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

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

HELL ON WHEELS Season Five – A TV Review

Looks like a cold day in Hell!

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

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

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

GUNSLINGERS Season Two – A TV Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JOHN BERGSTROM ON ‘WRITER’S BLOCK’ THURSDAY

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

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

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

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

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

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

FIRST PEEK AT ‘WESTWORLD’!

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

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

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

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

Happy Trails,

Henry,

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

‘HELL ON WHEELS’ FIRST PEEK, PLUS ‘THE LAST SHOOTIST’, ‘AUTRY VOL. 10’ REVIEWED!

‘HELL ON WHEELS’ FINAL SEASON STARTS JULY 18

When I said here that HELL ON WHEELS, the best original Western series in decades, would begin its fifth and final season on July 18^th, I heard from star Anson Mount.  “Just to clarify, it’s not our final season, it’s our final order.  We’re airing seven of them this year, and seven of them next year, so there will be a ‘quote-unquote’ sixth season.” 

The first big difference will be that Cullen Bohanan (Mount) will be switching his allegiance from the Southern Pacific Railroad to their rivals in the race to Promontory Point, the Central Pacific.  I’ll have my review of the opening episode as we get closer to the 18^th, and you can read my interview with Anson Mount in the September issue of TRUE WEST MAGAZINE.  In the meantime, here’s our first peek at the new season:

THE LAST SHOOTIST by Miles Swarthout – a Book Review

Glendon Swarthout is one of the most respected and enduring of Western novelists, and THE SHOOTIST may well be his finest work in the genre – the Western Writers of America voted it #4 in its list of Ten Best Western Novels of all-time.  So I can imagine the trepidation his son, Miles Swarthout, felt in doing a sequel.  But he has more right than anyone else, and not just because his father wrote the original.  In a unique-in-Hollywood package deal, before offering the original novel for publication, Glendon offered his son the chance to adapt it to a screenplay, and they were sold together.  So Miles was intimately involved in the story of aging gunslinger J.B. Books from the very beginning.

Many people know the story of THE SHOOTIST from the novel, but immeasurably more know it from the film, in which John Wayne gave his final performance, and one of his finest, due in no small part to father and son Swarthouts’ wonderful story and script, and Don Siegel’s equally fine direction.  SPOILER ALERT!  Of course, if you’ve read the novel or seen the movie, the quandary facing a sequel is clear: Books dies in the end.  The obvious approach would be to do a prequel, usually a disappointing, bastardized form of storytelling, where the reader, instead of being surprised, already knows the ending, and has to unexciting chore of judging how convincingly the teller gets there.  Instead, in THE LAST SHOOTIST, Miles has continued not the story of J.B. Books, but that of Gillom Rogers (Ron Howard in the film), the obnoxious son of Books’ landlady, Bond Rogers (Lauren Bacall). 

Miles Swarthout with Courtney Joyner

And Miles has done an absolutely enthralling job!  If you haven’t read the first book, and you should, you don’t really know Gillom.  Ron Howard’s version was something of a punk, but on paper, Gillom Rogers is the poster-boy for callow youth.  As the story begins, continuing directly from the end of the first novel, Gillom, who has already stolen from the dying gunman, gives Books, at his request, the coup de gras as he lies bleeding, and keeps Books’ fabled pair of Remingtons as a prize.  

The possession of these pistols triggers a series of sometimes frantic adventures that send him running out of town, running for his life.  At first his wanderings seem random, but they are driving him to a dramatic conclusion, which will see Gillom become, if not quite a mature or wholly admirable man, at least someone on that road.  The way there is full interesting characters, both real and fictional. 

There is friendship, romance, and plenty of brutal bloodletting, much of which would not be necessary if Gillom used his head more often, which is, amazingly, much of the tale’s charm.  While the story is certainly not heartless, there is an often humorous sense of, “Well, what did he think was going to happen when he put himself in this position?”  You want to see what Gillom does next in the same way that you want to see where a runaway stagecoach will go.  

Hemingway described imitating another author’s style as, “…trying to beat dead men at their own game,” and Miles, while clearly influenced by his father’s work, does not slavishly copy Glendon, and has a very readable style all his own.  He also enjoys sharing the sort of detail that makes period stories come to life.  When you finish THE LAST SHOOTIST, in addition to being entertained, you will be prepared to start a new life, at the turn of the 20^th century, as either a horse-breaker, or a whore in a mid-range brothel.  You can buy a signed copy of THE LAST SHOOTIST, as well as a DVD of the film THE SHOOTIST, from our friends at OutWest HERE.

GENE AUTRY COLLECTION # 10 – a Video Review

This newest collection of Public Cowboy #1’s movies features four early films, and much of the added pleasure is seeing both Gene’s and the film series’ growth from picture to picture.  The set features one movie per year from 1935 through 1938, and with Gene making eight pictures a year, the progress from picture to picture is striking.  All films feature sidekick Smiley Burnette and Champion.

In THE SINGING VAGABOND (1935), one of his few period Westerns, Gene leads a singing group of riders, the Singing Plainsmen, who rescue a wagon-train of showgirls, and Gene gets framed for horse-theft for his trouble.  Lovely Ann Rutherford, a runaway heiress, is his leading lady.  It’s a lot of fun, but the musical numbers are often operatic, and feel like they should be in a Dick Foran Western rather than an Autry.  Gene wears way too much make-up, and he hasn’t started playing himself – he’s ‘Tex’ Autry in this one.  Keep your eyes open for future Republic star Ray ‘Crash’ Corrigan in one of his earliest roles.

In OH, SUSANNA! (1936), fives movies later, it’s modern day (for 1936), and Gene plays radio star Gene Autry, who is once again framed, this time for murder.  The make-up is gone, the songs are more appropriate to Gene, and better incorporated.  But Gene does something you rarely see in later films – he kisses the girl, Frances Grant, at the end!  Directed by one of Republic’s finest, Joe Kane, the action is first rate.  It also features, as Aunt Peggy, one of the great stars of the silent screen, Clara Kimball Young.

In ROOTIN TOOTIN’ RHYTHM (1937), no one plans to frame rancher Gene Autry until he and Smiley knowingly steal and don clothes of known criminals!   The stress is on humor as well as action in this one, and the story is by Johnston McCulley, who created the character Zorro!  Mexicali Rose is one of the stand-out songs.  An amusing braggart character is Buffalo Brady, played by Hal Taliaferro (pronounced ‘Toliver’), who had been a star as Wally Wales, but had a much longer career after, as a supporting player.  Armida is Gene’s girl, and for the first of many times in a film, he sings in Spanish.  When they move in for a clinch at the end, the fans had already spoken their disapproval, so Gene and Armida actually step out of frame for a moment, then come back, and only Ernst Lubitsch fans will know they kissed! 

Finally with WESTERN JAMBOREE (1938), all of the elements you expect from an Autry movie are present, including Smiley Burnette’s classic wardrobe of checkered shirt and crushed black hat.  Also present was Ring-Eye, Smiley’s white horse, who had a black circle around one eye, presumably in tribute to Petey, the ring-eyed pit bull from the Our Gang comedies.  And what a plot!  Half is a lift from LADY FOR A DAY, the Capra-filmed Damon Runyon story, here about an old saddle tramp whose friends, including Gene, help him pass himself off as the owner of a dude ranch to impress his daughter and his would-be in-laws.  The other half of the plot is about helium rustlers!  The cast includes famous comic dancer Joe Frisco, Ken Maynard’s brother Kermit, and soon-to-be Western singing star Eddie Dean. 

The special features for the GENE AUTRY COLLECTION sets always match up each movie with stills and posters, interesting production facts, excerpts from the Melody Ranch Radio Show, and intros from MELODY RANCH THEATER.  MELODY RANCH THEATER was a 1987 TV series on The Nashville Network, where Gene and sidekick and movie historian Pat Buttram would introduce Gene’s movies.  Always entertaining, the four intros here are a remarkable collection not only for Gene’s fans, but for fans of Westerns in particular, and Hollywood in general.  The first features an interview with Gene’s leading lady not only in SMILING VAGABOND but in three other movies, Ann Rutherford.  They discuss not only her work with Gene, but her career at MGM, as Polly Benedict in the HARDY FAMILY films.  The second interview features Gene’s wife, Jackie Autry, and a discussion of the plans for the then not-yet-built Gene Autry Museum.  The third chat is with Alex Cohen, who started out as the teenage president of Gene Autry’s fan club in Britain, and later became Gene’s tour advance man and assistant for decades.  Finally, the boys talk to George Sherman, who directed Gene seven times, and John Wayne nine times -- from PALS OF THE SADDLE (1938) to BIG JAKE (1971).  Pat quizzes them, and hearing what George and Gene have to say about Republic Pictures, budgets, salaries, block booking, and colorization is, alone, worth the price of the collection. 

The folks at Gene Autry Entertainment tell me that by the end of 2015, every Gene Autry movie, TV show and his serial, THE PHANTOM EMPIRE, will be available on home video.  And they’re all available from our friends at The Autry Museum Store HERE.

THAT’S A WRAP!

Next week I’ll have news about and exciting new radio talk-show about Western writers, a potential new AMC Western series from the producer of JUSTIFIED, and my review of the new Scottish/Kiwi Western coming to home video, SLOW WEST!  Have a great week!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

‘HELL ON WHEELS’ SEASON 4 REVIEW, PLUS JULIE ADAMS AUTOBIO!

HELL ON WHEELS 2014 REVIEW

HELL ON WHEELS, AMC’s series about the building of the Trans-Continental Railroad, seen through the eyes of former Confederate officer and railroad engineer Cullen Bohannan (Anson Mount), and ethically challenged railroad robber-baron Doc Durant (Colm Meany), and  nearly a dozen other characters, returns for season four on Saturday, August 2^nd.  And if you need to refresh your memory, or fill in some story holes, AMC will be running the entire first three seasons on Friday, August 1^st – check your local listings for times!

THE ELUSIVE EDEN is the first episode of the new season, and it opens in the winter of 1868, with Durant, broke, proving Proverbs correct, that ‘Pride goeth before a fall,’ in the most spectacular fashion, when he decides to lay track across a frozen lake!  It doesn’t exactly solve his financial problems, but it’s a wondrous thing to see – I rewound and watched it three times. 

Cullen, meanwhile, is in one helluvah fix as a prisoner in the Mormon fort, under the thumb of the Swede, who murdered the minister being sent to run the fort, and assumed his identity.  Last season, while investigating a shooting by a member of a Mormon family, Cullen slept with a young woman, then hung her kid brother for a crime their father probably committed, and only escaped execution himself when the woman’s pregnancy was revealed.  Now he is married to her, she is about to give birth, and he is living with her family.  (Kind of puts any in-laws problems you may be having into perspective, doesn’t it?)

The portable town of Hell on Wheels is now located in the burgeoning city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, which appears to be the exclusive property of Durant: he’s even installed his own Mayor, Mickey McGinnes (Phil Burke), adding to his duties as saloon operator and pimp.  Present also is former Indian prisoner, sometime-whore and sometime-nurse, Eva (Robin McLeavy).  Missing is her man, Elam (Common), whose heart she broke when she gave away their baby – he’s presumably dead.  Elam’s friend, fellow former-slave Psalms (Dohn Noorwood), is also back.  The minister Ruth (Kasha Kropinski) is also back, and in charge of the Mormon boy Cullen rescued after the Swede had slaughtered his family. 

And there are some new folks in town.  Much to Durant’s chagrin, newly-elected President Grant (Victor Slezak) has sent a dapper pack of enforcers-in-politicians-clothing to do his bidding. They ain’t subtle. 

The two opening episodes, THE ELUSIVE EDEN and ESCAPE FROM THE GARDEN focus, as you would guess, on Cullen’s plans to leave the Mormon Fort.  I found some of the ideas better than their execution, but to be fair, the versions I saw were not final cuts, and based on their history, I have great faith in the production company to make this work. 

One surprise is that Cullen has a new new wife: Siobhan Williams, who played his Mormon bride last season, is now a star on THE BLACK LIST, and has been replaced by Canadian actress MacKenzie Porter.  So catch up on any episodes you don’t remember, because Saturday HELL is back ON its WHEELS, and this time for thirteen episodes instead of the previous ten-episode seasons!

THE LUCKY SOUTHERN STAR – by JULIE ADAMS

A Book Review

A good biography leaves you wanting to know more about its subject; reading one often leads to a list of movies I want to watch or books I want to read.  But it’s unexpected to finish an actress’ autobiography, motivated to seek out both Pirandello’s plays, and THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON!

But Julie Adams has written a very unexpected memoir with THE LUCKY SOUTHERN STAR: REFLECTIONS FROM THE BLACK LAGOON.  It is an entertaining, insightful and informative read from start to finish.  In becoming a working professional actress, Julie Adams’ timing was ideal, because her career stretched between so many different stages of the film industry.  When she started out in 1949, it was the tail end of the studio system, and her formative acting years were spent under contract to Universal.  

Then came freelancing at many studios, big and small, and increasingly appearing in the growing monolith of television.  Later still, while continuing in supporting roles on TV and in features, she works extensively in theatre, sometimes quite small theatre, but she shows her respect for those smaller paying audiences, and respect for the work.  She also clearly respects the professionals she worked with in television: I was struck by how often she mentioned by name the writers of particular TV episodes that impressed her. 

This is not a ‘tell-all’ book.  I have no doubt that not everyone in the business was a joy to work with, and I am sure that so beautiful an actress had to work hard to keep the wolves at bay.  But if she hasn’t got anything good to say about someone, they just don’t get a mention.  She’s written the book with one of her two sons, TV editor Mitchell Danton, whose father was the handsome and debonair 1950s and 60s leading man Ray Danton.  Even after their divorce, Julie has nothing hard to say about him, and after he became an in-demand director, he often cast his ex-wife.  Maybe she’s just as nice as she seems to be.

Unquestionably Adams is best known to audiences for starring with ‘the Gillman’ in CREATURE – and for the white one-piece that made a bikini seem pointless.  But she also had a very extensive Western career.  Her first speaking role was in one of the tight-budgeted Lippert movies, 1949’s THE DALTON GANG, for silent writer/director and serial whiz Ford Beebe, opposite Don ‘Red’ Barry.   That led to a six-picture contract with Lippert – and what a contract!  In a cost-saving experiment, six movies with the same cast and crew were shot simultaneously!  They would shoot all the scenes for all six movies on any given set before moving to the next – from school marm to sheriff’s daughter to girl outlaw in rapid succession.  She credits the experience with really teaching her to act. 

Under contract to Universal starting in 1951, she worked in big westerns with some of the finest directors, opposite top stars.  She starred in BEND OF THE RIVER for Anthony Mann, opposite James Stewart.  She starred in three for Budd Boetticher – HORIZONS WEST with Robert Ryan, THE MAN FROM THE ALAMO with Glenn Ford, and WINGS OF THE HAWK – playing a Mexican rebel leader – opposite Van Heflin.  And let’s not forget THE TREASURE OF LOST CANYON with William Powell; THE LAWLESS BREED with Rock Hudson, for Raoul Walsh; and MISSISSIPPI GAMBLER with Tyrone Powell.  She has a detailed memory, and great stories about them all. 

In TV Westerns she was to play a wide range of characters, many of them villains.  Among the most memorable were the title character NORA in a RIFLEMAN episode, where she tries to con Lucas; a BONANZA episode where her plans to marry Hoss are undermined by her compulsive gambling, and a BIG VALLEY, where she tries to get a monopoly in the rice business, and isn’t above killing Victoria Barkley to do it. 

As a ‘cougar’ before there was such a term, she chases Elvis around the desk in TICKLE ME, and does something not so different to Dennis Hopper in his THE LAST MOVIE.  She co-starred with John Wayne, not in a western, but in the cop film McQ.  On the soap CAPITOL she played a fake agoraphobic; on MURDER SHE WROTE she played a man-hungry real estate broker.  But her favorite TV role was as the wife of her BEND OF THE RIVER co-star James Stewart in the short-lived but charming JIMMY STEWART SHOW. 

Julie bookends her autobiography with stories of attending monster-movie conventions with her BLACK LAGOON co-stars, something that keeps her busy, and gives her a lot of pleasure.  Her memories of her adventures in film and TV-making, and her sharp insights into the work of her peers, writers, and directors, will give you pleasure as well.   You can purchase THE LUCKY SOUTHERN STAR, and learn more about Julie Adams, including upcoming appearances, at her site, HERE .

You can read my Round-up interview with Julie Adams HERE.

THAT’S A WRAP!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful National Day of the Cowboy, wherever you are!  If you don’t have plans yet, this link will take you to the official NDOC calendar of events all around the country: http://nationaldayofthecowboy.com/wordpress/?post_type=tribe_events&eventDisplay=month

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright July 2014 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

‘HELL’ ROLLS IN FOR ROUND 3 SATURDAY NIGHT!

‘HELL ON WHEELS’ Season 3 – Review

Cullen and Elam meet again

           

‘HELL ON WHEELS’ returns to AMC on Saturday night, August 10^th, with a two-hour, two episode opener, entitled BIG BAD WOLF and EMINENT DOMAIN.  It promises a season three with even more of the adventure, conflict, depth of character, and accurate sense of history, that the series’ legions of loyal camp-followers have come to expect.  It is, to put it mildly, a powerful opening.

Durant connives

For anyone new to the series, it is the story of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad just after the Civil War, much of it seen from the point of view of Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) a trained engineer and former Confederate Officer.  His original enlisting with the project was a subterfuge – his wife and child were murdered by Union soldiers, and his work on the railroad provided both cover and information to track the men down and exact revenge.  But the building of the railroad has become his salvation, a mission in a life which had lost its driving force with the loss of his family.  The title of the series refers to the portable town – with offices, dormitories, saloons and brothels – that travels alongside the ever-advancing track-layers; the town of Hell On Wheels.

Cullen and book-keeper Sean

The curtain rises on Cullen awakening Rip Van Winkle-like to find himself in the snow-bound, burnt-out ruins of Hell On Wheels, which had moved with the construction of the railroad until, at the end of season two, the understandably intransigent Indians had attacked, killing all they could, and burning everything to the ground.  Finding himself in the company of dead men and live wolves, Cullen, in a sequence as audacious and self-confident as his character, sets the story and the locomotive back on its tracks, and as he sets out for the dueling railroads’ headquarters in New York City, en route we catch up with the lives of other characters.

Cullen gives reporter Louise 'the Grand Tour' of Hell on Wheels

Elam Ferguson (Common) is a former slave turned railroad security man, who shares an uneasy alliance with Cullen Bohannon.  Elam and his woman, Eva (Robin McLeavy) are anticipating the birth of their first child.  Railroad magnate Thomas ‘Doc’ Durant (Colm Meany) is, surprisingly, where he belongs: behind bars – Durant, by the way, was a real man, and every bit the snake he is portrayed as.  Sean McGinnes (Ben Esler), the young Irishman who had come to Hell on Wheels as a peep-show operator and then pimp has graduated to be Hell on Wheel’s book-keeper.  Ruth (Kasha Kropinski), the daughter of the disgraced and dead minister is again preaching in his stead.  Lily, who with her late husband had surveyed much of the route for the railroad, and had become important in the lives of Bohannon and Durant and so many others, was murdered by ‘The Swede’ last season.  Perhaps it is in her stead that we now see a new young woman, Louise Ellison (Jennifer Ferrin), a reporter covering the re-started construction of the railroad for Horace Greely’s New York Tribune.

Elam, Eva and baby

And as the story gets underway, she will have many topics to write about, not all of them pretty, particularly the issue of eminent domain, the government’s power to seize private property for the ‘greater good’, paying what is often ironically termed ‘fair market value.’  In this case, the Union Pacific Railroad has been granted the power to seize land for its right-of-way, and Cullen, as the Railroad’s point man, must contend with the settlers whose property it is.  The result is a stunning tragedy, the more so for its utter believability.  

Ruth

Eva

While the show certainly does not seek to offend, neither is it politically correct if that would badly serve the truth behind the story.  You will hear the ‘n-word’ in circumstances where it would have been naturally used at the time.  You’ll hear the prejudices that people held against the Mormons and the Irish without sugar-coating.  Much as I love TV Westerns, they have a weak history when it comes to history – an attitude that any saddle will do, that all cowboys were white and American-born, that all Indian tribes are interchangeable, that any gun but an Uzi is acceptable, and no one ever needs to re-load.  Not on HELL ON WHEELS.  Along with the layered and complex story-telling, there is a clear determination among the dramatists and directors to get it right, and they usually do.  The performances and characterizations continue to be solid.  The tech credits are commendable.  Happily, it’s been long enough since I’ve read Stephen Ambrose’s book about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD, that I don’t remember what, historically, is coming next.  I can’t wait to find out – it looks like one Helluvah season on HELL ON WHEELS. 

‘KNIGHT OF THE GUN’ IN THE CUTTING ROOM

Director John Graves Warner is still editing his new Western, KNIGHT OF THE GUN, but he’s already assembled a trailer.  Check it out!

‘CENTENNIAL’ COMING TO HOME VIDEO IN OCTOBER

Universal will be releasing ‘CENTENNIAL’ in DVD and BluRay editions this October.  Based on the historical fiction best-seller by James Michener, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, this 12 episode mini-series has rarely been seen since its original 1978-1979 airing.  Set in the fictional town of Centennial, Colorado, it traces the story of generations of characters from the start of the settlement in 1795 into the 20^th century.   

The six disk set will feature 26 hours of content (not sure if that includes special features), and a cast that boasts Raymond Burr, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Conrad, Barbara Carrera, Sally Kellerman, and dozens of others, including Western favorites like Brian Keith, Dennis Weaver, Donald Pleasance, Robert Vaughn, Anthony Zerbe, A Martinez, Michael Ansara, and Pernell Roberts.  I hope to have more details soon.

RANDOLPH SCOTT IN ‘THE NEVADAN’ COMIC STRIP FINISHES

Late in the spring I started running a panel-per-day of a comic-book version of THE NEVADAN, a 1950 Columbia film starring Randolph Scott, Dorothy Malone and Forrest Tucker.  It was featured in 1950s western movie magazine my daughter had given me.  The response was enthusiastic, so in June I ran the ‘story so far’ in the Round-up (if you missed that, go HERE ).  Having just finished running the conclusion on Facebook, I’m running the final panels here.  If I ever run into any of these comic strip Westerns, I’ll share ‘em as well.

THE WRAP-UP

I'm posting this Round-up two days early, on Friday instead of Sunday, to give Rounders a chance to read my HELL ON WHEELS review before it airs on Saturday night -- don't miss it!

Okay, this one is early, so I'll apologize in advance that next week's Round-up will probably be a day or two late.  Have a great week -- and let me know what you think of the HELL ON WHEELS season opener!

Happy trails,

Henry

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