Hostile
The Duke
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A few days ago the Director of that movie, Michael Bast, decided to go ahead and put it on youtube. Since I had told some of you a little about it and even how to order it, I thought I'd go ahead and post it so you can actually see it.
Please do not feel obligated to watch this. It will not hurt my feelings if you do not care. I just wanted to share since I had brought it up on this forum before and now it is available. I am fairly sure I will get some very negative feedback from some posters. Hey, it's who I am and it's what they do.
I'm very proud of this documentary. I won 3 awards for it. The story is virtually unknown, but is actually a great story. Western writer Zane Grey did a fiction version of this story called "To The Last Man" and Hollywood even made a film in 1939 starring Randolph Scott. I own a VHS copy of that movie I bought on Amazon.com.
I am re-writing this as a full length feature film that I hope to sell.
When I was doing my research on this story I ran across a comment by one of the survivors of this time who actually saw that movie. I found his comments in the archives of the Arizona Historical Museum that is near the University of Arizona here in Tucson. That is where I did 60% of my research for this project.
This old cowboy was taken to the movie in Tempe, AZ by his grandson and when they came out of the theater he said, "that ain't the way it was." He's right. Zane Grey's romanticized version of the story is way off.
Most of the context of my research began in a book that belonged to my brother-in-law. He loaned it to a college friend who forgot to return it. That guy and I ended up as friends and when he found out who I was related to he gave me back the book.
The book is called "Arizona's Dark and Bloody Ground" and the author is a man named Earle R. Forrest. One day the director called me and asked me if I had ever heard of one of the men depicted in this film. I hadn't, but I grabbed the book. It was a treasure. The more I studied the more the director wanted to do this film. Earle R. Forrest's papers were the papers I studied at the History Museum.
I hated giving that book back. I loved it. I kept looking for a copy for myself. Most were over 200 bucks. One day I found one online for $25.00. I pounced on it. When it came I opened it up and nearly started to cry. The book is autographed by the author. Inside the pages I also found newspaper clippings of his obituary and where his papers were donated to the Museum where I studied them. This book sits on my desk and is almost priceless to me.
The words of the narrator of this film are mine. I also got to help with a lot of the actual filming at SJS Studios in Goodyear, AZ. In fact I was an un-cast extra with 2 parts in the opening scene of this movie.
You see a man in a suit and derby walk across the street and then approach the camera on the left side of the screen at about the 29 second mark to about the 40 second mark. That is me.
You also see 2 cowboys walking across the street at the far end at the 46 second mark to the 52 second mark. I am the bigger of the 2 cowboys and slightly left and in a lighter colored vest. That is me too.
I had a blast being on the movie set. The Executive Producer, Carlos Luaces, was from Spain. He did not speak much English. So I spent quite a bit of time acting as his translator. He plays two parts in this movie as well. He loved that. In the first scene he is the man loading the wagon.
Also in that first scene is one of the true Historians on this film, Bill Brown. You will hear a lot from him later. He is the Great Grandson of one of the victims of the violence. Towards the end he shows the actual murder weapon that ended this feud. I have held that rifle.
One thing that I wrote that I was really sad didn't make it into the film was a scene from Edwin's trial for murder. Tom Graham's widow, Annie, hid a .32 revolver in her satchel under a handkerchief. In the trial she pulled that gun out, stuck it to Edwin's chest, and pulled the trigger. The handkerchief cushioned the blow of the hammer and the gun did not fire. At the Arizona Capital building in Phoenix there is a painting of this scene called "Annie's Folly."
Most of the actors in this are actually stunt men. Many of them work for the Arizona Gunfighters performance group. Only one person who had a part in this production has gone on to any semblance of fame. His name is Adam Johnson. I mentioned that one time on this forum before and one member noted that my film is not on his IMBd page. If you check that link you will see that he is right. You can clearly see Adam at the 1:21 mark as the title gets ready to appear. He also has gunfight scene parts. His brother Brad was also in this film. Brad is also an actor. So is their mom and another brother who is married to a fairly famous actress. If you are curious about that you can follow the links on Adam's page. The Johnson brothers were absolutely hilarious guys to work with and I enjoyed it very much.
One last thing about the ensemble. The stuntman/actor who plays 15 year old Sam Houston Blevins was 21 years old. Earlier that day he had done a fall from a helicopter to one of those stunt air bags from 125 feet. Every week he was going up another 25 feet. He wanted to break the world record for a free fall without parachute from a helicopter to a stunt air bag. I do not know if he ever achieved it, but he was shooting for 400 feet eventually. I think that was a crazy goal.
When this film came out it was first played in the town where all of this stuff happened. I got to introduce it to the writers depicted in the film and the heirs of the people involved. We showed that film 5 times that day in a tiny room at the town library. Seeing my name at the end in the credits was a true rush. The next year I got to be the Grand Marshall in the parade the town holds every July called Pleasant Valley Days.
If you have any questions about the story please feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer them. I hope you enjoy this. Again, don't feel obligated to watch it. Forgive me for not embedding it. I think he needs the traffic hits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hekALWtiWm0
Please do not feel obligated to watch this. It will not hurt my feelings if you do not care. I just wanted to share since I had brought it up on this forum before and now it is available. I am fairly sure I will get some very negative feedback from some posters. Hey, it's who I am and it's what they do.
I'm very proud of this documentary. I won 3 awards for it. The story is virtually unknown, but is actually a great story. Western writer Zane Grey did a fiction version of this story called "To The Last Man" and Hollywood even made a film in 1939 starring Randolph Scott. I own a VHS copy of that movie I bought on Amazon.com.
I am re-writing this as a full length feature film that I hope to sell.
When I was doing my research on this story I ran across a comment by one of the survivors of this time who actually saw that movie. I found his comments in the archives of the Arizona Historical Museum that is near the University of Arizona here in Tucson. That is where I did 60% of my research for this project.
This old cowboy was taken to the movie in Tempe, AZ by his grandson and when they came out of the theater he said, "that ain't the way it was." He's right. Zane Grey's romanticized version of the story is way off.
Most of the context of my research began in a book that belonged to my brother-in-law. He loaned it to a college friend who forgot to return it. That guy and I ended up as friends and when he found out who I was related to he gave me back the book.
The book is called "Arizona's Dark and Bloody Ground" and the author is a man named Earle R. Forrest. One day the director called me and asked me if I had ever heard of one of the men depicted in this film. I hadn't, but I grabbed the book. It was a treasure. The more I studied the more the director wanted to do this film. Earle R. Forrest's papers were the papers I studied at the History Museum.
I hated giving that book back. I loved it. I kept looking for a copy for myself. Most were over 200 bucks. One day I found one online for $25.00. I pounced on it. When it came I opened it up and nearly started to cry. The book is autographed by the author. Inside the pages I also found newspaper clippings of his obituary and where his papers were donated to the Museum where I studied them. This book sits on my desk and is almost priceless to me.
The words of the narrator of this film are mine. I also got to help with a lot of the actual filming at SJS Studios in Goodyear, AZ. In fact I was an un-cast extra with 2 parts in the opening scene of this movie.
You see a man in a suit and derby walk across the street and then approach the camera on the left side of the screen at about the 29 second mark to about the 40 second mark. That is me.
You also see 2 cowboys walking across the street at the far end at the 46 second mark to the 52 second mark. I am the bigger of the 2 cowboys and slightly left and in a lighter colored vest. That is me too.
I had a blast being on the movie set. The Executive Producer, Carlos Luaces, was from Spain. He did not speak much English. So I spent quite a bit of time acting as his translator. He plays two parts in this movie as well. He loved that. In the first scene he is the man loading the wagon.
Also in that first scene is one of the true Historians on this film, Bill Brown. You will hear a lot from him later. He is the Great Grandson of one of the victims of the violence. Towards the end he shows the actual murder weapon that ended this feud. I have held that rifle.
One thing that I wrote that I was really sad didn't make it into the film was a scene from Edwin's trial for murder. Tom Graham's widow, Annie, hid a .32 revolver in her satchel under a handkerchief. In the trial she pulled that gun out, stuck it to Edwin's chest, and pulled the trigger. The handkerchief cushioned the blow of the hammer and the gun did not fire. At the Arizona Capital building in Phoenix there is a painting of this scene called "Annie's Folly."
Most of the actors in this are actually stunt men. Many of them work for the Arizona Gunfighters performance group. Only one person who had a part in this production has gone on to any semblance of fame. His name is Adam Johnson. I mentioned that one time on this forum before and one member noted that my film is not on his IMBd page. If you check that link you will see that he is right. You can clearly see Adam at the 1:21 mark as the title gets ready to appear. He also has gunfight scene parts. His brother Brad was also in this film. Brad is also an actor. So is their mom and another brother who is married to a fairly famous actress. If you are curious about that you can follow the links on Adam's page. The Johnson brothers were absolutely hilarious guys to work with and I enjoyed it very much.
One last thing about the ensemble. The stuntman/actor who plays 15 year old Sam Houston Blevins was 21 years old. Earlier that day he had done a fall from a helicopter to one of those stunt air bags from 125 feet. Every week he was going up another 25 feet. He wanted to break the world record for a free fall without parachute from a helicopter to a stunt air bag. I do not know if he ever achieved it, but he was shooting for 400 feet eventually. I think that was a crazy goal.
When this film came out it was first played in the town where all of this stuff happened. I got to introduce it to the writers depicted in the film and the heirs of the people involved. We showed that film 5 times that day in a tiny room at the town library. Seeing my name at the end in the credits was a true rush. The next year I got to be the Grand Marshall in the parade the town holds every July called Pleasant Valley Days.
If you have any questions about the story please feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer them. I hope you enjoy this. Again, don't feel obligated to watch it. Forgive me for not embedding it. I think he needs the traffic hits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hekALWtiWm0
