Wild West Land Blog

A Bambi-esque technological tragedy is recorded for posterity by the Google Maps street view car traversing the Five Points Road in Rush, NY over on Gizmodo. I hope they had their hunting licence in the glovebox…

In 1901 Edward Sheriff Curtis set himself an ambitious target - to photograph every Native American tribe west of the Mississippi.

Curtis traveled from Alaska to the Southwest, photographing the Piegan, Blackfoot, Sioux, Gros Ventre, and the Cheyenne, the Hopi, Zunis, Acomas, and Pueblos, among many others… he photographed more than 40,000 Native Americans representing more than eighty tribes.

The project would take him almost thirty years to complete and by the time he died in 1952 Curtis was bankrupt, divorced and had suffered a nervous breakdown. His work “had all but faded into obscurity”.

As Curtis embarked on his mission he soon realised that the great changes taking place in the West was destroying ancient cultures. His work proved popular with many but was often dismissed for the style and settings he shot his subjects in (the photo above shows ‘Old White Man’ from the Library of Congress collection).

In trying to celebrate Native American cultures Curtis often brought artistic flair to those he photographed. The dedicated microsite for the 2002 exhibition at the Peabody Essex museum states that his “photographs reflect both his extraordinary talents as a photographer and his dedication to the people whose majesty he wanted to preserve on film.”

Thomas Haukaas, a Sicangu Lakota Artist & Psychiatrist describes Curtis’s photographs in a brief video on the website. He suggests they were shot in the renaissance style and were overwhelmingly positive images - especially when contrasted with the portrayl of American Indians in traditional western movies.

Curtis was later called ‘Shadow Catcher’ by some of the tribes he photographed and “captured the likeness of many important and well-known Indian people of that time, including Geronimo, Chief Joseph, Red Cloud, Medicine Crow and others.”

Read George Horse Capture’s story on the PBS American Master series site for more info on the project and browse the photo archives at the Library of Congress.

As JK from Jamiroquai would sing in the 90s hit song Space Cowboy, I’ve just entered my ‘interplanetary good vibe zone’ with news that the web comic Cowboys and Aliens will soon begin shooting, quite possibly under the watchful eye of Iron Man movie duo Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr.

I can’t say I’d come across this comic before but since reading the gossip about the Dreamworks production I’ve read the online comic with interest. What better crossover is there than the wild west meets alien invaders?

The graphic novel mixes Western and science fiction genres. Set in 1800s Arizona, a skirmish between cowboys and Apaches is interrupted by the crash landing of a space ship. The alien commander plans to tame the Old West and enslave everyone, but the cowboys and Native Americans turn their six-guns against the alien invaders.

The comic artwork is amazing - just look at this screen grab featuring cowgirl Verity, the Trail Master partnered up with trail boss Zeke Jackson, blazing away at the alien hordes flying in on Judge Dredd style speeder bikes:

Let’s hope the movie does this authentic western imagery justice. It should do given that Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, the Platinum Studios CEO who created C&A (no, not that C&A) ran Malibu Comics when graphic novel Men in Black was transferred into a hit film.

Will Smith as Zeke Johnson? Well he does have the experience of working on Wild, West West…

Should be in cinemas in 2011.

Ah, the public sector away day, there’s no better example of wanton wastage in the name of team building.

I’ve been on a few myself I’m sad to admit - the best one being the group ‘orchestra’ where 25 people attempted to bang drums of various sizes in time to instructions given by an out of work actor/conductor.

That must have cost a few grand and easily dwarfs the outlay in this story in The Times: Taxpayers fund ‘Doolittle’ awayday for quango staff.

Two HR execs apparently visited a farm and learned how to ‘determine the effectiveness of body language in an equine leadership session’.

Don’t laugh - how cool would it be for your next staff outing to be dressing up and playing Horse Whisperer just like Robert Redford.

I was looking for information on that most famous of redneck TV vehicles, the General Lee from 80s favourite The Dukes of Hazard, when I stumbled across the Veluzat brothers.

Apparently the family was involved for a few years in the wholesale destruction, sorry, I mean creation, of a couple of hundred bright orange 1969 Dodge Chargers, hand built for the stunt men to jump off ever increasingly large ramps.

Thrown into the description of their motion picture and TV handiwork was mention of the brothers buying up Gene Autry’s old Melody Ranch Studios out in Saugus, California some 30 miles north of Hollywood.

Autry had owned the ranch from 1952 up until 1990 when his horse Champion passed away. Appropriately enough, the ranch had been the location for countless classic western movies from the earliest days of the studios and boasted an impressive western street featuring hotels, a church, bank and jailhouse.

If you visit the website for the Veluzat Motion Picture Ranch today the history just jumps out at you:

experience a page torn from history on the street where famous westerns were made such as The Lone Ranger, Wyatt Earp, Gunsmoke, Hopalong Cassidy, Annie Oakley, Rin Tin Tin, The Cisco Kid and Deadwood

If you like exploring film locations like the folk at movie-locations.com then the two Veluzat websites are well worth a visit, featuring pictures and virtual tours of some classic western wooden building architecture.

Sure the original western street was destroyed back in 1962, but let’s thanks the owners for investing in a new town that can boast over 65 different storefronts to help future western moviemakers bring new life to the genre.

Sad news today for Dirty Dancing and Ghost fans - dancer turned actor Patrick Swayze has died at the age of 57 after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer.

Whilst I won’t be joining the ‘Yo Patrick Swayze’ Twitter movement, I did want to remember the actor for his Roundhouse role (a late 80s mullet haired classic) and also mention his famous Kansas rodeo champ connections. Rest in peace.