JOHN FORD’S LAST PROJECT, ‘COMANCHE STALLION’ FINALLY TO ROLL!

This weekend, director Vic Armstrong and producer Clyde Lucas headed to Monument Valley to scout locations for one of John Ford’s pet projects which never reached the screen.  COMANCHE STALLION.  Based on the novel by Tom Milstead, it’s the story of the Comanche’s search for a mystical horse, while suffering the wrath of General Lathrop.  Ford wanted Burl Ives for the role of the general, but Ives’ health was not up to the task, and Ford’s own health also failed. 

Now famed stuntman and stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong, who just directed Nicholas Cage in LEFT BEHIND, is preparing to finish Ford’s last planned project.   To outline even a fraction of Armstrong’s credits would take hours, so I’ll just mention that he doubled for Richard Harris in RETURN OF A MAN CALLED HORSE, doubled for Harrison Ford in the INDIANA JONES movies, and was just supervising stunt coordinator on THOR.  Clyde Lucas has produced several documentaries, some involving the late Harry Carey Jr.  Sadly, Carey was set to star in what had been the Burl Ives role, but passed away this year.  I’ve not heard many details of casting, but at the moment Tyrone Power Jr. and Robert Carradine are said to be involved.  I hope to have much more to tell you following the location scouting.

Shortly before his death, James Arness, who appeared in HONDO and WAGON MASTER for Ford, recorded the narration for the film.  Below is a sample.

(Note: this clip was playing just fine last night, but isn't running now, here or on Youtube.  Maybe it will come back up.)

SHADOW ON THE MESA – a Movie Review

Back in March of this year, when SHADOW ON THE MESA originally aired on the Hallmark Movie Channel, I interviewed star Kevin Sorbo (HERE is the link if you missed it  ), and I intended to review the movie as well.  But they were still editing it up to the last minute, so I didn’t get to see it prior to the airing.

 

I don’t know if I would have pursued the film afterwards, but when I heard that the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum had presented it with their 2013 Wrangler Award for best Television Movie, I figured I’d better make an effort to track it down, and I’m very glad I did; it’s a fine piece of work.  And the good news is that it will be released on DVD one month from today, on December 17^th – right on-time for Christmas.

One of the immediate appeals of SHADOW ON THE MESA is that, rather than trying to endlessly draw parallels between the Old West and the modern world (to make it more ‘relevant’ to an unsophisticated audience), its story grows out of a situation you would not have today.  Wes Rawlins (Wes Brown), a sometime bounty hunter who’d been raised by his recently murdered widowed mother, learns that she was not widowed at all.  Just prior to his birth, his parents were in a group of settlers who were attacked by Indians, and his father (Kevin Sorbo) was taken prisoner, though he later escaped.  Without the easy communication of the 21^st century, each spouse wrongly concluded that the other was dead, and started new lives.  Now, more than twenty years later, Wes finds that his mother had only recently learned that his father was still living, and had written him a letter.  Had that letter led to her death?

Meredith Baxter, Barry Corbin

Leaving the older couple who took care of him and his mother (Barry Corbin and Meredith Baxter), he heads off to find his long-missing father; and kill him if necessary.  And when he arrives, he finds himself in the middle of a range war between his father and family, and the Dowdy family, led by patriarch Peter Dowdy (Greg Evigan). 

While the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel have long shown a greater commitment to the Western form than any other networks, there has also long been the complaint among oater enthusiasts that Hallmark Westerns were ‘soft’, and lacked action.  Happily, as demonstrated by the recent HANNAH’S LAW, GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE – QUEEN OF HEARTS, and now with SHADOW ON THE MESA, Hallmark has upped their game considerably. 

Shannon Lucio, Wes Brown

With forty features under his belt, director David Cass Sr., has a long career in Westerns that goes back to stunting on MCCLINTOCK! and HERE COME THE BRIDES.  He knows his business, and deftly handles the drama, the humor, and the action.  And there is a good deal of action, starting with Wes Rawlins’ work as a bounty hunter, and after a half-hour break, continuing with growing ferocity as  the range war grows uglier.   As a stuntman, Cass worked on eight features and episodes with the quintessential director of fun Westerns of the 1960s, Burt Kennedy, and some of that may have rubbed off, giving the occasional lighter moments a professional glow so often missing in today’s Western fare.  In particular, an exciting and amusing jail-break sequence harkens back to that style of filmmaking. 

Based on a soon-to-be published book by Western novelist Lee Martin, who also scripted, SHADOW is well-plotted, and populated with characters whose depth and range of emotions have attracted a strong and hardy cast of quality actors, both famous and new on the scene.  As Rawlins’ adoptive grandmother, Meredith Baxter brings a mature beauty, and a pioneer’s grace and strength to the role.  As adoptive grandfather, Barry Corbin tells Wes the story of his parents, and what would be dry exposition in other actors’ hands is deeply felt and deeply moving, without getting sappy.  It seems to me that over the last few years Corbin, in Westerns big (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN) and small (REDEMPTION – FOR ROBBING THE DEAD) has earned himself the sort of sagebrush elder statesman position long held by Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr.  He’ll soon be seen in the Western THE HOMESMAN, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones, and costarring Hillary Swank and Meryl Streep.

Kevin Sorbo is strong and effective, and I rather regret the story-choice of having him on crutches for most of the movie, as it limits his involvement in the action. However, Sorbo brings that seemingly-effortless James Arness-like gravitas that grounds the film just by his presence.     

Blonde, beautiful and twice Emmy nominated Gail O’Grady plays Sorbo’s second wife, who has an agenda all her own.  Shannon Lucio is their lovely and striving-to-be-independent daughter, who fancies Wes (don’t be cross; she doesn’t know they might be related).  As her brother, Micah Alberti plays a lad who lacks confidence until Wes teaches him the way of the shooting-iron.

One of the true pleasures of MESA is Greg Evigan, who plays the suave, sinister and oddly likeable cattle-baron rival to Sorbo; it’s the sort of role Brian Donlevy and Zachary Scott excelled at, and it reveals the style and sophistication that Evigan has developed.  He was also effective in a very different role in 2010’s 6 GUNS.  Dave Florek, whose Western credits go back to GUNSMOKE: THE LAST APACHE, is solid in a small but memorable role as a ranch-hand named Baldy.

Greg Evigan

Of course, such a movie rises and falls on its cowboy lead, and Wes Brown, as Wes Rawlins carries the picture well on his broad shoulders.  He’s handsome without being a pretty-boy, and has the saddest visage of any cowboy actor since William S. Hart.  He plays his part credibly, as a young man with serious problems. 

I had a chance to do an email Q&A with author Lee Martin, who told me, “I thought the cast was wonderful and just right.  Since I named the hero for my brother Wesley, who died when he was ten, I was delighted that the actor was Wes Brown.  Everyone did a great job, as did David Cass, the director.”

It’s her first screenplay sale, and she had a great time visiting the set.  “We were treated like royalty.  It was great fun.  And a real education.  (Producer) Larry Levinson’s outfit is a well-oiled machine with not a moment’s hesitation.” 

Gail O'Grady

I asked her if there were many changes from book to movie, and if we’d likely see more of Wes Rawlins.  “From novel to script to screen brought a lot of changes, some influence by Hallmark.  I had no hand in changes, but am still happy with the end result.  The novel, reflected in my first screenplay, had Wes as a half breed, but that was also changed along the way.  I can see a sequel, and I have ideas for it.”

SHADOW ON THE MESA can be pre-ordered from Amazon  for under $14 .  

CASTING DIRECTOR MARVIN PAIGE DIES

Marvin Paige with Anne Jeffreys

One of Hollywood’s premiere casting directors has died at the age of 86 after a car crash on Laurel Canyon.  Known for casting STAR TREK and many other TV series and movies, of chief interest to Western fans, he cast the series BRANDED, and movies like RIDE BEYOND VENGEANCE, THE REVENGERS, THE HONKERS, MAN IN THE WILDERNESS, and many others.  He was particularly beloved by actors who gained their fame in the 1930s and 1940s.  The late Marcia Mae Jones told me that she and many of her friends had Marvin to thank for their later roles on TV and in film.  In recent years he was best known for squiring the great ladies of cinema’s golden age to events at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, UCLA screenings, and autograph shows.  Word that he was at an event was quickly followed by the question, “Who is he with?”  The answer was likely to be Jane Russell, Anne Jeffreys, June Lockhart, or another star of that ilk.

THAT’S A WRAP!

Next week I’ll have, among other things, a review of TREASURES 5 – THE WEST, a wonderful collection of films from the National Film Preservation Archives!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright November 2013 by Parke – All Rights Reserved

SORBO CASTS LONG 'SHADOW ON THE MESA'

Updated 3/19/2013

KEVIN SORBO INTERVIEW

 

On Saturday night, March 23^rd, a new Western movie, SHADOW ON THE MESA, will premiere on Hallmark Movie Channel.  Starring Kevin Sorbo, Wes Brown, Gail O’Grady, Shannon Lucio, Greg Evigan, Meredith Baxter and Barry Corbin, it’s written by Lee Martin, and directed by David H. Cass Sr.  I recently had a chance to talk with Kevin Sorbo about MESA, Westerns in general, and the role that made him an international star, HERCULES.

 

HENRY:  How did a Minnesota boy become an international star by way of New Zealand?

 

KEVIN:  (Laughs) It was written in the stars since I was eleven years old.  I told my parents I was going to be an actor.  I set that course at a very young age, came out to L. A. not knowing a soul, and I’m a thirteen year overnight success. 

 

Henry:  How did you get cast as Hercules?

 

KEVIN:  Typical audition, like anything else.  Your agent gets a breakdown, says we’re looking for these types of guys to do some movies in New Zealand.  I went to audition, then they called me back a second time, then a third time, a fourth time; over two months they called me back seven times.  They looked at over 2,800 people in North America.  I got the gig!  Originally it was going to be five two-hour movies down there, and I knew by the second movie that they were going to make it a series.  Just had a gut feeling that we had something that people were going to love.  Sure enough, they told us by the third movie that it was going to be a series.  I did seven years, and we ended up passing BAYWATCH as the most watched show in the world.

 

Kevin Sorbo as HERCULES

 

HENRY:  Outstanding.

 

KEVIN:  Pretty cool.  We shot from 1993 through 1999, and most of my crew went on to work on LORD OF THE RINGS when we finished shooting. 

 

HENRY:  I knew New Zealand was a great location for that kind of work, but I did not know that it was the same crew. 

 

KEVIN:  Yeah, Peter Jackson was coming to the set pretty much every year to see what was going on, kind of look at the progress of the crew.  Because initially we had a handful of people, heads of departments, who knew what they were doing, had done some things before, but things were pretty green down there at the time we started.  Peter Jackson said, if it wasn’t for HERCULES, we wouldn’t have the crews we have today.  We were a great training ground for them.  Great training ground for me. 

 

HENRY:  What did you like most about doing the series?

 

KEVIN:  I loved it – I loved the humor of the show, I loved doing the fight scenes – I’m an ex-jock, played football, basketball, baseball, all sports, and to me it was just all part of working out – doing all these fight-scenes and stuff was a blast.  I learned a lot about martial arts, and I’m the first to admit that if a real black-belt came up to me I’d get my butt kicked, but I got good at fakin’ it.  I had a great time doing it with my crew, and I still keep in touch with a lot of the guys in the stunt team.  And Michael Hurst, who played Iolaus, we get a hold of each other once a month to catch up on life.  It was just a blast; it was a wonderful chapter in my life, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

HENRY:  Was there any downside, anything you liked least about it?

 

KEVIN:  I guess sometimes the distance.  But you know, when I went down there, I was not an attached person, and I wanted a career and I loved the show.  I can’t really say I got home-sick.  I got bummed out once the show became a major success, and I started getting invited to every major party in Hollywood, and I could never go, so being 7,000 miles away in New Zealand was kind of a drag.  But I had a great time there.  Wonderful people.  I’m a very outdoorsy kind of guy, and it was a good lifestyle.  

 

HENRY:  There’s a lot of humor in your work, a tongue-in-cheek feel. 

 

KEVIN:  I threw that stuff in on HERCULES early.  I started ad-libbing little one-liners at the end of each scene.  It wasn’t to piss the writers off.  I didn’t want to take anything away; I left it where they could take it out of they wanted to.  But they loved it, and Sam Raimi, who was our executive producer, that’s his style from THE EVIL DEAD and that type of thing.  He started telling the writers to throw that stuff in.  You couldn’t take HERCULES seriously; you had to have people laughing with us, not at us.  And I think that was a part of the charm of the show.  When I do these autograph shows – I get invited all over the world, and I pick three or four to do a year – everybody at the Q&A says it looks like you guys had a lot of fun, and we did. 

 

HENRY:  When the 111 episodes and half-dozen movies were over, did you want it to go on, or were you happy to let the character go at that point?

 

KEVIN:  I was ready to move on to something else.  Universal Studios offered a three-year extension, but at the same time I got a phone call from Majel Roddenberry.  I was a big STAR TREK fan, so I was flattered that she called to tell me about a project her husband wrote after the original STAR TREK series finished in 1969.  She said, “I think Gene would want you to be Captain Dylan Hunt.”  And like I say, I’m kind of a geek Trekkie in that way.  They gave me a two-year guarantee, and shoot in Vancouver, which I love as well, and you know, I wanted to do something different.  I didn’t want to become the Gilligan of my series, and never get any work again (laughs), so I had a nice five-year run on ANDROMEDA, too.

 

In ANDROMEDA

 

HENRY:  So the fact that it was created by Gene Roddenberry was a big attraction for you.

 

KEVIN:  Oh, no question.  I went to his house in Bel Air, that Majel had kept – she’s passed away too, five years ago.  They kept his office the same way it was when he passed away in the early nineties.  Saw his desk, saw his papers there, and it was pretty cool.  There are a lot of Trekkie out there who would pay a lot to do what I did.

 

HENRY:  While HERCULES was mostly outdoor action, ANDROMEDA was more soundstage-bound and often very intellectual ideas.  Did you prefer one over the other?

 

KEVIN:  I have to give HERCULES the nod because that’s where I got my break – that’s where it started for me.  Both series are still airing in about a hundred countries around the world.  It’s been interesting with HERCULES because it came out on Netflix a couple of years ago, and Hub TV, and all of sudden I’m getting these under-eighteen-year-olds coming up to me, who were too young when the series finished.  And now they’re watching it.  So this whole reprisal of the show’s going on.  And finally the Tribune Company came out of bankruptcy, so now ANDROMEDA’s going to be on Netflix soon as well, and that’s going to get another run going, too.     

 

HENRY:  You’ve worked a lot in Canada, and New Zealand, and the United States.  How do the countries compare?

 

KEVIN:  It’s funny, because I’ve been very fortunate to get the work that I’ve had.  But every time I work, I never work in California.  It’s very rare – I’ve done a lot of guest spots on sitcoms and they shoot here obviously, but for the most part I always shoot somewhere else.  Last year alone, I shot in Louisiana couple times, shot in Canada again. There would be just a little cultural differences.  But for the most part the crews, they all work hard, they’re all there to make something good, and have a good time.  And I like to have fun.  You’re working long days; let’s make something that people can enjoy, have a good time on the set, and not get all crazy with each other and cause tension.

 

HENRY:  As far as I know, 2007’s AVENGING ANGEL was your first western –

 

In AVENGING ANGEL

 

KEVIN:  Yup.

 

HENRY:  – where you’re playing a preacher-turned-bounty-hunter.  You followed a year later with PRAIRIE FEVER, with Lance Henriksen and Dominique Swain.  Now you’ve done your third western, SHADOW ON THE MESA.  What keeps bringing you back to the western form?

 

KEVIN:  I love ‘em.  I’ve got about six scripts that we’re trying to finance right now that are all westerns.  I think a lot of it had to do with my father, growing up as a kid watching the re-runs of GUNSMOKE, BONANZA, and all that stuff, so it’s sort of ingrained in me.  We romanticize about that, I guess.  There’s something amazing about the people that came out west, back in the 1800s.  I’m sure it was pretty brutal; (laughs) I’m sure they were all pretty stinky, but there’s just something about it that I think we all love.  I mean, after I shot AVENGING ANGEL I told Robert Duvall that I just shot my first western. He looked at me and said, “It’s the best thing, isn’t it?  Every actor wants to do a western.”    And I think there’s a lot of truth in it.  There’s something wonderful about them – like I said, I’ve got all these other scripts we’re trying to raise money for now.  I wish I could have done more.  Hallmark’s just the only one that keeps that genre alive.

 

HENRY:  I was just writing in the Round-up that there’s no one else you can point to and say they’ve made four westerns in the last year except Hallmark.

 

KEVIN:  There is the occasional feature that comes out, obviously, but they’re the ones who keep it going, and the biggest problem, they say, is it doesn’t translate well overseas for some reason, but I still love doing them; I hope we can keep on making them. 

 

HENRY:  The irony is that for years, overseas was the guaranteed box office for westerns, and that seems to have dried up.  Of course you did a lot of horseback riding as Hercules, before you became an official cowboy.  Were there any skills you had to learn, to do westerns convincingly?

 

KEVIN:  The whole gun action – which was fun.  Go to a range, shooting – I can see why people get hooked on it.  I wish I could have rode some more on this last one, SHADOW ON THE MESA.  I didn’t ride; the whole back-story on my character is that he broke his leg on a young horse he was trying to break.  The only time I didn’t get to ride a horse was on this one.

 

HENRY:  They’ll have to get you on two horses in the next one.  Now all three of your westerns have been directed by stuntman-turned-director David S. Cass, Sr.  Does he bring something special to the genre?

 

KEVIN:  David’s been around, you know.  All the stunts he did with Mitchum and Wayne; he’s got some great tales.  He knows what he wants; he’s very creative.  And obviously he’s learned his trade from other directors as a young buck, being on the set, throwing himself around, and getting beat up.  He’s used his training well.  I love Dave; we have a great camaraderie together.  He’s easy to work for, and he knows that I’m going to come prepared, that I’m willing to take chances as well. 

 

HENRY:  We touched a little on the fact that you grew up watching westerns with your dad.  Did you have particular favorites as a kid?

 

KEVIN:  You know, I’m a Clint Eastwood guy; I love Clint.  I’m very fortunate that over the last few years I’ve gotten to golf with him a few times, got to know him a little better; we’ve attended a few events together.  You look at HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER and all the Sergio Leone stuff.  He goes there (to Europe) and does those westerns that nobody said would do anything, and they became like the biggest westerns of all time.  And I like the Trinity guys, too, Terence Hill, Bud Spencer.  Love those things; totally crack me up. 

 

In SHADOW ON THE MESA

 

HENRY:  How about your favorite westerns as an adult; is it a new list, or is it the same group? 

 

KEVIN:  Probably the same group.  There are some good ones out there.  That one with Russell Crowe, 3:10 TO YUMA – I liked that one.  I enjoyed that one a lot.  But still, if I’m flipping channels and HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER is on or OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, I’ll stop and watch the rest of it, even though I’ve seen it twenty times.

 

HENRY:  And of course he’s so good not only as an actor, but as an actor-director. 

 

KEVIN:  I’ve told him, because we know each other now.  I’ve said, “Clint, if it’s one line, I don’t care.  I want to work with you one time.  Just want to be on the set, to say I’ve worked with Clint Eastwood.  So c’mon, throw me a bone!” 

 

Kevin with Shannon Lucio as his daughter

 

HENRY:  What western stars of the past do you connect with?  Do you see a Glenn Ford or a Randolph Scott role and say, I’d like to play that?

 

KEVIN:  I like Gary Cooper.   I think my acting style is similar to his in a way.  I just like the way he carries himself, and I’ve had other people tell me that in the past.  I grew up watching movies with my mom and dad, and Gary Cooper is one of the stars we watched a lot.  I’m a big fan of Cary Grant.  And Jimmy Stewart – I love his stuff.  BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID – I’m a huge fan of Robert Redford and Paul Newman; that’s really what kind of put it over the top for me to want to be an actor. 

 

HENRY:  Tell me a bit about SHADOW IN THE MESA, and your role in it.

 

KEVIN:  Well, my character is a solid man; typical of a lot of westerns, these strong, silent types.  He doesn’t mince words.  He finds out he’s got this son that he never knew he had, and the son is pretty much coming to assassinate him.  He’s played by Wes Brown, and we had a really good camaraderie – I really liked working with him.  He’s an up-and-coming kid; he’s a good actor.  And my character, he’s going through a lot of stuff – all the things country songs are written of, except the dog doesn’t die. 

 

Shannon Lucio and Wes Brown

 

HENRY:  I’ve read the synopsis, but not seen it yet.  But the plot is a lot more complex than westerns typically are.  There were turns in the story that I didn’t see coming.  It’s a nice piece of work – at least on paper.

 

KEVIN:  It is.  I think it turned out well. 

 

HENRY:  Now your in-laws are Meredith Baxter and Barry Corbin – a very talented pair.  Barry’s someone who always seems to fit perfectly in westerns. What’s he like?

 

Meredith Baxter and Barry Corbin

 

KEVIN:  Here’s the funny thing: I never got to work with either of them.  We never even saw each other on the set.  I worked with Gail O’Grady and Greg Evigan.

 

HENRY:  Well, tell me about Gail and Greg.

 

Gail O'Grady

 

KEVIN:  Well, Gail I’ve known for a long time, and it was great to work with her – we actually did a TWO AND A HALF MEN together years ago; she played my ex-wife in that one.  She’s a hoot, she’s funny.  She’s a beautiful girl with a trucker’s mouth on her.  And Greg was just a class act.  A nice guy, we’d never met before.  He played the guy who was my arch enemy.  And we didn’t get to work too much together either.  We were two days on the set together, but our scenes were pretty much at a distance, shooting at each other! (Laughs)

 

Greg Evigan

 

HENRY:  So you’d make more westerns if you had a chance to?

 

KEVIN:  In a heartbeat.  I’ve got a wonderful script called TRANQUILITY; we’ve got Dwight Yoakam and Ann Margaret attached.  So hopefully we can make this thing. 

 

HENRY:  Am I allowed to mention that?

 

KEVIN:  Sure; tell ‘em we’re looking for investors!  It may be a little too dark for Hallmark, which is may be why they passed on it.  They like a little more ‘blue sky’ type of stuff, which is fine, but this has a very interesting story to it. 

 

HENRY:  To switch to a much more serious topic, tell me about FDR: AMERICAN BADASS! 

 

Channeling Daniel Day-Lewis in

FDR: AMERICAN BADASS!  

 

KEVIN:  Well, I did a movie with these guys (director Garrett Brawith and writer Ross Patterson) the year before that.  It was called POOL BOY: DROWNING OUT THE FURY, which I starred in.  They called me up and said, look, we have this cameo role with you as Abe Lincoln, do you want to do this?  I read this script and laughed and said yes.  Barry Bostwick plays FDR, and I get him stoned. 

 

HENRY:  All this stuff that Daniel Day-Lewis left out!

 

KEVIN:  I love doing it – I’m a big David Zucker fan as well, and I got to do a cameo in one of his films, AMERICAN CAROL.  I love AIRPLANE, NAKED GUN, all of that.  That sophomoric, stupid humor, it’s just fun to do.  We’ve got another one coming with the same group, where I’m going to have second lead, to a woman.  We don’t know who the actress is going to be, but it’s going to be Helen Keller’s life story, and she was really a spy, and a kick-ass spy at that, and I’m her sidekick. 

 

HENRY:  What else are you up to?

 

KEVIN:  I’d love to throw a nod to a movie of mine that’s out right now, called ABEL’S FIELD.  It’s from New Sony Studios, they’re the same division that I did SOUL SURFER with.  It’s a modern-day Cain and Abel-meets-FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.  We shot it in Austin, Texas.  It’s a wonderful family movie.   You go to  http://www.abelsfield.com/ for a trailer on that.  And my book just came out in paperback.  It’s called TRUE STRENGTH, you can go to http://truestrengthbook.com/ .  It’s a little bit of my life story. When going through the HERCULES years, between season five and six, I had an aneurism that caused three strokes.  Universal kept it very quiet because HERCULES was doing quite well for them.  But I went through four months of re-hab; learned to walk again.  Two strokes went to my balance; one stroke went to my vision.  The last two years on HERCULES were pretty tough for me.  I went from fourteen-hour work-days to one hour, then worked it up to two hours a month later, then three hours, and slowly worked my way back.  They did a lot of stunt casting and a lot of clip shows to keep the show alive.  It wasn’t fun; and I’ve been doing a lot of speaking at neurological institutions, hospitals and bookstores.  It’s been pretty amazing to see people’s response, because it’s about triumph over tragedy, and how you get through things that throw that curve-ball at you in life.  And GOD’S NOT DEAD comes out in theatres this fall.  Same people I did a movie called WHAT IF… with.  So you should mark that down – WHAT IF…  is a good movie.  Very proud of that movie; shot that with Kristy Swanson, John Ratzenberger.  And Debby Ryan plays my daughter – she’s on the Disney Channel.       

ENNIO MORRICONE ON QUENTIN TARANTINO: 'NEVER AGAIN!'

Ennio Morricone, composer of more than 500 film scores, startled students in a music, film and television class at Rome’s LUISS University by announcing that he would never work with DJANGO UNCHAINED director again.  According to the Hollywood Reporter, the composer elaborated.  “I wouldn’t like to work with him again, on anything.  He said last year he wanted to work with me again ever since Inglourious Basterds, but I told him I couldn't, because he didn’t give me enough time. So he just used a song I had written previously.” 

Morricone complained that Tarantino “…places music in his films without coherence.  You can't do anything with someone like that."  While four pieces of Morricone music are used in DJANGO UNCHAINED, all were composed for previous films. 

SUNDAY AND MONDAY ONLY -- NEW WESTERN E-BOOK SERIES –‘COLBY JACKSON’ – INTRODUCED WITH FREE KINDLE DOWNLOAD!

 

As I told you in last week's Round-up, Authors Bill Crider, James Reasoner and Mel Odom are collaborating under the name Colby Jackson to create a new series of Western novels, and to spread the word, they're giving the Kindle book away on Sunday and Monday March 17 & 18 -- just follow the link: http://www.amazon.com/Shooters-Cross-Rancho-Diablo-ebook/dp/B00472O7NS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1362852772&sr=8-2&k...eywords=Shooter%27s+Cross

CAMPO GUNFIGHT REENACTMENT SATURDAY! 

 

 

The smell of black powder will fill the air at 3 pm Saturday, March 23rd, when the deadly CAMPO GUNFIGHT of 1875 is reenacted at the Golden Acorn Casino in Campo, the bordertown near San Diego where it actually happened.  The event is free, and it should be a lot of fun.  The man behind the event is Bryon Harrington, author of CAMPO: THE FORGOTTEN GUNFIGHT, and he is a stickler for historical accuracy.  To learn more about the event, go HERE.  To learn more about Bryon's book, go HERE.  

 

HEY ROUNDERS, that's gonna have to be all for tonight's Round-up!  I know I told you that I'd also have an on-set report on  QUICK DRAW, but I didn't expect for my computer to be down for three days this week, so that'll have to wait until next week.  Hope you're having a great St. Patrick's Day!

 

Happy Trails,

 

Henry

 

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

TRUE GRIT CASTING ALERT! GEEZER ROLES!

Let me quickly say here how delighted I am to overnight go from two to six followers, and to get my first comment on a post! Update -- I've got a second comment! I usually don't post as early as lunch-time Friday, and I have several interesting updates, a review of the new film 6 GUNS, and an interview with its writer and co-star GEOFF MEED, which will be appearing this weekend. But for right now I am just puting up one item, in case anyone out there is a Texas-based actor or knows one. The following comes courtesy of the Acting Auditions website:

The Austin, TX casting director for the Paramount Pictures feature TRUE GRIT is urgently seeking the following roles:

FRANK JAMES – Late 60s- 80s. Must be able to portray a menacing look through his eyes!! Beady-eyed bastard. Very mean looking! Thug. Son-of-a-gun. Not a nice guy.

GRANDMA TURNER – Late 60s-80s. Must be able to portray a mean woman – decrepit & pruney looking (great wrinkles/facial lines). She snores loudly! 2 options: Old crone (mean old lady) OR a very large woman (too big to share bed w/Mattie)

GENERAL WOMEN – Frontier, hard-bitten types of WOMEN. Must have interesting faces (facial lines, crooked teeth, larger noses, weathered skin-type, hard features) Preferably longer hair w/no artificial color. They need rough frontier types – NOT modern looking. No makeup!

Filming will take place in the Austin area, Granger, and Blanco for 3 months.

Interested applicants should call the casting office asap! 512-637-6775.

People can mail photos – but calling them is preferred – as this is time sensitive!

True Grit Casting/Debbie DeLisi
c/o DW Studios Productions LLC
1901 E. 51st St., Red Bldg
Austin, TX 78723
512-637-6775

6 GUNS - REVIEW

Most of the westerns we’ve got on the horizon have budgets from the tens to the hundreds of millions of dollars. They have expensive stars and are based on familiar properties – remakes of hits, feature versions of TV series, popular comic books. I hope they’re all good, and I hope they all do well, because every successful western helps all the others, and every failure hurts everyone. Unfortunately, almost by definition, their stories tend to be too familiar.

So it’s refreshing when someone comes up with a movie that may not have a colossal budget, but enough to do the job. Not huge stars, but familiar faces and talented actors. Not a safe literary property, but a well-written original story. And that’s what you have with 6 GUNS. It’s the first western from The Asylum, a studio with more than a hundred films to its credit.

6 GUNS is the story of a young wife and mother, Selena, played by comparative newcomer Sage Mears, who witnesses her family’s slaughter at the hands of men from her husband’s past. She falls into a deadly spiral of self-destruction, and what saves her is a little kindness, and a plan for revenge. Essential to that plan is Frank Allison, a bounty hunter played by Barry Van Dyke. Best remembered from his father Dick Van Dyke’s series, Diagnosis: Murder, Barry is at the perfect career-time for such a role: his lined and weathered face give him precisely the gravitas needed. Also on their side is Sheriff Barr, played by Greg Evigan, of B.J. And The Bear fame. He’s the sort of lawman who was probably very common in the old west, but is rarely portrayed in film – I’d spoil it if I said much more.

And they have worthy opponents -- a pack of five rattlesnakes, led by Geoff Meed, a villain whose face you’ll know immediately (see above), who not only plays the most despicable character in the story, but wrote the part for himself! Among the rest of the prairie scum is the film’s director, Shane Van Dyke, and his brother Carey, both sons of Barry.

Granted, a woman’s fight for revenge is not a new theme for a western, but when we’ve seen Raquel Welch or Sharon Stone go for it, they’ve gone through a nearly Sarah Connor/TERMINATOR-like transformation which gives it an almost comic-book unreality. Sage Mears’ Selena is so human, so frail and vulnerable, that the conclusion is not a given. Meed’s script, and Shane Van Dyke’s measured direction don’t rush the anguish to get to the shooting. But don’t worry: you get there. Cinematographer Alexander Yellin makes excellent use of striking locations and the White Horse Ranch, where most of the movie was shot, the camera thoughtfully placed to reveal more than just the action.

Some cruel and ugly things happen in this movie, but the camera doesn’t dwell voyeuristically on them. The action, like the acting, is well-handled. My immediate thought when the end titles rolled was: When do we get 7 GUNS? 6 GUNS is available now from Blockbuster, Netflix, Amazon, and wherever you buy or rent movies. To see the trailer, CLICK HERE.

DISAPPOINTING UPDATE FOR APPALOOSA II

The folks at Groundswell Productions, New Line's partners in APPALOOSA (2008)inform me that as of now, there are no plans for a sequel. On the positive side, as mentioned here before, G.P. Putnam's Sons will be publishing the last novel of the late Robert B. Parker's Virgil Long series, BLUE-EYED DEVIL, and will simultaneously issue the current hard-cover release, BRIMSTONE, in paperback, next month.

ENCOURAGING UPDATE FROM FRED OLEN RAY

I managed to briefly touch base with prolific action specialist, writer/director Fred Olen Ray, whose AMERICAN BANDITS: FRANK AND JESSE JAMES, toplining Peter Fonda, will be in video stores on May 18th. When I caught up with him, he was scouting locations in Yosemite. When I asked if that meant he was in pre-production for another western, he replied slyly, "Quite possibly."

JULIE ADAMS AT 'MONSTERPALOOZA' APRIL 9-11

Granted, Monsterpalooza is not, strictly speaking, a western event, but a celebration of 'The Art of Monsters', featuring make-up artists from the legendary Westmore and Burman families. But more relevant to our readers, along with other actors and actresses, Julie Adams, who starred in BEND OF THE RIVER, MAN FROM THE ALAMO, HORIZON'S WEST, and many other fine westerns (as well as CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) will be present. You can read an interview with Adams in C. Courtney Joyner's fine book, THE WESTERNERS (reviewed in last week's issue). The event is at the Burbank Airport Marriott, admission is twenty bucks a day, and for more info, CLICK HERE.

SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FESTIVAL!

The 17th Annual Festival will be taking place at the fabled Melody Ranch, of Gene Autry fame, April 22nd-25th. There are many different events and activities, including eating, shopping, touring the Melody Ranch Museum, a wide range of music and dance performances -- including my personal favorites, The Quebe Sisters Band, screenings of High Noon, and of The Shootist - featuring screenwriter Miles Swarthout. There are a ton of different individual events and packages, so for more information and tickets, click here.

INTERVIEW WITH GEOFF MEED OF '6 GUNS'

As I waited to meet Geoff Meed, the author and co-star of 6 GUNS, at a Starbucks in Sherman Oaks, I idly wondered if I’d recognize him. I had nothing to worry about: he’s a very familiar, very mean-looking, face from movies and TV (see above). With a long string of acting credits, and three movies produced from his screenplays, I asked if he thought of himself more as a writer or an actor. “Pretty much just the guest-star bad-guy.”

When Geoff came from his home in Houston, Texas, to L.A. at the age of 23, he had two goals. “To either be a cop or be an actor.” With a laugh, he tells why he gave up on the LAPD. “I passed the test but failed the psychological interview. I gave the answers that the cop wanted to hear, but the schoolteacher didn’t want to hear it. And right after that I got a couple of (acting) jobs in a row, so I kinda let the cop thing go by.”

He’s been acting ever since, not always on the screen. He did a stint at the Universal Studios’ now defunct Western Stunt Show. “I’d been out here about a year, waiting tables, (working as a) bouncer, and a friend of mine saw an ad in Dramalogue. It was a great job. I did the high-fall in the west show. I think I did five western (shows), and then I went over and did three or four Conan (The Barbarian Stunt) Shows. I guess I did nine shows a day. I was pretty beat after that.”

What are his earliest cowboy memories? “The first western I ever saw, and it’s still my favorite, is ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. I loved anything Sergio Leone did -- all the ‘Man With No Name’ films: FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE. RED RIVER I liked, I liked Montgomery Clift. What’s the one with Clark Gable? THE MISFITS. But I really haven’t been a fan of any (new) westerns in a long time. TOMBSTONE I liked, because I know Michael Biehn. I did like 3:10 TO YUMA, but I’m thinking of those big Hollywood ones.”

His own experience with westerns started on TV. “I did a DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN. Played a sadistic bounty hunter. I remember I had a knife fight with Joe Lando. I did a real big episode of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN back in 1998, called VENDETTA. Tyne Daly has seven sons. Ed Lauter killed the eldest son. So I’m the leader of the brothers, and we all go after Ed Lauter, and get into a big gunfight with the magnificent seven. I think that episode won an Emmy for wardrobe.”

Geoff has been associated with The Asylum, the producers of 6 GUNS, for several years. I asked him how that association came about. It turns out that it started with the Universal Stunt Show. “Paul Bales, who is one of the Asylum officials, was one of the talent show managers at Universal Studios. I was always writing to keep myself busy. And myself and a couple of the guys thought, ‘Well, why not try and make a movie?’ So I wrote the script, for what would become UNIVERSAL SOLDIERS, and I found out that Paul Bales had left Universal, and was now the head of S.A.G. (Screen Actors Guild) Independent Filmmaking. I gave him a call, pitched him the script. And probably a year later, after he’d left and gone to The Asylum, he called and said, ‘Hey, you still got that script?’ So they bought it. That got my foot in the door over there.”

Interestingly, Geoff is not the first writer of westerns in his family. His father wrote several. “Douglas V. Meed. He wrote a lot of non-fiction stories. BLOODY BORDER was my favorite. Several short stories. Another was THEY NEVER SURRENDERED. That was about raiding Apache Indians that stole a baby and took off into the mountains. He’s passed away, but he wrote nine books. The characters in 6 GUNS I based on a lot of the real-life characters he had written about. Like Frank Allison was based on Dave Allison. Tommy Kleiber was based on Tommy Kleiber. The Cole brothers were good guys, tough good guys, but I made them bad guys for this, so I changed the names all around. Lee Horn (Geoff’s own character) was based on John Van Horn. Not big, famous guys, but pretty bloody guys. I think Dave Allison was pretty well-known. He was a sheriff out of Bisbee and Tucson Arizona.”

I asked Geoff how many drafts he wrote for 6 GUNS. “By the last day of shooting, thirteen. And the first draft I think I wrote in five days. There was a time when we had a little bit of romance with the two. We cut that out. And the sixth draft, originally I had (in the gang) a Jose and a Percy. I wanted a really grimy Jose, and a really sleazy-looking Percy. And they got a really good-looking kid for Percy, so I figured Tommy Kleiber, the El Paso Kid, fit him. And then Peter Sherayko (who replaced Jose) said he was Russian, so we made him Russian Pete. From the 7th to the 13th draft, I had to deal with location changes. Originally we were going to build the saloon at the Asylum (soundstage), but when we got to the wild west town, we figured, let’s just put it outside. The twelfth draft was literally like one page-full of changes.”

When you think of writer/actors, you think of Stallone writing ROCKY, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck writing GOOD WILL HUNTING, usually so they can write themselves a romantic lead. Geoff wrote himself the Jack Palance role. Did he ever consider playing the good guy in this one? “Did you read the 6th draft? My idea was that the only difference between the hero and the bad guy was literally side of the law – a flip of the coin. But Barry (Van Dyke) felt he should be a little more compassionate. The original vision I had for the hero, I could play that, but you want to get a star for that anyhow. So I just wrote the meanest bad guy I could, because that’s what I usually do anyway.”

Director Shane Van Dyke came onto the project without much lead time. “He came in two days before shooting. C. Thomas Howell was supposed to direct (and star in) this originally. And there were all sorts of complications. Shane had just done something for the Asylum two weeks before, and they asked Shane to do this like two days out. Glen Miller, the first a.d.(assistant director), and Alexander Yellin, the d.p.(director of photography), I don’t know how it would have turned out if those two hadn’t been involved.”

Most screenwriters jobs are finished when the cameras roll, but Geoff was on the set every day. Did he have any input? “Actually I did – that was one thing I really appreciated. Shane stuck 100% to what I wrote. There were things where things weren’t working, and he would always call me over, and we’d discuss it. I really appreciated Shane doing that.” And what’s it like having a director tell you how to deliver lines that you wrote? “I think the only line-reading that Shane gave me was when we’re at the bar, and I call to Scarlet, ‘Send one of your girls down.’ Shane said play it dismissively; don’t even look at her. And it played good – that’s the take they used.”

The lead female character, Selena Stevens, played by Sage Mears, is unusual, because she’s so frail and vulnerable, and we see her anguish -- she doesn’t transform overnight into a master gunfighter. “I’ve actually got to give full credit to The Asylum for that. Having seen Asylum pictures, I thought they’d probably want to get right to the gun battle -- that’s actually how the first draft was. And the three producers really wanted to show that long process, and I was really happy that they wanted to do that. I just took it and ran with it.”

The sheriff, played by Greg Evigan, is also unusual: he one of the weakest lawmen in western fiction. “I guess living in L.A. you see so much of that, false bravado. What was cool was Greg Evigan had read it, and he thought I wrote it to be this big, macho guy, so he read into it, ‘I see this guy as the big man on campus, but he’s actually a wimp.’ And I said, ‘That’s exactly how I wrote it.’ Only I didn’t want to hammer it. That scene where we (the gang) interrogated him, And I (hold up my own wanted poster and) say,‘does this look like anybody you know?’ That was the end of the scene as written. And Greg looks at it, looks at me, and says, ‘Nope.’ That was all improv. And all our laughter was real. Greg just did it so well.”

“Barry Van Dyke was really cool, and the thing I appreciated is he hung out all day. He was even there days he didn’t work. Which is admirable. I know Shane was there, but there are plenty of actors that wouldn’t care, that wouldn’t be there if his son was directing or not. He would be over on the monitor, if Shane was on the set he’d be watching, and it was cool having his experience and his eye, his contributions and suggestions.”

What’s next on the acting front? He laughs, “I just did a GUSHERS (gum) commercial. And I did another Asylum picture, AIRLINE DISASTER. I usually only act in whatever I write for them. But they called me up and asked me to do them a favor. I said I’ll do you the favor of playing the bad guy if you’ll do me the favor of letting me do the martial arts fight choreography in it.”

And how about writing? “I’m writing the story for a SyFy channel movie.” Are we likely to see a follow-up to 6 GUNS? “ Actually the word was that after copies of 6 GUNS showed up at the Asylum office, (sales and distribution partner) David Rimawi’s first e-mail of the day was, ‘When are we making 7 GUNS?’”



WESTERN MOVIES ON TV
Note:AMC=American Movie Classics, EXT= Showtime Extreme, FMC=Fox Movie Channel, TCM=Turner Classic Movies. All times given are Pacific Standard Time.

BEST DERN THING ON TV ALL WEEK!

Saturday, April 10th, from 9:00 a.m. on TCM, a QUADRUPLE BILL OF GREAT WESTERNS!
9:00 a.m. THE MAN FROM LARAMIE (1955) Tough-as-nails Anthony Mann/James Stewart story about a wandering cowpoke caught between an elderly rancher's ruthless sons. With Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp, Alex Nicol -- great performance. Story by Thomas Flynn, screenply by Philip Yordan and Frank Burt.
11:00 a.m. COLORADO TERRITORY (1949) Raoul Walsh directed HIGH SIERRA (1941), and he directs this western re-make, about an ex-con drawn back into a life of crime. Stars Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone, and Henry Hull -- who's in both versions. From the W.R. Burnett novel, screenplay by Edmund North and John Twist.
1:00 p.m. A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964) Sergio Leone started the Spaghetti Western Revolution with this story of a loner who drifts into the middle of a divided town, and plays one side against the other. Akira Kurasawa was not happy that his YOJIMBO was remade without permission or payment, but after all, YOJIMBO was a rip-off of Dashiell Hammett's RED HARVEST. Stars Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volonte. There are fourteen writers who claim some credit. Screenplay by Victor Andres Catena and Jaime Comas Gil.
3:00 p.m. THE SHOOTIST (1976) John Wayne, James Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, Richard Boone, John Carradine, Henry Morgan. Poingnant yet exciting tale of a dying gunfighter. Duke's last, and one of his very best. D:Don Siegel, W:Miles Wood Swarthout, Scott Hale.

2ND BEST DERN THING ON TV ALL WEEK

Friday, April 9th, from 5:00 p.m. on TCM, a triple-bill of Inger Stevens westerns!
5:00 p.m. HANG 'EM HIGH (1968) Clint Eastwood came back from Spain for this Italianized western, a mysterious drifter seeking revenge. With Inger Stevens, Ed Begley. Directed by Ted Post, written by Leonard Freeman and Mel Goldberg.
7:00 p.m. FIRECREEK (1968) Pacifist sheriff Henry Fonda has to get tough when the outlaws come. With James Stewart, Inger Stevens. Directed by Vincent McEveety, written by Calvin Clements Sr.
9:00 p.m. A TIME FOR KILLING (1967) Confederate soldiers try to keep a low profile, to escape to Mexico. Stars an amazing cast -- Glenn Ford, Inger Stevens, Paul Petersen, Timothy Carey, Max Baer Jr., and very young George Hamilton and Harrison Ford. Directed by Phil Karlson, with uncredited work by Roger Corman. Screenplay by Halston Welles from a novel by Shirley and Nelson Wolford.

Monday April 5th
TCM 4:30 a.m. THREE GODFATHERS (1938) John Ford and Howard Hawks used to joke about whose turn it was to remake this story next -- this version directed on a tight budget by Richard Boleslawski may well be the best: it's certainly the toughest. Three outlaws risk their skins to save a newborn baby in the desert. Starring Chester Morris, Walter Brennan, and Lewis Stone -- good Ole' Judge Hardy as you've never seen him before. From the novel by Peter B. Kyne, screenplay by Edward E. Paramore Jr, and Manuel Self.

FMC 5:00 a.m. O. HENRY'S FULL HOUSE (1952) A collection of five O. Henry short stories directed by five directors: Henry Hathaway, Henry King, Henry Koster, Jean Negulesco, and doing the western segment, The Ransom of Red Chief, Howard Hawks. Writing this one segement, uncredited, were Ben Hecht, Nunnally Johnson and Charles Lederer! Starring Fred Allen and Oscar Levant as the kidnappers, and Rin Tin Tin star Lee Aaker as the 'victim', narrated by John Steinbeck!

TCM 6:00 a.m. BLOOD ON THE MOON (1949) Luke Short story of gun-hand Robert Mitchem hired to run out a rancher, then falling for his daughter. With Robert Preston, Barbara Bel Geddes, Iron Eyes Cody and Harry Carey Jr., directed by Robert Wise. Screenplay by Lillie Hayward.

TCM 3:00 p.m. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, D:John Sturges, W:Millard Kaufman.

TCM 10:30 p.m. SHANE (1953) - Director George Stevens' masterpiece, from the Jack Schaeffer novel, screenplay by A.B. Guthrie Jr. Although all the leads -- Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin and Brandon de Wilde -- are excellent, to me it's the performances by Jack Palance and Elisha Cook Jr. that are unforgettable.

Tuesday April 6th
TCM 12:45 a.m. ANNIE OAKLEY (1935) George Stevens' delightful biopic of Little Sure-shot, starring lovely and gutsy Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, Melvyn Douglas, and Delmar Watson as her kid brother. Story by Joseph Fields and Ewart Adamson, screenplay by Joe L. Sayre and John Twist.

FMC 3:00 A.M. BROKEN ARROW (1950) James Stewart is an ex-soldier, and Jeff Chandler is Apache Chief Cochise, trying together for peace. D:Delmer Daves, W:Albert Maltz(another writer's name may be one the credits -- Maltz was blacklisted and had someone 'front' for him).

TCM 11:00 p.m. Billy The Kid (1941) Robert Taylor, Brian Donlevy, D:David Miller, W:Gene Fowler. (Robert Taylor's 1st western!)

Wednesday April 7th
FMC 3:00 a.m. NORTH TO ALASKA (1960) Directed by Henry Hathaway. Gold prospectors Stewart Granger and John Wayne strike it rich. Stewart sends Wayne to Seattle to bring back Stewart's fiance, but finding her already hitched, he brings back Capucine instead. Sounds like a plan! With Ernie Kovacs. Written by John Lee Mahin and Martin Rackin.

AMC 8:45 a.m. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990) Actor Kevin Costner's directorial debut won him an Oscar, and there were seven more: best picture; Dean Semler for cinematography; Neil Travis for editing; John Barry for his score; Michael Blake for his adapted screenplay; and Russell Williams II, Jeffrey Perkins, Bill W. Benton and Gregory H. Watkins for sound. Starring Costner as an army officer who befriends the Lakota Souix. With Mary McDonnel.

Thursday April 8th
AMC 10:00 p.m. SILVERADO (1985) Larry Kasdan directs from a script he wrote with his brother Mark. Lots of good stuff in it, but at 133 minutes, it's at least a half hour too long. Starring Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner.

Friday April 9th
AMC 9:00 a.m. THE COMANCHEROS (1961) John Wayne arrests Stuart Whitman, but they must join forces to defeat evil gun-running comanchero Lee Marvin. Great fun, written by James Edward Grant from a novel by Paul Wellman. It was Michael Curtiz's last film. When he became too ill, John Wayne took over the directorial reins, but refused credit. Fine Elmer Bernstein score. Biggest weakness: Lee Marvin is supposed to be horribly scared from surviving being scalped, but he actually looks like he's wearing a horse-shoe crab on top of his head.

FMC 11:00 a.m. THE UNDEFEATED (1969) D:Andrew V. McLaglen, W:James Lee Barrett, from a story by Stanley Hough. At the close of the Civil War, Confederate officer Rock Hudson leads a group of southern loyalists to Mexico and Emperor Maximillian -- unless John Wayne can stop him. Rock Hudson later described the movies as "crap." Ironic, considering it's one of his more convincing performances. With Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr.


AMC 11:30 a.m. JEREMIAH JOHNSON (1972) Sydney Pollack directs Robert Redford in the story of a real mountain man, culled from several different writers: Vardis Fisher, Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker. The screenplay is by John Milius and Edward Anholt, and is co-stars Will Geer. Probably Redford's best western role (yes, I know SUNDANCE KID is good, too), and it was a wise move to eliminate his character's nickname: Liver-Eating Johnson.

FMC 1:00 p.m. THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER (1982) An Australian 'western' based on a poem by A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson, scripted by Cul Cullen, directed by George Miller. Stars Jack Thompson, Tom Burlinson, Kirk Douglas, and the lovely gal from the under-appreciated series, PARADISE, Sigrid Thornton.

AMC 2:00 p.m. SILVERADO (1985) Larry Kasdan directs from a script he wrote with his brother Mark. Lots of good stuff in it, but at 133 minutes, it's at least a half hour too long. Starring Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner.

AMC 5:00 p.m. THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES (1976) Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, John Vernon and Sheb Wooley. Clint's a Missouri farmer who becaomes a Confederate guerilla -- reportedly Clints favorite among his films. Screenplay by Philip Kaufman, from Forrest Carton's novel.

AMC 8:00 p.m. PALE RIDER (1985) Clint Eastwood directs and stars as a mysterious stranger (can you believe it?) protecting a town from bad guys. Moody and effective, script by Michael Butler and Dennis Shyrack, and featuring Carrie Snodgrass and Michael Moriarty.

Saturday April 10th
TCM 12:30 a.m. THE FASTEST GUITAR ALIVE (1967) Confederate spies will ill-gotten gains at the end of the Civil War. Starring singer Roy Orbison, Sammy Jackson, Maggoe Pierce. Directed by Michael Moore, written by Robert E. Kent.

AMC 7:00 a.m. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF -- I'll write a capsule review this week

AMC 9:15 a.m. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GUNFIGHTER - I'll write a capsule review this week

FMC 11:00 a.m. Rio Conchos (1964) D: Gordon Douglas, W:Joseph Landon and Clair Huffaker. Stars Richard Boone, Stuart Whitman, Anthony Franciosa.

AMC 11:30 a.m. PALE RIDER (1985) Clint Eastwood directs and stars as a mysterious stranger (can you believe it?) protecting a town from bad guys. Moody and effective, script by Michael Butler and Dennis Shyrack, and featuring Carrie Snodgrass and Michael Moriarty.

AMC 2:00 p.m. THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES (1976) Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, John Vernon and Sheb Wooley. Clint's a Missouri farmer who becaomes a Confederate guerilla -- reportedly Clints favorite among his films. Screenplay by Philip Kaufman, from Forrest Carton's novel.

AMC 5:00 p.m. THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (2009) Disappointing telling of the tale, with Brad Pitt as Jesse, and Casey Affleck dribbling and hyperventilating as Ford: he's so nuts from the start that he has nowhere to go, and Pitt comes off as a moron for trusting him. Beautiful photography by Roger Deakins, but not worth 160 minutes out of your life. Sam Fuller did so much better with I SHOT JESSE JAMES (1949) in 81 minutes, with Reed Hadley as Jesse and John Ireland as Ford. Written and directed by Andrew Dominik from Ron Hansen's novel.

AMC 8:30 p.m. THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (2009) Disappointing telling of the tale, with Brad Pitt as Jesse, and Casey Affleck dribbling and hyperventillating as Ford. He's so nuts from the start that he has nowhere to go, and Pitt comes off as a moron for trusting him. Beautiful photography by Roger Deakins, but not worth 160 minutes out of your life. Sam Fuller did so much better with I SHOT JESSE JAMES (1949) in 81 minutes, with Reed Hadley as Jesse and John Ireland as Ford. Written and directed by Andrew Dominik from Ron Hansen's novel.

That's just about it. I'm too tired to make sure everything is in bold that should be, and I've got a couple of capsule reviews to write -- I'll do it when I can. And next week I'll have reviews of a couple of new Spaghetti Western DVD releases from Dorado Films!

Hasta la vista, and Happy Easter,

Henry