COWBOY FESTIVAL BRINGS ‘DEADWOOD’ PROM

Elijah Veluzat & Bree Wall at Melody Ranch Saturday

 

Saturday and Sunday, April 21^st and 22^nd, the Veluzat family’s Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio hosted the 20^th Annual Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival.  I was there on Saturday, and while they haven’t compiled official figures yet, there’s no doubt that attendance will top all previous records.  But the Ranch is so big that once you got in, you never felt crowded.  I’ll have complete coverage of the event in next week’s Round-up, but there’s one story I wanted to share right now.  I was talking to Daniel Veluzat, trail-boss of the outfit, and he pointed out an attractive couple standing on a porch and posing for pictures.   The story actually goes back about a decade, because that’s how many years ago the tremendously popular and influential HBO series DEADWOOD was shot at Melody Ranch.

Bree Wall, Molly Parker & Paula Malcomson in DEADWOOD

 

“The young lady is Bree Wall, who is the actress who played Sofia in DEADWOOD.”  Sofia was the little girl whose parents were killed, and much of the series turned on how much she might or might not be able to remember.  “She was about ten years old at the time.  And the boy with her, ElijahVeluzat, he was the snot-nose trouble-maker boy in the show.”  He’s also Daniel’s son.  “They just stayed in touch over the years, and here we are a decade later, reuniting at the house she grew up in with Alma, and they’re going to the prom.”   

Daniel Veluzat

It’s been a good, busy time at the ranch, which gained recent attention when Quentin Tarantino shot much of DJANGO UNCHAINED there.  “They were here, had close to six months of prep, and they shot about fourteen, fifteen days; they got a lot shot in that short time.  It’s good to keep a big movie, a big production like that, in our state, let alone here (at the Ranch).  Quentin shared an interesting story with us on a tech scout.  His mother named him ‘Quentin’ after a character on GUNSMOKE.  We were standing right in front of the saloon, the Longbranch, and he said, ‘Longbranch!?’  And we told him this is where they did GUNSMOKE.  I don’t know if that made up his mind (to shoot here), but it excited him.”   Incidentally, Burt Reynolds, who played the half-Indian blacksmith ‘Quint’ also named a son ‘Quentin’ after the character.

If you’d like a look at the ranch, here’s a link to a current T-Mobile commercial that was shot there:

TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL OPENS AT THE CHINESE THTR THURSDAY NIGHT

On Thursday night, April 25^th, the Annual TCM Classic Film Festival will open with a red-carpet gala event, the world premiere of the digital restoration of FUNNY GIRL.  Throughout the weekend there will be numerous screenings, panel discussions and other events, with many star appearances.  The Chinese Theatre has several screens, so as many as six different films may be screening at once.  Of particular interest to Western movie fans, on Friday at noon, THE RIVER OF NO RETURN will be screened, with producer Stanley Rubin attending, and there will be a discussion.  At 2:30, RUGGLES OF RED GAP will screen, with Norman Lloyd and Todd McCarthy in attendance.  At 9:15, HONDO will screen in 3D. 

On Saturday at 11:45 a.m., DELIVERENCE will screen, with a discussion including Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, and director John Boorman.  At 2:00 p.m., a new digital restoration of GIANT will screen, with a discussion by Jane Withers.  At 7p.m., SHANE will screen, with Kid Essentials host Bill Hader attending.  At the same time, THE TALL TARGET, an Anthony Mann-directed film about an attempted assassination of President Lincoln, starring Dick Powell, screens, with writer Donald Bogle attending.  On Sunday night at 7:15 a digital restoration of Buster Keaton’s THE GENERAL will premiere, with a live musical accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra.   I want to stress that Westerns are the tip of the iceberg here – there’s a tremendous array films of every imaginable genre screening, most that are very rarely seen on a screen, and individual tickets are available.  For more information, please go HERE.  http://filmfestival.tcm.com/  

‘THE SCARLET WORM’ - A Movie Review

 

What do you expect from a Western entitled THE SCARLET WORM?  Something unusual; and something unusual, to say the least, is what you get.  THE SCARLET WORM is a remarkable, compelling, fascinating western film, though not for the easily shocked, and especially not for kids.

The story makes no compromises to meet the viewers’ expectations.  The story is the story: take it or leave it.  The hero, or rather the protagonist, is neither hero nor antihero – he’s the guy who moves the action along, often at a puzzling and erratic pace.  He doesn’t look like a western lead – Aaron Steilstra as ‘Print’ has nothing rural about his face; he looks like a sociopathic Tony Shaloub, and dresses like a cross between a New York gangster and an over-paid country parson.   He works for a rancher named Mr. Paul, and his job is to discourage rustlers.  That is, until Mr. Paul has a more urgent assignment for him: to kill Heinrich Kley, a brothel-owner who has the temerity to perform abortions on his pregnant whores. 

If it sounds a little odd that Mr. Paul should be so up-in-arms about Mr. Kley’s actions, that’s not a mistake.  SCARLET WORM resembles the stories of Jim Thompson (THE KILLER INSIDE ME, THE GRIFTERS) far more than it does any traditional western story-teller.  As with Thompson’s tales, you’re getting the story from the point-of-view of someone who’s not all there, and doesn’t understand what is often more clear to the viewer.  It’s a maddening and enthralling sort of suspense.

Aaron Steilstra and Brett Halsey, alias Montgomery Ford

Some of the desert locales are beautiful, but not all, and in a startling nod to realism, the people of the desert are often remarkably dirty.  Even the whores, who you see completely, unself-consciously, and anti-erotically naked, all need a bath badly.  Even more queasy-making is the unflinching scene of Mr. Kley performing an abortion, his seeming kindliness making it all the more unnerving. 

This is a film by very talented filmmakers who know precisely what effects they are going for, and how to achieve them.  Remarkably, writer David Lambert and director Michael Fredianelli have pulled it off for what co-producer and actor Mike Malloy tells me was a budget of $7500.  No, there are no missing zeroes: they shot it for under eight grand!

Dan Van Husen and Eric Zaldivar

And what an eclectic cast!  Spaghetti Western fans will delight to see the three stars, Brett Halsey as Mr. Paul, performing under his Eurowestern non-de-plume of Montgomery Ford; Dan Van Husen as Heinrich Kley; and Michael Forest as a judge.   Also worth noting is Kevin Giffin as Hank, who knows Mr. Paul better than Print does, but whose advice is often unheeded.

The action is exciting and well-handled, as are the visuals by cinematographer Michael Martinez.  The use of locations as familiar as Vasquez Rocks, and the streets of Pioneertown, give the picture a grounding in the familiar elements of the western, then spin it off-balance, and give it a shove.  If you are a purist and a traditionalist, this is not the western for you.  But if you have an open mind and a wish to see something truly different, you’ll find it here.  Highly recommended.  This film has been ‘out’ for some time – I found out about it late, so I don’t know where it would be currently available to rent or to stream, but it is available for sale at Amazon  HERE.  Also, the enthusiastic critical reception it received has led to another very intriguing project.  Producer Mike Malloy confirmed to me that they are developing DJANGO LIVES, a follow-up not to the Tarantino film, but to the Sergio Corbucci original, and the original Django, Franco Nero, has confirmed that he’s interested in playing the character again.  All that I’ve heard beyond that is that it would be set in Los Angeles in the early 20^th century, and Django would be working as a technical expert on westerns.

‘VIRGINIAN’ CAST FAVORITES MARATHON ON INSP APRIL 27^TH

The good folks at INSP have interviewed THE VIRGINIAN cast members to find their personal favorites among the 248 episodes, and will be sharing them in an all-day marathon on Saturday, April 27^th starting at one p.m., Eastern time.  Gary Clarke (Steve Hill), Diane Roter (Jennifer Sommers), Don Quine (Stacy Granger), Sarah Lane (Elizabeth Granger), Roberta Shore (Betsy Garth), and the original ‘Man With No Name,’ James Drury, all took part.  And who could have guessed that Roberta Shore’s fave would also happen to be the episode where Robert Redford was her romantic interest?  To get a good overview of THE VIRGINIAN series, and where the stars are today, here are the links to my multi-part series on the VIRGINIAN 50^TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION at THE AUTRY.  Part ONE; Part TWO; Part THREE ; and Part FOUR. 
 

 

TWO WEEKENDS LEFT TO CATCH ‘RAMONA’!

 

The 90^th season of the Ramona Pageant, at the Ramona Bowl Amphitheatre in Hemet, will have four more performances, on the weekends of April 27^th & 28^th, and May 4^th & 5th.  Based on Helen Hunt Jackson’s fabulously popular novel, attending, and participating in this program has been a tradition for generations of Californians. It’s a remarkably colorful presentation, with about 350 participants, and only the two leads are usually professional actors. Some locals have taken part, in various roles and positions onstage and behind the scenes, for decades. Among the famous actors who have taken part are GONE WITH THE WIND villain Victor Jory, who played the lead early in his career, and was associated with the show for years, and Raquel Welch, who played Ramona in 1959. To learn more, and buy tickets, call 800-645-4465 or go HERE. 

R.I.P.D. FIRST TRAILER!

Jeff Bridges plays a dead old-west lawman and Ryan Reynolds plays a dead S.W.A.T., working for the Rest In Peace Department. Here's the first look!

 

NEW LONE RANGER TRAILER

Here's the link to the 'Final Official Trailer'.  Speaking as an editor, I thought it was a terrific piece of work, but I’m startled, after posting it on Facebook, how many people absolutely hate it.  Take a look and tell me what you think. 

 

 PAUL HOGAN CLAIMS TAX ADVISOR ABSCONDED WITH $34 MILLION!

 

The writer and star of the CROCODILE DUNDEE movies and the Western LIGHTNING JACK had been in trouble with the Australian government – in 2010 he was kept from leaving the country until he settled a $150 million tax debt.  In 2012, Hogan and tax advisor Philip Eggilshaw reached a settlement with Aussie tax authorities.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is Eggilshaw, who is named on an international arrest warrant, is nowhere to be found, and Hogan claims Eggilshaw has cleaned out Hogan’s $34 million Swiss bank account.  Details comin’, mate!

 

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!

And speaking of TCM (okay, nobody was), 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 entrepreneur 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 permanent 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 Hollywoodwestern, 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.



WELLSFARGO 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.


WESTERNS ALL OVER THE DIAL


INSP’s SADDLE-UP SATURDAY features a block of rarely-seen classics THE VIRGINIAN and HIGH CHAPARRAL, along with BONANZA and THE BIG VALLEY. On weekdays they’re showing LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, BIG VALLEY, HIGH CHAPARRAL and DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN.


ME-TV’s Saturday line-up includes THE REBEL and WAGON TRAIN. On weekdays it’s DANIEL BOONE, GUNSMOKE, BONANZA, BIG VALLEY, WILD WILD WEST, and THE RIFLEMAN.


RFD-TV, the channel whose president bought Trigger and Bullet at auction, have a special love for Roy Rogers. They show an episode of The Roy Rogers Show on Sunday mornings, a Roy Rogers movie on Tuesday mornings, and repeat them during the week.


WHT-TV has a weekday afternoon line-up that’s perfect for kids, featuring LASSIE, THE ROY ROGERS SHOW and THE LONE RANGER.


TV-LAND angered viewers by dropping GUNSMOKE, but now it’s back every weekday, along with BONANZA.

AMC usually devotes much of Saturday to westerns, often with multi-hour blocks of THE RIFLEMAN, and just this week began running RAWHIDE as well.  Coming soon, LONESOME DOVE and RETURN TO LONESOME DOVE miniseries!


THE WRAP-UP

That'll have to do for today.  Next week I hope to have a full report on The Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, the Western Fictioneers nominees for their Peacemaker Awards, and a review of the new DVD release of THE GRAND DUEL, starring Lee Van Cleef.  And a report on the TCM Fest will be coming soon!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

VIRGINIAN ON SATURDAY, DEAD MEN COMING SOON

 

AUTRY & INSP CELEBRATE ‘THE VIRGINIAN’S’ 50^TH ANNIVERSARY!

 

On Saturday, September 22^nd, the Autry will mark the landmark television series’ half century with a day and night of activities.  Simultaneously, the INSP network will present a marathon of episodes, to welcome the series to its regular Saddle-Up Saturday programming.  The series was a landmark for many reasons.  The first non-anthology series to run 90 minutes, it was essentially a whole movie every week.

 

Happily, many of the stars of the series will be attending the Autry event, including James Drury, who played the title character of The Virginian (his character had no other name), in all 249 episodes.  Also attending will be Clu Gulager (Emmett Ryker), Randy Boone (Randy Benton), Gary Clarke (Steve Hill), Sara Lane (Elizabeth Grainger), Diane Roter (Jennifer Sommers), Roberta Shore (Betsy Garth), and Don Quine (Stacey Grainger).

 

James Drury

 

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., THE VIRGINIAN stars will be signing autographs in the lobby (I assume on a rotating schedule, and they charge for this). 

There will be screenings of episodes in the Wells Fargo Theatre, and at 1 p.m., the stars will take part in a panel discussion, moderated by the Western Clippings website author Boyd Magers.

From 2 to 4 in the Autry Cafe, Stuart Nisbet, the bartender in the series, will present ‘Saloon Stories From Bart the Bartender.’   

And from 5 to 9 p.m. in the Heritage Court there will be a chuck-wagon dinner with the cast (this even is sold out).  To learn more about the event at the Autry, go HERE.

INSP will begin their marathon at ten a.m. western time, with THE EXECUTIONERS, the first episode of the first season.

Incidentally, THE VIRGINIAN is, of course, based on the novel by Owen Wister, published in 1902, and which has been filmed at least five times, starting with Cecil B. DeMille’s 1914 film, starring Dustin Farnum.  It was filmed again in 1923 starring Kenneth Harlan, and the first talkie version was in 1929, with Victor Fleming directing  star Gary Cooper.  It was done again in 1946, starring Joel McCrea, and a TV movie version, starring Bill Pullman, in 2000. 

If you’ve only seen the series, you’d be surprised to read the novel, and learn that Trampas, Doug McClure’s character, and close pal of the Virginian, is his deadly enemy in all of the other versions, my favorite being Brian Donleavy opposite Joel McCrea.  And if you read the book, then watch HIGH NOON, also with Gary Cooper, you’ll be struck by the fact that, despite its claims of being based on the story THE TIN STAR, the movie is largely plagiarized from the last few chapters of THE VIRGINIAN. 

 

SPEAKING FOR THE DEAD (MEN – THE SERIES) – An interview with director Royston Innes

 

To see the DEAD MEN: THE SERIES TRAILER, go HERE.

 

On Wednesday, September 26^th, the first two episodes of a new Western web series will premiere on the internet.  It’s entitled DEAD MEN – THE SERIES, and if you click on the link above, and watch the trailer, you will have seen as much as I have.  But while 2 ½ minutes can’t tell you everything, it can tell you this: it looks like a real movie.  Unlike most of the made-for-the-web western and pseudo western programming I’ve seen, it isn’t green-screened, it isn’t CGI’d, and it doesn’t have any zombies.  It’s clearly shot on real locations, with professional camerawork and costuming and art direction.

 

It’s the brain-child of a pair of men, Australian co-creator and director Royston Innes, and Texan Iraqi War vet co-creator, producer and co-star Ric Maddox.  It’s the story of a man named Roy Struthers and his family, a Civil War and Indian Wars veteran who left the battlefield owning precious little until a small piece of land in the Arizona Territory turned out to hold an immensely valuable gold vein.  Needless to say, there are folks willing to do whatever it takes to steal the claim away from the Struthers family. 

When I spoke to director Royston Innes, he told me how the project came to be, and what he and Ric Maddox envision for its future. 

ROYSTON: The time is right for westerns, although my next project is a film noir.  For me, it’s not so much about the Western; it’s more what’s behind it.  I go to films these days, and there’s just no real men.  I’m Australian, so you grow up with a certain ruggedness.  Every child has moments when you come home from a fight, and you’ve gotten mangled.  And your dad says, “Well, you did good.”  There’s something a little tougher.  But you find with so many actors these days, they come out to L.A., and they get ‘into the program.’  And slowly but surely they become part off the machine, and they lose what was so interesting about them.  Know what I mean?

 

HENRY: Yes, it sorts of vacuums the personality out of them.

R: Yes it does.  And I believe it’s because they think there is something further ahead of them, almost like an idea of who they should be.  It’s all created by fear.  So when we decided to go to Arizona to shoot, it was really important to me to get real cowboys.  And my strength, because in my youth I was very devoted to acting, and I studied with the very best in the world – I spent two years studying with Mike Nichols.  I went to the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, and I sought out the best teachers around.  I was very happy to finish it at the time I came out to L.A., I quit.  What I really like to do is (work with), I wouldn’t say unknown actors, but with people who just aren’t actors.  But what they are is they’re character.  For example, the gentleman who plays Virgil (friend of Roy Struthers), Brent Rock, you would have seen him in the trailer –

H: He reminded me of a younger Sam Elliot.

 

Brent Rock

 

R: He is; he’s got the presence -- he’s on-screen, and he electrifies.  And he’s a real cowboy, a real horseman who lives in Tombstone, Arizona.  He’s on his horse every day; he does it for a living.  That’s who I want in my films: real men.  Because of the, as you say, the vacuum of personality that happens, you have to go and search these people out.  And I want to give them the opportunity.  Because if you cast right, and they trust in you, and they believe in you, and I do my job, you’re going to get a better performance than any actor could give you. 

 

H: That’s very interesting, that you’ve devoted so much time to your study of acting, and concluded that you don’t need professional actors. 

 

R: Well, yes and no.  It takes time.  I have another picture I’m doing next year, a semi-western very similar to LEGENDS OF THE FALL, shooting in Canada.  And I have an unknown in the lead role.  And it’s going to take time.  Vulnerabilities in untrained actors, they take more time.  But when you have someone, in this case a Virgil, who is a leading-man cowboy, you just have to get him to get out of the way of himself.  Because it’s already there; he already has the grit in his fingernails.  It’s one of those things that bug me, in westerns in particular, is they’re too bloody clean.  At a time that was so rough and tumble – I want to see the sweat!  Back in the pioneering days of the Wild West, water was as expensive as a dollar a glass.  You could drink liquor for cheaper.  It does something to the way they look, the way they smell, the way they sweat.  And authenticity is very very important to me.

 

H: I understand you grew up, in Australia, watching an awful lot of movies.

 

R: I was obsessed with film.  I’d watch three movies a day, every day.  Obviously you had to go to school, but every waking moment I could, I watched.  I was a bit of a shut-in child, really, I was very anti-social.  I’d go to the video store each and every day, and in the ten-minute walk it took me, I’d audio-taped movies, and I listened to them on my Walkman.  They’d become such a huge part of my life that even when I wasn’t watching them, I was listening to them.  SCENT OF A WOMAN had a huge impact on me.  Because it had a standard first act.  And you think you know where it’s going, then suddenly they pack for New York.  It’s electrifying; and I don’t know what it was, but it sparked something in me.  I didn’t actually fall in love with acting until I saw a man named Daniel Day Lewis in a film called MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDERETTE.  I was 11 or 12, and it had a real impact on me.  And not long after I saw him in MY LEFT FOOT.   I didn’t know acting could be like that.  And that is what I aspired to.  And it took me away from my real love, which is film, and I eventually found my way back.  Life has a funny way, in retrospect, of showing you, ‘see, this is where I was leading you all along.’ 

 

H: Any particular western filmmakers have an impact on you?

R: You know who had a big impact on me?  It was about ten seconds, in a film by Jim Jarmusch called DEAD MAN.  It’s a fantastic film; it’s one where you can almost sense the sweat and the grime.  There’s a scene when he’s coming into town, and it’s his point of view, what he’s seeing through the carriage door.  And it’s so dangerous, it almost feels unlivable, and pioneering, and there are no rules.   That moment had a massive impact on me.  Is there a western director who’s had a massive impact on me?  No.  It’s more about authenticity, and celebrating the real man. 

H: How did you and Ric Maddox get together?

R: I directed Ric in a play, here in Los Angeles.  Ric had been in the armed forces in Iraq, and this was a play about Iraq, and I chose him specifically and another fellow who had just come back, and they were amazing.  Ric and I struck up a friendship, and we were talking one day about business, and what films he’d seen recently.  And gotten a bit nostalgic about certain actors, like the Yul Brynners, the John Waynes, and where have these men gone?  We live in an amazing time where there’s no excuse now for anyone not to pick up a camera and create something.  There’s so much available.  So on that idea, of the real man, and there’s no better genre (for that) than the western, we started to create something.  We kind of inspired each other, and one would write, wouldn’t it be great if this would happen?  And it turned into a series that I’m really proud of.  Each episode is ended with a little twist. 

 

H: Did you always see DEAD MEN as a web series, or did you see it as a feature, and figure out how to break it down? 

 

R: I was enticed to the web because it was still underground.  It still hadn’t laid its roots yet.  I wanted to come along and shock them.  I really think that this is going to be one of the premiere quality pieces on the web.  We put a lot of effort and a lot of energy and a lot of money to make it that good, so it could be real entertainment, and it’s for the web.  Eventually the web and web series are going to be the norm, and people will get most of their content there, just right now people don’t know how that’s going to happen.  And if I could say that DEAD MEN contributed to that, I’d be very very happy.

 

Ric Maddox

 

H: How long is each episode?

R: From seven to ten and a half minutes.  We’re premièring the first two episodes on Wednesday, September 26^th.  I’m not going to give anything away, but the first episode sets up where things are going, and I just wanted to give people a little bit of a taste of the speed and the action that they can expect with episodes. 

 

It has a genuine viciousness to it.  There’s a lot of knife fights, and a lot of spilled blood.  Eventually we’re going to get this done in all the different languages, so people can enjoy it.  Westerns are huge in Asia and France and Germany. 

 

H: I’m very aware of that because the Round-up is read everywhere around the globe.

 

R: Well, tell them that they can expect it to be translated into German, French, Japanese and hopefully Cantonese as well. 

 

H: I’ve heard that you’re planning to do five seasons of DEAD MEN.

 

R: Yeah.  It’s funny, we’re getting a lot of heat from this trailer, and because it’s taking web series where they haven’t been before; we’re getting a lot of heat from distributors who want to turn it into something else, something bigger.  Maybe a TV show.  I’m going to all these meetings.

 

Aiming low

 

H: You wouldn’t object to that, would you?

 

R: (laughs) Are you kidding?  Given a bigger budget, this could be amazing.   We already have episodes through season two planned out, and it’s going to take it to a different level – I wish that I could tell you what’s going to happen.  We have it all planned out – guaranteed five seasons.  And if TV picked it up I’d be so happy!  I’m particularly a fan of TV shows where it doesn’t stay in the typical three or four locations.  Almost like an on-going movie. 

 

H: Speaking of locations, how did you like shooting in Arizona? 

 

R: Loved it.  It’s my people.  I love communities.  I moved from Australia to New York when I was nineteen.  I love communities and eventually, my films are going to be more of the inspirational film type.     When you’re walking through Tombstone…some of my actors really got into it.  One of them, he plays Billy Walters, every day after shooting he loved to walk the planks of Tombstone, still in his costume, and it gave him a real thrill.  If you’re going to shoot a western you should shoot it in Arizona, because this is where it all happened.  When I was an actor, I did a war film called THE GREAT RAID (2005), and we did an eleven-day boot camp, and nothing could have been better to get us into the mind-set, what it felt like to be a soldier during World War II.  I would love to have done a western boot-camp for these guys, in Arizona.  It would shock their system in a way that nothing else can.

 

H: I’ve been talking to some actors in the new LONE RANGER movie, and they had a crash course, and they absolutely loved it. 

R: Going back to Arizona, Ric had shot a film there before, called MATTY, and when he told me about the people in Arizona, it just felt right.  We made a half dozen trips up there, scouting locations, and our budget, while big for a web series, is rather small.  And when people understood what we were trying to do, for the western, they opened up their homes to us; they opened up their land to us.  Amazing group of people called the Bell Boys, they have a livestock company, and they helped us with all the horses and the cattle, for next to nothing.  Amazing individuals –friendships that I will keep.  Couldn’t find a better place to shoot than Arizona – now I’ve just got to get those damned tax credits. 

 

(We talked a bit about the perils of the tax credit money that states provide to encourage filming, particularly that director Daniel Adams is in prison for inflating his expenses to get bigger tax credits – read last week’s BIG VALLEY article for details.)

 

R: I grew up with strong principles, and I was taught to hold on to your principles at all costs.  And it’s a daily struggle.  Part of it is believing in a higher force, and that you’re answerable.   That’s one thing I loved about Arizona is I’m a straight-shooter; I’m dealing with straight-shooters. 

 

H: How long a shoot was it?

 

R: It was a decent one; it was close to a month.  (laughs) And it was a tough one, Henry.  Low-budget; everyone doing everything.  Putting the scarves in the ice water, and putting it around my camera-operator’s neck so he doesn’t pass out.  We were there in June, We’d put ourselves in a position where we had to come back for something, and our locations were rough.  We had a thirty-minute four-by-four ride down to these locations.  Someone put a porta-loo down there, and that was it.  If the car went down, you were in trouble!  But again, no place better to get real vista shots.  We didn’t have all those luxuries, and at lunchtime we didn’t even always have shade.  But we came together as a unit, and it was a helluvah experience for an up-and-coming director like myself. 

 

H: Who is your cinematographer? 

 

R:  I actually had two D.P.s.  Bruce Logan, who shot the original TRON, and was involved with the original STAR WARS and 2001.  And Paul Hudson, he has a place called Lizardland Studios in Phoenix.   We shot on the Red One and the Scarlet.

Director Innes, D.P. Hudson

 

H: It’s been so long since I talked to anyone who actually shot film.

 

R: I’d love to shoot film.  There’s just a couple of things; when I’d be taking takes, in the back of my mind I’d be thinking of the cost.  I want to get the best performance, the best take, and sometimes that takes ten or fifteen takes. 

 

H: As you said, there’s really no excuse to not go out and make a movie, now that the changes in technology have brought the prices down. 

 

R: There’s no excuse not to be the master of your own creation right now.  If you’re not creating your own reality right now, you’re being a little lazy, to be blunt. 

 

H: What do you think of recent westerns?

 

R: TRUE GRIT was wonderful – I’m a huge fan of the Coen brothers.  And they’re writing – they’re in my top five.  They have an amazing D.P. in Roger Deakins, who gets them exactly what they want, and they take care of the rest.  3:10 TO YUMA was fantastic, and a real inspiration to me.  I still love the original 3:10.   You know, I take it back (about not being influenced by western directors); there are certain things I love from those old westerns.  I was recently watching Leone’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and I just love the starting.  I’m doing an homage to that; where they’re waiting in the station for the train to come, for (Charles) Bronson to get off the train.  There’s just that little vignette, the water tapping on the cowboy-hat brim -- it’s just brilliant!  And they don’t take that kind of time anymore.  They’re all in a rush, and that’s what he did so damned well.   He was amazing.  He was a man’s man.

 

H: And as you say, there are so few actors that you can take seriously as a man.

 

R: And that’s why there are so many cuts.  Because the camera doesn’t lie.  And if you’re comfortable in your own skin, and comfortable as the man that you are, the camera can stay on you for that much longer.  We need to be on the lookout for more of those kinds of actors. 

 

To learn more about DEAD MEN: THE SERIES, visit their website HERE. 

 

CHEYENNE WARRIOR II, HAWK -- Screenplay reviews

 

There’s a saying among magicians that if you know a hundred ways to control a selected card, but only one way to produce it, you know one card trick; but if you only know one way to control a card, but a hundred ways to produce it, you know a hundred tricks.

In some ways screenwriting – in fact any kind of writing – is like performing magic.  While there are a limited number of plots, there are infinite ways to tell them.  As Alexander Pope said, you should write, “…what oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed.”

Michael B. Druxman proved his abilities as a story-teller with his screenplay to CHEYENNE WARRIOR (1994), which I have described here as not only the best micro-budget western I’ve ever seen, but also one of the best Westerns of the last twenty years.  The movie, directed by Mark Griffiths, is one of the most successful that Roger Corman has ever produced.  It’s combination of solid western qualities, plotting and believable romance has generated a considerable international following and fan base. 

Not surprisingly, Druxman immediately set to work plotting the sequel.  Unfortunately, Corman, who owned the characters in the story, was not convinced a sequel was warranted.  When Corman couldn’t be convinced, Druxman rewrote the sequel to make the characters similar, but not the same, with an eye towards making it with the same leads, Pato Hoffman and Kelly Preston.  Sadly this did not produce a movie, but it did produce a very fine script, entitled SARAH GOLDENHAIR.  Thinking it some of his finest work, Druxman took the very unusual step of publishing this unfilmed screenplay.

Well, no follow-up to CHEYENNE WARRIOR has happened yet, but Michael Druxman has revealed the further machinations involved in the attempt, with the publishing of his new book, CHEYENNE WARRIOR II / HAWK.  You see, Roger Corman eventually came around and hired Druxman to write a sequel after all, and he wrote CHEYENNE WARRIOR II.  Upon reading it, Corman felt certain changes were necessary, in order to give the film a stronger female lead – ironic considering he had grave doubts about the original CHEYENNE WARRIOR because Kelly Preston’s part was so prominent.  

The second draft became HAWK, and as Corman was getting ready to put it into production, Canadian tax-shelter problems stalled and eventually killed the project.  Druxman has printed both drafts of the screenplay in one volume, providing readers, and especially writers, with the rare opportunity to compare different versions of what is substantially the same story. 

The similarities are obvious: both versions, as well as SARAH GOLDEN HAIR, revolve around the infamous Sand Creek Massacre of 1864.  Many of the characters are the same.  The differences are often more subtle: a white man is caught by Cheyenne poaching rabbits on their land.  In one version, the action is seen from the white man’s perspective; in the other, from the Indians’.  A Scandinavian couple are father and daughter in one version, and husband and wife in the other.  Then there are the major changes: Rose, a ‘Calamity Jane’ sort of character, is one of the two leads in one version, and doesn’t exist in the other.

CHEYENNE WARRIOR II / HAWK is a terrific read, and one of them would make a terrific film (and one would make a good film).  Michael Druxman’s character, Soars Like a Hawk, usually just called Hawk, was one of the great strengths of the original film, and he’s a great strength here, because he is a ‘noble’ Indian, but not of the incredibly stoic, humorless sort. 

Over the years, I’ve always warned beginning screenwriters to make a script the absolute best that they can before showing it to a potential buyer, since it’s nearly impossible to get them to read another draft: you get one shot.  Here you can compare two different versions of the same story, and see which you prefer.  I have a strong opinion as to my favorite, but ironically, I believe the other version is the more commercial. 

Reading CHEYENNE WARRIOR II / HAWK, whether you’re a fan of the original CHEYENNE WARRIOR, and wanted to know what happened to those characters, or whether you want to deepen your understanding of the screenwriting process by comparing the two different versions, offers a unique opportunity for the reader that should not be passed up.  If you’d like to read my interview with Michael Druxman, and  my review of CHEYENNE WARRIOR, go HERE. For my review of the SARAH GOLDEN HAIR screenplay, go HERE. To purchase CHEYENNE WARRIOR ll /HAWK, or any of his other published screenplays, contact Michael B. Druxman at druxy@ix.netcom.com or PMB142, 6425 S. IH-35, Suite 150, Austin, Texas 78744.    

 

KIRK DOUGLAS ATTENDS ‘LONELY ARE THE BRAVE’ AT EGYPTIAN WEDNESDAY NIGHT!

 

Just found out that on Wednesday, September 19^th (tomorrow) at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, Kirk Douglas will be appearing before the movie, at 7:30.  Details HERE.

SEE ‘NOW THEY CALL HIM SACRAMENTO’ ON THE BIG SCREEN!

 

If you’re going to be in Portland, Oregon on Sunday, September 23^rd, run, don’t walk, to the Mission Theatre to see NOW THEY CALL HIM SACRAMENTO (1972).  This rarely seen and quite amusing Spaghetti Western comedy is a fake ‘Trinity’ film, with Michael Forest playing the Terence Hill role, and Fred Harrison as Bud Spenser.  And Michael Forest, famous for STAR TREK, and various Spaghetti Westerns and Roger Corman movies, will attend!  Also, Roger Browne, the English voice for Terence Hill, and former president of the E.L.D.A. (English Language Dubbers Association) will attend.  To learn more, go HERE.  To read my review of SACRAMENTO, and to contact video distributor Dorado Films, go HERE.

Okay, that’s gotta be it for this week’s Round-up!  Sorry for delaying this until Tuesday night. 

Next week I’ll tell you about a Cowboy Church you can attend, a partial staging of the RAMONA pageant at the very place where the book was written, and more!

 

Happy Trails,

 

Henry

 

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