Distinctly Montana Magazine

gest and best of the films" that he had starred in. He paid for it, too; while filming the Western the actor would be thrown, nearly trampled, and finally bitten on the neck by his equine co-star, who was probably jealous over Yak's screen time. Devil Horse was shot on several ranches in California, but the scenes that called for real wilderness were shot on the Little Big Horn River. Over the years, the historical site of the battle would become a popular shooting location, and some 44 years after Devil Horse, one of Hollywood's most important young directors, Arthur Penn, would use the same location for the authentic site of the climactic battle in Little Big Man, whose sprawling and tragicomic plot finds a white man raised by Indians (Dustin Hoffman, in a typically terrific turn) being a reluctant participant in Custer's Last Stand. Penn, previously known for Bonnie and Clyde and the counterculture comedy Alice's Restaurant would also direct 1976's Missouri Breaks in Montana, and between the two a very good case can be made for his having invented the revisionist-Western. Both feature then atypical stories which ques- Coming Soon… to a Montana Screen Near You Montana Film Commissioner Deny Staggs points to several important upcoming films including Winter in the Blood, adapted from the novel by James Welch and directed by Alex and Andrew Smith. Starring Chaske Spencer as its Native American protagonist, as well as veteran character actors David Morse and Gary Farmer, Staggs says the film "presents an indelible impression, visually, of the hi-line". Another high-profile film is Nebraska, Oscarnominated director Alexander Payne's comedy/drama about a father and son (Bruce Dern and SNL alum Will Forte) who travel from their Billings, Montana, home to the titular state in order to collect a Mega Sweepstakes Prize. Payne's work is nearly assured of awards season buzz every year, so expect to see big things from this little film. Finally the French/American co-production of Jimmy P proves how diverse modern film-making in Montana can be. Co-written and directed by Arnaud Desplechin, this is the true story of a Plains Indian patient (Benicio Del Toro) who underwent therapy with a Romanian analyst and became one of the founding figures in ethno-anthropology. In short, Commissioner Staggs declares, "This has been a great year for the state in regard to film production." What can we expect from the future? Staggs plays coy: "Look for the upcoming launch of some very exciting Montana-centric productions!" tioned prevailing wisdom about the American West, so that Little Big Man presents us with a vain, megalomaniacal Custer waging an Indian War that looks more like genocide, while Missouri Breaks tell a story of cattle ranchers and cattle rustlers that subverts traditional expectations as to which of those is the bad guy, and which the good. Yet while Little Big Man was hailed as a masterpiece, garnering a fourstar rating from a young critic at the Chicago Sun-Times named Roger Ebert, its director's Montana followup Missouri Breaks did less well. Starring Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando, with a screenplay by acclaimed novelist Tom McGuane, the movie seemed assured of success on the page. Nicholson plays Tom Logan, a charismatic cattle rustler whose choice of career puts him at odds with the powerful rancher David Braxton. Braxton's escalating attempts to rid himself of rustlers begins with the hanging of Logan's friend and ends with the hire of an enigmatic regulator named Robert E. Lee Clayton, a perfumed, occasionally cross-dressing sadist played to the ludicrous hilt by Brando. The great actor's constantly fluctuating weight (he was, after all, poised to See a list of movies SET in Montana DISTINCTL MONTANA | DIGITAL Y 28 www.distinctlymontana.com/movie134 D I ST I NCT LY M ONTANA • FALL 2013

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