"Myths, Legends and Lies About Western Movies", Author presentation in Farmington

FARMINGTON — Don Bullis loves watching old western movies and television shows, but the noted New Mexico historian and author is the first to admit he often has his viewing experience marred by something he sees on screen that would escape the attention of most people. Take the 1940 film "Kit Carson," for instance. The film dramatizes Carson's 1840s trek to California with famed explorer John Fremont, and Carson, portrayed by Jon Hall, sports one of the Stetson hats that were then, and remain, a staple of Hollywood westerns. The problem, as Bullis likes to point out, is that Stetson hats weren't created until the 1860s. "The average viewer doesn't notice that, and that's fine, but it's kind of annoying to me," Bullis said by phone last week from his Rio Rancho home where he was preparing for his presentation on "Myths, Legends and Lies About Western Movies" on Wednesday, Aug. 12 at the Farmington Civic Center. Bullis also hates it when he sees a figure in a western movie wielding a weapon that hadn't even been invented at the time the action is supposed to have taken place. That inattention to detail won't necessarily ruin an entire film, he said, but it bugs him all the same — a reaction that would seem to come naturally for a guy who has spent most of his life examining material with a critical eye — first as a newspaper editor, historian and author, and later as a sheriff's deputy. "Western movies are really interesting — for their entertainment value, obviously," Bullis said. "But they're important because they created an image of the West that is unlike what has been created for any other place."...more