176: The City Bleeds for Harry Dean Stanton

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It's showtime, folks. Enjoy the show. Our nuclear reactor pumping out one million kilowatts of power. What's up and welcome to Movie Meltdown. I am Brian.

I'm Lucy. And we are coming to you live. Via digital recording from Harry Dean Stanton Fest. So you've been here in the midst of it for days now, Lucy. Has it only been days?

Months. Months, years. A year since last time. Yes, we are on day three now. How has it been?

It has been, like, beyond anything I possibly could have hoped, I guess, is the short answer. I'm exhausted, totally sleep-deprived. I've learned a few lessons, one of which is, well, I can't say that you don't want to do a bar event that lasts until 3 in the morning because, honestly, like, I think that was one of the most fun things that we did. I was kind of sad that I didn't make it there. I was very sad that you didn't make it.

Nobody else was coming. I was trying to get, like, a ride share there, but slackers. Yeah. Yeah, you need better friends. Yeah, tell me about it.

You've met them. They're all on the show. Yeah, wait, where is everybody? I need better friends. That's what I'm saying.

What the heck, people? They're slack asses. Yeah, so Friday night, wait, should you want to kind of know what we've been doing? Yeah. Is that what you're getting at?

That sounds like a good place to be. Okay. Friday night, we showed Pretty in Pink, and we showed it in Triangle Park in downtown Lexington, Kentucky. And I don't believe they'd ever showed films there before. Downtown Lexington Corporation just started this new series where every other Friday they're going to show a film in the park under the stars.

It is glorious. And so we basically asked them if we could buddy up and have this be the first day of our festival and we could show Pretty in Pink. And they're like, well, we were thinking about showing that anyway. So it just worked out great. They did all the work.

They're amazing. And we just kind of got to hang out and have fun. That looked like an awesome screen, by the way. It was an awesome screen. I totally want one of those.

No, the guy that has that business is, maybe you need to get into that business. Maybe he needs to hook me up. He's something else, and the sound was great. I mean, it was. I mean, I was kind of wanting to do that with our festivities that will never take place because, again, everybody's a slack ass and there's no money.

But aside from those problems, I've been working on our own festival for years now. So, yeah, we need to bring him in on that. All right, let's make it happen. But it also looked like, again, I'm like the rest of the world just hooked up through Facebook at this point. Based on the photos you posted, it looked like a huge turnout, actually.

Yeah, I'd heard numbers from 500 to 700. I don't know. I know. No kidding, right? So, sadly, they didn't all buy t-shirts, but they were all there.

What were they thinking? Yeah, it was a great turnout. I don't know if you caught any of this, but... They decided the Downtown Lexington Corporation had the stroke of genius. There may or may not have been drinking involved.

I'm not going to get into that. I'm not actually supposed to get into that. But anyway, it came up that maybe they should dye the fountains pink in honor of Pretty in Pink. And then they worked with Susan Komen, and they made that a sponsor. So there was a lot of, what's that word?

Synergy? Was there synergy? Is that what was going on? Something like that. I don't know.

It could go the other way. There's a lot of backstabbing. It's politics. No, no, it was perfect. I mean, it was a great thing.

Everybody won. But anyway, so they put the dye in, and I guess there was a volume issue. So they put it in Tuesday night. So Wednesday morning, people go out to Triangle Park. And keep in mind, there's fountains all the way around the park.

It surrounds the park. So it's very dramatic when you walk to the park, and it is blood red. It is like the city is. Bleeding. It is like the gates of hell.

And everybody was freaking out. And they were like, oh, my God, everybody's getting fired. Nobody's going to have a job tomorrow. I think ultimately it wound up working in everybody's benefit because it got actually national news. It was in, like, USA Today.

Lexington sits on top of a Hellmouth. This just in. It was the best screw-up of all time. And I guess there were actually rumors at the beginning. There was a lot of conjecture and theories like, is this Louisville?

Did Louisville fans come in? Because it's right next to Rep Arena. Are we about to be engaged in a prank war? Except the games are all over. Yes, but the rivalry is not.

Yeah, but anyway, there's a lot of theories. And ultimately, it did finally turn a really lovely shade of appropriate pink for Friday night. So everyone won. That explained why I drove past and there were kids splashing around and Actually, I was seeing it from a weird angle, so it looked purple. So maybe it's just diluted itself down to purple now.

The other thing being it is dye. These children are all going home with pink clothes. Yeah, they were up to their waist in it. So, yeah, have fun, kids. And parents have to clean that.

Yeah. Yeah, I guess there could still be backlash. But anyway, so that was Friday night. There's always backlash. That was Friday night.

That was fantastic. And then. Saturday we showed Straight Time here at the library. The library in downtown Lexington has a great new theater. It's been fully renovated.

You're about to experience it. The sound is incredible. The picture is incredible. All the screenings are free. It's just kind of maybe the greatest thing that's happened to me ever.

I don't have any of that. So anyway, we showed Straight Time yesterday, and that was a lot of fun. I hadn't seen it on the big screen ever. That's one we should talk about sometime. That's a movie that I love, love, love, except for one element, which I hate, hate, hate.

And I really kind of want to do my own, like, not director's cut. I just want to edit the girl out of it entirely. This sounds like a Fred review. Oh, Fred. Where are you, Fred?

And then last night we showed Repo Man at the Green Lantern, which is why I'm so tired. And that was... Maybe the most fun I've ever had. My friend's band was kind enough. Like I threw out this idea one night, you guys want to cover the soundtrack beginning to end?

And they're like, yeah. And they did it. Like three months they practiced and learned it and they brought in guest vocalists and they just rocked the heck. Out of it. It was like my 13-year-old girl dream came true last night.

Yeah, I've always thought that is kind of a cool idea, and, like, nobody ever does that. Yeah. Like, there's several times when I've thought it would be kind of cool, because you'll get, like, an epic soundtrack, and it's like, you could just kind of go with that and, you know, play the whole thing, and nobody ever does. So, yeah, I thought it was kind of cool when you put that together. Well, a friend of mine, when I had the idea, I told somebody, and they were like, yeah, good luck.

Like, fine, that'd be great, but nobody's ever going to commit to learn the songs. They're going to bail. They're going to flake. It's a good idea when you're not the musicians involved. But Palisades, I mean, they are amazing.

Like, they were so committed, and they're such musicians, and they loved the material anyway. It was part of their childhoods, most of them. And so it just worked out beautifully. So huge props to them. And then we had a couple more great punk rock bands.

No Excuse and All-American Werewolves. And, yeah, that was the night. It's good stuff all. The way around. And then no sleep.

And then no sleep. But that's okay. Who needs sleep? Oh, wow. I guess that at least sets the scene for us loitering around here this week.

The only other thing, just to sort of pretend like we have our usual framework... I would throw out at least something I'd seen. I didn't know if you've seen anything non-related since last we spoke, so you can think about that, I guess. Or I was kind of curious to see if you'd seen this one, which I just watched yesterday, Source Code. Yes, I have seen Source Code.

Oh, but can we talk about this without crazy spoilers? Um. I don't know. I mean, I wasn't going to go massively into it, but just sort of give the general, again, if we need to add that to the list, I guess. All right, well, you go, and I will think in my head about how not to say what I'm going to say.

Nice. Yeah. It was pretty interesting. I had fun with it, I guess. You know, Jake Gyllenhaal does a good job, which he usually does.

I mean, he's, you know, turned in stellar performances all the way back to Bubble Boy, so, you know, he's... He's a fine actor, and I think, you know, this may strain from geek activities into maybe a little more nerdy. I think I like time loop movies, which it's funny that that's become its own sub-genre now. But, yeah, I don't know. I like those, and I like seeing... what they do with them and where they go with it so I think from that angle it was kind of fun and like different than most of the others for a couple of different reasons you get into a weird science involved that I'm just kind of like okay I mean I guess the science is weird in all of those for it to even exist but Yeah, that one gets into a whole different territory, and then you can do different things, or in theory, I suppose, you can do different things because of that as the story goes on.

So, yeah, I think that was all kind of interesting, and I don't know. What were your thoughts? I guess non-spoilery for the moment. Non-spoilery for the moment. Okay.

Okay. Okay, I'm not going to spoil this thing. For me, I felt like there were three different endings. And if the movie had ended on the first ending, it would have been my favorite movie of that year. Was that last year?

It would have been my favorite movie of last year. Then there's another ending, and then there's an even less satisfying ending after that, which just felt like an audience ending. And I felt like it completely betrayed the narrative logic of the film. I think it's, like, the second one that annoys me. Like, the last one, they almost at least set it up, and, like, it makes sense within the nerdy time science of it, but then, yeah, I mean, it is sort of a cop-out, but at the same time, it at least sort of makes sense.

It's that second one, I'm just like, I don't really care about this nonsense. Well, if they'd stuck with the first one, I would have been stoked. The first one's pretty good. Moon, did you see Moon, Duncan Jones's directorial debut? Yes.

I assume that was his debut. I believe it was, and it's pretty damn impressive. It's perfect. Even if it wasn't his debut, it's a pretty impressive movie. I worshipped that movie, and it was one of those movies where just watching it, I was like, I can't believe I'm actually watching something this good right now, this original and this interesting, and this is like a person with a voice and a vision.

And the studio didn't totally screw it up. Yeah. It's nice to have your dad be David Bowie sometimes. You get to be weird and have that be accepted. I guess so.

Yeah. Yeah. But for this one, I was disappointed. Again, if they kept the first ending that I think would maybe not satisfy most people, but I felt worked, then I would have liked it. So I'm just pretending that that's how it ended.

Again, without even going too far into it, it enters into this weird sort of hang time, too, where it's like you kind of get the big satisfactory moment of the plot that's been going on, And then you get like a 10, 15 minute period of, okay, what are we going to do now? Like pick something. I mean, it just goes on for way long. Like you could have wrapped that up in like two or three minutes. Instead, it's a good 10 or more.

I'm just like. when does the rest of the movie start or roll credits one or the. Other and honestly I wanted it to be good so badly like I was already so invested and so loving it at that two hour mark or whatever it was that I was trying to come up with theories to make the other endings okay like is this meta cinematic is it about how don't worry about narrative logic because it's all just filmed them I didn't even. I guess you can put those on all of the endings involved again I mean. But Jake Gyllenhaal, who knew I was going to like that dude? Had you had problems with him before?

Yeah, I just, I don't know. They're not rational. They're just more emotionally based. Okay, I don't think I've had those. I haven't totally been that invested in him one way or the other, but he's turned in a few decent performances.

Yeah, I won't get on my Donnie Darko rant. You love it? I'll save it for another time. Oh, yeah, it's just the two of us in a conference room right now. I don't want things to get ugly.

Original recipe or extra director's cut crispy? I haven't actually. I didn't bother with this. See, I haven't either, mostly because I don't like what he did. I don't know.

It gets ridiculous. What it sounds like is we need an entire Darko episode. We might, actually. A Gloves Off Darko episode. Oh, I kind of like that idea.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've already invested, again, we'd be going backwards, but I've already invested way more of my life into S. Darko than anybody should. Yeah, I spent way too much time figuring out what they wanted to say was going on in S. Darko for what is not a good movie, but yet I invested way too much time into trying to figure out Again, science involved, the fictional science involved, and what they were trying to do and where they were going.

Oh, Lord. And it's a mess on top of that. So, yeah, we could go retroactively and go with the first one somewhere down the line. So we can save that. Okay, I look forward to that.

So that the fountains won't have to run red again. Just with all the random passersby. We'd be fine. So, have you seen anything non-Harry Dean Stanton Fest related? I'm not sure I've done anything non-Harry Dean Stanton Fest related or thought anything non-Harry Dean Stanton Fest related.

Yeah, this has been pretty consuming. I would assume so. It's quite an undertaking. Actually, that's not true. Take that back.

When I was in Los Angeles last weekend, again, preparing for Harry Dean Stanton Fest, I did want to take that time to see every movie that I could possibly see. That I didn't think that I would be able to see here. So I saw Bernie, the new Richard Linklater film, which I loved. For the first half hour, I was like, oh, this is terrible, because it just felt like this really awkward, bad satire, and then you kind of realize that, no, it's really got a lot of heart, and it's a really interesting story, and they're not, it just, it feels, it's sort of that small town-y thing, sort of is very grating at first, and then you realize that it's affectionate and not. demeaning. I just knew it by title, and I knew there was a new one coming out, but yeah, I haven't even heard the premise, really, so.

Do what you like to tell you. If you want to. I guess that is important. Non-spoilery, but feel free. Well, I don't actually know how to.

It hasn't opened everywhere. Not all of us get to jet off to L.A. I don't know what's... I didn't know anything going into it. I think that.

If it's better not knowing, you can just say, go seek it out, I suppose. Yeah, go seek it out, because I don't know if what I'm about to say is a spoiler or not, but it's Jack Black being, again, at first it was like, oh, here's Jack Black being Jack Black, but it's not. His performance is actually one of the best things that I've seen in a really long time. He's got potential to be more than he usually is. He just rarely makes use of it.

Yeah, and he sings a lot in this one. I was like, oh, God, it's Jack Black singing again. So really, like the first half hour... It just takes a little while to ease into it. But once you're in, it's all good stuff.

He was just trying to do cross promotion with the new album. Which I believe just came out. So probably not by accident. And then, oh, I saw Dark Shadows, too. And that movie I had the exact opposite relationship with.

The first half hour I was like, oh, my God, this is not going to be terrible. I'm kind of loving this. And then I realized that there was no story. And it was all, like, boring and the same joke over and over again. And just so self-indulgent.

It kind of broke my heart. We might get to that. I don't know. We had somebody who wanted to talk about that in a future episode. So we'll see, I guess.

I don't know. I have yet to make it there because I didn't know if we were going to or not. So maybe we'll come back to that as well. You never can tell on the show. Anything else we need to go into here before we get knee-deep into today's Harry Dean festivities?

I don't think so. I've got to go set up shirts. Which I have to get mine. If you have any extra, you can plug those, I suppose. Oh, well, yeah.

Because they are awesome. I wouldn't do that if I didn't, like, again, I'm getting mine. It's freaking awesome. Well, it's basically how, well, theoretically, it's how we're financing the festival this year. We have not yet broken, like, even on the shirts.

So we may actually be taking a loss on the shirts in addition to everything else. But I guess we will be selling them for a while. Right now they're available at Morris Books here in Lexington. And at some point, I guess soon, like tomorrow when I can think. About things again.

As soon as you wake up in a couple of days. Then I think we're going to put them online. Maybe on Etsy. Our artist, Stacey Early, like half of the proceeds benefit the Film League. Well, more specifically, the Harry Dean Stanton Festival.

We'll all go back into the festival. And then the other half goes to our artist, Stacey Early, who's phenomenal. Very cool. Yeah, I certainly understand that. Because it was funny how somebody on Facebook, it was like a week or so ago, said something about the t-shirts and mugs that we do.

And he's like, yeah, you know, that's really cool that you guys do that to help raise money for the show. I was like, dude, I don't make a damn thing on them. Like, I made those because I want to make those. Because I think there needs to be shirts and mugs. Now, am I getting anything?

No. Even for as much as they go for, I would have to be, like, charging ten times as much to make a dime off of it. So, yeah. If you guys want one, that's fine, but don't think I'm making anything off of it because I'm not. I'm breaking even and you guys get a cool product.

Which is good enough. But, yeah, so same goes for you. Just, you know, support all of us by having cool shirts and stuff. so exactly so i'll plug it again later but you want to go to harrydeanstantonfest.com. Yes harrydeanstantonfest.com or harrydeanstantonfest.org we have all our bases covered because i messed up on the poster and put the wrong address and it was like crap now i have to buy the other address That's just how we run things around here. I can't say anything.

I own so many internet addresses. And it's mostly just because I'm like, well, I don't want anybody else to have it. I'm a greedy bastard and I want to stake my claim all over the internet. So anything that sort of, kind of, I'm making use of, yeah, it's mine. So, mine.

So indulge your internet greed. All right. Yeah, yeah. It's fun. So yeah, either one of those.

All right. Or Lexington Film League. which I think is just that,. org. LexingtonFilmLeague.org. Yep. All right.

Let's see. So we are going to come back in a second here with some probably interviews. We're going to go pester people now and find out what we can sit up. Yeah. We're going to hopefully get Mr.

Donnie Fritz, who's my new personal hero. And bestest friend. He's the best. I've just worshipped this man. He's got a story about everybody.

It's incredible. We'll see. Yeah, this should be interesting. So we will take a break and be back with the rest of the show. It's intermission time.

So how about taking a break? Get out and stretch a little and relax before the show begins again. And why not make it refreshment time, too? We have lots of tasty, delicious treats waiting for you at the refreshment center. There's hot popcorn, so golden good and fresh out of the popper.

And all kinds of refreshing ice-cold soft drinks. Sizzling hot dogs just bursting with juicy goodness. Ice cream so smooth and delicious, you'll hanker for more. Plus, all the most popular candy bars and many other favorite treats. So why not visit the refreshment center now?

Our courteous attendants are ready and waiting to serve you with a wide and wonderful variety of good things to eat and drink. So step right up and make yourself at home. William H. Bonney. He killed 21 men.

I don't want to kill. You, Bill. No, I sure hope you don't, Billy. And he was just a kid. Billy the Kid.

Patrick F. Garrett. He was the most dangerous outlaw in the territory. So they made him sheriff. Pat Garrett had just one friend.

Billy the Kid. And just one job. Kill him. Now Sam Peckinpah, the director who unleashed the Wild Bunch, takes a hard new look at two old friends, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. They were legends in their own time.

Times have changed. Times, maybe. Not me. Get to it. He'll track you down, Billy.

And gets it. You know, this ain't no time of year to go looking for somebody. I don't know where he went. Where? Where?

I know where the kid's at. I'll tell you where he's at. Old Pat ain't gonna like this. James Coburn. Bill!

Chris Christopherson. Come on in, Pat! Jason Robards. Slim Pickens. Catty Harado.

Jack Elam. That'd be me, sure. Rita Coolidge. Chill Wills. Yeah.

And introducing in his first dramatic motion picture performance... Plums. recording star Bob Dylan... They. Say that Pat Garrett's got your number. Or sleep with one eye open when you wonder.

If every little sound just. Might be thunder. Thunder from the power of his gun. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Legends in their own time.

But time... was running. Out all right. So we're here with donnie fritz um i guess However you want to go about it, if you want to focus mostly on Harry Dean, since we're at the Harry Dean Fest, or if you want to go into your stuff as well. But I guess, how did you first meet Harry Dean? Well, I met Harry Dean in 1970.

I just started with Chris Christopherson on the road, and we were playing. We had to do a bunch of shows out in Los Angeles at the Troubadour Club. And Harry was there every night at the bar. And we just got to be good friends, me and Chris and Harry and Billy Swan. We got to know each other real well.

And through that meeting with Harry, he was up for a role. He got a role in a movie. Well, he suggested to the producers for them to look at Chris for the lead. The movie called Cisco Pike, which. Chris went ahead and got the part, thanks to Harry Dean, really.

Harry got it. Had that been before Chris was acting? First movie. He had been to Peru with Dennis Hopper. Yeah.

And it's Dennis' follow-up to Easy Rider. You know, he was just in it kind of singing a few songs or something. And the movie never really got released either. So really, by rights, it was the first movie he did. And....

Had a big party and he carried the movie and co-starred with Gene Hackman. So it was a pretty big step for him. And thanks to Harry, uh, that's how he got the part. And, uh, so he just built from then on, you know, the next movie that we were all in together was Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. And, uh, so, and Harry was a close friend from then on.

Every time I was in Los Angeles, we would get together and, uh, I got to do another movie with him later on, thanks to Warren Oates, another Kentucky guy. Chris and I did another Peckinpah movie, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, which Warren was the star of. And Warren got me in a movie that Harry was in, too, the cockfighter. So, you know, it just kept building. And every time I was in Los Angeles, I'd try to see Harry whenever I was out there.

What was, I guess, the shooting with Sam Peckinpah like? It was extremely intense. You know, I always said that Sam was one of the most complicated guys I ever met in my life because one second he could be the nicest guy most gentle person. And then that next, he could be the most cruel person I've ever known in my life. He just had that old school...

Some of those other directors from the old days were like that. Bottom line, of course, they made great movies or they made money from the studios. But anyway, he was a brilliant director. And he was great to me. I got to say, he was always... he looked after me there, especially on Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

Because he asked me, no, he told me, he said, I want you to be in this movie. We were down in Mexico with him, Chris and I. This was way before they started shooting. And he just said, out of the blue one day, he said, I want you to be in this movie. I said, well, man, that's a great compliment because I was a huge movie freak and I said, well, I've never acted before.

He said, that doesn't matter. Just do what I tell you, and you'll be fine. So it worked out good, and then he used me on two other movies, which he certainly didn't have to do. I was always grateful to him for that. And we became very, very close friends.

But in answer to your question, it was very. You just never knew what was going to happen. The movies were so violent. The two, like Pat Garrett and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo, they were so damn violent. It kind of carried on to the location sometimes.

Sam was getting a little worse as he went along. His health and his drinking and whatever. But it was a very interesting, very learning experience for me, I'll say that. I learned a lot on those movies. He's known for being very specific, especially about the action scenes and the violence.

Yeah. How was he as far as like making sure everything took place the way that he wanted. To oh and he was you know he was uh you had it had to be exactly the way he wanted it and uh but he was he was great with explaining it to me like the first thing i did on pat garrett i guess somebody never acted before and he says we we filmed there was a it's a saloon's name me and bob bob was in the scene uh jim colburn and uh chill wheels richard bright and another guy so But he said, we're going to film up to where Donnie gets knocked out of the chair. I had no idea that was going to happen. Not only I was nervous and scared to death about being in a movie with him directing and all these great actors.

He said, you've got to learn how to do a stunt. You've got to learn how to fall. He said, the camera's going to be right in front of you. So anyway, we worked it out. It took a few times.

He was mostly worried about how Bob hit me and didn't worry about how I was doing. Anyway, like I said, it was just a wonderful experience for somebody, a kid from Alabama who had no way in the world I'd get to be, especially a big-budget Western with Sam. And it was just a dream come true. I guess just like Harry Dean. Yeah, Harry, I got to say, Harry, just watching the documentary, you see what kind of guy he was.

He's an extremely, obviously talented, he's a genius in his own way. There's another one that, like I said, I stayed in touch with. We'd go out a lot at night. There was a guy that, he's 86 now. or 85 he'll be 86 he still stays up all night he'll go to bed about 7 in the morning smokes continually like I said in the documentary he does everything wrong but hell he's turned out he's in better shape than most of us a lot better shape than I've been in so he's just one of a kind there's nobody else like Harry Dean Stanton. Well, you came in from the music scene.

I guess, what's his connection to music? Because he's definitely been involved in music his whole life. So how did you two work together? Yeah, well, I was, of course, that's how I started. I'm a songwriter first.

And I started out in the muscle cells in that scene when it first started. So I went through those years and we learned as we went along and got a hit or two. And I just kept building after that. Then when I got with Chris about 10 years later, to see his career grow was incredible. Then we met, and then Harry was around all the time.

And Harry loves music, as you well know. And you know what he really does well is the Spanish music, Mexican. So he's just incredible. He and Chris, it didn't show. Well, this was on the Peckinpah documentary.

They did a song from the soundtrack of The Wild Hunts. It was unbelievable. And it was some Spanish songs they used in the movie. But he is so good, and he really works hard at doing it right. And I don't know.

He's one of those guys. And he can do it. He can do it. We've done some shows with him, you know. Or he'll come whenever we was playing.

When we were playing in Los Angeles, he'd show up and do a song or two with us. It was always great to have him there on stage with us. He still knows how to play. Has his wits about him. Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely. Amazing. I guess you say you ended up in a few other movies as time went on. Is it something you... ever wanted to get into seriously? Well, you know, I wanted to, but I didn't think that it would ever be possible because I spent my whole life committed to music, and that's what I did.

You know, I'm a songwriter, and I was very blessed, very lucky to get a lot of songs cut that kept me going, and also years with Chris at the same time. But in the very early days, I did get a lot of songs recorded, and over the years, I've been very lucky. I've got But that's really my main occupation. But I loved movies all my life. My mother used to take me to movies all the time.

And so I always loved movies. But I was just thinking how to work with a little kid from Alabama who had no training or anything like that, knew nothing about it. Just. How could he ever get in a movie? Well, it just worked out.

I was very lucky. It was the right place at the right time. And like before Peckinpah, before Pat Garrett, which was really my first part I did, you know, where I had a part and went from the first of the movie to the end of the movie. We did soundtracks for Cisco Pike And we did a scene for a movie in Blooming Love. That was Chris's second movie.

And so I kind of used to being around cameras and movies and stuff a little bit, but I was no way prepared for what was coming with Sam Peckinpah. But Sam just took a liking to me when we first met. And like I said, Chris and I wound up going to Mexico and spending about a week with him down there. And that's when he said he wanted me to be in a movie. So, you know, it was just pure luck, I think, you know.

I just happened to see a guy that he said he liked the way I looked. He said, if you were living in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, during this time period, what would you be doing? I said, you got me there, I'd probably be in Billy the Kid's gang. Probably, I wouldn't be no farmer or rancher. He said, that's why I want you in the movie.

You looked the part, so I said, okay. Well, just while I've got you here, I don't think it's Harry Dean related, but I was a huge Convoy fan. Oh, wow, cool. Well, you know, to me, it was a lot of fun doing that movie. There was a lot of conflict.

In all of Sam's movies, there was always a lot of trouble and everything. But overall, I remember we went down to Albuquerque about like a May of 77. And we worked on that movie all through the summer. There's the interstate between Albuquerque and Santa Fe is where we filmed all that stuff. So I just had great memories of.

Uh, being there and watching, uh, these, uh, send these great stuff. I mean, I, I had a lot of great friends that, that I already known from other, the other Peckinpah movies that, that were the stunt guys. And it was great hanging out with them for two or three months, you know, and, and they were so many stunts in that movie. And, and I got to know Bert Young real well, who became a lifelong friend. He's still my, I talked to him this past year.

He's a, just one of my good good friends that was one of the good things that came out of that i got i got to be good friends with burt so uh overall it was uh it was a good experience uh we went to a screening of it now they took sam off or he took himself off of that movie when they were editing it and um we were out there, I say, me and Chris and the band, we were all out there during this time period, and they had a screening of it downtown, so we all went, and, because I saw Sam the next day, and he asked me what I thought, and I said, well, I thought, you know, you did great for, you made a movie, a pretty good movie out of a terrible song, you know, and, And I said, I was on, and this is one, like, Sam could just scream at you for the, at the least.

So I'm talking to the guy, and I said, well, the only thing I was really, and I said, the only thing I was really disappointed was Burt Young. And he jumped in and he said, what the hell you mean? Burt's one of our best actors. And he thought I was saying something bad about his acting. I said, I'm not talking about his acting.

I love his, and I said, he's a good friend. I said, the fact is, he's not in the damn movie. They cut most of his stuff out. I said, that's why I'm disappointed. Nothing to do with what he did in the movie.

He said, well, see, they did that actually they took me off the movie I had no part of that it was a great time it was a great time. So I guess you're still out there playing. Yeah still playing shows and still writing and just had a great A great thing happened with one of my old songs that I wrote with Troy Seals, a great songwriter. It's on the new Rolling Stones album. So that just out of nowhere happened.

I mean, I knew that Keith had cut it. I mean, they cut the song about 35 years ago when they were cutting Some Girls. And they reissued Some Girls. They remixed it, remastered it. and put two songs, like a two-disc thing, and he chose 10 songs that they cut during that time period, and one of them was We Had It All, a song me and Troy wrote, Troy Sills. So that was a big thrill.

Do residuals work differently now, having done it for years now and having people record back then? Is it majorly different now? Yeah, the music bed is just so different now. It's incredible, you know. It's just, everything is, you know, the whole thing about downloading, you know, everything has changed now.

So, and how they, it's all changed, believe me. The record, there's a record label's never, it doesn't really matter about the record labels anymore. So, yeah. I don't know. I'll be honest with you.

I'm glad I'm not starting right now. When I started, it was a fairly new industry. I'm talking about rock and roll music. Elvis had only been around about two or three years when we started in Muscle Shoals. So it's a fairly young industry.

That's part of. The music business. But I'd hate to be having to start right now, son. It is very different. Yeah, it's really different.

You think about all the guys that are just legends. You think, well, could they do it now? Could Willie be Willie Nelson? If he came in right now, I would hope he could. He's still doing it.

I mean, he just put out that new album. I know, I know he's still doing it, but he's starting to start off, you know. But think about somebody like Willie and Chris, the main thing, they had these brilliant, brilliant songs, and that's a big difference maker with those guys. Probably. If you have the talent, it'd be a Willie YouTube channel somewhere.

Yeah, I hope so, man. I hope so. In fact, I've talked about it with him. He said, you know, God, I don't know. Nobody wants to look at me in a video.

I mean, if he's just starting off, nobody's saw him before. You know. Yeah, yeah. It's hard to say, but hopefully talent would win out, you know, in that. So what area are you in now, or are you still playing around your sound?

I got my own band I use for muscle shows. They're great musicians, great musicians. And we do show. We were in Japan about two years ago. We did a tour over there.

And it was like I had my first CD. It really did well over there. But that was in 1974, you know. And that was the year. That was the last year I was in Japan with Chris.

So I kept in touch with this Japanese guy. Anyway, he was a promoter over there, and we worked out a little deal where we could bring a band over there, and we sold out every place they booked. We couldn't believe it. We really didn't know what to expect, but we still play whenever we can, and I'm going to do another album here pretty soon. knock on wood and so you know keeping it going. Trying sounds good well yeah we can tell everybody to keep an eye out for you touring around and.

Look for the new album yeah definitely sounds good. Alright well thank you for talking to us. Today well thank you Brian thank you. Okay, Carol, now you take these notes, and then we're about ready to begin. Okay, sure.

Well, what are you two doing here? We don't record until tomorrow. We're making a new promo for All Games Considered, since you were dragging your feet getting one written. Hey, she's right, though. It's been too long, and a lot has happened since the last promo.

Yeah, like winning the Gold N.E. for Best Gaming Podcast for 2009. You mean the one you try to work into the conversation every other episode? Hey! Now, now, there's more than that. There's the new format.

You mean the main show every two weeks and the assortment of other features in the meantime? Right, like games you may never have heard of, the review in new shows. Don't forget the RPG buffet. And on the main show, we have more time to focus on gaming topics. Like board and card games.

And RPGs. And the people who play them from the old school to the newest of the new. But no changeling. Hey! Find out more at agcpodcast.info.

All games considered, because there's more than one true way to play. I'm C. Thomas Howe, and you're listening to Movie Meltdown. Wolverine's There's guns across the river about to pound you. There's a long man on.

Your trail like to. Surround you. Bounty hunters are dancing all around you. Really they don't like you to be so free. You know, the times we talked about that, he, of course, he did.

It better than anybody else. You know, he did a wild bunch, still obviously a masterpiece. And that's where a lot of his criticism started from. But he said, okay, I did the wild bunch and I got criticized. And the next movie he did was Battle of the Cable Holes.

Nobody came. So what am I going to do? The next movie he did was Straw Dogs. He went back to us. He always said, look, if I'm gonna do violence, if I'm gonna show violence in the movie, I don't want it to be some cartoon violence.

I want it to be the real thing where it would make people, in other words, people don't want any part of that. If you do the real thing and make it look real, Nobody was a part of that. But if you just show somebody, you know, the other way, it was just real cartoon-like. They don't get it. With Sam, you got it.

You know, there's pain there and hurt and death. And that's the way you want to be very realistic about that. They say that Pat Garrett's got your number. So sleep with one eye open when you wonder. What was your name, sir?

Glenn Wilson. And then you're technically his cousin? Uh-huh. Once removed is what they say it is. Harry Dean's cousin.

Yeah. My dad's sister was Zoe Wilson and Harry Dean's grandmother. was my dad's sister. So it's like a first cousin once removed is what I've always been told. That's a connection. And where were you and he born, I guess?

Harry Dean was born on West Irving. I've got a... I gave a print of the picture of the house that Harry Dean was born in. When you looked out the front door... You looked at the West Urban Cemetery, 180 degrees.

That was his view, so I don't know what kind of an impact that had on him as he was growing up. It's a grim childhood. But no, I've got pictures at home. We've got frames of the house that he was born in. Nice.

Yeah, a little frame house there. Very cool. Right across from West Urban Cemetery. I have no memory of actually being in his company, but when they lived on the same street that Tom Thurman lives on now, I was around, his parents lived on that street, and I was around him for about six years. But when he was like 16, I was 10 years old.

A 16-year-old teenager is not going to pay any attention to a 10-year-old kid running around. So, no, I've... thought and thought i have no memory of actually being in this company but i know i was yeah because i of course i remember uh his mom and dad and grandmother uh his his uh maternal grandmother was one of my daddy's sisters yeah so uh you know I knew them all, but at the age he was in and the age I was in, there just wasn't any mixing in. There could have been times, you know, we'd talk to each other, but that's been so far back. I'm 79 years old. But I've always been a fan of his movies.

It's been a great time. Character actor definitely do you remember like when he went off to war when he went up to join the navy. No they they uh i don't i don't remember that no i i remember tales that that when he decided to get into movies that he wound up to uh a greyhound bus station he got on the bus and went to california i don't know whether that's true or not yeah but uh No, I wish I could recall the things that happened, but, you know, when a kid's 10 years old and not knowing what was going to happen in Harry Dean's life later on, it just kind of. Definitely. He's come a long ways.

Definitely, yeah. And, yeah, I talked to some... people at the university of kentucky that when he was there uh in the kenyal theater yeah and the guy there that was in charge of that told him get out of here you've got the potential to become a big-named. Actor go get a real job. Yeah so he left in his junior year and uh I was always told they took him down to the Greyhound bus station, which is on Eskimate, right around here. Yeah, yeah.

Then, and called the Greyhound bus, headed west. Very cool. Well, just thanks for talking to us. Okay. And just wanted to get your take on it.

Yeah. Thunder from the barrel of his gun. Tweaked audio your source for high performance noise reducing earbuds available in three styles and seven colors durable and designed to sound great for both music and those chatty podcasts like the one you're listening to now tweaked audio earbuds come with a one-year warranty and now there's a special deal for movie meltdown listeners Just go to tweakedaudio.com, and when you check out, enter the discount code MELTDOWN. Then you'll get 33% off and free shipping. Tweaked Audio.

Sounds better. What's part of your problem? You know, you haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies. And now, on with the show.

Mama take this badge off of me. I can't use it anymore. Getting dark, too dark to see. I feel I'm knocking on heaven's door. Knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door.

Knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door. All right, so we are back, and Lucy and I are sitting... In the Kentucky Theater right now. Yes, back row, empty theater. It's glorious, isn't it?

I mean, have we discussed how ridiculously beautiful this theater is? I think, yeah. I'm going to have to take a picture of this. Yeah. Just to pass it on to everyone.

Speaking of which, while I was wandering around earlier, I walked down and took a picture of your bloody fountains, and I think I'm going to pass. So if you're not already on our Facebook page, people... Get on it, because I'm posting pictures of the bloody, bloody fountains on the hell mouth that is Lexington. So you missed it, though. You missed the real deal.

Those pictures do exist, though. I can pass them along. That'd be pretty cool. But I just, I liked, even now, I mean, this is days later. Right, right.

And there were still children playing in it, dyeing themselves some sort of horrible color. So, yeah, I thought that was pretty funny. So, yeah, it's been a hell of a festival. You're ready to pass out. I'm going to sleep for several weeks.

I will emerge in time to begin planning next year's festival. I think before we wrap up, we should pass on the plan that we have. As we were talking to Harry Dean's cousin, we realized he also is getting up in years and doing pretty damn well as well. He's in good shape as well, so we're not sure what's up with these guys' DNA. Yeah, no, for the sake of science, they need to be studied.

You said they need to be studied. I said we need to take their DNA, clone them, and make an army of Harry Dean Stanton super soldiers. Which might is, yeah, that's actually a better idea. I'm just picturing, like, the Clone Wars, only when you take the helmet off, they all look like Harry Dean Stanton. God, that's like my dream.

Awesome. Isn't it? Yeah. It's pretty awesome, I think. All right.

Well, as far as upcoming stuff, we're going to be jumping back and forth. In the next few weeks, we've got a couple of different special guest co-hosts that are in the works. Not going to ruin it yet or jinx it because they haven't really happened. But, yeah, I've got a couple of different people lined up to sit in and hopefully talk at great length. about some ridiculous movie geekdom. So stay tuned for that.

And once again, in the very near future, we're going to be coming to you again from the Heritage Stanton Fest here to piece together our Paris, Texas episode, which also features the Hunter interview that we did from last year's Heritage Stanton Fest. Which I'm still dying to hear a year plus after the fact. I know. It's a lot of buildup now. I mean, this really kind of needs to be the best interview of all time.

It was a pretty good interview. I just went back and re-listened to it. Hunter's a good guy. Yeah, he's a super smart, super entertaining dude. So I can only imagine that I will be delighted.

It was a fun interview. So once again, to get the mentions in there for you guys, the harrydeanstantonfest.com. Yes, or org. Whichever you prefer. However you're feeling that day.

Even if you missed this one, go get your t-shirts because they are pretty awesome. I've got mine already. Yeah, contact us if you want them via the Facebook or the website or you can buy them at Morris Books in Lexington, Kentucky. There you go. And just again to plug LexingtonFilmLeague.org Thank you.

Yeah, that's what we do. You're good to us. Well, you've hung out with me and put up with me In the middle of all the rest of the shenanigans going on this weekend, so that's good. Delighted in your presence is actually the term that I was going to use. I have delighted in your presence.

I don't know if anybody's buying that, but all right. I'll take it. Otherwise, that about does it. We will return next week. Same geek time, same geek feed.

Thanks for listening. That's some real Mexican blues. Let's see. How far away I am from the land where I was born and intense nostalgia invades my mind. I'm sitting alone and sad like a leaf on the wind.

I want to cry. I want to die. I miss my home so much. Oh, land of the sun, I'm sighing to see you. Now I'm far away and live without light, without love.

I see myself alone and sad like a leaf on the wind. I want to cry. I want to die. I feel so much for my home. Good luck.

Intensa nostalgia invading mi pensamiento. Al verme tan solo y triste cual hoja al viento Quisiera llorar, quisiera morir de sentimiento Oh tierra ante el sol suspiro por verte Ahora que lejos Lo vivo sin. Luz, sin amor Al verme tan solo y. Triste cual hoja el viento. Quisiera llorar, quisiera morir del sentimiento.

Oh, tierra del sol, respiro por verte. Ahora que el lejón. I still live without. Light, without love. Seeing me so lonely and sad, like the wind, I would like to.

Cry, I would like to die of feelings. Oh land of the sun, I sigh for you Now that far away I live without light, without love Al ver mi tan solo y triste cual hoja al viento. Quisiera llorar, quisiera. Morir de sentimiento. Quisiera llorar, quisiera morir de sentimiento.

Thank you very much for coming. Thank y'all. Thank y'all so much. And thank this lady right here, Lucy Jones, who's made this a beautiful weekend for us. This episode is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and edited by The Oddity Studios, with opening music performed by The Empires.

For more on how to sponsor or support the show, email producer at moviemeltdown.com. Talk hard!