ALEXANDER NEVSKY ON HIS SUMO-SIZED WESTERN, ‘THE WIDE WEST’, RUTA LEE ON AUDIE MURPHY AND ‘BULLET FOR A BADMAN’, PLUS ‘EDDINGTON’ AND ‘BURY ‘EM DEEP'’ REVIEWED!

 

HIGH, WIDE AND HANDSOME!

ALEXANDER NEVSKY ON HIS NEW FILM, THE WIDE WEST, AND HIS LONG, EVENTFUL JOURNEY FROM MOSCOW TO AN ARIZONA MOVIE RANCH!

(The Wide West trailer. A link to the film follows the article)

The Wide West, following Gunfight at Rio Bravo and Taken from Rio Bravo, is the 3^rd Western movie collaboration of star and producer Alexander Nevsky, director Joe Cornet, screenwriter Craig Hamann, composer Sean Murray, and cinematographer Sam Wilkerson. The seemingly absurd premise of a pair of Sumo wrestling stars stranded in the Old West is, surprisingly, based on – or suggested by – facts: U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt negotiated the end of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. In gratitude, and knowing the President’s interest in martial arts, particularly Judo and Jiu-Jitsu, a contingent of Japanese athletes, including Sumo wrestlers, was dispatched to Washington to entertain Roosevelt, sailing to California, then making their way to the East Coast.  In The Wide West, two of those Sumo wrestlers, Daiki (Hiroki Sumi) and Ichi (Takashi Ichinojo) find themselves stranded in a Western desert town, in mortal conflict with an outlaw gang led by villain Jarrett Kingrey (director Joe Cornet), and reluctantly befriended by a Russian immigrant, a gambler known as Max (Nevsky). It’s an amusing film that, happily, doesn’t take itself too seriously, except when it comes to action.

Alexander Nevsky is himself a world-class athlete and an immigrant. The three-time Mr. Universe, actor, producer, director, grew up picturing himself in movies, but not necessarily in Westerns. He loved the genre, but getting access to them in Russia was no simple task. “When I was a kid, we couldn't watch westerns from the United States, but we still watched some Easterns, as they call it, because in East Germany, they will make westerns. In Yugoslavia, they made westerns with Gojko Mitic, who was a big star at the time, playing Chingachgook (note: from James Fenimore Cooper's The Deerslayer). And in Easterns, Indians were good guys, and all the cowboys, the army, they were bad guys, so basically it was all in reverse. But we loved it and we loved the culture.”

Don't mess with Max!

Nevsky wouldn’t have a chance to see the real Hollywood product in Russia until the 1990s, with the rise of bootleg videotapes. “The Soviet Union was collapsing, and pirated videos suddenly appeared at all those kiosks close to subway stations. They put two Hollywood movies on one video tape, and I was buying them every evening when I was going back home from my University or from the gym. I had old Korean VCR with my old Russian tv, only black and white picture,” he recalls with a laugh. “But even in black and white, it was almost like a window to completely different, magic world. And the funny thing is, those Soviet pirates who made those tapes, they didn't understand the difference between huge movies and small movies, right? They can put like Arnold's $40 million Commando or Predator, and second movie could be Lady Dragon with Cynthia Rothrock, or a Don “the Dragon” Wilson picture, because it was also action picture. It was all Hollywood, right? It was all magic. And now as a producer, I understand that piracy's bad. But sometimes it could be good, and it could give a lot of people a great escape, at least for a couple of hours. So you never know.”

He wasn’t a natural-born Mr. Universe. “I had a little scoliosis. I was tall already, but when I started to lift weights, I was young and very skinny, I didn't have muscles at all.” So he trained.

“My background in bodybuilding and in boxing taught me to be prepared for hard work. I was happy when I won Mr. Universe, and when I won a second and third one, but before I started to win, it was like decades of preparation and training.”

He came to the United States in 1999 well-prepared not only physically, but educationally. “I graduated from Moscow State University of Management, and I had my PhD in Economics.”  He’d already had considerable success at home. “I was established TV star in Russia, a bodybuilding star. I had my own TV show on Channel One Russia, and 20 million people watched my TV show every week. I already wrote three books about bodybuilding and believing in yourself, and they sold like hundreds of thousands of copies.  When I moved to Los Angeles, I just had student visa, because I became a student at the UCLA, I started to study English, and later, I transferred to Lee Strassberg Theater Institute where I started to learn acting.

“It was kind of like trip to the moon, because Russian Americans all knew who I was, but Americans, they didn't have a clue. I started from scratch and, like six months after I came, I started to get some callbacks from auditions.”

Max's nemesis, played by Joe Cornet

His first big opportunity was an athletic competition series. “Battle Dome was Columbia Tristar TV show, kind of like American Gladiator. It was open call. I saw probably 300 huge guys. They told me, just wear black t-shirt, blue jeans. So when I came, I saw like hundreds of huge guys in black t-shirts and blue jeans. Someone was a little taller, someone was a little shorter, someone had smaller biceps, someone had bigger biceps, but volumes of them! So when they call us back a month later, it was just fifty guys, just 15 guys two months later, then it was just five of us who they want to sign. When I saw the contract, of course it was almost no money. It was scale and whatever, but it was the first time when they described my character. It was like stupid stereotypical Russian, wearing a red star on the back. And when I said to casting director and to producers, I cannot play it, they looked at me like I was an idiot, because they chose me out of 300, and I didn't want to do it. But again, Henry, I didn't come here to promote stereotypes. I came here to crush stereotypes, but to be completely honest with you, it was heartbreaking.

