Author Evan S Connell, Custer and his connection to Sand Creek

Evan S. Connell passed away yesterday in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the age of 88. He was a wonderful and eclectic writer perhaps best known for his novels Mrs. Bridge (1959) and Mr. Bridge (1969). The two novels were the basis for the 1990 film, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

But I will always remember him for his 1984 book, Son of the Morning Star: Custer. It was a not very flattering look at the vainglorious boy-General George Armstrong Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

In the late 1980s I was touring a one-man show about Frederick Benteen, who served in the 7th Cavalry and was at Little Bighorn. Custer had split his regiment into three battalions, one commanded by Major Marcus Reno, one by Captain Benteen and the third Custer took with him to attack the Sioux and Cheyenne encampment along the Little Bighorn River. It was only Custer's command that was annihilated. Benteen went on to have a long career in the Army.

Connell's book was very useful to me as I put together the material I used in my portrayal of Benteen. Thinking about the book, now, I may go back and re-read it. It really was quite good.

Something else of note comes to mind about the boy General.

Many are familiar with the Sand Creek Massacre in which some 700 hundred members of the Colorado Territorial Militia under the command of Colonel John Chivington attacked Black Kettle's encampment along Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado on November 29, 1864. It is estimated that 163 Cheyenne and Arapaho were killed – almost all women and children. Black Kettle survived.

However four years later, almost to the day, George Armstrong Custer led an attack by the 7th Cavalry on Black Kettle's village, this time on the Washita River in what is now western Oklahoma. This time Black Kettle did not survive, he and his wife Medicine Woman were shot in the back and killed. Estimates vary as to the number of Native Americans actually killed but all estimates agree that a number of women and children were included in the dead.

Eight years later, Custer himself would be killed at Little Bighorn. One of the principal Sioux Chiefs at the battle was Sitting Bull. He would later join Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. As I wrote earlier, there is a wonderful Museum devoted to Cody on Lookout Mountain west of Denver, it is also the site of his grave. Included in the museum is a lot of material, photographs and artifacts about Sitting Bull.

Oscar - jaws drop and the buzz and intrigue begin

The buzz is deafening. That other sound is jaws dropping. The announcement of the Oscar nominations this morning has indeed generated a lot of buzz and some head-scratching. In every major category the nominations carried a number of surprises – some more than others, however the Best Picture nominations were not a surprise for me. What is surprising are the Oscar nominations in the Directing, Acting and Foreign Language Film categories.

In my earlier reflections on the DGA and SAG Awards nominations, I noted that I thought that Oscar nominations would generally reflect those nominations. I was wrong.

Kathryn Bigelow, Ben Affleck and Tom Hooper each received a DGA nomination but did not get an Oscar nod - only two DGA nominees also got an Oscar nomination, Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg. This flies in the face of what has happened historically when the Oscar nominations generally do reflect the DGA. It will now really be interesting to see who wins the DGA award and who wins the Oscar. Will they be one and the same? It will also be interesting to see how the DGA award, Best Director Oscar and Best Picture Oscar might – or might not – align.

Of the 20 Oscar acting nominations only 14 reflected SAG Award nominations. That too is in contrast to past years when the nominations were much more closely aligned. The three biggest surprises for me were the failure of John Hawkes, Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith to garner an Oscar nomination.

Perhaps I should also be surprised that I actually picked each of the Best Picture nominations. I listed ten films while noting that the Academy might not nominate ten. I listed them in the order of the number of first place votes I thought each would receive. My tenth pick was Skyfall which did not receive an Oscar nomination.

However the most interesting nomination is Amour. This film is nominated for an Oscar in the Best Picture category and as Best Foreign Language Film – it is Austria’s entry in that category. Moreover, Amour also received nominations in the Best Actress, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Can one picture win two 'best' picture awards?

Which brings me to the Foreign Language category: The biggest surprise for me was the failure of The Intouchables (France’s entry) to receive a Best Foreign Language Film nomination. I thought it had everything going for it and would be a lock – but again, I was wrong.

Finally, I am sorry Sister, from Switzerland did not receive a nomination. The film is disturbing but emotionally very powerful. Nonetheless I am surprised that Kon Tiki from Norway made it and Sister did not.

Ahh, the vagaries.

Best Picture Oscar Nominees?

So tomorrow morning we will know the Academy Awards nominees. There will be at least five Best Picture nominees and as many as ten. The Academy’s uses a weighted voting system which is based on the number of first place votes from the members and no film can be nominated unless it receives at least five percent of the total votes cast. Nomination voting ended on Monday.

This year the voting schedule has been accelerated and this has complicated things. More importantly, perhaps, voting is being done online and there have been significant problems and glitches with a lot of grousing by Academy members about it. The real fallout may be a diminished turnout.

If there is a diminished turnout, what impact will it have? Equally important to the size of the turnout is who votes and who doesn’t: Older members, younger members, actors, directors? Different demographics may favor different films.

Nonetheless, fearlessly, here are my picks of the films that will be nominated. I say, fearlessly but frankly, no film on the list (certainly the top five) will be a surprise.

I am picking ten even though I don’t think there will be ten nominees. Here they are in the order of the first place votes I think they may have garnered from the voting members:

Lincoln
Argo
Les Miserables
Zero Dark Thirty
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi
Django Unchained
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Amour
Skyfall.

As I noted above, the demographics of the voters can make a real difference. A controversial film like Zero Dark Thirty or even Django Unchained (a violent film in the aftermath of Newtown, Connecticut) can be helped or hurt by who votes.

We’ll know around 6:30 AM, Denver time, Thursday.

DGA nominations are out - Only Oscar remains

The last of the major feature film award nominations are now out with the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) announcing their nominations today. Previously, the PGA, Writers' Guild, SAG and the Golden Globe nominations have been announced

The DGA nominations look very much like what I think we will see for both the Best Director Oscar Nominations and Best Motion Picture Oscar Nominations that will be announced Thursday.

It is a strong list with Steven Spielberg for Lincoln, Ben Affleck for Argo, Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty, Ang Lee for Life of Pi and Tom Hooper for Les Miserables.

In making the announcement of the nominees, Guild president Taylor Hackford said:

"DGA members have chosen an incredibly rich and varied group of filmmakers to nominate for this year's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film Award. These directors represent the highest standard of filmmaking, and their films are a testament to artistic achievement, innovative storytelling and the passion that filmmakers share with their audiences."

It is extremely likely that the winner of the DGA award will also be the winner of the directing Oscar. Only six times since 1948 (when the DGA began giving the award) has the DGA winner not also won the Oscar:

1968 Anthony Harvey won the DGA Award for The Lion in Winter but Carol Reed won the Oscar of Oliver.

1972 Francis Ford Coppola won the DGA Award for The Godfather but Bob Fosse got the Oscar for Cabaret.

1985 Steven Spielberg won the DGA for The Color Purple but Sydney Pollock got the Oscar for Out of Africa.

1995 Ron Howard won the DGA for Apollo 13 while Mel Gibson won the Oscar for Braveheart.

2000 Ang Lee got the DGA Award for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Steven Soderbergh took the Oscar for Traffic.

2002 Rob Marshal was DGA’s pick for Chicago but Roman Polanski won the Oscar for The Pianist.

Best Picture Oscar? The DGA nominations enhance the chances of that award going to either Lincoln or Argo. Those two films have been nominated in the ‘best’ category by the DGA, the PGA, the Writer’s Guild and an ensemble-cast nomination from the Screen Actor’s Guild. Academy members of each of these guilds will be voting for Best Picture once the nominations are announced.

While those two films chances are enhanced, 'it ain’t over till it’s over', as Yogi said.

Les Miserables was nominated by the PGA, DGA and SAG but was ineligible for the WGA award (WGA has very strict eligibility requirements for consideration).

Zero Dark Thirty, which was released late in the SAG voting period and did not send screeners to the nominating committee, was nominated by the WGA, PGA and DGA, but only received an individual nomination for Jessica Chastain from SAG.

Silver Linings Playbook did not get a DGA nomination but did from the other Guilds. Life of Pi did not receive any nominations from SAG.

DGA Awards are February 2nd.

More Award nominations: Writer's Guild

In my post yesterday I neglected to note that the Writer’s Guild of America West(WGAW) and Writer's Guild of America East (WGAE) also give awards for best screenplays. The two Guilds announced their nominees today for the awards ceremonies (occurring simultaneously in Los Angeles and New York) on February 17.

Again there is a lot of commonality to other award nominations; a lot of the same films populate the various lists, notably Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln, Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook and Argo.

These are the nominees in the various motion picture categories.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Flight, Written by John Gatins; Paramount Pictures

Looper, Written by Rian Johnson; TriStar Pictures

The Master, Written by Paul Thomas Anderson; The Weinstein Company

Moonrise Kingdom, Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola; Focus Features

Zero Dark Thirty, Written by Mark Boal; Columbia Pictures

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Argo, Screenplay by Chris Terrio; Based on a selection from The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez and the Wired Magazine article “The Great Escape” by Joshuah Bearman; Warner Bros. Pictures

Life of Pi, Screenplay by David Magee; Based on the novel by Yann Martel; 20th Century Fox

Lincoln, Screenplay by Tony Kushner; Based in part on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin; DreamWorks Pictures

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Screenplay by Stephen Chbosky; Based on his book; Summit Entertainment

Silver Linings Playbook, Screenplay by David O. Russell; Based on the novel by Matthew Quick; The Weinstein Company

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
The Central Park Five, Written by Sarah Burns and David McMahon and Ken Burns; Sundance Selects

The Invisible War, Written by Kirby Dick; Cinedigm Entertainment Group

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Written by Alex Gibney; HBO Documentary Films

Searching for Sugar Man, Written by Malik Bendejelloul; Sony Pictures Classics

We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists, Written byBrian Knappenberger; Cinetic Media

West of Memphis, Written by Amy Berg & Billy McMillin; Sony Pictures Classics

PGA Best Picture Awards Nominations and an Awards timeline

The Producer’s Guild of America (PGA), announced yesterday, the nominees for the Daryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of a Theatrical Motion Picture. This is a noteworthy list as it is often predictive of the nominees and eventual winner of the Oscar for Best Picture. In 16 of the last 23 years, the winner of the PGA award has also won the Best Picture Oscar.

The nominees:

"Argo” (Warner Bros.)
Producers: Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Grant Heslov

"Beasts of the Southern Wild” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Josh Penn

"Django Unchained” (The Weinstein Company)
Producers: Reginald Hudlin, Pilar Savone, Stacey Sher

"Les Misérables” (Universal Pictures)
Producers: Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh

Life of Pi” (Fox 2000 Pictures)
Producers: Ang Lee, Gil Netter, David Womark

"Lincoln” (Touchstone Pictures)
Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg

"Moonrise Kingdom” (Focus Features)
Producers: Wes Anderson & Scott Rudin, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales

"Silver Linings Playbook” (The Weinstein Company)
Producers: Bruce Cohen, Donna Gigliotti, Jonathan Gordon

"Skyfall” (MGM/Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson

"Zero Dark Thirty” (Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Megan Ellison

This list is generally consistent with award nominations already announced from the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards.

PGA gives a separate award for animated films. The list of nominees for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

"Brave” (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Producer: Katherine Sarafian

"Frankenweenie” (Walt Disney Pictures)
Producers: Allison Abbate, Tim Burton

"ParaNorman” (Focus Features)
Producers: Travis Knight, Arianne Sutner

"Rise of the Guardians” (Paramount Pictures)
Producers: Nancy Bernstein, Christina Steinberg

"Wreck-It Ralph” (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Producer: Clark Spencer

I don't expect that any of these animated features will end up on the Oscar nomination list.

The PGA Awards will be announced at their gala, January 26th in Hollywood. PGA will also give awards in other categories, including television long form.

We are truly in the midst of award season. As noted above, SAG Award nominees and Golden Globe nominees have been announced. Their awards shows are January 13 for the Golden Globes and January 27 for the SAG Awards. The Director’s Guild will announce their nominees on January 8th with their awards gala on February 2nd.
Oscar will announce his nominees on January 10th with the Oscar broadcast on February 24th.

Kerouac and Cassady – On The Road.

Jack Kerouac’s novel On The Road is now also a motion picture. Walter Salles, who did Motorcycle Diaries (about some early travels of Che Guevara), directed and it stars Sam Riley as Sal Paradise (Jack Kerouac), Garret Hedlund as Dean Moriarity (Neal Cassady), Kristen Stewart as Marylou (LuAnne Henderson) and Kirsten Dunst as Camille (Carolyn Cassady).

Kerouac finished the book On The Road in 1951 and it was published in 1957. It was based on the travels he took with Cassady and Cassady’s wife at the time LouAnne Henderson and helped define the ‘Beat Generation’ (Kerouac coined the term ‘Beat Generation’).

Cassady was from Denver (as was LouAnne) and though he met Kerouac in New York City they both ended up back in Denver for a time. It was then that Cassady met Carolyn Robinson, whom he eventually also married. She also had a long-time affair with Kerouac.

There are still places you can see that Kerouac and/or Cassady haunted. My favorite is the bar at the corner of 15th and Platte, now called My Brother’s Bar. Kerouac and Cassady (and Carolyn) also frequented the Rossonian (now vacant and boarded up) in Five Points for Jazz. It doesn’t look like it now, it has all been redeveloped, but Larimer Street from 14th Street north was the heart of Denver’s Skid Row in the 40s, 50s and 60s. Cassady and Kerouac spent time there. The Colburn Hotel on Grant Street is where Carolyn Cassady (Robinson) was living while she was going to Denver University and met and began an affair with Cassady. It is also where she found Cassady, LouAnne and Allen Ginsberg, all naked, in bed together. In 1949, Kerouac lived for while in a house he bought (proceeds from the sale of Town and the City) at 6100 W. Center in what is now Lakewood.

So much of On The Road has a Denver focus, but of course no filming was done here. That’s a story we are all too familiar with in Denver and Colorado. On The Road opens in Denver January 18th, 2013.

There is another film that deals with Kerouac, Cassady and Carolyn Cassady: 1980’s Heart Beat, based on Carolyn Cassady’ memoir Heart Beat My Life With Jack and Neal.

In that film, Nick Nolte played Neal Cassady, Sissy Spacek played Carolyn and John Heard played Kerouac. The memoir covers the time from the late forties through the fifties, the film focuses on the early period, concurrent with Kerouac’s writing of On The Road.

Heart Beat was not a great film, but it had a wonderful look – truly evoking the late forties and fifties. It even had a 49’ Hudson (with a Pueblo Tent and Awning canvas water bag hanging from the hood ornament)like the one the three drove.

I remember the film well because I had a small (very small) part. I played a waiter in a scene in a San Francisco restaurant where the three are meeting someone.