COUNTY LINE – A MOVIE
REVIEW
Tom Wopat and Jeff Fahey take their
shots back to back
Alden Rockwell (Tom
Wopat) and Clint Thorne (Jeff Fahey), sheriffs of neighboring Georgia counties,
have been good-old-boy friends since before Vietnam. Then Alden loses his
reelection bid, is widowed, and settles into a half-hearted existence as a
pig-farmer who won’t slaughter his livestock because he’s given them names.
Things change when Clint is shot while investigating a redneck crime family,
and their links to a shadowy and sinister organization. With no legal
authority, but decades of experience, Alden, at the request of Clint’s wife
(Dendrie Taylor) starts poking his unauthorized nose in, and the fireworks
begin.
The Prattler brothers have the drop on Jeff Fahey
Part contemporary
Western, part mystery, the vigorous and enjoyable COUNTY LINE, which premieres
Saturday night on INSP, has wisely teamed two stars who’ve covered lots of
miles, but still have plenty of tread left. Wopat will, of course, always be
remembered as Luke Duke in seven boisterous seasons of THE DUKES OF HAZARD. But
he’s also appeared in the recent Westerns JONAH HEX and DJANGO UNCHAINED, on
LONGMIRE, and his impressive string of Broadway Musical credits include a Tony
Nomination for ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. Indie film favorite Jeff Fahey played Tyree
in SILVERADO, was Ike Clanton to Kevin Costner’s WYATT EARP, and was Devil Anse
Hatfield in BAD BLOOD – HATFIELDS AND MCCOYS. Recently on television, he was
the Texas Secretary of War in TEXAS RISING, and impressed as Zachariah on
JUSTIFIED.
Patricia Richardson plays
Wopat’s potential romantic interest, a waitress at a diner that straddles the
county border, with a blue stripe dividing it down the middle. Emmy-nominated
four times for playing Tim Allen’s wife in HOME IMPROVEMENT, she played more
dramatic roles on STRONG MEDICINE and THE WEST WING, and starred opposite Peter
Fonda in ULEE’S GOLD. Abbi Butler plays Wopat’s strong and handsome daughter,
who’s enlisted in the Army, and about to go overseas.
While the term
‘contemporary Western’ has lately been bestowed on any film where someone wears
a Resistol hat, COUNTY LINE, written by Jon Nappa, Shea Sizemore and Jason
White, and directed by Shea, earns the label. There is a clear underlying
pioneer spirit to the story, a philosophy of self-reliance. It is full of
likable folks who all carry guns, and aren’t coy about using them – it is said
derisively of a Deputy, “He carries a shotgun like it’s a broomstick.”
Davis Osborn, Michael Ruff and Brian Durkin
as the Prattler Brothers
Along with a complex
plot, there is a surprising amount of convincing choking, punching, general
brawling and specific shooting, and the ladies are every bit as dangerous as
the gents. Western fans will be particularly amused by the Prattler Brothers, a
family of dumb but malevolent thugs who call to mind the similar trios you’d
find on a BIG VALLEY or GUNSMOKE, always with a young Warren Oates or Bruce
Dern, and one, Sly Prattler, played by Davis Osborne, is practically the
spitting image of the king of what Strother Martin termed prairie scum, L.Q.
Jones! With considerable humor,
heart, action and smarts, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it begat COUNTY
LINE II, or even a series.
SANTA CLARITA COWBOY
FESTIVAL’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY!
Singer Almeda M. Bradshaw
On Saturday and Sunday,
April 21st and 22nd, the 25th anniversary of
the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival was marked in a highly unusual way: free admission! Held at William S. Hart Park in Old Town
Newhall, the event originally started as a cowboy poetry reading at Santa
Clarita High School. Then on January 14, 1994, the Northridge Earthquake hit
Southern California, destroying, among so many other structures, the gymnasium
where the readings were always held. The event was going to be cancelled for
lack of a venue when the Veluzat brothers, owners and operators of Melody Ranch, Gene Autry’s old Western
movie town, offered the ranch as an alternative location.
Gunspinner Joey Dillon shows a
volunteer the ropes
With the move, the event
expanded to include music, merchandise, and all manner of activities, and it
grew steadily for twenty years. Then four years ago, the resurgence of the
Western movie and TV show began. Melody
Ranch, which had only been sporadically busy since the demise of DEADWOOD,
suddenly became in demand. Quentin Tarantino leased it for a year to shoot
DJANGO UNCHAINED. HBO has leased it for
multiple years to film WESTWORLD. Again, a new venue was required, and what
could be more appropriate than William S. Hart Park, the home range of one of
the Western film’s great stars and philanthropists.
A Buffalo Soldier and his horse
Indian dancer
Hart Park is full of
historical buildings, some built there, some moved there, and on this weekend
it was also full of people, couples and families and packs of friends, there to
do some shopping and eating, and to soak up cowboy atmosphere, and maybe some
cowboy and Indian history as well.
As long as I have been
attending – about a decade now – the center of activities for me has always
been The Buckaroo Book Shop which was
for years run by Bobbi Jean and Jim Bell, from their nearby OutWest Boutique. Bobbi and Jim recently
packed up their cowpoke finery and moved home and operations to Albuquerque,
New Mexico. But they came to town on Saturday to see how the event was going. Jim
Christina, a Western author often featured at the event, took over the reins of
the Book Shop this year. Other Western authors who attended included SHOTGUN
series creator C. Courtney Joyner, Johnny D. Boggs, D.B. Jackson, Peter
Sherayko, J.R. Sanders, Bob Brill, Eric Heisner, and artist and illustrator Al
Bringas. Also ran into Western author
and entertainer Troy Andrew Smith by the cowboy coffee and peach cobbler.
Susie Arredondo, Troy Andrew Smith, with Bobbi Jean
and Jim Bell
Right beside the Book
Shop tent, who had just set up shop but Johnny Crawford, Mark McCain from THE
RIFLEMAN, and fresh a West Virginia film shoot, where he was portraying William
S. Hart in the new Western film, BILL TILGHMAN AND THE OUTLAWS.
Tea-time for this Southern Belle
Union surrender
Among the high points of
the event was the twice daily Civil War reenactment. Here's a quick and sloppy glance at it --hopefully it’ll give you a sense of the event. Hope
to see you there next year!
RAMONA OLD WEST DAYS SAT
& SUN MAY 5&6!
Photo by Paul Wood
This weekend the Reenactment
Guild of America will be taking part in the 6th annual Ramona Old
West Days in Ramona, California. Large 19th
century encampments will represent pioneers, the American Indian Wars, and the
life of the cowboy. There will be hearty grub, western collectibles, and a
Showdown at Sundown, where reenactment groups compete for prizes. For more
information, go here: http://www.ramonaoldwestdays.com/
TOM CORRIGAN DIES AT AGE 73
Tom Corrigan with his dad, Ray 'Crash' Corrigan
Tom Corrigan, the
Thousand Oaks restaurateur who kept the memory of his father, Ray “Crash”
Corrigan, alive for decades, had died. For
more than thirty years he ran the popular Corrigan’s Steak House, which was
packed with memorabilia from his father’s long career as a Western star, stunt
man, gorilla portrayer, and builder and operator of Corriganville, one of
filmdom’s premiere Western movie towns. Tom died in his home on March 14th,
with his wife and niece by his side.
…AND THAT’S A WRAP!
And no, I’m not dissing WESTWORLD, I just haven’t had a chance to sit down and watch it. If you have, what do you think?
Happy Trails,
Henry
All Original Material Copyright
May 2018 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved
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