GIVING 'HEATHENS' A VOICE!

INTERVIEW WITH ‘HEATHENS AND THIEVES’ WRITER AND CO-DIRECTOR JOHN DOUGLAS SINCLAIR

When I ran my review of HEATHENS AND THIEVES in the beginning of July, (to read it, go HERE) I was discussing a movie that few people had as yet any chance to see.  Since then, this Western Noir has been playing in festivals and garnering awards:

Special Jury Award and Best Actress Award for Gwendoline Yeo at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival.

Outstanding Dramatic Feature at the Sacramento International Film Fest.

Audience Favorite Award at the Downtown Film Festival, Los Angeles.

Best Western at the Columbia Gorge International Film Festival.

Audience Choice for Best Feature at the Sacramento Music & Film Festival.

Coming up on Friday, September 21^st, HEATHENS AND THIEVES will screen at the New Jersey Film Festival.  In fact, this Saturday, September 8^th, it’s the Closing Night film of the Rome International Film Festival – and while that may be in Rome, Georgia, the movie is getting an international reputation:  on Friday, October 12^th it will screen in Spain, at the Almeria Western Film Festival, along with other Round-up favorites LEGEND OF HELL’S GATE and YELLOW ROCK.

And in October and November, HEATHENS AND THIEVES will become available in DVD and VOD – I’ll have the exact dates very soon.   The film was made by OROFINO, a production company consisting of writer/co-director John Douglas Sinclair, co-director Megan Peterson, producer Peter Scott, and director of photography Pyongson Yim. 

HENRY: You wrote it, but you co-directed it.  Most co-directors these days have the same last name, whether it’s Coen or Singleton.  How did you two come together, and what is it like co-directing?

JOHN: The way we came together was, we and the director of photography, Pyongson Yim, had been friends for a number of years.  We had all been working in ‘the industry’ in various ways.  But none of us doing what we’d set out to do in the first place, which was getting features made. 

H: What had you and Megan been doing prior to this?

J: Well, I had been writing.  I won the Nicholl Fellowship from the Academy for screenwriting, so I had been working on trying to get my own stuff made.  I hadn’t been successful in selling or making it myself, and Megan and Pyongson had both been working a lot in reality television, doing some really interesting DISCOVERY and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC shows, but also less interesting reality shows.  Megan was field producing, and Pyongson was shooting.  Most people get into this business with either narrative features or TV in their heart, and so you have to remind yourself, hey, if we don’t do it, we’ll never get it done.  So we kind of put ourselves to it, and started telling everyone that we were going to make a movie, and realized, oh my God, now we’re on the hook; we’ve got to do it.

We realized that, between the three of us, we had the ability to do this.  The way it started actually was that Megan and Pyongson had been talking about doing a film, but I’m more of a writer than they are.  So I mentioned maybe I could come up with a script, and Megan said, “Well, we have to do a western.”  I’m like, “Why a western?”  Because I’d never written a western.  But it was because Megan’s family lived up north in Etna, California, surrounded by friends who have ranches and old properties and horses and things, and she said, “I can bring a lot of that to it.” 

H: I was struck by how many horses you see in one shot.  Because with westerns today, sometimes you say, ‘Isn’t that the same horse the other guy was riding?’ 

J: Exactly!  We were so lucky!  When I heard we were going to get twenty-five or thirty horses, I said, “Well, I’ve got to write a stampede into this.”  I really wrote around the location and the resources – what we had.  Of course I threw some challenges into the script that we weren’t really prepared for, like the explosion. 

H: That was huge!  I that that was going to take out all the buildings on the farm! 

