‘CIVIL WAR’ ERUPTS AT AUTRY, PLUS ‘CHARLIE’S TEXAS OUTFIT’ REVIEWED, SPAGHETTI ‘N’ DOMESTIC SCREENINGS!

‘CIVIL WAR AND THE WEST’ OPENS AT THE AUTRY

Yesterday, an elaborate new exhibit, Empire and Liberty: The Civil War and the West, opened at the Autry, and will be on display through January 3^rd of next year.   As the title suggests, the show examines the effect that the Civil War had on the American West, a region much of which was still being settled at the time of the War Between the States.  As is practically a trademark with them, the Autry has used a wide array of documents, uniforms and other objects from their own collections, and borrowed others, to give a living feel to a war which had its end 150^th Anniversary only last week (John Wilkes Booth died 150 years ago today!).

Frontier Fremont's flag

Of the greatest significance, the posted text that goes with the displays gives a historical context, a sense of the related sequence of events that is not obvious.  Of course the Louisiana Purchase led to the Lewis and Clark expedition; but not so obvious, the charting of that land, the making of states, led to the Missouri Compromise, forcing an equal number of free and slave states.  We know about the misery caused by the Indian Removal Act, but a side-effect of forcing the Indians from their land was to make it available for cotton plantations, which brought the ‘need’ of slaves.  

'American Progress' by John Gast -1872

Jefferson Davis’s double-barreled pistol from his service in the Mexican War reminds us that not only was that war a proving group for him, but for Grant and Lee, all of whom were West Point graduates.  Among the fascinating documents that illuminate the period are slave purchase receipts; an Andersonville Prison Survivor Certificate; a Union Army enlistment bounty – forty dollars to sign up; a receipt for Chinese coolie wages of $12 a month – once the $30 voyage cost is paid; a Buffalo Soldier payroll document, $13 a month.  Displays take you through the period looking at the various historic events, as well as particular groups – various Indian tribes, former slaves, women, displaced Mexicans – as well as the general population.

Grant's Smith & Wesson pistol

One strong bit of direction; when you enter the exhibit, the natural direction, which most folks were taking, was forward and to the left.  I did so, and first found the displays interesting, but arbitrary.   I went back, and entered on the right, and suddenly everything was in a generally chronological order, and all of the elements fell into place.  THEY NEED A BIG RIGHT ARROW AS YOU ENTER!        

Pico's War Drum

CHARLEY SUNDAY’S TEXAS OUTFIT by STEPHEN LODGE – A Book Review

Stephen Lodge at last week's Santa

Clarita Cowboy Festival

Silver-haired Charley Sunday is a retired Texas Ranger at the turn of the 20^th century, trying to hold his small ranch together.  He partners with old friend and woman of dubious virtue Flora Mae Huckabee, to purchase a now-rare three hundred head of longhorns, and bring ‘em cross-country to Texas.   Rounding up other former Rangers, a female journalist, an Indian law student, his young grandson Henry-Ellis, and various other misfits, going up against a dastardly Colorado meat-packer, Charlie Sunday is in for the adventure of his already long and adventurous life. 

The story is told by that grandson, Henry-Ellis, now an old man, and telling his own grandchildren the tale, sixty years later.  The funny thing, as I was enjoying this novel, is that it didn’t remind me of other Western novels so much as it did other Western movies – particularly the humorous ones directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and Burt Kennedy in the late sixties and seventies.  It’s written so visually that you ‘see’ the action, not just understand it, while you’re reading.  No surprise really, because it’s author, Stephen Lodge, has written or co-written a number of memorable movies, including THE HONKERS, starring James Coburn and Slim Pickens; KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS, starring William Shatner and Woody Strode; and RIO DIABLO, starring Kenny Rogers and Travis Tritt.  ( If you’d like to read my review of Steve’s memoir of his life in the film industry, AND…ACTION!, and my interview with him, go HERE .)

At the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival last Saturday, when I was moderating the panel Screenplay to Novel or Novel to Screenplay?, Steve confirmed that CHARLIE SUNDAY began life not as a novel, but as the screenplay MOVE ‘EM SUNDAY, which the great Buddy Ebsen tried unsuccessfully to have made. 

When you read CHARLIE SUNDAY, you can have the additional fun of seeing the movie in your head, and watching Buddy Ebsen deliver the lines (although in truth, I usually heard Richard Farnsworth doing it).  CHARLIE SUNDAY’S TEXAS OUTFIT is published by Pinnacle, a division of Kensington Books, and you can buy it from AMAZON, or from the other big guys, in trade paperback, mass-market paperback, Kindle, and audible.  And in just two days, on Tuesday, April 28^th, you can buy DEADFALL: CHARLIE SUNDAY’S TEXAS OUTFIT 2!  And Steve assures me that CHARLIE SUNDAY 3 is already in the works!

‘HIGH NOON’/’SHANE’ DOUBLE BILL WEDNESDAY AT THE AERO

As part of the continuing celebration of the Aero Theatre’s 75^th year, at 7:30 pm, two of the finest Westerns of the 1950s – nay, two of the finest Westerns of any time – HIGH NOON (1952) and SHANE (1953) will play, and if you’re reading this blog, I don’t need to tell you who is in them, or what they are about.  And if you haven’t seen them on the screen in a few years, you need to see them again – you’ll be astonished at what details you’ve never seen before.  For more information, go HERE .

WILD WEST DAY – ARCADIA, MAY 2^ND

Saturday, May 2^nd, from ten ‘til 4, enjoy panning for gold, a telegraph demonstration, roping, U.S. Marshall’s posse, crafts, stagecoach rides, Queen Anne’s Cottage tours, Depot open house, food, root beer, and a musical performances by Singing Cowboy Mike Tims, RT n’ the 44s, and  the lovely and talented Saguaro Sisters.  Learn more HERE.

GREGORY PECK IN ‘YELLOW SKY’ MAY 9^TH AT THE AUTRY

As part of their monthly ‘What is a Western?’ series, the Autry will screen YELLOW SKY, at 1:30 pm in the Wells Fargo Theatre.  Director William Wellman and screenwriter Lamar Trotti, who teamed in last month’s offering, THE OX BOW INCIDENT, this time tackled a W. R. Burnett (LITTLE CEASAR, HIGH SIERRA) story, about a pack of outlaws hiding out in a ghost town populated only by an old prospector and his daughter, Anne Baxter.  Also in this drama, suggested by Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST, are Richard Widmark, John Russell and Harry Morgan.  The film will be introduced by Jeffrey Richardson, Gamble Curator of Western History, Popular Culture and Firearms.  Admission is included with museum admission, free to members.  Learn more HERE .

MEET TONY ANTHONY - ‘GET MEAN’ SCREENING JUNE 8 AT CINEFAMILY!

Spaghetti Western star and 3-D movie pioneer Tony Anthony will make a rare public appearance, with his co-star Lloyd Battista, on June 8^th, for a screening of the new restoration of his 4^th and final film in the ‘Stranger’ series, GET MEAN (1975).  West Virginia-born Tony started writing and acting in 1961 with FORCE OF IMPULSE and WITHOUT EACH OTHER; he went to Europe to act in the bullfight film WOUNDS OF HUNGER (1963), and stayed for years.  Tony Anthony is an unusual actor for his era, in that he wrote or co-wrote nearly all of his Westerns – notably BLINDMAN (1971), where he plays a blind bounty hunter, and his quarry is Ringo Starr. 

The Cinefamily, formerly the Silent Movie, is located at 611 N. Fairfax Avenue, L.A., 90036 HERE .

is the link to buy tickets.  I know it’s a month away, but I’m posting this now because Cinefamiy events are very popular, and often sell out. 

SOLIMA’S ‘BIG GUNDOWN’ INTRO’D BY JOE DANTE JUNE 18 AT LINWOOD DUNN

As part of their THIS IS WIDESCREEN series, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will screen Sergio Solima’s THE BIG GUNDOWN, starring Lee Van Cleef, Thursday, June 18^th, at the Linwood Dunn Theatre in the Mary Pickford Center, 1313 Vine Street, Hollywood, CA 90028.  (Note, this is the Hollywood venue, not the Academy headquarters in Beverly Hills).  It’s a very unusual, well-told story, with lawman-turned-politician Van Cleef on the hunt for a degenerate criminal (Tomas Milian) who may be not as bad as the men who want him dead.  This is the new restoration from Grindhouse Releasing which Courtney Joyner and I got to see when we were doing audio commentary for their BluRay release, and it looks spectacular.  The price range is from $3 to $5, and you can learn more about the film, and order tickets HERE  

If you’d like to buy the fabulous 4-disc set, including a CD of the brilliant Ennio Morricone soundtrack, go HERE .

THAT’S A WRAP!

One more thing before you go!  The screenings and events in this Round-up are all in Southern California, but this is not a strictly California blog.  It’s read in over ninety countries, and I want to serve the Western movie fan as well as I can, but I need your help.  If you know about any upcoming screenings or other western-related events anywhere in the world, please share them with me, and I’ll pass ‘em along!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

     

22ND SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FEST, PLUS ME AND ‘TRUE WEST’!

22ND ANNUAL SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FEST AT WILLIAM S. HART PARK

Sheri Keenan, son, and a rubber gun 

As I write, the 22nd annual Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival is coming to a close, after a wonderfully enjoyable weekend of music, poetry, art, literature, history, and fun.   When the tradition first began, it was simply as a celebration of cowboy poetry, presented at a high school auditorium.  When the 1994 Northridge earthquake struck, demolishing the auditorium, the event was almost cancelled, when the Veluzat family, owners and operators of the Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio, offered the ranch for the event.  They’ve generously hosted the Festival at the Ranch ever since.  Melody Ranch reached its greatest fame when Gene Autry owned it, but it had previously been Monogram Ranch, and its early history stretches well back to the silent movie days.

Bill Hart watches SONS AND BROTHERS

Happily, more and more Westerns were being filmed, and filmed at Melody Ranch.  When Quentin Tarantino booked the ranch for a full year to shoot DJANGO UNCHAINED, it was feared that the Festival would be cancelled, but they worked around it.  Last year, with the start of work on the HBO miniseries WESTWORLD, the Festival was held, but with much of the western street off-limits.  With WESTWORLD now utilizing all of the ranch, many of us regulars worried about the future of the Festival.

Well, that future, now the present, is bright indeed.  The Festival was moved to Old Town Newhall, centered at William S. Hart Park, once home to one of the greatest stars of the Western silent screen.  The venue is large and beautiful and varied, with plenty of space for shops along Sutler’s Row, an extensive Civil War encampment, Indian lodge, pioneer living display, four music performing stages, and activities like archery, hatchet-throwing, quick-draw laser-tag, and much more.

One of my favorite surprises, the folks from Logix Banking, generous sponsors of the Festival for several years, had a booth where you could dress up in cowboy clothes, have a shoot-out against a green screen – a western street added in the background, and be presented with a flipbook of your movie in a minute!  There’s even a link to email it to your friends!  There was so much going on, in fact, that I attended both days, and probably took in less than half of the events, and a tiny fraction of the musical offerings – and I definitely have to come back and tour the Hart Mansion sometime soon.

The 'bells' on the dancer above are actually coiled

tobacco-tin lids!

Part of the park is a cluster of historic buildings called Heritage Junction, and I spent most of my time there at the Pardee House, built in 1890, where Jim and Bobbi Jean Bell, of the OutWest Boutique, were again operating their Buckaroo Book Shop, packing the two days with a wonderful mix of poetry and prose discussions, enjoyable and enlightening to Western writers and civilians alike.  There I led four Western-themed panel discussions and interviews on Saturday and one on Sunday, and it gave me a rush to know I was working in a building used as a film location by Tom Mix, John Ford and Harry Carey.

With my wonderful 'Stunt Horse' panel --

Human Association's Karen Ross, HOLLYWOOD HOOFBEATS

authors Audrey Pavia and Petrine Mitchum, and Autry 

Entertainment Pres. Karla Buhlman

Authors Miles Swarthout, C. Courtney Joyner

and Jim Jones

Authors Stephen Lodge, J.R. Sanders, D.B. Jackson,

Jim Cristina, and Miles Swarthout

Right next door was the Kingsbury House, with art displays upstairs and down, and right beyond it the Saugus Train Station – relocated to avoid demolition – where Charlie Chaplin filmed parts of THE PILGRIM in 1917; nearby, in 1936, Chaplin would film the very last scene of MODERN TIMES, the very last ‘official’ silent movie.  The station holds the compact and charmingly eclectic Santa Clarita Historical Society Museum featuring artifacts from the Indians who once lived in the region, mementos of the silent film industry, a diorama of one of California’s oldest oil refinery, and a trunk that belonged Buffalo Bill Cody.

Union Soldiers pass train station

The beautiful Mogul steam engine was whistling away at the station, and over the hill just above it, a bloody Civil War skirmish was fought, twice a day, with thundering cannon that shook the ground beneath your feet.

There was a several-day run-up to the Festival, with the walk of fame honoring stunt legend Diamond Farnsworth and poet and singer Waddie Mitchell, screenings and tours, and concerts at four nearby theatres, all of them well-attended.  THE LAST SHOOTIST novelist Miles Swarthout packed a theatre with his talk about the making of John Wayne’s final film, THE SHOOTIST, which Miles scripted.  Peter Sherayko’s CODY: AN EVENING WITH BUFFALO BILL was sold out at the Hart Mansion.

Peter Sherayko performing Robert W. Service poems

There was a wide variety of appetizing fare, the most crucial being the Cowboy Coffee in the commemorative tin cup, and Cowboy Peach Cobbler, both by the Visalia Cowboy Cultural Committee, who are celebrating their first quarter-century.   And much of the fun at this kind of event is the people you run into – Michael F. Blake, author of HOLLYWOOD AND THE O.K. CORRAL; Jeffrey Patterson, producer and star of HOT BATH AN’ A STIFF DRINK 1 & 2, and doing some casting on 3; and celebrating her birthday at the event, the lovely star and co-writer and co-producer of YELLOW ROCK, Lenore Andriel – incidentally, YELLOW ROCK was shot at nearby Veluzat Movie Ranch.    

Jeffrey Patterson

Living history on break

About 3:30 on Sunday, my wife and I started to head out, but I made one more stop, back at the Buckaroo Book Shop.  I was feeling a bit guilty that here I was, enjoying the largesse of the great William S. Hart, and yet I’d never seen one of his movies in its entirety.  So I picked up a DVD double-bill, to familiarize myself with the founder of the feast.  I’m closing with the short movie below, which was shot there at the Hart Ranch, in 1939, and is one of the very films made with Hart speaking.  It was a new introduction for the re-release of one of his greatest silent successes, TUMBLEWEEDS (1925).  “The thrill of it all!”  Give Fritz a pat for me, Bill.






‘TRUE WEST’ GETS A NEW MOVIE COLUMNIST – ME! 

I’m delighted to announce that I’ve just become the new film columnist for the finest Western history magazine in history, TRUE WEST.  You can imagine what a pleasure this is, considering that I started reading TRUE WEST when I was about ten years old, picking it up at newsstands when my Brooklyn family would take summer vacations in the West.  My first column will probably appear in the August 2015 issue – but you may want to start your subscription now, to make sure you don’t miss it!

THAT’S A WRAP!

WESTERN RELIGION dir. James O'Brien

It’s a short one this week, because I’ve got to get that August column done, but I’ve got a lot of interesting things coming up, including book reviews, movie reviews, and an interview with director James O’Brien, whose WESTERN RELIGION is, to the best of my knowledge, the only Western movie premiering this year at Cannes.  Of course, if you can’t get to France, just keep reading the Round-up – I’ll be reviewing it before Cannes!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

CIVIL WAR COMES TO SANTA CLARITA, PLUS MORE TCM FONDA-ON-FONDA, NEW ‘DJANGO’ MINI-SERIES!

CIVIL WAR COMES TO SANTA CLARITA APRIL 18-19!

In addition to the previously announced musical, literary, eating and shopping-related events happening at the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival this coming weekend, something new has been added!  Marking the 150^th Anniversary of the end of the Civil War, for the first time the Festival will include living history encampments, plus at 12:45 and 3:15 on both days, Heritage Junction will be transformed into a Civil War battleground!  These events are peopled by dedicated history buffs, and will immerse you in that time in a way no book or movie ever could – it’s a wonderful way to introduce kids and adults to the history of the Civil War and the American West!      

And you can test your stamina on the mechanical bull, and your skill at hatchet-throwing, archery, and fast-draw laser tag! For a rundown on all of the musical events, go HERE . For my rundown of all the separate-ticket events, go HERE

Once again I’ll have the pleasure of moderating several of the panels and conducting interviews at the Buckaroo Book Shop, starting Saturday at high noon for a talk with author and screenwriter Miles Swarthout, about THE SHOOTIST, THE LAST SHOOTIST, and THE HOMESMAN.  At 2 pm I’ll discuss Unsung Heroes of Film: The Hollywood Stunt Horse, with Karen Ross, senior consultant at the American Humane Society’s Film & TV Unit, authors Petrine Day Mitchum and Audria Pavia, Gene Autry Entertainment president Karla Buhlman.  

Saturday at three I’ll be talking with novelists and screenwriters Miles Swarthout, C. Courtney Joyner, Stephen Lodge and Dale Jackson about their adventures adapting novels into screenplays and screenplays into novels.  At 5 pm I’ll be chatting with Karla Buhlman, President of Gene Autry Entertainment, about the legacy of America's Favorite Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry. 

On Sunday I only have one panel, Name That Horse – Famous Horses and Their Pards, featuring Karla Buhlman and authors Petrine Day Mitchum and Audria Pavia. 

There will be many other interesting panels both days -- for an official schedule of all of the events happening at the Buckaroo Book Shop, go HERE.  Every book mentioned or shown will be available at the Buckaroo Book Shop, And they can all be purchased right now from OutWest -- just click the link at the top left of the page!  

I’m particularly excited that the Buckaroo Book Shop will be located in the cluster of historic buildings called Heritage Junction, in the Pardee House, which was built in 1890, and was used as a film location by Tom Mix, John Ford and Harry Carey among many others.  Other structures at the Junction include the Newhall Ranch House, Saugus Train Station featuring the Mogul Engine, Mitchell Adobe, Edison House, Kingsburry House, Callahan Schoolhouse, and the Ramona Chapel.   

For all of the specifics of the entire Santa Clarita Cowboy Fest, visit  http://cowboyfestival.org/http://cowboyfestival.org/

THE TCM FEST PART 2: MORE WITH PETER FONDA

We think of Peter Fonda as a film actor, but he has worked extensively on stage as well; one of his first successes, in college, was the James Stewart role in HARVEY.  “I was listening to Chris Plummer and Julie Andrews talk about this last night, what it is to share with an audience.  I liked starting my career out, as my dad did, on stage, because it’s a much more defined area of acting.  Film acting is totally different.  One thing I’ve taught to students in colleges, if they are actors, and want to know about stage acting, I tell them this, if you catch this, and let it bleed out to all the other things you do on stage, this is the key:  if you’re supposed to cry, and then the audience cries, you have to be very, very tender with the timing.  Because if you drop a tear first, the audience will let you cry for them.  But if you wait until you hear the first sniffle, the first catch in somebody’s the throat somewhere in the audience, and then drop a tear, the audience goes Niagara.  In movies, it can be helped by editing.  But if you’re on stage, and you want them to laugh, don’t laugh first, don’t cry first.” 

Interviewer Scott Eyman, author of PRINT THE LEGEND – THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN FORD, and JOHN WAYNE – THE LIFE AND LEGEND, noted that Peter’s and Henry’s relationship had been ‘fraught,’ but said that by the time Hank passed, they were ‘very tight’.  What changed their relationship?   Peter replied, “Well, I got to direct him, and act with him (in WANDA NEVADA) – which he thought was totally nuts.  Brooke Shields, me and dad.  I hired my dad.  It was funny, I called him on the phone and asked him, if he’d be able to work with me for one day, and I could only pay him fifteen-hundred bucks.   He said, ‘Is it a good part?’  Yuh, I’ll send you the sides.  ‘Sides, you’ll send me the sides?  You don’t know what sides are!’  Now I do, if you recall me on the road, feeding your cue lines to you from sides. 

That's bearded Hank with Peter and Brooke

“He came and worked with me, and the experience was remarkable.  I don’t have enough time to tell you all of the beautiful details, and how it started to crumble.  He hated the beard, and I don’t blame him, but he didn’t hear me when I said it was a fairy tale, and it didn’t need to be a real beard.  I say Dad, you’re supposed to be chewing tobacco in the scene, and you’re not well, and I’ve got this little bag of ground up licorice.  And he absolutely adored this stuff, and the camera doesn’t know it’s not tobacco.  No, it’s my dad, the perfectionist, the realist.  (He) took out a bag of Red Man Chewing Tobacco.  Don’t take this the wrong way; he said, ‘Bill Cosby gave me this!’ You’re too sick to chew tobacco, and I’ve got this all ready for you.  ‘No.’ I knew when the no meant no further talk.  I popped the licorice in my mouth, got over him, and started to drool the licorice into his beard.  I got a little spirits of mineral oil on it – ‘Close your eyes, Dad!’  Whew -- threw dust into his beard.  ‘You’re ready for your close-up now – see you on-set!’ Went ouside, and Michael Butler, the cameraman said, ‘Wow!  How do you do that?’  I said, ‘First time, I never did it before.  But I was the director, what the heck.’  

“He did the job for me, and three weeks later, I got a letter from him in Page, Arizona. And it was hot.  I was glad Dad didn’t die of the heat; but I knew Dad was dying.   And he wrote me this fabulous letter – perhaps the fifth that he had ever written me.  And it was that he felt bad about the beard, and he wouldn’t blame me if I cut it out of the film, but it would have been such a gas – his phrase.  Here comes the hard part to tell.  It was a five page letter.  And at the end, ‘In my forty-one years of making motion pictures, I have never seen a crew so devoted to the director.  You are a very good director.  And please remember me for your company.’  Now a company is a word we normally use in stage.  But in John Ford’s time, he carried a (stock) company of actors with him from one film to the next.  Ward Bond was one of them.  John Carradine was another.   Great characters.  Walter Brennan.  Great characters that he would have as his company.  And the fact that my dad wanted to be part of my company… How cool is that?”

Peter and Scott Eyman talked about the films they re-watched in preparation for this interview.  Fonda recalled, “I had to watch THE OX-BOW INCIDENT, and THE GRAPES OF WRATH, of course.  And then I blew it on the red carpet last night.  They asked me what my favorite film was, and I said DUCK SOUP.  I should have said BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES.  I should have said EMPIRE OF THE SUN, a great film by Steven Speilberg.  Of course, Groucho loved EASY RIDER.” 

Scott Eyman asked, “When you look at your dad’s work today, one actor to another, what do you see?”

Warren Oates and Peter Fonda in THE HIRED HAND

Peter replied, “I watch his timing.  I watch how his eyes move or don’t.  And I’ve learned that, when you’re in close-up, eye movement can really be disturbing on a big screen.  And I can see, and I always watched him on-stage, he had this tension in his fingers like this (his arms straight down, his fingers drumming on his leg).  He knew how to do hands-down performances day-in and day-out.  There’s a reason I call them hands-down performances. He didn’t have to do this (Peter makes a bunch of hand-gestures).  You just have your hands at your sides, and say the lines, and say them with such fullness and conviction that the audience understands them without any added movements.  I was watching one of my favorite Westerns - and I blew it again on the red carpet.  They asked me what my favorite Western was, and I said (laughs) THE HIRED HAND (which Peter Fonda directed and stars in).  And when my dad finally saw that, by the way, he was thoroughly pleased.  ‘That’s my kind of Western,’ he said.  I couldn’t ask for a better compliment.  But now I see it (the hands) in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, he’s doing that again, and it doesn’t distract me from the story, from the character.  He is Wyatt Earp.  I believe, and I knew Ward Bond very well, I knew John Wayne, I knew all these guys.  I knew them all, I believe all their characters.  And Victor Mature was so incredible in that film.  It was his best performance.  I don’t know how many of you have seen that film.  It was his finest performance, and he did it for John Ford.  And I’m so thrilled to be able to say that about another actor, even though this talk is called Fonda on Fonda.”

Some questions were taken from the audience.  One man asked if, in making EASY RIDER, Peter Fonda was making references to two of his father’s films, GRAPES OF WRATH, and MY DARLING CLEMENTINE.  “You’re going across-country, but in opposite direction from GRAPES; your scene in the commune is a lot like the WPA camp; your character is names ‘Wyatt’.  The end of EASY RIDER is a bit like the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.  Or am I all wet?”

EASY RIDER

Fonda replied, “You’re not wet; it was unconscious, but thank you, that’s a great compliment.  When I was first writing that, the concept I came up with was two guys -- not one hundred Hell Angels riding to a Hell’s Angels funeral -- which had been WILD ANGELS, because I had been told no more motorcycles-sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll movies.  As I started writing EASY RIDERS, the first thing that came to my mind was riding through John Ford’s west.  We were going to ride east, as an homage to Herman Hesse’s JOURNEY TO THE EAST.  I didn’t expect the audience to go – “Wow!  That’s Herman Hesse’s JOURNEY TO THE EAST!’  We would have blown it if that happened – I did want to say that line again.   And then watching a couple of shots from CLEMENTINE, and looking at that one rock that Hopper and I would shoot at in the background when we entered Monument Valley, where CLEMENTINE was shot.  Of course, there’s never been a town in Monument Valley except the ones that John Ford dropped there.  Tombstone certainly isn’t there.  But there’s Tombstone.  A town that has a road and buildings.  Not on the other side of the road.  There’s a church being built on the other side of the road. And in this one-sided town you had three bars, one Shakespearean actor doing a play; John Ford was a genius.  And he helped my dad get past THE MAGNIFICENT’S DOPEs and THE IMMORTAL SERGEANTs,  and get to THE GRAPES OF WRATH, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, YOUNG MR. LINCOLN.  I think Ford released him to do that.”

Another guest asked Peter to comment about his father’s performance in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.  “I would love to, in fact.  He was not so sure about working with (Sergio) Leone.  He came in with brown contact lenses.  And Leone flips, because he had hired my dad for his blue eyes.  If you’ve ever seen spaghetti westerns, all of those Italians have really blue eyes.  So Sergio Leone flipped out, but that’s my father.  He would go to those extremes.  So there he is, and (in his first scene) he’s identified.  ‘What are you gonna do with the kid, Frank?’  ‘Well, now that you’ve named me.’  And he shoots the kid in the stomach.   This is the first time my dad had ever done anything like that in any film.  He did some noir films that people don’t know about.  He shot the shit out of the Clantons in CLEMENTINE, but this is a kid – and gut-shooting a kid?  The audience freaked out, because there was Hank Fonda shooting a kid in the stomach.  But because of Sergio and my dad, and the other actors, they just kept the story going.  To take it a little further, I was in Almeria, Spain, to direct a commercial for Citroen cars, and I got my daughter in it, and we would go by the big house from ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST – it’s still there.  And so on the wrap day, which was a week later, I had taken all these pieces of paper together, and written on them ‘ONCE UPON A TIME IN MY LIFE’.  And I got everybody together, start up the camera, run and get in the shot, we all hold up the sign, and I wanted to show it to myself and to my family.  Dad was already gone, but I thought, this is so fff-so-bloody cool.  But I thought it was a very interesting Western.  Very different from the greatness of Ford’s MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, or OX-BOW INCIDENT, or some of the others, but it was very interesting, very entertaining.  I liked it a lot.”

Henry Fonda in once upon a time in the west

The third and, probably, final installment of my coverage of the TCM Fest will include highlights from film introductions by Katherine Quinn, the widow of Anthony Quinn; Oscar winner Christopher Plummer, speaking at the THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING screening about director John Huston and star Sean Connery; and Oscar-winning special effects men Craig Barton and Ben Burtt on the making of GUNGA DIN. 

‘DJANGO’ AND ‘SUSPIRIA’ BOTH TO BE REMADE AS EURO TV-SERIES!

French TV producer ATLANTIQUE PRODUCIONS and Italian indie CATTLEYA will co-produce a pair of series based on the classic Sergio Corbucci spaghetti western that helped ignite the genre, and the hypnotic Dario Argento horror film – and Argento is aboard as artistic advisor!  Each has received orders for twelve fifty-minute episodes.  No more info yet, except that they will be shopped at Cannes next week, at the MIP TV Market!

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

With the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival coming this weekend, I don’t know what I’ll be able to manage for next week’s Round-up.  Did anyone catch the premiere of LEGENDS & LIES – THE REAL WEST, from Bill O’Reilly, on Fox News?  The few minutes I caught looked good, certainly well-produced, but I had to finish writing the Round-up.  Let me know what you thought of it.  One criticism I’ve heard is that it covers the usual suspects – Jesse James, Doc Holliday, Davy Crockett – yet again, but on a news network, I’m hoping it’ll reach a wider audience.  If you’re reading the Round-up, you don’t need to be convinced that Western history is fascinating.  Hopefully this will round up some strays for us, maybe start a stampede, along with TURN, which reTURNs for season two tomorrow.  Still a moronic title that tells you nothing – what’s wrong with the book’s title, WASHINGTON’S SPIES? 

Have a great week, and hope to see you at the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

MOVIES REWRITE HISTORY AT TCM FEST! PLUS SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FEST UPDATE, WILLIAM WELLMAN FEST AT UCLA, AND MORE!

MOVIES REWRITE HISTORY AT TCM FEST!

The theme of the sixth annual TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL was “History according to Hollywood,” and a fine time was had by all who attended.  This is the third year that I’ve attended, and nowhere else do I meet so many people so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about movies.  The center of this cinematic orgy is the fabled Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, it’s next-door multiplex, and the Roosevelt Hotel across the street, but the screenings spill out to quite a few other venues. 

The fun started at 5 pm on Thursday, March 26^th, with a Red Carpet before the Chinese Theatre, leading to the premiere of the new restoration of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, with stars Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, and several portrayers of the Von Trapp kids present.  I enjoyed covering the red carpet the first two years, but could not convince myself that THE SOUND OF MUSIC was a Western.  So I skipped it in order to attend a screening of John Ford’s THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, introduced by a son of one of its stars, and a major star in his own right, Keith Carradine.  Keith Carradine began his professional acting career with MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, and went on to play Jim Younger in THE LONG RIDERS, Buffalo Bill Cody in WILD BILL, and many others.  He created the role of Will Rogers on Broadway in THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES, and was sorely missed by DEADWOOD fans when, as Wild Bill Hickok, he drew aces and eights after only  five episodes – dumbest mistake the series’ producers could have made!   

Keith Carradine introducing THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE

He was delighted to see the theatre entirely packed.  “I cannot tell you what it does for my heart to see this many people here to see this movie – oh my gosh!  I am a huge John Ford fan, and he only made two more feature films after this, DONOVAN’S REEF and CHEYENNE AUTUMN.  I have a particular attachment to this film for a number of reasons.  It has an amazing cast, obviously, with Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne.  Lee Marvin, who was a pal ever since we did EMPEROR OF THE NORTH together – the incomparable Lee Marvin.  And in fact I just paid homage to him.  We did a concert production, the Encore series in New York, of PAINT YOUR WAGON, in which I played Ben Rumson (note: Lee Marvin’s role in the film).  Anyhow, as Orson Welles said when he was asked who his influences were, “Well, I studied the great masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford and John Ford.”  This is one of his great works, and in addition to that great cast, and my friend Lee Marvin, my father is in this film.  I can’t thank you all enough for being here to support what TCM has been doing so brilliantly now for lo these many years, burnishing, maintaining; preserving the legacy of the motion picture.  Thank goodness for them, and for what they do.  This stuff is where all the movies came from.  And to give us the opportunity to see them the way they were originally meant to be seen, in a theatre, surrounded by other people, on the big screen – it’s incomparable.  So, enjoy THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, and I’ll see you down the road.” 

Andy Devine and Woody Strode in LIBERTY VALANCE

As many times as I’d already seen LIBERTY VALANCE, I’d never seen it on a big screen before, and there are a thousand little details that are invisible on a smaller image – like how many flies were on Andy Devine!  Incidentally, Andy’s son Dennis has some fascinating details on the making of this film in his book YOUR FRIEND AND MINE, ANDY DEVINE (read my review HERE), including why it was shot in black and white – to try and hide the advanced age of Wayne and Stewart in the ‘young’ sequences.

As always, the TCM Fest is an embarrassment of riches, and you cannot possibly attend all of the events you wish.  At 9:45 pm, the Australian Western-ish film BREAKER MORANT screened, introduced by its director Bruce Beresford, whose other credits include TENDER MERCIES, BLACK ROBE, and AND STARRING PANCHO VILLA AS HIMSELF.  Fifteen minutes later, Rory Flynn, daughter of Errol Flynn, was introducing one of her dad’s classics, THE SEA HAWK. 

Peter Fonda and Keith Carradine for CLEMENTINE

Friday was the big Western day, starting at 9:30 am with Ford’s MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, featuring an introduction and audience Q & A with Peter Fonda and Keith Carradine, again sons of the stars.  At 12:30 pm, THE PROUD REBEL screened, introduced by David Ladd, who co-starred with his father Alan Ladd in the film.  At 2:30 pm, while Rory Flynn discussed her father at Club TCM, Peter Fonda was introducing another Ford classic, YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, starring Henry Fonda.  Two blocks to the east, at Sid Grauman’s other great Hollywood theatre, The Egyptian, Ann Margaret was introducing her Steve McQueen co-starrer, THE CINCINNATI KID, to a packed house – I know it was packed because I couldn’t get in!  

PINOCCHIO stars Dickie Jones and Cliff Edwards

study character sketches

I headed back to see what I could squeeze into, and entered another movie palace that they were using, the El Capitan, to see Walt Disney’s PINOCCHIO.  I was halfway through the movie before I recalled that Pinocchio was voiced by Dickie Jones, later to star in many Westerns, including Errol Flynn’s best, ROCKY MOUNTAIN, and the series THE RANGE RIDER and BUFFALO BILL JR.  He also had a small role in YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, showing in another theatre at the same time.  Jones just passed away a few months ago.  And Pinocchio’s sidekick, Jiminy Cricket, was portrayed by Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards, who sidekicked for Charles “Durango Kid” Starrett and Tim Holt. 

Another tough choice came at about 6 pm.  Legendary stunt man Terry Leonard was introducing RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, where he recreated Yakima Canutt’s famous under-the-coach whip-drag and climb-up from STAGECOACH.  Instead I attended FONDA THE ACTOR, FONDA THE MAN, with Peter discussing his father Henry with Scott Eyman, author of PRINT THE LEGEND – THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN FORD, and JOHN WAYNE – THE LIFE AND LEGEND.  Put kindly, Henry was not the best or most consistent father, but his son still had many positive memories, and shared them with startling candor; several times he had to stop when his emotions overtook him.  

Here are some of the highpoints.  The first movie he saw his father in was CHAD HANNA, made in 1940, the year Peter was born.  “I think I was five, and there was my father on-screen.  And he wasn’t in the Pacific theatre (of the war) – he’d run away with Linda Darnell to the circus!  We had home movies, but my dad was never in the home movies, because he was operating the camera.  This is the first movie I’ve seen on the big screen.  So I didn’t know about Linda Darnell.  I didn’t know about the circus.  So all these questions are building up in this little boy’s mind.  The moment I remember best is (when) Chad went into the lion’s cage to clean it out.  What Chad didn’t know, and which I could see and the rest of the audience could see – it was a small screening room at Fox – is that the lion was in the cage.  So by this time I don’t think it’s Chad, I think it’s Dad.  And my God, he’s gonna get Dad.  I got so upset I ran down to the screen yelling, ‘Daddy! Daddy!  Daddy!  The lion’s there!’  Of course they had to take me out of the theatre.”  His mother calmed him down, telling him it was not Dad, but Chad Hanna, a character in the movie.  At the time, Henry Fonda was away at war, in Naval Air Intelligence.  When he came home on leave, he went by Peter’s school to pick him up.  “I saw the family’s ’38 Buick limousine.  It opens, and out steps Chad Hanna.  I had a tremendous problem, because here was Chad with the family car, and I sure as Hell did not want to drive with someone who was so stupid that he’d get into a lion’s cage.  So I hid in a bush.  I was a skinny kid and they couldn’t get me.”  Later he gained a much better understanding of his father from watching him do theatre, particularly MR. ROBERTS, rather than in movies.    

He described his first visit to a film set.  “I actually went on the set of FORT APACHE.  I went driving on the set and it was amazing – I told this story to John Wayne, Duke, and he was amazed that I could remember the detail of the car he was driving.  It was a crème-colored Cadillac, with red leather seats, and me and my sister (Jane) sat in the back, which was a smaller seat than in front, with John Wayne driving, my dad, and Ward Bond.  This was the first time I’d gone on a set.  And it didn’t mean anything; nobody explained it.  But I remember the car, John Wayne’s lovely Cadillac, and it was beautiful – four door, convertible, top down.  Now people say, what was it like growing up as Henry Fonda’s son?  My fast remark is, did you see FORT APACHE?  Do you know who Colonel Thursday is?  Do you know what kind of a man he was?  I’m joking – but unfortunately some people think, ‘Oh, he hates his father.’  I loved my father.  I love him now.  I miss him.” 

James Stewart was a good friend of the family.  “Jimmy Stewart was my godfather, and we all called him Uncle Jimmy.  He and my father were very close friends, and before they got heavy into filming, they were flying around in airplanes.  Although politically at opposite ends, they were very tight friends.  Whenever (Dad) was off in the Pacific, Jimmy would come back from his tours in the European theatre, flying a B-17, and come and see us all.  You have to understand that in 1945, ’46, Los Angeles was very small, and the air was extraordinarily clean.  My sister and I used to climb up on the roof – it was a pretty steep roof, on a very big house, but my sister and I had a way of getting up there.  And my mother would freak out if she knew.

“ One day, it’s Christmas Eve, there’s Uncle Jimmy.  He’s at the house, having a wonderful time.  We all knew him, all loved him – he was a funny man.  We were sent up the stairs of course, because it’s Christmas Eve.  We don’t get out until they let us in the morning.  Jane’s in her room, I’m in mine, and I hear some banging around on the roof.  I went to her room, I said, ‘Santa Claus is here, I think!’ We got out the window, on the roof, and there is Santa, at the chimney, with the Santa hat, the big bag.  But on closer observation, it was Uncle Jimmy.   Ho-ho-ho-ho!  But we’re on the roof, no one else is gonna hear this, so this performance is just for us.  And that’s when I stopped believing in Santa Claus, but I kept believing in Uncle Jimmy.”   

Next Round-up I’ll have the rest of my TCM coverage, and part two of FONDA ON FONDA, including Peter’s memories of his father making ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and directing Henry in WANDA NEVADA.  

FORD’S ‘IRON HORSE’ A ROUSING SUCCESS AT THE AUTRY!

It was quite a week for John Ford!  In addition to all of his films that were screened at the TCM Fest (and I’ve only talked about half of them), Thursday night saw The Welles Fargo Theatre at The Autry packed for the silent THE IRON HORSE, presented with an original score, a combination of live and programmed music by Emmy Award-nominated composer Tom Peters. 

Composer Tom Peters

Curator Jeffrey Richardson told me, “The Autry was proud and excited to host the debut of Tom Peter's score for John Ford's THE IRON HORSE. The audience, myself included, was captivated by the kaleidoscope of sound that magnified the power and intensity of the silent classic.” Senior Manager of Programs and Public Events Ben Fitzsimmons added, “Tom Peters certainly deserved his standing ovation after almost two and a half hours of playing his new score. He took folk songs of the era and combined them with other musical inspirations to create an epic piece of music to accompany an epic movie.”  

  

Although his IRON HORSE score is not yet available to hear, to give you an idea of the work Tom Peters does with silent film, here is a sample of his score from THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI.

GENE AUTRY DISCUSSION ADDED TO SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FEST!

It’s less than two weeks until the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, on Saturday and Sunday, April 18^th & 19^th, and a new conversation has been added to my schedule at the Buckaroo Book Shop.  On Saturday at 5 pm I’ll be chatting with Karla Buhlman, President of Gene Autry Entertainment, about the legacy of America's Favorite Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry.  Karla knew Gene very well, and I’m sure she’ll have a lot to tell us.  Karla will also be joining the previously announced Saturday 2 pm panel discussion, Unsung Heroes of Film: The Hollywood Stunt Horse, where I’ll also be chatting with with Karen Rosa -Senior Consultant at the American Humane Association's Film & TV Unit, and authors Petrine Day Mitchum, Audrey Pavia, and National Cowgirl Hall of Fame Honoree Shirley Lucas Jauregui.  For a complete schedule of events at the Buckaroo Book Shop, go HERE

For the official Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival site, go HERE

WILD BILL WELLMAN HONORED AT UCLA APRIL-JUNE

One of the most independent voices in the golden years of Hollywood, William Wellman will be honored at UCLA’s Billy Wilder Theatre with a 21 film retrospective, mostly double features.  While many of the ‘social commentary’ directors of the era had a tendency to preach, Wellman entertained while exposing society’s flaws, and certainly won more converts that way.  The series, entitled WILLIAM A. WELLMAN – HOLLYWOOD REBEL opens this Friday, April 10^th, at 7:30 pm with a wonderful double-bill: A STAR IS BORN and NOTHING SACRED.  They’re both in 35mm, both in color, and both from 1937 – can you imagine any director today making two such landmark films in one year?  (Of course, two years later, Victor Fleming made GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ – but with a lot of help!)  Starting at 6:30 pm, William Wellman Jr. will be selling and signing his book, Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel. 

On Saturday it’s WINGS (1927), with a live piano score by Cliff Retallick.  Westerns included in the series are CALL OF THE WILD, THE OX-BOW INCIDENT, THE TRACK OF THE CAT, YELLOW SKY, THE GREAT MAN’S LADY and WESTWARD THE WOMEN.  Non-Westerns of particular note include NIGHT NURSE, THE PUBLIC ENEMY, BEAU GESTE and WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD.  You can get the complete schedule HERE.  

THAT’S A WRAP!

Happy Passover and Happy Easter!  Next Round-up I’ll have the rest of my TCM coverage, which will include more Peter Fonda, plus some interesting comments from Christopher Plummer on John Huston, Sean Connery, and the making of Kipling’s THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING; and insights from a pair of Oscar-winning special effects men about the filming of Kipling’s GUNGA DIN in Lone Pine’s Alabama Hills!

I’m sorry I don’t have any good Western Passover clips, but here are three nice Easter pieces from the folks at Gene Autry Entertainment.  Enjoy!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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