Cowboys & Indians Blog

A week on the range

2008-07-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

From the Los Angeles Times: A vaquero's grandson tests his wrangler genes at a dude ranch that promises an "authentic" cowboy experience.

Country comes to Malibu

2008-07-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

Nashville may still be Music City, but according to Great American Country, some country music superstars are flocking to Malibu. That's where Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood have found their home away from home.

Not so hot to trot

2008-07-08T07:52:00.001-07:00

From The Houston Chronicle, bad news about horse sales:

"I've seen it rough before, but I don't ever think I've ever seen it this bad," said Mark Riley, who has worked as an auctioneer for three decades. "To most people, horses are a hobby or a plaything or a toy. When the economy gets tough, the plaything is the first thing to go."

Proud parents

2008-07-07T12:09:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to country superstar Keith Urban and Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman -- proud parents of a baby girl born Monday in Nashville.

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-03T23:12:00.001-07:00

For your holiday weekend viewing pleasure

2008-07-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

James Stewart in Broken Arrow. Enjoy, pardners!

Meanwhile, back at the Hallmark

2008-07-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Hallmark Channel promises an entire month of rip-snorting, straight-shooting Westerns -- everything from Two Rode Together and Ride Lonesome to Bite the Bullet and Seraphim Falls -- throughout July. Of special note are two world premieres: A Gunfighter's Pledge (July 5) and Every Second Counts (July 12).

Maverick marathon

2008-07-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

Great news for fans of James Garner and classic television: You can celebrate July 4th with 12 back-to-back episodes of Maverick on the Encore Westerns cable network. The marathon kicks off at 12 noon EDT on Independence Day. And with all due respect to Mel Gibson -- Garner remains, now and forever, the coolest and craftiest cardshark cowboy to ever ride tall in a tongue-in-cheeky sagebrush saga.

Western wildlife

2008-06-29T21:24:00.001-07:00

From the Associated Press: "Governors from several Western states voted Sunday to form a council that will study ways to protect wildlife habitats in the face of ever-increasing demand for energy development in their region."

Wild West Fest

2008-06-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

Country music, chili cook-offs and world-class rodeo action are among the main attractions this weekend, June 27-29, at the 2008 New England Wild West Fest in Marshfield, Mass. And it's all for a good cause: This is the signature fundraising event of the Spirit of the American Cowboy Foundation, a Boston-based non-profit organization dedicated to raising money for children’s cancer research. Check out the detailed ticket info here.

Czech out these cowboys

2008-06-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

They're shooting straight and riding tall at the Cowboy Action Shooting event in... well, would you believe the Czech Republic?

Coming soon to a theater near you: Appaloosa

2008-06-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

Good news, pardners: Appaloosa, Ed Harris' eagerly awaited film version of Robert B. Parker's popular Western novel, finally has a release date. The movie -- which stars Harris, Viggo Mortensen and Oscar winners Renee Zellweger and Jeremy Irons -- will gallop into theaters Sept. 19 nationwide. While you're waiting, take a look inside the current issue of Cowboys & Indians -- yep, the one with Tom Selleck on the cover -- to read my interview with Parker (who's very excited about the movie) and see some photos of Mortensen (above, left) and Harris (right) as lawmen Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole.

Viewer alert: Jewel on Great American Country

2008-06-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

Recording artist and Nashville Star judge Jewel will invite viewers to her ranch in Stephenville, Texas, when Great American Country showcases the singer on an episode of the cable network’s Origins series at 9 pm EDT Saturday, June 28. According to a network press release, "GAC cameras go on a guided tour of the multi-platinum selling artist’s Stephenville home she shares with rodeo legend Ty Murray, who also appears in the episode. Jewel demonstrates her cowgirl showmanship while riding her horses and she proudly allows the cameras into the couple’s saddle barn and newly renovated home studio."

But wait, there's more: During the program, Jewel will perform acoustic versions of cuts from her top-selling country album, Perfectly Clear, and talk about the strong family influences in her music.

"At the heart of it all,” Jewel says, “ I’m the daughter of pioneers and homesteaders. I was raised on a remote ranch in Alaska, and grew up listening to my father’s cowboy music and songwriting by campfire during our summer cattle drives. That lifestyle became the foundation to everything I’ve achieved in my life since -- and I’ve exceeded every expectation I’ve ever had for myself. It’s such an honor to be able to make a living writing and singing the music that I love. I still work every day to maintain the things I care about and to uphold the proud pioneer spirit of my family.”

Westerns get the White House vote

2008-06-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

Will Dean of the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper notes: Only three modern U.S. Presidents -- Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford -- didn't list a Western when each was asked to name his favorite movie of all time. Indeed, three Presidents -- George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon -- placed the same movie atop their personal-fave lists: High Noon. What are we to make of this? Well, Dean wonders whether a perference for romantic comedies might have "drastically altered U.S. foreign policy throughout the 20th century." But, then again, maybe not.

Arthur Penn goes West

2008-06-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

Director Arthur Penn likely will forever be best known for Bonnie and Clyde. But as Henry Cabot Beck of True West reminds us, the 85-year-old filmmaker also has three notable Westerns on his resume. Cabot chats with Penn here.

Nashville Star update

2008-06-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

Episode 2: Jewel continues her mentoring ways as the competition gets even fiercer.

Shane: No. 1 with a bullet

2008-06-17T09:27:00.001-07:00

According to members of Western Writers of America, a nonprofit organization of more than 600 professional scribes, the greatest Western movie ever made is -- drum roll, please! -- Shane, George Stevens' 1953 classic starring the late, great Alan Ladd as a weary gunfighter forced to take sides in a Wyoming land war. The writers also have announced their choices for the all-time Top Ten cinematic sagebrush sagas, a list that also includes:

2. High Noon

3. The Searchers

4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

5. Dances With Wolves

6. The Wild Bunch

7. Red River

8. Tombstone

9. The Magnificent Seven

10. Open Range

"It's not the Top 10 I would come up with," says incoming WWA president Johnny D. Boggs, "but that's the fun of lists like these. It prompts lively debate, and members of Western Writers of America can be as passionate about Western film as they are about literature of the West."

In any event: Congratulations to Kevin Costner for making the final cut with both Dances With Wolves and Open Range -- here is a link to a 2003 Cowboys & Indians interview in which he talks about his high regard for Westerns -- and thanks to WWA for also listing what might be described as 90 runners-up.

From Iron Man to shootin' irons for Robert Downey Jr.?

2008-06-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

Fresh from his success as the super-heroic Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. may continue riding tall along the comeback trail as the star of... no kidding... Cowboys & Aliens. Based on the graphic novel by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley, the sci-fi Western centers on a battle between Apache warriors and paleface settlers that is interrupted by the crash-landing of a spaceship near Silver City, Arizona. Downey currently is in negotiations to play Zeke Jackson, a notorious gunslinger (and Union Army vet) who leads an alliance of settlers and Apaches in a counter-attack against invading extraterrestrials bent on enslaving (or destroying) all Earthlings. The movie is tentatively set as a 2010 release.

Update, June 17: Evidently, some folks aren't too happy about the "allegorical" content of this "liberal Hollywood" movie. They're also unhappy about the "blatant foolishness" of the equally offensive Tombstone. No kidding.

Fading star

2008-06-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

The ongoing media coverage -- some of it highly speculative, all of it unspeakably sad -- of Paul Newman's battle with cancer reminds me of a line from Edward Albee's play All Over. Early in the drama, as hordes of journalists maintain an attentive vigil off-stage, an intimate of a fatally ill notable remarks: "That’s the final test of fame, isn’t it, the degree of it: Which is newsworthy, the act of dying itself, or merely the death?" To put it another way: When you're admired, the press covers your death. But when you're beloved, the press covers your dying.

And so, alas, the death watch continues...

Nashville Star premiere

2008-06-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a recap for those of you who missed last night's episode.

Bourbon Cowgirl

2008-06-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

During a recent trip to New Orleans, I spotted this spirited young lady riding the mechanical bull at a Bourbon Street nightspot called the Bourbon Cowboy. You go, cowgirl!

A journey from Old Europe to the New West

2008-05-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Donna Rifkin of The Washington Post has high praise for The German Bride, Joanna Hershon's ambitious novel about "a German Jewish woman named Eva Frank who, after a hasty marriage in 1865, leaves her wealthy father's mansion in Berlin to pursue a new life among the 'low mud-cake hovels' of the American West. Accompanied by her husband, Eva journeys across the ocean and then across the United States to set up housekeeping in Santa Fe, a makeshift, dirty, danger-ridden settlement that was just beginning to organize itself into a town." Vanity Fair asked Hershon who she would cast in a film adaptation of her book, and she replies here.

A double dose of Nashville Star

2008-05-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

NBC has signed a deal with the Country Music Television cable network allowing CMT to repeat -- er, excuse me, I mean repurpose -- episodes of Nashville Star four days after their broadcast premieres. Nashville Star -- formerly a mainstay at the USA Network -- returns for its sixth season June 9 on NBC, with Billy Ray Cyrus as host.

Readin' and writin' and... ridin'?

2008-05-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

Obviously, Tennessee school officials have zero tolerance for students who try to horse around before graduation.

Next stop: Australia

2008-05-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

A very pregnant Nicole Kidman appeared on the red carpet (alongside husband Keith Urban) at Sunday's 43rd annual Academy of Country Music Awards. Fans may not get another up-close look at the actress until November, when she'll be seen opposite co-star Hugh Jackman (above) in Australia, an epic drama about a World War II-era cattle drive across hundreds of miles of the most unforgiving land in The Land Down Under.