“Then one of my idols, Jean Claude Van Damme, invited me to make a movie with him, called The Order, with Charlton Heston and Brian Thompson, in 2000. Jean Claude was playing an adventurer who was stealing things from museums. The great, late Jack Gilardi, vice President of ICM, introduced me to Jean Claude and Sheldon Lettich, the director of the film, who directed, in my opinion, best of Jean Claude's films in ‘90s, like Double Impact. Sheldon and Jean Claude right away created a part for me. I was happy, but when I read it, it was a security guard in some museum in Kazakhstan: just scream something in Russian, and fight with Jean Claude, and get killed by Jean. I explained it to them that I couldn't play these stereotypical roles, because my Russian audience will not understand it. And it was Sheldon who told me that, if I want to be a star, I should find a way to produce, because here, unfortunately, if you big Russian, you will play stereotypical roles. Back then it was heartbreaking. But I still think it was the right choice because, how Sinatra sang it, I did it my way. And 11 years later, Sheldon became executive producer of my director debut, Black Rose.”

I told Nevsky that my first job as a screenwriter had been a film called Speedtrap (1977), which I’d co-written with producer and Romanian immigrant Fred Mintz: we worked out the story together, I did the actual writing, particularly the dialog, and we’d rewrite it together. Nevsky’s first film as producer and star came in 2004. “I co-wrote my very first English-language motion picture, Moscow Heat, which was the great Michael York, and Joanna Pacula. It was the film which opened the door for me into action genre. I was executive producer, it was my first starring role and I co-wrote it with my American friend, Robert Madrid exactly the way you worked with your friend from Romania. I'm proud to say that I also created a story for my biggest one, Maximum Impact, which was written by Ross Lamanna, who wrote the Rush Hour movies for Jackie Chan.”

Max riding to the rescue!

So, how did Alexander Nevsky move on to Westerns? It was because of a meeting between Nevsky and Western director Joe Cornet, who were brought together by their composer. “Sean Murray, great composer, introduced us to each other. Sean wrote music for Joe's Western, The Promise, and he wrote music for my Black Rose. Sean told me that he wants me to meet with his friend because he wants me to try a Western. Sean, he's a great composer, but also he's a great friend. So I was honest with him. I told him, of course I'll meet you with your friend, I'll be happy to, but come on: me in a Western?” But they hit it off immediately.  “Joe’s like a walking encyclopedia of Westerns. I mean, all the knowledge he gave me, it was amazing. (With the) pirated videos in Russia, that's when I became a huge fan of spaghetti Westerns, of Clint Eastwood, the Sergio Leones, and John Wayne. John Wayne, I like him a lot because he was tall and big, right? And his movies, they were kind of like, if I can say, like clean Westerns, not so down-to-earth, like Sergio Leone kind of Westerns. John Wayne's Westerns were bigger and brighter and more positive. I just love him. But my point is, I was huge fan of Westerns, but I never really imagined myself in a Western. So going back to end of 2020, those conversations with Joe, he told me we should do a Western. ‘Trust me, you will love the experience, you will love the film.’ And I told him, Joe, if we doing something together, it shouldn't be just straight Western. Because my background is in sport and bodybuilding. I was a boxer and kick-boxer. And good thing about sport: sport will give you discipline.  So you always know your strong points and your weak points. I said, Joe, if we're making a movie together, it shouldn't be just a Western. It should be an action western, so we can bring together my favorite genre, which is action, and your favorite genre, which is Western.

“And that's how Gunfight at Rio Bravo was born. And Joe did an amazing job because he was always positive, he was always prepared, he was always very supportive. And before we started, we had like four-and-a-half months, and he even gave me his horse to train with, because I never rode a horse before. I never shot Western guns like Winchester or Colts. Of course I shot a lot of modern guns. He helped a lot. And by June, 2021, when we came to Arizona to make our first Western, I was prepared. And it was complete fun. It wasn't easy at all, but it was complete fun. And I brought my action guys with me. I brought Olivier Gruner and I brought Art Camacho, who is a great fight choreographer, and I brought Matthias Hues, and we all had fun. And thanks to Joe, we got a Western, like a real Spaghetti Western. And thanks to my team, we also got an action movie.”

Nick Baillie as the Judge, Tatiana Neva as a stylish shopkeeper

Also turning in a dynamic guest performance in one of Nevsky’s Westerns is another martial arts legend, “My great friend and colleague Cynthia Rothrock. I hope it was me and Joe who inspired her to make her great action Western, Black Creek. Because right before that, she made our Taken from Rio Bravo, and she was amazing in it. We introduced her to everyone over there in Arizona, to John Marrs, our armorer and also costar, and to other guys. She made her own Western, which is great.” You can read my article about Black Creek, and my interview with Cynthia Rothrock, here:  https://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2025/04/black-creek-action-star-cynthia.html

Now that he’s had extensive experience in both Action films and Westerns, which genre presents more challenges? “To be honest with you, making Westerns is harder. It's much more fun, but it's harder, because every time you're doing a film about something which happened many years ago, you really should be authentic.” I wasn’t going to say anything about his somewhat anachronistic costume, but he brought it up.  “Now, saying that, of course you know I was criticized because of my outfit in the films. Because even in the Westerns, I always have cool leather jackets. With one simple reason, Henry, and again, I'll be completely honest with you, because if we talk about business for a second, I understand that a lot of your readers, they're huge fans of Western genre, and they don't want to read about business side of film making. But we both understand that it’s really important. If you talk about sales, if you make any Western, you will almost always sell it in the United States. Because United States has a huge culture of Westerns, huge fan base for Western genre historically. But internationally, it's really hard to sell the Western, even if it's a huge studio Western. And that's the reason why studios actually stopped making big Westerns. So what I was doing as a producer, I was trying to put together Action and a Western. So in America, film will be sold because it's a Western, but internationally, we can sell it because it's an Action picture, because Action always sells. And that's why even in Gunfight at Rio Bravo, last 25 minutes of the film, I don't have my hat anymore. I just have my leather jacket, and I’m killing people, right and left, in very cool way. It's an Action picture, not just a Western. It's kind of the same thing in the Wide West, because in the end I have, yes, old-fashioned sunglasses, old-fashioned jacket, but still, I look like a Terminator,” he laughs, “in the Wild West. The cigar, of course, is in homage to Arnold's movies. So that's how I approach it.”

ICHI takes aim!

As international as The Wide West is, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that one of Nevsky’s major influences in creating it was the Western that James Bond specialist Terrence Young directed in 1971, Red Sun. “I think it was first Charles Bronson film released in Japan. And it was first Toshiro Mifune film that really made him popular in Europe and the United States. And Ursula Andress, she already did the Bond picture, Dr. No. The producers, they played their cards so smart, because they got American star, they got Japanese star, they got established European star -- because Alain Delon wasn't just a French star. He was one of the biggest European stars at the moment. They basically sold all the territories, even before they made the movie. So it was a terrific business model. Bronson, in Red Sun, he was my inspiration for my character Max. Because when you watch my action pictures, and both Rio Bravo movies, I always played like a stoic, hard-boiled action heroe. You don't have to ask me twice to protect you, to help you,

In this one, I was playing a different character, and Charles Bronson was my inspiration because in Red Sun, if you remember, he is not playing your hero. No, he's just the guy who's having fun. He wants to make money, he wants to get some revenge, but mostly the money. And of course, basically, he's changing over the course of the movie, but it's a different Charles Bronson.”

The Wide West is currently available exclusively on XUMO Play, for free!

In this one, I was playing a different character, and Charles Bronson was my inspiration because in Red Sun, if you remember, he is not playing your hero. No, he's just the guy who's having fun. He wants to make money, he wants to get some revenge, but mostly the money. And of course, basically, he's changing over the course of the movie, but it's a different Charles Bronson.”

The Wide West is currently available exclusively on XUMO Play, for free! Just click the link below:

https://play.xumo.com/free-movies/the-wide-west/XM0XFMQGKZICWS

RUTA LEE REMEMBERS AUDIE MURPHY AND MAKING 'BULLET FOR A BADMAN'

Here's the trailer!

 Kino Lorber has just issued Collection V – that’s 5 for you non-Romans – of the Westerns which Audie Murphy starred in at Universal in the 1950s and ‘60s. Each collection features 3 films, and this set contains Seven Way from Sundown, Walk the Proud Land, and Bullet for a Badman.

While I’ll soon write reviews for all 3, I recently had the pleasure of discussing one film from the set, 1964’s Bullett for a Badman, directed by R.G. Springsteen, with one of its stars, the still-lovely Ruta Lee, who recently turned 90. I highly recommend her hilarious, fascinating memoir, Consider Your Ass Kissed.

Ruta with Berkeley Harris

In Badman, Ruta plays the third point of a, while not a truly romantic triangle, a practical one, between Audie Murphy and Darren McGavin. If the other actors’ names that she mentions are not familiar, their faces would be. Alan Hale, Jr. was Skipper on Gilligan’s Island. Genial George Tobias, a comic character in 100 movies, mostly at Warner Brothers, is best remembered as Elizabeth Montgomery’s neighbor, Mr. Kravitz, on Bewitched. Skip Homier made his name as a child actor playing a Hitler Youth in Tomorrow, The World, and played many Western villains, memorably in The Gunfighter. If you haven’t seen Bullet for a Badman, you’re warned that there’s a big spoiler in Ruta’s first sentence. “Audie was of course the good guy, Darren was the bad guy, and I got shot with a bullet in my forehead somewhere in the movie. And my little grandmother, that I had brought over from Lithuania, had never seen television or the movies. She went screaming to my mother that I had been shot, and having hysterics when she saw that movie. I had such fun, because Alan Hale was in that movie, George Tobias, Skip Homeier. We laughed so hard. You know, it's surprising that they ever got a clear shot of us not laughing because we'd be out there and R. G. Springsteen, and God love him, he had a sense of humor too, but we laughed and laughed and laughed. And darling, the leading man of course was Audie, who was somewhat remote. You know, he didn't mix and mingle a lot, which is kind of sad because he would have had such laughs with us. When you have someone like George Tobias, who's been there, done it, seen it all, and has a story to tell about everything he's ever done, when you've got Alan Hale Jr., who carries on like a lunatic about things, and of course, Skippy Homeier as well. And my darling, Darren McGavin who's full of piss and vinegar, oh God, it was such fun! We were in St. George, Utah, but we travelled to a lot of different places. But I loved the Westerns. I didn't like the idea of having to get up at four to make it to the studio by five, so that you could be out on location at six. But what was really nice was that chuckwagon, the trailer that was the cooking wagon would be there at the location already. And you learned from the cowboys what to eat and you'd have every day, a bacon and egg and sausage and onion and tomato sandwich for breakfast. Boy, was that good! I can smell it now. You know, when you're sitting outside and it's cold and the coffee is there, and the sandwich is ready when you want it. Oh, that was great!”

Some of the spectacular mountain scenery!

You can read my Ruta Lee Western career article at the INSP blog, by clicking the link below:

Ruta Lee – Lithuanian-American Queen of the West

You can find Ruta Lee’s memoir at Amazon by clicking the link below:

Consider your Ass Kissed

And you can purchase Audie Murphy Collection V from Kino Lorber, including Bullet for a Badman, by clicking the link below:

https://kinolorber.com/product/audie-murphy-collection-v-walk-the-proud-land-seven-ways-from-sundown-bullet-for-a-badman?srsltid=AfmBOor-p5NVTnb6lc8ZBY9YcjU-Sq5B04LP4CPXhG6ujmhd-yWnNObF

 

FILM REVIEWS:

EDDINGTON

EDDINGTON TRAILER

Eddington is the new ‘Contemporary Western’ from the much-lauded writer-director of the Horror films Hereditary and Midsommar, Ari Aster. He has a wonderful cast – Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix, double Oscar winner Emma Stone, 4-time Emmy nominee Pedro Pascal, Oscar nominee Austin Butler. There are strong performances, and an intriguing premise – what happens in a tiny New Mexico town when Covid divides its mask/no mask residents politically during an election? I guess all that it lacks is a plot. There are countless mystifying loose ends, absolutely no characters you care about, and nothing Western besides the locale. It’s pointlessly, brutally in-your-face violent, and if you’re going to call your movie a ‘black comedy’, you need something comic to happen at some point. I counted 3 smirks in two and a half hours.  It’s currently in theaters.

 

BURY ‘EM DEEP

 

Bury ‘Em Deep is as unexpectedly enjoyable as Eddington is disappointing. A slim-budget, legitimate period Western, it stars Robert Bronzi, a Hungarian-born actor who has built a leading-man career – over a dozen films so far – based on his uncanny resemblance to Charles Bronson. Here he plays legendary bounty hunter Link Maddock; the kind they wrote dime novels about. He makes a bad choice when he delivers a corpse to Sheriff Michael Pare for the reward: the stiff is a relative of the lawman, and Maddock is shot down, only to revive some 3 weeks later, nursed back from the brink by an orphanage-running nun, Sister Marie (Rosanna Wyant). And wouldn’t you know it? The bank is foreclosing on the orphanage. Maddock heads out for his hidden cache of bounty cash, but is jumped, beaten, and again left for dead.

With the mortgage clock ticking, Maddock is hunting down each member of the ‘posse’ that robbed him. While in lesser hands, a simple checklist of killings would follow, the script by Eric Zaldivar, from a story he devised with Mike Malloy, gives each malefactor their own personal vignette, ala Hang ‘Em High or Chato’s Land. The actors are not familiar, but the performances are varied and original. Wisely, they are given most of the dialog, keeping Bronzi’s speeches down to semi-intelligible bon mots. Incredibly, it’s the 60^th feature Michael Fredianelli has directed since 2008, and his skills as an editor and cinematographer are also very much on display. It’s an often-stunning looking film, and the final shootout in a pumpkin patch, while perhaps too long, is a remarkable accomplishment of direction, photography and cutting.

Bury ‘Em Deep is available on Amazon Prime, currently for $4. Below is the trailer.

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

Please check out the July/August True West – here’s a link to my column looking at Val Kilmer’s first starring Western, Billy the Kid, an update on the progress of Young Guns 3, a DVD review of Was Once a Hero, and a chat with the director of the new Pierce Brosnan/Samuel L. Jackson Western, Unholy Trinity.

https://truewestmagazine.com/article/val-kilmers-billy/

Here’s my most recent INSP blog, Grit, Guns & Getting it Right!

https://www.insp.com/blog/what-tv-and-movies-get-right-and-wrong-about-cowboys/

And coming soon to the Round-up, I’ll be reviewing Ron Howard’s new film, Eden, looking at recent Westerns on the Broadway and Off-Broadway stage, and sharing my Lone Pine interview with Robert Carradine, remembering John Wayne and The Cowboys!

Much obliged,

Henry

Copyright August 2025 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

This material is not to be used for Artificial Intelligence training.

 

‘BLACK CREEK!’ ACTION STAR CYNTHIA ROTHROCK ON MAKING HER FIRST WESTERN! PLUS UPDATE: STARTING AT 8 TONIGHT, THURSDAY, TCM WESTERNS: “TCM SPOTLIGHT: THE DEFINING FRONTIER”

R. Marcus Taylor, Keith Cooke, Cynthia Rothrock,

Richard Norton, Don 'The Dragon' Wilson

‘BLACK CREEK!’ ACTION STAR CYNTHIA ROTHROCK ON MAKING HER FIRST WESTERN!  PLUS WESTERNS TO CATCH AT THE TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL, AND MORE!

When Cynthia Rothrock first appeared on the action-movie scene in 1985, she was exactly what the industry needed: a striking blonde actress who just happened to be a record-holding martial arts master in several disciplines. The undisputed Queen of Martial Arts films has since starred in 70 more action films, and a few comedies, but she never made a Western until 2024. Black Creek will be released early in the summer of 2025. It is a somewhat whacky, wonderfully entertaining revenge Western, and Cynthia has loaded the cast with faces that may not be that familiar to most Western moviegoers, but will be a thrill to action movie fans, as it includes many of the best on-screen fighters in the business, including R. Marcus Taylor, Keith Crooke, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, and Cynthia’s most frequent costar, Richard Norton. Before our interview, which was punctuated with her disarmingly girlish laughter, she’d sent me a link to the then nearly-finished film, and when I emailed back that I’d enjoyed it very much, she replied, “Glad you liked my film. A lot of love and hard work went into it.” I told her that was obvious.

Cynthia Rothrock: Oh, thank you. We did this movie in 14 days, if you could believe it, and I was just so excited because everybody just gave their all, and it was such a hard shoot. We had freezing nights because I wanted the look to be eerie, you know: candlelight and lanterns. We had to light up everything, so everything took longer, but it was worth it. But it was so cold -- like 4:00 A.M. doing a fight scene, your muscles would freeze up. I had all these guys standing around the corral, and they were like, “We're doing this for Cynthia.” They were such troopers. It was such an amazing thing. I created this Facebook page for Black Creek, and we have so many people from different countries that came over, and were working on this film. They became this really tight-knit close family, where they hadn't met before. It's just beautiful to see how everybody is so involved in this project. It's so cool.

Henry Parke: You have a very impressive list of movie credits, but I believe 2024’s Taken from Rio Bravo, starring Alexander Nevsky, directed by Joe Cornet, is your first Western. 

Cynthia Rothrock: Right. That was just a cameo I did as a favor 'cause Alexander as a friend of mine.

Henry Parke: You do a very nice job in it. I was wondering if you sort of looked at it as a dry run for Black Creek?

Cynthia Rothrock: Well, I learned what I didn't want to do, because of it. I liked their Western town, I liked the setting, but we went with Mescal Movie Set instead, because it had a better feel. It was actually more difficult, because Mescal didn't have electricity, so we had to bring in generators, which was another big expense. Some of the people that worked on Taken from Rio Bravo, because they were from Arizona, worked on mine too. So it was a really good connection for my film. What really gave me this idea is, I love Westerns, and if you Google “woman gunslinger,” you get Annie Oakley or Selma Hayek. And I go, gosh, I wanna be known as a gunslinger that can really fight, you know? My inspiration came from Yellowstone because I just loved Yellowstone. I liked the gritty darkness of it. So when we decided to do my own film, because I've done 70 films – but this is the first time I've decided to take the helm and do my own film. Robert (Clancy) and I were coming up with stories, and he’s like, “What do you wanna do?” And I said, “A Western.” He looked at me like I was crazy. “A Western?” “Yeah.” And he's like, “Okay…”

Keith Cooke, Cynthia, Brandy Futch

Henry Parke: I was surprised that you designed and made many of the costumes yourself.

Cynthia Rothrock: Costuming was so expensive. We're like, oh my gosh, that's not in our budget. So (Robert Clancy) and I both did the costumes for the whole entire movie. We researched everything: you can't have this on your boot, you can't have an emblem, no rubber soles, you can't have zippers -- every little detail. We started two years ago with the Kickstarter program. It's funny because, when I did the Kickstarter, all my male peers -- you know, I grew up in this male dominant world?

Henry Parke: Clearly.

Cynthia Rothrock: Being, in the early days, the only female competing against men, I just kind of looked at them as my peers. And a lot of them were saying, don't do a Kickstarter. You're not going to make it. It's going to be embarrassing. There's one actor that has done some big movies, and he failed at (crowd-funding), and they're like, if he failed, why do you think you could do it? And I went, I'm going for it. And we became like the second highest funded action picture in the history of Kickstarter.

Henry Parke: That's great.

Cynthia Rothrock: You know, this was a fan-based production: if it wasn't for the fans supporting us, we wouldn't have been able to do this movie. One of our top incentives for Kickstarter was they could be in a fight scene, or they could have a line in the movie. And we had a lot of people do that. We had people from Greece, England, Australia, a lot of different countries coming just to do this. They did a phenomenal job. We had some working with acting coaches, we would do readings every month and go through the script with everybody. And even if they only had one line, we'd still involve 'em. That's a really good memory for me.

Henry Parke: How many people took part in the Kickstarter program?

Cynthia Rothrock: We had over 500 people. People were saying it was a fluke, right? You'll never do it again. Well, we have the graphic novel for Black Creek coming out as well. We did an Indiegogo campaign for that, and we came in 220% above what we asked for. I just can't wait for everybody to see this because I'm just so proud of it. I'm so proud of everybody – with 14 days and the limited budget -- what we pulled off.

Henry Parke: May I ask what your budget was?

Cynthia Rothrock: It was about $425,000.

Henry Parke: Oh my goodness! I work on a lot of low budget films, so I’m very aware that that is a small amount of money to have something that looks so elegant, and your art direction, your production design, is so impressive.

Cynthia Rothrock: We were drawing how we wanted it to look, and the stunts; we were so, so much involved in this. But I've had a lot of people do favors for me. Our music team is sensational. Doing our main song, and then the ending song, is Jim Peterik, who won a Grammy, and was nominated for an Oscar, for Eye of the Tiger that he co-wrote for Rocky III.

And Benjy Gaither, and he currently has a number-one hit song he wrote for George Strait, Three Drinks Behind. And Mark Shearer -- I've never met him, but he’s been a fan of mine. And these three people teamed up and did all our music. And what we would have to pay for that is crazy! We've just been so blessed! And I'm hoping that someone will say, wow, look what she did for two weeks of shooting and this money! If we give her a million or a million and a half and 20 days of shooting, what can you pull off?

Henry Parke: Is this your first screenwriting credit?

Cynthia Rothrock: Yes, it is. First time as a co-writer; first time as a producer. And it was a whole different experience for me, because usually I'm sitting in my trailer and just studying my lines, but now I have no time to sit in my trailer. I knew the script inside out because I was one of the writers, so thank God for that. But I had to be on set all the time to make sure everybody was happy doing their parts, dealing with any issues. It was an eye-opening experience for me, being there way early every morning and then being the last person to leave.

Cynthia gets the drop on Keith Cooke

Henry Parke: You said that you were a big Western fan and that Yellowstone inspired you. Do you have any other favorites that inspired you?

Cynthia Rothrock: Tombstone, Outlaw Josey Wales. I remember when Sharon Stone did The Quick and the Dead, I was like, wow, that's really cool that she was doing that role. I liked a lot of the old Westerns that you would see on TV. When I was a kid I’d read about Annie Oakley, that she was this tough woman back in that era, tough with the guys. And it's funny because I grew up in that same kind of situation, you know?

Henry Parke: Tell me a bit about your character, Rose Jennings.

Cynthia Rothrock: She's a little rough; she likes to drink, she's got a little bit of a potty mouth, and isn't afraid of anybody. She’s very close with her family, but it's hard for her to settle down in one place. She takes off for a while, and when she comes back, she finds out that her family was killed. And then all hell is loose. She's getting these people (who killed them), and saving the rest of her family.

Henry Parke: I was kind of overwhelmed by the physical demands this movie places on you. Wearing so many hats, did you have to do a lot of training while making the movie?

Cynthia Rothrock: No, because I was on-set every day, and if it wasn't me rehearsing my scene, I'm with the other actors because none of these actors got to practice. My stunt coordinator knows how I like to move. And everybody is different; they all had their own fight styles, and he was familiar with them. So we put together a composite so they can watch it and study it and say, Hey, is there anything in here you don't like? And then of course, when you get to the set, we would just be rehearsing while cameras were setting up. And if there was something that wasn't good for someone, we would change it on the spot. It was almost like the old Hong Kong fighting: learn it, shoot it. That's how I got my start. I did seven movies in Hong Kong before I came to the United States and then started doing films. My first movie was in 1985, with Michelle Yeoh, we did Yes, Madam.

Cynthia and 2023 Best Actress Oscar-winner

 Michelle Yeoh in Yes, Madam!

Henry Parke: I just watched it on Prime, under the title In the Line of Duty II: The Super Cops. It was hysterical.

Cynthia Rothrock: That was my first, and I thought I'd just do one movie, you know? I'm kind of an out of the box person. I never really want to do something that's the same, the same, the same. I always want to try to put some unique flare into it. There was something so unique going to Hong Kong. I didn't think it was going to turn into a career. I thought, oh, I'll just go there and I'll do one movie. And it's funny, in my mind, I was thinking, well, maybe I'll be on the poster and I could show my kids someday, saying, “Hey, look, your mom was in a movie.” It really wasn't my intention that I was going to become an action film star.

Henry Parke: Was Black Creek your first time riding a horse in a film?

Cynthia Rothrock:  It was my first time riding a horse on my own. I've gone on trails where you follow the leader. I didn't want to look like I didn't know what I was doing, so the horse wrangler told me, don't put your two hands here, do this here. And actually I got really comfortable with the horse. There's one scene where there were two horses on the side, and me, and they shot some rounds off down below, and it freaked the horses out -- the two horses on the side started bucking. And I just turned my horse around nice and calm and went down the hill. It was funny because someone said to Robert, “Wow, how long has she been riding?” And Robert said, “About two hours.”

Henry Parke: With so many of the smaller westerns, they have no time with the horses, and they have inexperienced riders, and everyone's shouting, “We have to put together a posse and get after those guys!” And they jump on their horses, and walk slowly out of town.

Keith Cooke, Don Wilson, Brandy Futch

Cynthia Rothrock: I know! I did have an incident on-set with the horse wrangler. The horse was so big, and I'm five foot three, and no matter what, I could not get my foot into the stirrup and get it up over the horse. And so he lifts me up, and I'm like five, five and a half feet off the ground. And he dropped me, and I fell on my right, on my back and on my head. We were off to the side, so nobody saw it. And my hat saved my head, because my hat was kind of like a little helmet, and my belt saved my hip, so I didn't get hurt, but it took the air out of me. And the wrangler goes, “You're a karate girl. You should be used to this kind of stuff.” I said, “When I get on the horse, can I get an apple box to stand on?” He says, “Oh yeah.” And I'm like “Why didn't you think of that in first place?”

Henry Parke: This is the first feature directing credit for Shannon Lanier.  Where'd you find him?

Cynthia Rothrock: We had two directors. Shannon was directing the acting scenes. I met him, we talked, and he seemed to have my vision, and he worked in low budget film. I said, “Look, I’m bringing this guy in from Germany for the fights; when it comes fighting, I want him at the helm. I want him with the camera, to direct that,” and he said, “Okay.” So all our acting scenes, Shannon directed, and all the fight scenes, Mike Moeller directed.

Henry Parke: Mike Moeller has quite a resume, doing stunts on the Hunger Games, Matrix, and John Wick films among others. Very impressive.

Cynthia Rothrock: He's so awesome. It's funny, because we brought his stunt team over, and I wanted him to fight me. And he's like, “No, I don't want to fight. I just want to do the choreography.” And I went, “Okay.” And when he saw the trailer, he’s like, “Oh, I should've been in it! I'm fighting in Part Two!”

Henry Parke: I guess you have to be very physically capable to be on a Cynthia Rothrock set. I notice even your cinematographer, Aaron Johnson Araza, is a former stunt man.

Cynthia Rothrock: Yeah. Well, they're moving pretty fast, getting down low with the camera -- it’s good because he understood the action, and that helped us. Aaron would be directing some of the scenes, and we’d go, wow, that's a great shot! It was a collaboration, with everybody pulling this film together.

Henry Parke: What was the most challenging part of making Black Creek?

Cynthia Rothrock: We had 150 people on-set on our first day. So we did the hardest days right in the beginning. I think the most challenging part during the whole movie was, are we going to get all these scenes in? Some of the fight scenes, I wanted more to them, and we had to cut them down because of time. I'm definitely planning that on Black Creek 2, every fight scene has one whole day to shoot. And I must thank James Marlowe. He has the Marlowe-Pugnetti Company; he’s a fan of mine, and he came on as an executive producer. We've become really good friends, and he is definitely my guardian angel, helping us with post production, with editor Ben Ho, getting the right sound person, and just being a mentor through it; he is definitely a big part of bringing this movie to fruition. We put him in as a partner, and when we do Black Creek 2, we'll involve him. (Note: since the interview, it’s been decided that James Marlowe will direct Black Creek 2: Retribution, which is already written.)

This interview is really exciting for me because you're not in the karate world, you're in the Western world. And that's what we want to do as crossover, not only having Martial Art fans, but get Western fans loving this movie as well. And it's unique because you don't really see Westerns where everybody does Martial Arts

Henry Parke: You certainly don't.

Cynthia Rothrock: (Kickboxing legend) Don “The Dragon” Wilson said to me, “But Cynthia, how could everybody know martial arts? There weren't martial arts schools.” I said, “Don, because the Chinese were there. They came in for the gold rush; they all knew it. They taught it.” He goes, “Oh. Okay.”

Just as I was finishing my editing of this interview, I learned that Cynthia Rothrock’s close friend and Black Creek foe Richard Norton had just died. It would be their last of more than a dozen films together. I asked her if she would like me to include a remembrance of him.

“I am beyond words and deeply shocked by the sudden passing of my dear friend and fellow martial artist, Richard Norton. The martial arts world has lost a true legend. We shared an incredible journey—starring together in numerous action films, from China O’Brien, Millionaires Express, Rage and Honor to Lady Dragon. I was thrilled to have him join the cast of Black Creek as the formidable antagonist, Damien Sinclair. His performance was nothing short of extraordinary. Our final fight scene together will forever hold a special place in my heart—a moment I’ll always cherish as the last dance of the “Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers” of Martial Arts action. Richard’s talent, kindness, and dedication to Martial Arts will continue to inspire generations to come.”

WESTERN HIGHLIGHTS AT THE TCM HOLLYWOOD CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL

Me and Shirley Jones -- and a few others -- at the

2014 TCM Fest screening of Oklahoma!

From Thursday, April 24^th through Sunday, April 27^th, The Turner Classic Movies Channel will hold their wonderful annual Classic Film Festival in Hollywood. Screenings and other events will be held at the Chinese IMAX Theatre, The Chinese Multiplex, The Egyptian Theatre, The El Capitan Theatre, and around the pool of The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. While the big packages for attendees can run in the thousands of dollars, individual screenings are only $20 each, although there’s no guarantee you’ll get in. This link will take you to the official Festival website, with complete details: https://filmfestival.tcm.com/

Among screenings of particular interest to Western fans, on Friday they’re showing 1940’s The Mark of Zorro, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Hollywood’s greatest actor/swordsman (just ask him), Basil Rathbone. 

On Saturday they will premiere a restoration of 1958’s Gunman’s Walk, directed by Phil Karlson, and starring Van Heflin and Tab Hunter, and introduced by Keith Carradine. 

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Also on Saturday, on the big Chinese Theatre IMAX screen, they’ll be showing a 35mm VistaVision print of 1957’s Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, directed by John Sturges, starring Burt Lancaster as Wyatt, Kirk Douglas as Doc, John Ireland as Johnny Ringo, Earl Holliman as Charles Bassett, and Dennis Hopper as Billy Clanton.  

And on Sunday morning, 1955’s Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, will also be presented on The Chinese Theatre IMAX screen. Directed by Fred “High Noon” Zinnemann, this, the greatest of Western musicals stars Gordon Macrae as Curly, Shirley Jones as Laurey, Gloria Grahame as Ado Annie – who can’t say “no,” and perhaps the only singing film performance by Rod Steiger as Jud Fry! And the film will be discussed by Shirley Jones’ son, Shaun Cassidy.

UPDATED 5-8-2025: TCM FOCUSES ON WESTERNS IN MAY WITH “TCM SPOTLIGHT: THE DEFINING FRONTIER”

Every Tuesday and Thursday night in May, Turner Classic Movies will feature Westerns, 46 in all, in generally chronological order, focusing on various aspects of the genre. I’ve included links to a few of my related articles, for more detailed information about the films.

Thursday, May 1^st – The Foundation, focused on silent films, from The Great Train Robbery (1903) to The Iron Horse (1922).

Tuesday, May 6^th -- The Quintessential Cowboy: John Wayne and the Idea of America, included the film that should have made him a star but didn’t, Raul Walsh’s The Big Trail (1930); and John Ford’s film that did make him a star, Stagecoach (1939); Howard Hawk’s film that proved even to his harshest critics that Wayne could act, Red River (1948); and the epic that was so epic-ish that it took not just Ford, but Henry Hathaway and George Marshall and Richard Thorpe to direct, How the West Was Won (1962).  

And now, the ones we haven’t missed yet!

Thursday, May 8^th -- Rugged Individualism, will begin with a look at great paired actor and dire ctor individualists like James Stewart in Anthony Mann’s The Man from Laramie (1955), Randolph Scott in Budd Boetticher’s Ride Lonesome (1959) , and Barbara Stanwyck in Sam Fuller’s Forty Guns.  A weird choice is James Cagney in Lloyd Bacon’s The Oklahoma Kid (1939), which is better than you’d expect, and does feature Humphrey Bogart as a Mexican bandito. Rounding out the program are a pair of Eastwoods, Hang ‘Em High (1968), the pretend Spaghetti Western from Ted Post, and Clint’s first self-directed Western, High Plains Drifter (1973).

On Tuesday, May 13^th – Social Commentary in Disguise, is dominated by post-war, noirish Westerns. The Ox-Bow Incident (1942) looks at mob rule, individual responsibility, racism, and lynching. Henry Fonda deserves all of the attention he gets for this William Wellman film, but equally affecting are Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn, and Harry Morgan. Jacques Tourneur’s Wichita (1955), was one of the Joel McCrea starrers – here as Wyatt Earp – that were so good that they turned a poverty row studio, Monogram, to a major, Allied Artists. Elmore Leonard’s novel was the basis for Martin Ritt’s Hombre (1967), a pressure-cooker of a movie that looks at anti-Indian and anti-Mexican racism, with Paul Newman as the multiracial center.  Sergeant Rutledge (1960), John Ford’s courtroom drama starring Woody Strode as a black sergeant accused of the rape and murder of a white child, is so uncompromising and blunt that it’s astonishing that it was made, no less released. Rounding out the program is one of Sergio Corbucci’s finest, and most rarely seen Westerns, the snow-bound The Great Silence (1968), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, and a pre-Blaxploitation Vonetta McGee.

Thursday, May 15^th -- Heroism and Sacrifice are themes that are unforgettably explored in John Sturges’ TheMagnificent 7 (1960), which made stars out of 6 (and Brad Dexter had a very respectable career), made an unlikely Western star of Eli Wallach, and featured future Chinatown cinematographer John Alonzo as one of the townspeople who hires the 7.  It's followed by Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964), which turned Clint Eastwood from TV actor to superstar, and triggered Spaghetti Western mania in the U.S. Fred Zinneman’s High Noon (1952) is next, for which Gary Cooper won an Oscar, as a lawman whose town abandons him at the first sign of danger – heavily influenced by screenwriter Carl Foreman’s experiences during the Red Scare. My Darling Clementine (1946), starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp, and Victor Mature as Doc Holliday, is arguably the best movie about the O.K. Corral, although not the most accurate, despite or because of John Ford’s relationship with Wyatt Earp.  The program ends with a 2022 short, High Noon on the Waterfront, about the personal and professional risks taken by the people who made those two films.  

Tuesday, May 20^th, A Changing America: Disillusionment and the Rise of the Antihero is the theme, featuring film stories fomented and fermented during the late 1960s’ and early 1970s’ mélange of disappointment and cynicism. George Roy Hill’s ButchCassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) made charming rascals out of bank-robbers, and Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) made lovable scamps out of mercenaries: both wonderful Westerns, and Butch’s William Goldman screenplay is often cited as the best screenplay ever filmed. Eleven years after his final Leone film, Eastwood directed his remarkable anti-war Western, The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), considered by many to be the zenith of Eastwood’s Western career, as an actor and as a director. Finally, Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) stars Warren Beatty and Julie Christy as a frontier gambler and a whore in a cheerily grim yet sentimental movie that defies meaningful description.

Thursday, May 22^nd, Cultural Breakthroughs features Westerns that opened their stories beyond the usual white males.  Delmer Daves’ BrokenArrow (1950), tells the largely true story of the friendship between ex-soldier Tom Jeffords (James Stewart) and Cochise (Jeff Chandler).

In William Wellman’s Westward the Women (1951), written by Frank Capra (who'd hoped to direct), stern and sour Robert Taylor reluctantly takes an all-female wagon-train from Chicago to California, doubting he’ll get half there alive. It balances Capra’s charm and Wellman’s toughness beautifully. Despite the low-expectations of Blaxploitation films, Sidney Poitier’s Buck and the Preacher (1972) is a thought-provoking and entertaining surprise. Buffalo Soldier-turned-wagon master Buck (Poitier) leads freed slaves west with the reluctant help of Preacher (Harry Belafonte), who murdered his master and took over his scam. Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2006) is the contemporary Western that had traditionalists up in arms, until they learned that Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal were portraying shepherds, not cowboys. The final film in the program is the documentary Bearing Witness: Native American Voices in Hollywood (2024).

On Tuesday, May 27^th, American Psyche might nearly be called American Psycho, focusing on the dark side of the West. In John Ford’s The Searchers (1956), the fictionalized search for Comanche captive Cynthia Anne Parker gave John Wayne one of his most compelling, and least likable characters. 

King Vidor’s (and several others’) Duel in the Sun (1946) might have been a good Western if producer David O. Selznick hadn’t been so driven to top his Gone with the Wind, that he forced an epic out of a potboiler plot. Anthony Mann’s Winchester 73 excels with James Stewart as a man obsessed with hunting down the fellow whose coveting of a perfect rifle led to murder.   In Robert Wise’s nearly all-at-night Blood on the Moon (1948), Robert Mitchum is drawn into a cynically manipulated range war.

On Thursday, May 29^th, the series ends with The End of an Era, a look at “end of the West” Westerns. Featured are two very different, but very sentimental films from SamPeckinpah, the gently charming The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and the anthem of doomed manly camaraderie, The Wild Bunch (1969). Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) is the Spaghetti Western epic that has never been topped. And John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) studies the regretted compromises men needed to make for the West grow, through the characters of lawyer James Stewart and cowboy John Wayne.   

ONE MORE THING

Until I have a chance to write at length about the late Val Kilmer’s immense contributions to film in general, and Westerns in particular, here’s a link to his first lead in a Western. In 1989 he played the title character in Billy the Kid, a Ted Turner-produced TV Western that was scripted by Gore Vidal, based on his novel, The Left-Handed Gun, which had first been the source for the 1958 Paul Newman film.

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

Please check out the March/April issue of True West Magazine, featuring my article/interview, Kris Kristofferson: A Texan at Oxford.

And here’s the link to my newest piece for the INSP blog, What Makes a Great Western Movie, wherein I try to reverse-engineer some classics to figure out what makes them work.

https://www.insp.com/blog/what-makes-a-great-western-movie/

And if you haven’t snapped up a copy of my book, The Greatest Westerns Ever Made, and The People Who Made Them, wait no longer!

Here’s the link to the Amazon page, but feel free to order it from your local independent bookseller – we have to keep them in business too!

https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Westerns-Ever-Made/dp/1493074393?_encoding=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=insptv-20&linkId=40670747d047d3241c54003bcabb179f&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

Happy Trails, Henry

All Original Content Copyright April 2025 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved