COMICS & COWBOYS LUNCHEON, PLUS ‘BOUND FOR GLORY’ AT THE AUTRY!

COMICS & COWBOYS LUNCHEON AT THE AUTRY!

July 16^th’s Third-Wednesday-of-the-month Cowboy Lunch at the Autry was great fun, and an eye-opener for many who, like me, had little knowledge of the topic.  Rob Word’s theme this time was COMICS & COWBOYS, and the comics were not the side-kick kind, but the full-color sort.  The program opened with Maxine Hansen of Gene Autry Entertainment paying tribute to actor Dick Jones, who had been under personal contract to Gene, and starred in two series he produced, THE RANGE RIDER and BUFFALO BILL JR.  He was also featured in many comics.

Among the artists discussed was Everett Kinstler, now an official portrait artist to presidents and movie stars, who once drew Zane Grey and Zorro comics.

Kinstler's Zorro

Rob Word and Mark Evanier

Mark Evanier, animation writer and book author, and a guiding light of ComiCon, was a guest speaker.  He discussed working as an assistant to legendary comic artist Jack Kirby, and gave an overview of the comic business in general.  Among the things I learned: that while Dell comics put out many Western comic series, often tied to movies and TV shows – the heyday of western comics and western TV coincided – the work was actually done by an outfit called Western Publishing – the folks who do The Little Golden Books. Western comics always were published under Dell until 1962, when Western decided to do their own publishing, under the Gold Key name. 

A Jack Kirby cover

Dan Spiegle, who would become famous for his comic-book adaptations of Western TV shows, actually got a break when he didn’t get hired to draw a Bozo the Clown strip.  They told him his work was too dark and hard-edged for the clown, but some bright guy realized it would be just right for the Hopalong Cassidy strip they were starting; he drew it from 1949 until it was cancelled in 1955.  He worked on the MAVERICK and SUGARFOOT comic books, which were adapted directly from episode scripts.  He even went on-set to sketch James Garner at work, a pleasure, since Garner was such a nice guy.  An issue with some actors, though not Garner, was that actors had art approval on their drawings, and often expected to be made more attractive than they really were. 

Spiegle's Maverick

Sergio Aragones, the celebrated MAD MAGAZINE artist for more than half a century, was the next guest.  A native of Mexico, his father had worked in Mexican movies, and Sergio told about visiting the set of THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN, and watching Guy Madison trying to play scenes co-starring a ball on the end of a stick – which would later be replaced by a dinosaur. 

Sergio Aragones' Bat Lash

Sergio would soon create the Western comic BAT LASH.  With his English not so strong at the time – he jokes that it’s still not so great – he tried to tell the stories as visually as possible, with Denny O’Neil writing the words.

Sergio Aragones with a 'Bat Lash' page

Switching to European comics, actor Martin Kove told about how, during his CAGNEY & LACEY days, he almost got to star in the film version of Lieutenant Blueberry which, despite the sound of its title, was a serious and hugely popular adult Western comic-book out of France.  As so often happens, the script that was developed had nothing to do with the comic strip, and the project died in the dust. 

Martin Kove with a painting of Lieutenant Blueberry

The last guest speaker was Olympic athlete and movie stuntman Dean Smith, who was signing his autobiography, COWBOY STUNTMAN.  He credits James Garner for starting him on his 55 year career as a stuntman, and recalled being hired to double Strother Martin in the John Wayne film MCCLINTOCK, and ending up doubling Maureen O’Hara as well!

Dean Smith signing his autobiography

It was a great event, a packed house, including a number of well-known stuntmen, and western stars L.Q. Jones and Morgan Woodward.  On August 20^th, the theme of the Cowboy Lunch will be Gene’s Autry’s old headquarters, Melody Ranch.  Be there or be square!

Morgan Woodward, L.Q. Jones & Martin Kove

Looking over this article, it strikes me how often James Garner’s name came up at this event, just a couple of weeks before he died.  I’ve enjoyed his work since I was a kid, on MAVERICK, ROCKFORD, and everything else I saw him do.  There has been so much written about Garner the man and Garner the actor that I really don’t have anything to say that hasn’t been said much better by the people who actually knew and worked with him.  Tom Sellick, who early in his career worked with Garner on ROCKFORD FILES always said that no one wore their stardom better than Garner.  We’ll all miss him.

‘BOUND FOR GLORY’ AUGUST 9^TH AT THE AUTRY

As part of their ‘What is a Western?’ series, and in conjunction with their ROUTE 66 exhibition, the Autry will present ‘BOUND FOR GLORY’, starring David Carradine as folk-singer and political activist Woody Guthrie.  Directed by Hal Ashby, scripted by Robert Getchell from Guthrie’s autobiography, the film won the Best Cinematography Oscar for Haskell Wexler, and Best Musical Score for Leonard Rosenman.  The film, free with museum admission, screens in the Wells Fargo Theatre at 1:30, and will be introduced by Jeffrey Richardson, Gamble Curator of Western History, Popular Culture, and Firearms.    

I SPY – The Complete Series – A Review

The success of the James Bond films, based on the Ian Fleming novels, created a vogue for spy TV series, commencing with THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and SECRET AGENT in 1964, I SPY, THE AVENGERS (it really started in ’61 but wasn’t shown in the U.S. until ’64), the spoof GET SMART and the western version WILD WILD WEST in 1965, and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE in 1966.  They were all delightful in their time, but in my opinion, I SPY has aged better than the others, so it’s great news that Timeless Media has released the entire three-season, 82 episode run on DVD as I SPY – THE COMPLETE SERIES.    

I SPY seemed more grounded in reality than the competition.  While most of the other spy series aped the Bond films’ fondness for gimmickry – walkie-talkies hidden in pens (“Open channel D”), shoe-phones, and cameras, radios, hats and what-have-yous that converted into guns, Robert Culp as Kelly Robinson, and Bill Cosby as Alexander Scott, had guns that looked like guns, and that killed people when nothing else was going to work.  While most other shows pitted their agents against a succession of hard-to-distinguish Fu Manchu/Moriarty/Dr. No-like criminal masterminds, or a seemingly endless collection of neo-Nazi organizations, Robinson and Scott were usually up against the Soviet Union, or other recognizable and seemingly real enemies. 

And while the other shows made often obvious studio back-lots stand in for foreign countries, I SPY went all over the world for real.  Episodes were shot in Hong Kong, Japan, Turkey, Mexico and much of Latin America – and that’s just in season one!   Their cover was ingenious, and made all of the travel logical.  Kelly, a former Princeton law student, was a top-seeded tennis pro, traveling the world to play in international tournaments.  Alexander was his trainer, as well as a Rhodes Scholar.  (In a remarkable example of life imitating art, Eugene Fodor, one of the great travel-writers, would reveal that since 1936 he had been using his travel-writing as a cover for his secret work for the OSS and CIA.)

Famous for the amusing banter between the leads, the characters took themselves lightly, but their work seriously, often following orders they did not agree with or fully understand, when necessary.   One of the crucial differences between I SPY and the other espionage shows is that while the others were plot -- or ‘mission’ – driven, I SPY was largely character-driven.  Should an arrogant black American athlete who’d defected to Russia, and now wanted to come back, be helped, or was he more trouble than he was worth?  Should one of Kelly’s mentors in spying, now considered a double agent, be killed without a hearing?  Will an incompetent senior agent doom Scotty and Alexander’s mission to failure?  In one of my favorites, the agents must safeguard scientist Boris Karloff, who has created a formula of international importance, but whose ancient brain keeps drifting off to his obsession with Don Quixote.  In many ways, the series resembles an international spy version of classic ‘guys on the road’ series ROUTE 66.   

with Boris Karloff

The series was created and produced by writing partners Martin S. Fine and David Freidkin, who had worked together on series like THE VIRGINIAN and THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR.  The Executive Producer was Sheldon Leonard, who started out as an actor, his unmistakable Brooklyn accent making him famous as the Racing Tout on Jack Benny’s radio show.  He’s probably best-remembered as Nick the impatient bartender in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: “We serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast.  And we don’t need any characters around to give the joint atmosphere.”   He’d already had tremendous success as a TV producer, with comedies like MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW and GOMER PYLE, U.S.M.C., when he decided to switch to drama with I SPY.  He also shook up the industry by casting Bill Cosby – the first time an African American had ever been cast as a lead in a TV series. 

Leonard also went along on the foreign sojourns, directing much of the on-location footage: the exteriors were shot all around the globe, while the generic interiors were shot in L.A.  The tone of the series was freewheeling and hard to pigeonhole; Sheldon Leonard was EMMY-nominated for Best Director in a Drama Series in the first season, and next year the prolific Earl Bellamy (who also directed my first film, SPEEDTRAP) was nominated for Best Director in a Comedy Series. 

The show’s accolades were many.  Eartha Kitt won an EMMY for her guest performance.  Robert Culp and Bill Cosby were both nominated for Best Actor every year the series was on, and ironically, all three years, Culp lost to his best friend, Cosby.  When Culp died unexpectedly in 2010, Cosby told Greg Braxton of the L.A. Times that they were so close, they practically had their own language.  “Bob was the actor and I was the entertainer. The day after each of those awards, I went to work with a feeling of guilt and darn near embarrassment. As soon as Bob appeared at work, he would come and say, ‘How you feeling?’ I said, ‘OK.’ The next thing I knew, I had forgotten all about the Emmy.”

Culp was active behind the scenes as well.  He directed one episode, and one of the seven he wrote – more than any single author except the show’s creators – was Emmy-nominated.  The guest casts were full of big stars and familiar character actors.  Because so many shows were set in Asia, every Asian actor who was ever in a CHARLIE CHAN movie, or who would soon be in HAWAII FIVE-0 was represented.  So were much of the soon-to-be casts of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and STAR TREK. 

I know I SPY is an odd series to review in The Round-up, even though Bill Cosby starred in MAN AND BOY, and Culp had a long career in the western genre, from starring in the series TRACKDOWN, and features like HANNIE CAULDER, to his work and close friendship with Sam Peckinpah.  But sometimes you need to ‘cleanse the pallet’ with a non-Western, and I SPY – THE COMPLETE SERIES is a terrific way to do it.   

EDITH HEAD FILM SERIES STARTS AUG 8^TH AT UCLA!

Edith Head, the Hollywood costume designer with more than 400 movies to her credit, will be th subject of a retrospective of her work entitled WHAT I REALLY DO IS MAGIC: EDITH HEAD AND HOLLYWOOD COSTUME DESIGN, from August 8^th through September 27^th at The Billy Wilder Theatre.  Among the many Westerns she designed costumes for were THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN, TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, CHUKA, EL DORADO, THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER, THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL, ROUSTABOUT, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERY VALANCE, HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS, THE LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL, THE TIN STAR, GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL, all the way back to THE TEXAS RANGERS in 1936.  

While none of her Westerns are being screened, some terrific non-westerns are, including SUNSET BLVD., THE LADY EVE, SHE DONE HIM WRONG, and others, many with guest speakers.  Friday night’s opening program will feature DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID, introduced by director Carl Reiner and costume designer Deborah Nadoolman.  Learn more here: http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2014-08-08/what-i-really-do-magic-edith-head-and-hollywood-costume-design

THAT’S A WRAP!

I’m finishing the Round-up around nine tonight – three hours earlier than usual – to prepare for my big adventure of the week: acting! I’ll have a small bit in a turn-of-the-20th-century western called BOONVILLE REDEMPTION – the picture shows me in costume (my dog, Dodger, isn’t in he movie).  I’ll be playing a man whose leg gets busted in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, so go ahead and tell me to break a leg!  I’ll have much more about this movie soon in the Round-up!  

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright August 2014 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

ALMERIA FEST CANCELLED! PLUS NEW LIFETIME WESTERN, SPAGHETTI WESTERN LUNCH, AND WIN TIX TO ‘RED HOT RHYTHM RUSTLERS’!

ALMERIA WEST FEST NO MORE – TABERNAS MAYOR STEALS NAME!

This would happen the year I’m invited to be a judge.  I’ve just learned through Tom Betts’ Westerns… All’Italiana that THE ALMERIA WESTERN FILM FESTIVAL, created and run with great success for three years by Danny Garcia and Cesar Mendez, has effectively been stolen by Tabernas Mayor Mari Nieves Jaen, who went behind the Fest creators’ backs and registered the festival name himself.  He intends to have the festival, or rather a festival of the same name, run by others more simpatico with politicians who are more interested in having their pictures taken with actors than actually having a film festival.  You can read much more here: http://westernsallitaliana.blogspot.com/2014/06/duel-in-sun-for-almeria-western-film.html

LIFETIME WESTERN ‘DELIVERANCE CREEK’ A BACK-DOOR PILOT!

On September 13^th, Lifetime, a network never-before associated with Western fare, will premiere the two-hour movie DELIVERANCE  CREEK, from the phenomenally successful author of THE NOTEBOOK, MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE, A WALK TO REMEMBER, NIGHTS IN RODANTHE and so many more, Nicholas Sparks.  This is the first show he will be producing for television.  As you can see from the trailer, this one has a lot of potential.  Best of all, it’s both a stand-alone movie, and a back-door pilot, so if it meets with success, it could lead to a series.

Starring red-headed beauty Lauren Ambrose, a busy feature and TV actress who made her bones on SIX FEET UNDER, the revenge tale takes place during the Civil War, which finds her a young window with three children, doing whatever it takes to protect them.  Also in the cast are Christopher Backus of YELLOW ROCK, Riley Smith of GALLOWWALKER, Barry Tubb of LONESOME DOVE, LEGEND OF HELL’S GATE and many others, and Skeet Ulrich of INTO THE WEST  and RIDE WITH THE DEVIL.  Director Jon Amiel has marshaled a wide range of TV and features, including the groundbreaking BBC series THE SINGING DETECTIVE, actioners like ENTRAPMENT and COPYCAT, comedies like THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE, and recent vid-dramas like THE TUDORS and THE BORGIAS. Screenwriter Melissa Carter previously scripted vidmovie MISTRESSES, and episodes of JANE BY DESIGN and LYING GAME.     

LAST CHANCE TO WIN TICKETS TO SEE ‘THE RED HOT RHYTHM RUSTLERS’!

I CAN’T MAKE IT ANY EASIER FOR YOU TO WIN!  I’ve been getting complaints that my questions are too tough!  This time I’ve included some visual aids.  THIS THURSDAY, June 19^th, The Red Hot Rhythm Rustlers will take to the stage of the Repertory East Playhouse at 24266 Main Street in Newhall, CA 91321.  This concert, like all the concerts in this series, are sponsored by Jim and Bobbi Jean Bell, the great folks who run the Outwest Western Boutique and Cultural Center – click the link at the top of this page to learn all about them. 

Mystery comedy team with Johnny Mack Brown

Marvin O’Dell, who this year won the Will Rogers Award from the Academy of Western Artists for his song, ‘Don Edwards For President’, and the Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, leads the Western Swing band that is the Rustlers, which also includes Audrey McLaughlin, Gale Borre Rogers, Dawn Borre Pett, and Tom Boyer.  Their harmonies are excellent, their playing first rate, and they play a mix of classics, new material, and songs from the great B-westerns.  Here’s the Rustlers performing Arizona Song for the WMA last year.

Mystery cowboy star in RIDE HIM, COWBOY

And that brings us to how to win a pair of free tickets to the show, again courtesy of Outwest!  I was thinking there was a movie called RIDE, COWBOY, RIDE, one of the band’s best songs, (whose song was it originally?) but there’s no feature by that name.  But there are two features with similar titles, RIDE ‘EM COWBOY (1942) and RIDE HIM COWBOY (1932).  The first stars a famous comedy team, backed by Dick Foran and Johnny Mack Brown, and the second stars a man who, ironically, rides a horse named Duke.  To win the tickets, send an email to swansongmail@sbcglobal.net, and include the names of the stars of both movies, your name, address and phone number, and be sure to put Red Hot Rhythm Rustlers in the subject line.  The winner will be randomly selected from all correct entries in the next day or two!

SPAGHETTI WESTERN LUNCH WEDNESDAY @ THE AUTRY!

On Wednesday, June 18^th, as he does on the third Wednesday of every month, Western historian, filmmaker and raconteur Rob Word will be leading a lively discussion about Spaghetti Westerns, after a delicious lunch.  In addition to the previously announced Euro-western stars Brett Halsey and Robert Woods, also on the dais be Tom Betts, who writes the fascinating and informative blog Westerns… All’Italiana ; and Bill Lustig, director of MANIAC and VIGILANTE, and President of BLUE UNDERGROUND, a video company that restores and releases the crème de le crème of Spaghetti Westerns – for proof, Courtney Joyner and I will be working for him later in the week, doing commentary for Sergio Corbucci’s COMPANEROS, starring Franco Nero, Tomas Milian and Jack Palance.  Lunch is at 12:30, the event is free, but you buy your own grub – and in honor of the special occasion, the menu will include spaghetti and buffalo meatballs in a garlic tomato sauce!  And get there early – at last month’s John Wayne salute, the restaurant was packed, and some attendees were in the courtyard, listening to the p.a. system. 

Here’s a clip from a recent luncheon, with Donna Martell recalling working on TV’s KIT CARSON and SHOTGUN SLADE.

‘MAN WITHOUT A SOUL’ TO SHOOT IN LAREDO WESTERN TOWN IN KENT, ENGLAND!

Until Kelvin Crumplin contacted me from across the pond, I had no idea there was a complete Western movie town in Kent, twenty-five miles from the center of London!  The Laredo Western Club has been around for about forty years, and judging by the photos on their site, their facilities are most impressive. There are 28 standing buildings on and around main street, a mining camp, cemetery and apparently access to rolling stock and horses! 

Begun by John Truder and run by his daughter Jolene and her husband Mark, Laredo is a popular location for celebrations and corporate events, music videos, commercials and, most importantly, Western movies like DARK COUNTRY has been filmed there, 

Now Australian Kelvin Crumplin, producer of the recent thriller FRAGMENT, will be directing and producing MAN WITHOUT A SOUL in part at Laredo.  Based on a pulp novel, Kelvin tells me, “It’s about a government- paid assassin who lets his high profile target live and then turns his guns on the men that hired him.”  It won’t be shot entirely at Laredo.  “This is just (for) the opening stormy night time sequence of our film.  The rest will be shot in Almeria, Southern Spain, the birthplace of the Spaghetti (Euro) Westerns. Or of course in the USA.”  The script is by Australian Jim Davis, and the British producer on the picture is Danny Potts.  Stand by for more details.

  

Trailer for DARK COUNTRY, shot in Laredo

THAT'S A WRAP!

I hope all you fellow dads had as nice a Father's Day as I did.  Have a great week, all!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright June 2014 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

‘LONESOME DOVE’ 25TH ANNI, ‘SWEETWATER’ GIVEAWAY, ‘WHEN CALLS THE HEART’ SNEAK!

‘LONESOME DOVE’ 25^TH ANNI TO BE CELEBRATED AT AUTRY’S ‘COWBOY LUNCH’ WEDNESDAY

For a few months now, on the third Wednesday of every month, Rob Word has hosted the ‘Cowboy Lunch @ The Autry’, an informal 12:30 gathering of western movie and TV fans to chow down and then listen to “A Word On Westerns”, where Rob and his guests talk about the making of particular western films.  This Wednesday, January 15^th, falls in the month that marks the 25^th anniversary of the brilliant mini-series adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s finest novel, LONESOME DOVE.  Rob has put the word out to folks involved in that mini-series, its sequels and series spin-offs, and all of us fans will be chomping at the bit to see who shows up.

Rob Word has a strong track-record with this sort of event, and a history in the entertainment business.  He’s produced documentaries on Roy Rogers, was the creator and producer of YOUNG DUKE, a series built around John Wayne’s early films, and co-wrote and produced the film WYATT EARP: RETURN TO TOMBSTONE, which returned Hugh O’Brien to his most famous role, and was actually shot in Tombstone, Arizona, where the events happened.  Back in 1983, Rob, Pat Buttram and others created THE GOLDEN BOOT AWARDS to honor the stars of the genre, and ran them for a quarter of a century, until they ran out of people to salute.  Since they stopped in 2008, the search has been on to find a regular place for western fans and filmmakers to get together. 

Martin Kove, Robert Duvall, Rob Word

“We’ve been having what I call the Algonquin Cowboy Lunches at the Saddle Ranch Chop House for over five years now.  People keep asking when the Golden Boots are coming back, and they’re not.  When we did the first one in 1982, we didn’t even call it the Golden Boot.  It was a tribute to Bob Steele.  We had it at the old Masquers Club, and the fire marshal turned up and said we had too many people there.  We had to turn one hundred people away at the door.

“We did it for twenty-five years, but it kind of limped along at the end, because after Roy and Gene died, within 90 days of each other, and Clayton (Moore) died a year and a half later, it almost ended right there.  I said no, twenty-one years isn’t a good number.  Let’s keep it going until twenty-five, and end it big.  It’s hard to get the studios involved.  It’s hard to get corporate sponsors when you’re dealing with a genre that’s dying.”

After a few months, Bo Hopkins suggested getting together for lunch at the Sportsmen’s Lodge.  Bruce Boxleitner, Martin Kove and James Gammon attended, telling hysterical stories – that’s where the ‘Algonquin’ part of the name came from.  It grewe too large for The Sportsmen’s, moved to the Saddle Ranch Chop House on Sunset.  Wanting to take it to another level, Rob proposed a series of lectures at The Autry.  The Autry was delighted, because during the week what they mostly get is busloads of school-kids. 

The first event, this past September, was a tribute to the WYATT EARP TV show, coinciding with EARP regular Morgan Woodward’s 88^th birthday.  The next month was a tribute to THE LONE RANGER series, and Clayton Moore’s daughter Dawn attended.  “Last month was the weapons of TV westerns.  Hugh O’Brien was there talking about the Buntline Special; Johnny Crawford talking about the RIFLEMAN rifle, of course.  John Strong, a producer, brought the pistols that Wayde Preston had, from COLT .45.”    

The event is open to everyone, and don’t get there late, because last month, folks had to be turned away.  Again, the topic will be LONESOME DOVE, and in February it will be the HOW THE WEST WAS WON TV series.  Better start blocking out the third Wednesday of every month on your calendar. 

‘SWEETWATER’ CONTEST RESULTS!

We have two big winners of the SWEETWATER Blu-Rays!  The names of Devin Sabas of Crystal, Minnesota, and David Moore of Hemet, California, were randomly drawn from my black Stetson full of the names of all the folks who answered all of the questions correctly! 

For those who are curious, or who want to kick themselves for not entering, here, once again, are the questions, but with the answers…

#1.) Lovely January Jones may be best known for MAD MEN, but she is not a stranger to sagebrush.  She’s starred in two previous western films, one made for TV, and the other a modern-day Western.  What are the titles?

Answer: LOVE’S ENDURING PROMISE, a Hallmark movie from the pen of Janette Oke, whose WHERE GOES THE HEART series premiered on the Hallmark Channel last night; and THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA, directed by the excellent actor and director Tommy Lee Jones.  Tommy Lee, incidentally, recently finished directing and starring in the western THE HOMESMAN, co-starring Hillary Swank, Meryl Streep and John Lithgow.  A remake of THE COWBOYS, with Tommy Lee Jones in the John Wayne role, is in development. 

#2.) Ed Harris is also comfortable in the saddle.  Like January Jones, he’s done one western for the big screen, and one for the small.  He also did a film where he jousted on a motorcycle.  Name all three.

Answer: APPALOOSA, RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, and KNIGHTRIDERS, although one entry also informed me of a movie called WALKER, from 1987, directed by Alex Cox, where Harris plays a 19^th century American mercenary who became the President of Nicaragua!  I’ll have to track that one down.

#3.) It’s not Eduardo Noriega’s first rodeo either.  What was his previous western?

Answer: BLACKTHORN, where he co-starred with Sam Shepard, who plays Butch Cassidy, living under another name, and hiding out in Bolivia.

#4.) While villainous Jason Isaacs was never in a western before, he was in two films plotted in North America in the 18^th century, one set in Canada and one set in the United States.  Name them both.

Answer: BATTLE OF THE BRAVE and THE PATRIOT.

#5.) Stephen Root, who plays a very unpleasant character in SWEETWATER, has the longest western career of almost anyone in the movie, starting with a guest shot in a series in 1990.  He had a regular role in a modern-day western series, voiced Teddy Roosevelt once, did a modern western for the Coen brothers, and did two westerns with Johnny Depp.  Name any three of the six.

Answer: YOUNG RIDERS, HARTS OF THE WEST series, LEGEND OF TARZAN – TARZAN AND THE ROUGH RIDER animation, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, RANGO, THE LONE RANGER.

#6.) Finally, the original story writer, Andrew McKenzie, chose the name of Sweetwater for the town, as an homage to a classic Western movie.  Name it.  (Note: There are actually two legitimate answers to this.  I know which one Andrew intended, but to be fair, I’ll accept either one.)

Answer: ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, directed by Sergio Leone from a screenplay by Sergio Donati and Leone, or THE COMANCHEROS, directed by Michael Curtiz and John Wayne, uncredited, from a screenplay by James Edward Grant and Clair Huffaker. 

In ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, Frank Wolff is the doomed Brett McBain, the visionary who is trying to build the town of Sweetwater out of the desert.  Sergio Donati has been a mentor to Andrew McKenzie, and in recognition, and because of the obvious parallels in the stories, Andrew named his town Sweetwater in tribute. 

Nobody named the second choice, but I include it because, oddly enough, early in THE COMANCHEROS, Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams appears as a gun-runner named Ed McBain, who is travelling to the town of Sweetwater. 

HALLMARK'S ‘WHEN CALLS THE HEART’ EPISODE 2 – A SNEAK PREVIEW

If you enjoyed Saturday night’s premiere episode, Lost and Found, I can give you a hint about what’s coming next Saturday.  In Cease and Desist, the widows of Coal Valley, still recovering from the loss of fifty-seven men, mostly husbands, in a mining disaster, have a new and unexpected problem to face.  Their homes are owned by the mining company, and the women and children must move out to make way for new miners.  While some women accept defeat all too gracefully, others want to put up a fight.  Young teacher Elizabeth Thatcher (Erin Krakow)  use her expensive and sophisticated education to search for a legal loophole.  Miner’s widow Abigail Stanton (Lori Loughlin) tries negotiating a dangerous deal that will send the windows into the mines.  Will either tactic work?

DIRECTOR NAMED FOR NERO-STARRER ‘DJANGO LIVES!’

Joe D’Augustine, who worked in editorial on KILL BILL #1 & #2, DEATH PROOF and INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, and in the extended English-language version of THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, and who previously directed the noir-ish comedy  ONE NIGHT WITH YOU, has been named to recommence the Django saga that stopped when Franco Nero last played the role in DJANGO STRIKES AGAIN in 1987.  As Round-up readers know, the premise of DJANGO LIVES takes the ageing gunfighter to Hollywood circa 1915, where he is working as a technical advisor on Western movies, as lawmen like Wyatt Earp and outlaws like Al Jennings really did, and runs afoul of racketeers.  It’s scripted by Eric Zaldivar and Mike Malloy, the men behind the remarkable SCARLET WORM (read my review HERE  )

RUMOR CENTRAL – TARANTINO FINISHES 2^ND WESTERN SCRIPT!

THE HATEFUL EIGHT is said to be the title of Quentin’s next sagebrush saga, the title at least presumably an ironic response to the scramble to remake THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.  Deadline: Hollywood further posits that he wants Christoph Waltz and Bruce Dern to star!  They both did well for him in DJANGO UNCHAINED!

THAT’S A WRAP!

Mike Gaglio, me, Joey Dillon on MAN FROM DEATH set

I’m delighted to welcome a new sponsor to Henry’s Western Round-up, OutWest, purveyors of literature, thrilling video, fine music, elegant clothing, and just about everything else that relates to a Western life-style.  You’ll find a link to their on-line store on the top left-hand corner of the Round-up, and you owe it to yourself to take a look, and to visit their store if you’re around Santa Clarita way.  Next week I’ll be sharing my visit to the set of THE MAN FROM DEATH, and reviewing season one of THE RIFLEMAN, which has just been released on DVD.  Have a great week!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright January 2014 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved