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Welcome to View from the Cheap Seats!
My name is Bud Elder and I’ve loved movies ever since I sold pickle juice at the Canadian Theater in downtown Purcell, Oklahoma in 1971. My first movie reviews were published in the Purcell Dragon...
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Oklahoma Cowboy Rides into the Sunset
A few weeks ago, the AP wire and even Entertainment Weekly made the simple announcement that Dale Robertson, age 89, had died in southern California. And while the world had lost their western hero...
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Tales from Hollywood: Spector, Sellers & More
I have taught college composition courses my whole life and it is not uncommon for the curriculum to ask the student to write a true story from their individual pasts. When they collectively start...
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More From the Cheap Seats: Jonathan Winters, Major Dundee and Oblivion
I see now, somewhere in that great beyond, a randy, bewigged Maude Frickert chasing after a younger farm hand of hers with salacious activities on her mind, or Elwood P. Suggins screaming to his wife...
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On the Immortal Gary Busey (& Other Musings)...
My friends and I used to play drinking games based on lines from the immortal Blazing Saddles and, usually, as we were about to be thrown out of one of the lesser establishments, my pal John Beebe, in...
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Jimmy Wakely (a Singing Cowboy), Lash LaRue & Other Matters
Seriously, is there anything more gloriously American than the singing cowboy? A white hat-wearing, square-jawed male specimen equipped with a sharp aim, a stout heart and a dramatic tenor, the...
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On Set Visits, The Only Game in Town, Naughty DVDs and Time Wasting Origin...
The Only Game In Town Here’s the first time I ever stumbled upon a film set – my family and my eight year old bad self had driven from Purcell, Oklahoma to San Antonio, Texas to attend the HemisFair...
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Reaching Out
Our topic today was prompted by a conversation I had after my dear friend Bill Thrash’s funeral a couple of weeks ago. His surviving sister told me that when my pal, about whom I thought I knew...
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Movie Casting and More
I’ve never been one to go to a movie solely based on casting because, let’s face it, actors sometimes aren’t the best judge of script or director material. The exceptions these days might be, for me,...
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The Wranglers, Remembering Ron Joy & New Classics on Disc
This was all we needed to hear: The DUKE was coming to Oklahoma City. It was the year of our Lord, 1972 and The National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City (now called the...
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My Favorite Non-Christmas Christmas Films
Most film columnists start writing their Christmas pieces around August, churning out their memories of It’s a Wonderful Life (which is a story in itself – this generation has no idea that the film was...
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Bud’s Top Ten of 2013, Oscar Picks & Home Video Delights!
What follows is a completely thought through and double checked top ten list for the year 2013 and, and, like those who write for Film Comment magazine, I usually don’t create this puppy until I have...
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The Sundance Kid Rides into Town
I can probably state as fact that many of you reading this are not familiar at all with the general manager of your local cable company – I guess most are bean counters, flesh pressers and empty suits....
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In Memory of Mickey Rooney
Even with all the plaudits and platitudes, not enough was written upon the passing of Mickey Rooney. I don’t know, actually, if there could ever be enough. Lord Laurence Olivier once called Mickey...
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On Oklahoma Location Scouting, John Wayne, New Classics on Disc & More!
For a long time, I had the honor of serving the people of Oklahoma as their state film commissioner. I took the job only because we hadn’t created yet the position of “Lord High Minister of Culture.”...
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The Alamo Under Siege
Anybody know a good screenwriter? Here’s true scenario that would offer a perfect studio pitch. And it’s a thriller, in a way, with a determined adventurer racing against time to seek justice for a...
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More Tales of Oklahoma Location Scouting
Here are a couple of other stories from the salt mines of Oklahoma location scouting. There’s many, many more. But I can only bore so much.. Both tales involve the terrific writer, film critic and...
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What Movies Changed the Way You Look at Life?
Darn that Facebook. I’ve gotten a hoot out of it – have loved reconnecting with high school friends and long lost family and have discovered as well that there are people in the world with pages...
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Good Stories on Movie Awards Season, The Oscars and More
Now where was I? Sorry, I’ve not been here. I missed a bit – I’ll admit it and it for sure wasn’t to do with health or disinterest or a lack in passion. I just had to do stuff. But now I’m back. But I...
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On Robert Altman (and a New Biography on his Life and Work)
(Photo by Robin Holland Photography) Robert Altman said his last “that’s a wrap,” can you believe it, some eight or nine years ago and it seems as though any hope of mainstream studio films with...
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