ROY, “ROCKY” & RED RYDER; “HOPPY”, DURANGO & MO(O)RE By: Dr. Jim Vickrey, Ph.D., J.D. From Chapter One: The Wages of Cinema -- on Coming of Age on the B-Western Movie Range, to the Conclusion: Why You Can Yet Join Me in Riding the Range Again ..., author Dr. Jim Vickrey is "hopeful that the experiences I've had while researching and writing this movie-related memoir will engender within readers the same happy thoughts I had and have resulting from my first and every subsequent encounter thereafter with the world of Western, particularly B-Western, cinema”
Grace believed she went from losing it all to having it all. In a desperate attempt to put her life back together, Grace, divorced and jobless, leaves Tucson to return to Chicago-a place she never planned to call home again. She also never planned to fall for Benjamin Hayward. Drawn into the fairytale existence of his power and wealth, Grace is unable to see what her family and friends see, and ignores the warning signs of Dr. Benjamin Hayward's dark side. Benjamin's secrets-the death of his mentally ill wife and the disappearance of his daughter-push Grace into an abyss deeper than the one that brought her home in the first place, and she risks losing even more. Pieces of Grace is a complicated story of relationships confused by undercurrents of mental illness. Readers find themselves hoping family and friends can carry Grace through her most difficult moments.
In addition to being the most profitable chapter play in the 20-year-history of Republic Pictures-generating more than $1.1 million in worldwide revenue-THE LONE RANGER (1938) set new standards of excellence for motion pictures adapted from characters originating in other media. It was a genuine phenomenon, securing bookings from major theater circuits and big-city picture palaces at the time when serials mostly played during Saturday matinees in small-town movie houses. Along with their success at box offices, both THE LONE RANGER and its 1939 sequel, THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN, added considerably to the lore and evolution of this beloved hero of American pop culture. In this profusely illustrated monograph, film historian Ed Hulse presents a comprehensive, heretofore untold, behind-the-scenes history of both serials' production. It has been extensively researched from recently uncovered documents buried deep in the files of George W. Trendle, the broadcasting magnate whose Detroit radio station WXYZ was the Lone Ranger's birthplace and home for more than two decades. Hulse has reviewed hundreds of pages-private letters, legal correspondence, inter-office memos, studio production reports, even the original 1937 contract between Trendle and Republic-culling from them all pertinent details relating to the making of both serials and the first's 1940 feature version, HI-YO SILVER. To this material he has added information gleaned from his own interviews of principal participants: co-director William Witney, head writer Barry Shipman, stunt double Yakima Canutt, and cast members Herman Brix, George Letz (Montgomery), and Sammy McKim. The monograph sports dozens of illustrations: rare stills, posters, advertisements, lobby cards, magazine covers, and production documents.
Since the beginning of television, Westerns have been playing on the small screen. From the mid-1950s until the early 1960s, they were one of TV's most popular genres, with millions of viewers tuning in to such popular shows as Rawhide, Gunsmoke, and Disney's Davy Crockett. Though the cultural revolution of the later 1960s contributed to the demise of traditional Western programs, the Western never actually disappeared from TV. Instead, it took on new forms, such as the highly popular Lonesome Dove and Deadwood, while exploring the lives of characters who never before had a starring role, including anti-heroes, mountain men, farmers, Native and African Americans, Latinos, and women. Shooting Stars of the Small Screen is a comprehensive encyclopedia of more than 450 actors who received star billing or played a recurring character role in a TV Western series or a made-for-TV Western movie or miniseries from the late 1940s up to 2008. Douglas Brode covers the highlights of each actor's career, including Western movie work, if significant, to give a full sense of the actor's screen persona(s). Within the entries are discussions of scores of popular Western TV shows that explore how these programs both reflected and impacted the social world in which they aired. Brode opens the encyclopedia with a fascinating history of the TV Western that traces its roots in B Western movies, while also showing how TV Westerns developed their own unique storytelling conventions.
John Brooker writes in his Introduction: "B westerns have always been part of my life. I decided ... to tour the US by Greyhound bus and try and track down some of my childhood heroes." From that and subsequent trips, Brooker began to write books, magazine columns, and even a TV series ("Movie Memories"). This book contains his interviews with the actors and other research on the B westerns. Fully illustrated.
"It covers the life story of the original horse and the look-alikes, as well as the story of "Trigger," the legend. In their own chapters are horse hero comic books and Trigger collectibles. Also included are a biography of Trigger's trainer Glenn Randall and a chapter on Roy Rogers as horseman. Generous illustrations include many rare photographs"--Provided by publisher.
In their bold experimentation and bracing engagement with culture and politics, the “New Hollywood” films of the late 1960s and early 1970s are justly celebrated contributions to American cinematic history. Relatively unexplored, however, has been the profound environmental sensibility that characterized movies such as The Wild Bunch, Chinatown, and Nashville. This brisk and engaging study explores how many hallmarks of New Hollywood filmmaking, such as the increased reliance on location shooting and the rejection of American self-mythologizing, made the era such a vividly “grounded” cinematic moment. Synthesizing a range of narrative, aesthetic, and ecocritical theories, it offers a genuinely fresh perspective on one of the most studied periods in film history.