J:  It took out all the windows in the actual set house that we used, even though we had boarded them up.  I grew up like anyone, loving westerns, but I didn’t have any particular special knowledge of them.  Rather than go back and watch a bunch, I said, well, let’s just see what comes out.  What’s in my subconscious; what kind of western would I like to see.  We always knew we wanted it informed by a sense of noir, not a hyper-stylized noir, but we loved the sense of playing with some shadows, playing with some moral ambiguity, and a femme fatale at the center.  I wanted everyone to have a real motive, nobody just to be a villain entirely, which I always respected about UNFORGIVEN: that was always one of my favorite Westerns.  Everyone has a reason for being the way they are, even if they’re a little misguided.  So that’s how we came together.  And as far as co-directing, we spent a lot of time in pre-production just making sure we were on the same page on everything, and also with Pyongson, our D.P.  The three of us really worked the story together so that by the time we got on the set, we were able to make decisions without always consulting with each other.  For the hard stuff, we would always hash it out.  But a lot of times, Megan would rush off and help establish a lighting mood with the D.P. while I was walking the characters through the next scene.  We stepped in wherever we were needed. 

H: You rarely run into a female D.P.

J: Yes, it’s rare, and not only is she a woman; she’s a Korean woman, which is not super-common.  I felt from the beginning that no one but Pyongson could have shot this movie; she’s such a rising talent, has a unique vision.

H: Visually, it has a DESPERATE HOURS kind of a feel, where a great deal of it is taking place on one night, in one place, so what the interior looks like is hugely important.  There was a tendency in westerns, in the late 60s and 70s to bounce-light everything, and it was always too bright.  And after that it got terribly murky and dark.  She did a beautiful job of using shadow, but not making everyone pitch black, making the lighting seem motivated. 

J:  Thank you.  One of the things she was up against was, we shot it on the Red One camera, and it was kind of experimental because none of us had used that camera before.  She wanted to use that noir shadow thing, but she didn’t want to lose detail by not lighting enough.  And so she was walking an interesting line there, to have enough to play with on post production.  And I should say that the four of us, we raised the funding ourselves, so that between the four of us we would have complete creative control, and live or die by our own sword, instead of someone else’s.  So the four of us brought together whatever talents we could.

H: Tell me about that huge explosion.

J: Steven Riley is the guy who was responsible for setting that all up.  He is one of our executive producers, he and David Poole.  Steven’s the pyrotechnics and special effects coordinator in the last eight or ten Clint Eastwood movies.  He claims that for GRAN TORINO, he’s the only man who’s ever shot Clint Eastwood dead in a movie.  He’s done SPIDER MAN, he’s done PEARL HARBOR, he was the head guy on the train crash in SUPER 8.  We were so lucky to get this guy.  Basically he was in a point in his career where he was doing this for years – his first movie was PETE’S DRAGON, back in the 70s.  And he said, I want to learn the producing side a little bit.  He came on as executive producer.  His son Ryan Riley became the special effects coordinator, with his father kind of overseeing, and together they brought up their 46 foot trailer with everything you could ever want, and we really couldn’t have done it without them setting up the explosion.  They even brought out the guy who was responsible for overseeing pyrotechnics in TITANIC for the day, and he helped oversee as well, because it was super-dangerous apparently. 

And when we’re ready to do the explosion, he calls the local volunteer fire, to arrange for a permit for the day.  And they said, what day of the week are you planning top do this?  Tuesday.  They said, oh, we’re off that day.  Go ahead: do whatever you want.  Half the town came out and watched.  We had warned them because we didn’t want any unpleasant surprises.  This is one of those dream situations where you’re bringing up a village of people from Hollywood, and then combining them with a village of locals who came together – the locals were our extras, they were our carpenters, they were our horse wranglers.  Both sides learning from each other; they’re learning the movie business, and we’re learning all about ranch living. 

H: You shot it all in Etna California?

J: Yes, almost all in Etna and the surrounding valley.  It’s 11 ½ hours north of Los Angeles, you’re maybe an hour and a half from the Oregon border. The reason we chose that setting is because we had access to it.  But it inspired us too.  Because so many westerns have been made on the dry, dusty plains, that kind of New Mexico feel. There are some, but not as many that take advantage of that forest-y feel.

H: You’ve got the green west; not the tan.

J: Exactly.  And because I knew we were doing it there, I thought, what is unique about that area, when I was trying to think what kind of western.  I thought that the Chinese element is something that’s been really overlooked.  In DEADWOOD you have that element.  But when I was researching, I could only find one American western that singled out a Chinese woman as a major character, and that was A THOUAND PIECES OF GOLD, with a young Chris Cooper in it, back in the 80’s.  I don’t think it’s ever even made it to DVD.  It’s not a very well-known movie.

H:   It certainly isn’t.  There was the AMC miniseries, BROKEN TRAIL, and of course you have the lady from BROKEN TRAIL, Gwendoline Yeo. 

J:  When I saw BROKEN TRAIL I thought, my God, she’d be perfect!  And she really wanted to do it, she loved the character,.  But she said, ‘My agent has warned me, if you do this, don’t make it like BROKEN TRAIL.  Make sure that they let you look prettier.  More made up.”  Because in BROKEN TRAIL she was out on the road and had no make-up on. 

H: I hadn’t thought of it before, but in a way her character is very much a parallel character to Claudia Cardinale’s in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.

J: Yes, very much so, but I hadn’t thought of that either. That isn’t what I modeled her on, but I’m sure that was buried in my psyche.  I love those Sergio Leone’s – those are my favorite westerns.  Along with UNFORGIVEN, and some of the earlier Clint Eastwood ones, JOSEY WALES.  Those are the kind of westerns that I really love. 

H:  As you said, you weren’t setting out to make westerns initially.  Did you watch westerns very much as a kid?

J: I was aware of westerns.  I remember seeing some John Waynes, the original TRUE GRIT, as a kid.  I think it would be hard to grow up in this country and not be aware of westerns; they’re in our psyche.  But at the same time I never was particularly drawn to them.  When I saw GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY and UNFORGIVEN, that opened my eyes – I wasn’t aware of this kind of western earlier, and that’s what excited me.  My manager jokes that anytime anyone asks what genre I’m into, he’s like, ‘Pick a day.’  I just finished writing, for another director a script for hire, an independent documentary.  There’s a lot of recreations and things, so it’s very narrative, and I’d never done that before either.  That’s what I love, to pick up a challenge; there’s a story for every genre’.

H: Do you see yourself primarily as a writer or a director?

J: I really feel like I want to write and direct, both.  Writing has been the base of my career; I’ve always been a writer, trying to sell scripts for other people to do.  But once I got a taste of directing – I started off with some shorts, separately, as did Megan, but when we did this feature I realized: this is the reward!  All the pain of writing – this is the fun part, going out there with an army of talented people!  We had a production designer and art director who really just excelled in finding authentic stuff from that time period and making it feel real.  And our costumer – she had done a lot of independent film before; she’d done CHUCK AND BUCK and REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES.  And that’s what brought her onto our set; she was looking for a western because it was the one thing she hadn’t done, and she wanted to try her hand at it.  I have to say, all of us up on that set, surrounded by mountains and horses and guns and everything!  It really brings out the six-year-old kid in everybody, to do a western – even if they didn’t know they were western fans at heart. 

H: How long a shooting schedule did you have?

J: We had a unique case.  We shot it in two parts, over about two weeks in the spring, then took the summer off, to raise more money, because we knew we didn’t have enough money to shoot the whole thing.  So we took a real risk in saying, let’s shoot about a third of the movie, and we’ll cut the footage into a trailer, and try to excite more interest to bring everyone back together.  So we came back in the fall and shot for close to a month; five or six weeks shooting (altogether). 

H: What sort of scenes did you shoot in those first two weeks, to raise the rest of the budget?

J:  We shot almost entirely interiors.  We realized that the weather was going to change vastly from spring to fall, so if we shot outdoor scenes, they would look very different (and not match).  And the only exterior scene in the movie that we shot that first spring period was a nighttime shot, because no matter what the weather, it will look like night.  It’s when he’s sneaking out of the bunkhouse with his boots off. 

H: What was your budget?

J: We’re really not supposed to say.  If we hadn’t gotten so much from people giving their time, their services, their resources, I would say it would be a two to four million dollar movie, if we had to pay for everything.  The explosion alone would have been a good portion of a million, probably, if Warner Brothers had done it. 

H: The production is very impressive.  You really feel like it’s all on the screen.

J: That’s why we ran out of money so often.  Like when we finished in the fall, we had to raise money to do post (production), because we wanted to do it right; we didn’t want to short-change what was on the screen.  We were so lucky to have so many good people.  And Don Swayze, Patrick’s brother, became such a great force on set; I think he gave just a riveting performance. 

H: He was terrific.  I love that he was a villain that doesn’t think of himself as a villain.  And I think it’s a tribute to your writing; I’m sure what appealed to these actors so much is that everyone is playing a really solid character. 

J: On a practical level, too, when you’re doing a small independent movie, you don’t have a lot of money to throw at actors.  You want good actors, and the only other way to get them is if they feel like these are really meaty roles to play.  It’s not what I set out thinking, but in retrospect that’s really important, I think, not to overlook the practical side of filmmaking.  When I started on the story I knew that we would be limited, that we wouldn’t have a cast of hundreds.  We’re not going to have a big town like DEADWOOD or anything like that.  So I realized that every character becomes more important, because you have so few.  I first thought, what kind of western do I like?  And I thought THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.  Well, what’s that about?  It’s about three guys after the same thing.  That’s the whole story in a way.  And if you stick to something simple like that, then each of their motives – it’s less about plotting and more about who they are and how they collide with each other.

H: It’s like the MALTESE FALCOLN isn’t about the falcon; it’s about all the people who want to get it. 

J: Like the gold or the falcon, it really doesn’t matter: it’s about the people, and what they’re willing to give up, or do to each other. 

H: How did you get your cast together?

J: We cast over a period of, like, six to nine months.  We saw tons of people.  Some of the small characters, Pearl, the blonde in the saloon, and the deputy, Joel Barry and Cecelie Bull, they were friends of mine and Megan’s, and I wrote those parts with them in mind.  Everyone else came in various ways.  For Gwendoline, we had a friend who had acting classes with her, so he sent her the script, and she was cool enough to come to an audition.  And she was responsible for bringing us Don Swayze and Boyuen, who plays her husband in the movie.  Again, she had had acting classes with them in the past.  The moment she saw the Col. Sherman Rutherford role, she’s like, I know the perfect guy for this.  Don came in and auditioned with Gwendoline, and he’s throwing her against the wall, and they’re beating up on each other, falling on the floor, and I’m like oh my God, these two are perfect together. 

When we were shooting in the spring, Don’s brother was dying.  And he was really just filled with rage and sadness and fury, so he said he kept himself sane by pouring it into that character, just letting it go.  Every night he was on the phone with his brother, and hoping that Patrick wasn’t going to die when he was up there, and Patrick kept telling him, you’re doing the right thing, this is a good role for you.  Patrick didn’t die until the shoot was over, so Don, thankfully, was able to be with him. 

H: Andrew Simpson, the male lead, is interesting because he has virtually no credits.  But he’s very good; he’s someone the camera really likes. 

J: He’s doing a web series now, but we get to say he’s our discovery, because he hadn’t done much.  When we were looking at guys for the lead, I realized, and Megan realized that the great western leading men of the 1960s, like Clint and Burt Reynolds and Charles Bronson – those guy were real men, and you could believe that they had killed people, you know?  Or they could live for a week in the forest.  Whereas it’s hard to find leading men of that age-range now that feel like that.  Even when you look at the big Hollywood movies now, they’re all too pretty. 

H:  Pretty and soft.

J: Yeah!  We don’t want an Orlando Bloom, someone like that.  When we met Andy, at first we weren’t sure what we thought of him; he came to read for Moses, the man in black.  Then we saw him and said, why don’t you read for the lead.  We tried him against Gwendoline, and again, of all the guys we put against her in the audition, (he was) the only one that seemed really able to handle her.  He felt to me like he was tough, but also had that wounded element to him, like a prize-fighter, who’s had some rough knocks in his life.  And we felt he had the right presence, so let’s see if he can carry this feature. 

This isn’t explicit in the movie, but in my mind, this story was, you have your archetypal ‘man with no name,’ but how did the guy become that guy?  Where did he come from?  And in a way, Andy’s character, Saul, I feel is the guy that, the next time you see him, he’ll be riding into one of those dusty towns, a man with no name, cold and hard, but with maybe a little bit of warmth inside him.  But he’s a killer now; he’s a hero and a killer.  To me the story was about getting him there.  Even the name, Saul.  Biblically, he’s Saul before he becomes Paul, becomes that transformed guy.  This is his Saul stage.  That’s not something everyone’s going to look into and see, but for me, creatively, those were sort of important elements to his arc.     

 

TYRONE POWER in MARK OF ZORRO at the AUTRY Sept. 8

As part of their continuing series, What is a Western?, the Autry will screen one of the greatest of swash-bucklers, THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940), starring Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell, and directed by the maestro of BLOOD AND SAND and DR. JECKYLL AND MR. HYDE, Rouben Mamoulian.  It even features, from THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, the greatest of all sword-wielding villains, Basil Rathbone, and the most delightful friar of them all, Eugene Pallette.   Jeffrey Richardson, the Autry’s Gamble Curator of Western History, Popular Culture, and Firearms, will lead the discussion before the film, which screens at 1:30 in the Wells Fargo Theatre. 

 

And if this one puts you in the mood for more of the bold renegade who carves a Z with his blade, come back to the Autry on Saturday, September 15^th, when, as part of the Latino Heritage Month celebration, the Autry will screen episodes of the 1990s ZORRO series, and of THE HIGH CHAPARRAL, all featuring actor Henry Darrow, who will be signing his autobiography.

 

EASTWOOD AT THE AERO SANTA MONICA

 

The American Cinemateque at the Aero is featuring several Clint Eastwood Westerns in September.  On Wednesday, Sept. 5^th it’s THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES; on Monday, Sept. 10^th it’s a 20^th anniversary screening of UNFORGIVEN; and on Tuesday, Sept. 25^th it’s TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARAH, co-starring Shirley Macaine, directed by Don Siegel, scripted by Budd Boetticher, with an amusing score by Ennio Morricone. 

 

‘THE VIRGINIAN’ RETURNS ON INSP!

 

Not content to rest on their laurels, after announcing the return to the airwaves of THE HIGH CHAPARRAL, INSP has announced that THE VIRGINIAN will be added to their Saddle-Up Saturday schedule!   Coinciding with the series’ 50^th Anniversary celebration at the Autry on September 22^nd, a VIRGINIAN marathon will play on INSP, and the following Saturday it will become part of the regular line-up.    Premiering in 1962, it was the first western series to run 90 minutes; in effect, it was a weekly movie.  Based on Owen Wister’s novel, it ran nine seasons and 249 episodes, all of them starring James Drury as the title character without a name.  Drury says, “I am thrilled that THE VIRGINIAN is coming back to television.  And there’s no better place to call home than INSP.  They have brought back so many of the shows that America still loves, and THE VIRGINIAN is sure to fit right in with their western line-up.  INSP and THE VIRGINIAN prove that good television never goes out of style.”

That's all for this week!  Next week I'll have info about an upcoming RAMONA event, The Western Writer's of America's Round-up Magazine's take on direct-to-home-video westerns, my review of two different published screenplays for CHEYENNE WARRIOR II, and more!

Hope you had a great Labor Day!  Uh-oh, it's dark, and I' haven't brought the flag in yet!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

 

HEATHENS AND THIEVES Hit the Screen Today!

HEATHENS AND THIEVES – a film review

I have nothing against big budgets, and I have high hopes for upcoming films like DJANGO UNCHAINED and THE LONE RANGER.  But I’ve noticed over the past couple of years that some of the best Westerns I’ve seen have been made with modest budgets, but a lot of heart, a respect for authenticity, and an understanding of what can be accomplished with the money they’ve got. 

Such a film is HEATHENS AND THIEVES, a noir-ish, suspense Western written by John Douglas Sinclair and co-directed by Sinclair and Megan Peterson.  A pair of men on the run – whether they’ve escaped from prison or simply from enemies is never quite clear – find themselves near a farm, recently bought by a ‘Chinaman,’ where, it is rumored, gold stolen en route to a bank is hidden, perhaps without the Chinaman’s knowledge.  Bill, the more experienced and brash of the two (Richard Doyle), is all for charging in and demanding the gold.  His less violent partner Saul (Andrew Simpson), offers to go in alone, looking for work, to see if he can gain their confidence and locate the treasure.  The man, Zen Hui (Boyuen) is skeptical; his wife, Kun Hai Hui (Gwendoline Yeo) is even more so, but Saul eventually worms his way into their trust. 

But talk has spread about the gold, and that night the most disreputable collection of treasure-hunting scoundrels since THE MALTESE FALCON – bandits, lawmen of various agencies, representatives of the wronged bank – descend upon the farmer, his wife and their tiny baby, and Saul is forced to decide where his loyalties must lie.  With the coming of daylight, many gold-seekers will be disappointed, and many more will be dead. 

Rather than opening up the story, the filmmakers have, after a forest and a saloon scene, isolated the characters at the farm-house, letting the claustrophobia help create the tension as relationships are made and broken.  It’s like THE DESPERATE HOURS if you couldn’t be sure who to root for. 

HEATHENS AND THIEVES is an exciting and satisfying Western suspenser that packs plenty of gunplay, makes excellent use of locations, and has a horse-stampede the likes of which, for sheer numbers, you haven’t seen in years.   Sinclair’s wise script is strong in the plotting, and amusing in subtle ways – like when Saul plays husband versus wife to get hired, and when he’s pleased to maneuver his way into a breakfast invitation, only to find out what they eat for breakfast.  More importantly, the characters are rounded and varied, and like real people, there is more to each of them than meets the eye.  There is not a false note in the entire cast of characters or actors.  Particular standouts are the beautiful Gwendoline Yeo from BROKEN TRAIL; Richard Doyle as Saul’s exuberantly untrustworthy partner; and Andrew Simpson as Saul, an actor with virtually no previous screen credits, who must carry most of the picture, and does so with startling skill. 

And because the villain must be worthy of a hero, special attention must be given to Don Swayze, in the plumb role of Col. Sherman Rutherford, late of the Union Army, currently represented the wounded party, i.e., the bank.  It’s a bravura performance that nears the edge but never goes over-the-top, and because so few bad guys truly know they are bad guys, he is particularly enjoyable trying to justify to himself and others the terrible things he does.  Also noteworthy is Michael Robert Brandon as Moses.  If Sidney Greenstreet made fat sinister, Brandon makes baldness creepy. 

No film is perfect, and here and there are story points that are a bit of a stretch, and there were times when the long night seemed a little too long.  It runs 110 minutes, and might be a little better at 100.  But overall the film is extremely satisfying, and the direction by Sinclair and Peterson is excellent – with nothing to suggest that it was not the work of a single vision.

Of particular note is the cinematography by Pyongson Yim, shooting with a Red 1 camera.  With so much of the story taking place indoors at night, the look is crucial.  The flat and artificial lighting of TV Westerns of the 1960s gave way to the ‘realistic’ but hideously dark lighting of so many later Westerns, where you simply can’t distinguish characters or make out what’s going on.  Yim sometimes leans towards noir-ish shadows, but she always allows enough light to make the scenes understandable.  Without calling attention to itself, much of her composition is original and stunning.  Together with the production design by Kyle Peterson, art direction by Erica Headley and Abigail Potter and costuming by Elaine Montalvo, this films visuals establish a beauty and reality that you accept without question.

And the good news is, you may be able to see HEATHENS AND THIEVES right now.  Starting today, July 1^st,  Phase 4 will begin a limited cable VOD release via Cox, Cablevision, Comcast, and Insight, and it will be released much more broadly in November.  And if you’re going to be in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 11^th, you can see it on the big screen, as part of DOWNTOWN FILM FESTIVAL L.A..  It’s showing at 7:30 at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live Stadium, and you can learn more, and buy tickets, here: http://www.tugg.com/events/show/816#.T-dgjHBboX4

Incidentally, I interviewed writer/co-director John Sinclair today, and will be featuring the interview in the Round-up shortly.

STAMPS HONOR GREAT AMERICAN FILM DIRECTORS

With surprisingly little fanfare, on May 23^rd, the U.S. Postal Service issued a series of four stamps honoring great American movie directors.  Frank Capra, John Ford, Billy Wilder and John Huston were the very worthy men chosen, and it is a testament to the ‘melting-pot’ theory of American society to note that of the four, only two were born in the United States: John Huston, in Nevada, Missouri; and John Ford in Cape Elizabeth, Maine (why did I think he was born in Ireland?).  Frank Capra was born in Sicily, and Billy Wilder was born in Austria-Hungary (now Poland). 

Though both Capra and Wilder both came to the U.S. speaking little or no English, they both quickly became masters of the American vernacular, and while neither man ever made a Western, their contributions to American film, comedy and drama, cannot be overstated.  John Ford’s contribution to Westerns is legendary, from STAGCOACH to THE SEARCHERS to THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, and so many more.  John Huston’s period and modern Westerns include THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN, TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (writing and directing Oscar), THE MISFITS, THE UNFORGIVEN, and THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE.

Each stamp features a portrait of the filmmaker, and a vignette from one of his most famous works: Ford’s shows John Wayne walking away through the doorway at the end of THE SEARCHERS, Capra’s shows Claudette Colbert teaching Clark Gable how to stop a car without using her thumb from IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, Wilder’s features Marilyn Monroe with her ukulele from SOME LIKE IT HOT, and Huston’s shows Humphrey Bogart examining ‘The stuff that dreams are made of,’ from THE MALTESE FALCON.

BUDD BOETTICHER FEST AT UCLA/BILLY WILDER JULY-AUGUST

From July 13^th through August 12^th, the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program present seven Budd Boetticher double-bills featuring many of his finest Westerns and gangster films.  Prominent are the films from the Ranown cycle, produced by the Randolph Scott and Harry Joe Brown company, starring Scott, and considered by many to be the best series of Westerns ever made.   While much is rightly made of the Boetticher/Scott collaboration, it should be remembered that it was a three-man collaboration: Burt Kennedy, later a successful director in his own right, wrote four of the six screenplays, and they are clearly the strongest films of the group.

The double bills are as follows: July 13^th Seven Men from Now (1956);
Decision at Sundown (1957) , July 14^th The Tall T (1957);
Buchanan Rides Alone (1958), July 21^st  Ride Lonesome (1959);
Comanche Station (1960), July 22^nd Bullfighter and the Lady (1951);
My Kingdom for... (1985), July 29^th Horizons West (1952);
The Man from the Alamo (1953), August 6^th The Killer is Loose (1956);
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960), and August 12^th Escape in the Fog (1945);
Behind Locked Doors (1948).  Learn more, and order tickets, here: http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2012-07-13/ride-lonesome-films-budd-boetticher

‘PETER FORD – A LITTLE PRINCE’ ACADEMY RUN IN NOHO

 Alexander Roman’s fascinating 40 minute documentary about Peter Ford, son of Hollywood stars Glenn Ford and Eleanor Powell, will run at Laemmle 7 North Hollywood from Friday, June 29th thr...ough Thursday July 5th, to qualify for Oscar consideration. Read my write-up of the film here: http://www.henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2012/03/national-cowboy-museum-names-wrangler.html Read my review of Peter Ford’s book, GLENN FORD: A LIFE, here: http://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2011/12/bad-blood-spills-in-kentucky.html

The showings are at 12:50 pm every day, the tickets are $8, and on Sat., June 30 and Sunday July 1, Roman and Ford will be present for a Q&A.

DJANGO CLIPS TO PREVIEW AT COMIC-COM

On Saturday night, July 14th, Quentin Tarantino will host a DJANGO UNCHAINED panel in Hall H. There will be clips, and there will be cast members on the panel, but no names have been announced yet!

TV WESTERNS ALL OVER THE DIAL!

More and more, classic TV Westerns are available all over the TV universe, but they tend to be on small networks that are easy to miss. Of course, ENCORE WESTERNSis the best continuous source of such programming, and has been for years. Currently they run LAWMAN, WAGON TRAIN, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, RAWHIDE, GUNSMOKE, THE REBEL, and MARSHALL DILLON, which is the syndication title for the original half-hour GUNSMOKE, and starting Monday they're bringing back BONANZA.

RFD-TV is currently showing THE ROY ROGERS SHOW, first at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Pacific Time, then repeated several times a week. They show a Roy feature every Tuesday as well, with repeats -- check your local listings.

INSP-TVshows THE BIG VALLEY Monday through Saturday,LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE seven days a week, DR. QUINN: MEDICINE WOMANon weekdays, and BONANZA on Saturdays.


WHT runs DANIEL BOONE on weekdays from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., Pacific Time. They often show western films on the weekend, but the schedule is sporadic.


TVLAND has dropped GUNSMOKE after all these years, but still shows four episodes of BONANZA every weekday.

For those of you who watch TV with an antenna, there are at least a couple of channels that exist between the standard numbers – largely unavailable on cable or satellite systems – that provide Western fare. ANTENNA TV is currently running RIN TIN TIN, HERE COME THE BRIDES, and IRON HORSE.


THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

Built by cowboy actor, singer, baseball and TV entrepeneur Gene Autry, and designed by the Disney Imagineering team, the Autry is a world-class museum housing a fascinating collection of items related to the fact, fiction, film, history and art of the American West. In addition to their permenant galleries (to which new items are frequently added), they have temporary shows. The Autry has many special programs every week -- sometimes several in a day. To check their daily calendar, CLICK HERE. And they always have gold panning for kids every weekend. For directions, hours, admission prices, and all other information, CLICK HERE.


HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

Across the street from the Hollywood Bowl, this building, once the headquarters of Lasky-Famous Players (later Paramount Pictures) was the original DeMille Barn, where Cecil B. DeMille made the first Hollywood western, The Squaw Man. They have a permanent display of movie props, documents and other items related to early, especially silent, film production. They also have occasional special programs. 2100 Highland Ave.,L.A. CA 323-874-2276. Thursday – Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. $5 for adults, $3 for senior, $1 for children.

WELLS FARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

This small but entertaining museum gives a detailed history of Wells Fargo when the name suggested stage-coaches rather than ATMS. There’s a historically accurate reproduction of an agent’s office, an original Concord Coach, and other historical displays. Open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Admission is free. 213-253-7166.333 S. Grand Street,L.A. CA.

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!

That's right, the segment I was interviewed for is now viewable here:

IT'S BEEN AN EXTENDED BIRTHDAY WEEK FOR ME

Here I am, trying to pick up a gal at Knott's Berry Farm

I've managed to stretch my birthday to about two weeks of celebration, between being taken to Knotts, being taken to Glen Campbell at the Hollywood Bowl, with gifts and cake in between.  It's been a largely Roy Rogers-themed time for me, between catching up on several of the RFD episodes, seeing SAN FERNANDO VALLEY at the Andres Pico Adobe (more about that next week), and finally getting to see Roy's last movie, MACINTOSH ANDT.J. (don't know where my wife found that for me!)  Best of all, I've had some time to work on my own screenplays -- I can't leave everything in Tarantino's hands! Hope you're having a great summer!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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