NEW FEATURE ‘BLOOD COUNTRY’AND NEW WEB-SERIES ‘C-BAR’ SHOOT UP THE SCREENS, PLUS GENE’S AUTRY’S B-DAY, NEW SHOWS ON INSP!

‘BLOOD COUNTRY’ REVIEW

Tough and elegant, set in Mississippi after the Civil War, and shot in a mix of eerie swamps and in many historical sites in that state, BLOOD COUNTRY is based on a real murder between brothers, and its spiraling aftermath for all those involved or in the vicinity. From the start, the filmmakers fill the screen with a quiet but troublingly intangible sense of menace. The troubles begin, incredibly, over the disputed possession of some cabbages, and soon a man is killed, a hearing is held, and a pair of black men who were unwilling witnesses find themselves in greater danger than the accused.

Written and directed by Ecuadorian-turned-Arizonan filmmaker Travis Mills, he and cinematographer Nicholas Fornwalt fill the screen with clever and often beautiful compositions and intriguing faces. Strong on mood, style and atmosphere, there are gaps in the story – why the cabbages? 

While the shots are beautifully composed, most scenes are shot in a single long set-up, meaning that the camera rarely gets close enough to the characters to sense what they’re thinking, and to identify with them. The only characters we are truly invested in are the two witnesses (Markeith Coleman and Aspen Kennedy Wilson), and a reluctant lawman (Cotton Yancey). Further, by having no cutaways to other angles, there is no way to pick up the pace within the scenes. There is a good deal of killing, but it is shown so obliquely that the hoped-for Western action doesn’t really start until an hour in. 

BLOOD COUNTRY, from Running Wild Films, will be in theatres October 7^th.  Here’s the trailer.

You can learn more at the official BLOOD COUNTRY site HERE.

C-BAR II – A TALE OF THE WILD WEB WEST

Mark Baugher, who’s been everything from a ferrier (horse-shoer) to a stock-broker, retired at 65 to pursue his life’s desire: move to Arizona, and write a Western novel. A college film student, Patrick Ball, liked what he read on his Kindle, and suggested they make a movie of it. After 38 days of shooting over eight months (when you’re not paying anyone, you’re at the mercy of everyone’s schedule), the movie C-BAR arrived in 2015. Baugher himself starred as Dockie, an old lawman who must go back to his outlaw roots to see justice done. (You can read my ROUND-UP review and interview with Baugher HERE. You can read my TRUE WEST B article on Indy Westerns including C-Bar HERE)

Mark and Patrick are back in action, continuing the saga, now as a web-series, and the first chapter of the new adventures is online.  Badman John Doe (Charlie LeSueur), either by bribe or muscle, has escaped en route to Yuma Prison, and Dockie and company must track him down.  Here’s the link to chapter one. 

Below is the trailer for the original C-BAR feature.

You can learn more and see more, and get Mark’s novels, at the official C-BAR site, HERE.

‘HIGH CHAPARRAL’ 50^TH ANNIVERSARY AT THE BURBANK MARRIOTT

On Friday and Saturday, September 15^th and 16^th, cast, crew, and about 150 dedicated fans of THE HIGH CHAPARRAL, the beloved family Western series of the late 1960s and early ‘70s, gathered, perhaps for the last time, to honor the series, and the folks who made it. While in recent years, gatherings have celebrated anniversaries of BONANZA, THE VIRGINIAN and GUNSMOKE, the dedication of HIGH CHAPARRAL fans is unique – hundreds of them have been gathering annually for several years now in Arizona at Old Tucson, the Western movie town where the series was shot, and where the Cannon family home still stands.

Camille Mitchell, Henry Darrow, Cameron Mitchell Jr.

The hosts for the two days of fun and nostalgia and stories were the delightful couple, Kent McCray and Susan McCray. He was the production manager of the series – and for BONANZA before it – and as Michael Landon’s partner went on to produce LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE and HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN. She was the daughter of series composer Harry Sukman; she started on CHAPARRAL as a receptionist and worked her way up to casting not only the series, but HAWAII 5-0 and the Michael Landon shows.

Kent & Susan McCray at the banquet

The McCrays pulled out all the stops, not only providing the promised two elegant banquets, but hosting elaborate breakfasts and lunches as well. Among the series regulars who attended were Henry Darrow, who starred as Manolito; Don Collier who played top hand Sam Butler; and Rudy Ramos, who played Wind, the half-breed teen adopted by the Cannons in the final season. Linda Cristal had intended to come, but suffering from vision problems, sent her son Jordan Wexler. Representing deceased cast members were relatives of Frank Silvera, Rudolpho Acosta, Robert Hoy, Ruberto Contreras, and Jerry Summers. Cameron Mitchell was represented by his daughter and son, Camille Mitchell and Cameron Mitchell Jr.

Don Collier

Also present was frequent series guest Marie Gomez, who played Manolito’s girlfriend Pearlita; Bo Svenson, who guessed in the well-remembered episode TRAIL TO NEVERMORE; and representing Yaphett Koto, who couldn’t get there from Manila in time, was his lovely daughter Mirabai Kotto. Yaphett’s episode, BUFFALO SOLDIERS, is the favorite of many, including Kent McCray.

Rudy Ramos

This was not a ‘stars only’ event, with plenty of attention paid to folks whose identities are hidden, like attending stuntmen Neil Summers and David Cass, who both went on to be important stunt coordinators – Cass has directed several Western and non-Western films.  I was personally delighted to meet Jackie Hummer Fuller, who doubled for Linda Cristal, and Steve DeFrance. I hadn’t seen either of them since 1978, when they worked on the first film I wrote, SPEEDTRAP, where Jackie doubled for Tyne Daley and Steve double for Richard Jaekal. It’s a small world!

There were many fascinating panel discussions, and I had the chance to interview all of the principals – I’ll have much more soon in The Round-up, and in TRUE WEST MAGAZINE. 

INSP ADDS ‘BRANDED’ AND ‘MEN OF SHILOH’ SAT. SEPT. 30^TH!

The INSP channel, which is currently presenting the remarkable reality series THE COWBOY WAY: ALABAMA, is adding two very interesting and rarely seen series to their weekend Western line-up, BRANDED and MEN FROM SHILOH.  

Chuck Connors has his buttons torn off.

BRANDED (1965-1966) starred Chuck Connors in his follow-up to the legendary THE RIFLEMAN. He plays Jason McCord, the only survivor of the Civil War Battle of Bitter Creek. Branded (like the title) a coward, court-martialed and kicked out of the Army, he travels the West trying to escape his infamy, and to learn what really happened.  Created by Larry Cohen, it looked likely to crash and burn until producer A. J. Fenady, who had created THE REBEL with Nick Adams, was brought in to take over, and fashion some logic into the story.  Fenady remembers meeting the famously volatile Chuck Connors. "And I said, ‘Look Chuck, I just want to ask you one question.  We go into production, who’s the boss?’  He said, ‘You are.’  I said, ‘Okay, just remember one thing: you came to see me; I didn’t go to see you.’  And you know what?  Chuck was, in many ways, crazy.  But he was also intelligent.  You could sit down and talk to him.  And if he had a point of view, and you had a point of view, and you’re point of view was better, he would acknowledge that.  He’d say, ‘Alright, we’ll do it.’  I loved working with him, and I loved him." (You can read my whole interview with Fenady about BRANDED HERE.) It’s a very entertaining series, probably better for audiences right now, with their fascination with conspiracies, than it was in the 1960s.

THE VIRGINIAN, at eight seasons, had outlived most of its competition, but it couldn’t go on forever. As television Westerns had become less and less violent, in response to government pressure, the series were losing their audience to movies, especially the action-filled Spaghetti Westerns. The decision was made to reboot THE VIRGINIAN in the Sergio Leone mold. From the original show, only James Drury and Doug McClure were retained, and their wardrobe and whiskers changed considerably.  Lee Majors, fresh from THE BIG VALLEY, was added. The title was switched to THE MEN FROM SHILOH, and a new theme was composed by Euro-Western maestro Ennio Morricone.  And in the wise old man role that had started as Lee J. Cobb was movie star Stewart Granger as a retired British military officer. 

As he revealed at the VIRGINIAN 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, James Drury and others liked the changes at the time, but in hindsight, he didn’t. “They gave the show a new look, and everybody kind of signed on to it.  I got myself a new horse and a longer gun.  From a 5 ½ inch barrel to a 7 ½ inch barrel.  Longer sideburns.  Much bigger hat.  A sense of accomplishment or…a sense of entitlement – let’s put it that way.  I smoked cigars on the show.  And I just mowed down anybody with my firearms.  But the thing is, we all thought it was a good idea at the time; it was a terrible idea.  And the worst of the terrible ideas was putting Stewart Granger in the same position that Lee Cobb had occupied, that John McIntire had occupied, Charles Bickford had occupied; that John Dehner had occupied.  These were truly great western actors.  Stewart Granger came in and decided that he was going to be the big star of the show:  fired my crew, fired my Academy Award-winning cameraman, got all new people.  He pissed off everyone in the entire organization.  And he sunk the show.  So thank you, Stewart, wherever you are.”

Granger’s casting was in one way a savvy move – though they were rarely released in the U.S., Granger had become a big Western star in Europe, starring in a series of German Westerns based on the novels of Karl May. His presence undoubtedly made the show more saleable overseas. The series actually holds up quite well, and what probably did it in was the title change: fans simply didn’t know that THE MEN FROM SHILOH actually was THE VIRGINIAN. The new title is more suggestive, at that time, of a spy series, like THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

If you’d like to know more, HERE is a link to my review of THE MEN FROM SHILOH from when it was brought out on home video.

HAPPY 110^TH BIRTHDAY GENE AUTRY!

Friday, September 29^th, is the 110^th anniversary of the great singing cowboy Gene Autry’s birth! Drop by the Autry Museum to celebrate, and if you’re among the first 110 visitors to enter, you’ll receive a free DVD of Gene is SIOUX CITY SUE.  Even if you’re 111 or after, you’ll get a slice of birthday cake!

BOYD MAGERS ‘GATHERING OF GUNS’ SIGNING AT THE AUTRY

Come to the Autry on Saturday, September 30^th at 9:30 a.m., and enjoy a Q&A with one of the most knowledgeable people in the world of Western film & TV, and author of Western Clippings, Boyd Magers. Maxine Hansen, Executive Assistant to Mrs. Gene Autry, will be interviewing Boyd about his new book, A GATHERING OF GUNS: A HALF CENTURY OF TV WESTERNS (1949-2001). After, he’ll be signing the book at the Autry Museum Store.

BEN TURPIN IN ‘YUKON JANE’

Grapevine Video, my primary source for high quality silent Westerns, posted this very funny silent (with music and sound effects) one-reeler starring the great cross-eyed comic Ben Turpin as a lawman trying to rescue a kidnapped damsel. Back around 1980, I met a fellow who grew up in Hollywood, and drove a beautiful 1956 T-Bird he’d bought new – I wish I could remember his name, but it’s been too long. A boyhood friend of his was future movie star Frankie Darrow, and when they were kids, they’d hitchhike to and from Malibu to surf. One time, heading back, Ben Turpin gave them a lift, and when he saw that they were nervous about his crossed eyes, he took pleasure is weaving all over the road.

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright 2017 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved 

KILMER HEADS BACK TO TOMBSTONE, INSP SALUTES DUKE, HIGH CHAPARRAL COMES TO BURBANK, AND MORE!

VAL KILMER TO RETURN TO TOMBSTONE AS DOC HOLLIDAY IN AUGUST!    

Cheers!

Iconic is a word used way too loosely, but if Val Kilmer’s portrayal of Doc Holliday in 1993’s TOMBSTONE is not iconic, I don’t know what performance is.  This August 12^th & 13^th, Val Kilmer will be in Tombstone, Arizona for ‘Doc Holli-Days’, a celebration planned by Sherry and Kevin Rudd.  The couple, who run the Tombstone Mustachery, a barber shop with an emphasis on facial hair, met the actor at a performance of CINEMA TWAIN, Kilmer’s multi-media performance as Samuel Clemens.  They told him what they’re planning, and Kilmer just announced on Facebook that he’s attending.  Stand by for details!  And while you wait, here’s a clip of Kilmer as Twain.

And just to be clear, when I say Val Kilmer is returning to Tombstone, I don’t know that he was ever actually in the hamlet of Tombstone before.  The movie TOMBSTONE was filmed nearby, just outside of Tucson, in the Western movie town of Old Tombstone, and the associated Western movie town of Mescal.

INSP ‘SALUTES THE DUKE’ FOR HIS BIRTHDAY MONTH OF MAY

John Wayne was born May 26^th, 1907, and to celebrate the Western icon’s birthday, INSP is featuring his movies every weekend this month.  Not that this is exactly a new idea at INSP.  As Senior VP of Programming Doug Butts has observed, “Western movies are the preferred choice of our viewers. In the first quarter alone, we had more than 32 million viewers tune in to watch Westerns on INSP.  INSP has quickly become the go-to network on weekends for Western programming, and we are excited about being able to feature so many great John Wayne movies.  We know they will resonate well with our audience.”  Sunday, May 21^st, at 2 pm Western Time, INSP will show John Wayne in THE WAR WAGON (1967) co-starring Kirk Douglas, directed by Burt Kennedy, scripted by Clair Huffaker from his own novel about an armored stagecoach full of gold.  At 7 pm it’s the John Ford classic SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON.  WAR WAGON repeats at 9 p.m. 

‘HIGH CHAPARRAL’ 50^TH ANNI CELEBRATION IN BURBANK SEPT. 14-16

For several years, HIGH CHAPARRAL events have been held in Old Tucson, where the series exteriors were shot.  This September, a special celebration marking the 50^th Anniversary of the classic Western series will be held in Los Angeles, this time under the auspices of Kent and Susan McCray.  Kent was the production manager on HIGH CHAPARRAL, as well as BONANZA.  He later partnered with Michael Landon and produced LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN, and some BONANZA movies.  Susan, whose Oscar-winning father Harry Sukman composed for HIGH CHAPARRAL and BONANZA, worked in casting on BONANZA, HIGH CHAPARRAL, and all of the Michael Landon series. 

Susan told me that among the series regulars attending would be Henry Darrow (Manolito Montoya), Don Collier (Sam Butler), Rudy Ramos (Wind), and Marie Gomez (Pearlita Flores).  Several guest stars will also be attending, including Buck Taylor – the GUNSMOKE star featured recently in HELL OR HIGH WATER, Bo Svenson, Geoffrey Duel.  When we spoke, Susan was excited to have just received confirmation from Yaphet Kotto, currently in the Philippines, that he will be attending as well.  His guest episode, BUFFALO SOLDIERS, is one of the most popular episodes in the series.  I recently wrote an article for TRUE WEST MAGAZINE about the history of Buffalo Soldiers in film and on TV – you can read it HERE.  I’ll be keeping you updated as the date gets closer.  You can go to the website on the poster to learn more, and to buy tickets!

Yaphett Koto and Cameron Mitchell

RADIO WESTERN ‘POWDER BURNS’ RETURNS FOR SEASON 2 WITH ED ASNER!

David Gregory’s POWDER BURNS, the new dramatic Western radio series, is returning for a second season with special guest star Ed Asner!  This is the second remarkable casting coupe’ for writer and star Gregory.  In season one, Robert Vaughn, the last of the Magnificent 7, guested, in one of his final performances, before dying this past November. 

The premise of POWDER BURNS, is that a man (John Wesley Shipp) comes back from the Civil War largely unscathed, is reelected sheriff, and just before his term is to end, a freak hunting accident blinds him and kills his son.  With the help of deputies, he plans to finish his term, and find out what really happened.  You can read my 2015 interview with David Gregory here.  Rather than a traditional ‘over the air’ broadcast, POWDER BURNS is an internet radio show.  While episodes of the new season have not yet been posted, click Episode One, Season One to hear the story from the beginning.  Links to the next episode will follow.

ONE MORE THING…

Michael Parks

We must, before closing, note the passing of two very fine acting talents.  Michael Parks, who died on May 9^th at the age of 77, started his screen career with a pair of appearances on ZANE GREY THEATRE in 1960 and 1961, and made his first big splash as the lead in the series THEN CAME BRONSON (1969-1970), as a loner drifting across the country on his Harley, meeting people and having adventures ala ROUTE 66.  He was on his way to stardom. But then his growing reputation as a difficult actor, combined with his endorsement of George Wallace for President in 1972, put him on a blacklist, and he worked only in small supporting roles for a couple of decades.  I met him in 1979, at Warner Ranch, when he was guesting on FANTASY ISLAND.  I tossed a football around with him and his son.  He could not have been a more regular guy.  But he was also a wonderful actor.  Happily, directors like David Lynch, then Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith and Robert Rodriguez saw the great, overlooked talent there, and in the 21^st century his career took off once more.   Among his Westerns were THE LAST HARD MEN, STRANGER ON THE RUN, GORE VIDAL’S BILLY THE KID, THE RETURN OF JOSEY WALES – which he also directed, FROM DUSK TO DAWN – THE HANGMAN’S DAUGHTER, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, and DJANGO UNCHAINED. 

Powers Boothe

Powers Boothe, who died at the age of 68 on May 14^th, 2017, went from Texas to Broadway to Hollywood, and created an indelible impression with his portrayal of Curly Bill Brocius in 1993’s TOMBSTONE.  He didn’t have to do anything else to be unforgettable, but he did it anyway, when he took on the role of Cy Tolliver in DEADWOOD.  His wonderfully deep and cynical voice made him a top choice for comic-book villains as well.

…AND THAT’S A WRAP!

Have a great week, and a great Memorial Day, and don’t forget that it’s not an arbitrary three-day holiday, but a time to remember the people who gave up their lives for our freedom.

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright May 2017 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

‘DISH’ PULLS THE PLUG ON ‘INSP’! PLUS ‘WESTWORLD’ BACK ON TRACK, WILD EAST MOVIE REVIEWS, COWBOY FEST PREVIEW!

‘DISH’ PULLS THE PLUG ON ‘INSP’!

INSP, the non-subscription channel that delivers over fifty hours of Western TV and movies every week, has been dropped by the Dish satellite network!  INSP exclusively airs THE VIRGINIAN and HIGH CHAPARRAL, as well as showing BONANZA – THE LOST EPISODES, THE BIG VALLEY, DANIEL BOONE and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, and runs Western series and features all-day Saturday and Sunday.  INSP is one of the most popular basic cable and satellite channels, and many Dish subscribers are furious, and letting their feelings know by email, on Facebook, and every other means possible.  The irony is that INSP, a family-friendly outfit whose names stands for ‘Inspiration’, provides its signal free to Dish; instead of subscription fees, they make their money entirely from advertising. 

The good news is, these decisions are not personal; they’re about business, and Western fans have fought them before, and won.  You may remember from the Round-up that subscribers to Dish competitor DirecTV faced a similar issue in February of 2014, when DirecTV dropped INSP.  We all went loudly nuts on the phone and social media, and DirecTV, seeing they’d underestimated INSP’s popularity with its subscribers, relented, and put the station back on.  If you are a Dish subscriber, and want INSP Westerns back, the path is clear:  call Dish at 1-844-Get-INSP (1-844-438-4677)! Visit the DISH Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DISH  and tell them you want INSP back!  On Twitter, use the hash-tag ‪#‎IWantMyINSP.  Learn more and sign the petition at the INSP page here: http://iwantmyinsp.com/ .

HBO’S ‘WESTWORLD’ BACK IN PRODUCTION!

You may remember that in the November 16, 2015 Round-up, we revealed that with only seven of its ordered ten episodes in the can, production on the WESTWORLD miniseries had abruptly ceased.  This was after a year of production at Melody Ranch, Gene Autry’s old western town in Santa Clarita, and rumors were rife that the series might never be completed and aired.  Happily, production quietly resumed two weeks ago. 

WESTWORLD continues as mysteriously as ever – crew members do not receive script pages for the scenes they are working on, and are baffled as to the story.  The hours are long – they’ve been wrapping at 3:30 and 4:30 in the morning.  The actual airdate for the show is yet to be announced.  Rumors put it anywhere from late in the year to 2017. 

The HBO sci-fi-western series is based on the 1973 movie from writer-director Michael Crichton, produced by Saul David.  It’s about a resort where people pay a lot of money to live out their fantasies in various eras including the old west, in a town peopled by human-seeming robots who are programmed to cater to their every wish.  The original film stars Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as tourists, and Yul Bryner – looking exactly as he did in MAGNIFICENT 7 – as a robot who develops a mind of his own, and won’t let the humans outdraw him anymore.  The new version has a large international cast, including Brit Ben Barnes, Norwegian Ingrid Barso Berdal, Brazilian Rodrigo Santoro (from JANE GOT A GUN), Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins, Thandie Newton, James Marsden, Evan Rachel Wood, and in the Yul Bryner role, Ed Harris.  For the record, Hopkins plays Dr. Robert Ford – we don’t know yet if that’s a reference to a dirty little coward, or coincidence. 

NEW SPAGHETTI WESTERN RELEASES FROM WILD EAST!

Wild East Productions is a wonderful New York-based outfit that specializes in releasing double-feature Spaghetti Westerns DVDs.  While they carry many famous titles, what they excel at is impossible-to-find Euro-westerns, and they search the world for the best possible source materials.   They’ve just released volumes 52 and 53 in their Spaghetti Western Collection.

Volume 52 features A MAN CALLED GRINGO (1965), and THE LAST TOMAHAWK (1964), both featuring Spanish actor Daniel Martin.  With all of the attention that Spanish and Italian Westerns get, it’s easy to forget that the Euro-western actually started in Germany, with Karl May’s Winnetou stories, mostly shot in what is now Croatia.  These two are both largely German productions: in GRINGO, the Rockies are portrayed by the Alps!  Helmed by big-time MGM director (it didn’t hurt that he was married to Louis Mayer’s niece) Roy Rowland, it concerns a rancher who is going to lose his stage-line if the robberies don’t cease.  LAST TOMAHAWK is particularly fun, because it’s a pretend Winnetou story, directed by WINNETOU-director Harald Reinl,  actually based on James Fennimore Cooper’s LAST OF THE MOHICANS, with Daniel Martin as Uncas to soon-to-be Western star Anthony Steffen’s Hawkeye.   

Volume 53 pairs GARRINGO (1969) and TWO CROSSES AT DANGER PASS (1967), both directed by journey Spanish action director Rafael Romero Marchent.  Curiously, they are both tales of a boy whose parents are killed, who seeks revenge as an adult, one as a hero, one as a villain.  TWO CROSSES stars Peter Martell  (Pietro Martellanza) as the man seeking revenge for his parents, and the rescue of his sister, aided by adoptive brother Mark (Luis Gaspar), a Quaker whose non-violence, non-characteristically, is played with respect rather than contempt.  In GARRONGO, Peter Lee Lawrence, a magnetic and handsome young German who died tragically at 30, plays a son whose parents deaths at the hands of Cavalry soldiers triggers a vendetta against all blue-coats, with Anthony Steffen as the soldier sent to track him down.  Both films are packed with action and at times, befitting the plots, almost operatic operatic tragedy.  In addition to trailers, a poster-art gallery, and liner notes by Westerns All’Italiana’s Tom Betts, this volume features a fascinating 22-minute interview with director Marchent, conducted by up-coming Western writer (6 BULLETS TO HELL) and director (THE PRICE OF DEATH) Danny Garcia.  Marchent’s insights into this wonderful era of European filmmaking alone are worth the price of the DVD ($21.72).  You can find these two collections, and many others, at the Wild Easy website, HERE.   http://www.wildeast.net/

‘VIRGINIAN’ & AUTRY DOUBLE BILL AT THE AUTRY!

On Saturday, April 16^th at 1:30 pm, in the Wells Fargo Theatre, as part of their continuing ‘What is a Western?’ series, see the 1946 version of Owen Wister’s THE VIRGINIAN, starring Joel McCrea as the man with a state but no name, Barbara Britton as the schoolmarm, and Brian Donlevy as Trampas.  The first film directed by Preston Sturges’ favorite editor, Stuart Gilmore, it’s a good version of the oft-filmed story, and features Sonny Tufts, as the Virginian’s friend Steve, in the best performance of his career.  The film is introduced by Robert Nott, author of LAST OF THE COWBOY HEROES: THE WESTERNS OF RANDOLPH SCOTT, JOEL MCCREA AND AUDIE MURPHY.   

Saturday, April 23^rd, at noon, go to the Legacy Theatre in the Autry’s Imagination Gallery, and catch a double-bill of Gene’s hits on a real screen!  In WESTERN JAMBOREE (1938 Republic), bad guys try to swindle a rancher out of his property for its helium deposits, until Gene and Smiley Burnette step in.  In HEART OF THE RIO GRANDE (1942 Republic), Gene and Smiley work at a dude ranch, and contend with spoiled brats and a vengeful ex-foreman. 

ALMOST TIME FOR THE SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FESTIVAL!

Saturday and Sunday, April 23rd  & 24th, Hart Park in Old Town Newhall will once again be abuzz with Western doings as the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival arrives at William S. Hart Park.  There will be all manner of Western art, clothing and gear on display and for sale, good food, living history displays, and four stages will feature live music from over 35 acts of the cowboy, folk, and bluegrass persuasion. 

For you lovers of Western literature, both fact and fable, the Buckaroo Book Shop will be along Suttler’s Row.  Author’s who’ll there to sign their books include J.R. Sanders, Jim Christina, Eric Heisner & Al Bringas, Peter Sherayko, Janet Squires, Andria Kidd, Dale Jackson, Katie Ryan, Bob Brill, Gary Williams, Mark Bedor, and John Bergstrom.  I’ll be around there Sunday, even though I don’t have any books to sign.  John Bergstrom will also be supervising music at the OutWest Cultural Center and Boutique just a block away, where more will be going on – make sure you stop in while you’re at the Festival.    

In addition to the music at the Festival, in the several days leading up, and on the days of the Fest, there will be a Lone Pine Tour, Reagan Library and Paramount Ranch Tour, Movie Night at the Hart Mansion, and several outside venues will be holding concerts for separate admission charges.  Among the performers will be John Michael Montgomery, Syd Masters and the Swing Riders, The Quebe Sisters, and a bunch more.  And it wouldn’t be the Cowboy Festival without David Thornbury twirling his ropes and Joey Dillon spinning his guns.  And it’s all just $10 for adults, $7 for kids over three – under three is free, unless they cry a lot, in which case it goes up to $10 again (that’s not official; just my suggestion).  You can learn more by going to the official website HERE.

THAT’S A WRAP!

Sorry I’m two days late!   Have a great couple o’ weeks (okay, more like a week and a half), and I’ll see ya at the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Content Copyright April 2016 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

‘KILL OR BE KILLED’ REVIEW, PLUS MILES SWARTHOUT TRIBUTE, ‘WORD ON WESTERNS’, ‘HIGH CHAPARRAL’ REUNION!

Justin Meeks

KILL OR BE KILLED – A Movie Review

It’s not by chance that, although it was shot in Texas, filmmakers Duane Graves and Justin Meeks have the main credits playing over vista shots chosen to look like Almeria, Spain locations impersonating Texas.  The titles themselves are in the Spaghetti Western style, and the fine score by John Constant and Nick Durham, while not blatantly imitative, is surely influenced by Ennio Morricone.  KILL OR BE KILLED is a Texas Western with roots in Tabernas. 

Graves and Meeks have co-directed and co-written, and Justin Meeks stars as Claude ‘Sweet Tooth’ Barbee, in this story of the aftermath of a train robbery.   It seems the robbery went well, and everyone escaped except for ‘Slap’ Jack Davis (Paul McCarthy-Boyington), who managed to hide the loot near Galveston before his capture.  The gang – to call them a company of rogues is to put it generously – springs ‘Slap’ Jack from a prison railroad construction gang, and they head back to Galveston to claim their booty. 

They have many adventures along the way, with messengers, ventriloquists, parsons, whores, lawmen, children, families, doctors – many of whom they kill.  But then, the gang members themselves start being killed off in eerie ways.  Will any of them be left to find the hidden cache of gold? 

A low-budget indie Western that belies its small cost, the film is highly professional in all technical aspects, with convincing production design.  It’s beautifully shot by Brandon Torres, who makes full use of the richly varied landscape of Texas, from mountain to desert to ocean to forest.  A Horror film as well as a Western, it is unflinchingly brutal: the camera goes in, not away, for dangling entrails and bullet-hits to the head. 

The cast, though largely unfamiliar, are convincing in their roles, and there are a couple of well-known faces: Pepe Serna as a man who runs a strange family business out of his home, and Michael Berryman – the terrifying gargoyle from THE HILLS HAVE EYES – as a kindly town doctor! 

There is a growing, creepy fascination to the tale as it wends its way.  But the story has one striking flaw: with absolutely nothing redeeming about any members of the gang, there is no one for the viewer to care about, or root for, except for some of the victims. 

Michael Berryman

KILL OR BE KILLED is available on Amazon and other VOD services, and on DVD from RLJ Entertainment. 

WEDNESDAY’S COWBOY LUNCH – WESTERNS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

Wednesday, March 16^th Rob Word again presents A Word on Westerns at the Autry’s Crossroads West Café, his every-other-month luncheon, get together and discussion of Western movies, featuring the folks the folks who made ‘em.  This time the topic is Westerns You Might Have Missed,  and his guests include actor Tom Bower, whose Westerns include BALLAD OF GREGORIO CORTEZ (1982) ,  Louis L’Amour’s SHAUGHNESSY (1996), and APPALOOSA (2008).  Also on board is Mitch Ryan, who starred with Lee Marvin and Jack Palance in MONTE WALSH (1970), THE HUNTING PARTY (1971), and THE HONKERS (1972) with James Coburn.  Rand Brooks Jr., whose father was Scarlet O’Hara’s first husband in GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) will be there to discuss his father’s career as Lucky Jenkins in the HOPALONG CASSIDY movies. And for your musical entertainment, there will be Will Ryan and the Saquaro Sisters.  As always, the event is free – you just have to buy your own lunch.  The fun starts at noon, and if you plan to attend, get there early, because they always have a packed house for Rob’s events! 

Rob attended, and recorded, the ceremony where composer Ennio Morricone received his much-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Take a look.  And incredibly, he shot this on his I-phone!

‘HIGH CHAPARRAL’ REUNION STARTS THURSDAY MARCH 17^TH!

March 17^th through the 20^th, Old Tucson Studios, the original home of the HIGH CHAPARRAL series, where Big John Cannon’s ranch-house still proudly stands, will be the site of the HIGH CHAPARRAL REUNION 2016!  Returning to their old galloping-grounds will be series stars Don Collier, Rudy Ramos and BarBara Luna.  They’ll be joined by a posse of stars from other Western series, including Robert Fuller from LARAMIE and WAGON TRAIN, Darby Hinton from DANIEL BOONE and the recent TEXAS RISING, Roberta Shore from THE VIRGINIAN, frequent John Wayne co-star Eddie Faulkner, and Stan Ivar from LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.  Also on-board are HIGH CHAPARRAL producers Kent and Susan McCray, and writers and historians Boyd Magers, Charlie LeSueur, Neil Summers, and Joel McCrea’s son Wyatt McCrea. 

Even if you haven’t made your reservations in advance, you can still attend!  You can find your options by visiting the official site HERE.

And here’s something special for all HIGH CHAPARRAL fans, and it’s free!  Last year the Reunion inaugurated a live Webcast of the event.  It was not cheap, but it was very entertaining and informative.  HIGH CHAPARRAL REUNION Top Hand Penny McQueen has decided that this year’s Webcast will be FREE!  You’ll be able to watch it HERE starting Thursday! 

‘THE SHOOTIST’ SCRIPTER MILES SWARTHOUT DIES

Me interviewing Miles at the Cowboy Festival

All of us in the Western writing community were stunned and saddened to learn of the death of Miles Swarthout.  A Western novelist in his own right, most recently with the fine THE LAST SHOOTIST, Miles was also the son of legendary authors Glendon and Kathryn Swarthout.  He was a man of humor, and of strong opinions, and mentor to a number of now-successful writers.  I’m re-posting the interview I had with Miles at 2014’s Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival at Melody Ranch, at the OutWest Buckaroo Bookstore. 

MILES SWARTHOUT INTERVIEW

HENRY: It gives me great pleasure to introduce Miles Swarthout, a very talented author whose writing about 90% of you have appreciated, even though you haven’t read it.  Because he’s a screenwriter.  This is the man who wrote the screenplay for THE SHOOTIST, John Wayne’s final film, and one of his finest.  And in scripting THE SHOOTIST, he had the rare challenge not only of adapting a great novel, but a great novel that his own father, Glendon Swarthout, had written.  Glendon wrote sixteen novels, and several became movies, including 7^TH CAVALRY, starring Randolph Scott; THEY CAME TO CORDURA, starring Gary Cooper; BLESS THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN, WHERE THE BOYS ARE, and premiering this May at the Cannes Film Festival, THE HOMESMAN, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones, and starring Hilary Swank and Meryl Streep.  Welcome, Miles.  Can you tell us a little about THE HOMESMAN?

MILES: THE HOMESMAN was a novel that my dad wrote, and came out in 1988.  That year it swept the Western genre  awards, winning The Wrangler Award, from the Western Heritage Association, affiliated with the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, and the WWA Spur Award for the Best Western Novel of 1988.  Paul Newman was the original director who bought the film rights to THE HOMESMAN.  I worked on the original drafts, adaptations for Paul Newman.  But Paul jumped around studios; the Writer Guild Strike intervened in 1988 for about six months, and several other screenwriters later on got attached to the project doing different drafts.  Paul became too old to play the title role any more, as the rugged frontiersman, and had different stars attached to play the lead role.  It just didn’t happen.  He sold the rights back to SONY PICTURES/COLUMBIA, when he had Bruce Willis attached to play the homesman, but it fell into what’s called ‘development Hell.’  Nothing happened to it for a number of years – they couldn’t get it financed.  Paul Newman died of cancer a few years after that.  But Tommy Lee Jones was looking around to direct and star in another Western, and he had the same talent agency (as Paul Newman), Creative Artists, that remembered this book that Paul Newman had tried a number of times to get made with different stars.  Tommy got the financing from his buddy, the French director Luc Besson, who has his own films studio outside of Paris, and his own film distribution company.  Luc also financed Tommy Lee’s last western that he directed in 2005, THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA.  That was a contemporary western shot down in Texas.  That won a couple of awards at Cannes in 2005.  Creative Artists helped Tommy put together the cast for THE HOMESMAN.  It’s fantastic: Hilary Swank, the two-time Oscar winner is Tommy’s co-star.  Tommy Lee Jones is an Oscar winner for THE FUGITIVE with Harrison Ford, Best Supporting Actor.  And they’ve got Meryl Streep in the movie – she’s got a cameo role.  And Streep’s youngest daughter, her name is Grace Gummer; she has a bigger part in the film.  John Lithgow, two-time Oscar nominee is in it.  James Spader, who’s in the NBC hit THE BLACK LIST is in the film.  They’ve got an Oscar-nominated cinematographer, and a two-time Oscar-nominated composer, Marco Beltrami, has done the music.  

HENRY:  Speaking of the cast, I understand that Barry Corbin is in the film.  Hasn’t he worked with Tommy Lee Jones before?

MILES: He was in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, playing Tommy Lee’s father in that. 

HENRY:  The premise of THE HOMESMAN is a little outrageous.  Could you give us a summary of it?

MILES:  The Homesman is a claim jumper.  It’s set in the 1850s, the Great Plains state of Nebraska.  He’s a claim jumper, and some of the local residents take offense that he’s sitting on one of their buddy’s claims, while their buddy has gone back east to find a wife.  They blast him out of this sod home that he’s roosting in, and almost hang him, and a spinster woman, Hilary Swank, comes along.  She decides to let him go, because she’s just been chosen by a lottery system by the community, in this small frontier farming town on the Great Plains, to drive back east four women who have gone insane after this very hard winter.  They’ve gone crazy, and they can’t take care of them in this remote area, so someone has to drive them across the Missouri River, the Big Muddy, and back to civilization.

HENRY: Have you run into any complaints about sexism – why do the women go crazy, and not the men?

MILES: Historically some of the men went crazy, too.  They became raving alcoholics; they couldn’t keep them in the local jails.  If they were disruptive and making people angry or uncomfortable, somebody’d just shoot them, but they wouldn’t do that to a woman.  This is a very unusual story, a female-oriented Western, a mismatched couple running this wagon east with some women who have gone insane. 

HENRY: Let’s talk about THE SHOOTIST.  What was it like to adapt a novel to a screenplay with a man, not just the author, but your father, looking over your shoulder?

MILES: Well, that was my first screenplay adaptation, and you’re talking with the creative genius who made up the story in the first place, so he’s got a lot of good input.  My dad did not write screenplays.  He worked on the very first one for six months at Columbia Pictures, his best-selling novel, THEY CAME TO CORDURA.  He was out in Hollywood, and he got job offers after that, to work for Burt Lancaster’s company Hecht, Hill and Lancaster, but he turned them down.  He said no, I’m going back to Michigan State in East Lansing, to teach honors English.  And I’m going to write other books, and I don’t want people telling me how to make changes and how to write stuff.  So he gambled, and that turned out very well for him.  His second novel was WHERE THE BOYS ARE, 1960, and it was a big hit for MGM, with Connie Francis singing the theme.  But your question was about adapting THE SHOOTIST.  And of course I showed him drafts, and we discussed stuff.  I did get a screen credit on that.  They did make a lot of changes.  Don Siegel, the director, had another writer that he’d worked with before, a guy named Scott Hale, who was making changes on the set constantly, for Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne, and big stars with big egos who wanted things adjusted and changed.  So he wrote just enough of the rewritten script to get screen credit on the film.  But luckily, it turned out, even though it was a very difficult shoot, in Carson City, Nebraska, and on the backlot at Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank.  They had a lot of problems; Wayne came down with the flu and an ear infection.  And he was in the hospital for a couple of weeks.  They shut down filming, and he came back and got sick again, and they put him back in the hospital.  They didn’t know if he was going to live, and if they could even finish the movie.  So a lot of stuff had to be adjusted.  It was the last film he ever made.  His health deteriorated after that, and about two years later, John Wayne died.  But the movie, even though he was feuding all the time of the filming with this tough director, Don Siegel, turned out very well.  They had a great supporting cast.  John Wayne was playing a gunfighter who was dying of cancer in the film.  It was prostate cancer in the film.  But Wayne had lost one lung a couple of years ago to lung cancer, and he knew at the time of shooting THE SHOOTIST that his cancer had come out of remission, and he didn’t tell the doctors and he didn’t tell the filmmakers.  So he was obviously in some pain while making this movie.  He’s playing a gunfighter dying of cancer, and he’s got cancer at the same time: talk about a movie that was hand-tailored for a famous actor as his last film.  It just turned out very well.

HENRY:  It certainly did.  As you said, your father did not write for the screen, but by the time he wrote THE SHOOTIST, he was well aware that he had a real good chance of having his novels filmed.  He’d had several movies already done very successfully.  Do you think he had a movie in mind as he was writing the book?  Do you think he thought of John Wayne?

MILES:  No, he didn’t think of John Wayne.  The original guy that the two producers, Bill Self and Mike Frankovich wanted to play the Shootist, was George C. Scott.  And George C. Scott read the book and screenplay and said, “I’d love to do this.  Don’t change one word of the script.”  We thought that sounds great.  But the producers took it around to all the studios with George C. Scott attached as the shootist.  And all the studios went, ‘No, General Patton can’t be a cowboy.’  He’d already won his Oscar playing Patton, and they wouldn’t bankroll it.  But Wayne at the same time had heard about this story, and he started lobbying for the role, because he was the right age, and with Wayne attached as the shootist, they got half of the eight million dollar budget from Paramount Pictures, for the North American rights.  And they got the other half of the money from the famous Italian producer Dino de Laurentiis.  He made that big monkey movie with Jessica Lange – KING KONG, and a whole bunch of other movie.  Dino didn’t speak English very well, so he couldn’t read it; they had to tell him the story.  And he said, “John Wayne, cowboy?  Ya, he be good.”  The Duke was cast, and then a whole bunch of really good ‘name’ supporting actors – Jimmy Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, Hugh O’Brien, all worked at lower than their normal salaries to be in this, because word had gotten around that Wayne’s health was pretty shaky, and it might be his last picture.  Hollywood supports its own – particularly its legends like John Wayne.  So that’s how they got a great cast, and the rest is film history.   It’s now considered to be one of his five best Westerns.  It’s past the test of time.  

HENRY:  I was just reading where Harry Carey Jr. was saying that while John Wayne got his Oscar for TRUE GRIT, and deserved it, he deserved it even more for THE SHOOTIST. 

‘THE SHOOTIST’ SPOILER ALERT!

HENRY: The book is a very tight 158 pages, but still, no book reaches the screen without edits.  What sort of changes needed to be made, to make it into a movie? 

MILES:  You have to cut out some of the characters.  You have to trim it to get about a 120 page script – about a page a minutes.  The ending of the novel is different than the ending of the movie.  John Wayne dictated the ending of the movie, and there was a lot of controversy over this.  In the ending of the movie, John Wayne has this big shootout in this fancy saloon.  And he shoots Hugh O’Brien, and he shoots Richard Boone – who was a late addition.  That was a different character than the character in the book.  And John Wayne, after shooting these guys, and being wounded, and already knowing he’s dying of cancer – sort of committing suicide – the bartender comes out with a shotgun and shoots him – blows him in the back.  So he’s dying, when Ron Howard comes into the saloon, the bartender is reloading.  Ron takes Wayne’s Remington .44, and shoots the bartender, and kills the guy who shot John Wayne.  And then, as dictated by the Duke, Ron throws the gun away.  This is a kid, the Shootist is his hero, and he wants to be a gunfighter, too.  But now that he’s killed a man, he throws the gun away, renounces violence, and goes home with his mother, played by Lauren Bacall.  The problem with this ending is there’s no possible sequel.  Hollywood loves sequels.  In the book, John Wayne is dying.  The kid doesn’t shoot the bartender, but John Wayne asks Ron Howard to kill him, ‘Finish me off.’  And the Ron Howard character says ‘okay,’ and he shoots him – it’s a mercy killing, and Wayne asked for it.  And they had already made a deal in advance that Ron gets his two Remington .44 pistols.  He takes them, and walks outside of the saloon – it’s a great ending passage.  And people are asking if they can buy the guns, and what happened in there.  The Shootist has killed all the hard-cases in El Paso, and suddenly, the kid is the one who killed The Shootist.  And that’s the sequel –

HENRY: If I ever heard one!  Somebody should write it!

MILES:  (laugh) My new novel is called THE LAST SHOOTIST, and it’s coming out in October from Forge Books-MacMillan in New York City.  And it’s the next six months in this kid’s life.  The Shootist is dead, but this kid has got John Wayne’s matched pistols, and he’s got to flee 1901 El Paso, because the sheriff is after him.  The sheriff wants those guns because they’re very valuable.  The kid’s on the run, and he goes through various adventures in New Mexico with a wannabe novelist, and then on to Bisbee, Arizona, which was a copper-mining boom-town at that time.  The character of the Shootist, my dad loosely based on John Wesley Hardin, who killed 44 men, and was a real gun-spinner.  Hardin in real life had a special vest made up with leather pockets, so that he could cross-draw his guns.  They tried to do that for John Wayne in the movie, made a special vest for him, but Wayne was overweight and too big, and couldn’t get the guns out easily from under his overcoat, so they had to go back to the six-guns in holsters on his waist. But I’ve changed that in my sequel.  The kid is eighteen years old and has terrific hand-eye coordination, and he is the last Shootist.  If you like the original, hopefully you’ll like my sequel.       

 

HENRY: Speaking of your novels, I notice you have another, THE SERGEANT’S LADY. 

MILES:  That was my first novel.  That was based on an extension of one of my dad’s short stories for the old Saturday Evening Post, and that won a Spur back in 2004 as the Best First Western Novel of the Year, from the Western Writers of America.

THE LAST SHOOTIST is now available, and if you’d like a preview, go HERE, to Miles Swarthout’s site, where you can read the end of THE SHOOTIST and the start of THE LAST SHOOTIST.

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

Just as I was going to post, I heard that Robert Horton, who played scout Flint McCullough on 187 episodes of WAGON TRAIN, has died at age 91.  He was a fine actor, with an amused twinkle in his eye, and the only one who was never intimidated by Ward Bond’s Seth Adams.  I’ll have more to say about this versatile actor, and his other roles, in the next Round-up.

Happy trails,

Henry

All Original Content Copyright March 2016 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved