THE FIVE MOST OBSCURE TV WESTERNS – # 4 - Dirty Sally

By Bennett Owen

Frankly I was about half scared what would pop up as I typed ‘Dirty Sally’ into the old search engine.

Dirty Sally has the distinction of being the only Gunsmoke spin-off, but it also had a (mercifully) short run of just 15 episodes.  Perhaps somebody tried to destroy the evidence because I couldn’t find a single video fragment from the series.  It features a junk-collecting female hermit with a mule named ‘Worthless’ who (Sally, not the mule) nurses back to life a young outlaw (Pike) with a heart of gold.  As the unlikely trio sets out for California, the adventures begin in earnest, including:

• Sally helps out a pig farmer
• Sally gets kicked out of a men-only Saloon
• Sally turns a boisterous farm girl into a demure princess
• Pike decides to become an actor (good luck with that!)
• Sally poses as Billy the Kid’s mother

What do you think, was I making the last one up or not?

The Dirty Sally character appeared in several episodes of Gunsmoke and here’s the segment that eventually sparked the spin-off (sorry, we can't embed this video).

And though we didn’t find any clips of the series, you CAN download the Dirty Sally theme song for your cell phone. Here it is, if you just want to listen:

Dirty Sally Theme Song by My-West.com

Dirty Sally was played by the late Jeanette Nolan, a Shakespearean actress who enjoyed a multitude of supporting roles in film and TV and over the course of her career garnered four Emmy nominations. 

Her last role was as Robert Redford’s mother, Ellen Booker, in The Horse Whisperer:

Photo courtesy of Aveleyman.com

15 episodes. Now that’s pretty obscure. Where do we go from here, you ask? Well, join us next week and find out.

The Five Most Obscure TV Westerns - The Good “Yuma” Man

by Bennett Owen

Nick Adams starring as Johnny Yuma

“He got fightin’ mad, this rebel lad, he packed his star as he wandered far, where the only law was a hook and a draw, the rebel…”

- The Ballad of Johnny Yuma        

I came up with the idea for obscure westerns while doing research on a completely unrelated topic – funny how the term “redhead” plays a prominent role in most of my Internet searches - and amazingly, I stumbled across a western TV show that I hadn’t thought of in years. It will be number one on this list…leave your guesses in the comments section below…anyone who gets it right receives a bag of Arbuckle Coffee beans, courtesy My-West. 

In the meantime, here’s Obscure Western #5  -

The Rebel

Nick Adams starring as Johnny Yuma

ABC aired it from 1959 – 1961 and it was filmed in Malibu Canyon. Nick Adams starred as a would-be writer, turned Confederate Army hero, turned postwar drifter, traveling from town to town, helping those in need.  59 episodes made it a respectable run…helped out perhaps by “The Man in Black” singing the theme song…

Johnny also copped a cameo in this episode…we’re lucky he stuck to singing…

Nick Adams was a workaholic who rose quickly in Hollywood, making his mark on both sides of the camera. He was a good friend of Dennis Hopper, Robert Conrad, Elvis Presley and James Dean. He even overdubbed Dean’s voice in parts of ‘Giant’ after the actor’s untimely death.  Adams was also a tireless self-promoter…the last three minutes of this clip reveal Chutzpah on a massive scale.

Nick’s career floundered in the mid-sixties and he died of a prescription drug overdose in 1968.

Now here’s a disclaimer. I’m not a big TV watcher.  I turned off my set after Green Bay brought the trophy back to Titletown and my only reason for having a flat screen is to view a fairly massive library of western movies, all of which I know by heart.  So for all I know, ‘The Rebel’ might be in high rotation on the “Obscure Western Channel”.  Hey…I might be on to something…

A My-West Valentine – Liz Tames A Giant

By Bennett Owen

About one minute into this clip the immortal Elizabeth Taylor delivers a supple and scorching line that would make any red-blooded Texas male instantly forget the Alamo.  This is what true star power can do with a sprawling story made for the big screen. Giant.  It took the work of giants to do justice to 25 years of Texas history and we got them in Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean. 

Happy Valentines Day and Happy Birthday also to Claire V. Owen.  The rest of the world refers to her as Mrs. Owen.  We get to call her Mom.  In her words, “It’s not every day a gal gets to turn 29.”

WILD WEST BERLIN –True Grit Opens the Berlin Film Festival

By Bennett Owen

My nose is still bleeding but I was there, along with about a thousand of my closest friends, as True Grit took a bow in its international premier.  

They liked it. Not just for the Coen Brothers’ idiosyncrasies;

not only for the superb acting and star power of Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin and Matt Damon. Not because it’s a movie you’re ‘supposed’ to like.

They liked it because it’s a powerful and well-told story that extols the virtues of courage, valor, faith and determination…True Grit…and all that bundled up inside a 14-year old girl named Mattie Ross. 

The smart money in Berlin says international audiences will stay away from this uniquely American film. But at the reception afterwards a prominent German actress, Veronica Ferres swooned, saying, “The actors were men, not the pretty boys that star in our movies.”

And for any man with a child, the love and devotion shown in that final, four-minute flight to civilization is positively heartbreaking.  I’ll be watching that scene over and over…until the pixels fade…or the tears stop coming…whichever comes first.

Some random notes:

• Jeff Bridges seems like a truly likeable fellow with a keen sense of humor
• Hailee Steinfeld received major thumbs up for her choice of dress.  She’s having great fun with her new-found fame
• The director of the Berlinale admits he was disappointed that the film lacked the trademark Coen Brothers quirks.

The German critics believe this film marks the swan song of a genre.  I predict it signals a renaissance.

True Grit

by Bennett Owen

10 Outstanding Westerns of the New Millennium

The movies on this list surely will rank among the classics of the genre and are proof positive that westerns continue to attract both audiences and A-list actors and directors:

1)    3:10 to Yuma –
2)    The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
3)    Open Range – (any movie with the mighty Robert Duvall automatically makes my list!)
4)    Appaloosa
5)    All the Pretty Horses
6)    The Virginian (A darn good made for TV version)
7)    Shanghai Noon
8)    Brokeback Mountain
9)    There Will Be Blood

And rounding out the top 10 - True Grit – relentless, gritty, box office gold.  It’s opening the Berlin Film Festival on February 10 and My-West will be there. 

Update:

The Oscar nominations were announced this morning. True Grit has been nominated for these categories:

• Best Picture
• Best Actor
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• Best Adapted Screenplay
• Best Art Direction
• Best Cinematography

Plus a slew of technical categories that brings the tally to 10 Academy Award nominations in all, not to mention $140 million domestic box office and still among the top five a month after its release. That is True Grit. That is what a western movie can do in the sure and steady hands of America’s most wanted cinematic gunslingers, the Coen Brothers. 

And like the report of a sharps rifle echoing down a narrow canyon, True Grit has delivered an unmistakable message to Tinseltown: Westerns are making a comeback. Consider this from VOA:

“The new True Grit exudes nostalgia for old western notions of bravado, justice and blood lust for vengeance...The film is an Oscar hopeful and a favorite at the box office, showing that American movie goers are still rooting for good westerns, a genre that has faded since the 1950s but might reclaim its old glory with the right amount of grit.”

Hmmm. Last year Jeff Bridges won an Oscar for his role as an alcoholic country western singer. This year he might make it back-to-back as an alcoholic US Marshall.

And for those who still think the original outshines the remake here’s a trip down memory lane…a return to the Colorado locations where the movie was made…long but well worth the time.

Here’s Roger Ebert putting this year's True Grit into proper perspective:

“This is the first straight genre exercise in their (the Coen Brothers) career. It’s a loving one. Their craftsmanship is a wonder. Their casting is always inspired and exact. The cinematography by Roger Deakins reminds us of the glory that was, and can still be, the Western.”

Ebert points out that Jeff Bridges’ breakout role was “The Last Picture Show” in 1971…where his character goes to the theater to see “Red River” starring…John Wayne.

John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn



Of course this sets the stage for a summer blockbuster with the best title in years…Cowboys and Aliens.