November 2010

NEW MEXICO IN THE MOVIES
Lost Films Found

If discovering a little-known New Mexico movie is like finding a lost treasure, then let this list be your goldmine. Stephen Ausherman takes a look at 10 under-the-radar titles you can easily find on DVD.

Lonely are the Brave (1962)

“Ever notice how many fences there’s gettin’ to be?” says protagonist Jack Burns (Kirk Douglas). “And the signs they’ve got on ’em! No hunting. No hiking. . . . No trespassing. . . . Get lost. Drop dead. Go away.” These lines sum up the central message of Lonely are the Brave: that the ideals of the West are at odds with the realities of the 20th century. Adapted from the novel The Brave Cowboy, by Edward Abbey, directed by David Miller, and shot in the Duke City and the Sandía Mountains, the drama unfolds as rugged individualist Burns gets himself arrested to help an unwilling buddy break out of jail. The result is a manhunt through the wilderness as Burns attempts to outrun, on horseback, a jeep and a helicopter. Forty-eight years after the film’s release, Burns’s steep escape route through the Sandías is still known as the Movie Trail, Kirk Douglas says that Jack Burns remains his favorite role ever, and the movie itself has inspired more New Mexico Magazine reader letters than any other. Relatively new to DVD, it begs rediscovery.

Cowboy del Amor (2005)

“I was married to an American woman for 17-and-one-half years. She spoke perfect English, and I never could understand her.” So says “Cowboy Cupid” Ivan Thompson, who makes his home in the border town of Columbus, New Mexico, and earns a living as a matchmaker, hooking up American men with Mexican women. Michèle Ohayon’s “documentary comedy” is hilarious and touching as it examines the risks people will take for love. Cowboy del Amor snagged both the SXSW Competition Award and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2005 South by Southwest Film Festival.

Sorcerer (1977)

Back in 1977, you may have overlooked this big-budget, action-suspense flick from director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist)—it was eclipsed by a new sci-fi adventure called Star Wars. Filmed in the Dominican Republic, Paris, Mexico, and New Mexico’s Angel Peak National Recreation Area, near Bloomfield, the story has protagonist Dominguez (Roy Scheider) and his compadres risking their lives to transport volatile nitroglycerin in run-down trucks through treacherous Venezuelan jungles.

Kites (2010)

To make his Bollywood-style romance appeal to Western tastes, director Anurag Basu replaced the genre’s dance numbers with car chases. It works. Kites currently stands as the biggest Bollywood release in North America, and the only one to crack the weekend Top 10. Lovers on the lam Jay and Natasha (Indian heartthrob Hrithik Roshan and Uruguayan hottie Bárbara Mori) lead a chase through New Mexico, including Cochiti Pueblo, Zia Pueblo, Galisteo, Lamy, Santa Fe, and the Valles Caldera National Preserve. And in one stunning action sequence, they arrive just in time for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

Hamlet 2 (2008)

It’s directed by Andrew Fleming and cowritten by him and Pam Brady, of South Park and Team America: World Police, so expect Hamlet 2 to serve up a hefty dose of satire and political incorrectness. (What? Did the title give it away?) In this comedy, washed-up Hollywood actor turned high school drama teacher Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan) shows his students what’s really missing from Shakespearean theater: a time machine, and catchy musical numbers like “Rock Me Sexy Jesus.” The story is set in Tucson, Arizona, but was filmed at Albuquerque’s West Mesa High School, some of whose students scored roles as extras in this Sundance favorite.

Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa (2007)

One man’s freedom is another man’s anarchy. That’s the theme that runs through Jeremy and Randy Stulburg’s documentary about a mesa 25 miles from Taos, where some 400 nonconformists live off the grid and outside the confines of society. In reference to his preferred bullet caliber, one resident says that, out here, “We don’t call 911, we call .357.” Another community member calls it an outdoor insane asylum. The Stulburgs spent two years searching for order in this chaos, and found that, in the end, the method in these people’s madness looks a lot like democracy. It’s not perfect, but it works for them.

The Flock (2007)

This grim thriller went straight to DVD, but maybe it deserves a second chance. Allison Lowry (Claire Danes) and Erroll Babbage (Richard Gere) play good cop/bad cop in their investigation of violent sex offenders. Hong Kong director Wai-keung Lau transforms Albuquerque into a metropolitan nightmare with his unflinching gaze at sordid material and his nervous-tic editing style. We recommend it for anyone who can sit through the suspense of Se7en and The Silence of the Lambs.

The Burning Plain (2008)

Writer-director Guillermo Arriaga’s tragic story about flawed human beings and the powers of love, forgiveness, and redemption falls shy of the absolute brilliance he achieved with his screenplays for The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and Amores Perros. Typical of his nonlinear storytelling approach, The Burning Plain begins with the discovery of two bodies in a charred trailer near Las Cruces, followed by flashbacks showing the audience who these people were, and how and why they were killed. Stars Kim Basinger and Charlize Theron are riveting.

Dreamland (2006)

Dreamland is a trailer park among the sagebrush and under the big skies of the New Mexico desert. In this coming-of-age story, teenagers Audrey (Agnes Bruckner) and her best friend, Calista (Kelli Garner), dream of better lives elsewhere. Then Mookie (Justin Long) moves in for the summer and completes a love triangle. Offbeat and bittersweet, director Jason Matzner’s first feature wowed audiences at Sundance and glows with gorgeous cinematography. Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, and Placitas never looked so dreamy.

Lust in the Dust (1985)

Cult favorite Divine (the late Harris Glen Milstead) acted in 13 films, eight of them directed by John Waters, the Baron of Bad Taste. Under the direction of Paul Bartel (Eating Raoul), his Divinity teams up with Polyester costar Tab Hunter in a romp across the New Mexico movie sets of Bonanza Creek Ranch and J. W. Eaves Movie Ranch. Loosely spoofing the Western Duel in the Sun (1947), which was nominated for two Oscars, Lust in the Dust is a musical Western set in fictitious Chile Verde, New Mexico. Divine is at his finest as dancehall vixen Rosie Velez, a role that earned him a 1986 Razzie nomination for Worst Actor. You go, girl!