‘BLACK CREEK!’ ACTION STAR CYNTHIA ROTHROCK ON MAKING HER FIRST WESTERN! PLUS UPDATE: STARTING AT 8 TONIGHT, THURSDAY, TCM WESTERNS: “TCM SPOTLIGHT: THE DEFINING FRONTIER”

R. Marcus Taylor, Keith Cooke, Cynthia Rothrock,

Richard Norton, Don 'The Dragon' Wilson

‘BLACK CREEK!’ ACTION STAR CYNTHIA ROTHROCK ON MAKING HER FIRST WESTERN!  PLUS WESTERNS TO CATCH AT THE TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL, AND MORE!

When Cynthia Rothrock first appeared on the action-movie scene in 1985, she was exactly what the industry needed: a striking blonde actress who just happened to be a record-holding martial arts master in several disciplines. The undisputed Queen of Martial Arts films has since starred in 70 more action films, and a few comedies, but she never made a Western until 2024. Black Creek will be released early in the summer of 2025. It is a somewhat whacky, wonderfully entertaining revenge Western, and Cynthia has loaded the cast with faces that may not be that familiar to most Western moviegoers, but will be a thrill to action movie fans, as it includes many of the best on-screen fighters in the business, including R. Marcus Taylor, Keith Crooke, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, and Cynthia’s most frequent costar, Richard Norton. Before our interview, which was punctuated with her disarmingly girlish laughter, she’d sent me a link to the then nearly-finished film, and when I emailed back that I’d enjoyed it very much, she replied, “Glad you liked my film. A lot of love and hard work went into it.” I told her that was obvious.

Cynthia Rothrock: Oh, thank you. We did this movie in 14 days, if you could believe it, and I was just so excited because everybody just gave their all, and it was such a hard shoot. We had freezing nights because I wanted the look to be eerie, you know: candlelight and lanterns. We had to light up everything, so everything took longer, but it was worth it. But it was so cold -- like 4:00 A.M. doing a fight scene, your muscles would freeze up. I had all these guys standing around the corral, and they were like, “We're doing this for Cynthia.” They were such troopers. It was such an amazing thing. I created this Facebook page for Black Creek, and we have so many people from different countries that came over, and were working on this film. They became this really tight-knit close family, where they hadn't met before. It's just beautiful to see how everybody is so involved in this project. It's so cool.

Henry Parke: You have a very impressive list of movie credits, but I believe 2024’s Taken from Rio Bravo, starring Alexander Nevsky, directed by Joe Cornet, is your first Western. 

Cynthia Rothrock: Right. That was just a cameo I did as a favor 'cause Alexander as a friend of mine.

Henry Parke: You do a very nice job in it. I was wondering if you sort of looked at it as a dry run for Black Creek?

Cynthia Rothrock: Well, I learned what I didn't want to do, because of it. I liked their Western town, I liked the setting, but we went with Mescal Movie Set instead, because it had a better feel. It was actually more difficult, because Mescal didn't have electricity, so we had to bring in generators, which was another big expense. Some of the people that worked on Taken from Rio Bravo, because they were from Arizona, worked on mine too. So it was a really good connection for my film. What really gave me this idea is, I love Westerns, and if you Google “woman gunslinger,” you get Annie Oakley or Selma Hayek. And I go, gosh, I wanna be known as a gunslinger that can really fight, you know? My inspiration came from Yellowstone because I just loved Yellowstone. I liked the gritty darkness of it. So when we decided to do my own film, because I've done 70 films – but this is the first time I've decided to take the helm and do my own film. Robert (Clancy) and I were coming up with stories, and he’s like, “What do you wanna do?” And I said, “A Western.” He looked at me like I was crazy. “A Western?” “Yeah.” And he's like, “Okay…”

Keith Cooke, Cynthia, Brandy Futch

Henry Parke: I was surprised that you designed and made many of the costumes yourself.

Cynthia Rothrock: Costuming was so expensive. We're like, oh my gosh, that's not in our budget. So (Robert Clancy) and I both did the costumes for the whole entire movie. We researched everything: you can't have this on your boot, you can't have an emblem, no rubber soles, you can't have zippers -- every little detail. We started two years ago with the Kickstarter program. It's funny because, when I did the Kickstarter, all my male peers -- you know, I grew up in this male dominant world?

Henry Parke: Clearly.

Cynthia Rothrock: Being, in the early days, the only female competing against men, I just kind of looked at them as my peers. And a lot of them were saying, don't do a Kickstarter. You're not going to make it. It's going to be embarrassing. There's one actor that has done some big movies, and he failed at (crowd-funding), and they're like, if he failed, why do you think you could do it? And I went, I'm going for it. And we became like the second highest funded action picture in the history of Kickstarter.

Henry Parke: That's great.

Cynthia Rothrock: You know, this was a fan-based production: if it wasn't for the fans supporting us, we wouldn't have been able to do this movie. One of our top incentives for Kickstarter was they could be in a fight scene, or they could have a line in the movie. And we had a lot of people do that. We had people from Greece, England, Australia, a lot of different countries coming just to do this. They did a phenomenal job. We had some working with acting coaches, we would do readings every month and go through the script with everybody. And even if they only had one line, we'd still involve 'em. That's a really good memory for me.

Henry Parke: How many people took part in the Kickstarter program?

Cynthia Rothrock: We had over 500 people. People were saying it was a fluke, right? You'll never do it again. Well, we have the graphic novel for Black Creek coming out as well. We did an Indiegogo campaign for that, and we came in 220% above what we asked for. I just can't wait for everybody to see this because I'm just so proud of it. I'm so proud of everybody – with 14 days and the limited budget -- what we pulled off.

Henry Parke: May I ask what your budget was?

Cynthia Rothrock: It was about $425,000.

Henry Parke: Oh my goodness! I work on a lot of low budget films, so I’m very aware that that is a small amount of money to have something that looks so elegant, and your art direction, your production design, is so impressive.

Cynthia Rothrock: We were drawing how we wanted it to look, and the stunts; we were so, so much involved in this. But I've had a lot of people do favors for me. Our music team is sensational. Doing our main song, and then the ending song, is Jim Peterik, who won a Grammy, and was nominated for an Oscar, for Eye of the Tiger that he co-wrote for Rocky III.

And Benjy Gaither, and he currently has a number-one hit song he wrote for George Strait, Three Drinks Behind. And Mark Shearer -- I've never met him, but he’s been a fan of mine. And these three people teamed up and did all our music. And what we would have to pay for that is crazy! We've just been so blessed! And I'm hoping that someone will say, wow, look what she did for two weeks of shooting and this money! If we give her a million or a million and a half and 20 days of shooting, what can you pull off?

Henry Parke: Is this your first screenwriting credit?

Cynthia Rothrock: Yes, it is. First time as a co-writer; first time as a producer. And it was a whole different experience for me, because usually I'm sitting in my trailer and just studying my lines, but now I have no time to sit in my trailer. I knew the script inside out because I was one of the writers, so thank God for that. But I had to be on set all the time to make sure everybody was happy doing their parts, dealing with any issues. It was an eye-opening experience for me, being there way early every morning and then being the last person to leave.

Cynthia gets the drop on Keith Cooke

Henry Parke: You said that you were a big Western fan and that Yellowstone inspired you. Do you have any other favorites that inspired you?

Cynthia Rothrock: Tombstone, Outlaw Josey Wales. I remember when Sharon Stone did The Quick and the Dead, I was like, wow, that's really cool that she was doing that role. I liked a lot of the old Westerns that you would see on TV. When I was a kid I’d read about Annie Oakley, that she was this tough woman back in that era, tough with the guys. And it's funny because I grew up in that same kind of situation, you know?

Henry Parke: Tell me a bit about your character, Rose Jennings.

Cynthia Rothrock: She's a little rough; she likes to drink, she's got a little bit of a potty mouth, and isn't afraid of anybody. She’s very close with her family, but it's hard for her to settle down in one place. She takes off for a while, and when she comes back, she finds out that her family was killed. And then all hell is loose. She's getting these people (who killed them), and saving the rest of her family.

Henry Parke: I was kind of overwhelmed by the physical demands this movie places on you. Wearing so many hats, did you have to do a lot of training while making the movie?

Cynthia Rothrock: No, because I was on-set every day, and if it wasn't me rehearsing my scene, I'm with the other actors because none of these actors got to practice. My stunt coordinator knows how I like to move. And everybody is different; they all had their own fight styles, and he was familiar with them. So we put together a composite so they can watch it and study it and say, Hey, is there anything in here you don't like? And then of course, when you get to the set, we would just be rehearsing while cameras were setting up. And if there was something that wasn't good for someone, we would change it on the spot. It was almost like the old Hong Kong fighting: learn it, shoot it. That's how I got my start. I did seven movies in Hong Kong before I came to the United States and then started doing films. My first movie was in 1985, with Michelle Yeoh, we did Yes, Madam.

Cynthia and 2023 Best Actress Oscar-winner

 Michelle Yeoh in Yes, Madam!

Henry Parke: I just watched it on Prime, under the title In the Line of Duty II: The Super Cops. It was hysterical.

Cynthia Rothrock: That was my first, and I thought I'd just do one movie, you know? I'm kind of an out of the box person. I never really want to do something that's the same, the same, the same. I always want to try to put some unique flare into it. There was something so unique going to Hong Kong. I didn't think it was going to turn into a career. I thought, oh, I'll just go there and I'll do one movie. And it's funny, in my mind, I was thinking, well, maybe I'll be on the poster and I could show my kids someday, saying, “Hey, look, your mom was in a movie.” It really wasn't my intention that I was going to become an action film star.

Henry Parke: Was Black Creek your first time riding a horse in a film?

Cynthia Rothrock:  It was my first time riding a horse on my own. I've gone on trails where you follow the leader. I didn't want to look like I didn't know what I was doing, so the horse wrangler told me, don't put your two hands here, do this here. And actually I got really comfortable with the horse. There's one scene where there were two horses on the side, and me, and they shot some rounds off down below, and it freaked the horses out -- the two horses on the side started bucking. And I just turned my horse around nice and calm and went down the hill. It was funny because someone said to Robert, “Wow, how long has she been riding?” And Robert said, “About two hours.”

Henry Parke: With so many of the smaller westerns, they have no time with the horses, and they have inexperienced riders, and everyone's shouting, “We have to put together a posse and get after those guys!” And they jump on their horses, and walk slowly out of town.

Keith Cooke, Don Wilson, Brandy Futch

Cynthia Rothrock: I know! I did have an incident on-set with the horse wrangler. The horse was so big, and I'm five foot three, and no matter what, I could not get my foot into the stirrup and get it up over the horse. And so he lifts me up, and I'm like five, five and a half feet off the ground. And he dropped me, and I fell on my right, on my back and on my head. We were off to the side, so nobody saw it. And my hat saved my head, because my hat was kind of like a little helmet, and my belt saved my hip, so I didn't get hurt, but it took the air out of me. And the wrangler goes, “You're a karate girl. You should be used to this kind of stuff.” I said, “When I get on the horse, can I get an apple box to stand on?” He says, “Oh yeah.” And I'm like “Why didn't you think of that in first place?”

Henry Parke: This is the first feature directing credit for Shannon Lanier.  Where'd you find him?

Cynthia Rothrock: We had two directors. Shannon was directing the acting scenes. I met him, we talked, and he seemed to have my vision, and he worked in low budget film. I said, “Look, I’m bringing this guy in from Germany for the fights; when it comes fighting, I want him at the helm. I want him with the camera, to direct that,” and he said, “Okay.” So all our acting scenes, Shannon directed, and all the fight scenes, Mike Moeller directed.

Henry Parke: Mike Moeller has quite a resume, doing stunts on the Hunger Games, Matrix, and John Wick films among others. Very impressive.

Cynthia Rothrock: He's so awesome. It's funny, because we brought his stunt team over, and I wanted him to fight me. And he's like, “No, I don't want to fight. I just want to do the choreography.” And I went, “Okay.” And when he saw the trailer, he’s like, “Oh, I should've been in it! I'm fighting in Part Two!”

Henry Parke: I guess you have to be very physically capable to be on a Cynthia Rothrock set. I notice even your cinematographer, Aaron Johnson Araza, is a former stunt man.

Cynthia Rothrock: Yeah. Well, they're moving pretty fast, getting down low with the camera -- it’s good because he understood the action, and that helped us. Aaron would be directing some of the scenes, and we’d go, wow, that's a great shot! It was a collaboration, with everybody pulling this film together.

Henry Parke: What was the most challenging part of making Black Creek?

Cynthia Rothrock: We had 150 people on-set on our first day. So we did the hardest days right in the beginning. I think the most challenging part during the whole movie was, are we going to get all these scenes in? Some of the fight scenes, I wanted more to them, and we had to cut them down because of time. I'm definitely planning that on Black Creek 2, every fight scene has one whole day to shoot. And I must thank James Marlowe. He has the Marlowe-Pugnetti Company; he’s a fan of mine, and he came on as an executive producer. We've become really good friends, and he is definitely my guardian angel, helping us with post production, with editor Ben Ho, getting the right sound person, and just being a mentor through it; he is definitely a big part of bringing this movie to fruition. We put him in as a partner, and when we do Black Creek 2, we'll involve him. (Note: since the interview, it’s been decided that James Marlowe will direct Black Creek 2: Retribution, which is already written.)

This interview is really exciting for me because you're not in the karate world, you're in the Western world. And that's what we want to do as crossover, not only having Martial Art fans, but get Western fans loving this movie as well. And it's unique because you don't really see Westerns where everybody does Martial Arts

Henry Parke: You certainly don't.

Cynthia Rothrock: (Kickboxing legend) Don “The Dragon” Wilson said to me, “But Cynthia, how could everybody know martial arts? There weren't martial arts schools.” I said, “Don, because the Chinese were there. They came in for the gold rush; they all knew it. They taught it.” He goes, “Oh. Okay.”

Just as I was finishing my editing of this interview, I learned that Cynthia Rothrock’s close friend and Black Creek foe Richard Norton had just died. It would be their last of more than a dozen films together. I asked her if she would like me to include a remembrance of him.

“I am beyond words and deeply shocked by the sudden passing of my dear friend and fellow martial artist, Richard Norton. The martial arts world has lost a true legend. We shared an incredible journey—starring together in numerous action films, from China O’Brien, Millionaires Express, Rage and Honor to Lady Dragon. I was thrilled to have him join the cast of Black Creek as the formidable antagonist, Damien Sinclair. His performance was nothing short of extraordinary. Our final fight scene together will forever hold a special place in my heart—a moment I’ll always cherish as the last dance of the “Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers” of Martial Arts action. Richard’s talent, kindness, and dedication to Martial Arts will continue to inspire generations to come.”

WESTERN HIGHLIGHTS AT THE TCM HOLLYWOOD CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL

Me and Shirley Jones -- and a few others -- at the

2014 TCM Fest screening of Oklahoma!

From Thursday, April 24^th through Sunday, April 27^th, The Turner Classic Movies Channel will hold their wonderful annual Classic Film Festival in Hollywood. Screenings and other events will be held at the Chinese IMAX Theatre, The Chinese Multiplex, The Egyptian Theatre, The El Capitan Theatre, and around the pool of The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. While the big packages for attendees can run in the thousands of dollars, individual screenings are only $20 each, although there’s no guarantee you’ll get in. This link will take you to the official Festival website, with complete details: https://filmfestival.tcm.com/

Among screenings of particular interest to Western fans, on Friday they’re showing 1940’s The Mark of Zorro, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Hollywood’s greatest actor/swordsman (just ask him), Basil Rathbone. 

On Saturday they will premiere a restoration of 1958’s Gunman’s Walk, directed by Phil Karlson, and starring Van Heflin and Tab Hunter, and introduced by Keith Carradine. 

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Also on Saturday, on the big Chinese Theatre IMAX screen, they’ll be showing a 35mm VistaVision print of 1957’s Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, directed by John Sturges, starring Burt Lancaster as Wyatt, Kirk Douglas as Doc, John Ireland as Johnny Ringo, Earl Holliman as Charles Bassett, and Dennis Hopper as Billy Clanton.  

And on Sunday morning, 1955’s Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, will also be presented on The Chinese Theatre IMAX screen. Directed by Fred “High Noon” Zinnemann, this, the greatest of Western musicals stars Gordon Macrae as Curly, Shirley Jones as Laurey, Gloria Grahame as Ado Annie – who can’t say “no,” and perhaps the only singing film performance by Rod Steiger as Jud Fry! And the film will be discussed by Shirley Jones’ son, Shaun Cassidy.

UPDATED 5-8-2025: TCM FOCUSES ON WESTERNS IN MAY WITH “TCM SPOTLIGHT: THE DEFINING FRONTIER”

Every Tuesday and Thursday night in May, Turner Classic Movies will feature Westerns, 46 in all, in generally chronological order, focusing on various aspects of the genre. I’ve included links to a few of my related articles, for more detailed information about the films.

Thursday, May 1^st – The Foundation, focused on silent films, from The Great Train Robbery (1903) to The Iron Horse (1922).

Tuesday, May 6^th -- The Quintessential Cowboy: John Wayne and the Idea of America, included the film that should have made him a star but didn’t, Raul Walsh’s The Big Trail (1930); and John Ford’s film that did make him a star, Stagecoach (1939); Howard Hawk’s film that proved even to his harshest critics that Wayne could act, Red River (1948); and the epic that was so epic-ish that it took not just Ford, but Henry Hathaway and George Marshall and Richard Thorpe to direct, How the West Was Won (1962).  

And now, the ones we haven’t missed yet!

Thursday, May 8^th -- Rugged Individualism, will begin with a look at great paired actor and dire ctor individualists like James Stewart in Anthony Mann’s The Man from Laramie (1955), Randolph Scott in Budd Boetticher’s Ride Lonesome (1959) , and Barbara Stanwyck in Sam Fuller’s Forty Guns.  A weird choice is James Cagney in Lloyd Bacon’s The Oklahoma Kid (1939), which is better than you’d expect, and does feature Humphrey Bogart as a Mexican bandito. Rounding out the program are a pair of Eastwoods, Hang ‘Em High (1968), the pretend Spaghetti Western from Ted Post, and Clint’s first self-directed Western, High Plains Drifter (1973).

On Tuesday, May 13^th – Social Commentary in Disguise, is dominated by post-war, noirish Westerns. The Ox-Bow Incident (1942) looks at mob rule, individual responsibility, racism, and lynching. Henry Fonda deserves all of the attention he gets for this William Wellman film, but equally affecting are Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn, and Harry Morgan. Jacques Tourneur’s Wichita (1955), was one of the Joel McCrea starrers – here as Wyatt Earp – that were so good that they turned a poverty row studio, Monogram, to a major, Allied Artists. Elmore Leonard’s novel was the basis for Martin Ritt’s Hombre (1967), a pressure-cooker of a movie that looks at anti-Indian and anti-Mexican racism, with Paul Newman as the multiracial center.  Sergeant Rutledge (1960), John Ford’s courtroom drama starring Woody Strode as a black sergeant accused of the rape and murder of a white child, is so uncompromising and blunt that it’s astonishing that it was made, no less released. Rounding out the program is one of Sergio Corbucci’s finest, and most rarely seen Westerns, the snow-bound The Great Silence (1968), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, and a pre-Blaxploitation Vonetta McGee.

Thursday, May 15^th -- Heroism and Sacrifice are themes that are unforgettably explored in John Sturges’ TheMagnificent 7 (1960), which made stars out of 6 (and Brad Dexter had a very respectable career), made an unlikely Western star of Eli Wallach, and featured future Chinatown cinematographer John Alonzo as one of the townspeople who hires the 7.  It's followed by Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964), which turned Clint Eastwood from TV actor to superstar, and triggered Spaghetti Western mania in the U.S. Fred Zinneman’s High Noon (1952) is next, for which Gary Cooper won an Oscar, as a lawman whose town abandons him at the first sign of danger – heavily influenced by screenwriter Carl Foreman’s experiences during the Red Scare. My Darling Clementine (1946), starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp, and Victor Mature as Doc Holliday, is arguably the best movie about the O.K. Corral, although not the most accurate, despite or because of John Ford’s relationship with Wyatt Earp.  The program ends with a 2022 short, High Noon on the Waterfront, about the personal and professional risks taken by the people who made those two films.  

Tuesday, May 20^th, A Changing America: Disillusionment and the Rise of the Antihero is the theme, featuring film stories fomented and fermented during the late 1960s’ and early 1970s’ mélange of disappointment and cynicism. George Roy Hill’s ButchCassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) made charming rascals out of bank-robbers, and Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) made lovable scamps out of mercenaries: both wonderful Westerns, and Butch’s William Goldman screenplay is often cited as the best screenplay ever filmed. Eleven years after his final Leone film, Eastwood directed his remarkable anti-war Western, The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), considered by many to be the zenith of Eastwood’s Western career, as an actor and as a director. Finally, Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) stars Warren Beatty and Julie Christy as a frontier gambler and a whore in a cheerily grim yet sentimental movie that defies meaningful description.

Thursday, May 22^nd, Cultural Breakthroughs features Westerns that opened their stories beyond the usual white males.  Delmer Daves’ BrokenArrow (1950), tells the largely true story of the friendship between ex-soldier Tom Jeffords (James Stewart) and Cochise (Jeff Chandler).

In William Wellman’s Westward the Women (1951), written by Frank Capra (who'd hoped to direct), stern and sour Robert Taylor reluctantly takes an all-female wagon-train from Chicago to California, doubting he’ll get half there alive. It balances Capra’s charm and Wellman’s toughness beautifully. Despite the low-expectations of Blaxploitation films, Sidney Poitier’s Buck and the Preacher (1972) is a thought-provoking and entertaining surprise. Buffalo Soldier-turned-wagon master Buck (Poitier) leads freed slaves west with the reluctant help of Preacher (Harry Belafonte), who murdered his master and took over his scam. Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2006) is the contemporary Western that had traditionalists up in arms, until they learned that Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal were portraying shepherds, not cowboys. The final film in the program is the documentary Bearing Witness: Native American Voices in Hollywood (2024).

On Tuesday, May 27^th, American Psyche might nearly be called American Psycho, focusing on the dark side of the West. In John Ford’s The Searchers (1956), the fictionalized search for Comanche captive Cynthia Anne Parker gave John Wayne one of his most compelling, and least likable characters. 

King Vidor’s (and several others’) Duel in the Sun (1946) might have been a good Western if producer David O. Selznick hadn’t been so driven to top his Gone with the Wind, that he forced an epic out of a potboiler plot. Anthony Mann’s Winchester 73 excels with James Stewart as a man obsessed with hunting down the fellow whose coveting of a perfect rifle led to murder.   In Robert Wise’s nearly all-at-night Blood on the Moon (1948), Robert Mitchum is drawn into a cynically manipulated range war.

On Thursday, May 29^th, the series ends with The End of an Era, a look at “end of the West” Westerns. Featured are two very different, but very sentimental films from SamPeckinpah, the gently charming The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and the anthem of doomed manly camaraderie, The Wild Bunch (1969). Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) is the Spaghetti Western epic that has never been topped. And John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) studies the regretted compromises men needed to make for the West grow, through the characters of lawyer James Stewart and cowboy John Wayne.   

ONE MORE THING

Until I have a chance to write at length about the late Val Kilmer’s immense contributions to film in general, and Westerns in particular, here’s a link to his first lead in a Western. In 1989 he played the title character in Billy the Kid, a Ted Turner-produced TV Western that was scripted by Gore Vidal, based on his novel, The Left-Handed Gun, which had first been the source for the 1958 Paul Newman film.

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

Please check out the March/April issue of True West Magazine, featuring my article/interview, Kris Kristofferson: A Texan at Oxford.

And here’s the link to my newest piece for the INSP blog, What Makes a Great Western Movie, wherein I try to reverse-engineer some classics to figure out what makes them work.

https://www.insp.com/blog/what-makes-a-great-western-movie/

And if you haven’t snapped up a copy of my book, The Greatest Westerns Ever Made, and The People Who Made Them, wait no longer!

Here’s the link to the Amazon page, but feel free to order it from your local independent bookseller – we have to keep them in business too!

https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Westerns-Ever-Made/dp/1493074393?_encoding=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=insptv-20&linkId=40670747d047d3241c54003bcabb179f&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

Happy Trails, Henry

All Original Content Copyright April 2025 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

TCM RED CARPET! COWBOY FEST TIX WINNER! ‘WILD BUNCH’ LUNCH AND MORE!

TCM FEST RED CARPET

The 5^th annual TCM Classic Film Festival technically began on Thursday afternoon, April 10^th, with a presentation called SONS OF GODS AND MONSTERS, at The Hollywood Museum, aka the DeMille Barn, hosted by director Joe Dante (THE HOWLING) and FX make-up master Rick Baker (AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON).  But the ‘official’ start came at 6:30 p.m., when stars walked down the red carpet outside Sid Grauman’s Chinese IMAX Theatre to see the restored presentation of the Western musical OKLAHOMA!, with female lead Shirley Jones in attendance. 

Kim Novack

The TCM Fest is like no other event I’ve ever attended.  With as many as seven venues screening movies or having live events at any given moment, it’s the cinematic equivalent of the three-ring circus – there’s so much great stuff happening that you can’t do it all, but you can do more than enough.  In addition to the Chinese Theatre, films screen at the immense Grauman’s Egyptian, and Disney’s El Capitan Theatre, with most screenings taking place in the Chinese Multiplex next door to the Chinese.  A few films were even screened poolside at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Attendees make a major commitment of money as well as time: the most expensive package costs $1599, which includes the red carpet screening, plus the VANITY FAIR after-party, and screenings and events.  The least expensive package is $249 – and I understand that all of the packages quickly sell out.  And starting last year, non-packagers could buy tickets for unfilled screenings on a stand-by basis for $20.

Margaret O'Brien, carrying 

Mickey Rooney's top-hat

As I write this, it’s  Monday, April 14^th, the day which marks the 20^th anniversary of the Turner Classic Movies channel, and I can think of no other organization or outlet which has done half as much as TCM to preserve film and bring it before the public.  

Tippi Hedron

At about 4:30 we media-types were assigned our spots along the red carpet that began in front of the Hollywood & Highland Center and ran along Hollywood Boulevard to the entrance of Grauman’s Chinese.  The guests began arriving at five.  Shirley Jones was with her irrepressible husband, comedian Marty Ingalls, who held a sign announcing ‘37 YEARS’.  After waking part of the length of the red carpet with her, Ingalls left her to do interviews while he entertained the rest of us.  When someone asked him if he was proud of his wife, he responded, “Is she here?” in mock concern, then added, “Don’t tell her you’ve seen me.  I’m with a date.”  He walked down to the end of the carpet, to a bleacher full of fans.  “Isn’t she amazing?  And she’s a hundred years old!”  Shirley Jones turned 80 last month. 

Marty Ingalls

Merrie Spaeth and Shirley Jones

Merrie Spaeth was next down the crimson walk.  In 1964 she played one of the two teenagers obsessed with Peter Sellers’ pianist character in THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT.  I asked her what Sellers was like off-camera.  “Peter Sellers was a lovely man who wanted attention.  And Tippi (Walker) and I would sit at his feet, and he would perform.  The funniest thing he would do is take Inspector Clouseau to places where he actually never went.  We thought he was wonderful, and he responded.”

Worst picture ever taken of Greg Proops

Comedian Greg Proops, probably best known for WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?, is a very busy voice-actor in addition to his on-camera work -- and my awful picture of him may get him even more voice work!  Very knowledgeable about film, he introduced the excellent Ginger Rogers comedy BACHELOR MOTHER later that night.  “My favorite westerns?  By a long mile, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID.  I also liked DESTRY RIDES AGAIN.  And there’s a really odd Henry Fonda film called WELCOME TO HARD TIMES that I think is superb.  I also love THE CULPEPPER CATTLE COMPANY.  I like lots of westerns.  WILD BUNCH.”

Susan Lloyd

Susan Lloyd, granddaughter of silent screen great Harold Lloyd, was attending, and would present his WHY WORRY? on Friday.  She was very excited about the imminent release from Criterion of Lloyd’s THE FRESHMAN.  She’d spoken about how her father dressed in a much more ‘regular’ manner than Chaplin or Keaton, even wearing glasses.  I reminded her that he looked quite different in his earlier films, as Lonesome Luke.    “Yes he did.  And unfortunately some of the ‘Lonesome Lukes’ got destroyed in a fire at his estate.  So there aren’t a lot of Lonesome Lukes.  But Lonesome Luke – the first one was Willy Work, where he wore tight clothes and a split mustache, like Chaplin.  Lonesome Luke was a little boy, and he started putting glasses on with Lonesome Luke.  And he had to fight with (producer Hal) Roach to let him wear glasses; that’s what happened, and then the glasses stuck.  And then he put on a suit, and a regular tie, and that was it.”

“And he looked like no one else, because he looked like everyone else?”

“He looked like everyone else, and he was happy.  He could walk down the street in make-up and still look like everybody else.”

Andy Dick trying to come up with an answer

Comedian Andy Dick has never been in the running for King of the Cowboys, and seemed genuinely baffled by my question.  “Western?  That’s a stumper.  I can’t really…  Have I seen a western?  Oh: CHINATOWN!”  A friend in his entourage coached, “You might want to go with TOMBSTONE or something.”

Tiffany Vazquez

New to the red carpet was New Yorker Tiffany Vazquez, one of the twenty ‘Super Fans’ TCM selected to be guest programmers.  “Western?  I don’t know too much about westerns, so I’m going to have to go with either THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY or maybe THE SEARCHERS.”

Joe Dante

When director Joe Dante walked by, I asked, “When are you going to make a Western?”

“When they let me!  Actually I did one for Showtime, with Brian Keith (note: it’s an episode of PICTURE WINDOWS called LIGHTNING, written by GUNSMOKE’s Jim Byrnes, featuring Keith, Henry Jones, Ron Perlman and Kathleen Quinlan).  They don’t do westerns anymore.”

Bo Hopkins

Then along came Bo Hopkins, who made his screen premiere in THE WILD BUNCH.  “Mr. Hopkins, what are your favorite westerns?”

“Well, THE WILD BUNCH.  CULPEPPER CATTLE COMPANY.  Oh God, all the John Ford movies, Gary Cooper movies.”

“I liked your work in a small but very good picture called CHEYENNE WARRIOR.”

“That’s right; that was a good one.”

Lynn Stalmaster

One of the unexpected pleasures of the red carpet was to speak with legendary casting director Lynn Stalmaster, who famously cast GUNSMOKE for its first decade, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL and other Western series, and features like TOOTSIE, DELIVERENCE, MONTE WALSH, VALDEZ IS COMING, JEREMIAH JOHNSON, and all of the MAGNIFICENT 7 sequels.  Of Mickey Rooney stature, nearing 90, and bubbling with energy and enthusiasm, when I told him that I wrote the Round-up, he responded, “Oh, I’m happy to meet you, because I’ve cast so many westerns that you have seen.   The last one I did was THE COWBOYS, with John Wayne.”

“You cast all of those boys?”

“Yes, and most of them were new to film.  And Roscoe Lee Brown; there was a brilliant chemistry between him and Wayne.  And Bruce Dern.  And he created a villain that had dimension, because he was that kind of an actor.  And I cast HALLELUJAH TRAIL for (director) John Sturges. HOUR OF THE GUN, also for Sturges.  And Jon Voight (playing Curly Bill Brocius) appeared in that, and had a couple of wonderful moments; an actor of that caliber can make so much of even a brief role.”

“What do you look for when you’re casting a period picture?  Is it a different quality?”

“I like to introduce something fresh.  Much as I love the old character actors that appeared in every John Ford film, I like to try to find a unique way, that hopefully the director will accept.  So I try all kinds of things.” 

“Which directors were the best to work with?”

“Sunday we’re showing FIDDLER ON THE ROOF; Norman Jewison.  Robert Wise; we did WEST SIDE STORY.” 

Robert Osbourne

I’ll have more on the TCM Festival in next week’s Round-up!

ROB WORD’S ‘WILD BUNCH’ LUNCH WEDNESDAY AT THE AUTRY

On Wednesday, April 16^th at 12:30 p.m., Rob Word will hold his 3rd-Wednesday-of-the-month Cowboy Lunch @ the Autry, and the topic will be Sam Peckinpah’s THE WILD BUNCH.  Admission is free, although naturally you have to buy your own lunch.  After lunch, guests who will be discussing the film will include despicable bounty hunter L.Q. Jones; Bo Hopkins, whose very first movie role was Crazy Lee, and who will hopefully talk “…’til Hell freezes over or you say different!”; stuntman, horse specialist and frequent Peckinpah collaborator Gary Combs; and Gordon Dawson, who supervised costumes in WILD BUNCH, and eventually co-wrote BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA with Bloody Sam.

L.Q. Jones

To whet your appetite, here’s a clip from a recent luncheon, with Bruce Boxleitner talking about making the series HOW THE WEST WAS WON.  (You can find many more clips from these events by going to Youtube and searching ‘a Word on Westerns.’)

Bo Hopkins

SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FEST TICKET WINNER!

Longtime Henry’s Western Round-up reader Sally Gomez of Baldwin Park, California has won a pair of tickets to the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival by correctly identifying Champion as Gene Autry’s horse.  Those of you who wrote in ‘Topper’ or ‘Buttermilk’ may now hang your heads in shame.   The Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, April 26 & 27 at Melody Ranch in Santa Clarita. 

Gold panners

As there is a film currently in production at the Ranch (that’s why they’re in business, after all), some of the Western street will not be available for strolling, access to other areas has been expanded, and some venues will be in new locales – I know for instance that the OutWest Buckaroo Book Store will be in a large tent that will actually give them more room for author events than they’ve had in the past.  Good news for me, as I’ll be moderating a couple of authors’ panels.  On Saturday from 1:30 to 2, the topic is THE WEST IMAGINED, and I’ll be talking with Western novelists Edward M. Erdelac, author of COYOTE’S TRAIL; Jim Christina, author of THE DARK ANGEL; and C. Courtney Joyner, author of SHOTGUN.

Author JR Sanders

And on Sunday, from 1:30 to 2, the topic is THE WEST LIVED, and I’ll be talking to non-fiction writers Jerry Nickle, great-grandson of the Sundance Kid; JR Sanders, author of SOME GAVE ALL; and Peter Sherayko, author of TOMBSTONE – THE GUNS AND GEAR. 

Also on Saturday at 12:30, and Sunday at 2:30, I’ll be chatting with Miles Swarthout, who wrote the screenplay for THE SHOOTIST from his father Glendon Swarthout’s novel.  Miles is also involved with the upcoming movie THE HOMESMAN, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones, from a novel by Glendon Swarthout.  You can learn all about the events at the Buckaroo Book Shop by going HERE.  

You can learn all about the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival HERE .

Joey Dillon prepares to shoot an apple 

off a volunteer's head!

NEW VENUE, DATE, AND PRICE FOR TARANTINO’S ‘HATEFUL 8’ READING

As you know if you read the Round-up, Quentin Tarantino had announced on The Tonight Show that he was following up DJANGO UNCHAINED with a new Western entitled THE HATEFUL 8.  And you also know that some a-holes put the script up on-line, which so angered Tarantino that he shelved the project and sued the A-holes.  (A-hole court date is January 27, 2015.  A-holes involved are officially known as the GAWKER website.)  And you know that, as a benefit for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Tarantino decided to hold a staged reading of the script at the Museum, with tickets costing $200 a pop, for LACMA Film Club members only.  But what you perhaps did not know is that scheduling conflicts have caused a change of date and location for the reading. 

The Theatre at the Ace Hotel - formerly 

The United Artists Theatre

The new date is Saturday, April 19^th – that’s this Saturday – at 8 p.m.  The new location is downtown L.A., at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel, 929 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015.  The new prices, depending on seat location, are $100, $125, $150 and $200.  They went on-sale on Friday to members of the LACMA Film Club, Film Independent, and New York Times Film Club.  Any unsold tickets will go on-sale to everyone else tomorrow, Wednesday, at 5 p.m.  Here’s the link to Ticketmaster: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/09004C8A982C9420

As you may have gathered, they’re kinda touchy about things leaking out, so NO cell phones will be permitted at the event.  The theatre, incidentally, was built as the United Artists Theatre in 1927, and is one of Downtown’s treasures.  Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith had just begun UNITED ARTISTS to have control over their films, and commissioned the building of the theatre.

The dramatic reading is significant, and open to wildly different interpretations.  Friends who are attending have told me they think that, with the script being shelved, this will be their only chance to witness this new Tarantino work.  Others, myself included, are hoping that the enthusiasm and excitement generated by this event will reinvigorate Tarantino’s enthusiasm, and convince him to make the movie.  We’ll have to wait and see who’s right.

HAPPY 80^TH BIRTHDAY JAMES DRURY!  INSP CELEBRATES FRIDAY WITH HIS FAVORITE ‘VIRGINIAN’ EPISODES!

James Drury, star not only of THE VIRGINIAN series, but of Sam Peckinpah’s RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, FORBIDDEN PLANET, POLLYANA, and many TV westerns -- memorably THE REBEL, RAWHIDE and THE RIFLEMAN -- will turn 80 on Friday.  To celebrate, INSP, which exclusively shows the venerable series, will air Drury’s two favorite episodes among the 249 he starred in.  In THE MOUNTAIN OF THE SUN, the Virginian tries to discourage a trio of female missionaries from going to help Yaqui Indians in Mexico, and in the process falls for one of them, played by lovely Dolores Hart.  This was Hart’s last performance before she gave up acting and became a nun.   In FELICITY’S SPRING, the Virginian and Felicity Andrews (Katherine Crawford) make wedding plans, and I’ll not say more than that.   In addition to the two 90 minute episodes, INSP will also run some never-before-seen footage to celebrate James’ birthday.  Don’t miss it!

James Drury with Clu Gulager

DEL MAR RACETRACK CAPS ‘WESTERN WEEK’ SAT. WITH ‘NIGHT OF THE HORSE’!

Del Mar’s 69^th Annual Horse Show is going on, and on Saturday night, April 19^th, Night of the Horse presents Hoofbeats Through History, which will examine the moment man first encountered the horse, and how his world was forever changed.  Anthony DeLongis, actor, stuntman, accomplished mounted shooter, knife-thower, and whip-cracker will demonstrate his remarkable warfare skills.

Peter Sherayko as Buffalo Bill

Peter Sherayko, western movie actor, historical accuracy authority, and action coordinator will don the goatee from his famous Buffalo Bill Cody one-man-show, and reenact how the cowboy tamed the west, opened territory, ranched, mined, blazed trails and brawled!

The show will also feature Clay Maier driving dressage and jumping, cavalry style.  Nancy Nunke will present the world’s only trained Przewalksi’s horse – these are the prehistoric horses seen in cave paintings!  Present-day knights in shining armor will demonstrate their jousting skills, plus there will be Charros, Roman Riders and Trick Riders!  To learn more, go HERE .

THAT’S  A WRAP!

That’s it for this week!  Have a great one, and let me know about anything in your neck of the woods that the Round-up Rounders ought to know about!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Content Copyright April 2014 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved