Featuring classic John Wayne & Clint Eastwood movies, the Bosque Film Society will host the “Cowboy Crossroads Free Film Fest” July 28-31 at the Cliftex Theatre in Clifton

By BRETT VOSS

Bosque Film Society Founding Board President

Offering an air-conditioned break from the harsh Texas summer just before returning to school, the Bosque Film Society announces a four-day, wild west-themed movie event in association with the historic Cliftex Theatre, giving the general public free admission to six classic westerns featuring the legendary John Wayne and Clint Eastwood during the COWBOY CROSSROADS FREE FILM FESTIVAL July 28-31.

“After the success of our Halloween film festival last October, we are very excited to offer exactly what we know everyone wants to see – Westerns starring John Wayne and Clint Eastwood,” Bosque Film Society founding board president Brett Voss said. “We hope to fill the house for all six films.”

The four-day free movie Wild West Weekend will open with the Howard Hawks’ 1959 western classic “RIO BRAVO” at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 28, followed by a Clint Eastwood double feature Friday, July 29 with “THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES” at 4 p.m. and “UNFORGIVEN” at 7 p.m., a John Wayne double feature Saturday, July 30 with “THE COWBOYS” at 4 p.m. and “THE SHOOTIST” at 7 p.m., and wrapping up with the big-budget Western musical “PAINT YOUR WAGON” Sunday, July 31 at 4 p.m.

Although admission will be FREE to the public courtesy of the BOSQUE FILM SOCIETY, seating will be limited on a first-come, first serve basis, thanks to the generous donations by Ves & Sally Box, Rick & Cheryll Lundberg, Punky & Wally Penberthy, Joanne & Tom Blossom, Ed & Phyllis Rieser, and The Vanderbeck Family.

“We can’t say enough about the support we have received for our charter members and the community at large,” Voss said. “It’s exciting to open up the longest continuously operating movie theater in Texas to anyone who wants to visit. When you really think about it, it’s hard to imagine movie lovers have been coming to The Cliftex since 1916. When you walk through the doors, you are truly taking a step back in time.”

RIO BRAVO (1959)

Widely considered one of the top five westerns in John Wayne’s extensive career catalogue of movies, Howard Hawk’s “RIO BRAVO” opens the Bosque Film Society’s Cowboy Crossroads Free Film Fest Thursday at 7 p.m. as Bosque Film Society founding board member and historian Bryan Davis will introduce the film at The Cliftex Theatre.

Starring The Duke along with Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan, 1959’s “Rio Bravo” proved to be so popular and successful that it spawned two more Hawk-Wayne films to form a trilogy, “El Dorado” in 1966 and “Rio Lobo” in 1970.

John Wayne made 169 films in his six-decade career.  And on every “The Best John Wayne Movies” film list you’ll always find “Rio Bravo” in the top five.  The two most detailed lists rank “Rio Bravo” at Number 4 and Number 2.  Both lists ranked “The Searchers” as his best movie, and “The Duke” made A LOT of great films.

THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (1976)

Set during and after the American Civil War, “THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES” (1976) represents an American Revisionist Western film, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldine Keams. The Bosque Film Society’s Cowboy Crossroads Free Film Fest continues at 4 p.m. Friday as Bosque Film Society founding board secretary Nathan Diebenow will introduce the film at The Cliftex Theatre.

The film tells the story of Josey Wales, a Missouri farmer whose family is murdered by Union militants during the Civil War. Driven to revenge, Wales joins a Confederate guerrilla band and makes a name for himself as a feared gunfighter. After the war, all the fighters in Wales’ group except for him surrender to Union officers, but they end up being massacred. Wales becomes an outlaw and is pursued by bounty hunters and Union soldiers as he tries to make a new life for himself.

The Outlaw Josey Wales represents one of the few Western films to receive critical and commercial success in the 1970s, when the Western was thought to be dying as a major genre in Hollywood. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

UNFORGIVEN (1992)

The Bosque Film Society’s Cowboy Crossroads Free Film Fest continues with Friday’s feature presentation of Clint Eastwood’s “UNFORGIVEN” at 7 p.m. as Bosque Film Society founding board vice president Angela Smith Nathan will introduce the film at The Cliftex Theatre.

“UNFORGIVEN,” a 1992 American Revisionist Western film directed, produced by, and starring Clint Eastwood in the lead role and written by David Webb Peoples, tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job, years after he had turned to farming. The film co-stars Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris.

“Unforgiven” won four Academy Awards: Best Picture and Best Director for Clint Eastwood, Best Supporting Actor for Gene Hackman, and Best Film Editing for editor Joel Cox. Eastwood was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but he lost to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman. Eastwood dedicated the film to directors and mentors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, and it became only the third Western to win Best Picture, following Cimarron (1931) and Dances with Wolves (1990).

In 2004, “Unforgiven” was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

THE COWBOYS (1972)

The Bosque Film Society’s Cowboy Crossroads Free Film Fest continues with Saturday’s matinee showing of John Wayne’s “THE COWBOYS” at 4 p.m. as Bosque Film Society founding board president Brett Voss will introduce the film at The Cliftex Theatre.

Based on the 1971 novel by William Dale Jennings, “THE COWBOYS” (1972) is a classic American Western film directed by Mark Rydell and starring John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Bruce Dern, featuring Colleen Dewhurst and Slim Pickens, and the feature film debut of Robert Carradine.

Rancher Wil Andersen is forced to hire inexperienced boys as cowhands in order to get his herd to market on time. Under Andersen’s continued training, the boys learn to rope as well as brand and herd the cattle and horses, and the group later officially sets off on the cattle drive. But the rough drive is full of dangers and a gang of cattle rustlers is trailing them.

This classic Western movie is a coming-of-age story, in which the inexperienced boys learn how to be men very quickly on a rough drive through “mean” country. They set out as schoolboys, but return home as “The Cowboys.”

THE SHOOTIST (1976)

The Bosque Film Society’s Cowboy Crossroads Free Film Fest continues with Saturday night’s feature presentation of John Wayne’s “THE SHOOTIST” at 7 p.m. as Bosque Film Society founding board president Brett Voss will introduce the film at The Cliftex Theatre.

In John Wayne’s final screen performance in “THE SHOOTIST” (1976) directed by Don Siegel, J. D. Books, a dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity. The supporting cast includes Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, James Stewart, Richard Boone, Hugh O’Brian, Harry Morgan, John Carradine, Sheree North, Scatman Crothers and Rick Lenz.

In 1977, The Shootist received an Oscar nomination for Best Art Direction (Robert F. Boyle, Arthur Jeph Parker), a BAFTA Film Award nomination for Best Actress (Lauren Bacall), and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor (Ron Howard), as well as the National Board of Review Award as one of the Top Ten Films of 1976. The film received widespread critical acclaim, garnering an 87% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

PAINT YOUR WAGON (1969)

The Bosque Film Society’s Cowboy Crossroads Free Film Fest concludes with Sunday’s matinee of the big budget western musical “PAINT YOUR WAGON” (1969) featuring Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin at 4 p.m. as Bosque Film Society founding board member and filmmaker-in-residence Matt Wallace will introduce the film at The Cliftex Theatre.

Released at a time with movie musicals were going out of style, “PAINT YOUR WAGON” was directed by Joshua Logan and adapted by Paddy Chayefsky from the 1951 musical Paint Your Wagon by Lerner and Loewe starring Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood and Jean Seberg.

Set in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California, Ben Rumson (Lee Marvin) happens upon a wrecked wagon containing a dead man and his surviving brother, Pardner (Clint Eastwood), in the wilds of California. At the burial, they discover gold dust and stake a claim. Soon a mining camp dubbed “No Name City” emerges, rife with lonely men starved for female companionship. When a polygamist Mormon arrives looking to sell off a wife (Jean Seberg), a bidding war commences.