ETHAN HAWKE AS JOHN BROWN COMING TO SHOWTIME, PLUS ‘COWBOY WAY’ BACK ON INSP, DVD REVIEWS!

ETHAN HAWKE PORTRAYS JOHN BROWN IN ‘THE GOOD LORD BIRD’ OCTOBER 4!

James McBride’s 2013 novel, The Good Lord Bird, about John Brown, the abolitionist firebrand who tried to trigger the Civil War, will reach Showtime as an eight-part limited series beginning October 4^th.  Hawke, in addition to portraying Brown, created the series about one of the most fascinating and controversial men in American history.  Considered a great hero by some, a lunatic by others, and a lunatic hero by quite a few, in May of 1856, Brown and his followers went to Pottawatomie, Kansas, and attacked slavery supporters, hacking six of them to pieces with swords. This was followed by his famous attack on the Harpers Ferry Armory in Virginia, to get arms for the fight.  He was eventually captured, tried, and hanged. 

 

Also in the cast is Daveed Diggs, who created the roles of Marquis de Lafayette, and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton, will play Frederick Douglass, and Oglala stuntman and actor Mo Brings Plenty will play Ottawa Jones.  The story will largely be seen through the eyes of Onion, a fictional runaway enslaved boy played by Joshua Caleb Johnson.

Joshua Caleb Johnson and Ethan Hawke

The idea of John Brown conjures up different images in different minds.

Here is how artist John Steuart Curry saw Brown.

Here is Thomas Hovenden's view in "John Brown's Last Moments."

There have been few film portrayals of John Brown.  Sterling Hayden played him in the The Blue and The Grey miniseries, but Raymond Massey is best-remembered as Brown, and in fact played him twice.  The first time was for director Michael Curtiz in the 1940 Warner Brothers film The Santa Fe Trail.  To get the required crazed look, Massey wore solid black contact lenses, and could not see a thing through them.  He played the role again fifteen years later in 7 Angry Men. A low-budget Allied Artists film, it is not easy to find – I’ve only seen clips.  It was directed by Charles Marquis Warren, the man who adapted Gunsmoke from Radio to TV, and created Rawhide.   Below is Massey from Santa Fe Trail, delivering Brown's gallows speech.

‘COWBOY WAY’ RETURNS TO INSP – AND YOU CAN WATCH THE WHOLE NEW SEASON NOW!

 

This past Wednesday, July 29^th, The Cowboy Way, the reality show that follows the real lives of working cowboys Bubba, Booger, Cody and their families, returned to INSP for season 7. And the amazing thing is, you can watch it all RIGHT NOW!  Since July 15^th, not only the new season, but every episode of every season of Cowboy Way has been made available on INSP.COM, across any kind of screen you’ve got, and also on YouTube.  Why drop the entire season at once?  Doug Butts, SVP of Programming for INSP explains, “The program’s many loyal viewers simply can’t get enough of the series. As soon as one season ends, we begin receiving countless requests (asking) when the next season will debut. In addition to viewers on INSP, this series has found a following among those who have discovered past episodes on various streaming platforms. In an effort to give the fans what they want, and to expose our guys to an even larger audience, we made the decision to make The Cowboy Way available digitally before the new season premieres on INSP.” 

Personally, I like the traditional model of one-a-week, mainly because I don’t like to use up all the new shows so quickly – I want to eke them out.  But I think it’s great that INSP is giving us the option to view the show any way we want.

DVD REVIEWS – TWO NEW DOUBLE-FEATURES FROM ALPHA VIDEO/OLDIES.COM

THE PROUD REBEL - 1956

Although 1953’s Shane was undoubtedly the high watermark of Alan Ladd’s Western career, he still had some important and impressive work ahead of him in that arena, notably 1958’s The Badlanders, and 1956’s The Proud Rebel.  Based on the The Journal of Linnett Moore by John Edward Grant, who scripted The Alamo, The Comancheros, and Hondo (and don’t correct me on Hondo  – Grant wrote the screenplay and Louis L’Amour wrote the paperback tie-in from it), Samuel Goldwyn Jr.’s  production of Rebel is the post-war story of former Confederate soldier John Chandler (Alan Ladd).  His young son, David, has been struck mute, unable to speak since the wartime trauma of seeing his mother killed, and Chandler roams the country, his one goal to find a doctor who can help his son. 

David is played by Alan Ladd’s real-life son David Ladd, who was around ten, and making his third appearance with his father.  When father and son arrive in a Northern town, looking for help for the boy, they run afoul of Jed Burleigh (a very young Harry Dean Stanton), who comes from a sheepherding family, and covets the Chandlers’ remarkable sheepdog.  Chandler is bullied into a fight, railroaded to jail, and he and his son are rescued by Linnett Moore of the story’s title, in the person of Olivia de Havilland, as a lady farmer who is also being bullied by the Burleigh family – led by nasty Dean Jagger. 

It’s a beautiful and moving story, strengthened by uncharacteristic performances.  Ladd is notably subdued; de Havilland is so unglamorized, and plays with such a deep voice that she’s unrecognizable at first; and young David is remarkably natural and affecting, without being cloying or pathetic.  Also impressive in support are Cecil Calloway as the Quaker doctor, Henry Hull as the prejudiced judge, Mary Wickes as the gossip, Percy Helton as a photographer, and John Carradine as a travelling salesman. 

Sadly there is no credit for the trainer of the dog, King.  The entire story revolves around possession of King, and King’s performance is astonishing in its details: you’ll have no doubt that men would kill to own him.  Michael Curtiz’s direction is as masterful as it is invisible.  Cinematographer Ted D. McCord makes creative use of color and shadow.  The screenplay by Joseph Petracca and Lillie Hayward gives full life to all of the characters, which is particularly striking in the final, complex gundown.

This is a Public Domain film, so quality tends to be uneven, but the Alpha Video version is among the better prints I’ve seen.  Incidentally, David Ladd would go on to star in Dog of Flanders and other films, and have his greatest success as a film producer, and production executive at M.G.M. and other studios.

DEADLY COMPANIONS – 1961

All too often dismissed as Sam Peckinpah’s first halting directorial effort (not counting his TV work), Deadly Companions is much more.  Produced by star Maureen O’Hara and her brother for a slim $300,000, it is an intimate study of a woman’s pain, a man’s guilt, and their ultimate redemption.  It would be one of her three collaborations with co-star Brian Keith, along with the Disney comedy The Parent Trap that same year, and the Western The Rare Breed five years later. 

Peckinpah and Keith were just coming off their excellent but short-lived TV collaboration, The Westerner, and in fact there is precious little difference between Keith’s portrayals in each (and no difference in wardrobe at all).  Except that here, Keith’s character, a former Union Sergeant known as Yellowleg for the stripe on his pants, has more than a little larceny in his soul.  He rescues crooked gambler Turk (Chill Wills) from being hung, just as he would have in The Westerner. But here it’s because he wants Turk and accomplice Steve Cochran to help him rob a bank. 

No, Brian Keith's outfit is not really the color of a banana!

But another gang robs the bank ahead of them, and in the ensuing shootout, Yellowleg accidentally kills a boy, the son of saloon entertainer Kit Tildon (Maureen O’Hara). And in a foreshadowing of key elements and images from both Django and Lonesome Dove, Yellowleg helps Tildon transport her son’s coffin through Apache country so he can be buried in the town of Siringo, beside his father.  It’s a small film, and a sad one, but well done and worth watching. The script by Albert S. Fleischman, from his own novel, gives plenty of drama to O’Hara and Keith, let’s Strother Martin be surprisingly likable as a minister, and lets Chill Wills be repugnant as never before.  Cinematographer William H. Clothier, D.P. on over twenty John Wayne pictures, knows where and how to use the camera for maximum effect.  The biggest weakness is the music. O’Hara sings the forgettable theme, and Marlin Skiles’ score, usually one instrument, sounds like it was recorded in a phone booth.

 

WHITE FANG – 1973

Jack London got the Giallo/Spaghetti Western treatment when Lucio Fulci, director of Four of the Apocalypse and House by the Cemetery, took on White Fang.  As the cover-notes in this Alpha Video release point out, this film was a response to the popularity of the 1972 Charlton Heston version of Call of the Wild, so perhaps this DVD release is a result of the 2020 Harrison Ford version.

The problem with adapting White Fang to the screen has always been that the novel’s story is told largely from the point of view of a wolf, something extremely difficult to film.  This version retains some characters and situations from the novel, but is largely the humans’ story.  And the wolf is played by a German Shepherd.  That being said, White Fang is an enjoyable and entertaining movie, and while some early supposed snowy exteriors are laughable, the various Norwegian and Spanish locations stand in well for the Klondike.

An Inuit has trained White Fang, but when he and his son take him to Dawson, greedy ‘Beauty” Smith (beloved Eurovillain John Steiner) kills the man for his dog, and journalist Jason Scott (Franco Nero, the star of the film) searches for a witness who will testify to the crime.   There are dog fights and other competitions, cruelty to humans as well as animals, and it gets pretty brutal, no surprise with Fulci at the helm.  In one of the greatest imaginable wastes of natural beauty, lovely Virna Lisi has a large role, as a nun in full habit. Although said to be a hit among Italian kids at the time, it is certainly too rough for children by modern standards, and much of the plot, about a drunken minister (Fernando Rey) who has lost his faith, a fallen woman (Carole Andre), would not interest a kid, but Franco and the dog are always fun to watch.

The success of White Fang led inevitably to a sequel, White Fang to the Rescue. While the smaller budget is obvious in the casting – villain Henry Silva is the only name, and Meruzio Merli is the star based on his resemblance to Franco Nero, it is in some ways better than its predecessor. Not saddled with an unadaptable book, this one’s writers, Sandro Continenza and Giovanni Simonelli, come up with a clever premise: when White Fang’s owner, Benjamin Dover (as in “bend over”) is murdered for his gold, his friend Burt Halloway (Merli) finds and buries the body, takes on the dead man’s identity (his own reputation is none too good), and heads to town with White Fang, carrying the dead man’s gold claim, and hoping to discover his killers.  When he arrives, he is amazed to learn that he is a father: Dover’s wife has died, and the son, who has not seen his father since infancy, has been sent to live with who he thinks is his father. 

Directed by Tonino Ricci, Lucio Fulci’s frequent second unit director, the film does a better job of balancing the light and dark elements than its forerunner.  Shot largely in the Italian ski-resort town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, it’s beautiful to see, and the ending is surprisingly satisfying (though violent).  One interesting footnote; visual effects are by Carlo Rambaldi, who would gain great success, and two Oscars, for his creations for Alien (1979) and E.T. (1982).

...AND THAT'S A WRAP!

Have a great start to August, and I'll be posting again in a few weeks!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Material Copyright July 2020 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

 

CORBUCCI TRIBUTE OPENS LOS ANGELES ITALIA

Yesterday, the 6^th annual LOS ANGELES ITALIA FESTIVAL began.  Held the week leading up to the Oscars, it’s seven days of movie screenings, classics and premieres, as well as other cultural events.  It takes place at the Chinese 6 Theatres, part of the same Hollywood and Highland complex as the home of the Academy Awards, the Kodak Theatre -- soon to be known as something other than the Kodak Theatre.  

Legendary filmmakers are honored, and this year two of the honorees are the late spaghetti western master, Sergio Corbucci, and horror and suspense stylist Dario Argento, who is attending.  The screenings began at 10 a.m. with a documentary about Ms. Loren, BECOMING SOPHIA.  At 12:30 was the first Corbucci screening, THE MERCENARY (1968), starring Franco Nero, Tony Musante and Jack Palance. 

John Landis on Swiss TV

The Festival began in earnest at 6:30 p.m., with the arrival of stars on the red carpet.  There I had the chance to ask John Landis when he was going to direct his next Western.  “Are you kidding?  I’d love to direct a western.  I’ve worked on about sixty, but I’ve only directed one, THE THREE AMIGOS.  Walter Hill once said if they knew how much fun it was to make a western, they wouldn’t let us.  It’s true; it’s the best, and it’s the American genre.  I would love to make a western – I’ve worked on so many of them, in Spain, Mexico, America.  Unfortunately you have to wait till another western somehow makes money before they’ll make some again.   But I love westerns.  Do you know when I first met Dario (Argento)?  I was a stunt guy on a movie called ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, for Sergio Leone.  And do you know who wrote ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST?  Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci.  They were both film critics.  That’s when I met them – they were both on the set going, ‘We met Henry Fonda!’  You know Franco (Nero) killed me once, in a western.”

JUSTIFIED star Joelle Carter

Next I asked Joelle Carter, who portrays Ava Crowder on JUSTIFIED, if she considers her series to be more of a Western or a cop show.   “I’d say a modern-day western.  There’s the cop aspect to it, I guess.”  I asked if she’d like to do a period Western.  “That would be great.  There’s a TV show coming on that’s based on the evolution of a group of pioneers moving west, called FRONTIER.”

When Mark Canton, the producer behind such monster franchises as THE 300 and PIRANAH films, came by, I asked him when he was going to do a Western (I know I’m starting to sound obsessive/compulsive, but it’s my job).  He laughed, “I don’t know.  I start April 16^th on THE TOMB, with Sylvester and Arnold, so first things first; a really great big prison movie, and then I do the next 300.  So it’s western enough for me.”

Franco Nero and Joan Collins

Finally, the great Franco Nero arrived, startlingly handsome, his eyes that familiar blue, looking not too many years older than when he was starring in Spaghetti Westerns.  Sergio Corbucci famously said, “John Ford had John Wayne, Sergio Leone had Clint Eastwood, and I have Franco Nero.”  I asked Franco which was his favorite among his Corbucci westerns.   “Well, actually, I loved the three of them.  I love DJANGO, I love COMPANEROS and THE MERCENARY.  And I did a western – there going to show it here Wednesday – JONATHAN OF THE BEARS – that I dedicated to him, dedicated to Sergio Corbucci.”  I asked what set Corbucci apart from other western directors.  “Well, he was very original.  He did westerns with humor.  I would say like a black comedy.  They were very tough.  But also, they were very political.”

Next was horror maestro Dario Argento, whose SUSPIRIA had been screened just before the red carpet began.  His next film is DRACULA 3D, and immediately after the red carpet, he treated us to 25 minutes of scenes from the film.  I’m not a huge 3D fan, but I loved it, and I can’t wait to see the whole movie – it contains all the best elements of his own work, but those of Hammer horror as well.  Until John Landis reminded me of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, I’d forgotten that Argento started out writing thrillers and westerns for other directors, among them TODAY WE KILL, TOMORROW WE DIE and FIVE MAN ARMY.  I asked him if he might return to the western genre.  “No, no.  Finished.” 

Dario Argento

After DRACULA 3D, and Fausto Brizzi’s romantic comedy, LOVE TO MAKE LOVE – surprisingly also in 3D – Sergio Corbucci’s DJANGO (1966) was screened, with its star, Franco Nero, in attendance. 

Franco Nero, John Landis & Mark Canton

The festival continues every day through Saturday, and all the screenings are free, first come, first seated.  If you can make it today, Monday, at 6:30, you can see THE TONTO WOMAN, a short western shown in tribute to Francesco Quinn, who recently passed away.   At ten a.m. on Wednesday morning they’ll screen Corbucci’s COMPANEROS, starring Franco Nero, and that night at eight they’ll screen JONATHAN OF THE BEARS (1995), also starring Nero, and directed by Enzo Castellari, an honoree at last year’s Festival.  Nero will be doing a Q & A, so you need to RSVP for that one.

Dario Argento and Mark Canton

For a complete schedule of screenings, go HERE.  I’d strongly advise you to come to the festival if you’re in or near Los Angeles this week, but check on-line for road closures, because in preparation for the Oscars next Sunday, a lot of streets are being shut down.

BOOK REVIEW: RAWHIDE

In his new book, RAWHIDE: A HISTORY OF TELEVISION’S LONGEST CATTLE DRIVE, author David R. Greenland takes on the considerable job of documenting the history of this remarkable series, from creation to dilution to eventual destruction.  He also outlines every one of the 217 episodes that made up the series.  Happily it can currently be seen on the Encore Western Channel Monday through Friday, and this book makes a wonderful reference volume for it, enhancing the viewing experience considerably.

More than fifty years after the program first hit the air, the difference between RAWHIDE and most other Western series of its day – or any other day for that matter – is especially apparent.  It is the unvarnished stories of anonymous men doing thankless toil for poor wages.  It is a man’s world to a far greater degree than most westerns.  As far as believability, it exists in the Pantheon of realistic western programs with only two others; WAGON TRAIN and GUNSMOKE.   

And as Greenland explains, it’s unique even within that company, because its creator wanted it that way.  Perhaps the greatest revelation of the book is the contribution to the western form, big-screen and small, made by the series creator, Charles Marquis Warren.  The godson of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Warren started writing western novels, among them ONLY THE VALIANT, and went on to variously write, produce and/or direct a string of mostly modest-budget western features that are all worth seeing.  But it was in television that he truly made his mark.  He produced the first 52 episodes of GUNSMOKE, setting the standard for noir-ishly adult western stories. 

When he couldn’t get along with network higher-ups, he left (replaced by John Meston, who had created the show for radio).  Warren soon moved on to his own creation, RAWHIDE, a western series that would not be set in a town or on a ranch, because it was about continuous movement.  Its episodes had ‘incident’ in most of the titles – INCIDENT OF THE HAUNTED HILLS, INCIDENT OF THE WIDOWED DOVE – because Warren thought the shows should not be about ‘stories’, but ‘incidents.’ And there is a deceptively random feel to many episodes, the plots so subtly designed that they just seem to ‘happen.’ 

Clint Eastwood, Sheb Wooley, Paul Brinegar, Eric Fleming

Typical, and terrific, is INCIDENT WEST OF LANO, which grows out of a simple bit of bad timing: the cattle drive and a wagon train reach opposite banks of the same river, and neither is willing to let the other side cross first.  True to the ‘incident’ idea, the audience knows, when pot-shots are taken, who did it, but the characters don’t know, and they never find out.  And in keeping with the manly silence of the cowboy, when a man from the wagon train is back-shot, any other western, or any other TV drama for that matter, would turn on the revelation that the dead man was a would-be rapist stopped in the act.  But no one on the cattle drive ever reveals how it happened: they’re not interested in justifying their actions to other men.

RAWHIDE premiered in 1959, which Greenland points out was a peak year for Western television.  Fifteen new western series premiered that year, including BONANZA, LARAMIE and THE REBEL.  Westerns were great money-makers, but they were still the Rodney Dangerfields of television: in that year, the only Western-related Emmy nomination was for Richard Boone in HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL.  And he lost.  In eight seasons, RAWHIDE never got a single Emmy nomination for any actor, writer, director or crew member.  It’s worth noting that of all those nominees and winners, about the only shows that people still watch from that era are PERRY MASON and I LOVE LUCY.  And the great westerns like RAWHIDE, which seems startlingly fresh and natural in acting style.

The lives of the men who made up the show’s cast are varied and fascinating.  Clint Eastwood had mostly played uncredited roles until he landed the part of ramrod Rowdy Yates, and he credits the show with teaching him a great deal about acting, and the jobs behind the camera as well.  

Eric Fleming, who played trail boss Gil Favor had such an awful childhood that it’s remarkable that he got past it.  A homely youth, it was while in the Navy that a two-hundred pound block of steel smashed in his face.  The good looks we’re familiar with were a by-product of reconstructive surgery!  Just as Clint would do spaghetti westerns during hiatus periods, Fleming would do movies as well.  His death while making one in South America is so grotesque that, if you saw it in a movie, you wouldn’t believe it.

Other regulars, like Sheb Wooley as Pete Nolan, Paul Brinegar as Wishbone, and Steve Raines as Jim Quince, not only had considerable experience in Westerns, they had all previously worked in Western films for Warren.   

But ironically, several of the featured players were as anonymous as the men they portrayed.  After they left the show, little is known of James Murdock, who played cook’s helper Mushy; Rocky Shahan, who was drover Joe Scarlett; or Robert Cabal, who played the wrangler Hey-soos, except that they’ve all died.    

In fact, with the exception of Eastwood, who was apparently unavailable to be interviewed, none of the regulars are living.  Greenland was able to speak with guest stars like L.Q. Jones, Morgan Woodward, the late Richard Devon, and director Ted Post, and  he pulled together a great deal of older interview material.  There is, however, a substantial interview with Gregory Walcott, a frequent guest on the show.  And Walcott tells one story which demonstrates that, while Charles Marquis Warren made some of the best westerns ever, he could also be a heartless sonuvabitch. 

Some of the great stars of the film business appeared on RAWHIDE, among them Barbara Stanwyck, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Mary Astor and Lon Chaney Jr.  I just watched one at random, and it featured John Erickson, Leif Ericson and John Cassavettes.  And the one I’ll watch when I finish writing this review stars Brian Donlevy and Dick Van Patten, and is directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, one of the last survivors of this era. 

Each of the 217 episodes is listed, with its original airdate, director, writers, cast, summary, and notes where applicable.  And also the opening narration, if any.  Here’s one: “I got a cousin, woman, teaches in a school house back east.  She tells me those boys daydream about becomin’ cowboys.  Of all the jobs a man could pick, why’d he ever want to choose this way to make a livin’?  Three thousand head of God’s lowest form of life, cattle.  If they don’t die of tick fever, strangle in a dust storm or trample their fool selves to death, then the market’ll go down to two cents a pound on the hoof.  They might as well have died before we set out.  But they need food back east.  It’s my job to get this herd movin.  My name’s Gil Favor, trail boss.”

And for us boys who still daydream about becomin’ cowboys, and who learned what a trail boss and ramrod and drover and wrangler are by watching RAWHIDE, David R. Greenland’s book is required reading.  It’s published by Bear Manor Media, and retails for $21.95. You can order it HERE.  

HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY!

That's it for this week's Round-up!  Next week I'll be featuring an interview with LAREDO star Robert Wolders.  They've just started running his episodes on Encore Western if you want to take a look.

Adios,

Henry

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

WHAT AM I BID FOR TRIGGER?

The good news is that the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Archive, including key artifacts and 120 boxes of Roy and Dale-related stuff have been acquired by the Autry. It will take a few years for archivists to catalog and preserve it all, and make it available. The announcement from the Autry notes that, “Once the archive has been completely processed, key items will be exhibited in a dedicated case in the museum’s Imagination Gallery.”

The not bad but wistful news – good news if you have money to spend – is that 346 lots from the now defunct Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Branson, Missouri, formerly in Victorville, California, will be sold at auction, at Christie’s Auction Gallery in New York’s Rockefeller Center, on Wednesday and Thursday, July 14th and 15th. The preview starts today, Friday, July 9th. The vast array of items for bid include Roy and Dale merchandise, clothes, chandeliers, boots, saddles, spurs, collections of badges, and Trigger, the taxidermied Golden Palomino, the “Smartest Horse In The Movies”. Trigger, who is estimated at $100,000 to $200,000, is lot #38, the final lot for Wednesday. On Thursday, lot #230, Dale’s horse, Buttermilk, with an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000, will go under the gavel, followed by lot #231, “Roy’s Wonder-Dog, Bullet,” who is expected to fetch $10,000 to $15,000. Pat Brady's Jeep NELLYBELLE is estimated at $20,000 - $30,000. The catalog will set you back $30.00. Wednesday's auction starts at 6:00 p.m., Thursday's at 10:00 a.m..

To read the informative, if somewhat wise-ass story in the New York Times -- it starts with the line, “Wild West kitsch will take over Christie’s plush quarters at Rockefeller Center,” CLICK HERE. But be warned, those illiterate city-slickers call a 'chuck wagon' a 'chow wagon.' To take a look at the items up for auction, and to register to bid, CLICK HERE. To read a touching Christie-provided interview with Roy 'Dusty' Rogers Jr., CLICK HERE. (Photos from top: Roy and Dale with Trigger, Dale with Buttermilk, Dale with Bullet)

LUCAS AND SPEILBERG LET NORMAN ROCKWELL OUT OF THE VAULT

Remember that scene at the end of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, where the Ark of the Covenant is sealed in a wooden crate and hidden away in a massive warehouse, never to be seen again? Well, enthusiastic Norman Rockwell collectors Steven Speilberg and George Lucas have lately been accused of the same thing by the art world, for refusing to lend their pictures to Rockwell exhibitions.

They’ve made up for it in a big way, by combining fifty-seven of the paintings in one exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C., entitled, “Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell From The Collections of George Lucas and Steven Speilberg.” The show will run until early 2011. Rockwell gained his greatest fame for the hundreds of covers he painted for THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, mostly depicting cheerful aspects of American life.

Speilberg notes, “I had a great deal of respect for how he could tell stories in a single frozen image. Entire stories.” Lucas notes, “To me the most important part of Rockwell’s work is that it illustrates compassion and caring about other people.” Lucas, who has lived too long in Marin County, adds, “You could almost say he was a Buddhist painter.”

HARRISON FORD TAKES BREAK FROM ‘ALIENS’ TO TIE KNOT

On location in Santa Fe, New Mexico, COWBOYS AND ALIENS star Harrison Ford took a break from acting duties to wed his steady of eight years, Calista Flockhart. The vows were said at the Governor’s Mansion, the wedding performed by Governor Bill Richardson under the legal supervision of New Mexico Chief Justice Charles W. Daniels.

FOLLOW-UP FROM THE 4TH OF JULY

Got a few interesting calls and comments after COWPOKE WHO SERVED. I was able to add Earl Holliman and Cesar Romero to out list. Ron Scheer had an interesting suggestion: Western writers who served might make an interesting list. I agree. Haven't had much time for research, but I learned that Louis L'Amour served in the U.S. Merchant Marines. Charles Marquis Warren, novelist (ONLY THE VALIENT), screenwriter, producer and director who shaped TV's GUNSMOKE and RAWHIDE, served in the Navy in the Photo Science Laboratory. Wounded by a Japanese grenade, he received a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and five battle stars. And speaking of the 4th of July, that day in 1884 was the birthday of George Trendle, the man who thought up THE LONG RANGER.

And we would be remiss if we did not note the recent passing of a man of the real west, the very last of the Navajo 'code talkers,' who used their native language as a uncrackable code during World War II. Clarence Wolf Guts was 86 when he died, on June 16th, at the South Dakota Veterans home in Hot Springs.

AMERICAN BANDITS WINS TELLY AWARD

Congratulations to writer-director Fred Olen Ray, who has won the Bronze Telly Award for AMERICAN BANDITS: FRANK AND JESSE JAMES.

WESTERN ROUND-UP HAS A SPONSOR

I'm delighted to announce that the good folks from the Dish Satellite company are our first advertisers -- if you missed their ad, it's on the top left corner of the opening page! If you're looking for satellite service, please click on the link!

SCREENINGS

RANDOLPH SCOTT IN 'SANTA FE' (1951) AT THE AUTRY

How long has it been since you saw Randolph Scott on the big screen? You can, this Saturday, July 10th, at the Autry's Wells Fargo Theatre. It's part of The Imagined West Film Series, and is preceeded by the film that started it (westerns) all, Edwin S. Porter's THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903). The show is at 2:00 p.m. And although membership or admission usually gets you in, for some reason it'll cost $5 for members and $9 for non-members. Regular readers of the Round-up may remember that in the April 17th entry, at an event celebrating the issuing of the Cowboys of the Silver Screen stamps, Autry CEO John L. Gray annnounced that, starting in mid-June, The Autry would present a western film festival, commencing with a Roy Rogers picture. June has come and gone, no Roy, no Gene. On August 14th we will get UNDER WESTERN SKIES, which launched Roy's career. The only Autry pictures expected to run this summer are TV episodes during July 24th's NATIONAL DAY OF THE COWBOY event. THE HARVEY GIRLS is running on Saturday, July 31st. Kinda slim pickings for western fans. Yet opening on August 17th is a show, HOW THE WEST WAS WORN...BY MICHAEL JACKSON. Yes, that Michael Jackson. I don't understand some people's priorities.



ANTHONY MANN FESTIVAL AT NEW YORK’S FILM FORUM

What a treat for all of you that live East but love West! From June 25th through July 15th, the Forum will be presenting 26 movies – most in double features and a few in triple bills! -- directed by the great Anthony Mann, whose post-war westerns brought a new-found maturity to the form, and gave James Stewart a chance to stretch as an actor as never before. In addition to the westerns being shown, Mann's fine crime and war stories will also be on view. Among the westerns: THE FAR COUNTRY (1955) and THE TALL TARGET (1951) on Friday and Saturday, July 9th and 10th. To whet your appetite -- and this is for everyone, not just New Yorkers - CLICK HERE to see trailers of several of the Anthony Mann westerns.

AROUND LOS ANGELES

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. Currently they have HOMELANDS: HOW WOMEN MADE THE WEST through August 22nd, and THE ART OF NATIVE AMERICAN BASKETRY: A LIVING TRADITION, through November 7th. I've seen the basketry show three times, and am continually astonished at the beauty and variety of the work of the various tribes. 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.

ON TV

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 THE LONE RANGER at 1:30 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.

Unless something unexpected happens, that's it for this week's report. Have a great weekend! And by the way, readers tipped me about both the Norman Rockwell show and the Roy Rogers auction. If you hear something that'd interest the Round-up, let me know!

Happy Trails to you!

Henry

All Contents Copyright July 2010 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved