COWBOYS TO APPEAR ON POST OFFICE WALLS!

On April 17th, the U.S. Postal Service will issue COWBOYS OF THE SILVER SCREEN, four stamps honoring all-time favorite cowpunchers William S. Hart, Tom Mix, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Robert Rodriguez is the artist for all four portraits. It's been a noteworthy time for Roy Rogers in particular, whose Under Western Skies (1938) was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry, along with The Mark of Zorro (1940), Once Upon a Time In The West (1968) and The Revenge of Pancho Villa (1930-1936). Ironic that both happy events should happen so close to the closing of the Roy Rogers Museum in Branson, Missouri. If you'd like read Roy Rogers Jr. statement about the closing, click here. And if you'd like to nominate movies for the National Film Registry, click here.

SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FESTIVAL!

The 17th Annual Festival will be taking place at the fabled Melody Ranch, of Gene Autry fame, April 22nd-25th. There are many different events and activities, including eating, shopping, touring the Melody Ranch Museum, a wide range of music and dance performances -- including my personal favorites, The Quebe Sisters Band, screenings of High Noon, and of The Shootist - featuring screenwriter Miles Swarthout. There are a ton of different individual events and packages, so for more information and tickets, click here.

BOOK REVIEW - THE WESTERNERS by C. COURTNEY JOYNER

C. Courtney Joyner’s collection of interviews, entitled THE WESTERNERS is, simply, one of the best books ever written about the western film. While most such books are written by one of two kinds of outsider – either a goofy fan with enthusiasm but no knowledge, or a pretentious academic with a wealth of pointless statistics – in this one the story told by the men and women who actually made the movies, interviewed by a man who knows what questions to ask.

Joyner is a screenwriter with more than twenty produced films to his credit, and he’s directed a couple as well. He’s written extensively about his two favorite film genres – westerns and horror – in Wildest Westerns, Fangoria and Famous Monster of Filmland. Joyner’s book covers a wide range of western entertainment in terms of year and budget. He speaks to Glenn Ford, one of the biggest stars to ever ride the range, and to the great character people like perennial John Wayne sideman Edward Faulkner, and accountant-turned-villain-turned-comic Jack Elam. Elam’s story of what happened during the filming of the train-station opening of Leone’s Once Upon A Time in the West (1968) is a jaw-dropper.

Then there are the subjects whose families span generations in the film business. Harry Carey Jr., a solid presence in westerns from Red River and Three Godfathers, both 1948, to Tombstone (1993) – with Billy The Kid Vs. Dracula (1966) in between – is the son of silent western star Harry Carey Sr. You’ll learn what it was like working with John Wayne and John Ford, how an innocuous, overheard comment from Ben Johnson got him banned from John Ford sets for fourteen years. You’ll read about how Dennis Hopper got blackballed after storming off the set, because director Henry Hathaway was mocking his recently deceased pal James Dean. Another second generationer, director Andrew V. McLaglen, son of actor Victor, has plenty of stories to tell.

Joyner’s talk with Elmore ‘Dutch’ Leonard traces his career from the pulps, to Hombre, to the phone-call he got from Clint Eastwood: “Dirty Harry is going to make an awful lot of money. I want one just like it. A guy with a gun, only different.” That’s what led to Joe Kidd(1972). Writer-director Burt Kennedy talks at length about his collaboration with director Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott, which gave us, arguably, the best series of westerns ever made – a subject Kennedy glossed over in his autobiography.

This volume is clearly a labor of love. It contains the only extensive interview I’ve ever read with Warren Oates, who died back in 1982. We are fortunate that Joyner managed to interview Oates while still a college student, as part of a class project!

Also represented are two of the great beauties of the western screen, Virginia Mayo and Julie Adams. While most actresses whine about dust in their hair and eating outside, both of these women enjoyed the often down-and-dirty work, and Mayo won my heart by referring to westerns as ‘outdoor pictures,’ the term John Ford preferred.

Producer A.C. Lyles, the grand old man of Paramount Pictures, discusses his highly successful series of small-budget westerns that kept a slew of old-timers in front of the camera. The television side of westerns is not slighted either. Joyner speaks to Andrew J. Fenady, who in addition to writing Chisum (1970), also wrote and/or produced series like The Rebel, Branded and Hondo.

And spaghetti westerns are welcomed into the fold. Aldo Sambrell, the greatest of the banditos in the Sergio Leones, and so many others, tells the story of why he had to pull a saber on Jim Brown during the making of 100 Rifles(1969).

THE WESTERNERS is a trade paperback published by MacFarland, 256 pages, $39.95, with a forward by Miles Swarthout, the screenwriter of the wonderful The Shootist (1976), from his father Glendon Swarthout’s novel. If you click this link, you’ll be connected to the Westerners’ website, and can order the book from MacFarland or Amazon – and you can watch the trailer for The Wild Bunch (1969)!

FESS PARKER DIES MARCH 19TH, AGE 85

The ruggedly handsome actor who would forever blur a generation's identification of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone was born, appropriately, in Fort Worth, Texas in 1924. Walt Disney, searching for an actor to play Crockett, was considering pre-GUNSMOKE James Arness, and watched him in a 1954 sci-fier, THEM! There he apotted Fess Parker in a small role, and the rest is legend. He became a star over-night, and nearly every kid in the world sported a coon-skin cap for a few years. His rendition of 'Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier,' was #1 for sixteen weeks, for which he was paid $150.00. After the seven CROCKETTS he starred in Westward Ho The Wagons (1956), and Old Yeller (1957), both for Disney. He wanted to be let out of his contract to play a role in Ford's The Searchers, and to star opposite Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop, but Uncle Walt nixed both. In the 1962 season he starred in a TV adaptation of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. Starting in 1964 Parker began playing Daniel Boone, and would continue for 159 episodes. He only took a few roles after Boone, before shifting his business interests to real estate. He had a tremendously successful development in Santa Barbara. He'd drop in there every weekend, and talk for hours to the many aging kids who grew up with him as Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone.

ROBERT CULP DIES MARCH 24TH, AGE 79

Although handsome leading man Culp is best remembered by the public for his long-running series, I SPY, he appeared frequently in western movies and TV shows. He starred in 70 episodes of Trackdown, guested on The Rifleman and Peckinpah's The Westerner, and played Wild Bill Hickok in The Raiders (1963). He starred in Castaway Cowboy (1974) and the comedy The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976). His best western role was ine starred in Hannie Caulder (1971), where he plays the gunslinger who teaches Raquel Welch to shoot. In addition to acting, Culp was a talented writer, and wrote episodes of Trackdown, I Spy and The Greatest American Hero. He also wrote a pilot, Summer Soldiers, for Sam Peckinpah, but they never got it made. He also directed episodes of I SPY, Greatest American Hero, and the feature Hickey and Boggs(1972), in which he co-starred with his old I SPY pal Bill Cosby. I remember hearing him speak at a Writers Guild rally about twenty years ago, where he revealed that he became a director not so much to direct as to protect the integrity of the scripts he had written. If you, like me, haven't seen Culp in the saddle in a while, you can click here and watch The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday.

BUTCH CASSIDY AT THE BILLY WILDER

The Billy Wilder Theatre at UCLA has an occasional series of screenings entitled The Movie That Inspired Me. David Fincher, who has directed Benjamin Button (2008), Zodiac (2007) and Fight Club (1999), has selected Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969), directed by George Roy Hill, written by William Goldman. And in case anyone forgot, it stars Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross and Strother Martin (I love to point out that Strother was in both Butch Cassidy and The Wild Bunch, both films about the same guys in the same year). David Fincher and series curator, director Curtis Hanson, will attend. For details and tickets, click here.

SWEETGRASS AT LANDMARK THEATERS

Here is the official blurb about a new documentary. "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 cowboys have heard 'em all. Sweetgrass is playing at the Varsity Theatre in Seattle, the Nuart in Los Angeles, and will open this week at the Kendall Square Cinema in Boston.

I don't know how many of you went to see Ernest Borgnine at the North Hollywood Library on March 20th, but he played to a packed house. As one of the librarians commented that they'd never seen so many people at the library, nervous firemen slipped in and out of the auditorium where MARTY was being screened. The sign on the wall allowed an occupancy maximum of 116, but there were probably 150 or more. After, the big man answered questions about his career in general, talked a bit about The Wild Bunch, Vera Cruz(1954), and Burt Lancaster, and signed a helluvah lot of copies of his autobio, ERNIE.

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.

Monday March 29th

FMC 3:00 a.m. Call Of The Wild (1935) Clark Gable, Loretta Young, Jack Oakie, Buck, D:William Wellman, W:Gene Fowler - from Jack London's novel. (Great stuff, and Gable at his best - no wonder Loretta got impregnated by him on the shoot!)

Wednesday March 31st

TCM 8:00 a.m. TWO RODE TOGETHER (1961) John Ford directd James Stewart and Richard Widmark in this story of two tough characters bringing home a group of freed Comanche hostages. Screenplay by Frank S. Nugent from the novel by Will Cook.

FMC 3:00 A.M. DRUMS ALONG THE MOWHAWK (1939)
John Ford directed with gusto from the Lamar Trotti, Sonya Levian script, based on the Walter D. Edmonds novel. Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda star in one of the finest of 'eastern' westerns, a Revoltionary War story packed with Ford stock company greats like John Carradine, Arthur Shields and Ward Bond. In a more normal year, it might have been named Best Picture, but in 1939 it received only two Oscar nominations, for Edna Mae Oliver's comic turn as Best Supporting Actress, and for Ray Rennahan and Bert Glennon's glorious Technicolor photography -- and it won neither. Highly recommended.

FMC 9:00 a.m. THE TRUE STORY OF JESSE JAMES (1957) Nicholas Ray directed this remake of the 1939 classic, starring Robert Wagner as Jesse, Jeffrey Hunter as Frank, and Alan Hale Jr. as Cole Younger, with Hope Lange and Agnes Moorehead. Scripy by Walter Newman, adapted from Nunnally Johnson's original.

Thursday April 1st

FNC 7:01 a.m. SHERIFF OF FRACTURED JAW (1959) Comedy western, D:Raoul Walsh, W:Howard Dimsdale, starring Jayne Mansfield, Kenneth More, Henry Hull, Bruce Cabot.

AMC 7:00 p.m. BLAZING SADDLES (1974)Mel Brooks directed and co-wrote, with Norman Steinberg, this delightfully broad western comedy about a town getting it's first black sheriff, Cleavon Little, helped only by Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid. With Slim Pickens and Madeline Kahn, and featuring a rousing theme sung by Frankie Laine.

Friday April 2nd

TCM 1:15 a.m. MEN WHO MADE THE MOVIES: HOWARD HAWKS (1973) Docymentary directd by Richard Schickel.

TCM 6:16 a.m. GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST (1938) Theatre impressario David Belasco's play about a frontierwoman sheltering an outlaw becomes a vehicle for the voices of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. With Buddy Ebsen. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, script by Isabel Dawn.

TCM 10:15 a.m. THE KID FROM TEXAS (1939) A playboy turns cowboy, and sets up a polo match with an Indian tribe. Stars Dennis O'Keefe, Buddy Ebsen and Jack Carson. Directed by S. Sylvan Simon, story by Milton Merlin and Byron Morgan, screenplya by Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allen Woolf and Albert Mann Heimer.

AMC 12:30 p.m. BLAZING SADDLES (1974)Mel Brooks directed and co-wrote, with Norman Steinberg, this delightfully broad western comedy about a town getting it's first black sheriff, Cleavon Little, helped only by Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid. With Slim Pickens and Madeline Kahn, and featuring a rousing theme sung by Frankie Laine.

TCM 12:45 p.m. FRONTIER RANGERS (1959) This movie and the next are cobbled together from the excellent TV series NORTHWEST PASSAGE, based on Kenneth Robert's novel about Robert's Rangers and the French and Indian War. Starring Keith Larsen, Buddy Ebsen and Angie Dickinson, directed by the great Jacques Tourneur. Screenplay by Gerald Drayson Adams.

TCM 2:15 p.m. FURY RIVER (1961) See above, the same cast, this time with four directors and several writers.

Saturday April 3rd

AMC 7:00 a.m. The Culpepper Cattle Company (1972) Directed by Dick Richards from his own story, scripted by Gregory Prentiss and Eric Bercovici. Young Gary Grimes talks a trail boss, Billy Green Bush, into taking him on a cattle drive. With Luke Askew, Bo Hopkins, Charles Martin Smith and Matt Clark -- how many westerns is Matt Clark in, anyway? As many as Gabby Hayes?

TCM 9:00 a.m. LITTLE BIG MAN (1970) LITTLE BIG MAN (1970) As a little big fan of director Arthur Penn and screenwriter Calder Willingham, I couldn't wait to see this adaptation of Thomas Berger's novel about an incredibly old Dustin Hoffman recalling his upbringing by Indians and fighting alongside Custer. But it's just ghastly, nearly unwatchable, and absolutely pointless, for 140 minutes! It strives to be funny on occasion, but fails utterly. Hoffman doesn't suck, but he can't save it. Faye Dunaway is fetching as she seduces Hoffman. Chief Dan George was nominated for as Oscar, in a performance that reminds you of Bela Lugosi's later work -- when he was at such a higher level of professionalism than those around him that you wondered how he could stand it. Great make-up by Dick Smith. Burn the negative.

AMC 9:15 a.m. THE COMANCHEROS (1961) John Wayne arrests Stuart Whitman, but they must join forces to defeat evil gun-running comanchero Lee Marvin. Great fun, written by James Edward Grant from a novel by Paul Wellman. It was Michael Curtiz's last film. When he became too ill, John Wayne took over the directorial reins, but refused credit. Fine Elmer Bernstein score. Biggest weakness: Lee Marvin is supposed to be horribly scared from surviving being scalped, but he actually looks like he's wearing a horse-shoe crab on top of his head.

AMC 11:45 a.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.

AMC 2:30 p.m. JEREMIAH JOHNSON (1972) Sydney Pollack directs Robert Redford in the story of a real mountain man, culled from several different writers: Vardis Fisher, Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker. The screenplay is by John Milius and Edward Anholt, and is co-stars Will Geer. Probably Redford's best western role (yes, I know SUNDANCE KID is good, too), and it was a wise move to eliminate his character's nickname: Liver-Eating Johnson.

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.

AMC 8:00 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.

AMC 11:00 p.m. JEREMIAH JOHNSON (1972) Sydney Pollack directs Robert Redford in the story of a real mountain man, culled from several different writers: Vardis Fisher, Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker. The screenplay is by John Milius and Edward Anholt, and is co-stars Will Geer. Probably Redford's best western role (yes, I know SUNDANCE KID is good, too), and it was a wise move to eliminate his character's nickname: Liver-Eating Johnson.

Adios,

Henry

WHO IS THAT MASKED MAN?

IT MAY BE GEORGE CLOONEY. Jerry Bruckheimer is in the pre-production stages for a LONE RANGER feature that has recently seen a change of screenwriters (CLICK HERE for that entry). And although Johnny Depp was announced as Tonto some time ago, the project has been lacking a Kemo Sabe. But according to EXTRA, George Clooney is now in the lead for the lead. When EXTRA tried to confirm with Bruckheimer, he replied, "It's true that Johnny Depp is going to play Tonto. As far as George is concerned, we have not made a decision on the Lone Ranger yet. He's a fantastic actor!" Bruckheimer states. "Who wouldn't consider him. We are still working on the script. It depends on the age range, what we are going to do with it."

6 GUNS IN STORES TUESDAY, MARCH 30

This new direct-to-home-video revenge drama from THE ASYLUM stars SAGE MEARS as the wronged woman, BARRY VAN DYKE(above) as the bounty hunter, GEOFF MEAD as the bounty, and GREG EVIGAN as the sheriff. In addition to being the villain of the piece, Mead also wrote the screenplay, and Southern Californians may recognize him from his days in the western stunt show at UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. Speaking of double-duty, Barry's son SHANE VAN DYKE (above right) directed the picture, and also plays a member of the outlaw gang. I'll have a review next week. To view the trailer, CLICK HERE.

AMERICAN BANDITS: FRANK AND JESSE JAMES

Due in stores May 18th, this direct-to-home-video release is from the prolific writer-director FRED OLEN RAY, and toplines PETER FONDA as Marshal Kane, back in the saddle again after wearing the badge in 3:10 TO YUMA(2007). TIM ABELL is Frank, GEORGE STULTS, from 7th HEAVEN , is Jesse, and MICHAEL GAGLIO is Otis. To see the trailer, CLICK HERE

TOMBSTONE IN BLU-RAY ON APRIL 27TH

One of the most fervently-loved tellings of the O.K. Corral will be back with a $29.99 price on its head. Written by KEVIN JARRE, it was directed by the late GEORGE P. COSMATOS. Born in Italy in the midst of World War II, Cosmatos learned his craft assistant directing on European productions like EXODUS (1960) and ZORBA THE GREEK (1964). TOMBSTONE (1993), which stars Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer and a prairie schooner-full of stars, was Cosmatos's crowning achievment. CLICK HERE for the trailer.

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.

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.

Monday March 22

EXT 10:25 a.m. THE CLAIM (2000) Michael Winterbottom directs from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, moved to the American west. Stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinsky, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.

TCM 9:00 p.m. THE SHOOTIST (1976) John Wayne's last movie role is one of his most emotionally affecting as a dying lawman surrounded by people who want to profit from his notoriety. It's a shame it's the only time Don Siegel directed him. Glendon Swarthout's novel is adapted beautifully by his son, Miles Swarthout. Starring Lauren Bacall, James Stewart, Ron Howard, Harry Morgan, Richard Boone and Hugh O'Brien.

TCM 11:00 p.m. STAGECOACH (1939) The movie that made the Duke a star, and rescued westerns from the kiddie matinee ghetto. Screenplay by frequent John Ford collabotator Dudley Nichols, from the short story STAGE TO LORDSBERG by Ernest Haycox. The story of a group of stagecoach travelers also stars Claire Trevor, George Bancroft, Andy Devine, Donald Meek and John Carradine. After Duke read the script, John Ford asked who he thought would be good for The Ringo Kid. "How about Lloyd Nolan?" Duke replied. Thank God Ford didn't listen!

EXT 11:45 p.m. THE CLAIM (2000) Michael Winterbottom directs from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, moved to the American west. Stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinsky, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.

Tuesday March 23rd

TCM 1:00 a.m. DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD (2006) Peter Bogdonavich updated his 1971 documentary, narrated by Orson Welles, who watched STAGECOACH repeatedly before directing CITIZEN KANE.

Wednesday March 24th

TCM 8:30 A.M. NEVADA SMITH (1966) Steve McQueen stars as a 'half-breed' out to avenge his parents slaughter. Enthralling, and endlessly imitated, it is the great revenge western story, directed with consumate skill by Henry Hathaway. The story was a novel-within-a-novel, from Harold Robbins's THE CARPETBAGGERS, adapted by one of Hitchcock's favorite writers, John Michael Hayes. Also starring Karl Malden and Brian Keith.

TCM 10:45 a.m. The Reivers (1969) Charming, easy-going turn-of-the-century tale of Steve McQueen, Rupert Cross, and Mitch Vogel's adventures in a stolen car. Sharon Farrell is at her most radiant, and B-western fans will appreciate the cameo by Roy Barcroft as the judge. Written by the Oscar-winning wife and husband team of Harriet Frank Jr, and Irving Ravetch, from William Faulkner's novel. Directed by Mark Rydell.

Thursday March 25th

FMC 3:00 a.m. THE PROUD ONES (1956) Marshal Robert Ryan must protect his town when a Texas herd arrives with murderous Jeffrey Hunter. Directed by Robert D. Webb, also starring Virginia Mayo, Walter Brennan, Robert Middleton. Verne Athanas's novel was adapted by Edmund North and Joseph Petraca.

FMC 5:00 a.m. RIO CONCHOS (1964) Richard Boone, Anthony Francisoa, STuart Whitman and Edmund O'Brien fight over a shipment of guns. Directed by Gordon Douglas. Clair Huffaker adapted his own novel, with the help of Joe Landon.

Friday March 26th

TCM 3:30 a.m. AMBUSH (1949) Robert Taylor searches for a white woman held captive by Apaches. With John Hodiak and Arlene Dahl, directed by Sam Wood. The screenplay by Marguerite Roberts is based on a story by the great Luke Short.

FMC 11:00 a.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.

FMC 1:00 p.m. Flaming Star (1960) An early film from the soon-to-be-great Don Siegal, working from Nunnally Johnson's script of a Clair Huffaker novel. Elvis Presley, playing a role planned for Marlon Brando, is the half-breed son of white John McIntire and Kiowa Dolores Del Rio, forced to take sides in a local war between white and Indian. Surprisingly good, you realize how good an actor Elvis could have been if Col. Parker hadn't steered him into mostly inane crap. With Steve Forrest and Barbara Eden.

TCM 1:30 p.m. JOHNNY GUITAR (1954) Nicholas Ray directed this crazily over-the-top story of Sterling Hayden as Johnny Guitar, and Scott Brady as The Dancin' Kid, brawling for the affections of the terrifying Joan Crawford. Adapted by Philip Yordan from the novel by Roy Chanslor.

FMC 3:00 p.m. THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER (1982) An Australian 'western' based on a poem by A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson, scripted by Cul Cullen, directed by George Miller. Stars Jack Thompson, Tom Burlinson, Kirk Douglas, and the lovely gal from the under-appreciated series, PARADISE, Sigrid Thornton.

Saturday March 27th

FMC 3:00 a.m. The Big Trail (1930) Raoul Walsh directed John Wayne in his first lead in this epic from Hal G. Evarts' story, and good as it was, it was a box-office disappointment, sending the Duke to do leads in Bs until Stagecoach (1939). Beautiful telling of the story of a wagon train, with Marguerite Churchill, El Brendel, Ty Power Sr., with uncredited early roles by Ward Bond and Iron Eyes Cody. Shot in 35 MM by Lucien Andriot, and 70MM by Arthur Edeson -- I don't know which version they show.

AMC 6:30 a.m. BIG HAND FOR THE LITTLE LADY (1966) Joanne Woodward has to step into a high-stakes poker game when her husband is too ill to continue. With Henry Fonda and Jason Robards Jr. Directed by Fielder Cook, written by Sidney Carroll, originally as an episode of the tv series PLAYHOUSE 90. If you'd like to see that version, click here.

AMC 8:45 a.m. The Last Wagon (1956) Directed by the great historical filmmaker Delmer Daves, which he co-scripted with James Edward Grant. The wagin-train survivors of an Apache attack must turn to 'Commanche Todd' Richard Widmark for help. With Tommy 'Lassie' Rettig and Nick Adams.

TCM 9:00 a.m. TENSION AT TABLE ROCK (1956) A gunman takes over a stagecoach stop. Starring Richard Egan, Dorothy Malone and Angie Dickinson. The novel by Frank Gruber is adapted by Winston Miller. Directed by one of the great unsung talents of western films, John Marquis Warren, who was responsible for eraly, defining episodes of GUNSMOKE and RAWHIDE.

TCM 11:00 a.m. MONTE WALSH (1970) Lee Marvin shines as a cowboy not pleased at the modern world's encroachment on his way of life. Co-starring Jack Palance and Jeanne Moreau, helmed by cinematographer-turned-director William Fraker. Screenplay by David Zelag Goodman from Jack 'Shane' Schaeffer's novel.

AMC 11:00 a.m. GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND (1993) Walter Hill directs from the John Milius script, the Apache chief's life story, starring Wes Studi in the title role, with Jason Partic, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall and Matt Damon.

TCM 1:00 p.m. SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1949) One of John Ford's celebrated cavalry trilogy, with John Wayne as an officer retiring when an Indian uprising threatens. With Joanne Dru, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Victor McLaglen, John Agar. Story by James Warner Bellah, screenplay by Frank Nugent and Laurence Stalling.

AMC 5:00 p.m. JEREMIAH JOHNSON (1972) Sydney Pollack directs Robert Redford in the story of a real mountain man, culled from several different writers: Vardis Fisher, Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker. The screenplay is by John Milius and Edward Anholt, and is co-stars Will Geer. Probably Redford's best western role (yes, I know SUNDANCE KID is good, too), and it was a wise move to eliminate his character's nickname: Liver-Eating Johnson.

AMC 7:30 p.m.SILVERADO (1985) Larry Kasdan directs from a script he wrote with his brother Mark. Lots of good stuff in it, but at 133 minutes, it's at least a half hour too long. Starring Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner.

AMC 10:30 p.m. SILVERADO (1985) Larry Kasdan directs from a script he wrote with his brother Mark. Lots of good stuff in it, but at 133 minutes, it's at least a half hour too long. Starring Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner.

Sunday March 27th

FMC 7:00 a.m. THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940) A delight! Rouben Mamoulian directs John Taintor Foote's adaptation of the Johnston McCulley story. Ty Power, Basil Rathbone, Linda Darnell et al have great fun, and the audience has even more.

FMC 8:45 a.m. BROKEN ARROW (1950) James Stewart is an ex-soldier, and Jeff Chandler is Apache Chief Cochise, trying together for peace. D:Delmer Daves, W:Albert Maltz(another writer's name may be one the credits -- Maltz was blacklisted and had someone 'front' for him).

EXT 7:55 p.m. THE CLAIM (2000) Michael Winterbottom directs from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, moved to the American west. Stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinsky, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.

Adios!

Henry

IS FX OPTIMISM 'JUSTIFIED'?

UPDATED 3/17 -- SEVERAL NEW WEEKEND EVENTS -- CHECK BELOW

WE'LL FIND OUT TUESDAY 3/16 AT 10 P.M. JUSTIFIED is a modern-day western spun from the Elmore Leonard story Fire In The Hole. Timothy Olyphant, who spent three years in DEADWOOD as Sheriff Seth Bullock, plays U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a polite but deadly Kentucky gentleman. If you'd like to see the trailer, click here. Executive Producer Graham Yost has at least ten shows in the can so far, and an interesting collection of behind-the-scenes talent. Tony Goldwyn has directed one episode, and Elmore Leonard has produced one.

TRUE GRIT ROLLS CAMERAS IN TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO

The Coen brothers may have missed out an their own Oscar for their SERIOUS MAN script, but their Rooster Cogburn, Jeff Bridges, goes to the set with a Best Actor Oscar under his arm for CRAZY HEART. Barry Pepper will play Ned Pepper, the role originally assayed by Robert Duvall. Pepper his a long string of notable credits, but I'll always remember him as the sniper in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998). Paul Rae will portray Emmett Quincy, and Ed Corbin will play 'Bear Grit'. Cinematographer Roger Deakins, whose eight Oscar noms include THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES (2007) and the Coen's NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007) will be behind the camera. The score will be composed by Carter Burwell, who did similar chores so memorably for THE ALAMO (2004) and this year's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.

COWBOYS AND ALIENS GETS START DATE, RELEASE DATE

Robert Downey Jr. is out to do another SHERLOCK HOLMES, Daniel 'Bond' Craig is in his place, and with lovely HOUSE star Olivia Wilde in, the Jon Favreau-helmed Scf-Fi western should be before the Universal cameras this July. Favreau, who directed IRON MAN and ELF, won't say yet whether he'll be shooting in 3D. Asked by MTV why she signed on, Olivia Wilde replied, "It's really interesting people who just want to make a great story... Western enthusiasts will be happy. Sci-fi enthusiasts will be happy. Jon Favreau likes to describe it as a mash-up... It's going to have awesome effects, but Jon Favreau and everyone else are concentrating on making a great story and I'm absolutely humbled and excited to be a part of it." The announced release date is July 29, 2011, and be warned, that's also the announced release date for THE SMURFS MOVIE. Decisions, decisions...

ONE MORE WALK-DOWN FOR VIRGIL COLE

Mystery readers around the globe were saddened to learn of the death of prolific author Robert B. Parker, at his home in Cambridge, on January 18th, from a heart attack. Much was said at the time of his very popular three mystery series, SPENSER FOR HIRE, JESSE STONE, and SUNNY RANDALL, but there was little or no mention of his VIRGIL COLE western series, which included GUNMAN'S RHAPSODY and APPALOOSA, the latter leading to the excellent movie of the same title. With the death of his creator, does this mean Virgil Cole is at the end of his tether? Not quite, according to publishers G.P. Putnam's Sons. In May 2010, they will be bringing out the last novel of the series, BLUE-EYED DEVIL, and will simultaneously issue the current hard-cover release, BRIMSTONE, in paperback. I just read APPALOOSA, and I don't ever recall a movie that followed a book more closely -- the dialogue is intact virtually word-for-word. When the film opened, director-star Ed Harris was already talking about a sequel. I've been trying to find out if New Line Cinema has one in the works, but I haven't got a direct answer back. If you have any doubts as to whether a sequel is desirable, click here to see the trailer for APPALOOSA (2008).

WESTERN COMPOSER NATHAN SCOTT DIES

Nathan Scott, a composer, orchestrator and conductor with a staggering 950 professional credits, died at his home in Sherman Oaks, at the age of 94. Born in Salinas, he graduated from UC Berkeley with a music degree in 1939. He worked on radio as the west-coast music director of the NBC BLUE NETWORK until he entered the Army, where he worked on such Armed Forces Radio Service shows as COMMAND PERFORMANCE. In 1946 he went to work at Republic Pictures, and if you've seen the films of MONTE HALE, GENE AUTRY, WILD BILL ELLIOT and ROY ROGERS of that period, you've almost certainly heard Scott's scores. He also composed the music for John Wayne's WAKE OF THE RED WITCH (1948) MONTANA BELLE (1952), where Jane Russell portrayed Belle Starr, and many others. Moving to television, he also composed for episodes of LARAMIE, THE VIRGINIAN, HAVE GUN-WILL TRAVEL, RAWHIDE and GUNSMOKE.

WEEKEND EVENTS - AROUND TOWN - AROUND THE COUNTRY

ERNEST BORGNINE IN PERSON!

On Saturday, March 20th, at 2:00 p.m., The North Hollywood Library, at 5211 Tujunga Ave., at the corner of Magnolia, will host a free screening of MARTY, the movie that earned Borgnine his Oscar -- and he will be present following the screening! (818) 766-7185.

AT THE AUTRY

On Saturday, March 20th at 1 p.m., The Southwest Musueum presents a lecture, The View FRom the Braun:Archeoastronomy, describing how the first Americans used the sky as part of their worldview. The cave-paintings look fascinating. Admission is free to members, $10 to non-members, and NOTE: THIS IS AT THE SOUTHWEST MUSEUM, NOT THE AUTRY MUSEUM IN GRIFFITH PARK. For details, click here.

At the museum in Griffith Park, in addition to the above, and regular weekend family events like gold-panning, there will be a Santa Fe craft show at the gift shop on Saturday at 11:00 a.m., and on Sunday at Noon, the 3rd Sunday Jam with the Western Music Association. Also, in the Wells Fargo Theatre, a play, TALES OF AN URBAN INDIAN, will be performed Thursday, Friday 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.,and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. For more information, including tickets for the play, click here.

LOS ENCINOS STATE HISTORIC PARK

Sunday 3/20 Living History. From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. you can step back in time! The living history program features a working blacksmith shop, 19th Century children's games, traditional music, tours of the historic structures, and strolling folks in period costume -- great fun for kids and adults, and you can feed the ducks! They do this program on the third Sunday of every month. Los Encinos is located at 16756 Moorpark St., Encino, CA 91436-1068. (818)784-4849. For more information, click here.


THE ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES - NEW YORK CITY

Buster Keaton
THE GENERAL
1927, 105 minutes, 16mm, b&w, silent. With Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavendar, Jim Farley, and Joseph Keaton.
One of Keaton's best silent features, setting comedy against a true Civil War story of a stolen train and Union spies.
-Saturday and Sunday, March 20 & 21 at 5:30.
Anthology Film Archives | 32 Second Avenue | New York | NY | 10003

LANDMARK THEATRES FEATURES 'A TOWN CALLED PANIC' IN 3 STATES

A TOWN CALLED PANIC. Okay, it's not a traditional western. In fact, it's animation, very limited stop-motion animation, but it does feature a cowboy, an Indian, and a horse, it's a Belgian and French co-production, and except for some cursing in the subtitles, it's supposed to be great for kids! It's playing at the LAGOON CINEMA in Minneapolis, the TIVOLI THEATRE in St. Louis, and the MIDTOWN ART CINEMA in Atlanta. If you want to know more, click here .

PAPERBACK COLLECTOR SHOW AND SALE - MISSION HILLS, CA
Sunday, March 21 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

This is an annual event that I NEVER miss. Dozens of paperback dealers and collectors from around the country converge, bringing pulps and paperbacks exclusively. There is more horror and sci-fi than anything else, but there are a lot of westerns -- I've picked up tons of Luke Short, and seen plenty of Max Brand, Zane Grey, Louis Lamour and the rest. The pristine stuff can be pricey, but you can find lots of great deals if you're not so picky about condition -- I rarely pay more than $2 for anything, and purists sneer at my 'reader copies,' but after all, I'm getting them to read, not to seal them in a vault. They also have forty writers and other guests there to sign books, and THEY DON'T CHARGE for autographs! They're mostly sci-fi and horror people, among them Ray Bradbury, William F. Nolan and Edd "Cookie" Byrnes, who starred in a number of spaghetti westerns. For a complete list of signers and time slots, click here. It's at the Guest House Inn, 10621 Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills, CA 91345, and admission is $5. And tell them Henry's Western Round-up sent you.

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.

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.

BEST DARN THING ON TV ALL WEEK!!!
TCM THURSDAY - O.K. CORRAL-A-THON!

FOUR MOVIES IN A ROW dealing with the Earps, Doc Holliday and the Clantons!

5:00 p.m. - MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946) - The John Ford version, with Henry Fonda, Victor Mature and Walter Brennan.

7:00 p.m. - GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL (1957) - The John Sturges version, with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas.

9:15 p.m. - HOUR OF THE GUN (1967) - The NEXT John Sturges version, with James Garner, Jason Robards Jr., and Robert Ryan.

11:00 p.m. - MASTERSON OF KANSAS (1954) - The William 'TINGLER' Castle version, with George Montgomery, Nancy Gates and James Griffith.

SECOND BEST DARN THING ON TV ALL WEEK:
TCM SUNDAY - TWO AKIRA KURASAWA WESTERNS BACK TO BACK!

5:00 P.M. - THE OUTRAGE (1964) - RASHOMAN with Mexican bandits, stars Paul Newman, Claire Bloom and Edward G. Robinson, directed by Martin Ritt, screenplay adaptation by Michael Kanin.

7:00 p.m. - THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) - 7 SAMAURI in Mexico, directed by John Sturges, screenplay adaptation by William Roberts, and starring the seven: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, Horst Buchholz and, in the role he was born (in Brooklyn) to play, Eli Wallach as Calvera!

Monday 3/15

FOX FLAMING STAR (1960) An early film from the soon-to-be-great Don Siegal, working from Nunnally Johnson's script of a Clair Huffaker novel. Elvis Presley, playing a role planned for Marlon Brando, is the half-breed son of white John McIntire and Kiowa Dolores Del Rio, forced to take sides in a local war between white and Indian. Surprisingly good, you realize how good an actor Elvis could have been if Col. Parker hadn't steered him into mostly inane crap. With Steve Forrest and Barbara Eden.

Tuesday 3/17

FOX 7:00 a.m. THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940) A delight! Rouben Mamoulian directs John Taintor Foote's adaptation of the Johnston McCulley story. Ty Power, Basil Rathbone, Linda Darnell et al have great fun, and the audience has even more.


Wednesday 3/17

EXT 6:30 a.m. SHADOWHEART (2009) A bounty hunter is out revenge in 1865 New Mexico. Directed by Dean Alioto from his and Peter Vanderwall's script. Starring Justin Ament, Angus Macfayden, Daniel Baldwin, William Sadler, and two great pros, Rance Howard and Charles Napier.

EXT. 4:35 p.m. SHADOWHEART See above.

Thursday 3/18

FOX 3:00 a.m. SHERIFF OF FRACTURED JAW (1959) Comedy western, D:Raoul Walsh, W:Howard Dimsdale, starring Jayne Mansfield, Kenneth More, Henry Hull, Bruce Cabot.

EXT 3:05 a.m. SHADOWHEART (2009) A bounty hunter is out revenge in 1865 New Mexico. Directed by Dean Alioto from his and Peter Vanderwall's script. Starring Justin Ament, Angus Macfayden, Daniel Baldwin, William Sadler, and two great pros, Rance Howard and Charles Napier.


TCM 3:15 a.m. THE TENDERFOOT (1932) An innocent cowboy decides to back a Broadway play. Directed by Ray Enright, from a story by Richard Carle and Broadway comedy master George S. Kaufman, adapted by Earl Baldwin, Arthur Caesar and silent comic-turned comedy writer/director Monty Banks. It stars Joe E. Brown and Ginger Rogers.

FOX 5:00 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!

EXT 9:00 a.m. THE CLAIM (2000) Michael Winterbottom directs from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, moved to the American west. Stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinsky, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.

EXT 12:35 p.m. GANG OF ROSES(2003) Female rappers Lil' Kim, Macy Gray, Monica Calhoun, LisaRaye play gunslingers in a search for revenge and gold, not necessarily in that order. The locations and production are good, and there's a curious enjoyment to seeing James Coburn's introduction from MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, and Eli Wallach's near hanging from THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY ripped off by women. But the plotting is often moronic, and an awful lot of it is needlessly vulgar -- a woman on the gallows loudly discussing her vagina with the man who's about to throw the switch is a bit much, even by DEADWOOD standards. Written and directed by Jean-Claude LaMarre.

EXT 4:25 p.m. THE CLAIM (2000) Michael Winterbottom directs from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, moved to the American west. Stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinsky, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.

EXT 10:00 P.M. GANG OF ROSES(2003) Female rappers Lil' Kim, Macy Gray, Monica Calhoun, LisaRaye play gunslingers in a search for revenge and gold, not necessarily in that order. The locations and production are good, and there's a curious enjoyment to seeing James Coburn's introduction from MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, and Eli Wallach's near hanging from THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY ripped off by women. But the plotting is often moronic, and an awful lot of it is needlessly vulgar -- a woman on the gallows loudly discussing her vagina with the man who's about to throw the switch is a bit much, even by DEADWOOD standards. Written and directed by Jean-Claude LaMarre.


Friday 3/19

FOX 5:00 a.m. NORTH TO ALASKA (1960) A comic western featuring the romatic triangle of gold-mining partners John Wayne, Stewart Granger and lovely Capucine, with Ernie Kovacs and Fabian. Directed by Henry Hathaway, written by half of the WGA -- screenplay by John Lee Mahin, Martin Rackin and Claude Binyon, from a play by Lazlo Fodor, and an idea by John Kafka, with uncredited work by Ben Hecht and Wendell Mayes.

FOX 9:00 a.m. BANDOLERO! (1968)Great fun with Stewart and Martin as feuding brother outlaws. Featuring Raquel Welch, Harry Carey Jr., Jock Mahoney, Don 'Red' Barry, Roy Barcroft, D:Andrew McLaglen, W:James Lee Barrett (If you want to see an incredible list on stuntmen, check out the listing on IMDB)

FOX 11 a.m. BROKEN ARROW (1950) James Stewart is an ex-soldier, and Jeff Chandler is Apache Chief Cochise, trying together for peace. D:Delmer Daves, W:Albert Maltz(another writer's name may be one the credits -- Maltz was blacklisted and had someone 'front' for him).

TCM 12:30 a.m. DODGE CITY (1939) Errol Flynn decides to clean up the town! Delightful, exuberant fun, written by Robert Buckner and directed by the terriffic Michael Curtiz. It features all of the Warner Brothers stallwarts: Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan, Bruce Cabot, Frank McHugh, Alan Hale, Victory Jory and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams. (SPOILER ALERT) 8 year old Bobs Watson, the kid who gets dragged to death, told me they tricked the school-teacher off of the set of the picture, so Bobs could do the dragging stunt himself!

EXT 4:45 a.m. THE CLAIM (2000) Michael Winterbottom directs from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, moved to the American west. Stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinsky, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.

TCM 2:45 p.m. BIG HAND FOR THE LITTLE LADY (1966) Joanne Woodward has to step into a high-stakes poker game when her husband is too ill to continue. With Henry Fonda and Jason Robards Jr. Directed by Fielder Cook, written by Sidney Carroll, originally as an episode of the tv series PLAYHOUSE 90. If you'd like to see that version, click here.

Saturday 3/20

AMC 6:00 a.m. BLAZING SADDLES (1974)Mel Brooks directed and co-wrote, with Norman Steinberg, this delightfully broad western comedy about a town getting it's first black sheriff, Cleavon Little, helped only by Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid. With Slim Pickens and Madeline Kahn, and featuring a rousing theme sung by Frankie Laine.

TCM 9:00 a.m. THE OUTLAW (1943) Jack Beutel plays the title character, Billy the Kid, but Jane Russell is the titular head of the cast, which also features Thomas Mitchell and Walter Huston as Pat Garrett and Doc Holliday, respectively. Howard Hawks started directing it, but quit, and Howard Hughes took over, with a script by Jules Furthman. Not brilliant, but worth seeing, especially screen-filling Jane Russell in her first starring role.

EXT 2:35 p.m. SHADOWHEART (2009) A bounty hunter is out revenge in 1865 New Mexico. Directed by Dean Alioto from his and Peter Vanderwall's script. Starring Justin Ament, Angus Macfayden, Daniel Baldwin, William Sadler, and two great pros, Rance Howard and Charles Napier.


Sunday 3/21

TCM 3:00 a.m. GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST (1938) Theatre impressario David Belasco's play about a frontierwoman sheltering an outlaw becomes a vehicle for the voices of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. With Buddy Ebsen. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, script by Isabel Dawn.

AMC 3:00 a.m. BLAZING SADDLES (1974)Mel Brooks directed and co-wrote, with Norman Steinberg, this delightfully broad western comedy about a town getting it's first black sheriff, Cleavon Little, helped only by Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid. With Slim Pickens and Madeline Kahn, and featuring a rousing theme sung by Frankie Laine.

EXT 5:00 a.m. SHADOWHEART (2009) A bounty hunter is out revenge in 1865 New Mexico. Directed by Dean Alioto from his and Peter Vanderwall's script. Starring Justin Ament, Angus Macfayden, Daniel Baldwin, William Sadler, and two great pros, Rance Howard and Charles Napier.

That's it for this week! In the coming weeks I'll have a review of Courtney Joyner's book, THE WESTERNERS, info about the upcoming Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, westerns on the radio and the internet, so don't touch that dial!

Adios,

Henry

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE 'PECOS'

An Interview With Spaghetti Western Star Robert Woods

A couple of Sundays ago, Spudic’s Movie Empire in Van Nuys played host to an American star of European Westerns, Robert Woods. During the 1960s and 1970s, he starred in fifty movies, at least half of them spaghetti westerns. The event was to celebrate the digitally re-mastered DVD release of THE GATLING GUN (1968), which kept firing behind us during our conversation.
Born in Colorado and raised at a ranch near the Continental Divide, it seems natural that he should want to be a cowboy actor, but that wasn’t his goal at the start. “I felt there was a world out there – I loved Colorado, loved the Rocky Mountains. But I always wanted to see far off lands. I had dreams about Paris, about the places I’d read about in books, in school. And so I joined the Navy during the Korean thing. When I came out I went to San Diego State, and I wasn’t thinking of becoming an actor at that time. I was studying in a little theater because it was quiet. And they were having readings for a play, VICTORIA REGINA, and I laughed, because they were pretty bad. And the director said, and I quote, ‘Are you gonna read?’ And I said, ‘No,’ and he said, ‘Then shut the F up!’ And then I said, ‘Okay, I’m reading.’ So I went down and I read, and he loved me, and I got the lead in the play.”
That led to more plays and musicals. “I did West Side Story in San Diego, (and) they brought me to L.A. to test for the part of Tony in the film. But it turned out they really already had a Tony, and they were gathering people from all over the country as a publicity thing. I was pretty disappointed. But I did a lot of musical stuff. I played valve trumpet, I played jazz, I sang, I recorded for Fontana.”
He went from being a teaching major to a speech major, but the acting seed had been sown. “I had letters of recommendation (for people) in L.A., and thought I was going to set the world on fire. I ended up sleeping on somebody’s floor for a month, starving, and running out of money, and no gas for my car. So I said the hell with it, and went down to Central Casting, and got on line to be an extra. They sent me out to MGM, where I became George Hamilton’s stunt double for WHERE THE BOYS ARE (1960). There’s a scene in a (mermaid-themed) nightclub with a (big cement) conch shell, and I dive over it, (into the tank) where Barbara Nichols is swimming in two feet of water. So I did this little stunt, and that day (producer) Joe Levine was there, and he said, “You’re an actor!” And I said, “Well, no, I’m doubling George. I’m just an extra.” He says, “No! You’re an actor! Go stand over there by Chill Wills, I’ll give you a line.” It was easy as that (he snaps his fingers). All this time I’ve been sweating it out, wondering how I’m going to get a (S.A.G.) card without a film, I can’t get a film without a card, and it was over in a micro-second.”
Now he had a S.A.G. card, but the work wasn’t exactly pouring in. He was working as a singer waiter at a Chinese restaurant Flower Drum Song, “When some guy came in and offered me a part in a film, and he gave me a script. I went to read for the producer, and he was gay, and I didn’t understand any of that at the time. The script was called THE NUN AND THE SERGEANT (1962), and it was to be my first big break. And (when I understood the deal), I threw the script in his face. He said, ‘You’ll never work in this town again!’ It was one of those dramatic scenes. ”
He got a crash course in dealing with gay people when famous drag queen Lynne Carter hired him to be the straight-man in her act. “Nineteen weeks in (Greenwich) Village, right across the street from the Bon Soir, where Streisand was doing her act. I’d go across the street and see her; she’d come across and see me. It was a fun time. And Carter offered me to go on the road, offered me great money to go to Australia, but I didn’t want that image, so I said no.”
When he auditioned for Otto Preminger for THE CARDINAL (1963) casting director “Bill Barnes told me, ‘We really like you, but we don’t have the budget to send you over to play this priest. But if somehow you can find yourself in Italy, you’ve got the part.’ And I said, ‘Strangely enough, I’m going to be in Italy.’”
With his life savings, $450, in his pocket, and with time to kill before the summer and THE CARDINAL, he flew to Paris, where he made some money dubbing films. “And I’m sitting on the Champs Elysee , and a guy walks by me, I thought he was gay, and he says, ‘Are you a model?’ ‘No, I’m an actor.’ ‘Well, you should really try modeling. Here’s my card.’ So I stayed talking a little longer than I should, wound up getting back to the dubbing studio late, and the guy I was working for blew his cool. And I said, ‘What did I know, I didn’t want to be rude.’ I gave him his card. It was Helmut Newton. He said Newton was big: I have to do it. So I became a model – I was the highest paid male model in Paris for a year. You don’t ever talk about that in acting circles (laughs), but it was great money, and I got to go all over the world with Newton -- and he was married, he wasn’t gay. Kinky, but not gay.”
Robert never got to do THE CARDINAL. But he was modeling and doing theatre, “…when a guy came backstage with a contract and wanted me to do a western. I said, ‘no, thank you.’ I was doing theater and modeling, and the money he offered wasn’t that good. The next night he was back with a contract for five pictures. Well that was a whole lot better. So I went down to do my first film (1965’s PISTOLEROS DE ARIZONA – FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ON ONE ACE in the U.S.) for (director) Alphonso Balcazar about two months later.”
He was in Madrid, waiting to begin his second western, sitting in an ice cream shop, “…and a guy says, ‘Man, you’re just right for the pilot in THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE. Go see (director) Ken Annakan.’ And I walked into his office, and he looked up and he said, ‘My God, you’re my pilot!’ I didn’t even have to read, it was just done. I signed a contract and was out the door. Two minutes later I get a call from the William Morris Agency, from David Niven Jr., to be my agent.”
He didn’t know whose pilot he was playing. “I walk on the set and there he is: Henry Fonda. He couldn’t have been more gregarious – what a nice man. We hit off. He once told me I looked more like his son than his son. (laughs) We became life-long friends. My part was one week’s work, but I had a nine month contract. I was in Madrid, and a man walks up to me on the street and asked me if I was an actor. I said I was doing BATTLE OF THE BULGE, and he said, ‘You’ve got to come over and do Geraldine Chaplin’s screen test.’ It was Roy Rizzotti, the right hand of David Lean at the time, and they were making DR. ZHIVAGO. And I said, ‘I can’t do that, because I can’t get out of the contract (with Warner Brothers).’ Hank Fonda was sitting with me, and he said, ‘Just be quiet about it. How long can it take?’ So I did. And I have a great story – I was sitting in the Hilton, with the cast of BATTLE OF THE BULGE, hardly anyone knew who the Hell I was anyway, because I was just the pilot, and there’s a lot of mingling, and (Rod) Steiger had just come in for DR. ZHIVAGO. And at the far end of the lobby the door opened and David Lean walked in. There was a hush over the crowd, and people whispered, ‘That’s David Lean! That’s David Lean!’ He walked straight to me, shook my hand, and thanked me for doing the test. And everyone says, ‘Who the Hell are you?’ And David Lean actually offered me something in (ZHIVAGO), but Warner Brothers wouldn’t let me out of that damned thing I was doing (BATTLE OF THE BULGE) – I mean, I was stuck in. I got paid well. There are a lot of people in the business that I liked, but I didn’t really work with. David Lean and Henry Fonda were, I think, the two most important people I worked with in my career.”
His interest in music was put to good use in at least one of his westerns. “One of them, STARBLACK (1966) I wrote the lyric and sang the theme. It was funny because I had just come in from England, from a recording gig, to do this movie, and they took me right over to this (recording) studio, and in two hours I sat down and wrote this stupid lyric, and sang the song, thinking, ‘They’re never gonna use this,’ and there it is, after forty years it’s still playing.” Ennio Morricone did the soundtrack for GUNS OF THE MACGREGGORS (1966), but it’s a little harder to say who did the music for Woods’ movie with the biggest cult following. “It’s strange, because the music for EL PURO (1969) was a combination of three composers: Morricone; Alessandro Alessandroni, who (officially) wrote the music -- he’s the one who wrote the original ‘whistle’ song for A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964) -- and a guy whose name I can never remember. The three composers had an agreement between them to use each others’ material, so it’s a combination, a mélange of three composers. So on EL PURO we had (some of) the same soundtrack as A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.”
Which were his best written scripts? “I like MY NAME IS PECOS (1966), (written by Adriano Bolzoni). BLACK JACK (1968) was a well-written film (by Luigi Ambrosini and Giuseppe Andreoli), and was my first touch with what was intended with spaghetti westerns. They had me way overacting is some scenes -- oh God, it was so hard. ‘Go, over the top, you’re laughing! Keep laughing! Keep laughing!’ Laugh forever? I can’t laugh forever. But the script, though, was excellent. Allen Bianquini wrote a script called HYPNOS (MASSACRE MANIA) (1967), a modern film that I really liked, about subliminal suggestion over the television.”
His favorite director was David Lean. As to the others, “I like (Franco) Giraldi a lot, great feel to 7 GUNS FOR THE MACGREGORS (1966). Paolo (Bianchini) I liked a lot, actually when I did GATLING GUN (1968). I chose Paolo (for director) because I liked HYPNOS. Alphonso Balcazar directed EL PURO – he was flexible. We sort of wrote the film around him, while he was directing it.”
One of the unusual aspects of doing movies in Europe in the 1960s was the international casts. “In the beginning it was all guide track, and you’d loop it later. In fact the first film I went down to do, I spoke a little bit of French, but not any Spanish, not since school, and I arrived there, and everyone was speaking their own language. Helmut Schmid was doing German, there were French guys, Italian guys, Spanish guys -- everybody spoke their own language. I had to learn the whole script because it was my first film, and I wanted to know exactly what this guy was saying -- I’m trying to react! I learned everything. It was mostly guide-tracks and looping, except in France, where they were allowed to shoot in nothing but French. I did a thing called THE MERCENARY AND CAPTAIN SINGRID (1968), for French Rank, shot it in Africa, and I had to speak classic French. Well, I speak argot, I don’t speak classic French, and it was like sixteen hours a page trying to get the dialogue down so I could perform it.”
Sometimes the number of productions Robert starred in made looping his own dialog impossible. “I did it as much as I could. 7 GUNS FOR THE MACGREGGORS was one where I really wanted to – it’s a Columbia Pictures release, it’s great, they send me a ticket to New York. But I did seven pictures that year, one right after the other, you can’t break away, and you can’t hold these guys up from releasing their product because I can’t dub it. I said, ‘Just find somebody good.’ And they didn’t. I was not pleased at all with the guy’s performance, but it’s a good film.”
He did two films back to back, co-starring John Ireland: “GATLING GUN (1968), where I played the lead, and in the next picture, CHALLENGE OF THE McKENNAS (1970), he played the lead. He almost always played the hero, but in MCKENNAS he played such a villain that at one point he tries to rape his own sister. Did he like to play bad guys? “Well I liked it, but I wasn’t crazy about that film. I didn’t like (Leon) Klimovsky as a director. I own the American rights to that film, I never wanted it released here.”
But one thing he did like about the experience was working with John Ireland.
“John became my life-long friend. He opened a restaurant in Santa Barbara, and when I came back (to the U.S.) he threw this huge party for me. We became really close friends. In fact, two days before he died, I was up in Santa Barbara, and I said, ‘Come on, I’ve got a limousine, let’s go. We’re going to John Beck’s and see a screening.’ And he said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not feeling well.’ And he died two days later. He didn’t tell me he was dying! I would have stopped everything and just been there! He was great. I loved John, you know, he was nominated for an Academy Award for ALL THE KING’S MEN (1949).”
Which are his personal favorites among his westerns? “7 GUNS FOR THE MACGREGGORS, because it was a light comedy. It was violent, but it was light. The other one was THE GATLING GUN. And MY NAME IS PECOS, I really like that. It was an enormous success in all of these little third-world countries. I’d been doing those awful – and I mean awful – WHITE FANG (1974-1975) films in the Alps. And I just wanted to forget about that and get some sun. I went on a vacation to Senegal, and a customs officer asked me to come over, and I think, ‘I’m not hiding anything,’ and he asks, ‘Are you Pecos?’ Stores were named after Pecos, my guide was named Pecos! The diplomatic corps of Senegal invited me to parties, I mean, it made quite an impression – this whole country was so taken by this little film. It’s a dark film, but where the little guy wins, and I think that’s why it appeals to these third worlders.”
What are his favorite westerns that he’s not in? “THE WILD BUNCH (1969). Before that I guess my favorite western movie was VERA CRUZ (1954), with Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, and then I saw THE WILD BUNCH (1969), and I thought that was the best western I’d ever seen – it’s an authentic display of the west. You know, I grew up in the west, and some of the old guys I knew were there when people were shooting each other in the back. Jack Elam became a friend, and he was telling me about his grandfather, who was a Texas Ranger, and he used to hide behind doors and shoot ‘em in the back: that was his (method). And he said there was not any of this meeting guys face to face in the street, there was no such thing. The quick-draw, I don’t think ever existed, unless it was some kind of a contest.”
Would he want to do another western? “Yeah, probably, (if) we do it as a comedy. Burt Reynolds talked to me about doing a thing called ‘Spaghetti Western’, make it a comedy, make it a behind-the-scenes thing. Wake up in the morning in the bunkhouse, and the guys get up and each has a glass with his teeth in it. That kind of thing.”
And he has another movie in the works. “We’re starting a film called THE HITMAN’S BIBLE, the story of a decrepit old hitman – perfect casting – he’s popping pills all the time, but he won’t kill anybody unless they’ve sinned against God. He has to rationalize it – it’s a very cool script. It’s not done yet, it needs a little work, but the ideas are fantastic.”
GATLING GUN IS available from Dorado Films Inc. Another film, SAVAGE GUNS, is in the 20 Movie Pack from Mill Creek Entertainment entitled MEAN GUNS. And at least a half dozen of his films can be rented, most or all VHS, at Eddie Brandt’s Saturday Matinee.

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.

Tuesday March 9th
AMC 8:00 p.m. BLAZING SADDLES (1974)Mel Brooks directed and co-wrote, with Norman Steinberg, this delightfully broad western comedy about a town getting it's first black sheriff, Cleavon Little, helped only by Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid. With Slim Pickens and Madeline Kahn, and featuring a rousing theme sung by Frankie Laine.

AMC 10:00 p.m. GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND (1993) Walter Hill directs from the John Milius script, the Apache chief's life story, starring Wes Studi in the title role, with Jason Partic, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall and Matt Damon.

Wednesday March 10th
AMC 7:00 a.m. HOMBRE (1967) Elmore Leonard's taught novel about an Apache-raised white man protecting stagecoach passengers gives Paul Newman his best western role (yes, I know BUTCH CASSIDY is good, too), with a fine screenplay by husband-and-wife Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., and crisp direction by Martin Ritt. Co-stars Frederic March and Richard Boone.

AMC 9:30 a.m. GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND See above.

AMC 12:00 p.m. BLAZING SADDLES See above.

EXT 2:05 p.m. GANG OF ROSES(2003) Female rappers Lil' Kim, Macy Gray, Monica Calhoun, LisaRaye play gunslingers in a search for revemge and gold, not necessarily in that order. Written and directed by Jean-Claude LaMarre.

EXT. 10:00 p.m. GANG OF ROSES See above.


Thursday March 11th
EXT 7:15 a.m. SHADOWHEART SHADOWHEART (2009) A bounty hunter is out revenge in 1865 New Mexico. Directed by Dean Alioto from his and Peter Vanderwall's script. Starring Justin Ament, Angus Macfayden, Daniel Baldwin, William Sadler, and two great pros, Rance Howard and Charles Napier.

AMC 5:00 p.m. JEREMIAH JOHNSON (1972) Sydney Pollack directs Robert Redford in the story of a real mountain man, culled from several different writers: Vardis Fisher, Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker. The screenplay is by John Milius and Edward Anholt, and is co-stars Will Geer. Probably Redford's best western role (yes, I know SUNDANCE KID is good, too), and it was a wise move to eliminate his character's nickname: Liver-Eating Johnson.

AMC 7:30 p.m. SILVERADO (1985) Larry Kasdan directs from a script he wrote with his brother Mark. Lots of good stuff in it, but at 133 minutes, it's at least a half hour too long. Starring Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner.

AMC 10:30 p.m. 100 RIFLES (1969) Director Tom Gries took his crew to Spain to film the story of Raquel Welch, Burt Reynolds and Jim Brown joining forces to fight a general. Clair Huffaker and Gries adapted Robert McLeod's novel.

Friday March 12th
EXT. 2:30 a.m. SHADOWHEART(2009) A bounty hunter is out revenge in 1865 New Mexico. Directed by Dean Alioto from his and Peter Vanderwall's script. Starring Justin Ament, Angus Macfayden, Daniel Baldwin, William Sadler, and two great pros, Rance Howard and Charles Napier.

AMC 11:30 a.m. SILVERADO See above.

AMC 2:30 p.m. JEREMIAH JOHNSON See above.

AMC 5:00 p.m. PALE RIDER (1985) Clint Eastwood directs and stars as a mysterious stranger (can you believe it?) protecting a town from bad guys. Moody and effective, script by Michael Butler and Dennis Shyrack, and featuring Carrie Snodgrass and Michael Moriarty.

Saturday March 13th
AMC 6:30 a.m. THE RARE BREED (1966) Lovely Maureen O'Hara shines as the widow trying to introduce the Hereford breed to Texas, with the help of James Stewart and the hindrance of Brian Keith. Andrew V. McLaglen directs from Ric Hardman's script. Featuring Jack Elam, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., and a great early score by John -- then it was Johnny -- Williams.

AMC 8:45 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.

TCM 9:00a.m. ALVAREZ KELLY (1966) Fine western pro Edward Dmytryk directs from Fanklin Coen's scriptabout a Mexican cattleman who gets involved with the Civil War. Stars William Holden, Richard Widmark, Janice Rule, Don 'Red' Barry and Harry Carey Jr.

TCM 11:0 a.m. WILL PENNY (1968) One of Charlton Heston's best westerns, as an on-the-run outlaw taking up with frontierwoman Joan Hacket. Written and directed with guts and sensitivity by Tom Gries, and featuring Donald Pleasence, Lee Majors, Bruce Dern and Ben Johnson.

TCM 1:00 p.m. TRUE GRIT (1969) John Wayne, Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Strother Martin, D:Henry Hathaway, W:Margeurite Roberts. John Wayne his Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn, helping a feisty young girl track her father's killers!

EXT. 2:35 p.m. THE CLAIM (2000) Michael Winterbottom directs from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, moved to the American west. Stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinsky, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.

TCM 3:15 p.m. RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (1962) One of the first, and one of the greatest Peckinpah's! Two over-the-hill lawmen, Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea are hired to transport gold. It's Scott's last, McCrea 2nd to last, and lovely Mariette Hartley's first (despite claims by Hitchcock). Written poetically by N.B. Stone.

Sunday March 14th
EXT 12:00 a.m. THE CLAIM (2000) Michael Winterbottom directs from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, moved to the American west. Stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinsky, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.

TCM 5:00 p.m. GOD'S LITTLE ACRE (1958) Erskine Caldwell's novel about dirt-poor folks hunting for treasure was so racy for it's time that many considered it pornography. Anthony Mann directs the screenplay by Ben Maddow, but credited to Philip Yordan, his 'front' during the witch hunts. Starring Robert Ryan, Aldo Raye and Tina Louise.

I'll have the events for the week either late Sunday or on Monday -- I'm stopping to watch the Oscars!

Adios!

Henry