‘BLOOD COUNTRY’ REVIEW
Tough and elegant, set in
Mississippi after the Civil War, and shot in a mix of eerie swamps and in many
historical sites in that state, BLOOD COUNTRY is based on a real murder between
brothers, and its spiraling aftermath for all those involved or in the
vicinity. From the start, the filmmakers fill the screen with a quiet but
troublingly intangible sense of menace. The troubles begin, incredibly, over the
disputed possession of some cabbages, and soon a man is killed, a hearing is
held, and a pair of black men who were unwilling witnesses find themselves in
greater danger than the accused.
Written and directed by
Ecuadorian-turned-Arizonan filmmaker Travis Mills, he and cinematographer
Nicholas Fornwalt fill the screen with clever and often beautiful compositions
and intriguing faces. Strong on mood, style and atmosphere, there are gaps in
the story – why the cabbages?
While the shots are
beautifully composed, most scenes are shot in a single long set-up, meaning
that the camera rarely gets close enough to the characters to sense what
they’re thinking, and to identify with them. The only characters we are truly
invested in are the two witnesses (Markeith Coleman and Aspen Kennedy Wilson),
and a reluctant lawman (Cotton Yancey). Further, by having no cutaways to other
angles, there is no way to pick up the pace within the scenes. There is a good
deal of killing, but it is shown so obliquely that the hoped-for Western action
doesn’t really start until an hour in.
BLOOD COUNTRY, from Running Wild Films, will be in theatres
October 7th. Here’s the
trailer.
You can learn more at the
official BLOOD COUNTRY site HERE.
C-BAR II – A TALE OF THE
WILD WEB WEST
Mark Baugher, who’s been
everything from a ferrier (horse-shoer) to a stock-broker, retired at 65 to pursue
his life’s desire: move to Arizona, and write a Western novel. A college film
student, Patrick Ball, liked what he read on his Kindle, and suggested they
make a movie of it. After 38 days of shooting over eight months (when you’re
not paying anyone, you’re at the mercy of everyone’s schedule), the movie C-BAR
arrived in 2015. Baugher himself starred as Dockie, an old lawman who must go
back to his outlaw roots to see justice done. (You can read my ROUND-UP review
and interview with Baugher HERE. You can read my TRUE WEST B article on Indy
Westerns including C-Bar HERE)
Mark and Patrick are back
in action, continuing the saga, now as a web-series, and the first chapter of
the new adventures is online. Badman
John Doe (Charlie LeSueur), either by bribe or muscle, has escaped en route to Yuma Prison, and Dockie and
company must track him down. Here’s the
link to chapter one.
Below is the trailer for
the original C-BAR feature.
You can learn more and
see more, and get Mark’s novels, at the official C-BAR site, HERE.
‘HIGH CHAPARRAL’ 50TH
ANNIVERSARY AT THE BURBANK MARRIOTT
On Friday and Saturday,
September 15th and 16th, cast, crew, and about 150 dedicated
fans of THE HIGH CHAPARRAL, the beloved family Western series of the late 1960s
and early ‘70s, gathered, perhaps for the last time, to honor the series, and
the folks who made it. While in recent years, gatherings have celebrated
anniversaries of BONANZA, THE VIRGINIAN and GUNSMOKE, the dedication of HIGH
CHAPARRAL fans is unique – hundreds of them have been gathering annually for several years now in
Arizona at Old Tucson, the Western movie town where the series was shot, and
where the Cannon family home still stands.
Camille Mitchell, Henry Darrow, Cameron Mitchell Jr.
The hosts for the two
days of fun and nostalgia and stories were the delightful couple, Kent McCray
and Susan McCray. He was the production manager of the series – and for BONANZA
before it – and as Michael Landon’s partner went on to produce LITTLE HOUSE ON
THE PRAIRIE and HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN. She was the daughter of series composer Harry
Sukman; she started on CHAPARRAL as a receptionist and worked her way up to
casting not only the series, but HAWAII 5-0 and the Michael Landon shows.
Kent & Susan McCray at the banquet
The McCrays pulled out
all the stops, not only providing the promised two elegant banquets, but
hosting elaborate breakfasts and lunches as well. Among the series regulars who
attended were Henry Darrow, who starred as Manolito; Don Collier who played top
hand Sam Butler; and Rudy Ramos, who played Wind, the half-breed teen adopted
by the Cannons in the final season. Linda Cristal had intended to come, but
suffering from vision problems, sent her son Jordan Wexler. Representing
deceased cast members were relatives of Frank Silvera, Rudolpho Acosta, Robert
Hoy, Ruberto Contreras, and Jerry Summers. Cameron Mitchell was represented by
his daughter and son, Camille Mitchell and Cameron Mitchell Jr.
Don Collier
Also present was frequent
series guest Marie Gomez, who played Manolito’s girlfriend Pearlita; Bo
Svenson, who guessed in the well-remembered episode TRAIL TO NEVERMORE; and
representing Yaphett Koto, who couldn’t get there from Manila in time, was his
lovely daughter Mirabai Kotto. Yaphett’s episode, BUFFALO SOLDIERS, is the
favorite of many, including Kent McCray.
Rudy Ramos
This was not a ‘stars
only’ event, with plenty of attention paid to folks whose identities are
hidden, like attending stuntmen Neil Summers and David Cass, who both went on
to be important stunt coordinators – Cass has directed several Western and non-Western films. I was personally
delighted to meet Jackie Hummer Fuller, who doubled for Linda Cristal, and
Steve DeFrance. I hadn’t seen either of them since 1978, when they worked on
the first film I wrote, SPEEDTRAP, where Jackie doubled for Tyne Daley and
Steve double for Richard Jaekal. It’s a small world!
There were many
fascinating panel discussions, and I had the chance to interview all of the
principals – I’ll have much more soon in The Round-up, and in TRUE WEST
MAGAZINE.
INSP ADDS ‘BRANDED’ AND ‘MEN
OF SHILOH’ SAT. SEPT. 30TH!
The INSP channel, which
is currently presenting the remarkable reality series THE COWBOY WAY: ALABAMA,
is adding two very interesting and rarely seen series to their weekend Western
line-up, BRANDED and MEN FROM SHILOH.
Chuck Connors has his buttons torn off.
BRANDED (1965-1966)
starred Chuck Connors in his follow-up to the legendary THE RIFLEMAN. He plays
Jason McCord, the only survivor of the Civil War Battle of Bitter Creek.
Branded (like the title) a coward, court-martialed and kicked out of the Army,
he travels the West trying to escape his infamy, and to learn what really
happened. Created by Larry Cohen, it
looked likely to crash and burn until producer A. J. Fenady, who had created
THE REBEL with Nick Adams, was brought in to take over, and fashion some logic
into the story. Fenady remembers meeting the famously volatile Chuck Connors. "And I said, ‘Look Chuck, I just want to ask you one question. We go into production, who’s the boss?’ He said, ‘You are.’ I said, ‘Okay, just remember one thing: you came to see me; I didn’t go to see you.’ And you know what? Chuck was, in many ways, crazy. But he was also intelligent. You could sit down and talk to him. And if he had a point of view, and you had a point of view, and you’re point of view was better, he would acknowledge that. He’d say, ‘Alright, we’ll do it.’ I loved working with him, and I loved him." (You can read my whole interview with Fenady about BRANDED HERE.) It’s a very entertaining series,
probably better for audiences right now, with their fascination with
conspiracies, than it was in the 1960s.
THE VIRGINIAN, at eight
seasons, had outlived most of its competition, but it couldn’t go on forever. As
television Westerns had become less and less violent, in response to government
pressure, the series were losing their audience to movies, especially the
action-filled Spaghetti Westerns. The decision was made to reboot THE VIRGINIAN
in the Sergio Leone mold. From the original show, only James Drury and Doug
McClure were retained, and their wardrobe and whiskers changed
considerably. Lee Majors, fresh from THE
BIG VALLEY, was added. The title was switched to THE MEN FROM SHILOH, and a new
theme was composed by Euro-Western maestro Ennio Morricone. And in the wise old man role that had started
as Lee J. Cobb was movie star Stewart Granger as a retired British military officer.
As he revealed at the VIRGINIAN 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, James Drury and others liked
the changes at the time, but in hindsight, he didn’t. “They gave the show a new
look, and everybody kind of signed on to it. I got myself a new
horse and a longer gun. From a 5 ½ inch barrel to a 7 ½ inch
barrel. Longer sideburns. Much bigger hat. A
sense of accomplishment or…a sense of entitlement – let’s put it that
way. I smoked cigars on the show. And I just mowed down
anybody with my firearms. But the thing is, we all thought it was a
good idea at the time; it was a terrible idea. And the worst of the
terrible ideas was putting Stewart Granger in the same position that Lee Cobb
had occupied, that John McIntire had occupied, Charles Bickford had occupied;
that John Dehner had occupied. These were truly great western
actors. Stewart Granger came in and decided that he was going to be
the big star of the show: fired my crew, fired my Academy
Award-winning cameraman, got all new people. He pissed off everyone
in the entire organization. And he sunk the show. So
thank you, Stewart, wherever you are.”
Granger’s casting was in
one way a savvy move – though they were rarely released in the U.S., Granger
had become a big Western star in Europe, starring in a series of German
Westerns based on the novels of Karl May. His presence undoubtedly made the
show more saleable overseas. The series actually holds up quite well, and what
probably did it in was the title change: fans simply didn’t know that THE MEN
FROM SHILOH actually was THE VIRGINIAN.
The new title is more suggestive, at that time, of a spy series, like THE MAN
FROM U.N.C.L.E.
If you’d like to know
more, HERE is a link to my review of THE MEN FROM SHILOH from when it was
brought out on home video.
HAPPY 110TH
BIRTHDAY GENE AUTRY!
Friday, September 29th,
is the 110th anniversary of the great singing cowboy Gene Autry’s
birth! Drop by the Autry Museum to celebrate, and if you’re among the first 110
visitors to enter, you’ll receive a free DVD of Gene is SIOUX CITY SUE. Even if you’re 111 or after, you’ll get a
slice of birthday cake!
BOYD MAGERS ‘GATHERING OF
GUNS’ SIGNING AT THE AUTRY
Come to the Autry on
Saturday, September 30th at 9:30 a.m., and enjoy a Q&A with one
of the most knowledgeable people in the world of Western film & TV, and
author of Western Clippings, Boyd
Magers. Maxine Hansen, Executive Assistant to Mrs. Gene Autry, will be
interviewing Boyd about his new book, A GATHERING OF GUNS: A HALF CENTURY OF TV
WESTERNS (1949-2001). After, he’ll be signing the book at the Autry Museum
Store.
BEN TURPIN IN ‘YUKON
JANE’
Grapevine Video, my
primary source for high quality silent Westerns, posted this very funny silent
(with music and sound effects) one-reeler starring the great cross-eyed comic
Ben Turpin as a lawman trying to rescue a kidnapped damsel. Back around 1980, I
met a fellow who grew up in Hollywood, and drove a beautiful 1956 T-Bird he’d
bought new – I wish I could remember his name, but it’s been too long. A
boyhood friend of his was future movie star Frankie Darrow, and when they were
kids, they’d hitchhike to and from Malibu to surf. One time, heading back, Ben
Turpin gave them a lift, and when he saw that they were nervous about his
crossed eyes, he took pleasure is weaving all over the road.
AND THAT’S A WRAP!
Happy Trails,
Henry
All Original Contents
Copyright 2017 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved
