SUTHERLANDS ‘FORSAKEN’ BOWS, ‘LEWIS & CLARK’ HALT, ‘WESTERN RELIGION’ DISTRIBS, PLUS ‘HATEFUL’, 'LONGMIRE' PEEKS!

DOUBLE SUTHERLAND STARRER ‘FORSAKEN’ TO BOW AT TORONTO FEST

The long-troubled Canadian-produced Western FORSAKEN, starring father and son Donald and Keifer Sutherland, Demi Moore, and Brian Cox, will have its world premiere this September at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), according to Chad Beharriell’s Westerns Reboot site.  Directed by Emmy-winning ‘24’ helmer Jon Cassar; scripted by Brad Mirmman, the story of a son (Keifer) who tries to live down his shootist reputation, and reconnect with his recently widowed minister father (Donald), the Calgary-shot production looked as if it might never see the light of day.

Lensed two summers ago, on May 1^st, DEADLINE: HOLLYWOOD and others reported that the producers might not receive the promised $1.7 million in tax incentives because the Alberta Labour Relations Board ruled that the production had skipped town without paying some of the crew and suppliers. 

Keifer is no stranger to the saddle, having made an early and indelible impression in the seminal YOUNG GUNS (1988) and YOUNG GUNS 2 (1990).  In addition to the recent COLD MOUNTIAN (2003), father Donald starred in DAN CANDY’S LAW (1974) as a Mountie hunting Cree Indian Gordon Tootoosis for another Mountie’s murder.  

‘LEWIS & CLARK’ PROGRESS HALTED!

The lads who mapped the American West for President Jefferson are on an unexpected hiatus, until director John Curran, and cinematographer Rob Hardy can be replaced.  Shooting in Alberta, Canada had already been complicated by weather, but the HBO mini-series was plagued by artistic differences as well.

Produced by Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Ed Norton and others, the six-hour production is based on Stephen Ambrose’s brilliant history, UNDAUNTED COURAGE.  L&C stars Casey Affleck – Robert Ford in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESS JAMES – as Meriwether Lewis, and  Matthias Schoenaerts as William Clark.  Stephen Hill plays York who, despite being Clark’s slave, was a full member of the expedition.    

SCREEN MEDIA ARE CONVERTS TO ‘WESTERN RELIGION’!

WESTERN RELIGION, written and directed by James O’Brien, has been acquired Screen Media for a fall theatrical release, followed by a home video release.  The somewhat supernatural tale of a legendary Old West poker tournament made its debut at Cannes. 

I had the fun of being on-set, and being an extra in a poker-game in this one.  To read about my set-visit, go HERE.  To read about my adventures as an extra, go HERE.  To read my review, and post-production interview with James O’Brien, go HERE

FIRST TRAILER FROM TARANTINO’S ‘HATEFUL 8’!

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!”  Because that’s when HATEFUL 8 opens at a 70mm Panavision theatre near you!

FIRST LOOK AT ‘LONGMIRE’ SEASON 4 – THE NETFLIX YEARS!

LONGMIRE returns, with a new home at Netflix, on Thursday, September 10^th.   In my LONGMIRE article in the upcoming October TRUE WEST, I’ll be discussing the whole A&E/Netflix TV saga with LONGMIRE-creator Craig Johnson, and actor Zahn McClarnon, who plays Navajo Officer Mathias.

POSSIBLE ‘DEADWOOD’ FEATURE IN TALKS

A spokeswoman for HBO has confirmed that preliminary talks have begun about turning the ground-breaking Western series into a TV movie.  Wasn’t that the original idea when the series went off the air?  Timothy Olyphant, who starred as lawman Seth Bullock, just finished his run in the JUSTIFIED series, so the time might be right!

AND THAT'S A WRAP!

Yesterday would have been Robert Culp's birthday!  Have a great week!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright August 2015 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

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

COWBOYS TO APPEAR ON POST OFFICE WALLS!

On April 17th, the U.S. Postal Service will issue COWBOYS OF THE SILVER SCREEN, four stamps honoring all-time favorite cowpunchers William S. Hart, Tom Mix, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Robert Rodriguez is the artist for all four portraits. It's been a noteworthy time for Roy Rogers in particular, whose Under Western Skies (1938) was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry, along with The Mark of Zorro (1940), Once Upon a Time In The West (1968) and The Revenge of Pancho Villa (1930-1936). Ironic that both happy events should happen so close to the closing of the Roy Rogers Museum in Branson, Missouri. If you'd like read Roy Rogers Jr. statement about the closing, click here. And if you'd like to nominate movies for the National Film Registry, click here.

SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FESTIVAL!

The 17th Annual Festival will be taking place at the fabled Melody Ranch, of Gene Autry fame, April 22nd-25th. There are many different events and activities, including eating, shopping, touring the Melody Ranch Museum, a wide range of music and dance performances -- including my personal favorites, The Quebe Sisters Band, screenings of High Noon, and of The Shootist - featuring screenwriter Miles Swarthout. There are a ton of different individual events and packages, so for more information and tickets, click here.

BOOK REVIEW - THE WESTERNERS by C. COURTNEY JOYNER

C. Courtney Joyner’s collection of interviews, entitled THE WESTERNERS is, simply, one of the best books ever written about the western film. While most such books are written by one of two kinds of outsider – either a goofy fan with enthusiasm but no knowledge, or a pretentious academic with a wealth of pointless statistics – in this one the story told by the men and women who actually made the movies, interviewed by a man who knows what questions to ask.

Joyner is a screenwriter with more than twenty produced films to his credit, and he’s directed a couple as well. He’s written extensively about his two favorite film genres – westerns and horror – in Wildest Westerns, Fangoria and Famous Monster of Filmland. Joyner’s book covers a wide range of western entertainment in terms of year and budget. He speaks to Glenn Ford, one of the biggest stars to ever ride the range, and to the great character people like perennial John Wayne sideman Edward Faulkner, and accountant-turned-villain-turned-comic Jack Elam. Elam’s story of what happened during the filming of the train-station opening of Leone’s Once Upon A Time in the West (1968) is a jaw-dropper.

Then there are the subjects whose families span generations in the film business. Harry Carey Jr., a solid presence in westerns from Red River and Three Godfathers, both 1948, to Tombstone (1993) – with Billy The Kid Vs. Dracula (1966) in between – is the son of silent western star Harry Carey Sr. You’ll learn what it was like working with John Wayne and John Ford, how an innocuous, overheard comment from Ben Johnson got him banned from John Ford sets for fourteen years. You’ll read about how Dennis Hopper got blackballed after storming off the set, because director Henry Hathaway was mocking his recently deceased pal James Dean. Another second generationer, director Andrew V. McLaglen, son of actor Victor, has plenty of stories to tell.

Joyner’s talk with Elmore ‘Dutch’ Leonard traces his career from the pulps, to Hombre, to the phone-call he got from Clint Eastwood: “Dirty Harry is going to make an awful lot of money. I want one just like it. A guy with a gun, only different.” That’s what led to Joe Kidd(1972). Writer-director Burt Kennedy talks at length about his collaboration with director Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott, which gave us, arguably, the best series of westerns ever made – a subject Kennedy glossed over in his autobiography.

This volume is clearly a labor of love. It contains the only extensive interview I’ve ever read with Warren Oates, who died back in 1982. We are fortunate that Joyner managed to interview Oates while still a college student, as part of a class project!

Also represented are two of the great beauties of the western screen, Virginia Mayo and Julie Adams. While most actresses whine about dust in their hair and eating outside, both of these women enjoyed the often down-and-dirty work, and Mayo won my heart by referring to westerns as ‘outdoor pictures,’ the term John Ford preferred.

Producer A.C. Lyles, the grand old man of Paramount Pictures, discusses his highly successful series of small-budget westerns that kept a slew of old-timers in front of the camera. The television side of westerns is not slighted either. Joyner speaks to Andrew J. Fenady, who in addition to writing Chisum (1970), also wrote and/or produced series like The Rebel, Branded and Hondo.

And spaghetti westerns are welcomed into the fold. Aldo Sambrell, the greatest of the banditos in the Sergio Leones, and so many others, tells the story of why he had to pull a saber on Jim Brown during the making of 100 Rifles(1969).

THE WESTERNERS is a trade paperback published by MacFarland, 256 pages, $39.95, with a forward by Miles Swarthout, the screenwriter of the wonderful The Shootist (1976), from his father Glendon Swarthout’s novel. If you click this link, you’ll be connected to the Westerners’ website, and can order the book from MacFarland or Amazon – and you can watch the trailer for The Wild Bunch (1969)!

FESS PARKER DIES MARCH 19TH, AGE 85

The ruggedly handsome actor who would forever blur a generation's identification of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone was born, appropriately, in Fort Worth, Texas in 1924. Walt Disney, searching for an actor to play Crockett, was considering pre-GUNSMOKE James Arness, and watched him in a 1954 sci-fier, THEM! There he apotted Fess Parker in a small role, and the rest is legend. He became a star over-night, and nearly every kid in the world sported a coon-skin cap for a few years. His rendition of 'Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier,' was #1 for sixteen weeks, for which he was paid $150.00. After the seven CROCKETTS he starred in Westward Ho The Wagons (1956), and Old Yeller (1957), both for Disney. He wanted to be let out of his contract to play a role in Ford's The Searchers, and to star opposite Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop, but Uncle Walt nixed both. In the 1962 season he starred in a TV adaptation of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. Starting in 1964 Parker began playing Daniel Boone, and would continue for 159 episodes. He only took a few roles after Boone, before shifting his business interests to real estate. He had a tremendously successful development in Santa Barbara. He'd drop in there every weekend, and talk for hours to the many aging kids who grew up with him as Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone.

ROBERT CULP DIES MARCH 24TH, AGE 79

Although handsome leading man Culp is best remembered by the public for his long-running series, I SPY, he appeared frequently in western movies and TV shows. He starred in 70 episodes of Trackdown, guested on The Rifleman and Peckinpah's The Westerner, and played Wild Bill Hickok in The Raiders (1963). He starred in Castaway Cowboy (1974) and the comedy The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976). His best western role was ine starred in Hannie Caulder (1971), where he plays the gunslinger who teaches Raquel Welch to shoot. In addition to acting, Culp was a talented writer, and wrote episodes of Trackdown, I Spy and The Greatest American Hero. He also wrote a pilot, Summer Soldiers, for Sam Peckinpah, but they never got it made. He also directed episodes of I SPY, Greatest American Hero, and the feature Hickey and Boggs(1972), in which he co-starred with his old I SPY pal Bill Cosby. I remember hearing him speak at a Writers Guild rally about twenty years ago, where he revealed that he became a director not so much to direct as to protect the integrity of the scripts he had written. If you, like me, haven't seen Culp in the saddle in a while, you can click here and watch The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday.

BUTCH CASSIDY AT THE BILLY WILDER

The Billy Wilder Theatre at UCLA has an occasional series of screenings entitled The Movie That Inspired Me. David Fincher, who has directed Benjamin Button (2008), Zodiac (2007) and Fight Club (1999), has selected Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969), directed by George Roy Hill, written by William Goldman. And in case anyone forgot, it stars Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross and Strother Martin (I love to point out that Strother was in both Butch Cassidy and The Wild Bunch, both films about the same guys in the same year). David Fincher and series curator, director Curtis Hanson, will attend. For details and tickets, click here.

SWEETGRASS AT LANDMARK THEATERS

Here is the official blurb about a new documentary. "SWEETGRASS is an unsentimental elegy to the American West. The documentary follows the last modern-day cowboys to lead their flocks of sheep up into Montana's breathtaking and often dangerous Absaroka-Beartooth mountains for summer pasture. The astonishingly beautiful yet unsparing film reveals a world in which nature and culture, animals and humans, vulnerability and violence are all intimately meshed. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times calls the film 'a really intimate, beautifully shot examination of the connection between man and beast,' while Ronnie Scheib of Variety considers it 'a one-of-a-kind experience...at once epic-scale and earthbound.'" Okay, none of those Brokeback Mountain (2005) cheap-shots -- I'm sure these poor cowboys have heard 'em all. Sweetgrass is playing at the Varsity Theatre in Seattle, the Nuart in Los Angeles, and will open this week at the Kendall Square Cinema in Boston.

I don't know how many of you went to see Ernest Borgnine at the North Hollywood Library on March 20th, but he played to a packed house. As one of the librarians commented that they'd never seen so many people at the library, nervous firemen slipped in and out of the auditorium where MARTY was being screened. The sign on the wall allowed an occupancy maximum of 116, but there were probably 150 or more. After, the big man answered questions about his career in general, talked a bit about The Wild Bunch, Vera Cruz(1954), and Burt Lancaster, and signed a helluvah lot of copies of his autobio, ERNIE.

WESTERN MOVIES ON TV
Note:AMC=American Movie Classics, EXT= Showtime Extreme, FMC=Fox Movie Channel, TCM=Turner Classic Movies. All times given are Pacific Standard Time.

Monday March 29th

FMC 3:00 a.m. Call Of The Wild (1935) Clark Gable, Loretta Young, Jack Oakie, Buck, D:William Wellman, W:Gene Fowler - from Jack London's novel. (Great stuff, and Gable at his best - no wonder Loretta got impregnated by him on the shoot!)

Wednesday March 31st

TCM 8:00 a.m. TWO RODE TOGETHER (1961) John Ford directd James Stewart and Richard Widmark in this story of two tough characters bringing home a group of freed Comanche hostages. Screenplay by Frank S. Nugent from the novel by Will Cook.

FMC 3:00 A.M. DRUMS ALONG THE MOWHAWK (1939)
John Ford directed with gusto from the Lamar Trotti, Sonya Levian script, based on the Walter D. Edmonds novel. Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda star in one of the finest of 'eastern' westerns, a Revoltionary War story packed with Ford stock company greats like John Carradine, Arthur Shields and Ward Bond. In a more normal year, it might have been named Best Picture, but in 1939 it received only two Oscar nominations, for Edna Mae Oliver's comic turn as Best Supporting Actress, and for Ray Rennahan and Bert Glennon's glorious Technicolor photography -- and it won neither. Highly recommended.

FMC 9:00 a.m. THE TRUE STORY OF JESSE JAMES (1957) Nicholas Ray directed this remake of the 1939 classic, starring Robert Wagner as Jesse, Jeffrey Hunter as Frank, and Alan Hale Jr. as Cole Younger, with Hope Lange and Agnes Moorehead. Scripy by Walter Newman, adapted from Nunnally Johnson's original.

Thursday April 1st

FNC 7:01 a.m. SHERIFF OF FRACTURED JAW (1959) Comedy western, D:Raoul Walsh, W:Howard Dimsdale, starring Jayne Mansfield, Kenneth More, Henry Hull, Bruce Cabot.

AMC 7:00 p.m. BLAZING SADDLES (1974)Mel Brooks directed and co-wrote, with Norman Steinberg, this delightfully broad western comedy about a town getting it's first black sheriff, Cleavon Little, helped only by Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid. With Slim Pickens and Madeline Kahn, and featuring a rousing theme sung by Frankie Laine.

Friday April 2nd

TCM 1:15 a.m. MEN WHO MADE THE MOVIES: HOWARD HAWKS (1973) Docymentary directd by Richard Schickel.

TCM 6:16 a.m. GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST (1938) Theatre impressario David Belasco's play about a frontierwoman sheltering an outlaw becomes a vehicle for the voices of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. With Buddy Ebsen. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, script by Isabel Dawn.

TCM 10:15 a.m. THE KID FROM TEXAS (1939) A playboy turns cowboy, and sets up a polo match with an Indian tribe. Stars Dennis O'Keefe, Buddy Ebsen and Jack Carson. Directed by S. Sylvan Simon, story by Milton Merlin and Byron Morgan, screenplya by Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allen Woolf and Albert Mann Heimer.

AMC 12:30 p.m. BLAZING SADDLES (1974)Mel Brooks directed and co-wrote, with Norman Steinberg, this delightfully broad western comedy about a town getting it's first black sheriff, Cleavon Little, helped only by Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid. With Slim Pickens and Madeline Kahn, and featuring a rousing theme sung by Frankie Laine.

TCM 12:45 p.m. FRONTIER RANGERS (1959) This movie and the next are cobbled together from the excellent TV series NORTHWEST PASSAGE, based on Kenneth Robert's novel about Robert's Rangers and the French and Indian War. Starring Keith Larsen, Buddy Ebsen and Angie Dickinson, directed by the great Jacques Tourneur. Screenplay by Gerald Drayson Adams.

TCM 2:15 p.m. FURY RIVER (1961) See above, the same cast, this time with four directors and several writers.

Saturday April 3rd

AMC 7:00 a.m. The Culpepper Cattle Company (1972) Directed by Dick Richards from his own story, scripted by Gregory Prentiss and Eric Bercovici. Young Gary Grimes talks a trail boss, Billy Green Bush, into taking him on a cattle drive. With Luke Askew, Bo Hopkins, Charles Martin Smith and Matt Clark -- how many westerns is Matt Clark in, anyway? As many as Gabby Hayes?

TCM 9:00 a.m. LITTLE BIG MAN (1970) LITTLE BIG MAN (1970) As a little big fan of director Arthur Penn and screenwriter Calder Willingham, I couldn't wait to see this adaptation of Thomas Berger's novel about an incredibly old Dustin Hoffman recalling his upbringing by Indians and fighting alongside Custer. But it's just ghastly, nearly unwatchable, and absolutely pointless, for 140 minutes! It strives to be funny on occasion, but fails utterly. Hoffman doesn't suck, but he can't save it. Faye Dunaway is fetching as she seduces Hoffman. Chief Dan George was nominated for as Oscar, in a performance that reminds you of Bela Lugosi's later work -- when he was at such a higher level of professionalism than those around him that you wondered how he could stand it. Great make-up by Dick Smith. Burn the negative.

AMC 9:15 a.m. THE COMANCHEROS (1961) John Wayne arrests Stuart Whitman, but they must join forces to defeat evil gun-running comanchero Lee Marvin. Great fun, written by James Edward Grant from a novel by Paul Wellman. It was Michael Curtiz's last film. When he became too ill, John Wayne took over the directorial reins, but refused credit. Fine Elmer Bernstein score. Biggest weakness: Lee Marvin is supposed to be horribly scared from surviving being scalped, but he actually looks like he's wearing a horse-shoe crab on top of his head.

AMC 11:45 a.m. LAST OF THE DOGMEN (1995) - Tab Murphy wrote and directed this story about a bounty hunter tracking three escaped convicts, and supernatural events that ensue. Starring Tom Berenger, Barbara Hershey, Kurtwood Smith and, Parley Baer, the original 'Chester' from the radio drama GUNSMOKE.

AMC 2:30 p.m. JEREMIAH JOHNSON (1972) Sydney Pollack directs Robert Redford in the story of a real mountain man, culled from several different writers: Vardis Fisher, Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker. The screenplay is by John Milius and Edward Anholt, and is co-stars Will Geer. Probably Redford's best western role (yes, I know SUNDANCE KID is good, too), and it was a wise move to eliminate his character's nickname: Liver-Eating Johnson.

AMC 5:00 p.m. THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES (1976) Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, John Vernon and Sheb Wooley. Clint's a Missouri farmer who becaomes a Confederate guerilla -- reportedly Clints favorite among his films. Screenplay by Philip Kaufman, from Forrest Carton's novel.

AMC 8:00 p.m. THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES (1976) Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, John Vernon and Sheb Wooley. Clint's a Missouri farmer who becaomes a Confederate guerilla -- reportedly Clints favorite among his films. Screenplay by Philip Kaufman, from Forrest Carton's novel.

AMC 11:00 p.m. JEREMIAH JOHNSON (1972) Sydney Pollack directs Robert Redford in the story of a real mountain man, culled from several different writers: Vardis Fisher, Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker. The screenplay is by John Milius and Edward Anholt, and is co-stars Will Geer. Probably Redford's best western role (yes, I know SUNDANCE KID is good, too), and it was a wise move to eliminate his character's nickname: Liver-Eating Johnson.

Adios,

Henry