CHRISTIAN BALE RETURNS WEST FOR 'HOSTILES', PLUS WHO DO YOU BELIEVE IN 'TOMBSTONE-RASHOMON'?

Christian Bale

HOSTILES – A Film Review 

A decade ago, Christian Bale played the reluctant temporary deputy escorting outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crow) to a train in the remake of Elmore Leonard’s 3:10 TO YUMA. In HOSTILES, he’s more than reluctant; he’s defiant. A heroic, much-honored veteran of both the Civil War and Indian Wars, Cap. Joseph J. Blocker (Bale), is ordered to escort captive Cheyenne Chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) back to his homeland in Montana, presumably to die. Having lost many friends at the hands of Yellow Hawk and his men, Blocker refuses, and it is only the threat of court martial, and loss of his pension, by Col. Briggs (Stephen Lang), that induces Blocker to transport Yellow Hawk and his family through deadly territory.

Jonathan Majors & Wes Studi

The movie becomes, in a sense, a ‘road picture’, with Blocker and Yellow Hawk gradually coming to grips with their intersecting pasts and their terrible memories. There are chance encounters along the way. En route they meet up with Rosalie Quaid (Rosamund Pike, Oscar-nominated for GONE GIRL), a settler whose husband and three daughters have been piteously butchered by Comanches. Her mind shattered by her pain, she is brought along, and begins healing along the way. Soldiers and Cheyenne must do battle with Comanches, enemies of both. They’re also asked to transport a soldier to a court for trial and presumably a hanging – Sgt. Charles Wills (Ben Foster) hacked a family to pieces with an axe. Wills has a history with Blocker – they soldiered together – and Wills is eager to convince Blocker that his crimes are no worse than Blocker committed, and that they’re a pair of angels next to Yellow Hawk. Interestingly, Foster, who all but walked away with last year’s HELL OR HIGH WATER, as the bank-robbing brother with no off-switch, has a history with Bale, as he played Crow’s obsessively-loyal right-hand in 3:10 TO YUMA. Come to think of it, he all but walked off with that movie as well.

Rosamund Pike

HOSTILES, written and directed by Scott Cooper, based on a manuscript by the late Donald E. Stewart, an Oscar-winner for 1983’s MISSING, is a deeply felt story, peopled by soldiers, Indians and civilians who express their feelings with utmost caution.  Despite the familiar premise, the flow of the story, and the people who populate it, are happily unfamiliar. The cavalry soldiers assisting Blocker include a young Frenchman (Timothee Chalamet – currently starring in CALL ME BY YOUR NAME), a sergeant recently treated for melancholy (Rory Cochrane), and a loyal black corporal (Jonathan Majors) ironically in charge of chaining the Indians. It’s full of both quiet passages, and jarring, unflinching violence – in some ways it’s the SAVING PRIVATE RYAN of Westerns.  

Christian Bale & Adam Beach

Scott Cooper made CRAZY HEART with Jeff Bridges, but his Western credentials go back further, to his acting career, in GODS AND GENERALS, with Stephen Lang, and the excellent miniseries BROKEN TRAIL. Cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi, who also shot Cooper’s BLACK MASS, makes full, beautiful use of the New Mexico and Arizona locations, and at times effectively thrusts the viewer deeper into the action than we want to go. There is also frequently a classical look to the images – his doorway compositions are not merely an homage to John Ford, but a jumping-off point.

My one disappointment is that the excellent Adam Beach, who plays Yellow Hawk’s son, has virtually nothing to do. But with a performance by Bale that runs from barely contained fury to understated grace, and a story that is frequently grim, but never without hope, HOSTILES is one of the finest Westerns in several years. From Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, it opens in theatres on January 19^th.

TOMBSTONE – RASHOMON – Alex Cox at the O.K. Corral!

There is probably no more polarizing incident in the Old West than the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral or, as those involved demurely referred to it, ‘the difficulties.’ 132 years after the Earp and Cowboy factions faced each other, all that can be agreed upon is that 30 seconds after it started, Billy Clanton, and Frank and Tom McLaury were dead.  There is no consensus as to whether or not it was avoidable, and who was at fault.    

“I was a kid at grammar school in England, and in the school library was a copy of Stuart N. Lake’s book, WYATT EARP -- FRONTIER MARSHALL,” remembers wildly-independent filmmaker Alex Cox – whose previous Westerns include 1986’s punk neo-Spaghetti STRAIGHT TO HELL and ‘87’s classical WALKER. “I read that, and of course it’s a total hierography of Earp. But it was well-written, entertaining, and it got me interested in the subject.” His favorite of the films on the subject is John Ford’s 1946 MY DARLING CLEMENTINE. “It’s so beautiful. It doesn’t have a lot to do with the events; it’s a made-up story, for the purpose of entertaining and myth-making.” He also liked 1971’s DOC, “the anti-Earp version. And I kinda like TOMBSTONE – it’s a bit long, but it tells a bigger version of the story, so you know who Johnny Behan is, and Curly Bill Brocious, and all these guys who don’t normally make it into the story.”

Christine Doidge as Kate, Eric Schumacher as Doc 

To tell his own version, Cox took inspiration from Akira Kurosawa’s RASHOMON, 1951’s Best Foreign Film Oscar-winner. The story of a crime is told repeatedly from several different perspectives, and it’s up to the viewer to decide what to believe. RASHOMON, whose title refers to the gate of a walled city, was remade as a Western, THE OUTRAGE, in 1964, starring Paul Newman in the Toshiro Mifune role.

The premise is explained in the film’s opening title: “On 27 October, 1881, a time-travelling video crew arrived in Tombstone, Arizona, to film the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Realizing they were a day late, they started interviewing the survivors.”

Adam Newberry as Wyatt

Cox’s research is as journalistic as his premise is whimsical. The various tellings come directly from Judge Spicer’s hearings, and the coroner’s report. Those who testify include Wyatt Earp, Ike Clanton, Johnny Behan, and saloon-owner Roderick Hafford. Cox also uses newspaper interviews with Doc Holliday, and a letter ‘Big Nose Kate’ Haroney wrote to her niece. Talking-head interviews lead to filmed versions of each participant’s memories, which overlap, and oppose each other. Among events leading up to the shootout, Wyatt offered Ike Clanton a reward for turning in three men for stage-robbery and murder. But their versions of the proposed deal, and involvement of Doc Holiday, differ radically.  And when it comes to the walk-down, and Sheriff Johnny Behan’s words, do we believe Wyatt’s version, that Behan said he’d disarmed the Cowboys, or Behan’s version, that he said he was there to disarm them?

The casting-for-resemblance is striking: Adam Newberry as sulky Wyatt, Eric Schumacher as manic Doc, and Benny Lee Kennedy as Ike seem to have emerged from the pages of The Tombstone Epitaph. Kennedy’s Ike is unexpectedly sympathetic, but Christine Doidge, as Kate, walks off with the movie as a character who is by turns hilarious, tragic, savvy and innocent. Doidge recalls, “Alex had given (Kate) a real space to be herself. Which is great, because he could have easily written this film without her, or with her in one scene; I think having Kate’s perspective is important.”

Hafford's - Richard Anderson as Hafford, 

Benny Lee Kennedy as Ike

It wasn’t a film easily put together. After a “disastrous” crowd-funding campaign, Cox spent a month preparing at Old Tucson, accomplishing the impossible. “We shot a five-week movie in a week.” Having recently taught a learn-by-doing film-production class at University of Colorado Boulder, making the feature BILL THE GALACTIC HERO, he hired several ex-students as crew. 

The real Hafford's Saloon

Cinematographer Alana Murphy remembers, “I was an assistant camera for HERO.  I suppose I made an impression. When I graduated in 2015, Alex said, hey, I’ve got a project I might want your help with - very mysterious.” A year later she was cinematographer on her first feature. She loved working with Cox. “He starts with a lot of inspiration; he gave me a lot of homework, a lot of films to watch, that inspired. That’s how I got to know him, through the source material.”  The biggest challenge?  “The heat. We were having technical issues with batteries not lasting very long. And we were working on a bigger scale then I’m used to.”

Production Designer Melissa Erdman marveled at Cox’s ability to pull it off. “Alex really had great planning skills in the way that the film was structured. So we had an ‘A’ unit and a ‘B’ unit operating pretty much the entire shoot: the B unit was doing the interviews, and the A unit was shooting the various reenactments.” Recreating the interior of Roderick Haffords’ Corner Saloon, famous for hundreds of pictures of birds on its walls, required major planning.  “We had a pretty limited team – it was me, and my art director, who helped to construct the inside of Hafford’s. We had two days of load-in, and most of the stuff came pre-painted, and then putting the bar together, and then getting all the birds put up. I had three people cutting out birds for two days.”

Cox, like Kurosawa, has no intention of telling the viewer if any version of the shoot-out is the unvarnished truth, but he gives each speaker, without pre-judging, a chance to state his or her case. While some differences are flagrant, some are surprisingly subtle. Doidge remembers that after the shootout, as Kate remembers it, “When Doc comes back, grazed by a bullet, I’m there, and I’m horrified.  And in Doc’s version he’s just sitting on the bed by himself. I’m not there.”

TOMBSTONE – RASHOMON will be available on video in 2018 – stay tuned for details!

SILENTS DESCENDS ON THE AUTRY - AND OTHER AUTRY NEWS 

For years The Autry has had their monthly ‘What is a Western?’ screening series – they’re showing STAGECOACH on January 20^th -- and every second month they screen a Gene Autry double feature. They’re now adding a new film series, The Silent Treatment, featuring silent Westerns with a live piano accompaniment by Cliff Retallick, starting on January 27^th with James Cruze’s epic, THE COVERED WAGON (1923). 

Also at the Autry, on Tuesday, January 16^th, Rob Word’s Cowboy Lunch and Word on Western series, Rob will look at the role of women and children in Western films, and Rob always gets terrific guests.

HENRY PARKE WINS WWA'S 'TWEET US A WESTERN' CONTEST! 

I don’t mean to brag, but like Ralphie’s old man, I just won a Major Award. I won first place in the Western Writers of America’s ‘Tweet Us A Western’ contest, where you were challenged to write a complete Western story in 280 characters or less – the length of a tweet.  My winning entry was as follows:

“Eureka!” shouted the old sourdough, sluicing the last of Columbia River silt from his pan to reveal the glitter of color. He straightened.

'Thwack!' The Indian's arrow pierced his back between the shoulders. For a moment he knew his gold rush was over. Then he knew nothing.

...AND THAT'S A WRAP!

...and my New Years resolution is to get the Round-Up out a lot more frequently in 2018. I've got a huge backlog of stories and interviews, and books and movies to review, and I'll get to them as soon as I can. In the meantime, please check out the February 2018 True West, where we asked readers to help us choose the Most Historically Accurate Westerns. And in my column, I take a look at continuing popularity of  The High Chaparral series. Have a wonderful 2018!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright January 2018 by Henry C. Parke - All Rights Reserved

‘SWEETWATER’ REVENGE WESTERN COMING SOON!

Coming soon, ‘SWEETWATER’ is a revenge western starring MAD MEN favorite January Jones as the wronged woman; Jason Isaacs, villain of HARRY POTTER films and THE PATRIOT as a doubtful prophet; and four time Oscar-nominee Ed Harris, whose most recent western is the excellent APPALOOSA, as the sheriff.  Other western vets in the cast include Eduardo Noriega of BLACKTHORN, Chad Brummett of 3:10 TO YUMA, Kathy Lamkin of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, David Manzanares of DJANGO UNCHAINED, Keith Meriweather of JONAH HEX, and Luce Rains of 3:10 TO YUMA, APPALOOSA, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, WILD BILL, and WYATT EARP!  It’s the second film from writer-director Logan Miller, who’s TOUCHING HOME also starred Ed Harris, along with Brad Dourif.     

I hope to have more information soon, but for now, here’s the first trailer –

 

TCM CLASSIC FILM FEST PART 3

Walter Mirisch and Ben Mankiewicz

On Friday, April 26^th, THE GREAT ESCAPE was shown at the opulent and beautiful Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.  Before the screening, the film’s legendary producer, Walter Mirisch, spoke with Ben Mankiewicz about his earlier experience working with director John Sturges and star Steve McQueen, on a film called THE MAGNIFICENT 7.

“(Sturges and I) became friendly, and we decided we wanted to work together.  I always had in mind to find a property that we could do together.  The availability of the SEVEN SAMAURI seemed to present that opportunity to me, because I thought it would be perfect for John.  And I’ll never forget the day that he and I sat together in a projection room and watched THE SEVEN SAMAURI and just spit-balled how it would work as a western.  We were very, very excited.” 

BEN MANKIEWICZ: Did you think then, with Steve McQueen such a big, developing TV star, this early in the process, would be good in that movie? 

WALTER MIRISCH: No, that was never a factor.  Steve was still a television star on the series called WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE, prior to THE MAGNIFICENT 7.  And he was well-received in THE MAGNIFICENT 7, but he had not really achieved star status, so-called, as a result of THE MAGNIFICENT 7.  (John Sturges and I) looked around for another project to do together.  So he suggested some things, and I suggested some things.  Then the idea of THE GREAT ESCAPE came up.  The story had been put on the screen before.   The British had done a picture about that very subject. 

BEN MANKIEWICZ: (archly) If the Americans don’t make it, it doesn’t count!

WALTER MIRISCH: (laughs) Actually, no one could understand those accents, so it didn’t make a damned bit of difference.  There was some resistance, but we (he and Sturges) overcame it because he and I both got very excited at the idea of doing this movie.  Unfortunately the book we acquired, which was by a man named Paul Brickhill, who was himself a prisoner, who was a flyer in the British Air Force, is a factual book.  It’s not a novel.  All of the personal stories, we made up for our film. 

BEN MANKIEWICZ:  Who were you looking at for the two principal characters who would eventually be played by James Garner and Steve McQueen? 

WALTER MIRISCH: First of all, we had decided to tailor the script so that there would be two characters who would carry the story.  Just a few years prior to that, John had made a very, very successful movie called GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL (pause for applause), with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster.  We were tailoring these roles in THE GREAT ESCAPE for Kirk and Burt.  We talked about that until we reached the point of asking how much they were going to cost.  We were having trouble getting the budget of the picture approved.

BEN MANKIEWICZ:  I heard something like four million dollars.  Is that about right?

WALTER MIRISCH:  Somewhat more than that.  A great deal at that time, I must tell you.  Anyone who has ever made a movie has heard this famous expression, “You’re going to have to cut the budget if you want to get this made.”  So when we got ‘the speech,’ John and I talked it over.  I suggested that two relatively inexpensive actors, named Steve McQueen and James Garner, might be possible for those two parts.  And we could save about two million dollars just with that one stroke. 

BEN MANKIEWICZ:  Do you realize, when you say that, that you are a genius?  (laughter and applause)  Not for saying ‘no’ to Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster.  It’s recognizing that Garner and McQueen could fill them.  It’s impossible now to envision – it would be a very different movie with Lancaster and Douglas. 

WALTER MIRISCH: I got to know Steve very well when we made THE MAGNIFICENT 7.  I was fond of him; I thought he had incredible on-screen personality.  And I liked the idea of going younger.  Prior to that I had made a film called THE CHILDREN’S HOUR, and Jim played the male lead with Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacClaine, so I was more comfortable with Steve and Jim than I would have been with Kirk and Burt. 

BEN MANKIEWICZ:  Let me ask you about Steve McQueen, because as you said he had made a big impression in THE MAGNIFICENT 7, but he was not yet a top star --

WALTER MIRISCH:  He hadn’t jumped that motorcycle over the hill yet!

BEN MANKIEWICZ:  I think one of the reasons all the people in this room cherish Steve McQueen they way we do, is because he had that fierce independence, caused by a significant chip on his shoulder.  A guy who’s filled with the self-doubt that many of us are plagued with.  And all those things made him Steve McQueen.  But they also – and I know you’re somebody who loved him dearly – made him a handful to deal with.

WALTER MIRISCH:  (laughs) Steve has that quality, the French call je nes se quois.  I don’t know why, but he’s got it.  He radiated it, and he radiates it on the screen. 

BEN MANKIEWICZ:  Now, he left the set for some time when he didn’t like the way his part was, he didn’t like James Garner’s turtle-neck.  James Garner had a great line: “He wanted to be the hero, but he didn’t want to do anything heroic.”  He thought his character was corny.  As a producer you got through that; you navigated those waters.  You worked with McQueen again, and he gave one of his best performances in THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR.  How do you deal with a fantastically talented mercurial star, and keep your picture running at the same time? 

WALTER MIRISCH:  Steve always thought there were too many words.  And I came to trust that, because I learned that he especially was able to convey a great deal by his very expression.  So I was open to cutting down the amount of speeches; there was a lot he could convey with his eyes.  John was also well aware of that. And we collaborated on that, and also Steve had a good sense of story.  There’s a very famous incident, of course, where Steve got upset in THE GREAT ESCAPE and went away for a while, but that was overcome by rewriting.  I said we’ll overcome what you’re upset about, and he said, “That sounds fine.  I’ll be back to work tomorrow.” 

BEN MANKIEWICZ: Did those new pages include things like, ‘rides motorcycle,’ ‘carries baseball glove’? 

WALTER MIRISCH:  He conveyed more about independence of spirit, and courage, just by throwing that baseball against that wall, and catching it, than you could do with long speeches. 

BEN MANKIEWICZ: I don’t think this will be giving anything away.  At one point Steve McQueen is chased on motorcycles by some Germans.  One of those Germans chasing Steve McQueen on a motorcycle is Steve McQueen.  Any opportunity to ride a motorcycle –

 WALTER MIRISCH:  (laughs) You know you’re not supposed to give away all the secrets!

Coming soon – the final TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL entry, featuring Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and director John Boorman discussing DELIVERANCE.

CORRAL GUNFIGHT ‘O.K.’ NO MORE

 

In the twenty-five years since the Autry opened, much has changed, as exhibitions are expanded, shrunken or moved.  But the life-sized ‘Gunfight at the O.K. Corral’ diorama’s only noticeable change over the years has been the replacement of guns, as they were occasionally swiped from the hands of the Earps.  I remember once coming and finding that of all the figures, only one of the Clantons was still packing iron.  (Then again, I once went to a wax museum in Coney Island, and saw Abe Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth with a Buck Rogers Ray-Gun.) But on June 2^nd, a different kind of packing – packing away – took place.  The Gunfight is being replaced by a new show, Western Frontiers – Stories of Fact and Fiction which, starting on July 25, will tell the story of the West using firearms of great historic and artistic significance.

I’m looking forward to the new show; but I’ll miss the gunfight.  I always thought the narration was a little clunky, but I’ve never gone through that gallery and not pressed the button, to see the show.  And it was a thrill to watch it, then cross to the facing cabinet and see a gun belonging to Doc Holliday, and the sketch of the corral that Wyatt Earp himself had drawn.

Wyatt Earp's sketch of the O.K. Corral

If you’re going to miss it as well, or if you’ve never seen it, click the Youtube link below.  It’s not great – it was shot by an amateur, but it’s only thanks to ‘Ms. Lizzy Borden’ that we have a living record of it at all: http://youtu.be/V1hbHaLyrdk

 

MEMPHIS FILM FESTIVAL - ‘A GATHERING OF GUNS 5’ JUNE 13^TH-15^th

 

At Sam’s Town Resort in Tunica, Mississippi (30 miles South of Memphis, Tennessee), the guns will be gathering, and Boyd Magers has assembled quite a crew!  From HIGH CHAPARRAL, Henry Darrow, Don Collier and Rudy Ramos.  From WAGON TRAIN, Robert Fuller and Denny Miller.  From THE VIRGINIAN, the man himself, James Drury.  SPIN & MARTY – Tim Considine and David Stollery.  ELFEGA BACA himself, Robert Loggia (who was also the lead villain in the first movie I wrote, SPEEDTRAP).  Lisa Lu – Hey Girl from HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL.  Dan Haggerty and Don Shanks from GRIZZLY ADAMS, ZORRO star Duncan Regehr, plus Alex Cord, Gregg Palmer, Tommy Nolan, and Terry Moore.  James Best will present a one-man show, and Johnny Crawford of THE RIFLEMAN, who fronts a wonderful swing orchestra, will present a full banquet concert.  To learn more, go HERE.  http://memphisfilmfestival.com/

WGA NAMES 3 ½ WESTERNS AMONG 101 BEST-WRITTEN SERIES

Lists like this always provoke arguments – or in our case, barroom brawls – but the membership of the East and West branches of the Writers Guild of America voted on-line to determine the 101 best-written TV series in the history of television.  First recognized in the Western field was, at #32, DEADWOOD created by David Milch.  Not another sagebrush saga until #84, a tie  between the courtroom drama THE DEFENDERS, created by Reginald Rose, and GUNSMOKE, pilot written by Charles Marquis Warren and John Meston.  At #86 was JUSTIFIED, pretty-much a Western, developed for Television by Graham Yost, based on the Short Story “Fire in the Hole” by Elmore Leonard, in a tie with SGT. BILKO, by Nat Hiken.  Finally, coming in at #96 was LONESOME DOVE, teleplay by Bill Wittliff, based on the novel Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry; this was tied with SOAP, created by Susan Harris. 

To be fair, there was a lot of excellent writing covering a wide array of genres, dramatic and comedic, on the list, and only a couple of series that I personally hated.  But how a list could be compiled of the best of all TV writing, and have no mention of RAWHIDE, or WAGON TRAIN, or THE REBEL, or HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL, is beyond me.  Who do you think they left out?  To see the entire list, go HERE.  http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=4925

 

‘THE NEVADAN’ COMIC STRIP!

Remember a 1950 Columbia film, THE NEVADAN, starring Randolph Scott, Dorothy Malone and Forrest Tucker? My daughter gave me an old western movie magazine, and in it was a comic-strip version of the movie. I thought my Rounders might find it amusing, so I started running it, one panel a day, on the Round-up Facebook page.  The response has been enthusiastic, and it’s now been running long enough that I thought I’d include it here, from the beginning, for people who might have missed a panel or two.  Hope you enjoy it!

 

 

More of 'THE NEVADAN' coming tomorrow!

THE WRAP-UP

On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending an Autry screening of DOUBLE INDEMNITY, hosted by Los Angeles Police Museum President Glynn Martin, novelist (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, THE BLACK DAHLIA) James Ellroy, and Autry Curator Jeffrey Richardson.  That night I attended a screening of Selig and Fox Tom Mix films at the Egyptian Theatre, introduced by Col. Selig biographer Andrew Erish.  I'll have highlights from both talks next week.

Can't believe I forgot to wish Clint Eastwood a Happy Birthday back on May 31st.  He has without question done more to encourage, improve and preserve on-screen Western story-telling than anyone else in the last half century!  Happy Birthday!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Original Contents Copyright June 2013 by Henry C. Parke - All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

 

IS FX OPTIMISM 'JUSTIFIED'?

UPDATED 3/17 -- SEVERAL NEW WEEKEND EVENTS -- CHECK BELOW

WE'LL FIND OUT TUESDAY 3/16 AT 10 P.M. JUSTIFIED is a modern-day western spun from the Elmore Leonard story Fire In The Hole. Timothy Olyphant, who spent three years in DEADWOOD as Sheriff Seth Bullock, plays U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a polite but deadly Kentucky gentleman. If you'd like to see the trailer, click here. Executive Producer Graham Yost has at least ten shows in the can so far, and an interesting collection of behind-the-scenes talent. Tony Goldwyn has directed one episode, and Elmore Leonard has produced one.

TRUE GRIT ROLLS CAMERAS IN TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO

The Coen brothers may have missed out an their own Oscar for their SERIOUS MAN script, but their Rooster Cogburn, Jeff Bridges, goes to the set with a Best Actor Oscar under his arm for CRAZY HEART. Barry Pepper will play Ned Pepper, the role originally assayed by Robert Duvall. Pepper his a long string of notable credits, but I'll always remember him as the sniper in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998). Paul Rae will portray Emmett Quincy, and Ed Corbin will play 'Bear Grit'. Cinematographer Roger Deakins, whose eight Oscar noms include THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES (2007) and the Coen's NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007) will be behind the camera. The score will be composed by Carter Burwell, who did similar chores so memorably for THE ALAMO (2004) and this year's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.

COWBOYS AND ALIENS GETS START DATE, RELEASE DATE

Robert Downey Jr. is out to do another SHERLOCK HOLMES, Daniel 'Bond' Craig is in his place, and with lovely HOUSE star Olivia Wilde in, the Jon Favreau-helmed Scf-Fi western should be before the Universal cameras this July. Favreau, who directed IRON MAN and ELF, won't say yet whether he'll be shooting in 3D. Asked by MTV why she signed on, Olivia Wilde replied, "It's really interesting people who just want to make a great story... Western enthusiasts will be happy. Sci-fi enthusiasts will be happy. Jon Favreau likes to describe it as a mash-up... It's going to have awesome effects, but Jon Favreau and everyone else are concentrating on making a great story and I'm absolutely humbled and excited to be a part of it." The announced release date is July 29, 2011, and be warned, that's also the announced release date for THE SMURFS MOVIE. Decisions, decisions...

ONE MORE WALK-DOWN FOR VIRGIL COLE

Mystery readers around the globe were saddened to learn of the death of prolific author Robert B. Parker, at his home in Cambridge, on January 18th, from a heart attack. Much was said at the time of his very popular three mystery series, SPENSER FOR HIRE, JESSE STONE, and SUNNY RANDALL, but there was little or no mention of his VIRGIL COLE western series, which included GUNMAN'S RHAPSODY and APPALOOSA, the latter leading to the excellent movie of the same title. With the death of his creator, does this mean Virgil Cole is at the end of his tether? Not quite, according to publishers G.P. Putnam's Sons. In May 2010, they will be bringing out the last novel of the series, BLUE-EYED DEVIL, and will simultaneously issue the current hard-cover release, BRIMSTONE, in paperback. I just read APPALOOSA, and I don't ever recall a movie that followed a book more closely -- the dialogue is intact virtually word-for-word. When the film opened, director-star Ed Harris was already talking about a sequel. I've been trying to find out if New Line Cinema has one in the works, but I haven't got a direct answer back. If you have any doubts as to whether a sequel is desirable, click here to see the trailer for APPALOOSA (2008).

WESTERN COMPOSER NATHAN SCOTT DIES

Nathan Scott, a composer, orchestrator and conductor with a staggering 950 professional credits, died at his home in Sherman Oaks, at the age of 94. Born in Salinas, he graduated from UC Berkeley with a music degree in 1939. He worked on radio as the west-coast music director of the NBC BLUE NETWORK until he entered the Army, where he worked on such Armed Forces Radio Service shows as COMMAND PERFORMANCE. In 1946 he went to work at Republic Pictures, and if you've seen the films of MONTE HALE, GENE AUTRY, WILD BILL ELLIOT and ROY ROGERS of that period, you've almost certainly heard Scott's scores. He also composed the music for John Wayne's WAKE OF THE RED WITCH (1948) MONTANA BELLE (1952), where Jane Russell portrayed Belle Starr, and many others. Moving to television, he also composed for episodes of LARAMIE, THE VIRGINIAN, HAVE GUN-WILL TRAVEL, RAWHIDE and GUNSMOKE.

WEEKEND EVENTS - AROUND TOWN - AROUND THE COUNTRY

ERNEST BORGNINE IN PERSON!

On Saturday, March 20th, at 2:00 p.m., The North Hollywood Library, at 5211 Tujunga Ave., at the corner of Magnolia, will host a free screening of MARTY, the movie that earned Borgnine his Oscar -- and he will be present following the screening! (818) 766-7185.

AT THE AUTRY

On Saturday, March 20th at 1 p.m., The Southwest Musueum presents a lecture, The View FRom the Braun:Archeoastronomy, describing how the first Americans used the sky as part of their worldview. The cave-paintings look fascinating. Admission is free to members, $10 to non-members, and NOTE: THIS IS AT THE SOUTHWEST MUSEUM, NOT THE AUTRY MUSEUM IN GRIFFITH PARK. For details, click here.

At the museum in Griffith Park, in addition to the above, and regular weekend family events like gold-panning, there will be a Santa Fe craft show at the gift shop on Saturday at 11:00 a.m., and on Sunday at Noon, the 3rd Sunday Jam with the Western Music Association. Also, in the Wells Fargo Theatre, a play, TALES OF AN URBAN INDIAN, will be performed Thursday, Friday 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.,and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. For more information, including tickets for the play, click here.

LOS ENCINOS STATE HISTORIC PARK

Sunday 3/20 Living History. From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. you can step back in time! The living history program features a working blacksmith shop, 19th Century children's games, traditional music, tours of the historic structures, and strolling folks in period costume -- great fun for kids and adults, and you can feed the ducks! They do this program on the third Sunday of every month. Los Encinos is located at 16756 Moorpark St., Encino, CA 91436-1068. (818)784-4849. For more information, click here.


THE ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES - NEW YORK CITY

Buster Keaton
THE GENERAL
1927, 105 minutes, 16mm, b&w, silent. With Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavendar, Jim Farley, and Joseph Keaton.
One of Keaton's best silent features, setting comedy against a true Civil War story of a stolen train and Union spies.
-Saturday and Sunday, March 20 & 21 at 5:30.
Anthology Film Archives | 32 Second Avenue | New York | NY | 10003

LANDMARK THEATRES FEATURES 'A TOWN CALLED PANIC' IN 3 STATES

A TOWN CALLED PANIC. Okay, it's not a traditional western. In fact, it's animation, very limited stop-motion animation, but it does feature a cowboy, an Indian, and a horse, it's a Belgian and French co-production, and except for some cursing in the subtitles, it's supposed to be great for kids! It's playing at the LAGOON CINEMA in Minneapolis, the TIVOLI THEATRE in St. Louis, and the MIDTOWN ART CINEMA in Atlanta. If you want to know more, click here .

PAPERBACK COLLECTOR SHOW AND SALE - MISSION HILLS, CA
Sunday, March 21 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

This is an annual event that I NEVER miss. Dozens of paperback dealers and collectors from around the country converge, bringing pulps and paperbacks exclusively. There is more horror and sci-fi than anything else, but there are a lot of westerns -- I've picked up tons of Luke Short, and seen plenty of Max Brand, Zane Grey, Louis Lamour and the rest. The pristine stuff can be pricey, but you can find lots of great deals if you're not so picky about condition -- I rarely pay more than $2 for anything, and purists sneer at my 'reader copies,' but after all, I'm getting them to read, not to seal them in a vault. They also have forty writers and other guests there to sign books, and THEY DON'T CHARGE for autographs! They're mostly sci-fi and horror people, among them Ray Bradbury, William F. Nolan and Edd "Cookie" Byrnes, who starred in a number of spaghetti westerns. For a complete list of signers and time slots, click here. It's at the Guest House Inn, 10621 Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills, CA 91345, and admission is $5. And tell them Henry's Western Round-up sent you.

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.

WESTERN MOVIES ON TV
Note:AMC=American Movie Classics, EXT= Showtime Extreme, FMC=Fox Movie Channel, TCM=Turner Classic Movies. All times given are Pacific Standard Time.

BEST DARN THING ON TV ALL WEEK!!!
TCM THURSDAY - O.K. CORRAL-A-THON!

FOUR MOVIES IN A ROW dealing with the Earps, Doc Holliday and the Clantons!

5:00 p.m. - MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946) - The John Ford version, with Henry Fonda, Victor Mature and Walter Brennan.

7:00 p.m. - GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL (1957) - The John Sturges version, with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas.

9:15 p.m. - HOUR OF THE GUN (1967) - The NEXT John Sturges version, with James Garner, Jason Robards Jr., and Robert Ryan.

11:00 p.m. - MASTERSON OF KANSAS (1954) - The William 'TINGLER' Castle version, with George Montgomery, Nancy Gates and James Griffith.

SECOND BEST DARN THING ON TV ALL WEEK:
TCM SUNDAY - TWO AKIRA KURASAWA WESTERNS BACK TO BACK!

5:00 P.M. - THE OUTRAGE (1964) - RASHOMAN with Mexican bandits, stars Paul Newman, Claire Bloom and Edward G. Robinson, directed by Martin Ritt, screenplay adaptation by Michael Kanin.

7:00 p.m. - THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) - 7 SAMAURI in Mexico, directed by John Sturges, screenplay adaptation by William Roberts, and starring the seven: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, Horst Buchholz and, in the role he was born (in Brooklyn) to play, Eli Wallach as Calvera!

Monday 3/15

FOX FLAMING STAR (1960) An early film from the soon-to-be-great Don Siegal, working from Nunnally Johnson's script of a Clair Huffaker novel. Elvis Presley, playing a role planned for Marlon Brando, is the half-breed son of white John McIntire and Kiowa Dolores Del Rio, forced to take sides in a local war between white and Indian. Surprisingly good, you realize how good an actor Elvis could have been if Col. Parker hadn't steered him into mostly inane crap. With Steve Forrest and Barbara Eden.

Tuesday 3/17

FOX 7:00 a.m. THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940) A delight! Rouben Mamoulian directs John Taintor Foote's adaptation of the Johnston McCulley story. Ty Power, Basil Rathbone, Linda Darnell et al have great fun, and the audience has even more.


Wednesday 3/17

EXT 6:30 a.m. SHADOWHEART (2009) A bounty hunter is out revenge in 1865 New Mexico. Directed by Dean Alioto from his and Peter Vanderwall's script. Starring Justin Ament, Angus Macfayden, Daniel Baldwin, William Sadler, and two great pros, Rance Howard and Charles Napier.

EXT. 4:35 p.m. SHADOWHEART See above.

Thursday 3/18

FOX 3:00 a.m. SHERIFF OF FRACTURED JAW (1959) Comedy western, D:Raoul Walsh, W:Howard Dimsdale, starring Jayne Mansfield, Kenneth More, Henry Hull, Bruce Cabot.

EXT 3:05 a.m. SHADOWHEART (2009) A bounty hunter is out revenge in 1865 New Mexico. Directed by Dean Alioto from his and Peter Vanderwall's script. Starring Justin Ament, Angus Macfayden, Daniel Baldwin, William Sadler, and two great pros, Rance Howard and Charles Napier.


TCM 3:15 a.m. THE TENDERFOOT (1932) An innocent cowboy decides to back a Broadway play. Directed by Ray Enright, from a story by Richard Carle and Broadway comedy master George S. Kaufman, adapted by Earl Baldwin, Arthur Caesar and silent comic-turned comedy writer/director Monty Banks. It stars Joe E. Brown and Ginger Rogers.

FOX 5:00 a.m. O. HENRY'S FULL HOUSE (1952) A collection of five O. Henry short stories directed by five directors: Henry Hathaway, Henry King, Henry Koster, Jean Negulesco, and doing the western segment, The Ransom of Red Chief, Howard Hawks. Writing this one segement, uncredited, were Ben Hecht, Nunnally Johnson and Charles Lederer! Starring Fed Allen and Oscar Levant as the kidnappers, and Rin Tin Tin star Lee Aaker as the 'victim', narrated by John Steinbeck!

EXT 9:00 a.m. THE CLAIM (2000) Michael Winterbottom directs from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, moved to the American west. Stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinsky, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.

EXT 12:35 p.m. GANG OF ROSES(2003) Female rappers Lil' Kim, Macy Gray, Monica Calhoun, LisaRaye play gunslingers in a search for revenge and gold, not necessarily in that order. The locations and production are good, and there's a curious enjoyment to seeing James Coburn's introduction from MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, and Eli Wallach's near hanging from THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY ripped off by women. But the plotting is often moronic, and an awful lot of it is needlessly vulgar -- a woman on the gallows loudly discussing her vagina with the man who's about to throw the switch is a bit much, even by DEADWOOD standards. Written and directed by Jean-Claude LaMarre.

EXT 4:25 p.m. THE CLAIM (2000) Michael Winterbottom directs from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, moved to the American west. Stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinsky, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.

EXT 10:00 P.M. GANG OF ROSES(2003) Female rappers Lil' Kim, Macy Gray, Monica Calhoun, LisaRaye play gunslingers in a search for revenge and gold, not necessarily in that order. The locations and production are good, and there's a curious enjoyment to seeing James Coburn's introduction from MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, and Eli Wallach's near hanging from THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY ripped off by women. But the plotting is often moronic, and an awful lot of it is needlessly vulgar -- a woman on the gallows loudly discussing her vagina with the man who's about to throw the switch is a bit much, even by DEADWOOD standards. Written and directed by Jean-Claude LaMarre.


Friday 3/19

FOX 5:00 a.m. NORTH TO ALASKA (1960) A comic western featuring the romatic triangle of gold-mining partners John Wayne, Stewart Granger and lovely Capucine, with Ernie Kovacs and Fabian. Directed by Henry Hathaway, written by half of the WGA -- screenplay by John Lee Mahin, Martin Rackin and Claude Binyon, from a play by Lazlo Fodor, and an idea by John Kafka, with uncredited work by Ben Hecht and Wendell Mayes.

FOX 9:00 a.m. BANDOLERO! (1968)Great fun with Stewart and Martin as feuding brother outlaws. Featuring Raquel Welch, Harry Carey Jr., Jock Mahoney, Don 'Red' Barry, Roy Barcroft, D:Andrew McLaglen, W:James Lee Barrett (If you want to see an incredible list on stuntmen, check out the listing on IMDB)

FOX 11 a.m. BROKEN ARROW (1950) James Stewart is an ex-soldier, and Jeff Chandler is Apache Chief Cochise, trying together for peace. D:Delmer Daves, W:Albert Maltz(another writer's name may be one the credits -- Maltz was blacklisted and had someone 'front' for him).

TCM 12:30 a.m. DODGE CITY (1939) Errol Flynn decides to clean up the town! Delightful, exuberant fun, written by Robert Buckner and directed by the terriffic Michael Curtiz. It features all of the Warner Brothers stallwarts: Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan, Bruce Cabot, Frank McHugh, Alan Hale, Victory Jory and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams. (SPOILER ALERT) 8 year old Bobs Watson, the kid who gets dragged to death, told me they tricked the school-teacher off of the set of the picture, so Bobs could do the dragging stunt himself!

EXT 4:45 a.m. THE CLAIM (2000) Michael Winterbottom directs from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, based on Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, moved to the American west. Stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinsky, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.

TCM 2:45 p.m. BIG HAND FOR THE LITTLE LADY (1966) Joanne Woodward has to step into a high-stakes poker game when her husband is too ill to continue. With Henry Fonda and Jason Robards Jr. Directed by Fielder Cook, written by Sidney Carroll, originally as an episode of the tv series PLAYHOUSE 90. If you'd like to see that version, click here.

Saturday 3/20

AMC 6:00 a.m. BLAZING SADDLES (1974)Mel Brooks directed and co-wrote, with Norman Steinberg, this delightfully broad western comedy about a town getting it's first black sheriff, Cleavon Little, helped only by Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid. With Slim Pickens and Madeline Kahn, and featuring a rousing theme sung by Frankie Laine.

TCM 9:00 a.m. THE OUTLAW (1943) Jack Beutel plays the title character, Billy the Kid, but Jane Russell is the titular head of the cast, which also features Thomas Mitchell and Walter Huston as Pat Garrett and Doc Holliday, respectively. Howard Hawks started directing it, but quit, and Howard Hughes took over, with a script by Jules Furthman. Not brilliant, but worth seeing, especially screen-filling Jane Russell in her first starring role.

EXT 2:35 p.m. SHADOWHEART (2009) A bounty hunter is out revenge in 1865 New Mexico. Directed by Dean Alioto from his and Peter Vanderwall's script. Starring Justin Ament, Angus Macfayden, Daniel Baldwin, William Sadler, and two great pros, Rance Howard and Charles Napier.


Sunday 3/21

TCM 3:00 a.m. GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST (1938) Theatre impressario David Belasco's play about a frontierwoman sheltering an outlaw becomes a vehicle for the voices of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. With Buddy Ebsen. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, script by Isabel Dawn.

AMC 3:00 a.m. BLAZING SADDLES (1974)Mel Brooks directed and co-wrote, with Norman Steinberg, this delightfully broad western comedy about a town getting it's first black sheriff, Cleavon Little, helped only by Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid. With Slim Pickens and Madeline Kahn, and featuring a rousing theme sung by Frankie Laine.

EXT 5:00 a.m. SHADOWHEART (2009) A bounty hunter is out revenge in 1865 New Mexico. Directed by Dean Alioto from his and Peter Vanderwall's script. Starring Justin Ament, Angus Macfayden, Daniel Baldwin, William Sadler, and two great pros, Rance Howard and Charles Napier.

That's it for this week! In the coming weeks I'll have a review of Courtney Joyner's book, THE WESTERNERS, info about the upcoming Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, westerns on the radio and the internet, so don't touch that dial!

Adios,

Henry