Westerns rope Emmys

Congratulations to Broken Trail, the American Movie Classics production that lassoed a passel of prizes, including the award for Best Miniseries, during the Emmy extravaganza Sunday evening. Robert Duvall was honored as Best Actor in a miniseries, and Thomas Haden Church received the Best Supporting Actor prize. But wait, there's more: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee -- the HBO adaptation of the Dee Brown best-seller -- was honored as Best Made-for-Television Movie. All in all, a great night for Westerns at the Emmy corral.

Miranda does Elvis

Rising country music star Miranda Lambert -- who gets the Live From interview treatment in the latest issue of Cowboys & Indians -- will honor music legend Elvis Presley by performing "Jailhouse Rock" on the upcoming ABC special Elvis: Viva Las Vegas. The two-hour TV extravaganza, set to air at 9 pm EDT Sept. 18, will examine how the King of Rock 'n' Roll affected Las Vegas. During the program, some musical artists will talk about the influence Elvis had on them, while others others perform covers of their favorite Elvis songs. Lambert is part of a star-studded lineup that also includes Toby Keith and Aerosmith's Joe Perry (who'll perform a duet of "Mystery Train"), along with Faith Hill, Paul McCartney and Willie Nelson.

Radio active

I'll be interviewed by New Orleans radio host David DuBos tomorrow -- Labor Day -- during the 5 pm hour on N.O. station WGSO (which is streamed on-line here). DuBos -- who usually hosts the station's Movie Talk show on Saturdays -- wants to chat about the renaissance of the Western, so you can reckon we'll be focusing on 3:10 to Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Jesse James: Original gangsta?

While promoting The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford this weekend at the Venice Film Festival, star Brad Pitt (left, opposite Casey Affleck as Ford) said he saw the upcoming Warner Bros. release as more of a gangster movie than a Western. "I saw it ... as a guy who sensed impending doom, the inevitable end, who had been trapped in a facade and living an alias for so long and didn't know a way around it," Pitt told a news conference after a press screening.