NEW BOOK ON ‘MAGNIFICENT 7’, PLUS ‘HELL ON WHEELS’ LAST CHANCE, DONNER PARTY MOVIE, LARRY MCMURTRY AUCTION, AND MORE!

THE MAKING OF ‘THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN’ by Brian Hannan – A Book Review

With Antoine Fuqua’s remake of the THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN on the horizon this September, it’s the perfect time for a reappreciation of the 1960 classic.  Author Brian Hannan, whose previous books have looked at directors Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg, has meticulously researched the history of THE MAGNIFICENT 7, and details it with enthusiasm and insight, from its Japanese inspiration, Akira Kurasawa’s SEVEN SAMAURI, onward.  More than that, he gives an in-depth picture of the entire movie industry at the turn of the ‘60s, when studios were imploding under the weight of TV competition, long-term studio contracts were vaporizing, money locked in foreign banks was necessitating overseas production, and actors with muscle were starting their own production companies. 

The Kurasawa film is the story of medieval farmers who hire Samurai to protect them from bandits who rob their harvests; farmers who are so poor they cannot pay for the help beyond feeding their defenders.   Many who saw the film immediately grasped that the concept would work beautifully as a Western, moving the locale to turn-of-the-century Mexico, exchanging the samurai for gunmen who are working for a pittance; they are working for redemption rather than profit.   

Before reaching the screen, the property passed through many hands and versions.  Originally the 7 were to be an older, world-weary group, led by Spencer Tracy.  Anthony Quinn hoped to produce and star, but his role, Toshiro Mifune’s comic character in SAMURAI, was re-tooled into the romantic lead for young German actor Horst Bucholtz.   Quinn took the production to court over his exclusion.  Eli Wallach likewise wanted the Mifune part, but instead played bandit leader Calvera, a performance which re-defined his career.  Yul Brynner, the one member of the 7 who was already an above-the-title name, hoped to direct the film, rather than play the lead. 

Hannan describes all of the hubbub that went into the hiring of director John Sturges and casting the leads.  He details the careers of each actor.  He separates fact from fiction about the stars’ attempts to jockey for the lead position.   And he tells the remarkable story of how a film that was already written off as a flop domestically by MGM became such a hit overseas that it got a new release and a new life in the U.S.

Not that he considers the film flawless – Hannan points out the film’s few glaring mistakes, the greatest being Horst Bucholtz getting excessive screen-time in a role and performance that was supposed to be charming, but is almost universally considered irritating.  Although I do think he goes too far.  When he complains that this trio of minor characters needed to be separately delineated, or that character should have had a close-up, it strains the reader’s patience: John Sturges knew damned well what he was doing.  That’s why you wrote the book.   

This is truly a one-movie book – you’ll find scant reference to the three sequels or the TV series.  You may actually learn more than you wanted to know about the making of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, but you certainly will have at least 95% of your questions answered.  THE MAKING OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is published by McFarland, and available HERE.

LAST CHANCE TO CATCH THE END OF ‘HELL ON WHEELS’ AND ‘AMERICAN WEST’ COURTESY OF AMC!

If you missed any of the final seven-episode season of HELL ON WHEELS – my DVR somehow erased the second-to-last episode before I could see it – or if you want to binge-watch ‘em all over again, AMC is making them all available on-line, for free, for about a month.  Go HERE to watch.

And they’re doing the same for the Robert Redford-produced THE AMERICAN WEST documentary series.  Go HERE to catch up.

‘THE HUNGER’ FEEDING ON DONNER PARTY LEGEND.

You may remember that last year The Weather Channel had a miniseries DEAD OF WINTER, based on The Donner Party tragedy, starring Darby Hinton as George Donner.  Now 20^th Century Fox and director Ridley Scott’s company, Scott Free, have just announced a Donner Party movie, based on a net-yet-published, not-yet-written novel by THE TAKER author Alma Katsu called THE HUNGER.  It will be directed by Luke Scott, whose first movie, MORGAN, will be released by Fox later this week.  It’s being described as ‘DONNER PARTY MEETS THE WALKING DEAD’. I hope it’s not in poor taste.

‘LONESOME DOVE’ AUTHOR MCMURTRY’S LIBRARY ON THE AUCTION BLOCK!

Heritage Auctions always feature unusual items, and their September 15^th session is no exception.  This one includes a 1788 edition of THE FEDERALST, by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, seeking an opening bid of $85,000; and there’s a first edition of Joseph Smith’s THE BOOK OF MORMON, with $38,000 already bid. 

While not nearly so old, among the unexpected and unusual offerings are from LONESOME DOVE author Larry McMurtry’s legendary research library.  They’re grouped by subject, and while there are nearly twenty days to bid, at the moment there are a lot of bargains.  Fifty volumes of Depression-era WPA guides are at $12.  A collection of 150 poetry books are at $1.  On the other hand, when it comes to McMurtry’s forte, Texas, the bidding is a bit more lively.  A group of Texana history books is at $320, but considering that it contains 180 books, that’s one helluvah bargain!  And an uncorrected proof of LONESOME DOVE is currently at $1!  HERE is the link to the auction site. 

CINECON FESTIVAL 52 LABOR DAY WEEKEND!

Once again,  Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard will be the home of the Cinecon Classic Film Festival.  Their special guest this year is Marsha Hunt.  As usual they have a great schedule of both silent and talkie films, and for Westerners that includes 1928’s RAMONA, the first talkie version of Helen Hunt Jackson’s classic novel, starring Dolores Del Rio and Warner Baxter, Ken Maynard in THE FIGHTING LEGION, and Gary Cooper starring in the first talkie version of Rex Beach’s THE SPOILERS.  The dealers rooms across the boulevard at the Loews Hotel is a wonderful place to hunt for stills, posters, DVDs, and book signings.  You can learn more HERE.

‘HATEFUL 8’ AND MORE AT THE AUTRY!

There are two excellent new exhibits at The Autry.  The photography show Revolutionary Vision: Group f/64 and Richard Misrach – Photographs from the Bank of America Collection, highlights a movement in photography, started in the late 1920s, moving away from ‘pictorializing’,  an effort to make photographs look like paintings, in favor of sharp, unadulterated images, and featuring the works of  Edward Weston and Ansel Adams among others. 

New Additions, Featuring the Kaufman Collection, covers a wide range of works by past and contemporary painters and sculptors and American Indian artists. 

And on Saturday, September 3^rd, on the large, grassy lawn of the Autry you can, at 5:30pm enter and grab a patch to sit in, at 7pm you can hear music, and at 8pm you can see Quentin Tarantino’s THE HATEFUL 8 on their immense outdoor screen.  There will be food trucks, and there will be a bunch of morons who will talk through the whole movie.  To my way of thinking, it’s the most hateful possible way to see a movie, but folks who don’t give a damn about film think it’s great.  Enjoy!

JOHN MITCHUM CD RELEASE PARTY AT PARAMOUNT RANCH, SUN SEPT 4^TH!

A star-studded celebration will be held at the Paramount Movie Ranch to mark the release of the new CD JOHN ‘THE HUMBLE’ MITCHUM’S LEGACY’, featuring over fifty Western film and TV legends performing their favorites Mitchum songs and poems.  A man with nearly 160 film and TV credits, best known as Clint Eastwood’s partner in all of the DIRTY HARRY movies, he was also a fine writer, and first gained attention in that realm when John Wayne recorded his poem, America, Why I Love Her, which became a hit record. 

The kid brother of Robert Mitchum, John died in 2001.  His daughter, Cindy Azbill Mitchum, has worked for 13 years to make this event happen.  A glance at the list of contributors reveals that some – Ann Rutherford, Ernest Borgnine, Dick Jones, Herb Jeffries, Robert Easton – are no longer with us.  But happily, most are, and a great many will be attending the event.  And a few tickets are available.  The contact info is on the poster. 

If you’d like to learn more about John Mitchum, the event, and hear some of the recordings, including one by the great James Drury (John appeared on THE VIRGINIAN many times), click the link HERE for Equestrian Legacy Radio, then click on the episode entitled ‘Dirty Harry, Josey Wales’ to hear a lively discussion with Cindy. 

‘COPS & COWBOYS’ 2016 SEPT. 10 AT LEONIS ADOBE!

The annual Cops & Cowboys fundraiser for the Mid-Valley Community Police Council will once again take place at the historic Leonis Adobe Museum in Calabasas, on Saturday, September 10^th.   You’ll have a chance to tour the Adobe, built in 1884, one of the oldest buildings in the San Fernando Valley; enjoy the hosted libations; place your bids in the silent auction; place your bets at the poker and blackjack tables, with cards handled by the Dealer Dolls; have a delicious barbecue dinner; dance to the music of Eli Locke and the Locke and Loaded Band, and get a line-dancing lesson!  To learn more, and order tickets, go HERE.

STAR-STUDDED ‘SILVER SPUR’ SEPT. 16!

Friday, September 16^th, join the Reel Cowboys at The Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City for the 19^th annual Silver Spur Awards.  This is always a glamorous and exciting event, and this year’s emcee will be one of the greats of Western TV, Bruce Boxleitner.  Among those being honored will be the late, great King, Elvis Presley, star of FLAMING STAR and ROUSTABOUT; and the late, extremely talented Western character actor Gregg Palmer.  Those honorees attending are frequent John Wayne co-star Eddie Falkner, stuntman and actor Ben Bates, WALTONS mom Miss Michael Learned, and characters actor and frequent Western guest star Richard Herd, who tells me he’s especially excited that his presentation will be made by the great Morgan Woodward.  Other presenters include Edie Hand, Western costumer (BIG JAKE, THE SHOOTIST, CHISUM) Luster Bayless, Janet Arness, Wyatt McCrea, and the WALTONS’ eldest daughter, Judy Norton.   Contact info is on the poster.  See you there!

                                                                                              

AND THAT'S A WRAP!

Had a great time on Thursday interviewing Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy Nolan about their upcoming HBO mini-series, WESTWORLD – you can read about it soon in True West.  In the meantime, the current True West, with the Tombstone walk-down on the cover, includes my article on the excellent new modern western HELL OR HIGH WATER, starring Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster and Robert Pine.  Have a wonderful week, and a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright August 2016 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

‘HATEFUL 8’, ‘KEEPING ROOM’ REVIEWED, PLUS BIG DOINGS AT THE AUTRY!

Kurt Russell & Samuel L. Jackson

THE HATEFUL 8 – A Film Review

In Wyoming, in the dead of winter, a chartered stage-coach is flagged down by Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a bounty hunter with a stack of frozen outlaw cadavers – he needs to get them to town for the rewards.  But the renter of the coach, bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell), wants no more passengers, living or dead: he’s already transporting murderess Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) whom he intends to hang, and the company of another bounty hunter holds no appeal.  John Ruth finally gives in, and the trio of passengers are barely on the road when who else appears, thumbing a ride, but Sheriff Clay Mannix (Walton Goggins), the new lawman at the town where both Ruth and Warren are expecting to collect their bounties. 

Tim Roth, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh

The group arrives at a stagecoach stop, and find it full of an interesting and sinister mix of characters: Bob (Demian Birchir) is minding the place while the owners are away; Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth) is a British traveling hangman; Joe Gage (Michael Madsen) is a hard-looking cowboy and would-be writer; and General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern) is a former Confederate officer still clinging to his past status.

Bruce Dern

Guess what?  They’re snowed in: everyone will have to spend the night.  This concerns John Ruth because he’s convinced that someone, perhaps more than one someone, is not who they say.  Someone is there to free Daisy Domergue, and will willingly commit murder to do it.  And he’s right, of course.  From there, 99% of the movie takes place in the one big room of the log house stagecoach stop, as characters confront each other, secrets are revealed, and people die. 

That’s right, it’s what’s known in the TV vernacular as an ‘elevator show’ or a ‘bottle show.’  It’s a funny and audacious decision by Tarantino to do a big-budget theatrical feature version of what is done on TV to save money.  Tarantino explained in an interview with DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD that his influences were series like THE VIRGINIAN, BONANZA, and THE HIGH CHAPPARAL.  “Twice per season, those shows would have an episode where a bunch of outlaws would take the lead characters hostage. They would come to the Ponderosa, or go to Judge Garth's place — Lee J. Cobb played him — in The Virginian and take hostages. There would be a guest star like David Carradine, Barren McGavin, Claude Akins, Robert Culp, Charles Bronson, or James Coburn . I don't like that storyline in a modern context, but I love it in a Western, where you would pass halfway through the show to find out if they were good or bad guys, and they all had a past that was revealed. I thought, 'What if I did a movie starring nothing but those characters? No heroes, no Michael Landons. Just a bunch of nefarious guys in a room, all telling backstories that may or may not be true. Trap those guys together in a room with a blizzard outside, give them guns, and see what happens.”

Samuel L. Jackson & Walton Goggins

What happens, very entertainingly is the HATEFUL 8 – it’s full of the droll characters and crackling dialogue that helped make Tarantino famous.  And this kind of claustrophobic DESPERATE HOURS sort of story is the kind that he excels in, as he proved in RESERVOIR DOGS (1992).  Are the characters over the top?  Sure, but they’re meant to be: this is stylized story-telling, not docudrama, and the ensemble is a delight to watch. 

Tarantino loves to shock us, of course, and there is a lot of blood and vomiting, and there is an extended sadistic story-telling sequence where Warren psychologically tortures General Smithers with what may be a real story, or one as invented as the characters’ identities.  It’s too ugly, and too long, but at least its flashback gets us out of the cabin for a bit. 

Michael Madsen

Of course, Tarantino has fun with his inside jokes.  Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Major Marquis Warren, is a nod to novelist, independent Western filmmaker and screenwriter Charles Marquis Warren, a protégé of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was one of the great story talents behind GUNSMOKE, RAWHIDE and THE VIRGINIAN series.  Tim Roth plays Oswaldo Mobray as a delightful impression of British character Alan Mobray.  And Michael Madsen’s Joe Gage character is a wink at Nick Adams’ character, Johnny Yuma, from THE REBEL series, a former soldier roaming the West and writing about his experiences.

The acknowledgment of THE REBEL is particularly interesting because, while this sort of snowed in ‘Zane Grey meets Agatha Christie’ story can be found in other series – the STOPOVER episode of THE RIFLEMAN, directed by Budd Boetticher and written by Arthur Brown Jr, is particularly memorable – an episode of THE REBEL, entitled FAIR GAME (1960), written by Richard Newman and directed by Irvin Kershner, is unexpectedly close to HATEFUL 8.  It’s fascinating to see what Tarantino does expanding what was a thirty-minute plot to 168 minutes.  The entire run of the exceptionally good THE REBEL series is available from Timeless Video, and after you’ve seen the feature, it’s definitely worth your time to watch the short, as well as the whole series.

One of the great joys of HATEFUL 8 is the new score by the maestro Ennio Morricone.  Although he made his name putting music to Sergio Leone’s ‘man with no name’ films, he hadn’t scored a Western since MY NAME IS NOBODY, forty years ago. 

One of the great virtues of HATEFUL 8 is the beauty and grandeur of its outdoor visuals for the brief time that the story is out of doors.  Thrice Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson has shot several other films for Tarantino, as well as for Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone: he knows how to get details and definition out of what could simply be a whited-out snowscape in other hands.  It may seem like a crazy film to shoot in 70mm Panavision, but that decision halted Kodak’s plan to shutter their movie film stock production entirely. 

The whole presentation sentimentally harkens back to the time of road-show movies of the 1950s and ‘60s, when seeing a big movie was a big deal, like going to the real theatre.  People dressed up, the seats were reserved, there was a musical overture, and an intermission.  Moviegoing, like the rest of life, is less ‘special’ today.   People go to real theatre today attired in a way I wouldn’t dress to mow the lawn.  So, see HATEFUL 8, and if you can, see it in the longer road-show version, with the overture and intermission.  And maybe dress up.  Just take off your Stetson when the lights go down and the curtains part.

THE KEEPING ROOM – a Film Review

Brit Marling takes aim

In 1865, in a location identified only as ‘The American South’, three women survive on a crumbling plantation, trying to keep body and soul together, and just barely managing.  Augusta (Brit Marling), perhaps twenty, is the daughter of the plantation’s owner who has gone off to war.  She hunts rabbits for stew.  Mad (Muna Otaru), a young slave, searches the overgrown fields for edible vegetables.  Louise, (Hailee Steinfeld), is sixteen, Augusta’s baby sister, and unable or unwilling to face the realities of war; she refuses to work, and seems at times to drift into a fantasy world, donning her late mother’s elegant clothes when she should be dressed for picking and planting.  When asked by her sister to work, she refers tersely to the woman who helped raise her.  “The nigger should do it.”

Her sister Augusta responds, “Like I told you, Louise.  We all niggers now.”

Unbeknownst to the three women, greater danger than starvation is on its way.  Union General William Tecumseh Sherman is coming, cutting his bloody slash “…from Savannah to the sea.”  And in advance of his army come his foragers, or as they were known, ‘Bummers,’ men sent to seize supplies or destroy them, to prepare the ground for invasion.  Mostly they are unregulated, many of them destructive, sadistic, and homicidal.   A pair of them, Moses (Sam Worthington) and Henry (Kyle Soller) introduce themselves with an apparent rape and several murders that mark them as men without conscience. 

Sam Worthington

Back at the plantation, the power shifts between the three women with each challenge they face, until everything comes to a head with a potentially disastrous accident: Louise is bitten by a raccoon, and they lack the medicine to treat the infected wound.   Augusta heads to town looking for medicine – the ‘town’ being a single business, a store, saloon and brothel – and comes to the attention of the Bummers.  She barely escapes, and soon the Bummers are on the hunt for Augusta and the other women.

Not a traditional Western or War Movie by any measure, THE KEEPING ROOM is also a suspense and adventure story, and above all a character study of three finely drawn, very different women.  Elegantly written by first-timer Julia Hart, it’s directed by English-born Daniel Barber, whose previous Western, the short THE TONTO WOMAN (2008), from the Elmore Leonard story, garnered Barber an Oscar nomination. 

Muna Otaru

Cinematographer Martin Ruhe, known for filming crime thrillers like HARRY BROWN   (2009 – directed by Barber), and THE AMERICAN (2010), worked with natural light and source light – lanterns and candles – to give an authentic and often beautiful look to  the interiors.  The exteriors, forest and field, are equally convincing.  Remarkable to think that they were found not in Georgia but in Romania, where COLD MOUNTAIN (2003) and HATFIELDS & MCCOYS (2012) were also filmed.

The structure is unusual, and often admirable.  Among the highlights are a pair of intercut sequences where the women are separately stalked.  Author Hart has a fine ear for dialogue, and the script is at times unexpectedly generous, allowing a humanizing of the Bummers, and raising intriguing questions of how life might have been, had the characters met under different circumstances. 

Hailee Steinfeld

The cast is tiny – only seven actors have speaking parts, and only two scenes have any extras at all.  This serves to make the story intimate and personal, and it also puts a great burden on a very few individuals to carry the entire story, which is fraught with tension and suspense.  Fortunately, the triumvirate of actresses are up to it.  Muna Otaru, a relative newcomer, seems all the more powerful for her halting, soft-spoken performance.  Hailee Steinfeld, playing a weak and self-centered character diametrically opposed to her Matty Ross in TRUE GRIT, turns us off, then wins us over when her character rises to the occasion.  And blonde and beautiful Brit Marling, half Matty Ross herself, and the better half of Scarlet O’Hara, is who we all wish we’d be when the chips are down.

Of course, no film is perfect.  The smallness of the cast can be a problem: would Sherman ever send just a two-man force, and if he did, why didn’t the Southerners just pick them off?  And as smart as Augusta is, why does she keep ignoring warnings to leave the store, and why does she keep making eye contact with men she should know to avoid?

Highly recommended, THE KEEPING ROOM, from Alamo Drafthouse, will be available on VOD in early January.

PLENTY HAPPENING AT THE AUTRY IN JANUARY & FEBRUARY

Kenneth Turan, renowned film critic for The Los Angeles Times and NPR, will be introducing the first two film programs for 2016 in the Autry’s monthly What is a Western? series.  On Saturday, January 16^th at 1:30 pm he will introduce the John Ford/John Wayne classic THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962).  On Saturday, February 13^th, at 1:30 pm he will host a double feature, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW (1956) and RIDE LONESOME (1959).  Star Randolph Scott and producer Harry Joe Brown had formed the Ranown production company, and these two films are part of the fabled ‘Ranown cycle’ of exceptionally fine, tiny budget Westerns, all starring Scott, all directed by Budd Boetticher, and written by Burt Kennedy. 

Also screening at the Autry on February 27^th at noon are a double-bill of Gene’s films, BACK IN THE SADDLE (1941 Republic) and RIDERS OF THE WHISTLING PINES (1949 Columbia).

On Wednesday, January 20^th at 12:30 pm, Rob Word will present the Cowboy Lunch @ The Autry.  After lunch it’s Rob’s A Word on Westerns discussion.  This time the topic is KINGS OF THE COWBOYS, and as we get closer to the date I’ll let you know what exciting guests Rob has lined up. 

For folks who still remember how to read (there are still quite a few of us), One Book, One Autry  is a year-long series of programs focusing on Owen Wister’s genre-creating THE VIRGINIAN.  The first two events are Saturdays, Feb. 20^th & 27^th, with more to come.  If you don’t have your own copy, you can get one at the Autry Store.  (And you can read it, and learn that the great HIGH NOON is actually plagiarized from the last seven or eight chapters). 

Sunday, January 3^rd is the last day to see the magnificent exhibit Empire and Liberty: The Civil War and The West.  From February 6^th through March 20^th you can enjoy Masters of the American West, and if you have deep pockets, you can buy! 

Between book signings, performances and other events, I’m barely scratching the surface.  You can learn more by visiting the official Autry website HERE.  

And admission is free on Monday, New Years Day, and free Saturday and Sunday, the 2^nd and 3^rd, to Bank of America card holders.

THAT’S A WRAP! 

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas (see above, a favorite gift from my wife), and I wish you a Happy New Year!  I’ve got a lot of stuff cookin’ but I don’t want to say too much and jinx myself.  But I’m very excited that I’ll be a guest of Jim Christina and Bobbi Jean Bell on THE WRITERS BLOCK radio show on Thursday, January 7^th at 8 pm, when the BIG guest will be LONGMIRE creator Craig Johnson!  If you haven’t tuned in to this entertaining and informative interview show about the art and craft of writing, here’s the link:  http://latalkradio.com/content/writers-block.

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Content Copyright December 2015 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved