‘SWEETWATER’ BLU-RAY GIVEAWAY, PLUS WESTERNS COMING TO YOUR TV (OR PHONE OR I-PAD OR WHATEVER)!

UPDATED 1/8/2014 - SEE 'WHEN CALLS THE HEART' REVIEW

SWEETWATER  - BLU-RAY REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

I keep thinking there’s not a big difference between DVDs and BluRays, but when I saw the BluRay version of SWEETWATER, after previously viewing the DVD, I was stunned by the beauty of New Mexico.  And January Jones.  There really is that something extra in the BluRay format.  Not that I’m tossing my DVDs – Hell, I’ve got a couple thousand VHS tapes I’m trying to convert to DVD.  But if I’m given a choice of format, BluRay will win out.

If you, like me, do your best to see every western and neo-western and pseudo-western that comes out, then you know, the problem isn’t finding time for them all, but simply finding them.  And I have concluded that SWEETWATER is the best theatrical western for the year 2013.   That’s why I’m delighted that the distributor has provided me with two BluRay copies to share with Round-up readers.  I’m re-printing my review from October minor changes, and after that I’ll be telling you about the special features, and how you can win SWEETWATER.

You can read my interview with Andrew McKenzie, who wrote the original story for SWEETWATER, HERE .

SWEETWATER – a Movie Review

SWEETWATER, a beautifully produced western directed by Logan Miller and co-written by him and his brother Noah from the story by Andrew McKenzie, opens with a mysterious, babbling figure, in the person of Ed Harris as Jackson, in a breathtaking New Mexico desert, dancing and making apparently religious incantations to the rising sun.  Next we see Jason Isaacs as Prophet Josiah, amidst a phalanx of huge and oddly menacing white crosses, performing his own off-center-of-Christian ceremonies.  These men represent the opposing forces that will butt heads over a murder and, in so doing, tear asunder the lives of January Jones and Eduardo Noriega as Sarah and Miguel Ramirez, a young married couple struggling to farm a future from the sun-blasted desert of New Mexico.  They haven’t a snowball’s chance in Hell.   

To put it mildly, the deck is stacked against the couple.  We quickly gather that the young beauty is a former whore in a town where she used to ply her trade.  Her husband Miguel is an eternal optimist, forever giving people the benefit of the doubt, but his generosity is wasted on people who see in him nothing but a dirty Mexican.  Their paltry savings are stolen by the local banker.  The local merchant is far more interested in voyeuristically pursuing Sarah than in doing business with them.  When Prophet Josiah’s sheep eat their crops, and they suspect he’s killed their dog, the local sheriff is not even indifferent.  He’s contemptuous. 

Eduardo Noriega and Jason Isaacs

And Prophet Josiah who, with his flock, was run out of Utah, soon sets his sights on beautiful Sarah.  Prophet Josiah is the man with the money and the power in this Hellish region, and has the willing support of all the local businessmen and government.  At the same time, Sheriff Jackson has come to town to investigate the disappearance of two men, relatives of the Governor, whom we have seen Prophet Josiah murder for trespassing. 

This is the grim world of the town of Sweetwater.  Brad Shield, a 2^nd unit cinematographer on many big movies, has a wonderful eye for simultaneously capturing the full-hued beauty and stark, barren ugliness of the New Mexico desert.  And the stunning but not over-glamorized loveliness of January Jones, who shoulders much of the forward momentum of the story. 

Logan Miller directs with a precision and confidence that mirrors his strongest characters.  Nothing is arbitrary in the telling.  He is blessed with several strong actors, and skilled at drawing performances from them, and he has an impressive control of camera movement.  There is almost a hypnotic sense of menace to the scene where Miguel is threatened by a pair of men who circle him, one on foot moving clockwise, the other on horseback moving counter-clockwise.  It could have easily been overplayed, but it is all the more frightening because it seems natural, as does Miguel’s distraction.  Another scene, a hunt through the maze of a sheep pen, is particularly intense. 

January Jones

Jason Isaacs, who first impressed as the sadistic Col. Tavington in THE PATRIOT, and continued hatefully as Lucius Malfoy in the HARRY POTTER movies, is excellent as the sanctimonious hypocrite Prophet Josiah.  You watch him, knowing that you’d never follow him, but others would. 

January Jones, famous as Betty Francis, later Betty Draper in MAD MEN, compels your interest and sympathy by the strength of her character, and determination against tremendous odds.  She embodies the pioneer spirit.  And rather than modernizing the story to make it ‘relatable’, it stays in period, and portrays the desperation of a lone woman searching a vast land for her missing husband.  There is no phone, no police, no APB, no tracking a cell signal.  Pregnant, alone and searching, she must still plow the land or see the crops die.  She doesn’t have a sidekick to share her thoughts with, so much of her performance is facial and physical, and while she is helped by the occasional camera crane-shot showing the enormity of her challenge, the credit for the performance must go to her.    

Ed Harris and a pair of corpses

But the fun starts whenever Ed Harris appears on the scene.  As Cornelius Jackson, with dapper suit and shoulder-length scarecrow hair, he’s part mystic, part detective and part loony.  At times he plays it so broad it’s like he’s channeling Malcolm McDowell from CLOCKWORK ORANGE.  But it’s sheer pleasure to watch him and Prophet Josiah face each other, especially the dinner scene where Jackson demonstrates his contempt for the religious leader. 

SWEETWATER is a beautifully made Western, with a compelling plot, gripping action, strong performances, beautifully filmed and edited.  It is an ‘R’ for a reason.  In addition to some beautiful nudity on the part of Miss Jones, there is male nudity only a masochist would enjoy, apparent masturbation, sexual cruelty, and some rough language.

I do have some quibbles with moments that seem contrived.  For no apparent reason, a man presents a woman with a parasol, so that she’ll later be able to jab him in the eye with it.  Two men dig up a well-hidden body for the apparent purpose of being discovered doing it.  A character says some revoltingly crude remarks just before being killed, as if to let us know that he’s no loss: believe me, we already knew.  And just once in a while, I’d like to see a movie where a religious character is neither a hypocrite nor crazy. 

‘SWEETWATER’ – THE SPECIAL FEATURES

The BluRay comes with three special features; the theatrical trailer, singer Hudson Moore performing the end-title theme ‘Cold Grey Light of Dawn’, and a ‘making of’ short.  The trailer is solid.  Hudson Moore’s performance is very good – it’s an excellent song, and it’s almost too bad that it’s used over the end credits rather than in the film.  But this is not a ‘video’ per se, but the audio track played over a still photo of the singer.  The ten-minute ‘making of’ short was my favorite of the special features, as it gave so many cast members, from the stars to the supporting players, a chance to speak.  It was also interesting to see Logan and Noah Miller, who are identical twins with matching hair and beards, in action.  Ed Harris tells you which twin has the mole on his face, to tell them apart, but they moved too fast for me to catch it.

‘SWEETWATER’ – THE CONTEST

I have two beautiful BluRay copies of SWEETWATER, and I’ll be awarding them to a pair of Round-up readers, and one of them could be you!  How do you win?  Answer the questions below.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please email your entry to swansongmail@sbcglobal.net.  Make sure to include your snail-mail address, and put ‘Sweetwater Contest’ in the subject line.  We’ll be accepting entries until midnight, Sunday, January 12^th, 2014.  The two winners will be randomly selected from all correct entries.  Good luck!

NEW WESTERNS ON THE WAY:

‘JUSTIFIED’ RETURNS ON TUESDAY JAN. 7 ON ‘FX’

On Tuesday night, Timothy Olyphant will be back as Raylan Givens, and creepy Walton Goggins will be back as Boyd Crowder for season 5 of one of the best shows on TV, JUSTIFIED.  While everyone involved with the series feels the loss of the great Elmore Leonard, whose story FIRE IN THE HOLE was the basis of it, they are among the best writing, producing, directing and acting talent in the business, and will carry on in a way that would have made Dutch proud.

‘WHEN CALLS THE HEART’ SERIES PREMIERES SATURDAY JAN. 11

On Saturday, January 11^th  The Hallmark Channel will premiere their new Western series, WHEN CALLS THE HEART.  The turn-of-the-century story about a privileged young Canadian woman who moves to the frontier to teach children in a mining town, and perhaps to fall in love with a Mountie, the story first appeared on the cathode ray as a TV movie (see my review HERE  ) in October.  Based on Janette Oke’s very popular Canadian West series of romantic westerns, she’s also the lady who created the LOVE COMES SOFTLY series, which proved hugely popular series of movies for Hallmark and for writer/producer/director Michael Landon Jr.  The series has different stars, Erin Krakow and Daniel Lissing, in the leads, but maintained Lori Loughlin from the movie.

‘WHEN CALLS THE HEART’ SERIES PREMIERES WITH STRONG OPENER

Daniel Lissing and Erin Krakow

Good news for Western fans who found the ‘WHEN CALLS THE HEART’ movie pilot a bit unsteady: the premiere episode of the series, ‘Lost and Found’, airing Saturday, January 11^th, shows much more confidence, and a pleasing blend of the comic and dramatic.  The Hallmark Channel and Michael Landon Jr. might very well have a winner here, of the ‘Doctor Quinn On the Prairie’ variety.

While the movie had parallel stories, of niece and aunt as frontier teachers in different periods, which did not always mesh well, the series version focuses only on the niece in the beginning of the 20^th century.  Elizabeth Thatcher, now played by Erin Krakow, is still a daughter of wealth and privilege, and still at least partially motivated to teach in a frontier mining town by her younger sister’s belief that she doesn’t have the gumption to make a go of it.   And while there still is a Mountie in the story, he’s no longer a friend from home.  Now played by Daniel Lissing, Mountie Jack Thornton is, in fact, a constable who had a much more interesting post until he was transferred to this sleepy town of Coal Valley, perhaps at the request of Elizabeth’s powerful father. 

The funeral.

Only Lori Loughlin, as widowed mother Abigail Stanton, remains from the cast of the movie, and has remained lovely to look at while bringing a strength and solidity to the proceedings.  The episode recaps the final moments of the movie – reshot – where the young schoolmarm arrives in town after having her stagecoach held up, and learns the place is a well of sorrow: an explosion at the mine killed fifty-seven men, making Coal Valley largely a town of widows and orphans.  And with no real school, and the church recently burned to the ground, the learning takes place in a saloon.

In the midst of her first day of class, a trumpet-blast from the mine clears the classroom – it signals that the last of the miners’ bodies have been recovered, and with them, a last goodbye scrawled by a dying miner on a piece of timber.  Determining who wrote it, and hence to whom it belongs, is much of the remainder of the episode, and through the questioning, we begin to meet the townsfolk.  And also through said questioning, Constable Thornton starts to suspect there may be more to the mine explosion than a simple accident.

The western town sets and the quality of the photography are more than pleasing to the eye.  The costuming and art direction are of a much higher caliber and consistency that in the TV movie.  The performances are by and large strong.  Elizabeth’s early mistakes, and occasional catastrophes, are funny and endearing, and if the hostility between her and the Mountie are a predictable ‘cute meet,’ the fact is, it works.

The plank everyone claims.

Based on Jasette Oke’s novel, the plot of the opener serves to set up what is no doubt coming over the next nine weeks, as we learn more about the townspeople and the mine’s management.  There is one inexplicable leap of logic near the end of the episode, but it concerns nothing so crucial as to spoil the story.  I’m looking forward to week two.

‘KLONDIKE’ PREMIERES MONDAY, JAN 20 ON DISCOVERY

Executive Producer Ridley Scott brings a big, brawling tale of the Klondike gold rush, starring Tim Roth, Sam Shepard, Richard Madden and Abbie Cornish.

‘QUICKDRAW’ SEASON 2 SHOOTING FOR HULU

Comedian John Lehr will be back as Harvard-educated lawman John Henry Hoyle in a new season of QUICKDRAW for the internet entertainment site HULU.  I don’t know when the new season will begin playing, but I understand that they are currently shooting at the Paramount Ranch, and will be there until mid-February.  You can read my review of season one HERE, and if you don’t know the show, the trailer below, from season one, will serve as an introduction.

GONE WITH THE WIND’S ‘INDIA WILKES’, ALICIA RHETT, DIES AT 98

She only acted professionally once, but it was a pip!  After auditioning for the part of Melanie, which went to Olivia de Havilland, the Savannah-born portrait artist won the role of the sister of Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), India.  An appropriate choice for her role, her great-grandfather was Senator Robert Rhett, known as ‘The Father of Secession.’  Offered other films roles, but not thinking herself right for them, she returned to Charleston, and continued with her career in portraiture, as well as painting children’s book illustrations.

The great-granddaughter of U.S. Sen. Robert Rhett, who was known as the "Father of Secession," Alicia Rhett was born in Savannah in 1915 but moved to Charleston following the death of her father, army officer and engineer Edmund Rhett, in World War I.

HAPPY 84^TH BIRTHDAY TO TV’S ‘BRONCO’ – TY HARDIN!

Tall, muscular, handsome and modest, Ty Hardin, star of BRONCO, one of Warner Brothers’ great western series of the ‘50s and ‘60s, turned 84 on New Years Day.  He also appeared in war movies like BATTLE OF THE BULGE and PT 109, and did several spaghetti westerns as well.  And true to his Warner Brothers/BRONCO/CHEYENNE/MAVERICK roots, he’s the only guy I know who has TWO poker nights a week!  Happy Birthday Ty!  Click the links below to read my two-part interview with Ty.

http://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2011/08/bronco-layne-talks.html

http://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2011/08/disney-pulls-plug-on-lone-ranger.html

SOMETHING NEW FOR ‘SPAGHETTI METAL’ FANS!

Here’s a peek behind the scenes of the Aussie metal band A BREACH OF SILENCE shooting their new video, NIGHT RIDER, which is a tribute to the Pasta West as well as Red Dead Redemption.  Lots of head-banging music, pretty saloon girls, and nice photography, especially the make-up related stuff.  I’m looking forward to the finished video!

THAT’S A WRAP!

I’ll be giving you details very soon about two new westerns that have just wrapped, and reviewing the first authorized set of DVDs of the complete first season of THE RIFLEMAN!

Happy Trails,

Henry

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

NBC GREENLIGHTS ‘THE FRONTIER’ – 3RD WESTERN PILOT

 

NBC has commissioned three Western scripts this year, and according to Deadline: Hollywood the network is so pleased with the results they may actually pick up more than one.  The most recent pilot order is from Sony-TV, for THE FRONTIER, written by Shaun Cassidy, to be directed by Thomas Schlamme.  It’s the 1840s-set story of a group of pioneers traveling from Missouri to California.  And yes, the Shaun Cassidy involved is the former Hardy Boy who has a very successful career as a TV writer and producer, currently with BLUE BLOODS. 

As to the other two oaters on the NBC roster, one is RECONSTRUCTION, originally developed for FX, directed by Peter Horton and written by three-time Emmy winner Joshua Brand (NORTHERN EXPOSURE, A YEAR IN THE LIFE). Set in Missouri after the Civil War, it’s the story of a war vet who settles in a town where he is greeted as its savior. It stars Martin Henderson (OFF THE MAP), Emma Bell and Rachel Lefevre.  The other is the as-yet untitled western script from Pete Berg and Liz Heldens, of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS fame

BBC-AMERICA EASTERN ‘COPPER’ ROLLS THIS MONTH IN TORONTO

Casting has been announced for the first dramatic series produced by BBC America, which will roll camera in Toronto later this month.  Admittedly it’s not a Western, but it’s a series of considerable historic interest.  COPPER is the story of a young Irish cop, Kevin Corcoran (a character, not the Disney child star) in 19^th Century New York City, who is working to solve his wife’s disappearance and his daughter’s murder.  His beat is the infamous, teeming immigrant community of Five Points, the area brilliantly portrayed in Herbert Asbury’s history, GANGS OF NEW YORK, later filmed by Martin Scorcese.

Corcoran will be played by Tom Weston-Jones, recently of the long running MI-5 UK series.  Irish actor Kevin Ryan plays Detective Francis Maguire, an Irish-American cop.  Also in the very international cast are German-born Franka Potente, the title star of RUN LOLA RUN, and Marie in BOURNE IDENTITY and BOURNE SUPREMACY; English-born Anastasia Griffith of DAMAGES, ROYAL PAINS and currently ONCE UPON A TIME series; and Canadian-born BLOOD TIES star Kyle Schmid.   

It’s co-created by Tom Fontana and Will Rokos.  Fontana won Emmys for writing HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET and ST. ELSEWHERE, and recently wrote BORGIAS, and Rokos was Oscar-nominated for writing MONSTERS BALL.  The series is  exec-produced by Christina Wayne, late of MAD MEN and BROKEN TRAIL, and Barry Levinson who won his Oscar for directing RAIN MAN, and is currently exec producing a Phil Spector biopic starring Al Pacino.  COPPER is set to premiere this summer, for a ten episode season.

FIRST UNOBSTRUCTED VIEW OF CONFEDERATE SUB HUNLEY!

A century and a half ago, during the Civil War, the Confederate Navy’s Hunley became the first submarine to succeed in battle when it sunk the Union blockade ship Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.  The sub and it eight-man crew sunk as well, and rested in its watery grave until it was located and raised twelve years ago. 

The bodies of the crew members were all found at their stations, and in 2004 they were buried in what is undoubtedly the last Confederate Military Funeral.  For nearly a decade the Hunley has been on display in North Charleston, at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center.  It's received a reported half milllion visitors a year.  The only problem has been that all of those visitors had to crane their necks to see it beneath a huge eight-ton truss that suspended the war-ship.  On Thursday the truss was removed, finally offering visitors an unobstructed view.  The immediate response from many is that, although much older, it looks very much like a submarine from the First or Second World War.  

To learn more, and take a virtual tour, or take a real one, visit the Friends of the Hunley HERE. 

TED MARKLAND, HIGH CHAPARRAL'S RENO, DIES

HIGH CHAPARRAL fans are mourning the loss of actor Ted Markland, who played Reno, one of the hands on the ranch, and who had more than eighty other screen credits, many of them Westerns.  Tall and handsome in the saddle, wearing his trademark fringed buckskin jacket while riding through the hills around Old Tucson, he was a fan favorite.  His popularity became a problem to CHAPARRAL costumers because so many wanted a piece of busckskin fringe as a souvenir. 

  “It drove them nuts,” Markland recalled. “I finally asked the head wardrobe guy to just give me a big long piece of the fringe, so I could cut off pieces to give to the fans.”

Surprisingly, producer David Dortort, who used Markland not only in CHAPARRAL but in RESTLESS GUN and BONANZA, discovered Ted not acting, but doing stand-up.  And his material was so stream-of-consciousness and edgy that he was managed by Lenny Bruce!

Many fans would be surprised to learn that Ted had a very mystical/metaphysical side, was involved with peyote, and was a friend of Dr. Timothy Leary.  Ted married during the filming of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, and Jack Nicholson was his best man.  He was a friend of the EASY RIDER triumvirate – Nicholson, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper – and it’s said that the Nicholson character’s rant about UFOs came from one of Ted’s peyote-induced visions. 

A member of the Walter Hill stock company, he appeared in ANOTHER 48 HOURS, WILD BILL and THE LAST MAN STANDING.  Toward the end of his life, he set great value in his relationships with his fans, especially of HIGH CHAPARRAL.  “You wouldn’t believe all the cards I get from fans, it’s wonderful. I go to every show I can. Seeing people, talking to people, it’s important.” 

Penny McQueen, editor of The High Chaparral Newsletter, who was hugely helpful in the preparation of this article, remembers, “Ted was genuinely appreciative of each fan and always eager to talk to people. Because he'd lived through such varied times he was interesting to talk with, and always enjoyed discussing his mind-expanding spiritual experiences. His crazy sense of humor was like no one else, I never knew what he might say. The world has lost someone with a unique way of thinking.”  Today, Sunday, January 15^th, would have been his 79^th birthday.

THIS WEEK’S WESTERN BIRTHDAYS OF NOTE

New Years Day marks the 83^rd birthday of TV’s Bronco Layne, Ty Hardin.  You can read the interview he gave the Round-up – part one HERE, part two HERE. 

Lee Van Cleef was born on January 9^th, 1925, and until the sharp-eyed, hawk-nosed actor gave up his first career, he was undoubtedly the scariest CPA in America (with the possible exception of Jack Elam).  After his first screen appearance in HIGH NOON, he became a familiar visage in big and small-screen westerns and gangster stories, but he didn’t become a star right away.  He told interviewers that when Sergio Leone called in 1964, about a part in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, he was days from having his phone shut off for lack of payment!  It was Spaghetti and American Western stardom from then on. 

Born January 11^th, 1912, Don ‘Red’ Barry was the movies' original Red Ryder, seen here with Tommy Cook, the original Little Beaver. Along with a sense of humor, he brought an often chilling seriousness to that serial, and so many other Republic films, his small stature and pugnacious nature making him the Western Cagney. He was born in Houston, and would have been 102.

Born January 12^th, 1905, Woodward Maurice ‘Tex’ Ritter was a law-school graduate, American music scholar and a Broadway star in GREEN GROW THE LILACS, the basis for OKLAHOMA before his movie career.  Although he starred in many Westerns for Grand National and Monogram, he’s probably best remembered for singing the theme in HIGH NOON, Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.

A.B. Guthrie with daughter Gus Miller

Novelist Albert Bertram Guthrie Jr. was born in Indiana on January 13^th, 1901, but thinking ‘Albert Bertram’ sounded like a sissy name, he shortened it to A.B. Guthrie, and his friends called him Bud.   He wrote Western novels – many of them filmed – like THE BIG SKY (1947), THESE THOUSAND HILLS (1956), and his Pulitzer Prize winner, THE WAY WEST (1949).  His screenplays included SHANE (1953) and THE KENTUCKIAN (1955).

WESTERNS AT THE NEW BEVERLY

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, January 15^th-17^th, to celebrate the 100^th Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, they’ll be screening VIVA VILLA (1934), directed by Jack Conway (and Howard Hawks, who also worked on the script), starring Wallace Beery, Leo Carillo and Fay Wray, and JUAREZ (1939), directed by William Dieterle, starring Paul Muni, Bette Davis and Claude Rains. 

On January 23^rd and 24^th, Sunday and Monday, they’ll be showing THE BIG COUNTRY (1958), directed by William Wyler from Robert Wilder’s script, and starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons and Charlton Heston. 

‘THE PROFESSIONALS’ SATURDAY JANUARY 21^ST AT THE AUTRY

Richard Brooks directed and scripted, from Frank O’Rourke’s novel, this exciting and exhilarating tale.  When his beautiful wife, Claudia Cardinale, is kidnapped by Mexican Revolutionary Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy hires Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Woody Strode to rescue her.  Part of the Autry’s ‘What is a Western?’ series, it will be preceded by a discussion lead by Jeffrey Richardson, Gamble Curator of Western History, Popular Culture & Firearms, on the film’s history and its place within the Western genre.   It’s a 35MM print, and it screens at 1:30 p.m.

TV WESTERNS ALL OVER THE DIAL!

More and more, classic TV Westerns are available all over the TV universe, but they tend to be on small networks that are easy to miss. Of course, ENCORE WESTERNS is the best continuous source of such programming, and has been for years. Currently they run LAWMAN, WAGON TRAIN, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, LAREDO, RAWHIDE, GUNSMOKEandMARSHALL DILLON, which is the syndication title for the original half-hour GUNSMOKE. Incidentally, I see on Facebook that a lot of watchers are mad as Hell at losing CHEYENNE and THE VIRGINIAN.

RFD-TV is currently showing THE ROY ROGERS SHOW, first at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Pacific Time, then repeated several times a week. They show a Roy feature every Tuesday as well, with repeats -- check your local listings.

INSP-TVshows THE BIG VALLEY Monday through Saturday, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE seven days a week, DR. QUINN: MEDICINE WOMAN on weekdays, and BONANZA on Saturdays.

WHT runs DANIEL BOONE on weekdays from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., Pacific Time, and on Saturdays they run two episodes of BAT MASTERSON. They often show western films on the weekend, but the schedule is sporadic.

TVLANDhas dropped GUNSMOKE after all these years, but still shows four episodes ofBONANZA every weekday.

GEB is largely a religious-programming cable outlet that runs at least one Western on Saturdays – the ones I’ve caught have been public domain Roy Rogers and John Wayne pictures –and sometimes have weekday afternoon movies as well.

For those of you who watch TV with an antenna, there are at least a couple of channels that exist between the standard numbers – largely unavailable on cable or satellite systems – that provide Western fare. ANTENNA TVis currently running RIN TIN TIN, CIRCUS BOY, HERE COME THE BRIDES, andIRON HORSE.

Another‘in between’ outfit, ME-TV, which stands for Memorable Entertainment TV, runs a wide collection: BIG VALLEY, BONANZA, BRANDED, DANIEL BOONE, GUNS OF WILL SONNETT, GUNSMOKE, MARSHALL DILLON,RAWHIDE, THE RIFLEMAN, and WILD WILD WEST.Some of these channels are hard to track down, but if they show what you’ve been missing, it’s worth the search.

And for those of you on the other side of the pond, our British correspondentNilton Hargrave tells me CBS ACTION has begun showing GUNSMOKE.

THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

Built by cowboy actor, singer, baseball and TV entrepeneur Gene Autry, and designed by the Disney Imagineering team, the Autry is a world-class museum housing a fascinating collection of items related to the fact, fiction, film, history and art of the American West. In addition to their permenant galleries (to which new items are frequently added), they have temporary shows. The Autry has many special programs every week -- sometimes several in a day. To check their daily calendar, CLICK HERE. And they always have gold panning for kids every weekend. For directions, hours, admission prices, and all other information, CLICK HERE.

HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

Across the street from the Hollywood Bowl, this building, once the headquarters of Lasky-Famous Players (later Paramount Pictures) was the original DeMille Barn, where Cecil B. DeMille made the first Hollywood western, The Squaw Man. They have a permanent display of movie props, documents and other items related to early, especially silent, film production. They also have occasional special programs. 2100 Highland Ave., L.A. CA 323-874-2276. Thursday – Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. $5 for adults, $3 for senior, $1 for children.

WELLS FARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

This small but entertaining museum gives a detailed history of Wells Fargo when the name suggested stage-coaches rather than ATMS. There’s a historically accurate reproduction of an agent’s office, an original Concord Coach, and other historical displays. Open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Admission is free. 213-253-7166. 333 S. Grand Street, L.A. CA.

Well, that's about all for now.  Monday is Martin Luther King day, and I notice the Autry, which is usually closed on Mondays, is open, so maybe I'll see you there!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright January 2012 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved


 

DISNEY PULLS PLUG ON ‘LONE RANGER’

“What we do now, Kemosabe?”
“We wait, Tonto.”

Johnny Depp has been on board as Tonto for over two years, and Armie Hammer, late of THE SOCIAL NETWORK, was recently trumpeted as the Masked Man, but now Disney has pulled the plug on the Jerry Bruckheimer LONE RANGER project to be directed by Gore Verbinski. Verbinski’s previous collaborations with Depp and Bruckheimer include the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films, Disney’s most profitable franchise. The actor and directed also worked together on this year’s hugely successful ($243 million) western cartoon, RANGO.

The problem is the budget. Disney wants to spend $200 million, and while the budget had been brought down from a reported high of $275 million to $232 million, Disney says that isn’t close enough. And Disney’s concern is understandable. Currently the western of the summer, COWBOYS & ALIENS, while in the number three box office spot this weekend, behind PLANET OF THE APES and THE SMURFS, has grossed $81,476,000 domestically, with a budget of $163 million. The westerns that have done well in recent years have kept the budgets comparatively small: 3:10 TO YUMA cost $55 million, and grossed $70 million. TRUE GRIT cost $38 million and grossed $251 million.

No doubt Bruckheimer, Verbinski et al will not give up without a fight. We’ll see where it leads.

TY HARDIN INTERVIEW PART TWO:

In last week’s Round-up, Ty Hardin discussed his life, from his childhood, through his discovery by Paramount, his move to Warner Brothers, and his four years starring on BRONCO. (If you missed, go HERE) http://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2011/08/bronco-layne-talks.html

Now we continue with the post-BRONCO years…

H: If you didn’t have any favorite BRONCO episodes, how about favorite movies of the period?

TY: I had a couple of pictures that I liked, PT 109, and I liked MERRIL’S MARAUDERS. I worked with Jeff Chandler. It was a good picture. It was authentic. We shot it over in Europe. We had a lot of good people in it. And we used all those tanks. We were shooting in Spain and we actually had the last Sherman Tanks in existence. And we tore up a couple of them.

H: While were doing BRONCO, you did THE CHAPMAN REPORT for George Cukor. Then after BRONCO you did P.T. 109, WALL OF NOISE, PALM SPRING WEEKEND, all in 1963. Then your next western was MAN OF THE CURSED VALLEY in 1964, which was shot in Spain.

TY: Well, what happened was Sergio Leone wanted me to do PER UN PUGNO DI DOLLARI (A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS). I could hardly understand the guy; he had hardly any English at all. And I was so busy working in Europe that I just said, “Sergio, I just don’t have time to do it.” You know, he flew me from Spain – I was working on BATTLE OF THE BULGE I think – over to Rome. We went to a theatre, sat down and watched a film that was in Japanese, with Italian subtitles, called SAMAURI. I remember a dog running down the street with a hand in his mouth: all the time I was sitting there, and that’s all that I remember. And he said, “Why don’t you do this film?” He really wanted me to do it. First of all he bypassed my agent, the top agent in Europe or anywhere, MCA. I told him, “Well, get in touch with me when you get a script.” I went back to Spain, back to work again on BATTLE OF THE BULGE. He kept persistently asking me, “When are you going to be free?” And I said, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll give you the names of some actors that are going to be out of work.” So I gave him Clint Walker, Clint Eastwood; three or four actors that I had known. And I was sitting on the Via Veneto, kind of a hangout for the actors in Madrid, and I run into Clint Eastwood. And he says to me, “You S.O.B.! I’m down here working with Sergio Leone, nobody here speaks English, and it’s a pile of crap!” I said, “Don’t worry about it.” “Don’t worry about it? I ain’t been paid!” He was one upset character for doing it. And I could understand, because when I saw the film that Sergio wanted me to do, I couldn’t see any way in the world that it would be a western. How he could get it together. But he did. That film was released in Spain. They pulled it out, did some more shots, some re-doing on it. They kicked it into Italy, and a few other places in Europe, and suddenly it took off: it was amazing. The rest is history. And that’s how Mr. Eastwood got his game together. Looking back I’d have done the same thing over again. Plus I was working on too good films over there, all-American films; I wasn’t doing any local films. Even though I did do some after that. A couple of them. Terrible.

H: Were they recording sound live?

TY: They usually dubbed later. Because he’d be talking in Italian, and I’m talking in English. When he’d stop talking, I’d say my line. Soon as I’d finish my line, he’d talk. They were pretty good productions as a whole. But the Eastwood film was a fluke – it’s amazing how that took off. And the credit goes to Eastwood – he gave it the balls that it needed, you know? It needed that kind of strength , because the story line was nothing. You don’t remember anything – there wasn’t any love or loss or anything like that in it. It was just another beat-up Western. But Clint made the thing, himself, with his looks – and the music was dynamite. Genius. You’ve got to appreciate that; there is talent in Europe.

H: When you were doing these films where they were not recording sound, would you record your own dialog later?

TY: Oh yeah, that was in my contract. I didn’t want anyone else dubbing my voice. As far as dubbing it in Japanese and things, I didn’t have anything to do with that. But if they were going to sell in the international market, I wanted to be there to do it. You see, Americans coveted their own market, and it wasn’t easy for these films to get in. I knew they didn’t have a chance in the American market. I didn’t give a damn; I was just having a ball, running around the country and making forty or fifty thousands dollars I could just put in the bank, and it’s like having three hundred, three hundred fifty-thousand in the States.

H: So were you living in Europe at this point?

TY: Oh yuh, I was living mainly in Madrid. I like Madrid, and I had three bars on the coast of Spain – so I’d put in a big investment. I had one in Malaga, one in Touremolinos, and another one in between. So I ran my business down there at the same time. I had a pretty good life: I married Miss Universe!

H: How did you enjoy doing BATTLE OF THE BULGE?

TY: Any time American films came to Spain, any time ‘runaway’ films came, I was in it. And I enjoyed working with Robert Shaw. He was a good, solid actor, and BATTLE OF THE BULGE was a good show, a good picture.

H: You went to Argentina in 1966 to do SAVAGE PAMPAS with two of my favorite actors, Robert Taylor and Marc Lawrence. What was that like?

TY: (laughs) Don’t remember a lot about it, I really don’t. The problem in the industry is, you don’t need to be on the set until they need you. So I don’t know really what’s going on. I don’t think the film turned out really that good. But it was a very good experience for me. You work with these people, but you don’t get to know them. As soon as it’s ‘Cut!’ ‘Print!’, they’re off the set. And they don’t sit around and gab with pissant actors like me. (laughs)

H: Continuing with your globetrotting, you did DEATH ON THE RUN for Sergio Corbucci in Spain, then went to England for BERSERK. How’d you like Joan Crawford?

TY: She was a neat gal – a tough old broad and she’d been down the lane a couple of times. But this was her money, and she wanted it good. I think the problem was, there wasn’t that rapport between us that really makes it work. She was so busy working at being the director that I think her acting suffered from it. There wasn’t that sensitivity that her part (called for), for the problems that the circus was having – that’s just my personal opinion.

H: In 1967 you were in CUSTER OF THE WEST.

TY: Right, with Bob Shaw.

H: I was just watching that last night, and the logo is Cinerama. Was that shot in the Cinerama process, with the three cameras?

TY: Oh yuh. It was wonderful. We shot that in Spain. And all those Indians were Gypsies.

H: Really?

TY: (laughs) Yeah! We don’t have any Indians in Spain! They were all Gypsies, and they was fearless, man! They’d fall backwards off a horse, get run over and get right up! I was impressed, I really was. I couldn’t believe it, and they were so believable. Needless to say, I thought it was a pretty good film.

H: It’s a big movie. How long did it take to shoot?

TY: Took us about a month or so to shoot the thing.

H: Is that all?

TY: They’re pretty efficient. You don’t realize we’re getting seven or eight setups a day, and you have a second unit shooting your close-ups and everything. The industry has become very efficient to work with.

H: You had some excellent actors there, like Robert Shaw. What was he like?

TY: Robert’s a fun guy, I liked Robert. He was just a wonderful guy to work with .

H: How about Jeffrey Hunter, who played Benteen?

(Ty with Jeffrey Hunter in CUSTER OF THE WEST)

TY: Well Jeff and I got along real good. He’s more my type of man. Robert was just uptight all the time; he’s the same as he is in CUSTER. I was real fortunate to work with people like Lawrence Tierney. And Robert Ryan was wonderful, he really was. These are all committed actors. They’ve all been in the industry longer than I have. So I felt very humbled having them to work with.

H: Now Robert Siodmak, who directed, was born in Germany. He had a big career in the U.S., went back to Europe in the 1950s and was directing westerns in Germany before he did this one. What was he like?

TY: I felt he was a little loose. He’d sit there and…he could move the camera good, but I don’t think he knew how to deal with the people themselves. So he didn’t give you (direction). You like to get personal with your director, like to know that what you’re doing is what he’s looking for, and I didn’t get the feeling that he knew what he was doing. I don’t mean to be derogatory, but at the same time, it wasn’t like working with somebody that you had confidence in.

H: Well, what director did you work with that you had confidence in?

TY: Oh, there were a couple of directors that were really hot – they just did not like me at all, and they were my best directors; I worked with some really fine directors. You know, I’m intimidating in some respects, so a lot of lead actors did not want to work with me, so they minimized the work that I did with them. I didn’t realize that I intimidated a lot of people, not so much with my abilities, but that being an extraordinarily good-looking man, I would draw a lot of attention to myself. And I didn’t realize how involved the industry was with egomania. So some of the actors, like Robert Shaw, I had a hard time with him. Bobby was a good friend but, boy, he didn’t want to work with me. He made sure he got all his shots separate. And I didn’t realize this. I was so naïve about the industry, but when I look back I realize that there was a lot of that. And I wasn’t a part of it. I held my own, and did my own series. I did another series, RIPTIDE, right after that.

H: In Australia. How was that?

TY: It was fun. The sad part was that they couldn’t get a sale in the States. And that’s what they needed to continue on, because the budgets were pretty heavy, and we had to mail in a couple of actors from the American sector. It should have gone about four years. Because it was outdoors, it was fun, and with good writing it could have gone into other areas – drug-running and so forth.

H: Before we leave CUSTER, I read somewhere at Akira Kurasawa was supposed to direct that.

TY: That’s correct. He fouled out the first day. Something went wrong between him and…no one ever found out just what went wrong.

H: But he was actually there the first day?

TY: He was certainly hanging around. I wasn’t there, but that’s what I heard, so I’m not sure exactly what happened.

H: In 1968 you starred in KING OF AFRICA, which has been described as a South African western.

TY: That’s about right.

H: Your female lead was Pier Angeli.

TY: She was a doll. And KING was a good picture. You know what happened was, it didn’t get support. You need to have people get behind it and put money in it to make it happen. It’s not all about just shooting, it’s about what you put behind (a film) to get it exposed properly. It was quite an interesting concept, you know, and we actually shot it down among the Zulus. You should have seen those bastards pokin’ me with their swords! Those guys are tough, and they get carried away – I was scared shitless! But it was good and authentic, and the problem with a lot of that foreign stuff, again, was Americans wouldn’t let it in to the American market. Our pictures were made in Europe with European people, and the whole purpose of me being in it was the hope that we’d open the market for them. And it happened in a very special occasions, like P.T. 109, and there was a lot of American money in that too. But a lot of those films we’re talking about, there was no American money in it, and consequently there was no American distribution tied into it. So they had to go on their merits, and it wasn’t that the film wasn’t good; it was that the market wasn’t available. So needless to say, a lot of people have never seen three or four or five of my movies.

H: What about THE LAST REBEL, starring Joe Namath? That was also shot in Spain, and for a change you were playing a bad guy, a crooked sheriff.

TY: Oh, I enjoyed that; if I had my druthers I’d be doing bad guys all the time, but you can’t get away with it too often.

H: You’re just too likable.

TY: That’s it!

H: In that one you had a couple of great pros, Jack Elam and Woody Strode.

TY: Woody Strode, what a neat actor he is. He was just a good, genuine all-around man, just standing tall. I liked Woody; he was just a likable person, very perceptive, and a very good actor.

H: Joe Namath is such a likable guy, but not a great actor.

TY: Well, you said that, I didn’t. The thing is, you’ve got to have compassion. Joe’s working for himself, he visualized himself where nobody else does, so you play to that fantasy, you kind of support it, so you can embellish it a little. Joe doesn’t know he’s a bad actor, and I’m not going to tell him. So what you do, when you realize, and the director does, is you cut away as much as you can when he’s saying his lines, but you give him the reactions. So they’re able to protect him in some degree. We’ve got to protect his money. He had a big investment; otherwise you wouldn’t see Joe Namath in it.

H: After that you did a couple of spaghetti westerns I haven’t been able to find. ACQUASANTA JOE and YOU’RE JINXED, FRIEND. YOU’VE MET SACRAMENTO.

TY: I couldn’t tell you anything about them, because I was the only one talkin’ English.

H: Then in the late 1970s you were back in Hollywood doing an episode of THE QUEST, which was a western series a lot like THE SEARCHERS, with Kurt Russell and Tim Matheson. After being in Europe so long, how did it feel being back doing American TV?

TY: Well, things had changed a lot. My agent, William Morris, wanted me to do another series, but I didn’t want to. I got disenchanted with the film industry as a whole. And I just kind of walked away from it soon afterwards.

H: In 1977 you did a picture called FIRE! for an old pal of mine, Earl Bellamy. You had a great cast in that: Ernest Borgnine, Patty Duke, Vera Miles, Lloyd Nolan, Neville Brand, Gene Evans.

TY: Some real icons in the business. I’ve always enjoyed working with people of that caliber. They’re very interesting people; they’ve had a wonderful life. But they’re surprisingly introverted, you know? You have to kind of flavor up to them to get them to talk. It was almost like do your lines and walk off the set. It never got as personal as I kind of like the film industry to be. That’s one of the disenchanting things about the film industry, why I kind of walked away, said this is no fun anymore. It’s too serious. It’s all about money. Nobody’s interested in having a good time: it really did get boring.

H: You did TV episodes in the 1980s, FLYING HIGH, DAVID CASSIDY – MAN UNDERCOVER, THE LOVE BOAT. In 1988 you were back in the saddle in a remake of RED RIVER, with a lot of good people: Jim Arness, Bruce Boxleitner, Gregory Harrison. Then great pros like Guy Madison, Robert Horton, L.Q. Jones. What’s L.Q. Jones like?

TY: He’s a character, he really is. He’s got diarrhea of the mouth. Everybody likes him. He plays great character parts – he’s just a very fine actor. I think a lot of it is his personality is so good. You’re gonna like him on film, you’re gonna like him in person.

H: How’d you like Jim Arness?

TY: I like Jim. Jim has been in the business a long time, he’s a real pro. He’s Jim Arness on the screen as he is off he screen. He has that appearance, that prestige, an aura about him.

H: You were Sheriff Stone in 1990 in BORN KILLER, an escaped maniac movie. Then you did a western, BAD JIM, which toplined James Brolin and Richard Roundtree. And you’re there with Harry Carey Jr. and Rory Calhoun and Clark Gable’s son.

TY: Big cast, wasn’t it? I didn’t see it, so if you get the chance, let me know.

H: How did you like Harry Carey and Rory Calhoun?

TY: Honestly, I didn’t work with them: I’m in scenes that they’re not in.

H: Now I understand we’re going to be seeing you soon in a romantic comedy called HEAD OVER SPURS IN LOVE, where you play Col. Sanders. Do you have other upcoming stuff we should be looking for?

(Ty speaking at Republic Pictures' 75th Anniversary last year)

TY: Not that I know of. I’ve been retired for quite a while in principle. I don’t even have an agent. But it’s funny you should mention that, because I was thinking the other day that at 80 years old I look good, I feel good, I’m in good shape. What I want to do is do parts to my age; I want to do good supporting roles.

H: What are your favorite westerns, TV or movie, that you’ve been in? What was your best work?

TY: Well, I enjoyed BRONCO. Because it was all centered around being good, and revealing good over bad. I liked that, I liked the concept that we have values, and principles that we live up to. It never got romantically heavy; it avoided a great deal of that, which is often more of a distraction than an attraction. Stay away from that and direct yourself to the plot, and develop the plot. Because there’s a story to tell, and that’s what I’ve been more dedicated to than anything else.

H: What are your favorites of other people’s westerns?

TY: Well, I grew up as a kid with Bob Steele and Roy Rogers and all the others. And as a kid I loved them. And I grew up in Texas where westerns were the big thing. Johnny Mack Brown and all that. And of course going to Hollywood I never had any idea of getting in the film industry. My model was Gary Cooper. Him and John Wayne were my two people, and when I met John Wayne and he helped put me in the industry. I never met Cooper. Wait, I take that back. He was down on the set there at Warners one time. I don’t know what he was doing, but I went down to the set and watched him. And I went up to him, I said, ‘Hi Cooper,’ that kind of thing. He wasn’t very friendly to me. But those two people were I thought a great image for a kid growing up. I’ve always admired their work, and always wished I was as good as they were.

H: Aside from poker, how do you like to spend your time?

TY: Well, I’m in the process of finishing my second book. And I’ve enjoyed it, but I’m just not a good writer. I’ve been trying to find a ghost writer who would do kind of a look-over for the book, because my first one didn’t do good at all. (laughs) Mainly I think because it wasn’t legible, and the company didn’t put any money behind it. That was a big disappointment, and it took out a lot of my money, too.

H: Is there anything your fans don’t know about you that they should know?

TY: I think you should tell everyone that I am a Christian, and that I have tried to hold up those values, that I think are important to make a person feel like he is in essence a creature of God, that he is not just an animal living out of instinct. That he has a value and importance that is inherited in being a part of a belief system. We all know it’s just a belief system, but at the same time, what are we except what we believe ourselves to be? I believe there is purpose behind life, and meaning in life and I think that’s one of the great values that we are losing in our society.

HARRISON FORD SIGNS TO PLAY WYATT EARP!

The current COWBOYS & ALIENS star will portray Earp in BLACK HATS, based on the novel by Max Allan Collins. A blend of fact and fiction, in 1920s Los Angeles, 70ish Earp is working as a film technical advisor and p.i. when Doc Holliday’s widow, Big-nose Kate, approaches him for help. Seems the Doc had a son, who is now in trouble with Al Capone. Also in the mix is Bat Masterson, now sports-writing for the New York Telegraph.

The project is being produced by Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Kickstart Productions’ Jason Netter. Script is being penned by 300 co-writer Kurt Johnstad.

INSP-TV TO SHOW ‘THE BIG VALLEY’

If you’ve been missing the Barkleys, and getting impatient for the big-screen version of their stories, here’s great news -- The Inspiration Channel, found in many basic-cable plans, will begin airing the classic series THE BIG VALLEY on September 26th. Barbara Stanwyck, Linda Evans, Lee Majors, Peter Breck and Richard Long will soon be back on the air. A family-friendly outfit, INSP-TV currently shows THE WALTONS, and will soon be adding BONANZA and DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN.

SILENTS UNDER THE STARS FEATURES TOM MIX ON SUNDAY

On Sunday, August 21st, The Silent Society will present their 24th annual Silents Under The Stars program at historic Paramount Ranch in Agoura. THE GREAT K&A TRAIN ROBBERY (1926) stars Tom Mix, Dorothy Dwan and Tony the Wonder Horse, and is directed by Lewis Seiler. The talented Michael Mortilla will present a live musical accompaniment. Admission is $6 for adults, $3 for kids under 12, free for kids under three, and $5 for Hollywood Heritage members. The movie starts at 7:30 pm, and you’re encouraged to come early and bring a picnic dinner. As you’ll be in a National Park at night, a flashlight is a good idea as well. For details call (805) – 370-2301.

WILLIAM SMITH AT COMIC BOOK & SCI-FI CONVENTION SUNDAY

LAREDO fans can meet William Smith, who co-starred with Peter Brown and Neville Brand in all 65 episodes of the series at the convention, held at the Shrine Auditorium Expo Center, 700 West 32nd Street, Los Angeles, Ca. He’ll be signing autographs, and his new book of poetry, from noon ‘til two. Admission to the event is $8. To find out more, go HERE.

http://www.comicbookscifi.com/

TCM FANATIC - WESTERN NOW ONLINE!

And speaking of TCM, have I mentioned that the segment I was interviewed for is now viewable here?




THE AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER

Built by cowboy actor, singer, baseball and TV entrepeneur Gene Autry, and designed by the Disney Imagineering team, the Autry is a world-class museum housing a fascinating collection of items related to the fact, fiction, film, history and art of the American West. In addition to their permenant galleries (to which new items are frequently added), they have temporary shows. The Autry has many special programs every week -- sometimes several in a day. To check their daily calendar, CLICK HERE. And they always have gold panning for kids every weekend. For directions, hours, admission prices, and all other information, CLICK HERE.

HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM

Across the street from the Hollywood Bowl, this building, once the headquarters of Lasky-Famous Players (later Paramount Pictures) was the original DeMille Barn, where Cecil B. DeMille made the first Hollywood western, The Squaw Man. They have a permanent display of movie props, documents and other items related to early, especially silent, film production. They also have occasional special programs. 2100 Highland Ave., L.A. CA 323-874-2276. Thursday – Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. $5 for adults, $3 for senior, $1 for children.

WELLS FARGO HISTORY MUSEUM

This small but entertaining museum gives a detailed history of Wells Fargo when the name suggested stage-coaches rather than ATMS. There’s a historically accurate reproduction of an agent’s office, an original Concord Coach, and other historical displays. Open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Admission is free. 213-253-7166. 333 S. Grand Street, L.A. CA.


FREE WESTERNS ON YOUR COMPUTER AT HULU

A staggering number of western TV episodes and movies are available, entirely free, for viewing on your computer at HULU. You do have to sit through the commercials, but that seems like a small price to pay. The series available -- often several entire seasons to choose from -- include THE RIFLEMAN, THE CISCO KID, THE LONE RANGER, BAT MASTERSON, THE BIG VALLEY, ALIAS SMITH AND JONES, and one I missed from 2003 called PEACEMAKERS starring Tom Berenger. Because they are linked up with the TV LAND website, you can also see BONANZA and GUNSMOKE episodes, but only the ones that are running on the network that week.

The features include a dozen Zane Grey adaptations, and many or most of the others are public domain features. To visit HULU on their western page, CLICK HERE.

TV LAND - BONANZA and GUNSMOKE

Every weekday, TV LAND airs a three-hour block of BONANZA episodes from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They run a GUNSMOKE Monday through Thursday at 10:00 a.m., and on Friday they show two, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.. They're not currently running either series on weekends, but that could change at any time.

NEED YOUR BLACK & WHITE TV FIX?

Check out your cable system for WHT, which stands for World Harvest Television. It's a religious network that runs a lot of good western programming. Your times may vary, depending on where you live, but weekdays in Los Angeles they run DANIEL BOONE at 1:00 p.m., and two episodes of THE RIFLEMAN from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.. On Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. it's THE RIFLEMAN again, followed at 2:30 by BAT MASTERSON. And unlike many stations in the re-run business, they run the shows in the original airing order. There's an afternoon movie on weekdays at noon, often a western, and they show western films on the weekend, but the schedule is sporadic.

RFD-TV has begun airing THE ROY ROGERS SHOW on Sundays at 9:00 a.m., with repeats the following Thursday and Saturday.

Also, AMC has started showing two episodes of THE RIFLEMAN on Saturday mornings.



EDITORIALIZING

More than once in the Round-up I’ve made comments to the effect that every western that does well helps the cause of all, and every western that does badly makes it more difficult to get another made. So while I’m sorry that THE LONE RANGER may not happen in the near future, I’d rather see it pulled than see it made for so high a price that it could never be profitable.

I think that there are two absolutely crucial elements for making a good, successful western, and the first is a strong plot and screenplay. It’s not by chance that both 3:10 TO YUMA and TRUE GRIT, the two most successful westerns of recent years, were based on an Elmore Leonard story and a Charles Portis novel. Conversely, the potentially upcoming LONE RANGER and the current COWBOYS & ALIENS and the recent JONAH HEX were all based on comic books or graphic novels (and no, this LONE RANGER is not based on the radio or TV series, but on a comic). COWBOYS has a strong screenplay considering the source material, and I found the movie very enjoyable, but it still is saddled with a comic-bookish premise.

The second crucial element to a western film is some humor. There’s humor throughout the films of Howard Hawks and John Ford, and those who imitate just the dark elements of Leone and Peckinpah need to watch the whole of the films: for all of the grimness, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY and THE WILD BUNCH have hysterically funny moments. If the west was as relentlessly bleak as a lot of recent films show it, there’d be no need for shootouts: everyone would have shot themselves.

Happy Trails!

Henry

All Contents Copyright August 2011 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved