Tag Archives: American West

Detour–Inside Story on Making of a Movie

In a slight detour from Spain week, I want to share this article I wrote after attending a screening of the Sam Peckinpah/Steve McQueen movie Junior Bonner.

Steve McQueen and Robert Preston in Junior Bonner
Steve McQueen and Robert Preston in Junior Bonner

When director Sam Peckinpah and his assistants headed out west to scout out sites for a new movie in 1972, one of their stops was in a mountain town a couple hours drive north of Phoenix that once was the state’s capitol. Since they were looking for a western setting for a movie written by an Arizona screenwriter, Jeb Rosebrook, Prescott seemed a likely choice. After all, the rodeo plays an important part in Junior Bonner and Prescott, Arizona’s yearly rodeo bills itself The World’s Oldest Rodeo, having been in continuous operation since 1888.

However, it almost didn’t happen. William Pierce, chairman of the rodeo committee was summoned to meet Peckinpah and give him a tour of possible locations in Prescott. He showed up in the morning at Peckinpah’s Prescott hotel room, where the director was lounging on the bed sipping a whiskey.

(Read the rest of the inside story of the filming of Junior Bonner at Reel Life With Jane in my Classic Movies column.)

An Improper Love Affair in Old Tucson

Western Road Trip

Tucson fence made of octotillo branches
Tucson fence made of octotillo branches

Destination: Tucson, Arizona


Book: Teresa and the Cowboy:: un Cuento de Amor Tucsonense, by Mary Ellen Barnes

The book cover sandwiches a photograph of Tucson in the 1800’s– with its dirt streets and adobe buildings– between a closeup of white on white embroidery at the top and a leather chaps decoration at the bottom of the page. It is an artful way to portray the contrasting worlds of that period when some people (mostly women) were trying hard to bring civilization and propriety to a rough ranching country.  The book cover also makes clear that Teresa and the Cowboy: Un Cuento de Amor Tucsonenseis a novel.

Continue reading An Improper Love Affair in Old Tucson

Modern Westerns? Yes, Please

Wednesday Matinee

Destination: The American and Canadian West and Australia

Movies: Modern Westerns

by Jane Louise Boursaw

This month, in keeping with our American Western Road trip, Jane Boursaw brings us  five modern Westerns. If the scenery lures you, however, be advised that Brokeback Mountain was filmed largely in Canada, as well as scenes in New Mexico and in Wyoming, while Unforgiven was  filmed entirely in some very enticing Canadian locations. Quigley Down Under, of course, was filmed in Australia–another tempting location for a road trip.

Most of us are familiar with the classic westerns starring the likes of John Wayne, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. Then came the era of the spaghetti westerns — Sergio Leone films starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Terence Hill.
But my favorite westerns are more recent, made in the past 20 years or so. I guess you’d call them modern westerns, though they don’t all take place in modern times. But these are films with a little more depth and emotion than the classic cowboy themes. Let’s take a look at five of my favorite modern westerns. Continue reading Modern Westerns? Yes, Please