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.