The 27th Lone Pine Film Festival
My husband and I are back from another terrific weekend in Lone Pine, where we enjoyed the 27th Lone Pine Film Festival!
We had a grand time, made even better thanks to enjoying parts of the festival with friends Beth Ann Gallagher and her husband. We also were able to briefly meet Melanie, who has a great blog on her California travels.
It was terrific to have the chance to see both Wyatt McCrea and William Wellman Jr. speak again, and what fun to have TCM's Ben Mankiewicz participating in the Friday and Saturday night panel discussions this year!
My 2016 Lone Pine Festival experience included eight films, matching last year's tally. Five of the films were new to me and will be covered in separate posts. Fun discoveries included THE PRAIRIE PIRATE (1925) with Harry Carey Sr., seen below, and TRAIL OF THE VIGILANTES (1940) with Franchot Tone. (Franchot Tone in a Western?! It turned out to be a lot of fun.)
I also had the chance to revisit DESERT PURSUIT (1952), 3 BAD MEN (1926), and RAWHIDE (1951), seen below with Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward.
DESERT PURSUIT was special thanks to the locations tour which followed, which I'll be writing about later, and 3 BAD MEN had wonderful live piano accompaniment by Jay C. Munns, followed by a panel discussion with (left to right below) Ed Hulse, Wellman, Mankiewicz, and Dan Ford.
I hadn't seen RAWHIDE in over nine years; what a treat to circle back to it now that I've acquired great appreciation for the actors in smaller roles in the film, including Kenneth Tobey, Louis Jean Heydt, and James Millican. It's a terrific movie, and I was glad I made the effort to be there for the 7:30 a.m. screening!
I also went on two location tours, enjoyed a panel on "Growing Up Hollywood" with the children and grandchildren of Western stars, and came home with five books on Westerns!
The Museum of Film History was celebrating its first decade, which hardly seems possible. I remember well driving home from summer camping trips in the Bridgeport area and seeing "Future Home of..." signs on the museum lot before it was built!
The weekend was special right down to the last morning, when I enjoyed this view from the motel balcony with Billy King, who appeared in four Hopalong Cassidy films as a young boy. What a lovely, friendly gentleman. My account of one of his appearances at the 2015 festival may be read here.
Later, while enjoying a fabulous Sunday morning breakfast at our favorite Alabama Hills Cafe, we spotted Ben Mankiewicz and family at another table. The Lone Pine Film Festival is truly a small-town, intimate experience.
I have a variety of festival posts planned for the near future, including photos of various events and movie reviews. As always, I'll be adding the links to the end of this overview post so that they may be easily found in one place.
We are already on the Dow Villa Motel's list for a room for next year's festival!
Previously: Coming in October: The 2016 Lone Pine Film Festival; Off to Lone Pine!
Links to all 2016 Festival Coverage: Tonight's Movie: Stranger at My Door (1956) at the Lone Pine Film Festival; Tonight's Movie: The Prairie Pirate (1925) at the Lone Pine Film Festival; The Lone Pine Film Festival: Opening Night Gala, the Film Museum, and More; Tonight's Movie: 3 Godfathers (1948) at the Lone Pine Film Festival; Tonight's Movie: Trail of the Vigilantes (1940) at the Lone Pine Film Festival; The Lone Pine Film Festival: Desert Pursuit (1952) and Mystery Man (1944) Location Tours. Additional 2016 wrap-up coverage may be found here.
2014 Lone Pine Film Festival coverage may be found here, 2015 coverage is here, and 2017 is here.
Update: I've now written about the 2016 Lone Pine Film Festival for ClassicFlix.
posted by Laura @ 9:50 PM
10 Comments:
Welcome back, Laura! Can't wait for the reviews, etc.
Thanks much, Jerry, I'm looking forward to sharing! My first two reviews should be up on Monday evening.
Best wishes,
Laura
Wow, sounds so great just from this summary! Can't wait for more details.
Thanks very much, Deb! It was wonderful, I think you'd really love the location tours and pretty much everything about it. :)
Best wishes,
Laura
Awesome recap! It seems like a fun intimate festival. I love how the special guests and hosts are so accessible too and that there are location tours along with the film screenings.
Thanks, Raquel! I think it would really appeal to you and Carlos, between the chances to chat with the guests (Billy King is just the sweetest man!) and alternating seeing movies with going on the tours. The variety would probably be easier on your legs. (Also, I walked 3.5 miles one day and close to that on another, between the tours and walking around town. That's pretty decent exercise when you're also watching a lot of movies in a short time frame!) There's also a rodeo to check out!
Best wishes,
Laura
It was fun to follow your tweets (and RTs) during and read the couple reviews so far. Nice obscure movies to discover, and those tours must be so great. Looking forward to the rest of your posts.
Thanks for following along with me during the festival, Kristina, it was fun to share! I loved the movie variety. Hope to enjoy the festival with you one day! :)
Best wishes,
Laura
Glad you had another great time! It seems like such a lovely setting for a film festival. I don't think I could make a 7:30 am screening though. That's insane!
Thanks, KC! One thing that makes the 7:30 screenings easier is that we go to bed earlier in Lone Pine than at TCMFF LOLLL. This was the first year I made the 7:30 screening three days in a row, though! :)
Would be such fun if you could be there someday!
Best wishes,
Laura
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