‘POWER’S WAR’ REVIEWED, PLUS SHIRLEY TEMPLE’S COSTUMES, GRIZZLY ADAM’S PERSONA, AND 1,500 BUFFALO UP FOR SALE!

POWER’S WAR – A Documentary Review

The Powers Family

When did the frontier disappear and the ‘old west’ end?  For convenience, the answer used to be that that it all ended at the turn of the 20^th century.  But that’s an arbitrary date, because the frontier days did not end at the same moment everywhere.  New York audiences were watching Buffalo Bill acting in nostalgic plays while Custer was losing to Crazy Horse at the Little Big Horn.

You might not think that a disagreement in 1917, about military service in The First World War, would be an old west story, but filmmaker Cameron Trejo will convince you in his fascinating documentary, POWER’S WAR, just as he’ll convince you that it led to a shocking miscarriage of justice.  There’s no doubt that it was the deadliest shootout in the history of Arizona.  One wonders if this once-famous story inspired the film SHENANDOAH (1965), although the fictional version was set during the more Western-conventional Civil War.

Patriarch Jeff Powers moved his family to Klondyke, Arizona in search of gold.  Jeff and his two sons, Tom and John, prospected full time, leaving the women-folk, daughter Ola Mae and her grandmother Granny Jane, charged with maintaining the home and preparing food, isolated for long stretches.  When Granny died, Ola Mae was even more alone.  Separated from the rest of the world, the Powers family was dimly aware of The Great War, which they, like many Americans, viewed as none of their business. 

But on June 5^th, 1917, all American men between 21 and 31 were ordered to register for the draft, and the aggressively patriotic set out to arrest ‘slackers’ who ignored the law.  The Powers family had already made enemies for their secretiveness; then Ola Mae died under puzzling circumstances, and Jeff was uncooperative with an official investigation.  That Tom and John refused to register for the draft was the final straw, and a government posse went out to round them up, leading to the bloodbath.  The resulting chase would move back and forth from trucks to horses, and the legal ramifications of the case would echo well into the 1960s.

Painstakingly researched, the film is shot in the locations where the events happened, and features interviews with family members on both sides, and well-spoken historians.  Instead of costumed reenactments, the incidents are dramatized with animation often more brutal than a documentary could reasonably show with live action.  Trejo’s film is both a labor of love and a triumph of creative documentary filmmaking, and holds a special fascination today, when many feel the government is intruding too deeply into people’s lives.  The official website is HERE .  To arrange for a screening for your organization, go HERE

TONY ANTHONY WILL ‘GET MEAN’ IN PERSON, MONDAY AT CINEFAMILY!

If you know Tony Anthony’s STRANGER Spaghetti Westerns, that got progressively crazier as they went on, you’ll want to go to the Cinefamily Monday at 7:30 pm for the 4^th and craziest of them all, GET MEAN (1975)!  The Stranger himself, Tony Anthony will be there, with co-star Lloyd Battista, producer Ronald Schneider, in a discussion moderated by Western whiz Rob Word.  Learn more and buy tickets here:  http://www.cinefamily.org/films/special-events-june-2015/ 

JUST BACK FROM ‘LOVE, SHIRLEY TEMPLE’

a wonderful display of movie costumes and toys from her own personal archives.  I know it’s not very western – although there is a saddle and pair of chaps given to Shirley by producer Nicholas Schenck on display, and besides, she starred for John Ford in FORT APACHE.  Shirley was way ahead of the curve – she had a climate-controlled storage space for her things back in the 1930s (!), and the condition of the clothes is astonishing – they look brand new!  And there are costumes from every one of her 20^th Century Fox classics.  If you loved her films, you must make the effort to see this show.  It’s at the Santa Monica History Museum through Wednesday, and then moves on to three other cities – I don’t know which – and will be followed by an auction.  Go here to learn more: http://santamonicahistory.org/

‘BLACK BELLE’ NEW WESTERN TO STAR ZOE KRAVITZ AS BOUNTY HUNTER

Zoe Kravitz, currently in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, and Christina in the DIVERGENT films will topline the story of a gunslinger out for revenge (aren’t they always?), to be directed by Shana Betz (FREE RIDE) from a script by Tasha Huo, for Brain Scratch Productions. 

‘GRIZZLY ADAMS’ UP FOR BIDS!

Dan Haggerty and friend 

The rights to Grizzly Adams are on the block!  If you enjoyed Dan Haggerty’s portrayal of the bear-loving mountain man, then franchise rights owner Tod Swindell (seriously, that’s his last name) wants to talk to you.  Of course, you may be scratching your head – or beard – right now and thinking, “Wasn’t Grizzly Adams a real man?  How can you franchise a real human being?” 

The original Grizzly Adams

Excellent question!  And yes, he was a real man, whose real name was John Adams or James Adams, and who lived from 1812-1860.  He was a mountain man who caught and trained bears for zoos and circuses.  But somehow Charles E. Sellier Jr., creator of the Grizzly Adams movies and series, and producer of many 1970s Western and family movies, and later many TV movies, managed to trademark Grizzly Adams.  Amazingly, one of the big selling points is the appeal of the character’s look, due to a hipster style known as ‘lumbersexual’, the hyper-manly bearded alternative to ‘metrosexual’. 

WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAMED IN ‘DANCES WITH WOLVES’ IS UP FOR AUCTION

This year marks the 25^th anniversary of the film DANCES WITH WOLVES, and wistfully enough, that anniversary is being marked by the offer to sell 46,000 acres of the Triple-U Ranch in South Dakota.  There are also three houses, and several farm buildings included.  Not included are the ranch’s 1,500 buffalo – they’re for sale as well, but sold separately.   Bill Markley, writer of Western fact and fiction, and author of DAKOTA EPIC, his daily journal as a re-enactor in DANCES WITH WOLVES, passed this on to me.  He also tells me that there is talk of raising money to buy what’s left of Fort Sedgwick, and other standing sets, which are still on the ranch, and putting them on display somewhere.  The auction will be held on Thursday, July 9, at one p.m., which gives you some time to roll those pennies and get them to the bank.  There’s no estimate listed.  For more information, and to bid, go HERE.

By the way, my article in the August issue of TRUE WEST MAGAZINE celebrates the 25^th Anniversary of DANCES WITH WOLVES, and features reminiscences by Bill Markley.   

AND THAT’S A WRAP! 

Have a great week!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright June 2015 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved

‘CIVIL WAR’ ERUPTS AT AUTRY, PLUS ‘CHARLIE’S TEXAS OUTFIT’ REVIEWED, SPAGHETTI ‘N’ DOMESTIC SCREENINGS!

‘CIVIL WAR AND THE WEST’ OPENS AT THE AUTRY

Yesterday, an elaborate new exhibit, Empire and Liberty: The Civil War and the West, opened at the Autry, and will be on display through January 3^rd of next year.   As the title suggests, the show examines the effect that the Civil War had on the American West, a region much of which was still being settled at the time of the War Between the States.  As is practically a trademark with them, the Autry has used a wide array of documents, uniforms and other objects from their own collections, and borrowed others, to give a living feel to a war which had its end 150^th Anniversary only last week (John Wilkes Booth died 150 years ago today!).

Frontier Fremont's flag

Of the greatest significance, the posted text that goes with the displays gives a historical context, a sense of the related sequence of events that is not obvious.  Of course the Louisiana Purchase led to the Lewis and Clark expedition; but not so obvious, the charting of that land, the making of states, led to the Missouri Compromise, forcing an equal number of free and slave states.  We know about the misery caused by the Indian Removal Act, but a side-effect of forcing the Indians from their land was to make it available for cotton plantations, which brought the ‘need’ of slaves.  

