Posted in 1956, Blogging, writing, etc., Hank Worden, Jeffrey Hunter, John Ford, John Wayne on January 9, 2013 | 15 Comments »
Jeffrey Hunter, Hank Worden and John Wayne commemorate Hit Number 500,000 on this blog with a little tequila. Thanks to all the fingers responsible for those clicks. I appreciate each and every one.
Of course, that image is from John Ford’s The Searchers (1956).
Posted in Blogging, writing, etc., Books on December 31, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Spending some quality time with my One-Eyed Jacks book this morning, thanks to my understanding, encouraging family and a fabulous crew of commenters (you know who you are) who help keep this blog chugging along, even when I ignore it for a day or two. Thanks to you all.
Hope you all have a nice, fun, safe New Year’s Eve. You can bet that when I start resolution-ing tonight, many of them will involve writing about cowboy movies.
* A reference to the tell-all book of the same name by Anna Brando (Marlon’s wife/ex-wife during the production of One-Eyed Jacks). It’s value as a source for my book is pretty questionable.
Posted in 1951, Blogging, writing, etc., Coleen Gray, Hugo Fregonese, James H. Griffith, Universal (-International) on October 26, 2012 | 4 Comments »
This Halloween, we can all curl up with our laptops and a plastic pumpkin full of our kids’ candy and make our way through the Val Lewton Blogathon.
I’ll be bringing up the rear with a post on the last film Lewton produced (he died at a way-too-young 46), Apache Drums (1951). His only Western, it benefits from all the mood and suspense we know and love from his wonderful horror films. In a lot of ways, it plays more like a horror film than a cowboy picture.
Directed by Hugo Fregonese and starring Stephen McNally, Coleen Gray and Arthur Shields — and with a good part for ace character actor James Griffth — it’s a solid, unique Western with plenty going for it. You’ll find further details on the Lewton blogathon, including a lineup of the films and bloggers, here.
Posted in Blogging, writing, etc. on October 1, 2012 | 7 Comments »
This blog opened for business three years ago today. As you probably know, it was set up to promote a book of the same name — a book that, to be honest, I thought would be finished by now.
Along the way, instead of the blog being an offshoot of the book, the book has become almost a byproduct of the blog. Some of that shift has come from the community the blog became a part of — movie fans, other bloggers, critics, writers, even Tim Holt’s grandson. When it’s done, the book will owe a huge debt to you folks out there. You and your insight have had a greater influence on it than you’ll ever know. Thanks.
Posted in 1955, 1958, Blogging, writing, etc., George Sherman, Rhonda Fleming, Rory Calhoun, Technical on May 14, 2012 | 6 Comments »
One of our knowledgeable friends out in Bloggywood maintains an amazing Flickr photostream — and it’s high time you were all introduced to it.
His name’s David Raynor from Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire, England, UK. He’s been uploading his collection of film stills, posters, handbills, scans and personal photographs — as TheBrinkswayBoy — providing us all with an incredible resource and hours of obsessive fun. David was a projectionist, so he’s not only got a ton of film paper, but he knows how these pictures were exhibited. (For instance, he solved the mystery of how Davy Crockett, King Of The Wild Frontier played theaters: 1.66. He knows because he ran it.)
A couple examples, chosen almost at random. Above, Rory Calhoun in George Sherman’s The Treasure Of Poncho Villa (1955), is a scanned frame from a Technicolor SuperScope print. (Be sure to read his comments for a lesson in anamorphic processes.)
Below is Rhonda Fleming in Bullwhip (1958). In his notes on this one, David even tells you when and where he saw it. By the way, Bullwhip was scored by the great character actor James Griffith.
There’s plenty more where these came from.
Posted in Blogging, writing, etc., Maury Dexter, Music on May 4, 2012 | 12 Comments »
It’s hard to even imagine it, but there’s more to life than 50s Westerns.
For me, there’s Surf Music. And I’m lucky enough to be just 34 miles from The Instro Summit, “America’s biggest all-instrumental music festival.” It’s more than 20 bands over three days, and it’s this weekend. All-Rockin’, No Squawkin’!
To mark the occasion, I give you Los Straitjackets’ terrific take on Elmer Bernstein’s “The Magificent Seven.”
Back in the saddle on Monday. In the meantime, go read Maury Dexter’s book.
Posted in Blogging, writing, etc., Books, Lippert/Regal, Making Movies, Mara Corday, Maury Dexter, Television on May 3, 2012 | 6 Comments »
In what is, without doubt, one of the coolest developments since this blog (and book) got going, I’ve had the honor of helping producer-director Maury Dexter prepare his memoirs, Highway To Hollywood (The Hard Way).
Mr. Dexter covers his childhood, stint in the military and Hollywood career — which includes everything from acting in a Three Stooges short to working for Lippert during the Regalscope years to directing The Mini-Skirt Mob to being a key member of Michael Landon’s production team. I found it a fascinating read.
We can all thank Mr. Kit Parker (of Kit Parker Films) for making this happen. All I did was some proofreading and project management while a designer friend, Jim Briggs, took on the task of creating both a PDF and ePub from Mr. Dexter’s manuscript. (That’s the cover up top.)
Of course, we also owe a big thanks for Mr. Dexter for sharing his story. Make that giving us his story. It’ll cost you nothing.
You can download the PDF here:
L-R: Maury Dexter, Mara Corday, Jody McCrea on the set of The Hanging Judge, which was released as Naked Gun (1956).
Posted in Blogging, writing, etc. on February 28, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Just learned that a friend, Abbie Kiefer, and her husband Ben will be packing up and heading to New Hampshire soon.
Abbie was a huge help in the early days of 50 Westerns From The 50s, as I went from “Think I’ll write a book” to “How the hell do you write a book?” So it seems appropriate to thank her here.
Happy trails, Abbie. Here’s hoping our paths cross again.
By the way, Abbie has a cool food blog, Please Pass The Pie.
Posted in Blogging, writing, etc. on February 24, 2012 | 9 Comments »
Yesterday, this blog saw its 250,000th hit. Wow. Thanks to all of you for passing through.
The subject line’s a reference to the LP 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong (1959). The image is from Joe Dante’s Matinee (1993).
Posted in Blogging, writing, etc., Joel McCrea, Pre-1950 on January 18, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Don’t know about you, but I’m sick of this whole SOPA/PIPA thing. The issue of copyrights and the Internet is a big deal, for sure, but a goofy blog about old cowboy movies doesn’t seem like the place to tackle it.
Especially when there’s a discussion going on of South Of Saint Louis (1949) — to be more topical, for today we’ll call it SOSL.
