Well, it's almost one a.m., so I'm giving up for now.  I'll try again on Monday. (It worked on Monday!)

Happy Trails!

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright January 2013 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

MEEK'S NOT MILD

When I cut short a phone conversation by telling a friend that I had to get to a screening of MEEK’S CUTOFF, he asked me what it was about. I told him, a lost group of pioneers who meet up with an Indian who might be trying to save them, or might be leading them into a trap. My friend, who is not even a Western fan, commented, “Yeah, like there’s a chance that an Indian in a movie could be the bad guy, leading them into a trap.” He had a point. For most of the history of film, the Indian could be friend or foe, but ever since Iron Eyes Cody stood by the side of the road, crying, while people tossed trash at his feet, the ‘Noble Savage’ image has been pretty-much unbreakable. The good news is, this is a story based on fact, and fact is not nearly as pat, and neat, as fiction.

And MEEK’S CUTOFF is not a neat story – it’s a dusty, sweaty, sore-muscled one, as three wagons of emigrants follow one Stephen Meeks through an endless, baking desert. The story-telling is also not neat, but naturalistic, documentary in style – not in the self-conscious, jerky-camera way, but in the sense that you are watching real people, real events, and no one is casually giving you the back-story. You only see people sullenly on-the-move. It takes some time to gather that they followed Meek off the main path of the Oregon Trail because he claimed to know a shortcut, and it takes longer to learn that he promised to have them delivered in two weeks, but it’s already been five. And if you were going by the word of the pompous braggart Meek, you’d never know that they are lost at all.

Meek is played by Bruce Greenwood, unrecognizable under a mass of beard and mustache which provides him a visage somewhere between Bill Cody and Charles Manson. He seems not a conscious villain, but a fool who doesn’t realize how far beyond his depth he is. But one cannot be sure of his motives. Michelle Williams, Oscar-nominated this past year for BLUE VALENTINE, stars as Emily, the least cowed of the pioneers, and Will Patton plays her husband, Solomon.

As the days and weeks stretch on, water getting scarce, and only ten-year-old Jimmy (Tommy Nelson) still finding Meek’s tales inspiring, things are becoming desperate. Then, to add to the growing panic, with all the men off searching for water, Emily spots an Indian watching her! In one of the films most strikingly real moments, she runs back to the wagons to get a rifle and fire a signal – two shots in the air. But because it’s 1845, the rifle is a muzzle-loader, and even moving as quickly as she can, the process of putting shot and wad and powder down the barrel, ramming it home, priming the hammer and firing – and doing it twice – takes what seems like forever, all without a cut.

After much supposition about what the Indian wants -- Meek’s guess being to skin them all alive -- Meek and Solomon capture the Indian (Rod Rondeaux) and lead him back to the camp. In a situation which must have happened often but is rarely dramatized, the pioneers are completely unable to communicate with the Indian, or he with them. We understand what the pioneers want: water, and not to be killed in their sleep. Meek wants to kill the Indian then and there, but the others have no faith in him anymore, and think the Indian may lead them to water. Rondeaux gives an ominous and frequently chilling performance as the enigmatic Indian. His long speeches are sometimes offhand, and often seemingly bitter, and we are often as maddened as the pioneers who cannot fathom what he is saying. Will they let him lead them? If they do, where will he take them?

The look of the film, shot by first-time-feature cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt, is often striking. Comparisons will be made to Terrence Malick’s DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978), for all the women in bonnets doing hard labor, and he manages to communicate the horrid monotony of the situation without making it monotonous to watch – from arid and dusty riverbeds to compositions that bring Charles Russell to mind. There are painfully beautiful shots of the moon shooting through the clouds.

The most visually arresting sequence involves the lowering of a wagon down a hill, beautifully shot by Blauvelt, and directed and edited by Kelly Reichardt. Reichardt, whose previous films include WENDY AND LUCY (2008) and OLD JOY (2006), and screenwriter Jon Raymond, have clearly set out to tell a story that may occur in the ‘West’ without being a traditional ‘Western.’ To a great extent, they succeed, but ironically, though there is little gunplay, what there is is among the most memorable scenes. And the most heart-grabbing moments are the iconically Western images of a watchful Indian glimpsed on a horse, then suddenly disappearing.

And there are some basic rules to filmmaking that are true for any genre, and those rules are broken at the filmmaker’s peril. Just as we know that if you show a gun, you need to fire it eventually, if you show a very pregnant woman in a lost wagon-train, she had better give birth or have a miscarriage at some point. And if, while lost in the desert, you find gold, and mark it for your return, you’d better return, or say something about it.

My biggest complaint is that with such a tiny cast – nine people – several had very little to do. Paul Dano, so good in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and THERE WILL BE BLOOD, does little more than calm down his hysterical wife, played by Zoe Kazan. The third couple, Shirley Henderson and Neal Huff, get even less.

I enjoyed this movie, but I do caution you that it is not a traditional Western, and when the lights went up at my screening, I heard an incredulous, “That’s it?” from more than one voice. While it is all well done, not enough happens. While the comparisons to Malick are obvious, the director whose naturalism it brought to my mind – and I consider this a major compliment – is D.W. Griffith. He did RAMONA effectively in 17 minutes. He would have told MEEK’S CUTOFF in two reels at most.









SPAGHETTI WESTERN FESTIVAL DRAWS STARS AND THE STAR-STRUCK

On Saturday, March 19th, the First Los Angeles Spaghetti Western Festival was held at the El Portal Theatre, in North Hollywood. The event, the brainchild of John Antoniou, brought together fans, filmmakers, video-sellers, and seven stars of the genre: Robert Woods, Mark Damon, Richard Harrison, Brett Halsey, Jack Betts (known onscreen as Hunt Powers), Michael Forest and Dan Van Husen. One of the most startling aspects of the phenomenon of Spaghetti Westerns is that, while the American film industry has been making westerns for eight years more than a century (counting 1903’s GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY as the first), Spaghetti Westerns started in 1962 with SAVAGE GUNS, and petered out around ten years later. I don’t know if anyone has counted how many American Westerns there are, but in one decade, the Italians made six hundred! So all the leading men we see are roughly the same age, because they are the only generation of Spaghetti Western stars.

The program began with a 10:30 a.m. screening of GATLING GUN starring Robert Woods. To read my review of the film, click HERE. To buy the DVD from Dorado Films, CLICK HERE.

The screening was followed by a Q&A with star Robert Woods, which was conducted by Tom Betts, editor of the influential magazine and now site, Westerns All’Italiana.
http://westernsallitaliana.blogspot.com/

Among the insights revealed was the reason Woods did most of his own stunts. “I’m so tall (6’7”) that there were no Italians tall enough to double me, so I did all my own stunts.” One of the roughest looking scenes in GATLING GUN is when Woods is dragged by a horse. “I had a sled, under my shirt. It was a breast-plate, a wooden piece that fit over your chest, but with all the twists and turns I was pretty bruised, I’ve got to tell you.” To read my interview with Robert Woods, CLICK HERE.

“The first (Spaghetti Western) I did was in 1963, and that one was bought by MGM. When they saw that there was a market – an American market – for these films, that’s when they came to America to get actors, when Leone came. He wanted Bronson, but Bronson wanted too much money. Then they wanted Eric Fleming, but he was already doing a film, and he called up (his RAWHIDE costar) Clint Eastwood and said, ‘Get over to the Beverly Hills Hotel, they’re casting a film.’” Woods was longer in Italy than most of the others, living in a little colony of American actors. “I was there for 16 years, from 1962 to 1978.”

Next there were trailers, then a screening of DEAD MEN DON’T COUNT, which is available on DVD from Wild East Productions – CLICK HERE to learn more.

This screening was followed by a Q&A with the film’s star, Mark Damon, again conducted by Tom Betts. For some reason, Damon played a lot of characters with the same first name. “I was Johnny in this one, then Johnny Oro, then Johnny Yuma.” Damon won the audience over by asking, “You all clapped a lot, and I wonder if it’s because you really enjoyed this picture, or because you probably knew I was in the audience, and that I was going to talk afterwards.” After our applause convinced him we really like the movie, an early ‘buddy’ picture with Anthony Stephan, he continued. “I did this movie about forty years ago, and since then I’ve acted in another five or six pictures, and quit, and since then I’ve produced seventy pictures and distributed about 300, and I tell you, you forget. Most of what I saw tonight I don’t remember having done. I thought it was kind of cute, actually. I don’t remember seeing it at all. Anthony Stephan was a great guy who was very much a loner, very closed. And very wooden, yes.” Incidentally, among the films Damon has produced are 9 1/2 WEEKS, DAS BOOT, LOST BOYS, THE NEVERENDING STORY and MONSTER, which won Charlize Theron her Oscar.

Looking back at Spaghetti Westerns, one thing that strikes Damon is, “…how many of those films were forerunners of some of the great movies of today. So many movies that had great success afterwards, that were not westerns, were based on so much of what happened in those Spaghetti Western years. The director of this particular film I had not known before, a Spanish director, and what I saw tonight was very interesting, because he had a great eye. Some of the scenes, where you have the bad guys running off in the distance, (seen through) this boy’s legs just swinging – you had a lot of those nice touches. So many of the directors that I have worked with were really very talented. They tried to do much more than was necessary. I was actually very pleased to see this film. Much better than I thought. The title, in Italian, means something different. DEAD MEN DON’T COUNT. In Italian, the title means ‘There Are So Many Dead Men That You Can’t Count Them.’ More dead in this film than in almost any other Western ever!”

Next there were more coming attractions, then the one whose runaway success started it all, A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, the film introduced by David Frangioni, author of CLINT EASTWOOD ICON: THE ESSENTIAL FILM ART COLLECTION. Following this was the highpoint of the event, a panel discussion, moderated by Tom Betts, with all of the guests. One of the first questions raised was how each of the guests got into the business of Spaghetti Westerns.

MARK DAMON: I had been acting in America for some years. I went to Italy to do a picture – it was cancelled, I was stuck there. Then I went off to do a picture called THE LONGEST DAY, in Paris. And met a guy, a director named Sergio Corbucci, who said, “You did The Longest Day, right?” I said, “Si.” He said, “Why don’t you come and do a picture for me?” “What’s the name of the picture?” He said, “THE SHORTEST DAY.” It was a spoof on The Longest Day. I believe I’m the only actor in the world who appeared in both The Longest Day and The Shortest Day. Corbucci and I became friends – he was a great director – great, fun comedy director. Of course, all of us here know who Sergio Corbucci was. One day he says, “I’m gonna do a Western. Why don’t you do it?” I said, “Well, I’ve never ridden a horse before.” He said, “You’ll learn.” I said, “Western heroes are usually tall and blond. I’m not tall and I’m not blond.” “It doesn’t matter.” “Why do you want me?” “You’re American.” I said, “That’s the only reason?” He says, “I like you. And you’re American.” Because at that time you had to have American names as stars of Westerns, because they figured that if they had an American name, whether he was a big name or not, they could sell the movies to America. I had never been in a Western before, never rode a horse before, but I got a start simply because I had an American name.

ROBERT WOODS: I was working at a theatre in Paris, I was doing Checkov’s THE CHERRY ORCHARD. A producer came to see it, and he offered me a movie. At the time I said no thank you. The next dy he came with a contract for five pictures, with money I could only dream of. I said, yes that’s how it all began, in Barcelona.

MIKE FOREST: I went to Italy in ’68. There was a film that was going to be done, and I thought if I was there, I’d have a good chance at getting it. It was 100 RILFES, Raquel Welch, Jim Brown, and as luck would have it, I was on that film for three months. We shot it in Spain, and that was the beginning of my career in Italy. Prior to that, though, I had been working in dubbing. And I did an awful lot of what we called ‘dubbage’ in those days.

HUNT POWERS – How I got to Rome, and became Hunt Powers (instead of Jack Betts). It was because of a phone call I made. I was on my way home, stopped off to call my agent Paul Kohner, he said there was an Italian producer who had been in New York for three weeks, can’t find an actor. If you want to drop by… I was there in ten minutes! By then (director) Franco Giraldi had seen some of my stuff, and he spoke very, very little English. But we instantly had a connection. He said to me, “Do you ride the horse?” I said, “Yes, I ride all the time.” I had never been on a horse in my life. He said, “Do you shoot a gun?” I said, “Si. I’ve won several prizes for sharp-shooting.” I’d never had a gun in my hand in my life. But there was something about the meeting between the two of us. And he said, “Can you be in Rome Tuesday at Cinecitta Studios?” I said, “Yes, I can.” He said, “I have only one thing, I never make a decision without my wife. We’re leaving for Rome tonight. Would you mind coming by the hotel to meet my wife and finalize the casting?” I went to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, knocked on the door, and this gorgeous blonde opens the door, and says, “Madonna! It’s Sugar Colt!” Instantly, like that. So the next day I called (a friend) and told him, you’ve got to teach me how to get on a horse!

Moderator Tom Betts pointed out that one of the pleasures of watching a Spaghetti Western was watching our own history from a different point of view. “It’s a European view of our history. I always like them because they showed a roughness, where in a lot of American films, you went into a town, all the building were clean. In the real West, people had to struggle, they didn’t have things being shipped out, they had to make it from what they had. The faces were burned from the sun and hard work, and that’s what shows up here, because they used people who lived (in the villages), so it’s a rougher, maybe truer view of what our west looked like.”

HUNT POWERS: A lot of people don’t realize that these were actual villages. These weren’t sets. They didn’t have telephone wires and TV antennas – even though they look like elaborate sets, the Spanish villages were Spanish villages. The Western towns were built, but the villages were actual villages, and the people who lived there were extras.

RICHARD HARRISON: I loved Italy in the ‘60s, and into the ‘70s. It was the most fantastic place I’d ever been – it was like a little child going to Disneyland. I suppose we were there at the best time. For me it was everything was wonderful, the food was wonderful, people treated us like royalty. I learned one thing though, when they say to you (the Italian phrase that translates to) ‘you are more than a brother to me’, watch out!

MARK DAMON: He’s absolutely right. I remember getting the feeling that the national game among most of the Italian movie-makers was who can you screw the most, who is the closest to you. Other than Sophia Loren. But Richard is right – it was such a magic time, we were treated like Magnificent Strangers (the original title for A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS) -- bigger than life American actors. One of the differences I remember is that if a film role came up for an Italian, and he couldn’t do it, he wouldn’t tell anyone. But if a film role came up and an American couldn’t do it, he’d call up other Americans. We were very close that way.

HUNT POWERS: It was truly delightful to live there – it changed my entire life. La dolce vita. The whole way I live, the way I thought about life. The Italians taught me one thing, in work, play, in play, work. The most important thing to Italians is this moment, right now. Enjoy the moment – the work, the lunch – truly la dolce vita. I miss it very much.

ROBERT WOODS: What I loved about making films in Italy is that it was collaborative. In American filmmaking in general, everything was segregated. You move a light and the grip will kill you. There, everybody collaborates to do a film. Granted, on a low budget, but still we all worked together to get a good result. Every time I left a shoot, after eight or ten weeks of work, I felt like weeping, because these were people I might not see again, and we were a family. If you ever get a chance to go to Europe, the lifestyle is so much healthier. I love America – I’m American – but I’m telling you, the way they live life is the way we all should.

MIKE FOREST: Someone once asked me, what was it like to be in Italy for ten years? I said I was on a party for ten years. It really was – it was like being at a party. Playing – I played a lot of tennis and golf in those days, you were working or you were having a few drinks and dinner and so forth, it was a wonderful time.

MARK DAMON: Very first picture I did in Italy, I had a character, that I decided to give an Irish accent to, so I worked a week, perfecting my accent. And I remember my first day I had a big speech, walking and talking, and I had it down pat, and I couldn’t wait to start. So I start walking, talking, walking – and suddenly I realize that there’s no boom. There was no recorder. I said, “Stop! Where’s the sound?” The guy looks at me like I’m crazy. They explain to the director, who didn’t speak English. And he says, tell the boy to relax. We do all the dubbing afterwards, we don’t care what he sounds like.

Tom asked the group if there was ever trouble with stunts.

RICHARD HARRISON: I admired the stuntmen. I didn’t have to do any stunts, and it’s a stupid thing for actors to do stunts.

ROBERT WOODS: Thank you.

RICHARD HARRISON: I went to the hospital many times. And I saw a lot of people killed. Because as you all know, they really didn’t have many safety precautions. I remember in one film, I had a hatchet I was supposed to throw at a mob, so I go like that (makes a throwing gesture, freezing with the hand extended), I stopped with the hatchet like that. The director said, “What are you doing?” “I can’t go any further.” “Why not?” “Because I can’t really throw the hatchet!” “Why not? They’re only extras.”

MARK DAMON: I remember how they used to have horses fall. These days they have ways to bend down and (make it look like they trip). Then they would just put a wire across, so the horses would really stumble, break legs and everything. It was the beginning of stunt work in Westerns, sword and sandals. And like Richard said, in every single picture I did, I got hurt. And one of the reasons was, I wanted to show the crew that I was macho enough to do some of my own stunts. Being just a mediocre athlete, I pushed myself, to be as good as I could, to show what I could do.

BRETT HALSEY: When I started off making the sword-fighting pictures, (the stunt men) were masters, but when we got to the Westerns, we had to show off. I remember one time I had a scene where I ride a horse right in front of a train, bad guys are chasing me, and I said I can do it. Then when I saw the dailies, it could have been my wife, the figure was so small.

When asked if anyone ever had trouble getting paid, EVERY hand went up.

MARK DAMON: They would offer you something called cambiati, which we all know about. It’s a promissory note – it means you’re supposed to pay at a certain time. You say, “You don’t have the money to pay me now. What if you don’t have the money to pay me then?” He says, “You sue us.”

ROBERT WOODS: And by then they’ve changed their company name.

Why did the genre end?

MARK DAMON: You could make Westerns very cheaply, that sold very very well overseas, and you could make a lot of money. So what happened was, 80% of the production in Italy at that time were Westerns or action pictures. And people just got tired of them. There were just too many, and the quality got worse and worse, and there are just so many ways to tell a Western (story). And in about 1970, ’71, I wasn’t getting any mnore offers for any kind of picture. They said, “Well, you’re a capelloni – a guy in a ten gallon hat” – and the fact was we were all typed as that, and most of us had to seek others areas. I quit acting and went into distribution. Now suddenly it’s all come back, and spaghetti westerns are considered classics, and their stories are being (re)told in so many different ways. I don’t think the Western, as such, will ever come back.

ROBERT WOODS: Tarantino changed everything by using spaghetti Western influence – it’s in all (of) Tarantino’s work. This kind of genre still works, whether it’s modern or it’s Western.

DAN VAN HUSEN: They’re starting to make remakes of some of the Spaghetti westerns. This year I’m in the remake of a Western called CUTTHROATS NINE, with Harvey Keitel, and it’s going to be filmed in Canada. At the same time, I’m talking about a western by Danny Garcia, DOLLARS FROM HELL, so they’re doing Westerns again. (Dan and Brett Hallsey are also both in THE SCARLET WORM).

ROBERT WOODS: I’ve had so many close calls: I fell off a water-wheel on SEVEN GUNS FOR THE MACGREGORS on my back – some really awful stuff. But I loved it! The honest truth was, it was fun; it was all playing cowboys and Indians.

After the panel, there was a signing for David Frangioni’s book, and band The Insect Surfers played a tribute to the classic scores of Ennio Morricone. It was a great event, and all that attended hope that it is only the first of many. If you’d like to get a feel for the event, CLICK HERE to see a brief but excellent video by Salvatore Seberganido.

And speaking of tributes to Morricone, at the event I met a composer named Chris Casey, who gave me a CD of his music. I’ve been listening to it a lot while writing this piece. If you’re in a good, or a bad, or an ugly mood, and you’d like to take a listen, go HERE.

(Spaghetti Western pics: Robert Woods; Mark Damon; Mike Forest;Robert Woods, Mark Damon and Richard Harrison; Brett Halsey and Hunt Powers; Hunt Powers, Mike Forest, Dan Van Husen)



“IF THEY MOVE…KILL ‘EM.”

Today, Sunday April 17, 2011, would have been the 93rd birthday of actor William Holden, who died far too young, at the age of 63. Holden, who won his Oscar for STALAG 17 (1954), and was nominated for SUNSET BOULEVARD (1951) and NETWORK (1977), was wonderful in every kind of film, from sports stories like GOLDEN BOY (1939) to war movies like BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957) to sophisticated comedies like SABRINA (1954), but he certainly excelled in Westerns. For many, his most indelible performance was at Pike in THE WILD BUNCH (1969), but among his others were ARIZONA (1940), TEXAS (1941), THE MAN FROM COLORADO (1948), STREETS OF LAREDO (1949), ESCAPE FROM FT. BRAVO (1953), THE HORSE SOLDIERS (1959), ALVAREZ KELLY (1966), THE WILD ROVERS (1971) and THE REVENGERS (1972).

As part of their series on the Civil War, TCM will be showing a double bill of his best on Monday night, starting with THE HORSE SOLDIERS at 10:00 p.m. Pacific, followed at 12:15 a.m. by ESCAPE FROM FORT BRAVO.



PAUL HARPER OF ‘THE WILD BUNCH’

Unless you’ve been reading the Round-up almost from the very start, you haven’t read my piece about actor Paul Harper, who played Ross, one of the bounty hunters in THE WILD BUNCH. You can read it HERE.

http://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2010/02/western-events-spaghetti-and-otherwise.html

Yesterday I was surprised and delighted to hear from Oregon Sue, who writes Daily Drivel HERE.
www.OregonSue.blogspot.com.

She’d been searching online for a picture of Paul, and the one she found led her to my write-up. She tells me, “Paul was a friend of ours, and a very funny man. He gave my husband a hat William Holden wore in THE WILD BUNCH. Something you may not have known about him, he was a Reserve Deputy Sheriff for L.A. County. To make his part in The Wild Bunch more “exotic,” for a better word, the studio offered him $20,000 to have all his teeth pulled. He did. Then later he did those Pace (Picante Sauce) commercials – “Get a rope!” – where he snickered and showed off his lack of teeth! Just fyi.” I hadn’t realized that it was Paul Harper driving the wagon in the Pace Picante Sauce commercial, but I found it HERE.

And when I looked at a few more of them – people post everything on Youtube – I was surprised and delighted to learn that at least two other Pace commercials featured cast-members from THE WILD BUNCH! To see Bo Hopkins, click HERE.

To see Dub Taylor, click HERE.

I wonder if the folks at Pace did it on purpose?

EASTER-EGG HUNT WITH A SENSE OF HISTORY!

Los Encinos State Historical Park will be holding their traditional Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 23rd, from 1 pm to 3 pm. In addition to eggs, they’ll have traditional games, a blacksmith, old time music, tours of the historic adobe and performers in period costume. Admission is free. Donations are welcome. Please bring your own baskets.
The Egg Hunts will be grouped as follows:
1:00-1-3 y ears old
1:30: 4-6 years old
2:00: 7 years and up
Los Encinos State Historic Park is located at 16756 Moorpark in Encino, East of the intersection of Balboa and Ventura Blvds.

THE CIVIL WAR LIVES ON TCM!

On Wednesday, April 20th, Turner Classic Movies continues their examination of the War Between The States with a second night of Civil War-themes Westerns. At 5:00 pm it’s ALVAREZ KELLY (1966), directed by Edward Dmytryk from a script by Franklin Coen, and starring William Holden, Richard Widmark, Patrick O’Neal, Don ‘Red’ Barry and Harry Carey Jr. At 7:00 pm Michael Curtiz directs Errol Flynn, Randolph Scott, Miriam Hopkins, Humphrey Bogart and everyone else under Warner Brothers contract in VIRGINIA CITY (1940). There’s a rousing Max Steiner score, Charles Middleton (Ming the Merciless) as Jefferson Davis, and keep your eyes peeled for Tarleton twin and future man of steel George Reeves as a telegrapher. At 9:15 it’s THE SIEGE AT RED RIVER (1954), directed by Victor Mate’ from a Sidney Boehm screenplay, about the battle for possession of a Gatling gun. It stars Van Johnson, lovely Joanne Dru, Richard Boone before he was Paladin, and Milburn Stone before he was Doc. At 10:45 pm it’s GREAT DAY IN THE MORNING (1956) directed by Jacques Tourner, starring Robert Stack, Alex Nicol, Virgina Mayo, Ruth Roman and Raymond Burr. At 12:30 am, HANGMAN’S KNOT (1952), written and directed by Roy Huggins, with second unit direction by Yakima Canutt, stars Randolph Scott, Donna Reed, Lee Marvin and Claude Jarman Jr. Finally, at 2:00 am it’s DEVIL’S DOORWAY (1950), directed by the outstanding Anthony Mann, starring Robert Taylor, Louis Calhern, Edgar Buchanan and Paula Raymond, and featuring costumes by Walter Plunkett, and more 2nd unit by Yakima Canutt. All times are west-coast.

HAPPY TRAILS THEATRE ON RFD-TV

On Thursday, April 21st, from 2:30 pm to 4 pm, Roy and Dale and Pat Brady fight Roy Barcroft and hoof-and-mouth in DOWN DAKOTA WAY (1949), directed by William Whitney from a script by John Butler and Sloan Nibley.




THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

Built by cowboy actor, singer, baseball and TV entrepeneur 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 permenant 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 Hollywood western, 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.

WELLS FARGO 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.


FREE WESTERNS ON YOUR COMPUTER AT HULU

A staggering number of western TV episodes and movies are available, entirely free, for viewing on your computer at HULU. You do have to sit through the commercials, but that seems like a small price to pay. The series available -- often several entire seasons to choose from -- include THE RIFLEMAN, THE CISCO KID, THE LONE RANGER, BAT MASTERSON, THE BIG VALLEY, ALIAS SMITH AND JONES, and one I missed from 2003 called PEACEMAKERS starring Tom Berenger. Because they are linked up with the TV LAND website, you can also see BONANZA and GUNSMOKE episodes, but only the ones that are running on the network that week.

The features include a dozen Zane Grey adaptations, and many or most of the others are public domain features. To visit HULU on their western page, CLICK HERE.

TV LAND - BONANZA and GUNSMOKE

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They run a GUNSMOKE Monday through Thursday at 10:00 a.m., and on Friday they show two, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.. They're not currently running either series on weekends, but that could change at any time.

NEED YOUR BLACK & WHITE TV FIX?

Check out your cable system for WHT, which stands for World Harvest Television. It's a religious network that runs a lot of good western programming. Your times may vary, depending on where you live, but weekdays in Los Angeles they run DANIEL BOONE at 1:00 p.m., and two episodes of THE RIFLEMAN from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.. On Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. it's THE RIFLEMAN again, followed at 2:30 by BAT MASTERSON. And unlike many stations in the re-run business, they run the shows in the original airing order. There's an afternoon movie on weekdays at noon, often a western, and they show western films on the weekend, but the schedule is sporadic.

Well Pardners, it's 1:30 in the a.m., so I'm going to post this now, and tomorrow I'll put up the pictures, and a few more items.

Have a great week!

Henry

All Contents Copyright April 2011 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

HEX MARKS THE (TV) SPOT

The trailer for JONAH HEX, the comic book-based horror-western, has just been released – to see it CLICK HERE , along with a new poster, seen above. The Josh Brolin – Megan Fox – John Malkovich starrer will hit the big screen on June 18th. I think the trailer looks pretty good, but there’s been a lot of negative reaction to the poster -- which one online writer described as looking “…like Wild Wild West meets Van Helsing.” I think the earlier one, seen here on March 12th, was much better.

And there’s been other negative buzz in regards to the picture. MTV quoted Josh Brolin as saying that even as the release-date approaches, the filmmakers are still in the process of figuring out the movie’s tone. “I’d like it to become even more absurdist than it already is. My feeling is, this isn’t a straightforward Western. There are supernatural elements to it, and the more campy humor we go for, the better. We’re still in the process of solidifying that tone. There’s a lot of humor to use in this cut. We’ve been going, ‘How much humor do we use? Do we stay with the emotional line of the story? How can we release some of the exposition so we can just rely on the action? All this kind of sh-t.”

And while he can see it as a possible franchise, he’s not eager to do it with all of the involved prosthetic make-up. “It’s the toughest movie I’ve ever done. The stunts and the make-up…a lot of pain. The prosthetics on my face, they were holding my mouth back, then putting in a mouthpiece in that held my mouth back further. And then painting it and filling in the beard. I was walking around New Orleans with half a beard for three months, which was horrible. F-cking horrible! That combined with being in 100 degree heat, 98% humidity, three layers of wool on – I don’t know if I’d do it again.”

And something more to worry about – reelzchannel.com notes that months after director Jimmy Hayward wrapped the picture, Francis Lawrence, who directed the horror/scifiers Constantine and I Am Legend was brought on to consult with Hayward on reshoots.

FIRST PEEK FROM 'TRUE GRIT' LOCATION

The still of the street scene, above right, was snapped on one of the True Grit exteriors, and comes courtesy of aintitcool.com.

'THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY' WRITER DIES

Furio Scarpelli, thrice nominated for Oscars, died in Rome at age 90, from a long-term heart condition. Although best known in the English speaking world for UGLY, Scarpelli was primarily a writer of comedies, with his longtime writing partner 'Age', with whom he'd collaborated since the 1940s. He was nominated for Oscars for The Organizer, Casanova '70, co-written with Age, and for Il Postino, which he wrote with other partners. UGLY was written by Scarpelli, Age, Sergio Leone and Luciano Vincenzoni.

TCM SCREENS 'NATIVE AMERICAN IMAGES ON FILM'

Throughout the month of May, Turner Classic Movies will be showing dozens of westerns, showing a wide range of portrayals of American Indian characters in he movies. Kicking things off on Tuesday afternoon will be a quadruple bill of John Fords: Stagecoach (1939), The Searchers (1956), Cheyenne Autumn (1964) and Fort Apache (1948).

BOLD RENEGADE CARVES 'Z' WITH HIS BLADE - TWICE!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, a Zorro double bill will be shown Wednesday May 5th at the Aero Theatre at 1328 Montana Ave., at 14th Street in Santa Monica. The creation of pulp-writer Johnston McCulley, the thrilling Mark Of Zorro (1940), direced by Rouben Mamoulian stars Tyrone Power, Basil Rathbone, Linda Darnell and Gale Sondegaard. The Sign Of Zorro (1958) is a feature compilation from episodes of the delightful Disney TV series, starring Guy Williams, and directed by Lewis Foster and Norman Foster.

FREE WESTERN TRIPLE-BILL FRIDAY AT SPUDIC'S

Eric Spudic has been hosting free Friday night movies at his store, Spudic's Movie Empire, for over a year, but this is his first western-night, so let's have a big turn-out! He's selected a really interesting trio: at 6:30, SMOKE IN THE WIND (1975) stars John Ashley, John Russell, Myron Healy and Walter Brennan. It's the last film directed by Republic's greatest western director, Joe Kane. In fact, Walter Brennan's son, Andy, had to finish when Joe wasn't up to it. At 8:00 p.m., KEOMA (1976) also known as Django Rides Again, with Franco Nero and Woody Strode, directed by the only great spaghetti western director not named Sergio, Enzo G. Castellari. At 9:30 p.m., HIS NAME WAS KING (1971), directed by Giancarlo Romitello, and starring Richard Harrison and one of the biggest spaghetti western stars, Klaus Kinski. I haven't seen this one, but the score by Luis Bacalov is splendid. Spudic's Movie Empire is at 5910 Van Nuys Blvd., in Van Nuys, and he sells all VHS tapes for $3, all DVDs for $6 - and if you're coming, please be there by 8:00 p.m.!

SWEETGRASS AT LANDMARK THEATERS

"SWEETGRASS is an unsentimental elegy to the American West. The documentary follows the last modern-day cowboys to lead their flocks of sheep up into Montana's breathtaking and often dangerous Absaroka-Beartooth mountains for summer pasture. The astonishingly beautiful yet unsparing film reveals a world in which nature and culture, animals and humans, vulnerability and violence are all intimately meshed. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times calls the film 'a really intimate, beautifully shot examination of the connection between man and beast,' while Ronnie Scheib of Variety considers it 'a one-of-a-kind experience...at once epic-scale and earthbound.'" Okay, none of those Brokeback Mountain (2005) cheap-shots -- I'm sure these poor shepherds have heard 'em all. I just saw this film, and it is astonishingly beautiful -- I'll have a full review next week. Sweetgrass is playing at the Lagoon Cinema in Minneapolis. The trailer looks beautiful -- check it out HERE.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WEIRD AT LANDMARK THEATRES

I just saw this picture today, and it's an absolute knock-out -- I'll have a full review next week. It's a South Korean 'western' set in Manchuria in the 1930s. CHECK OUT THE TRAILER HERE. The movie continues through Thursday at the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles and Kendall Square Cinema in Boston. On Friday, May 7th it opens in San Francisco at the Lumiere Theatre and Shattuck Cinemas, in Seattle at the Varsity Theatre, and in Philadelphia at The Ritz.

WESTERN MOVIES ON TV
Note:AMC=American Movie Classics, EXT= Showtime Extreme, FMC=Fox Movie Channel, TCM=Turner Classic Movies. All times given are Pacific Standard Time.

TV LAND - BONANZA and GUNSMOKE

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They run a GUNSMOKE Monday through Thursday at 10:00 a.m., and on Friday they show two, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.. They're not currently running either series on weekends, but that could change at any time.

NEED YOUR BLACK & WHITE TV FIX?

Check out your cable system for WHT, which stands for World Harvest Television. It's a religious network that runs a lot of good western programming. Your times may vary, depending on where you live, but weekdays in Los Angeles they run THE LONE RANGER at 1:30 p.m., and two episodes of THE RIFLEMAN from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.. On Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. it's THE RIFLEMAN again, followed at 2:30 by BAT MASTERSON. And unlike many stations in the re-run business, they run the shows in the original airing order. There's an afternoon movie on weekdays at noon, often a western, and they show western films on the weekend, but the schedule is sporadic.



I'll do the tv listings on Monday -- the only pseudo-western movie on Monday is THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946) on TCM at 10:30 p.m.

WESTERNS ON TV

BEST DARN THING ON TV ALL WEEK -- 4 JOHN FORDS IN A ROW!

TCM Tuesday May 4th, at 5:00 p.m. - STAGECOACH, 7:00 p.m. THE SEARCHERS, 9:15 p.m. CHEYENNE AUTUMN, 12:00 Midnight FORT APACHE.

Thursday May 6th

TCM 4:00 a.m. BUGLE SOUNDS (1942) An old-time cavalry sergeant's resistance to 'progress' could cost him his post. With Wallace Beery, Marjory Main, Lewis Stone. Story by Cyril Hume and Lawrence Kimble, screenplay by Hume. Directed by S. Sylvan Simon.

FMC 5:00 a.m. PRINCE OF PLAYERS (1955) Playwright Moss Hart wrote the fascinating screenplay from Elearnor Ruggles' story. John Derek is assasssin John Wilkes Booth, Richard Burton is his brother Edwin, who must live of after his brother's despicable act. With Raymond Massey as their father, Maggie Macnamara, Charles Bickford, directed by Philip Dunne.

TCM 5:45 a.m. APACHE TRAIL (1942) An outlaw and his brother are on opposite sides of a stagecoach robbery. Starring Lloyd Nolan, William Lundigan and Donna Reed, directed by Richard Thorpe. Screenplay by Maurice Geraghty, from a story by Ernest 'Stagecoach' Haycox -- and reportedly outtakes from STAGECOACH (1939) were used. If you can spot them, please let us know in a comment or e-mail!

FMC 7:00 a.m. O. HENRY'S FULL HOUSE (1952) A collection of five O. Henry short stories directed by five directors: Henry Hathaway, Henry King, Henry Koster, Jean Negulesco, and doing the western segment, The Ransom of Red Chief, Howard Hawks. Writing this one segement, uncredited, were Ben Hecht, Nunnally Johnson and Charles Lederer! Starring Fed Allen and Oscar Levant as the kidnappers, and Rin Tin Tin star Lee Aaker as the 'victim', narrated by John Steinbeck!

TCM 7:00 a.m. GENTLE ANNIE (1944) Perhaps inspired by the James brothers (with a touch of Ma Barker), after the Civil War, frontierwoman Marjorie Main turns her family into bank robbers. With Donna Reed and Henry Morgan. Screenplay by Lawrence Hazard, from the MacKinlay Kantor novel, directed by Andrew Marton.

AMC 5:00 p.m. THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES (1976) Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, John Vernon and Sheb Wooley. Clint's a Missouri farmer who becaomes a Confederate guerilla -- reportedly Clints favorite among his films. Screenplay by Philip Kaufman, from Forrest Carton's novel.

TCM 7:00 p.m. WALK THE PROUD LAND (1956) Audie Murphy plays real-life Indian Agent John Philip Clum, who tried to give Indians autonomy, and helped organize the first Indian Tribal Police Force, which captured Geronimao (Jay Silverheels). Also with Anne Bancroft, Pat Crowley, directed by Jesse Hibbs. Screenplay by Gil Doud and Jack Sher, from the book by a Clum descendent, Woodworth Clum.

AMC 8:00 p.m. LAST OF THE DOGMEN (1995) - Tab Murphy wrote and directed this story about a bounty hunter tracking three escaped convicts, and supernatural events that ensue. Starring Tom Berenger, Barbara Hershey, Kurtwood Smith and, Parley Baer, the original 'Chester' from the radio drama GUNSMOKE.

TCM 9:00 p.m. THE FAR HORIZONS (1955) Fred MacMurray is Lewis, Charlton Heston is Clark, and Donna Reed is Sacajawea in this romanticized telling of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, directed by Rudolph Mat. Based on Della Gould Emmons' novel, scripted by Winston Miller and Edmund North.

TCM 11:00 p.m. APACHE (1954) Burt Lancaster is the renegade Indian Massai, who fights a one-man war against the U.S. Cavalry. With Jean Peters, Charles Bronson (when he was still Charles Buchinski) and Monte Blue as Geronimo. Directed by Robert Aldrich, scripted by James R. Webb, from a novel by Paul Wellman.

Friday May 7th

AMC 12:15 p.m.LAST OF THE DOGMEN (1995) - Tab Murphy wrote and directed this story about a bounty hunter tracking three escaped convicts, and supernatural events that ensue. Starring Tom Berenger, Barbara Hershey, Kurtwood Smith and, Parley Baer, the original 'Chester' from the radio drama GUNSMOKE.

TCM 12:45 a.m. NAVAJO JOE (1967) An Indian (Burt Reynolds) takes revenge on the outlaws who wiped out his people. With Aldo Sambrell, Fernando Rey, directed by Sergio Corbucci, from a story by Ugo Pirro, script by Fernando DiLeo.

TCM 2:30 a.m. STAY AWAY JOE (1968) Elvis Presley is a young Indian trying to save the 'res' by selling grazing rights to a corrupt tycoon. With Burgess Meredith and Joan Blondell. Directed by Peter Tewksbury, from Dan Cushman's novel, scripted by Michael A Hoey.

TCM 6:00 a.m. MAN OF THE WEST (1958) The great Anthony Mann directs the great Gary Cooper in this tale of a reformed outlaw whose past associates rob a train he's on. With Lee J. Cobb and Julie London, scripted by Reginald Rose from Will C. Brown's novel.

FMC 1:00 p.m. THE UNDEFEATED (1969) D:Andrew V. McLaglen, W:James Lee Barrett, from a story by Stanley Hough. At the close of the Civil War, Confederate officer Rock Hudson leads a group of southern loyalists to Mexico and Emperor Maximillian -- unless John Wayne can stop him. Rock Hudson later described the movies as "crap." Ironic, considering it's one of his more convincing performances. With Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr.

AMC 5:00 p.m.THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES (1976) Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, John Vernon and Sheb Wooley. Clint's a Missouri farmer who becaomes a Confederate guerilla -- reportedly Clints favorite among his films. Screenplay by Philip Kaufman, from Forrest Carton's novel.

Saturday May 8th

AMC 9:00 a.m. WINCHESTER '73 (1950) One of the finest, darkest collaborations between director Anthony Mann and James Stewart. It's all about the quest for "one out of one thousand," the special Winchester rifle that men will do anything to possess. The chilling script is by Robert Richards and Borden Chase, from a story by Stuart Lake. Stars Shelly Winters, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, and, among a lot of great faces, a very young Roch Hudson and Tony Curtis.

AMC 11:15 a.m. TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE (1969) The largely true story of a 1909 manhunt, Robert Blake is Willie Boy, an American Indian who goes on the run after killing the father of his girlfriend, Katherine Ross. Robert Redford is the sheriff on his trail. Written and directed by blacklisted Abraham Polonsky (who never denied nor gave up his Marxist ways)from Harry Lawton's book.


Adios!

Henry

All contents copyright May 2010 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved