NEW ‘WINNETOU’ ON AMERICAN TURF!

(Author Karl May dressed as Old Shatterhand)

Winnetou, the Mescalero Apache chief created by German Western writer Karl May well over a century ago, may have a new life onscreen. Virtually unknown in the United States, where they are set, the tales of Winnetou, Old Shatterhand, Old Surehand and Old Firehand are among the most beloved and oft-read stories in the non-English-speaking world. But they’ve rarely been translated into English.

In the 1960s, the tremendously successful series of Winnetou films based on the books, made my Germans in what is now Croatia, were the start of the European, later Spaghetti, western film industry. All starring Pierre Brice as Winnetou, and most starring Lex Barker as Shatterhand, the mostly European casts included Rod Cameron, Stewart Granger, Guy Madison and Mario Girroti, later known as Terence Hill.

The shooting locations are the site of annual pilgrimages (see my article WINNETOU-PALOOZA HERE)
http://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2011/04/winnetou-palooza.html
and various German television versions have been made over the years. Now the German film mini-major Constantin Film announces that they’ve signed Michael Blake, who scripted DANCES WITH WOLVES from his own novel, to adapt WINNETOU. Intended to shoot next year in New Mexico, it would be the first time one of May’s stories was filmed near its geographical setting. Incidentally, May did visit the U.S. once, in 1908, and despite frequent claims to the contrary, he wrote at least one more Western, WINNETOU IV, after the sojourn. Incidentally, there are other Winnetou projects in the works – the property is in public domain – and I’ll tell you more when I know more.

HONEST ABE SURROUNDED!

You may remember that the previous Round-up was devoted to the proposition that Westerns are NOT dead in spite of industry disappointment at COWBOYS & ALIENS’s box-office take (currently $110 million!). Speaking of bloated budgets, I said, “We’ll have to wait and see how ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER does with its $70,000,000 outlay. As a Paramount Pictures insider put it to me, it’s a movie that should be made. But it should be made by The Asylum for $250,000.”

I just heard from The Asylum partner and production honcho David Latt: “Hey Henry! Thanks for the suggestion...and you'll be happy (sad?) to know that ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES is already in the works. Ours will cost less than $70 million. Promise.” And I bet I’ll enjoy their’s more.

ROY ROGERS’ 100th BIRTHDAY CELBRATIONS CONTINUE!

Events have been going on all summer around the country. Roy’s actual 100th birthday will be on November 5th, and the summer is a whole lot more convenient a time to celebrate. What promises to be a terrific event will be taking place Saturday, August 27th at Roy and Dale’s old Double R Bar Ranch in Victorville. Among those taking part in the festivities will be Roy’s daughter Mimi Rogers and grand-daughter Julie Ashley Pemilla, actors Dick Jones, Ty Hardin, Hugh O’Brien, Andrew Prine, Bo Hopkins, Dan Haggerty, Donna Martell, Darby Hinton and Beverly Washburn, and authors Julia Ann Ream and Charlie LeSueur. For all the particulars, go HERE.

AND WATCH ROY IN ‘BELLS OF SAN ANGELO’ AT THE AUTRY

Also on Saturday, August 27th, at 2:00 p.m., the Autry will celebrate Roy Rogers’s 100th birthday with a special screening of Bells of San Angelo (1947). It features Roy, Dale, Andy Devine, David Sharpe, and of course, Trigger. It’s directed by William Witney from a Sloan Nibley screenplay. There will also be a discussion about the Autry’s efforts to conserve the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Archive.



THE WEST OF LEONE RETURNS - ALMERIA WESTERN FILM FESTIVAL

Spain’s fabled location of hundreds of Spaghetti Westerns will play host to the ALMERIA WESTERN FILM FESTIVAL September 8th through the 11th. In addition to screenings of TRUE GRIT and RANGO, here are some of the films which will be featured: BLACKTHORN, starring Sam Shepherd as Butch Cassidy, living in Bolivia under the name of James Blackthorn. GOODNIGHT FOR JUSTICE, a new western directed by Jason Priestly and starring his BEVERLY HILLS 90210 costar Luke Perry. THE MOUNTIE, a north-of-the-border tale starring Andrew Walker as a lone man in red who comes to clean up a corrupt town. THE WARRIOR’S WAY stars Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush, and Dong-gun Jang, who plays a warrior/assassin hiding out in the American Badlands. THE SCARLET WORM, starring Spaghetti Western vets Brett Halsey and Dan van Husen. THE DEAD AND THE DAMNED, about ‘49ers getting Zombified. The festival jury will be presided over by actor Fabio Testi (FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE) and director Eugenio Martin (BAD MAN’S RIVER). For more information, go to the official website HERE. http://www.almeriawesternfilmfestival.info/home.html

FAY MCKENZIE, JULIE ADAMS, JIMMY LYDON TO BE HONORED AT CINECON AUGUST 1ST THROUGH 5TH

For 47 years the Cinecon Classic Film Festival has been a Labor Day tradition for Hollywood movie-lovers. Based at the Egyptian Theatre, the screenings and shopping at discussions start on Thursday, August 1st and end on Monday, August 5th. Among the highlights will be Q&As, by Julie Adams on Thursday at 8:35 pm; Jimmy Lydon on Saturday at 4:53 pm (I’m not making these times up); and Fay McKenzie on Sunday at 5:53 pm, following a to-be-announced Gene Autry film.

It’s almost hopeless trying to pick movie highlights because the range is so wide and eclectic. Western fans will be delighted to see the Civil War story THE COWARD (1915) from Ince Triangle Kaybee, just after noon on Monday, the western BLAZING DAYS (1927) directed by William Wyler on Thursday at 9:10 pm, but you’ll really need to visit their site to plan your time. The cost is $100 for the entire event, or $25 to $30 a day (some days are longer than others). Get all the details HERE.

http://www.cinecon.org/cinecon_home.html

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!

And speaking of TCM, have I mentioned that the segment I was interviewed for is now viewable here?




THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

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

HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

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

WELLS FARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

This small but entertaining museum gives a detailed history of Wells Fargo when the name suggested stage-coaches rather than ATMS. There’s a historically accurate reproduction of an agent’s office, an original Concord Coach, and other historical displays. Open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Admission is free. 213-253-7166. 333 S. Grand Street, L.A. CA.


FREE WESTERNS ON YOUR COMPUTER AT HULU

A staggering number of western TV episodes and movies are available, entirely free, for viewing on your computer at HULU. You do have to sit through the commercials, but that seems like a small price to pay. The series available -- often several entire seasons to choose from -- include THE RIFLEMAN, THE CISCO KID, THE LONE RANGER, BAT MASTERSON, THE BIG VALLEY, ALIAS SMITH AND JONES, and one I missed from 2003 called PEACEMAKERS starring Tom Berenger. Because they are linked up with the TV LAND website, you can also see BONANZA and GUNSMOKE episodes, but only the ones that are running on the network that week.

The features include a dozen Zane Grey adaptations, and many or most of the others are public domain features. To visit HULU on their western page, CLICK HERE.

TV LAND - BONANZA and GUNSMOKE

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They run a GUNSMOKE Monday through Thursday at 10:00 a.m., and on Friday they show two, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.. They're not currently running either series on weekends, but that could change at any time.

NEED YOUR BLACK & WHITE TV FIX?

Check out your cable system for WHT, which stands for World Harvest Television. It's a religious network that runs a lot of good western programming. Your times may vary, depending on where you live, but weekdays in Los Angeles they run DANIEL BOONE at 1:00 p.m., and two episodes of THE RIFLEMAN from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.. On Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. it's THE RIFLEMAN again, followed at 2:30 by BAT MASTERSON. And unlike many stations in the re-run business, they run the shows in the original airing order. There's an afternoon movie on weekdays at noon, often a western, and they show western films on the weekend, but the schedule is sporadic.

RFD-TV has begun airing THE ROY ROGERS SHOW on Sundays at 9:00 a.m., with repeats the following Thursday and Saturday.

Also, AMC has started showing two episodes of THE RIFLEMAN on Saturday mornings.

That's it for this week! In the next week or two I'll have the story of my visit to the GANG OF ROSES II set at Paramount Ranch!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Contents Copyright August 2011 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

WINNETOU-PALOOZA!

If you’re planning to be in Croatia later this month, you can take part in what sounds like a fascinating event called FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS OF WINNETOU! While many of us are fans of Spaghetti Westerns, a lot of folks don’t know that a series of German Westerns were such a success that they inspired the Italians to get into the sagebrush business.

At the turn of the 20th Century, novelist Karl May was a German combination of Zane Grey and Edgar Rice Burroughs. His stories about the American west, focusing on Winnetou the Apache Chief, and pioneers Old Shatterhand and Old Surehand, have never waned in their popularity in Europe, and are finally being translated into English. In the early 1960s, about a dozen films were made from them, starring Pierre Brice as Winnetou, opposite such American actors as Lex Barker, Stewart Granger (okay, English) and Rod Cameron, many of them directed by Robert Siodmak, a German-born director who’d had great success in America before returning to Germany. Many of them have been dubbed into English, and not long ago TCM showed several.

Just as the Italian filmmakers went to Spain to make their Westerns, the Germans went to Croatia, and from April 16th through the 24th, you can visit locations and sets, and be entertained and enlightened by cast and crew members! And it’s all for 559 euros! That’s about $795.00, which sounds damned good for eight days including accommodations and food. If you’d like to learn more about the package, go HERE.

If you’d like to learn more about the films of Karl May, there’s a wonderful website from Holland HERE.

To see a trailer for WINNETOU III (in German) CLICK HERE.

To see a terrific three-minute montage of scenes from the Winnetou films, CLICK HERE.

You’ll see a lot of others on Youtube if you want more. And you can buy DVDs on eBay, but be careful, because many are not available in English, and almost all of them are in PAL format.

(Photos top to bottom: two pictures from the 2010 Winnetou Celebration; poster and still from Winnetou movies; C. Courtney Joyner; James Russo and Christopher Backus in YELLOW ROCK; Andy Garcia in CRISTIANA; Morgan Woodward; Man and Chief, Pawnee; Many Horns, Blackfeet Sioux)

JOYNER REVEALS HOW TO BREAK INTO WESTERN PRINT

On March 27th, C. Courtney Joyner met with a bevy of experienced and wannabe writers at Out West, at 24262 Main Street in Newhall. With over two-dozen produced screenplays to his credit, Joyner is clearly a successful writer. And with his fine book of interviews, THE WESTERNERS (CLICK HERE to see our review), he certainly has demonstrated an admirable knowledge of the Western movie. But since he is on the eve of having his very first Western novel published, he might seem an odd choice to lecture on breaking into Western print. But in fact, he’s in a perfect position to advise the even newer newcomers in a publishing world that’s changing from day to day.

“The reason that Bobbi-Jean (owner of Out West) thought about my doing this is because I’m so new to it – I’ve kind of wormed my way in when a lot of (the publishing business) was collapsing and other (companies) were starting up -- that it seemed to go along with the idea of what we have to do to break in.” A dozen years ago, freshly divorced and living in North Carolina, Court had been reading popular series like THE BADGE and STAGECOACH WEST. “I wrote a novel, and tried to get it to Warner Books. I thought I’d score one of these gigs. Nothing could have been further from the truth – I couldn’t even get an editor to read anything. Because there was a company called The Book Factory that had authors under contract, who would then be given the assignments. (Those series) were strictly in-house. The listed authors were all pseudonyms for this stable of four or five guys who were writing all of the mass-market paperbacks.”

It was while he was interviewing Western filmmakers and actors, and getting those articles published, that he heard of The Western Writers of America. He immediately applied for membership, and was quickly turned down, due to lack of fiction-publishing experience. But as he gained greater success with his articles and interviews in various magazines, especially WILDEST WESTERNS, he was eventually allowed to join their non-fiction section. This led to attending conventions, and meeting other writers and editors face to face, and learning about the marketplace at a time when the world of mass-market paperbacks was starting to shrink.

To his amazement, he learned that the best opportunity for a new Western writer was to be found not in ‘The West’, but on the other side of the pond. “I discovered some writers who were busy working on Black Horse Westerns. The novels are short – about 50,000 words. These are published in England, distributed in English-speaking parts of Europe, primarily as library books. Black Horse publishes about fifty-five titles a year.”
When he went online to get the writer’s guidelines, he also learned about Blackhorse Express, the company’s plan to sell mass-market paperbacks in the U.S. (all of their British editions have been hardback).

Black Horse accepted one of Court’s short stories for an anthology, and his first novel, TRACKING THE DEVIL, will soon be published by Black Horse. This is truly a European operation. Editor Nik Morton, who recently moved to Solstice Publishing, is Scottish, and lives in Spain. Although there are other Americans involved, “Most of the other writers are in Ireland, there are a few who are French, one is Italian. They’re writing Westerns because that’s what they love.”

In the meantime, another of Court’s short stories, TWO-BIT KILL, is in a stateside anthology, LAW OF THE GUN, published by Pinnacle, and he has a contract with them for a western novel for next year. That short story, incidentally, has just been nominated for a Peacemaker Award as Best Short Story of the Year by The Western Fictioneers. “It was all because of this networking, and this getting over the initial wall – I was stunned that it was so hard to get over.”

And the changes in the publishing world don’t stop. Court explained that they key players in Western publishing are Berkeley, Kensington-Pinnacle, and Leisure. “Leisure decided they could no longer sustain mass-market paperbacks – no more series Westerns, and they decided to go entirely e-book and trade paperback.” And the trade paperbacks have, in fact disappeared. What will be the next step in the changing Western publishing world? Court will be speaking on the subject again at the end of the month, at the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, which will take place at Melody Ranch from April 27th through May 1st. The Festival is a must-see event under any circumstance, but especially if you’re planning to crack the Western writing market, you need to be there to hear Court.

‘YELLOW ROCK’ LAUNCHES SITE

YELLOW ROCK now has an on-line presence HERE. The soon-to-be-seen Western stars Michael Biehn, James Russo and co-writer Lenore Andriel. To read my two-part article on the production, CLICK HERE (part 1) and HERE (part 2). The score by Randy Miller is a knock-out!

‘CRISTIADA’ RELEASES TRAILER

The little-known story of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), when the Mexican government’s attempts to secularize the country touched of a rebellion, is the subject of this film from special-effects-whiz turned-first-time director Dean Wright. Written by Michael Love, the picture stars Oscar Isaac, Peter O’Toole, Andy Garcia, Eva Longoria and Ruben Blades. It was shot in Durango, Mexico, reportedly under extremely tight security, since the area has been a flashpoint of violence during the ongoing Mexican drug wars. To see the trailer, CLICK HERE.

TCM MARKS 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CIVIL WAR

Turner Classics will screen 34 movies on Mondays and Wednesdays during April to mark the Anniversary of the War Between The States. Starting on Monday, April 4th with GONE WITH THE WIND and RAINTREE COUNTY, they will follow on Wednesday the 6th with four films about life on the home front, FRIENDLY PERSUASION, BAND OF ANGELS, OF HUMAN HEARTS and LITTLE WOMEN. April 11th will showcase five Civil War silents, the 13th will feature comedies and musicals, and the 18th and 20th will both feature westerns. On the 25th there will be battlefield stories, and on the 27th the topic will be Reconstruction.

MAGNIFICENT 7 AT THE AUTRY SATURDAY APRIL 8TH

Aside from Eastwood, John Sturges is probably the last great American Western director to emerge, and one of his finest works, THE MAGNIFICENT 7 (1960) will grace the big screen at the Wells Fargo Theatre at 1:30 p.m. A re-make of Kurosawa’s 7 SAMURAI, it’s the story of some kind-hearted gunmen who agree to defend a poor Mexican town being ravaged by banditos led by the wonderfully despicable Eli Wallach. The seven are Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, Horst Buchholtz and in the leads, Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. Yul and Steve, both extremely competitive actors, hated each other, and it’s a joy to watch them try to steal scenes from each other.

ROY RIDES RANGE AT RFD-TV

On Thursday April 7th at 2:30p.m. Western time, it’s ALONG THE NAVAJO TRAIL (1945) starring Roy, Dale, Gabby, sassy spitfire Estelita Rodriguez and ace villain Roy Barcroft. This one concerns Gypsies, ‘worthless’ land, and the people who keep killing each other to own it. On Saturday at 9:00 a.m. it’s BELLS OF CORONADO (1950), written by Sloan Nibley, directed by William Whitney, and starring Roy, Dale, Pat Brady, and the Riders of The Purple Sage. Keep your eyes peeled for Rex Lease, once a Western leading man who plays the shipping-company foreman.

MUTTERINGS

I had planned to have my article on the Los Angeles Spaghetti Western Festival in this week’s Round-up, but I was still editing it when I had to rush off to see Robert Redford’s THE CONSPIRATOR, about the trial of accused Lincoln assassination conspirator Mary Surratt. I’ll have my review, as well as the Spaghetti Western piece, in next week’s Round-up, but for now I’ll just say that it’s well-worth seeing, and beautifully shot.

Also soon I’ll have part two of my coverage of the shooting of THE FIRST RIDE OF WYATT EARP, and my interviews with Earl Holliman and Ty Hardin. I was at the Hollywood Show this Saturday, where folks with more patience than I waited for three hours to get Martin Landau to sign something. Ran into the great screen villain Morgan Woodward (see the picture), who sent greetings to his fans. If you’d like to read my interview with Morgan, CLICK HERE.

Adios, amigos!

Henry

All Contents Copyright April 2011 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved