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'True Grit' remake proceeds apace

Look like all those rumors about a remake of True Grit... aren't just rumors. According to the showbiz trade paper Variety, filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen (Oscar winners for No Country for Old Men) are scheduled to start production next March -- for a late 2010 release -- with Jeff Bridges filling in for John Wayne as grizzled lawman Rooster Cogburn. Matt Damon reportedly is "in talks" to co-star as the Texas Ranger played by Glen Campbell in the original 1969 film -- which, like the remake, was based on a novel by Charles Portis. And Josh Brolin may sign on to play the chief villain of the piece. No word yet on who will portray the feisty young woman played in the '69 original by Kim Darby. But the Coens insist their version will be “more faithful” to Portis’ novel than the film that helped The Duke win his one and only Academy Award. Maybe it will. But, dang, talk about having a tough act to follow…

Paisley plans to bring Nashville to prime time

Country superstar Brad Paisley is branching out into prime-time TV as the co-writer and co-executive producer of Nashville, a potential weekly dramatic series under consideration by the CW Network. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show would focus on two ambitious up-and-comers in Music City: A young female singer on the fast-track to success, and a young male songwriter whose career has yet to take off. Paisley is working on the project with One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn, and reportedly plans to contribute a few songs to the series’ soundtrack. There’s also talk that other Country stars might drop by for occasional guest appearances. We hope that works out better for Nashville than it did for Nashville 99.

Garth Brooks un-retirement update

It’s official: In a joint statement today out of Las Vegas, Garth Brooks, the No. 1 selling solo recording artist in U.S. history, and Steve Wynn, chairman of the board and CEO of Wynn Resorts, announced plans for Brooks to present a series of “special engagements” at the Encore Theatre at Wynn Las Vegas starting Dec. 11. “Steve Wynn did what I thought was impossible,” Brooks said. “He has given me a chance to sing again for the people, while at the same time never missing a day with my children. I am naturally nervous, but it feels good to be out from under the low ceiling of ‘retirement’ I put on myself."

For Wynn, signing Brooks to perform at his Vegas is the fulfillment of a long-time ambition fueled by unabashed admiration. “Everything about Garth’s performances—his artistry, the range of his voice and connection with his audience—is something that I haven’t seen since the Rat Pack,” Wynn said, referring to the celebrated ensemble of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. “In show business, for a single performer to lift an entire audience emotionally to the point where they pray it doesn’t end, is an extraordinary and unique thing that only a few gifted people can do. But that is what I experienced when I saw Garth on stage, alone with his guitar, doing a history of his personal journey in music. I watched a man create instant love in real time, right before my eyes. Now we have the privilege at Wynn and Encore in Las Vegas to share this extraordinary, intimate experience with everyone.”

Tickets go on sale Saturday, Oct. 24, at 11 am. ET, 8 a.m. PT. The tab: $125 plus a $5 service charge and $13 tax. Confirmed concert dates: Dec. 11-13, Jan. 1-3 and 22-24, Feb. 12-14 and 26-28. Tickets can be ordered by calling (702) 770-7469, or on-line here.

Garth Brooks: Viva Las Vegas!

How are you going to keep Garth Brooks down on the farm after he’s heard from Las Vegas? Well, evidently, you can’t: The country music superstar announced Thursday morning that he’s coming out of self-imposed retirement, after years of spending quality time with his three daughters and wife Trisha Yearwood at their 2,000-acre spread just northeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma. During press conferences in Nashville and Las Vegas, Brooks revealed that his first post-retirement gig will be “an extended engagement” at the Las Vegas’ Wynn Resort –- where, it’s safe to assume, the reservation-desk phones already are ringing off the wall. “We’re going to take the retirement roof off over our head,” Brooks promised. “And I already feel taller.” Even so, don’t be too quick to assume there’s a new Garth Brooks album in the offing. (There isn’t.) And there are no immediate plans for any cross-country tours. Indeed, during the Nashville press conference, Brooks sounded as though his Vegas gig might be his way of testing the waters before considering any future activity. "I know this is a young industry," he said, "so I'm not sure I'll be welcomed back. But, if the fans want me, I still want to pursue my music."

Strait talk from The King of Country

Coming soon to a newsstand near you: Country music icon George Strait, the focus of a cover-story profile in the December issue of Cowboys & Indians. In an exclusive Q&A with C&I, Strait talks about roping and ranching in South Texas -- and singing and songwriting for Twang, his 26th studio album. An instant No. 1 smash hit when released in August, Twang features four songs written or co-written by the King of Country’s son, Bubba Strait, who tells C&I that he’s very happy to be working in the “family business.” He and his famous father “like all the same stuff, so we seem to agree on music, too, for the most part,” Bubba says. “I’m writing a lot more than him, though, because sometimes he’d rather go play golf. But you can’t blame him. Besides, he needs the practice!” Look for the December issue of Cowboys & Indians wherever fine magazines are sold starting Oct. 20.

Greetings from Bandera!

I had a rootin’-tootin good time this weekend in Bandera, Texas, where they observed the National Day of the American Cowboy with songs and celebration, trick roping and quick drawing, and an induction of honorees for the new Texas Heroes Hall of Honor at the Frontier Times Museum. It was an altogether great excuse for me to goof off with some great and gracious people.

Return to the Valley

A big-screen version of The Big Valley -- the popular 1965-69 TV Western starring Barbara Stanwyck as the proud matriarch of a 1870s ranching family -- is set to start production next April on location in Michigan and New Mexico. Sound promising, doesn't it? But, really, who can they get to fill Miss Stanwyck's boots? Helen Mirren? Meryl Streep? Judi Dench?

Another ride for The Duke?

Everybody knows that John Wayne's last movie was The Shootist, right? Well, maybe not. Maybe the real curtain-closer for The Duke's career is a science-fiction Western -- no kidding! -- called Thunder Riders of the Golden West.

Western Writers tips their Stetsons to Gunsmoke, Lonesome Dove

According to members of the Western Writers of America, a nonprofit organization of more than 600 scribes, the Greatest TV Western Series of All Time is – drum roll, please! – Gunsmoke, the enduring popular drama starring James Arness as the slow-talking, straight-shooting Marshal Matt Dillon. But wait, there’s more: The WWA has also honored Lonesome Dove, the Emmy Award-winning 1989 miniseries based on Larry McMcMurty’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, as Best TV Western Miniseries/Movie.

Winners in both categories – voted by WWA members, with ballots tabulated at the WWA offices at the University of New Mexico – were announced Thursday, June 18, during the association’s annual convention in Oklahoma City. "Gunsmoke teleplays won six Spur Awards from WWA, and McMurtry's novel also won a Spur, so neither choice is a surprise," WWA President Johnny D. Boggs says. "Many of our members study Gunsmoke episodes and Lonesome Dove, both the novel and the miniseries, as examples of great writing."

Rounding up the top ten in the Greatest Series category was Maverick at No. 2, followed in order by Rawhide, Bonanza, Have Gun, Will Travel, The Rifleman, Wagon Train, The High Chaparral, Death Valley Days and The Virginian. Centennial was second in the Miniseries/Movie category, followed by The Sacketts, Conagher, Monty Walsh, Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett, The Last Stand at Saber River, Broken Trail, Riders of the Purple Sage and Into the West.

You can see the complete list of 50 titles in either category here. And you can see the WWA’s 2008 list of 100 Greatest Western Movies of All Time – topped by Shane – here.

CMA Music Festival news: Hot stars, big crowds

Taylor Swift and Jamey Johnson will be among the galaxy of Country music stars performing this weekend at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville. What sets them apart from the crowd? Music writer Chet Flippo insists that they're "the best things to hit Country music in recent history." And he makes a strong case for that claim here.

Looking elsewhere: The Tennessean notes that roughly 52,000 people a day are expected in downtown Nashville Thursday through Sunday for the various CMA festivities. But even more folks will be converging at another musical extravaganza nearby. And not just because Merle Haggard will be performing there.

Jack Ingram -- the subject of a "Live From" Q&A in our June issue -- is looking forward to signing autographs and performing for fans at the CMA Fest. "Only in country music do the artists come together to celebrate the fans," Jack says. "To see all the stars coming together in a place and throwing a party for the fans, well, that's cool. I love being part of letting the people who love this music know how much they mean to us."

R.I.P.: David Carradine (1936-2009)

David Carradine worked with everyone from Ingmar Bergman to Quentin Tarantino, Charlton Heston to Rob Schneider, Tom Selleck to Mel Gibson, in movies and TV series of wildly uneven quality, in just about every conceivable genre, during a screen acting career that spanned five decades. But it’s the role that made him a ‘70s icon – Kwai Chang Caine, the mystical martial artist adrift in the Wild West of Kung Fu – for which he remains, now and likely forever, best known. He seemed to be a good sport about being so closely identified with Caine, even to the point of more or less reprising the character in an updated ‘90s spin-off series (Kung Fu: The Legend Continues) and frequently spoofing it in various movies and TV commercials. But he also demonstrated his versatility in an impressive variety of roles while amassing scads of credits as a steadily employed character actor. That he often appeared in Westerns -- Heaven with a Gun (1969), Macho Callahan (1970), The Long Riders (1980), and Last Stand at Saber River (1997), among others -- seemed altogether appropriate for an actor who made his first major breakthrough as the lead in Shane, the short-lived but fondly remembered 1966 TV series based on George Stevens' classic Western film. He also played the bad guy who tried to get medieval on Chuck Norris in Lone Wolf McQuade, which you can watch here.

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

After rounding up some rave reviews at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo -- Bradley Beesley's close-up look at cowgirl convicts who compete in the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo -- has been lassoed by HBO Documentary Films. The film is tentatively set for a September broadcast premiere on the Cinemax cable network. Director Beesley talks about Sweethearts in the July issue of Cowboys & Indians. And he can be seen (and heard) along with producer James Payne in this video clip.

Patrick Wayne remembers his dad, The Duke

While recalling life with his famous father during a recent interview with Cowboys & Indians, Patrick Wayne noted that, even though he appeared opposite The Duke in several films – most notably, The Searchers, Big Jake and The Comancheros – John Wayne seldom offered his son much in the way of acting tips.

“My father wasn’t big on advice,” Patrick says. “In fact, I would say that anything I gleaned from him, or learned from him, were lessons given by his behavior rather than what he said.”

Patrick remembers getting an invaluable opportunity to learn by example while watching his father on the set of Hondo, the gritty 1953 Western based on Louis L’Amour’s novel. By the time The Duke had to shoot a key scene in which he shoed a horse while conversing with leading lady Geraldine Page, “My dad had worked out every detail of how you actually shoe a horse – how you handle the horseshoe, how you approach the horse, all that – so he could just do it all without thinking about it, and just carry on the scene, which is the important thing. See, if you have to do something like that, but you hesitate at any time because you have to think about what you’re doing, the audience is going to know that something’s wrong. They may not be able to put their finger on it, but they’ll know something is not right.”

Unfortunately, Patrick recalls with a laugh, he had to have that lesson reinforced while acting opposite his father in The Comancheros, a 1961 Western that cast him as a Texas Ranger.

“We had shot this scene where there was a camera moving alongside me while I’m riding on a horse. And I was bouncing up and down all over the place. And it was even more exaggerated because the camera was so close up. Well, we watched the scene dailies, and my dad got kind of mad, and he told me: ‘Man, you’re going to have to learn how to ride a horse, or you’re getting out of this business.’ It was a humiliating experience.

“And so I spent a lot of time of time over the next few days on my skills. So when they shot the scene again later – I was much better.”

Patrick joins his siblings Ethan, Melinda and Marisa Wayne to pay tribute to their father in the July issue of Cowboys & Indians, on sale June 9 at fine newsstands everywhere.

A new single and a star-studded tribute for George Strait

George Strait's next album -- titled, no kidding, Twang -- won't be available at fine stores everywhere until early fall. But if you simply can't wait for fresh Strait, check this out: "Living for the Night," the debut single from the King of Country Music's eagerly awaited CD, will be available to radio stations across the country tomorrow (May 28) at noon CDT.

But wait, there's more: A galaxy of country superstars will celebrate Strait tonight when CBS airs George Strait: ACM Artist of the Decade All-Star Concert. The two-hour special, set to begin at 7 p.m. CDT, will feature performances by Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Jamie Foxx, Faith Hill, Jack Ingram, Alan Jackson, Jamey Johnson, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Montgomery Gentry, John Rich, LeAnn Rimes, Blake Shelton, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Lee Ann Womack.

Happy Birthday, John Wayne!

Marion Robert Morrison -- a.k.a. John Wayne -- was born May 26, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa. To commemorate the occasion, the Encore Westerns cable network is presenting a day-long marathon of The Duke's movies, climaxing tonight with a rootin'-tootin' double bill of Chisum (7 pm CDT) and The Cowboys (9 p.m. CDT). Coming soon to a newsstand near you: The July issue of Cowboys & Indians, which will showcase a tribute to John Wayne on the 30th anniversary of his death.

(BTW: Although many published sources refer to Wayne's middle name as Michael, Robert is what actually appears on his birth certificate. Honest.)

A duo of Duke double-disc DVDs

New in video stores this week: Double-disc DVD editions of two classic Westerns starring John Wayne, John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (co-starring James Stewart and Lee Marvin) and Howard Hawks’ El Dorado (with Robert Mitchum and James Caan). Released as part of Paramount Home Video’s “Centennial Collection” series, each film comes complete with photo galleries, souvenir booklets, optional commentary soundtracks, and behind-the-scenes documentaries. Director-historian Peter Bogdanovich contributes to the commentary tracks of both films – and, on Liberty Valance, shares archival recordings of interviews he did back in the day with Wayne and Ford.

Sugarland snags five CMT nominations

Sweet news for Sugarland: The dazzling duo dominated the field Tuesday when Country Music Television announced nominees for the 2009 CMT Music Awards. Sugarland picked up five nominations, leading Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift with four each, and Rascal Flatts and newcomers Lady Antebellum with three nominations apiece. Winners will be announced June 15 during a live telecast of the CMT awards show in Nashville.

Honoring Heroes with Montgomery Gentry

Just in time for Memorial Day, Country music stars Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry -- a.k.a. Montgomery Gentry -- are teaming with Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores to help the Wounded Warrior Project help some deserving U.S. service personnel. For Our Heroes, a 12-song CD of new songs and familiar hits by Montgomery Gentry, will be available exclusively at all Cracker Barrel locations starting May 25. (You can pre-order your copy right now at the Cracker Barrel website.) A portion of the proceeds from each CD sale will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization dedicated to raising awareness and enlisting the public’s aid for the needs of severely injured U.S. military men and women.

Like grandfather, like grandson

Thirty years after John Wayne galloped off into the sunset for the final time, his grandson, actor Brendan Wayne, will be be riding tall in Angel and the Badman, a made-for-cable remake of The Duke's 1947 Western classic. Set to premiere July 5 on the Hallmark Channel, the new film will star Lou Diamond Phillips as Quirt Evans -- the role originally played by John Wayne -- a wounded outlaw who gets a shot at redemption while taking refuge with a sympathetic Quaker family. Luke Perry -- who, like Phillips, has a passel of other Westerns to his credit -- plays Evans' lethal rival, and Brendan Wayne appears as the outlaw's ex-partner.

Hugh Jackman rides again

Hugh Jackman will be back in the saddle again, thanks to actress-turned-filmmaker Madeleine Stowe. According to the showbiz trade paper Variety, Jackman is set to co-star with Rachel Weisz and Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson in Unbound Captives, a Western about a woman whose husband is killed -- and whose two children are kidnapped -- by a Comanche war party in 1859. Jackman -- who rode hard and herded cattle in last year's Australia -- will play a frontiersman who comes to the distressed damsel's aid. Stowe -- whose credits as an actress include the feminist Western Bad Girls -- hopes to start production near the end of the year.

Kevin Costner rides again?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kevin Costner is in negotiation with the A&E Network to produce -- and possibly co-direct, and act in -- a two-part, four-hour miniseries described as "a post-Civil War story covering a major conflict in the settlement of the West." Tana Nugent Jamieson, A&E's executive vice-president of drama programming, thinks the network has the right man for the right job: "Costner understands the Western better than anybody, and he respects the genre. He knows every bit of detail about the West; this is a genre he feels a lot of passion for. It's a perfect fit."

R.I.P.: Mark Landon (1948-2009)

C&I offers condolences to the friends and family of Mark Landon, son of Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie star Michael Landon, who was found dead Monday in his Hollywood home at age 60. (According to published reports, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident, though a police spokesperson has said there was no evidence of foul play.) As an actor, Mark appeared in three TV-movies during the 1990s, most notably Us (1991), the final project written and directed by and starring his father before Michael's death of cancer in 1991.

That's Doctor Dolly to you, pardner!

Still sassy and brassy -- and, of course, still curvaceous and flirtatious -- Dolly Parton never tires of joshing about two of her most prominent assets. On Friday, she received an honorary doctorate of humane and musical letters during graduation ceremonies at the University of Tennessee. Her first reaction: "Just think, I'm Doctor Dolly!" And then, with a saucy grin, she added: "So when people say something about 'Double-D,' they will be thinking of something entirely different." Well, maybe.

The Lone Ranger rides again

After reviving the swashbuckler with his fabulously successful Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, producer Jerry Bruckheimer aims to reintroduce a classic Western franchise, The Lone Ranger, with Johnny Depp -- whose maternal grandfather, not incidentally, was Cherokee -- as Tonto, and, reportedly, George Clooney as the guy with the black mask and the silver bullets. Man, I am so there on opening day. My only question is, will they have someone as cool as Jason Robards to ask: "Who is that masked man?"

Haunts on horseback

Film critic Sean Axmaker has selected The Ten Best Horror Westerns of all time, a list that includes Curse of the Undead (a 1959 vampire yarn with Rawhide star Eric Fleming) and Clint Eastwood's supernatural-themed High Plains Drifter (1973). Curiously enough, however, neither Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula nor Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter made the final cut.

Nashville Film Festival: Another audience embraces That Evening Sun

First, That Evening Sun picked up the Audience Award for Best Feature at the SXSW Film Festival. Then, the exceptional indie drama (starring Hal Holbrook, pictured here with some shameless stargazer) received the Audience Award for Best Feature at the Sarasota Film Festival. And now, it's three-for-three, with yet another Audience Award for Evening Sun at the Nashville Film Festival. Do I spot a trend here?

Nashville Film Festival salutes "adopted" Tennessean Hal Holbrook

For veteran actor Hal Holbrook, visiting the Nashville Film Festival this past weekend marked something of a homecoming: He actually maintains a home in McLemoreseville, Tennesee, with his actress wife, McLemoreseville native Dixie Carter. It’s a small town – “Two gas pumps and a cannon,” as he affectionately describes it – but “it’s a place far away from Los Angeles” that “gives us a whole different view of life when we’re able to come here and enjoy the wonderful, wonderful kind of people that live here.”

Unfortunately, his wife couldn’t be with him Saturday night when he was honored with a NaFF Lifetime Achievement award before a festival screening of That Evening Sun, the filmed-in-Tennessee drama in which Holbrook gives a career-highlight performance as an aging farmer who won’t give up his pride or his property.

“Dixie’s off filming a TV pilot, which we both hope will work out,” Holbrook explained. Still, she clearly was there in spirit as Holbrook delivered a brief but heartfelt acceptance speech: “I’m so happy that we were able to make this film in Tennessee – a home that I have adopted, where I have been adopted into a family, a real family, the best family I’ve ever known in my life, the Carter family out of McLemoreseville.”

As for the film itself, “Hopefully, That Evening Sun gives us a picture of people that you might be familiar with here in Nashville, but maybe someone in New York City won’t have any prior experience with. So it’ll give people a chance, maybe, to sort of broaden their brains a little bit about the big country we’re living in, with all the different kinds of people living in it.”

Nolan Ryan rides tall

It's official: Strike-out king Nolan Ryan now is a member of cowboy royalty. The MLB Hall-of-Famer -- now president of the Texas Rangers baseball team -- was honored Saturday for his "experience with and passion for” the Beefmaster cattle industry at the Western Heritage Awards banquet of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Ryan -- who has raised Beefeater cattle on his Texas ranches since 1972 -- was given the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award, signifying that museum board members feel the legendary Major Leaguer embodies the finest traits of the American West. The ceremony also included Ryan's induction into three halls of fame at the museum. Info on the evening's other honorees is available here.

Lee Ann Womack gets real for Noble Things

The lovely and talented Country music star Lee Ann Womack is almost unrecognizable as a dowdy and dutiful deputy sheriff in Noble Things, the moody filmed-in-Texas drama presented Saturday at the Nashville Film Festival. “Yes, it was quite a change for me,” Lee Ann joked during a pre-screening chat. “Usually, I’m a girl who likes to go around in five-inch heels.” But she knew she needed a deglamorized look to be convincing in the indie feature, the tale of a career-stalled Country singer (Brett Moses) who returns to his home town to deal with a dying father and an imprisoned brother. Producer Ruben Neubauer was impressed by her professionalism: “Lee Ann really did an amazing job. And we’ve gotten some terrific feedback on her performance.”

Noble Things marks Lee Ann’s movie debut – she previously did a guest spot on the TV series The District – and in her view, portraying a character before a camera isn’t all that different from conveying an emotion in a song. “Actually,” Lee Ann said, “it was Willie Nelson who taught me that. I was talking with him about acting when I was out on tour with him. And he said, ‘When you act, you memorize the lines in a script, and you play the part as believably as you can. When you sing, you memorize the lyrics to a song, and you get up there and you try your best to convey that message in a believable way to your audience.’

“The only way I feel you really can do that as a singer is if you are really able to get inside that lyric. In other words, you really can’t sing about pain if you haven’t ever really felt it. And I think it’s the same way about acting. Mind you, I never studied acting, and I don't know everything about it — except just drawing on my own experiences, and trying to convey that emotion."

Meanwhile, back at Val Kilmer's ranch...

According to the Associated Press, Tombstone star actor Val Kilmer -- who's reportedly considering a run for governor of New Mexico -- is selling his nearly 6,000-acre ranch near Santa Fe. The AP reports: "A buyer would get almost six miles of Pecos River frontage, a fishery and wildlife habitat including bears and bobcats. The ranch has a Southwest-style main house of nearly 5,600 square feet and a smaller caretaker's home, as well as other guest homes, barns, garages and outbuildings." And it can be all yours for the (current) asking price of $33 million.

Star Trek talk at NaFF

To the surprise of absolutely no one -- including, judging by his expression when he received the query, William Shatner himself -- the very first question directed at the actor during a post-screening Q&A following the Nashville Film Festival's Friday evening world premiere of William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet had to do with.... Star Trek. Specifically: "What do you think of the new Star Trek movie?"

Boldly going where he's gone many, many times before, Shatner seriocomically replied: "I haven’t seen it. And I’m appalled that I’m not in it. I’ve had a fun time with the director, J.J. Abrams, cussing him out on the websites and in interviews. But we’re buddies. And I called him three or four weeks ago and told him about this charity horse show that I’m putting on in Los Angeles – the Priceline.com Hollywood Charity Horse Show. Hey, they’re the big sponsors, so we’ve got to get their name out there. And so I invited J.J. And he said, ‘Oh, I’ll take a whole table.’ And I said, ‘Great. But, you know, you should bring the cast, because there’ll be a lot of press there…’ And he said, ‘I’ll take two tables.’ So J.J. Abrams and the cast of the new Star Trek movie are coming, and we’ll make a big to-do.

"But deep down," Shatner added, struggling manfully to maintain his straight face, "I’m still appalled.

A musical Impact for William Shatner

What can you give a man who already has a couple of Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, and even two Golden Raspberries? Well, if you're the clever folks at the Nashville Film Festival, and you want to honor William Shatner with a special Impact Award, you ask Gibson Guitar Corp. to construct, and artist Mandy Lawson to paint, a customized acoustic guitar to give the veteran actor. The prize certainly made an impact on Shatner when he received the one-of-a-kind instrument from Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz before Friday's NaFF world premiere screening of William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet. "When I was a young stage actor out on tour," Shatner recalled, "I used to bring along a printout with me, to try to learn the fingering so I could play the guitar. But I never mastered it. And even later on, I never had the time -- never took the time -- to learn how to play. But let me tell you -- now I make the time." Shatner looked so unabashedly pleased with his prize that I couldn't resist offering him a fist bump and two words of encouragement: "Rock on!" He exuberantly bumped back, smiled brightly and replied: "Yeah, I'll rock on."

Festive folks enjoy C&I

Movie blogger and William Shatner fan Mark Rabinowitz couldn't resist grabbing one of the hundreds of Cowboys & Indians posters given away Friday evening at the Nashville Film Festival's world premiere of William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet.

Due to circumstances beyond Brad Paisley's control....

Brad Paisley was a no-show Friday evening at the Nashville Film Festival world premiere of William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet, the musical documentary about the staging of a ballet based on Shatner's recorded-in-Nashville CD. (The Country superstar is one of several "guest performers" on the album.) Festivalgoers weren't surprised by Paisley's absence -- just a few hours before the screening, Paisley's wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, gave birth to their second son at a Nashville area hospital. But apparently this good news didn't reach whoever assigned seats prior to the premiere.

Music in the air -- and on the screen -- at Nashville Film Festival

There were enough festive ticketholders to fill two auditoriums at the Regal Green Hills Cinema for Thursday’s opening-night screening of 500 Days of Summer at the Nashville Film Festival. It was something of a major coup for NaFF to land the much-buzzed-about kick-off film – the directorial debut of up-and-comer Marc Webb, who joined me for a post-screening Q&A with the warmly responsive fest audience – and NaFF board president Stacy Widelitz could not have been more pleased by the turnout.

But, truth to tell, Stacy -- a veteran songwriter bent on bringing musicians and moviemakers together at NaFF -- may have been pleased a mite more by a special pre-screening presentation.

Just before the lights dimmed for 500 Days of Summer – set for release this summer by Fox Searchlight Pictures, the same discerning distributor that brought us the Oscar-winning Juno and Slumdog Millionaire -- Stacy received formal notice from BMI, the organization that tracks public performances of songs and collects royalties for songwriters: “She’s Like the Wind,” the enduring popular pop-rock smash Stacy co-wrote with Patrick Swayze for Swayze’s classic Dirty Dancing, had officially charted its four millionth performance.

And, mind you, that’s not counting the three times it’s excerpted on the soundtrack of 500 Days of Summer.

“Actually, it’s just radio airplay,” Stacy explained when I caught up with him in the VIP Tent during opening night hearty-partying. “And I think it might include television, too.”

But not performances by bar bands, wedding singers and karaoke crooners? “No.” Good thing, too: Probably even BMI can’t count that high.

“The funny thing is, I can still remember writing it,” Stacy said. “I remember being in my apartment in L.A. – me at the piano, and Patrick Swayze on my couch with his guitar -- and over the course of two nights writing this song. I can physically feel that still to this day.

“And then, all these many years later, and to be presented with a certificate that says, ‘OK, that thing you wrote over those two nights in your apartment on Orange Street in L.A. – it’s now been played four million times.’ That’s just amazing.”

Stacy has been friends with Patrick since 1983, and he gets regular updates on the condition his ailing-yet-active buddy -- who hasn’t let his widely reported battle with prostate cancer get in the way of sustaining a showbiz career.

“We still keep in touch,” Stacy said. “And he’s doing very well. Spoke to his wife two weeks ago. And they’re both very upbeat. Just doing great.

“They counted Patrick out very early on. But he’s still hanging on.”

Coming Friday: William Shatner, C&I’s April cover boy, will boldly go where no Star Trek alumnus has gone before – on the red carpet leading to Regal Green Hills Cinema, for the Nashville Film Festival’s world premiere of the musical documentary William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet.

TCM salutes two of The Duke's greatest

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of their cable network, the folks over at Turner Classic Movies have come up with a list of the 15 most influential classic movies of all time. These are the films, TCM states, that "shaped the cinema and the audiences that viewed them." Two Westerns made the final cut -- and, not surprisingly, each one is a John Ford classic starring John Wayne: Stagecoach (1939) and The Searchers (1956). Good choices, pilgrims.

Sun will rise, Johnny Cash will sing, at 40th Nashville Film Festival

The 40th annual Nashville Film Festival will kick off Thursday (April 16) in Music City, and continue screening dramatic features and documentaries through April 23. Among the attractions that may be of special interest to C&I readers:

That Evening Sun -- Academy Award nominee Hal Holbrook (above) makes another bid for Oscar glory with his excellent performance in Scott Teems' brooding drama as an aging Tennessee farmer who goes AWOL from the nursing home where he's been consigned by his son -- only to find that his land has been leased to his oldest enemy. (6 p.m. April 18, 12:15 p.m. April 19)

Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison -- On Jan. 13, 1968, Johnny Cash recorded his legendary live album at Folsom State Prison in California. Forty-one years later, the album hasn't lost a bit of its power. Cash's children, his former colleagues, and even some ex-prisoners and guards look back at that famous concert behind bars in Bestor Cram's acclaimed documentary. (5 p.m. April 19, 3:45 p.m. April 20)

Noble Things -- Dan McMellen's filmed-in-Texas drama focuses on a struggling country music artist who must return to his home town to confront his imprisoned brother, his dying father and the demons he left behind. Real-life country music star Lee Ann Womack makes her film acting debut as a police deputy who figures into the plot. (9 p.m. April 18, 2:45 p.m. April 19)

William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet -- Filmmakers Patrick Buckley and Kevin Layne document the transformation of William Shatner's surprise hit CD "Has Been" -- featuring songs co-written by Country music star Brad Paisley, pop-folk artist Aimee Mann and many others -- into a ballet by noted choreographer Margo Sappington. Shatner -- the cover boy for C&I's April issue -- is expected to attend the Nashville Festival premiere, along with Paisley, Sappington, musician/record producer Ben Folds and the film's directors. (7:15 p.m. April 17, 1:30 p.m. April 18)

Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes -- A free-form, intimate look at a private man in the public spotlight: Garrison Keillor, arguably America's foremost humorist and commentator, takes his skits and jokes, music and monologues across the country in his traveling radio show. (2:30 p.m. April 19, 1 p.m. April 21)

Tickets to these and all other Nashville Film Festival attractions can be ordered on the festival's website. And C&I will be reporting on the festivities right here on the C&I blog, starting this weekend.

21st century cattle rustling

As MSNBC.com reports, modern-day cattle rustlers are as likely to bounce checks as lasso steers. The money quote: "Thousands of head of cattle and millions of dollars’ worth of related equipment were stolen last year in the big cattle states of the Midwest and the Southwest, according to a report by the [Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association]. More than 6,400 cattle were snatched in Texas and Oklahoma alone, more than 2½ times the number in 2007."

Real cowboys in True West

Looks like AMC wants to get back in the saddle again. According to Variety, the cable network that enjoyed great success with the 2006 miniseries Broken Trail is preparing a Western reality series tentatively titled True West. The show, described as "a multi-generational family drama,"will follow "a group of modern cowboys as they pursue a trade that's quickly vanishing." Producer Brett Morgen currently is "scouting prospective subjects and shooting locations," Variety reports.

Rio Bravo: 50 years young

Wall Street Journal writer Allen Barra celebrates Howard Hawks' classic Western, which he claims may be the most popular cult movie ever made. Seriously. "The phrase 'cult favorite' conjures up images of wobbly hand-held camera shots and little-known actors," Barra admits. "But Rio Bravo was shot in glorious Technicolor and starred perhaps the most popular star in movie history. Most cult films are too hip to be popular, and most big hits are too popular to be hip. But Rio Bravo is that rarest of films -- both popular and hip."

R.I.P.: Hank Locklin (1918-2009)

Country music singer-songwriter Hank Locklin enjoyed a career that spanned more than half a century, with many enduringly popular hits -- including "Send Me the Pillow You Dream On" and "Please Help Me, I'm Falling" -- and 47 years' worth of Grand Ole Opry appearances to his credit. Happy trails, pardner!

Tom Selleck cracks Top 10

Tom Selleck -- who graced the cover of our biggest-selling issue last year -- notched another Nielsen ratings success last week with Jesse Stone: Thin Ice.

Paisley leads the pack

Country superstar Brad Paisley -- who'll be performing March 12 at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo -- leads all finalists for the Academy of Country Music Awards, with no fewer than six nominations (including a nod for Entertainer of the Year). Heidi Newfield also scored impressively, picking up nominations in five categories. Other multiple nominees include Kenny Chesney, Jamey Johnson -- and, of course, George Strait. Winners will be announced April 5 during an ACM awards presentation airing on CBS.

Dancing cowboys (and cowgirl)

Former Cowboys & Indians cover girl Jewel and rodeo star Ty Murray will be the first husband-and-wife couple ever to compete against each other on Dancing With the Stars when the popular series returns for Season 8. Country singer Chuck Wicks also will be among the celebrity contestants when the fancy footwork begins March 9 on ABC.

Thanks, pardners!

The Cowboys & Indians readership continues to expand -- and we're extremely grateful. More important, we'll continue to work hard to keep you coming back for more.

Viewing alert: Ricardo Montalban

Turner Classic Movies has tossed out its previously announced Jan. 23 lineup of films to program a seven-movie retrospective honoring the late Ricardo Montalban. Of particular note to C&I readers: William A. Wellman's Across the Wide Missouri -- the epic 1951 drama in which Clark Gable leads a group of 19th century pioneers westward. To see why the latter film was so significant for Montalban -- for all the wrong reasons -- check out this Wikipedia article.

Viewer alert: Two on TCM

For your Friday viewing pleasure, Turner Classic Movies has programmed a terrific double bill of classic Westerns starring Randolph Scott and directed by Budd Boetticher: The Tall T (8 pm EST) and Ride Lonesome (9:30 pm).

In Tall T (1957), ramrod-turned-rancher Pat Brennan (Scott) and copper mine heiress Doretta Mims (Maureen O'Sullivan) are held captive by a sly stagecoach bandit (Richard Boone) and his thick-witted cohorts, while Doretta's cowardly husband seeks a ransom from his wife's wealthy father. A nice touch: The bandit refrains from killing Brennan primarily because he's desperate for intelligent conversation. But their budding friendship is soured by the bandit's determination to start a new, more respectable life with the ransom money.

Ride Lonesome (1959) -- arguably the best of the Scott-Boetticher collaborations -- finds bounty hunter Ben Brigade (Scott) bringing a captured outlaw (James Best) across Indian territory. Two semi-reformed bandits (a pre-Bonanza Pernell Roberts, whose cocky preening suggests a Wild West version of WWE's The Rock, and a callow James Coburn) want to wrest control of Brigade's captive in order to claim an amnesty offered for their past crimes. But Brigade isn't interested in amnesty, or even a reward. Rather, he wants to lure the outlaw's older brother (Lee Van Cleef) into a forced feeding of just desserts.

Martin Scoresse, an ardent admirer of Boetticher's work, talks about The Tall T here, and Ride Lonesome here.

Black and bluegrass

According to the Associated Press, actor-musician Jack Black has discovered his country music DNA -- thanks, oddly enough, to his family ties to jazz great Charlie Haden.