'American Progress' by John Gast -1872

Jefferson Davis’s double-barreled pistol from his service in the Mexican War reminds us that not only was that war a proving group for him, but for Grant and Lee, all of whom were West Point graduates.  Among the fascinating documents that illuminate the period are slave purchase receipts; an Andersonville Prison Survivor Certificate; a Union Army enlistment bounty – forty dollars to sign up; a receipt for Chinese coolie wages of $12 a month – once the $30 voyage cost is paid; a Buffalo Soldier payroll document, $13 a month.  Displays take you through the period looking at the various historic events, as well as particular groups – various Indian tribes, former slaves, women, displaced Mexicans – as well as the general population.

Grant's Smith & Wesson pistol

One strong bit of direction; when you enter the exhibit, the natural direction, which most folks were taking, was forward and to the left.  I did so, and first found the displays interesting, but arbitrary.   I went back, and entered on the right, and suddenly everything was in a generally chronological order, and all of the elements fell into place.  THEY NEED A BIG RIGHT ARROW AS YOU ENTER!        

Pico's War Drum

CHARLEY SUNDAY’S TEXAS OUTFIT by STEPHEN LODGE – A Book Review

Stephen Lodge at last week's Santa

Clarita Cowboy Festival

Silver-haired Charley Sunday is a retired Texas Ranger at the turn of the 20^th century, trying to hold his small ranch together.  He partners with old friend and woman of dubious virtue Flora Mae Huckabee, to purchase a now-rare three hundred head of longhorns, and bring ‘em cross-country to Texas.   Rounding up other former Rangers, a female journalist, an Indian law student, his young grandson Henry-Ellis, and various other misfits, going up against a dastardly Colorado meat-packer, Charlie Sunday is in for the adventure of his already long and adventurous life. 

The story is told by that grandson, Henry-Ellis, now an old man, and telling his own grandchildren the tale, sixty years later.  The funny thing, as I was enjoying this novel, is that it didn’t remind me of other Western novels so much as it did other Western movies – particularly the humorous ones directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and Burt Kennedy in the late sixties and seventies.  It’s written so visually that you ‘see’ the action, not just understand it, while you’re reading.  No surprise really, because it’s author, Stephen Lodge, has written or co-written a number of memorable movies, including THE HONKERS, starring James Coburn and Slim Pickens; KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS, starring William Shatner and Woody Strode; and RIO DIABLO, starring Kenny Rogers and Travis Tritt.  ( If you’d like to read my review of Steve’s memoir of his life in the film industry, AND…ACTION!, and my interview with him, go HERE .)

At the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival last Saturday, when I was moderating the panel Screenplay to Novel or Novel to Screenplay?, Steve confirmed that CHARLIE SUNDAY began life not as a novel, but as the screenplay MOVE ‘EM SUNDAY, which the great Buddy Ebsen tried unsuccessfully to have made. 

When you read CHARLIE SUNDAY, you can have the additional fun of seeing the movie in your head, and watching Buddy Ebsen deliver the lines (although in truth, I usually heard Richard Farnsworth doing it).  CHARLIE SUNDAY’S TEXAS OUTFIT is published by Pinnacle, a division of Kensington Books, and you can buy it from AMAZON, or from the other big guys, in trade paperback, mass-market paperback, Kindle, and audible.  And in just two days, on Tuesday, April 28^th, you can buy DEADFALL: CHARLIE SUNDAY’S TEXAS OUTFIT 2!  And Steve assures me that CHARLIE SUNDAY 3 is already in the works!

‘HIGH NOON’/’SHANE’ DOUBLE BILL WEDNESDAY AT THE AERO

As part of the continuing celebration of the Aero Theatre’s 75^th year, at 7:30 pm, two of the finest Westerns of the 1950s – nay, two of the finest Westerns of any time – HIGH NOON (1952) and SHANE (1953) will play, and if you’re reading this blog, I don’t need to tell you who is in them, or what they are about.  And if you haven’t seen them on the screen in a few years, you need to see them again – you’ll be astonished at what details you’ve never seen before.  For more information, go HERE .

WILD WEST DAY – ARCADIA, MAY 2^ND

Saturday, May 2^nd, from ten ‘til 4, enjoy panning for gold, a telegraph demonstration, roping, U.S. Marshall’s posse, crafts, stagecoach rides, Queen Anne’s Cottage tours, Depot open house, food, root beer, and a musical performances by Singing Cowboy Mike Tims, RT n’ the 44s, and  the lovely and talented Saguaro Sisters.  Learn more HERE.

GREGORY PECK IN ‘YELLOW SKY’ MAY 9^TH AT THE AUTRY

As part of their monthly ‘What is a Western?’ series, the Autry will screen YELLOW SKY, at 1:30 pm in the Wells Fargo Theatre.  Director William Wellman and screenwriter Lamar Trotti, who teamed in last month’s offering, THE OX BOW INCIDENT, this time tackled a W. R. Burnett (LITTLE CEASAR, HIGH SIERRA) story, about a pack of outlaws hiding out in a ghost town populated only by an old prospector and his daughter, Anne Baxter.  Also in this drama, suggested by Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST, are Richard Widmark, John Russell and Harry Morgan.  The film will be introduced by Jeffrey Richardson, Gamble Curator of Western History, Popular Culture and Firearms.  Admission is included with museum admission, free to members.  Learn more HERE .

MEET TONY ANTHONY - ‘GET MEAN’ SCREENING JUNE 8 AT CINEFAMILY!

Spaghetti Western star and 3-D movie pioneer Tony Anthony will make a rare public appearance, with his co-star Lloyd Battista, on June 8^th, for a screening of the new restoration of his 4^th and final film in the ‘Stranger’ series, GET MEAN (1975).  West Virginia-born Tony started writing and acting in 1961 with FORCE OF IMPULSE and WITHOUT EACH OTHER; he went to Europe to act in the bullfight film WOUNDS OF HUNGER (1963), and stayed for years.  Tony Anthony is an unusual actor for his era, in that he wrote or co-wrote nearly all of his Westerns – notably BLINDMAN (1971), where he plays a blind bounty hunter, and his quarry is Ringo Starr. 

The Cinefamily, formerly the Silent Movie, is located at 611 N. Fairfax Avenue, L.A., 90036 HERE .

is the link to buy tickets.  I know it’s a month away, but I’m posting this now because Cinefamiy events are very popular, and often sell out. 

SOLIMA’S ‘BIG GUNDOWN’ INTRO’D BY JOE DANTE JUNE 18 AT LINWOOD DUNN

As part of their THIS IS WIDESCREEN series, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will screen Sergio Solima’s THE BIG GUNDOWN, starring Lee Van Cleef, Thursday, June 18^th, at the Linwood Dunn Theatre in the Mary Pickford Center, 1313 Vine Street, Hollywood, CA 90028.  (Note, this is the Hollywood venue, not the Academy headquarters in Beverly Hills).  It’s a very unusual, well-told story, with lawman-turned-politician Van Cleef on the hunt for a degenerate criminal (Tomas Milian) who may be not as bad as the men who want him dead.  This is the new restoration from Grindhouse Releasing which Courtney Joyner and I got to see when we were doing audio commentary for their BluRay release, and it looks spectacular.  The price range is from $3 to $5, and you can learn more about the film, and order tickets HERE  

If you’d like to buy the fabulous 4-disc set, including a CD of the brilliant Ennio Morricone soundtrack, go HERE .

THAT’S A WRAP!

One more thing before you go!  The screenings and events in this Round-up are all in Southern California, but this is not a strictly California blog.  It’s read in over ninety countries, and I want to serve the Western movie fan as well as I can, but I need your help.  If you know about any upcoming screenings or other western-related events anywhere in the world, please share them with me, and I’ll pass ‘em along!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright April 2015 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved