‘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 

ANSON MOUNT INTERVIEW -- ‘HELL ON WHEELS’ SEASON 2

On Sunday, August 12^th, at 9 p.m., HELL ON WHEELS, AMC’s smash Western series from last year, returns for Season 2.  If you missed any of Season 1, or want to refresh your memory, AMC is running all ten Season 1 episodes starting Sunday morning at 11 a.m.  And if you’re one of those unfortunate DISH customers who no longer have AMC, go to the AMC website and you can stream HELL ON WHEELS on your computer!

The title HELL ON WHEELS refers to the movable town that crossed the nation during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, its saloon-keepers, prostitutes and gamblers servicing the construction crew.  The protagonist is Cullen Bohannon, a Confederate veteran with no prospects who hires on, considered to be a valuable man because, as a former slave owner, he knows how to ‘work with’ black people.  But he has his own unspoken agenda: his wife and child were murdered by a group of Union soldiers, and it is his mission to identify, track down, and kill them all.  His work for the railroad provides an excellent cover.

Cullen Bohannon is portrayed by Tennessee-born, Columbia University educated Anson Mount, who has made a tremendous impression in the role.  He previously starred in the series CONVICTION, THE MOUNTAIN and LINE OF FIRE, and his features include the recent STRAW DOGS remake, BURNING PALMS, and the upcoming SUPREMACY and CODE NAME: GERONIMO.         On Wednesday morning I had the opportunity to talk with Anson about his new season in Hell (On Wheels).  Anson says that whereas Season 1 was mostly plot-driven, Season 2 will be character-driven, and the stories will revolve around the keyword to the Season, ‘ambition’.  When discussing the challenges of continuing a series over multiple seasons, his frequent touchstone is BREAKING BAD, which he calls, “The best show that’s ever been made for television.”

Anson Mount & Common

We’ll continue to see interplay between Cullen and Elam Ferguson, the ex-slave played by rapper-turned-actor Common.  “I think it’s becoming the most interesting relationship in the series.  From the very beginning, Common and myself and the writers were very adamant; we were not going to allow this to become Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder.  (laughs)  You know – ‘the black guy and the white guy are gonna be buddies!  And everybody’s gonna love each other!’  We wanted to be very true to the tropes, the stereotypes and the conflicts at that time.  Particularly between a former slave and a former Confederate.  And yet allow them to meet in situations where they have to meet on equal footing.  And I think we did a really good job of that in the first season; I think we’ve done an even better job of that in the second season.” 

Memorably, Season 1 ended with Cullen killing the wrong man.  “I decided long before Harper was going to turn out to be the wrong man, when Cullen does get to put his hands around the throat of someone, when he completes the deed, it’s not going to be the release or relief that he thought it was going to be: it’s a deeper hollowing out of himself.  He finds that there’s actually nothing there.” 

Henry – Your character is consumed with rage, and on a quest for revenge.  Was that hard to walk away from at the end of a shooting day?  And is it hard to return to it after the hiatus?

Anson – No (laughs), not at all.  Sometimes I feel like I’m launching a one-man campaign to change people’s minds about what we do as actors.  I think there’s a big misconception that actors are these shamans who channel characters and notions, and that we are somehow mortally affected by our work.  And I think that there are a lot of actors that play into that, because it makes them and their work seem more important.  It’s not the case at all.  We play make-believe.  I think it’s a process of playing intelligently, and playing well, but it’s a process of play.  And if I’m doing anything else, I’m not doing my job, and I need to spend time in the loony-bin.  It’s an enormous amount of fun for me, and I continue to have a great time this season.  And I’ve been having a good time finding ways of lightening Cullen up a bit, because I think we need to see different facets of him.

Henry – Did you grow up with westerns?  Do you have favorites, either past or recent?

Anson – Oh yeah, absolutely!  I’m a big Sergio Leone fan.  I really liked the remake of 3:10 TO YUMA.  It certainly is a helluvah lot better than the original.  I know some people had a problem with it but I thought it was a fantastic film. 

Henry – In what ways do you think it was better?

Anson – (incredulous) 3:10 TO YUMA?  Have you ever seen the original?

Henry – I know them both very well.  I like ‘em both.

Anson – The original plays out in very few locations; it’s very staid.  It plays almost like a teleplay, or a ‘play’ play.  And I think the plot demanded those action sequences that happened in the second film, that weren’t really played out that well in the first.  I just liked the pacing and the rhythm and the style; I thought the performances were fantastic. 

Henry – If you could give yourself the lead in any western film of the past, what would it be?

Anson – I would love to have played the (Schofield) Kid in UNFORGIVEN.  Jaimz Woolvett did such a great job; wonderful. 

Henry – How do you feel about horses and guns?  Any experience with either prior to HELL ON WHEELS? 

Tom Noonan & Christopher Heyerdahl

Anson – Oh man!  Yes, it’s the best part of the job, getting to ride a horse.  I grew up in the rural South, so I’m comfortable on a horse, but I’ve never operated a horse around a camera, which is a whole different skill-set.  Luckily we have really good, experienced wranglers who are able to teach me the ins and outs of that.  And the guns – we have an amazing armorer named Brian Kent, who has a wonderful antique gun collection himself – he can tell you anything you want to know about guns of the 19^th century – so we’re blessed with that.

Henry – What is that pistol you usually handle?

Anson – The one from the first season was a Griswold, which was a Confederate issue sidearm; and this season I lose that, and I end up having to use a Union issue sidearm, which was the 1857 Remington .45 caliber.   

Awkward!

Henry – Which do you prefer, a studio kind of picture, or one where you’re outside and away from civilization?

Anson – I prefer where we’re shooting (outdoors).  You know, we’ve got a studio here, because we don’t have a lot of darkness, and sometimes we need to go into the studio for that.  But I think we’ve only used the studio five or six days the entire season, so far, and I think the next two episodes are pretty-much going to be entirely shot on location.  I prefer being out; even though it’s a commute -- it’s almost an hour each way -- but it’s so gorgeous where we are this year, and you can’t build what we have out there.  It’s 40,000 usable acres of ready-to-go set.  And there’s so much that the weather gives you, that the land gives you.  And I just like being removed from civilization when I’m doing a western. 

We’re in Alberta.  Our location is about an hour southeast of Calgary.  We started earlier this year (than last).  We thought we were going to be doing the first two or three episodes with snow on the ground.  It ended up not happening that way: they didn’t have any spring snows.  Quite dry.  So it was a bit chilly at first, but we didn’t have to deal with the torrential downpours and hip-deep mud we had last year.  And we’ve had hail-storms.  We’ve had a couple of days where we had to stop because of that.  But we’re lucky, and we’ve got a brilliant director of photography, Marvin Rush, who somehow manages to make the light match, even though there are days when we’ll start in sunshine, then we’ll have cloud cover, then it’ll rain, it’ll hail, then the sun’ll come out, then it’ll go back in.  (laughs) Somehow he manages to make it all work. 

Henry – I was wondering if your story was going to cross any more than it has with Eddie Spears’ character, Joseph Black Moon.

Anson – You know, we’re actually talking about that.  I haven’t really had a lot of interaction with Eddie’s character so far this season, but there’s about to be a bit in number 9, which we’re about to shoot.  And Eddie’s character, Joseph, is continuing to question his place in this world.  Because his adopted father has taken to the bottle again, his ongoing affections for his adopted sister are newly brought into question, and he wonders if this is the right move to make, to be in this white man’s world.

Henry – Looks like you’ll be more involved with Colm Meany’s character – is that correct?

Anson – Well, Colm character is running the business that I end up working for, and he and I have two very different ideas about leading, and so by necessity we have a lot more head-butting this season. 

Henry – How many seasons do you see the show running?

Anson – I’ve heard five thrown out there; I wouldn’t mind six.  When you add together all the outlying projects that had to be completed when the rails were connected, it was a six year engagement.

Colm Meany & Dominique McElligot

Henry – So you see the series as actually paralleling the construction of the railroad.

Anson – I would like to.  I know you don’t necessarily need to, but I would like to.  There’s never been talk about getting into the Central Pacific side of the story; the whole contest between the two companies; the involvement of the Asian-American work-force.  You just can’t tell the entire story without getting the Central Pacific, and that opens up a whole new bag of worms in terms of story-telling.  And we haven’t even started drilling through the Rockies (laughs) – that’s a huge part of the story.  And then, we’ve also been talking about a season 7 in Utah, involving Brigham Young, and that’s a fascinating part of the story of the construction that I’d like to spend an entire season on. 

Henry – It sounds like you’re passionately interested in the actual history.

Anson – Oh yeah.  I’ve been doing my research. 

Henry – Would you be interested in doing another Western?

Anson – Yes.  In about another ten years I want to play (abolitionist) John Brown.  I think that’s a story that’s waiting to be made.  Now watch – somebody’ll pick up on this and they’ll hire Willem Dafoe to do it.   

WANT TO HELP FINISH A WESTERN 29 YEARS IN THE MAKING?

In 1983, nearly three decades ago, Rick Groat and his family and friends set out to make an old-fashioned black & white western.  In a vintage interview on ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, Rick brags that his $15,000 movie will look like it cost a half million! 

Sadly, after a successful film-festival work-print screening, the movie, THE SHOOTING, was never seen again.  Now, filmmaker Rick Groat, who acted in 2010's 6 GUNS, is trying through KICKSTARTER to raise the $9,500 he needs to complete the film.  If you know the Kickstarter system, you know that the project will only be funded if all the money is committed within a limited time.  As I write, Rick has only eight days to go, and only $650 of his $9,500 committed. 

I was going to write about this project next week, but I figured it might be of more use to Rick if I did it right now, while there’s still time.  To learn more, visit HERE, where you can read more about the film, and see Rick’s presentation. 

That’s it for tonight, pardners.  I wanted to make sure you had a chance to read the Anson Mount interview before Season 2 of HELL ON WHEELS starts.  Next week I’ll have another ‘rush’ story about the Museum of the San Fernando Valley.  And if you want to visit it, you’ll have to be quick, because it’s closing at the end of the month!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright August 2012 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

HELL ON WHEELS Season 2 Is Almost Here!

On Sunday, August 12^th, HELL ON WHEELS, AMC’s blockbuster Western series will return for a second ten episode season.  The series continues to revolve around a group of  people engaged in building the transcontinental railroad, and ‘Hell On Wheels’ refers to the portable town that follows along the tracks, servicing the workers.  The central figure from season one was former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount), and the ‘cover’ of his railroad job as a means to track down and kill the Union soldiers who murdered his wife and son, a story that was concluded with the end of the season.

While I have promised AMC not to reveal too much (not wanting to have Colm Meany send Common to ‘handle’ the situation), I can safely say that everyone who didn’t die in season one is back for season two, although there have been changes.  Cullen Bohannon is back, but no longer works for the railroad, and Mr. Durant (Colm Meany).  The Swede (Christopher Heyerdahl), last seen being tarred and feathered, has returned, and is again with the railroad, but working in a far different capacity. 

Elam Ferguson (Common) is working his way up in the railroad, but his romance with Eva (Robin McLeavy) has derailed.  Lily Bell (Dominique McElligot), beautiful widow of the railroad’s original surveyor, is determined to keep in the game.  Reverend Cole’s (Tom Noonan) daughter Ruth (Kasha Kropinski – allowed to look much more attractive this season) continues to be drawn to Cheyenne Christian convert Joseph Black Moon (Eddie Spears).   And the increasingly cocky Irish McGinnes brothers (Phil Burke and Ben Esler) are determined to subvert railroad construction to their own goals. 

In addition to their frequent nemesises, the Indians trying to discourage the relentless progress of the iron horse, the railroaders are faced with a new enemy: train robbers!  The first episode of the new season, ‘Viva La Mexico,’ written by the series creators, Tony and Joe Gayton, is a particularly strong entry to return with, well-directed by David Von Ancken.  Gustavo Santaolalla’s theme music has deservedly been nominated for an Emmy.  Marvin Rush continues as cinematographer on the most strikingly filmed series on television, and it’s completely inexplicable to me that his work last season wasn’t Emmy-nominated, ditto the Laytons’ writing.       

Here’s a teaser trailer to get you in the mood.

AN INTERVIEW WITH ONE OF JOHN WAYNE’S ‘COWBOYS’ – NICOLAS BEAUVY

Actor/director/writer and general wunderkind Mark Rydell had gone from directing GUNSMOKE to the D.H. Lawrence story THE FOX, to the good-naturedly nutty Steve McQueen period starrer THE REIVERS, and would soon go on to do the wonderful CINDERELLA LIBERTY and later the triple Oscar winner ON GOLDEN POND.  But in 1972 he had optioned – with the approval of his mother – a not-yet-published novel, THE COWBOYS, by William Dale Jennings. 

Rydell did not want John Wayne in the lead, but eventually the powers at Warner Brothers, and Duke himself, convinced the left-leaning director.  Although overshadowed by TRUE GRIT, Wayne’s Oscar winner, and THE SHOOTIST, his last, THE COWBOYS is certainly the equal of those fine films, and Wayne told director Rydell that it was his own favorite performance.  

John Wayne plays a cattleman who loses his crew to a local gold strike, and must hire schoolboys to move his herd.  As he tells the boys, drawing a rough map on the classroom blackboard, “Here’s the Double O.  This is Belle Fourche.  In between is four hundred miles of the meanest country in the west.”  The cast includes Roscoe Lee Brown, Bruce Dern, Colleen Dewhurst, Slim Pickens, and eleven boys from about twelve to sixteen, about half of them professional actors, and the other half professional rodeo riders. 

One of the professional actors was Nicolas Beauvy.  Nicolas had played King Arthur as a boy in CAMELOT, Trampas (Doug McClure) as a boy in a VIRGINIAN episode, and appeared with Gregory Peck in the Western SHOOT OUT, and an episode of BONANZA.  In THE COWBOYS, Nicolas plays Dan, the cowboy with glasses.  (In some of the promotional material his character is called ‘Four Eyes,’ but no one in the movie ever calls him that.)

All the young actors have plenty to do, and acquit themselves well, but Nicolas’ role is one of the most demanding.  In addition to all of the riding and roping, (SPOILER ALERT!) Dan is the boy kidnapped from the others by Bruce Dern, terrorized and damned near drowned.  He keeps the secret from Wayne and the others that they’re being followed.  And he has the trauma and guilt of losing a friend when the other boy tries to retrieve Dan’s dropped glasses, and ends up killed in a stampede.

As part of the National Day of The Cowboy festivities, Belle Fourche, South Dakota is celebrating with their CRAZY DAYS, Friday the 27^th and Saturday the 28^th.  And since it’s also the 40^th anniversary of the release of THE COWBOYS, it was announced that there would be a screening, attended by several of the boys from the cast.  I caught up with Nicolas, now a successful real estate agent in Pacific Palisades (“I got out of acting when I was 21 years old,”), before he headed to South Dakota.  I asked him who else was attending.

NICOLAS BEAUVY: Al Barker Jr. (Fats), Steven Hudis (Charlie Schwartz), and Sean Kelly (Stuttering Bob); I know they’ll definitely be there.  They’re picking up on the name Belle Feurche because that’s the name we used in the movie, but we did not shoot in South Dakota.  My understanding is that some of the kids – like Al Barker Jr. – have been back there six or seven times.  They’ve asked me to go in the past but it just hadn’t worked out with my schedule; but this year it did, and I’m excited to go back! 

HENRY PARKE: Where did you actually shoot?

N: We shot two months in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  And one month in Durango, Colorado.  And one month on the sound stages of Warner Brothers. 

H: How did you get the part of Dan?

N: Well, as a working actor – I was an actor from age six – you went out for the interview, and we had seven or eight callbacks.  And they probably interviewed a thousand kids.  Then they narrow it down to five hundred, to one hundred, to fifty -  that’s how they typically do these things.  And I was the one they chose, so I got very lucky. 

H: How old were you?

N: Thirteen. 

H: Then you were very well aware who John Wayne was at that time. 

N: Absolutely. Oh, it was wonderful!  He was a father-figure on the set.  Very nice.  A little bit reserved, but I had some nice scenes with him.  We had a good time. 

H: What memories do you have of other actor in the show?

N: Bruce Dern!  Bruce Dern was the gentleman that I did a lot of scenes with; he played the bad guy, and he and I had a real good rapport.  In fact, I was a real big sports fan and so was he, so even after the movie was finished, he’d invite me to a few Lakers games – we saw a few basketball games in Los Angeles.  He was a great guy.

H: How about Robert Carradine?

N: All the kids get along with everyone.  Robert Carradine was a little older than me, so he wasn’t hangin’ with me or anything.  He was 18, 19 when he did that movie – maybe twenty.  But he got along with everybody.  A Martinez the same way.  Good guy.

H: And Colleen Dewhurst? 

N: You know I really didn’t have any scenes with Colleen Dewhurst.  I got along with her very nicely, and we did talk a lot off the set.  And she’s the one who happened to recommend me, along with Mark Rydell, to George C. Scott; she was married, of course, to Scott.  Because the film I did right after THE COWBOYS was RAGE (directed by and starring Scott). 

H: What did you think of director Mark Rydell?

N: Wonderful director; worked beautifully with all the kids.  A pleasure to work with.  Just was a class, class man. 

H: You had a wonderful script by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., who also wrote HUD, HOMBRE and NORMA RAE..

N: Yes – great people worked on that movie.  John Williams did the music.  And Robert Surtees did the cinematography; two heavyweights there.

H: In 1972, now it’s clear in hind-sight that this was getting to be the end of the Western cycle for a while, but I don’t think that anyone sensed it then.  Were Westerns something special to you, or was it just another acting job?

N: Oh no; it’s very special, because you’re twelve or thirteen years old.  Other roles you’re just playing a normal kid in everyday life.  But here we are playing cowboys, and we get to wear cowboy outfits, and ride horses, and have guns in our holster.  It was a dream: it was living a dream. 

H: How much preparation time was there?

N: I want to say, if my memory’s correct, about four to six weeks.  We would go to a little stable in Burbank, and we would practice three hours every day after school; on the weekends about six, seven hours. 

H: And what did they have you practicing?

N: Just riding; riding a horse, holding a rope while you’re riding, just riding.  Just making us look as comfortable and natural and experienced as we could look. 

Nicolas Beauvy today

We’ll have more about Nicolas’ acting career in the near future.

LOS ENCINOS MARKS SALVATION WITH LIVING HISTORY CELEBRATION

On Sunday, July 15^th, the Docents of Los Encinos Park in Encino celebrated their one-year reprieve with a living history day.  On the list of seventy parks slated for closure due to lack of funds, they were saved when an anonymous donor gave the park $150,000, their annual operating budget.  They celebrated with cake and punch, and a day of old-fashioned games, tours of the Rancho buildings, demonstrations of blacksmithing, music and other activities. 

With the attraction of its natural spring, which brings many breeds of ducks, geese and other birds on their migrations, it has seen human settlement for thousands of years, first with the Tongva people; it was taken over by the San Fernando Mission in 1797, and has passed through many hands since then – you can read about it’s rich history here: http://historicparks.org/data/park-history

Howard Harrelson, a docent who made a PSA for the park, was shooting interview ‘sound-bites’ at the event.  He told me, “I’m working on a ‘school tour’ video.  As you know, an anonymous donor donated enough money to keep the park open for this year.   But we want to get school groups and field trips here to the park, to keep it alive, and open, and green.”   Los Encinos has a Living History Day on the third Sunday of every month.     

R.G. ARMSTRONG DIES AT 95

Birmingham, Alabama-born character actor Robert Golden Armstrong has died at his home in Studio City, California.  An imposing figure, he played frequently in crime and horror stories, but is best remembered for his Western characters, especially preachers with feet of clay.  He was long associated with director Sam Peckinpah, who cast him in THE SHARPSHOOTER (1956), an episode of ZANE GREY THEATRE which would be a pilot for THE RIFLEMAN.  Peckinpah subsequently directed R.G. in two RIFLEMAN episodes, a WESTERNER episode, then RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, MAJOR DUNDEE, THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE and PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID.  He also starred with John Wayne in Howard Hawks’ EL DORADO.  With nearly 200 screen credits, his last Western and second-to-last screen performance was in the TV movie PURGATORY (1999).  Services are pending.    

Well pardners, that's a wrap for tonight!  Have a great week!

Happy trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright July 2012 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved