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.