Wes Studi Honored: Western Heritage Awards Salute

Honoree Wes Studi speaks during the press conference before the Western Heritage Awards at the National Cowboy  & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Saturday, April 20, 2013. Studi is being inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman

Honoree Wes Studi speaks during the press conference before the Western Heritage Awards at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Saturday, April 20, 2013. Studi is being inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman http://newsok.com/gallery/articleid/3791595/pictures/2022838
Wes Studi - The Last of the Mohicans
The Last or the Mohicans
Wes Studi
Wes Studi
Geronimo - An American Legend 2
Geronimo – An American Legend
Geronimo - An American Legend
Geronimo – An American Legend
Wes Studi - Avatar
Wes Studi – Avatar
Wes Studi - Dances with Wolves
Wes Studi – Dances with Wolves

Klondike Mini-Series Update …

Discovery Channel looking for TV gold with Alberta-shot miniseries  Klondike

By Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald      May 10, 2013

klondike calgary herald photo

The set of Discovery Channel´s Klondike in Alberta.

Photograph by: Courtesy, Dan Power ,  Handout

It’s an alarming spectacle to take in. Dozens of extras trudge slowly to a  tent in between takes on the sprawling Alberta set of the Discovery Channel’s  miniseries Klondike, all having an appropriate air of misery about them. The  cameras may not be rolling, but they still appear fairly tuned into the despair  of characters who have arrived in the Yukon just before the onset of winter.  It’s actually a beautiful day in Alberta. Sweltering even. Unfortunately, for  now, this is not particularly helpful when filming on the CL Ranch, a location  west of Calgary where a booming Dawson City has been recreated.

Mother Nature often does her part to add authenticity to Alberta-shot period  pieces, especially those epics with a man-versus-nature theme.

Today, however, it’s hot. Yet the extras who are working are supposed to look  cold. They are bundled up. They wear scarves and hats. The women wear long  dresses and coats. Many of the men sport long, unruly beards. They feverishly  rub their hands together and huddle on what is supposed to be the  less-then-welcoming docks on the Yukon River in Dawson City circa the late  1890s.

“It’s cold, remember,” Assistant Director Dave McLennan reminds the extras. “Brrrrrrrrr. Your hands and feet are cold.”

It’s not just the extras who are feeling the heat.

“We’re trying to pretend it’s winter,” says lead actor Richard Madden,  attempting to cool off on the set in between takes. “I’ve got like 19 layers  here and a dry suit. I’m so hot.”

The irony of enduring a day of uncomfortable heat is not lost on Madden. In a  fairly short period of time, he has experienced some wildly divergent weather in  Alberta. To Game of Thrones fans, Madden is the action-ready Robb Stark, a  sword-wielding leader of men who has travelled all sorts of terrain during his  battles.

But the frigid conditions the 26-year-old Scottish actor and fellow cast and  crew endured on Fortress Mountain in Kananaskis Country just over a month ago  was a whole different battle.

“The hardest bits I suppose were the first couple of weeks, which were  probably the hardest couple weeks of shooting I’ve ever had,” he says. “That’s  because there was the altitude and the cold. You’ve got four wind machines on  you that are the size of a back of a car, or bigger. You’ve got guys shovelling  snow at each wind machine. And it’s really cold. And you’ve got the mountain. So  that was really challenging. You’re trying to do your job and act as well as  dealing with really intense conditions.”

Madden, who plays real-life adventurer Bill Haskell in the miniseries, is not  complaining. The adverse conditions certainly helped him find his character in  the early goings. And it will no doubt help with the epic feel of the six-hour  miniseries, Discovery Channel’s first scripted TV project scheduled to air  sometime in 2014. Based on Ottawa writer Charlotte Gray’s book Gold Diggers:  Striking It Rich In The Klondike, the series mixes real-life events and  historical characters such as Haskell, Belinda Mulrooney and Jack London with a  tale of murder, greed and the dashed hopes of those who arrived in Dawson City  consumed by gold-rush fever but usually ill-prepared and doomed to fail  spectacularly.

Discovery has partnered with iconic British director Ridley Scott’s Scott  Free Productions and Calgary-based Nomadic Pictures, which also produces the  Alberta-shot AMC series Hell on Wheels.

Having had much success with reality shows such as Gold Rush, Jungle Gold and  Bering Sea Gold, Discovery was after a scripted project that explored similar  themes.

“Our audience loves the idea of the frontier spirit,” says Discovery’s  Dolores Gavin, an executive producer on Klondike. “That whole thing about man  versus nature, man versus man, man versus self — those are themes we talk about  everyday on Discovery. There was really no difference when we started talking  about this project because there were those similarities.”

Epic themes require an epic look. Standing on the sprawling Alberta set on  the CL Ranch, it’s clear that Discovery has jumped in with both feet when it  came its first scripted series. British director Simon Cellan Jones, a veteran  of top-tier television such a Boardwalk Empire, Treme and The Borgias, is at the  helm. He oversees an impressive cast that includes Sam Shepard as a haunted man  of God named Father Judge and British actor Tim Roth as a villain named The  Count. Meanwhile, the production seems to have caught its two leads just as  their stars were on the rise. Madden has won fame on Game of Thrones and was  recently cast as Prince Charming in Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming Cinderella.  Versatile Australian actress Abbie Cornish, who plays the entrepreneurial  Belinda Mulrooney in Klondike, is perhaps best know for playing Fanny Brawne in  Jane Campion’s Bright Star and just wrapped up a role in next year’s big-budget  reboot of RoboCop after lead roles in films such as Limitless, Sucker Punch and  Seven Psycopaths.

And while some of the events in Klondike are fictionalized, both Madden and  Cornish did a good deal of research on their respective characters, digging up  books and biographies to help get into the headspace of those who sought riches  and adventure in the unforgiving Klondike during the gold-rush years.

This attention to detail is a hallmark of the production as a whole,  particularly amid the meticulously recreated Dawson City. The impressive set was  built up on an already existing town on the CL Ranch that has been a location  for a number of Alberta-shot projects. With mud-caked roads, newly built  businesses, piles of fresh lumber and dubious-looking meat sold off of carts,  this Dawson City is an alluring mix of filth and boom-town commerce.

Massive dogs — Newfoundlanders, Irish Wolfhounds, Great Pyrenees crosses,  among others — roam the streets with their owners, a realistic touch given that  few horses survived the trek to the Klondike during this period.

“Discovery now knows how to build a town,” says Gavin with a laugh. “With our  audience, we’ve got to ring true to the historical record. The action that is  happening in Klondike was so immense in Dawson City. You can’t do that with  eight or nine buildings, you need 30 buildings. So we have 30 buildings. If you  really go back and look at the research, Dawson City was like Vegas. It was  going 24-seven and you never knew what was going to happen.”

But while this miniseries may be aiming for feature-film production values,  it is still television. Six hours worth of action has to be shot over 54 days,  which requires long hours of perpetual motion in all sorts of conditions.

“I’ve really enjoyed the momentum of it, the impulsive nature of it,” says  Cornish. “A lot of times, because Richard and I are the leads, if we get it in  two takes then that’s it. We’re moving on.”

While Cornish did not shoot scenes on blustery Fortress Mountain, her first  week shooting near Canmore involved learning how to become an expert dog sledder  to believably play the resourceful Mulrooney.

“It was a very full-on week and very elemental and really set the tone for  that landscape,” she said. “If we had just gone straight into Dawson City we  would have no idea about what the outside of that landscape is. We just would  have known the mud and the city and the rain.”

For Madden, the epic feel of Klondike is not only due to the massive sets and  scenic vistas, but the intimate human drama of the stories being told.

“There is a huge part of the stories that can be epic visually because of  what we see,” he says. “And there’s huge parts that are epic when its just a  scene between me and Abbie Cornish and it’s just the two of us standing and  talking. That’s more epic than any mountains in the background just because of  the intensity of the scene.”

evolmers@calgaryherald.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

 

Marvin Western Filmography 6 The Comancheros (1961)

Marvin Western Filmography 6 The Comancheros (1961).

Marvin Western Filmography 6 The Comancheros (1961)

9MAY

Lee Marvin / John Wayne 

Lee makes it to the Top of the Mountain – A Western with John Wayne

The Commancheros banner

The Comancheros banner

The Commancheros - posters

The Comancheros – posters

… But he’s still 5th on the Bill

The Comancheros Trailer

A Western actors dream - a scene - and a drink with the Duke

A Western actor’s dream – a scene – and a drink with the Duke.

Revisionist Postering ... Lee moves to the front/

Revisionist Postering … Lee moves to the front.

The Comancheros - The Duke

The Comancheros – The Duke

Marvin and Wayne

Marvin and Wayne

The Comancheros - The End

The Comancheros – The End

Marvin Western Filmography 6 The Comancheros (1961)

Lee Marvin / John Wayne 

Lee makes it to the Top of the Mountain – A Western with John Wayne

The Commancheros banner
The Comancheros banner
The Commancheros - posters
The Comancheros – posters

… But he’s still 5th on the Bill

The Comancheros Trailer

A Western actors dream - a scene - and a drink with the Duke
A Western actor’s dream – a scene – and a drink with the Duke.
Revisionist Postering ... Lee moves to the front/
Revisionist Postering … Lee moves to the front.
The Comancheros - The Duke
The Comancheros – The Duke
Marvin and Wayne
Marvin and Wayne
The Comancheros - The End
The Comancheros – The End

Marvin Western Filmography 6 Pillars of the Sky (1956)

Lee Marvin and Jeff Chandler 

Pillars of the Sky (1956) Banner
Pillars of the Sky (1956) Banner
Pillars of the Sky (1956) posters
Pillars of the Sky (1956) posters

Marvin … 5th on the Bill

Chandler at left - Marvin at center
Marvin at center – Chandler at right

Marvin Western Filmography 5 The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953)

Lee Marvin and Randolph Scott

The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) Banner
The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) Banner
The Stranger Wore a Gun posters 1953
The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) posters
The Stranger Wore a Gun 1953 Marvin and Borgnine
The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) Marvin and Borgnine
The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) Billing
Marvin … Billed behind Borgnine
DVD Talk – Partial Review / Review by Stuart Galbraith IV | posted August 24, 2005

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/17309/stranger-wore-a-gun-the/

The Stranger Wore a Gun is a muddled mess made palatable by Scott’s likeable hero, a strong supporting cast, and the novelty of 3-D at its most nakedly exploitive.

Marvin Western Filmography 4 … Seven Men from Now (1956)

Lee Marvin and Randolph Scott 

7 Men from Now - Banner
7 Men from Now – Banner

7 Men from Now - Posters
7 Men from Now – Posters

Lee moves up to 3rd on the Bill …

7 Men from Now - Lee Marvin
7 Men from Now – Lee Marvin

Warning: Huge Spoiler below … 

…  Lee gets killed … 

Marvin Western Filmography 3 … The Raid (1954)

Lee Marvin and Van Heflin 

The Raid (1954) - Lee Marvin
The Raid (1954)
The Raid (1954) - Posters
The Raid (1954) – Posters

Lee moves up to 4th on the Bill

The Raid (1954) - Heflin (right) Marvin (left)
The Raid (1954) – Heflin, Graves, Marvin
The Raid (1954) - Marvin - Heflin
The Raid (1954) – Marvin – Heflin

… a change of plans …

One Line Reviews: Iain Stott

http://1linereview.blogspot.ca/2009/03/raid-1954.html

The Raid (1954)
Recommended
USA Feature Film
Director: Hugo Fregonese
Writers: Sydney Boehm, Francis Cockrell, Herbert Ravenal Sass
Cinematographer: Lucien Ballard
Composer: Roy Webb
Cast: Van Heflin, Anne Bancroft, Richard Boone, Lee Marvin,
Tommy Rettig, Peter Graves

Fregonese’s fact based US Civil War film, chronicling a confederate soldier’s infiltration of a small town in Vermont as he prepares to sack it, complicated by his meeting of an attractive young widow, is, with its excellent performances and uncompromising scripting, a thrilling yet intelligent examination of the ambiguities of war and human relationships.

Marvin Western Filmography 2 … Gun Fury (1953)

Gun Fury (1953)
Gun Fury (1953)

Pretty lousy posters …

Gun Fury - Lee Marvin (right)
Gun Fury – Lee Marvin (right)

Marvin molesting … what? again?

Gun Fury - Sedona
Gun Fury – Sedona, Arizona

MFW: about the only thing I liked about Gun Fury was that is was filmed around Sedona, Arizona – one of my favorite places on the planet.

 

Marvin Western Filmography … Hangman’s Knot 1952

lee marvin hangman's knot
Lee marvin  / Hangman’s Knot  / 1952
lee marvin - randolf scot - hangman's knot
Randolph Scott – Lee Marvin – Hangman’s Knot / 1952

Trailer:

lee marvin hangman's knot posters
Hangman’s Knot posters / 1952

Lee is 5th on the Bill

lee marvin - hangman's knot
Lee Marvin – Hangman’s Knot

Monte Walsh … a real maverick …

Monte-Walsh Theme – Mama Cass / John Barry

“Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever.”
– Jack Palance

Monte Walsh ... Yee Haw !

Monte Walsh
Monte Walsh

Monte Walsh … a real maverick

MFW: Monte Walsh seemed to get decent promotion – lots of excellent posters –  and boasts a stellar cast … yet somehow seemed to slip under the fence.
But I believe this is one Western that will age well and eventually earn it’s rightful place at the bar.

Monte Walsh / Rotten Tomatoes
Monte Walsh / Rotten Tomatoes

MFW: “100%” from critcs and “57%” from viewers ??
That’s a pretty large canyon.
But I liked it.

Monte Walsh poster 2
Monte Walsh poster 2
Monte Walsh poster 3
Monte Walsh poster 3
Monte Walsh poster 5
Monte Walsh poster 4
Monte Walsh poster 6
Monte Walsh poster 5
marvin - palance
marvin – palance

“When we get through… you’re gonna want to take a nap, sit on the porch and wait for the mares to come callin’.”

Lee …

Lee Marvin … Wandering Star 

Bad Guys of Western Film … cont’d …

Marvin Lee
Marvin  … Lee
Marvin ... Lee
Marvin … Lee

“I’ve had the simple pleasure of being present when the sun was shining and the rain was falling.
I’ve had mine, and nobody can take it away from me.”

Badguys: Part 1 … Lee Marvin

Badguys: Part 1 … Lee Marvin

(The Man who Shot) Liberty Valance – Gene Pitney

Lee Marvin

Liberty Valance - Lee Marvin - Iconic Images

“This time, right between the eyes.”

Yu tokkin’ to me  … ?

Liberty Valance - Lee Marvin - Iconic Images 2
Lee Marvin Western Filmography

Gun Fury (1953) / The Raid (1954) / The Comancheros (1961) / The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) / Cat Ballou (1965) / The Professionals (1966) / Paint Your Wagon (1969) / Monte Walsh (1970) / The Spikes Gang (1974) …

TV Westerns: Wagon TrainBonanza, and The Virginian … 

Lee Marvin - Oscar

Lee with Oscar for Cat Ballou

Military career

Allegiance – United States
Service/branch United States Marine Corps
Years of service 1942–1945
Rank Private First Class
Unit 24th Marine Regiment
Battles/wars
World War II
Battle of Saipan
Awards Purple Heart

Not so bad after all … 

via Badguys: Part 1 … Lee Marvin.

Badguys: Part 1 … Lee Marvin

(The Man who Shot) Liberty Valance – Gene Pitney

Lee Marvin

Liberty Valance - Lee Marvin - Iconic Images

“This time, right between the eyes.”

Yu tokkin’ to me  … ?

Liberty Valance - Lee Marvin - Iconic Images 2
Lee Marvin Western Filmography

Gun Fury (1953) / The Raid (1954) / The Comancheros (1961) / The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) / Cat Ballou (1965) / The Professionals (1966) / Paint Your Wagon (1969) / Monte Walsh (1970) / The Spikes Gang (1974) …

TV Westerns: Wagon TrainBonanza, and The Virginian … 

Lee Marvin - Oscar
Lee with Oscar for Cat Ballou

Military career

Allegiance – United States
Service/branch United States Marine Corps
Years of service 1942–1945
Rank Private First Class
Unit 24th Marine Regiment
Battles/wars
World War II
Battle of Saipan
Awards Purple Heart

Not so bad after all … 

Dragons Loyalty Award !

Folks / Friends / Western Fans !

I was given yet another Award by kind Blogging pals and gals.

Here is the esteemed:

Dragons Loyalty Award !

The Dragons Loyalty Award is a combination of The Versatile Blogger Award and the Very Inspiring Blogger award.

DRAGONS LOYALTY AWARD
DRAGONS LOYALTY AWARD

This award has been given to me by the Serendipity:

http://teepee12.com/2013/03/10/1001-posts-and-the-dragons-loyalty-award/

Rules for The Dragons Loyalty Award:

Display the Award Certificate on your website
Done
Announce your win with a post and link to whoever presented your award
Done
Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers
Not Done
Drop them a comment to tip them off after you’ve linked them in the post
Not Done
Post 7 interesting things about yourself.
Not Done

I have not complied with some conditions.
Well … it’s a major event for me just to figure out how to get these award images onto my sidebar widget …
And I still don’t know how I finally succeeded.
It’s all basically trial and error for rookie Blogger like me …

The Lone Ranger Creed

The Lone Ranger Theme / William Tell Overture /  Gioachino Rossini

The Lone Ranger Creed
The Lone Ranger Creed

The Lone Ranger: “Only you, Tonto, know I’m alive. To the world, I’ll be buried here beside my brother and my friends… forever.”

Tonto: “You are alone now. Last man. You are lone ranger.”

The Lone Ranger: “Yes, Tonto, I am… the Lone Ranger.”

Award Recipient: Epically Awesome Award of Epic Awesomeness

Tom Mix … Western Icon

Dear Friends / Folks / Western Fans !

Time to toot my horn a bit.

I am the proud recipient of the:

Epically Awesome Award of Epic Awesomeness

http://teepee12.com/2013/04/14/epically-awesome-award-of-epic-awesomeness-twice/

Amazing !

But as I said, with exceptional subject matter like The Lone Ranger and Tonto, how could I fail?

In truth, this is about the 5th Award that kind Bloggers have sent my way, but I’ve been callously negligent in posting and responding to these expressions of valued appreciation. I hope to rectify this in the near future and post all these kind awards I’ve received.

In compliance with one condition of the Epically Awesome Award of Epic Awesomeness I am to post 10 epic and/or awesome facts about myself.

I will therefore just re-post my comment from Serendipity Blog.
http://teepee12.com/2013/04/14/epically-awesome-award-of-epic-awesomeness-twice/#comment-13834

“10 epic and/or awesome facts about myself ???
Ah shucks … I can only think of none.
I’ll have a couple of jiggers and make some stuff up.

1. i didn’t graduate from high school. True.
i don’t figure I wuz stoopid. just disinterested.
2. My Dad, myself and my 3 older brothers were all in the Calgary Highlanders.
My Dad fought in the war. The rest of us just fought each other.
3. I have been ‘out of the body’ on several occasions.
Mostly on purpose.
4. I held a broad jump record that lasted 14 years.
5. As a 15-year-old grocery clerk I once gave a customer (who said he was looking for “butterfly nuts”), a box of mothballs. (Hes’ still laughing)
6. I don’t own any guns.
Or a horse.
7. I was once saved from getting hit by a car by an invisible hand that pushed me back onto the curb. I believe in spiritual guardians.
8. i was never sure I was on the right planet. Is this Naboo?
9. I quit drinking, smoking, and drugs.
God I’m bored. (Just kidding … about being bored)
10. I’ve had seven partners.
This last one – Rose – is a keeper.

OK .. Part One of my Duties of Compliance have been completed.

Part Two is Give it to 10 bloggers you think are awesome and/or epic – or both. 

Well … being a reclusive Cowboy, I can’t rightly think of 10 offhand, but I’ll just start sending them out till the dust settles.

Have a good one.