Wayne’s World - Lights - Camera - Auction!

By Bennett Owen

Heritage Auctions has just released a catalog of items from ‘The Personal Property of John Wayne’ to be auctioned off on October 6-7.  We’re talking everything from his 1977 driver’s license to his Golden Globe Award for True Grit.  For those who are interested, you can browse through it online.  

Let’s say I have an extra $100,000 tucked under the mattress, just waiting for the right investment to come along. Yes, as a matter of fact it DOES look suspiciously like Monopoly (c) money. Nevertheless, here’s my wish list of John Wayne memorabilia: 

1 - We start out with his Stetson hat from Hondo, one of my personal favorite Wayne westerns - Asking price - $25,000

Credit: Heritage Auction

Credit: Heritage Auction

2 - How about a conversation piece? One of the eye patches, Wayne wore as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit - asking price - $4,000

Credit: Heritage Auction

Credit: Heritage Auction

3 - A Period Suit from “McLintock” - I’ll probably have to have it tailored and brown doesn’t really suit me but just the thought that Maureen O’Hara touched it gives me goose bumps. Another of my favorite westerns for the fight scene alone - asking price - $4,000

Credit: Heritage Auction

Credit: lookmeintheye

4 - Eight Sheriff Badges - One for each day of the week. I’ll have to research how many sheriffs Duke actually played - asking price - $650

Credit: Heritage Auction

5 - A script from Stagecoach - yes it truly is one of the best westerns of all time. I’ve read the screenplay about 10 times at script-o-rama.com but this will be nice to have and hold - asking price - $3,000

Credit: Heritage Auction

6 - A pair of Lucchese Cowboy Boots from True Grit - Hey, he may have been a mangy old codger but Rooster had style! - asking price - $8.000

Credit: Heritage Auction

7 - A leather vest from The Comancheros, another Wayne western I’ll have a look at any chance I get. Say, I might actually wear this one in public - asking price - $4,000

Credit: Heritage Auction

Credit: Heritage Auction

OK folks, I’m up at the $50,000 mark and I’m salivating over two big ticket items and only have enough cash to buy one of them. So help me out ... which of the following would YOU choose???

- The Golden Globe Award for True Grit - asking price - $50,000

Credit: Heritage Auction

Credit: Heritage Auction

OR 

- John Wayne’s Western Saddle and Stand - asking price - $45,000

Credit: Heritage Auction

Credit: Heritage Auction

So weigh in with your personal choice and a few words that might sway me! 

COWBOYS & ALIENS - 120 Days and counting

by Bennett Owen

Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com

Following hot on the heels of True Grit comes a summer blockbuster with all the trappings of a classic western, and just may rescue Harrison Ford’s career. This movie will get plenty of my money based on the title alone.  The Super Bowl spot was magnificent:

And again, the full-length trailer. This won’t be the last time you see it posted here:

As this is posted I must wait only another 120 days to see it on a giant silver screen. Am I premature in my enthusiasm? I think not!  Here’s the synopsis, lifted directly from Cowboysandaliensmovie.com:

1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. It's a town that lives in fear.

But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known.

Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he has been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella, he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents - townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors - all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.

Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com

Marauders from the sky. Ya gotta love it. Now Park City has its Sundance Film Festival but Austin, Texas is gaining fame for the BNAT…the Butt-numb-a-thon, brainchild of Ain’t it Cool News creator, and Head Geek, Harry Knowles.

 It’s a 24-hour film marathon held at the Alamo Draft House. 

Here’s what one lucky attendee had to say about Cowboys & Aliens:

“Jon Favreau, Roberto Orci, and Ron Howard brought {the first 40 minutes of C&A} to BNAT and without going into spoilers I'll simply say that this movie is going to #$%& ROCK. Favreau has done something that can simply not be repaid - he brought Harrison Ford back. And not just stuck him into the film, either. He's #$^% BACK. He gives a rich, layered, complex performance and commands attention as soon as he takes the screen.”

Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com

Oh right. And it stars James Bond, which means my sister will be sitting right next to me on opening night!

Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com

Like so many other recent blockbusters, Cowboys and Aliens first saw life as a hugely popular graphic novel. Director John Favreau knows his audience and caters to it big time. He’s a regular at Comic-Con where the incomparable ‘Weirdo Super Fan’ Matt Zaller caught up with him and co-star Sam Rockwell:

COMIC-CON - Matt Zaller at the Cowboys & Aliens Red-Carpet. Watch more top selected videos about: Sam Rockwell, Cowboys & Aliens (film)

OK, time for some fact checking and soul searching. True Grit has grossed $250 million dollars worldwide on a production budget of just $38 million.  Rango is also well over the $200 million mark. Cowboys & Aliens this summer and the Lone Ranger is going into production, not to mention a revival of the genre on TV. The western is well and truly back in the saddle.

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.