It was such an honor getting to meet Val McCallum this summer in Vermont. He wrote this beautiful song about Charles Bronson called “Charlie’s Coal” that he included on his 2019 album Chateauguay. It’s a moving tribute to his dad. I still can’t believe that I had the good fortune to be able hear him perform this live at the Skunk Hollow Tavern. His cousin Lindsay told me later that he wasn’t going to sing that night but decided to when he met me and my wife and found out we were visiting the area there to pay tribute to Bronson. What a great guy!
I thought I would share it with you today! I hope you enjoy!
Charlie’s Coal
Follow the highway, follow the heart, to the green hills of ScoopTown, where my daddy grew up. Working down in the darkness, hauling out the coal. Stays on your skin, never leaves your soul.
Digging coal, black coal, from down in that hole. Digging coal, black coal, makes the engines roll.
He dreamed of a woman, so blonde and so fair. So, he had to go find her, climbing up out of there. Together they handled, any twist in the road.It strengthens your life, when you share the load.
When daddy wasn’t well, she knew just what to do.Held him in her arms, ‘til the night turned blue.Made a fire in the fireplace from some of his coal. Power from so long ago.
I live by the ocean, California dream.He lives under the earth now, what he left isn’t seen. He gave me my first guitar. I still remember that day.I still see him smile, every time I play.It gets into your heart, never goes away.
Digging coal, black coal, down in that hole. Digging coal, pure gold, makes the engines roll. Daddy’s coal, pure gold. May the cameras roll.
I’ve shared several episodes of the “This Week in Charles Bronson” podcast with our readers over the last year. I just love visiting with my Buchinsky Buddy Eric Todd about all things related to Charles Bronson. In our latest episode, Eric pays tribute to actress Antoinette Bower, who passed away on April 30th, 2026, at the age of 93. The first Bronson film he ever saw was THE EVIL THAT MEN DO (1984), where Bower plays Claire Molloch, the sister and the love of the life of political torturer Clement Molloch (Joseph Maher). In Bower’s three-decade career she starred in just about every classic TV series you can think of, including Have Gun, Will Travel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek, and with Bronson and Kurt Russell in The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. It’s a lot of fun revisiting much of her film work, and finding out a lot of other interesting things about her life after she retired from show business in the early 90’s.
After that, I get to tell you all about my trip to Vermont! My wife and I were able to visit Charles Bronson’s gravesite at the Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor, as well as the property that was once his and Jill Ireland’s horse farm on Bronson Road. We were able to eat at places where he liked to eat and even go shopping at places where he liked to shop! And to top it all off, we had the good fortune to meet his son, Valentine McCallum, who still has property in the area and just happened to be visiting when we were there. Val’s an incredible professional musician and singer, and we were able to catch him performing at the Skunk Hollow Tavern on our last night in the area. I share a couple of his songs on the podcast. What I love the most is that these are very personal songs that Val performed that night. I think you’ll enjoy them. I know we sure did!
So, if any of that sounds like fun to you, take some time to give us a listen. I’m sharing the YouTube and Spotify links below, but you can find us on Apple Podcasts as well!
When I was a teenager growing up in Toad Suck, Arkansas, we only had 5 TV channels. My favorite of those channels was Fox 16 out of Little Rock, because they showed a lot of movies. Many of my favorite movies to this day are the movies that showed on Fox 16 in the mid-80’s. One of those movies that they played frequently was TIGHTROPE. This being the TV edit of the movie, I was too young and naive to realize just how different of a character Wes Block was for Clint Eastwood. Sure, he was a badass cop, but he also indulged in somewhat perverse sexual activities with the ladies of the night in New Orleans. It’s actually an incredible performance and the type that helps separate Eastwood from so many of his contemporaries.
TIGHTROPE was released 42 years ago to the date on August 17th, 1984. Let’s celebrate by watching this interesting clip from the movie. It’s definitely tame compared to many others in film, but I love the payoff !
After reading a lot of negative reviews, I went into this 2011 remake of Sam Peckinpah’s STRAW DOGS expecting to not like it. I only bought the DVD because I’m a James Woods super-fan and completist. The good thing about that lowering of expectations, though, is that in my first viewing (in 2026) I was able to focus on the movie itself rather than in comparison to the original. After watching it, I would never argue that this version is a great movie, but I did find myself enjoying it more than I thought I would.
David and Amy Sumner (James Marsden and Kate Bosworth) arrive in her childhood hometown of Blackwater, Mississippi, where David plans to work on a screenplay while they fix up her old family home. David’s a successful Hollywood screenwriter, but he’s not tough at all, which is at odds with the small town football and southern deer-hunting culture he now finds himself in. Amy, who’s had some success as an actress, has a history with many of the people in town, especially her old boyfriend Charlie (Alexander Skarsgard). Eventually that history turns into something much more dangerous than you would ever imagine (if you hadn’t seen the original).
Because I’ve only seen the original film once or twice in my currently 52-year-old life, I don’t necessarily hold it as some sort of untouchable masterpiece of cinema, and I can like how this version of STRAW DOGS builds its tension. There are definitely some moments where I found myself wondering what the hell David and Amy were thinking. David seems intent on giving the local yokels every possible opportunity to walk all over him. Then again, as a person who always tries to be nice and avoid a fight, I don’t know how much different I would have been. I would hope that if my wife and entire livelihood was being threatened, however, I’d find the intestinal fortitude to do whatever it takes to protect them and myself. David eventually does find that nature within himself.
Amy’s unexplained behavior is even worse. After being offended that the locals ogle her when she’s exercising, she decides the appropriate response is taking her top off purposely in front of an open window so those same locals can see. While I can unequivocally state that there’s never any excuse for violence against women among rational people, the problem is that these are irrational people who don’t play by the rules of society. This is one of those cases where the only possible explanation for Amy’s behavior is because the screenplay needed her to do it. Even when the worst case scenario eventually plays out, the despicable behavior taps into our basic instincts and we want to see vengeance served.
James Marsden and Kate Bosworth are okay as David and Amy. Their characters aren’t particularly engaging, but you can’t help but pull for them in comparison to those around them. Alexander Skarsgard is awkward and creepy as Charlie, Amy’s old boyfriend. I loved him as the powerful vampire in the HBO series TRUE BLOOD. He’s something totally different here, and he eventually goes so far off the reservation you can’t help but want him to get his comeuppance. Of course, I wanted to watch the movie because of James Woods, who plays Tom Heddon, a former local high school football coach who seems to be just a drunk at the bar these days. It turns out that he’s loud, mean and incredibly nasty. In a history of playing vicious bastards, this character plays out as one of his worst. It’s an incredible performance just a couple of years before, as Woods has said, his unapologetically conservative political views would essentially get him blackballed from Hollywood.
The final scenes are extremely violent, and based on what we’ve seen, it’s hard not to feel that the violence is justified. It’s ugly, but I won’t deny that I wasn’t emotionally moved to see it. Legendary film critic Roger Ebert would say that he preferred this remake to the original. I won’t go that far, but that’s a pretty strong indicator that this film shouldn’t be dismissed just because most won’t find it to be as good as the original. What it is is a mean, violent thriller with some strong performances, especially from Skarsgard and Woods. If you’re willing to forget that it’s a remake of a superior film from 40 years earlier, you just may enjoy it!
I love westerns! Absolutely love them! Every now and then someone still gets them right, and director and star Kevin Costner delivered a great one in OPEN RANGE. Of course, one of his best decisions was casting Robert Duvall as the lead in his film. It’s a film I rewatch each year. As a matter of fact, I watched it just a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it again.
In recognition of OPEN RANGE being released 23 years ago today, on August 15th, 2003, I thought it might be fun to share this scene from one of the best westerns of the 21st century!
RUN OF THE ARROW opens with confederate sharpshooter O’Meara (Rod Steiger) shooting the final shot of the Civil War. With no war to fight and with a heart full of hate for the Yankees, O’Meara declares himself to be a man without a country and heads west. When he’s captured by a band of Sioux warriors led by Crazy Wolf (H.M. Wynant), he invokes the “run of the arrow”, a ritualistic game that could save his life. The problem… no one has ever survived the run of the arrow, but today’s his lucky day as he’s wounded but survives just long enough to be saved by the beautiful Yellow Moccasin (Sarita Montiel). She nurses him back to health and presents him to her tribal chief, Blue Buffalo (Charles Bronson), who eventually allows O’Meara and Yellow Moccasin to get married. Things seem to be going so well, too well. When Crazy Wolf starts another violent campaign against the American army, O’Meara must decide if he’s a Sioux warrior willing to kill American soldiers, or if there’s a part of him that can still love his country?
In RUN OF THE ARROW, director Samuel Fuller made a movie about the damage that occurs when human beings allow their hearts to be so filled with hate that they quit caring about other people. It’s also about what happens when those same people run into rational people, and we find out if they’re capable of considering the possibility that their own hate has blinded them from the truth. In other words, it’s a film that’s possibly more relevant today than it was when it was made in 1957. Bitterness and hate are represented by the characters of O’Meara (Steiger), Crazy Wolf (Wynant), and Lieutenant Driscoll (Ralph Meeker). O’Meara hates Yankees, Crazy Wolf hates the white man, and Driscoll hates the Indians. The rational people are the characters of Yellow Moccasin (Montiel), Blue Buffalo (Bronson), and Captain Clark (Brian Keith). Yellow Moccasin saves O’Meara when everyone else would have just let him die. Blue Buffalo engages in honest conversation with O’Meara and even welcomes him into their tribe. Captain Clark shows O’Meara an empathetic ear and kindness when others have told him to just get over himself. The actions and fates of the characters play out against this dynamic of hatred versus humanity, with the results underscoring just how tragic it is when people focus on the things that separate us rather than the things that unite us. It’s all so unnecessary, but it’s also a realistic vision of the world we live in. The film also struck me as particularly violent for a 50’s western, which also underscores that reality.
Some of the performances are very effective in the film. Rod Steiger’s Irish, confederate Sioux is an interesting character and the actor gives it his all as you’d expect. I’m a big fan of Steiger and his performance here only solidifies my respect for him. Brian Keith’s Captain Clark arrives fairly late in the proceedings and comes across as a tough, but honest man of integrity at a point when the movie really needs him. He has an excellent scene with Steiger where he debates the old confederate’s reasons for renouncing his citizenship with both sound logic, empathy, kindness and a hint of likable sarcasm all at the same time. It’s one of the best scenes in the film. And likewise, Charles Bronson, the most buff Hollywood Indian to ever strip down to a loincloth, comes across as a reasonable and kind tribal chief in his dealings. Bronson had played American Indians before, but he was usually more of the renegade, warpath variety, so it was nice seeing him as a good guy here. H.M. Wynant took the renegade Sioux warrior role here which you might have expected for Bronson at the time. He’s suitably fierce but one-dimensional. The same can be said for Ralph Meeker as Lieutenant Driscoll. He’s pretty much just a stereotypical jerk. He’s good at being a jerk though! And Sarita Montiel, voiced by Angie Dickinson, is quite the beauty as Yellow Moccasin.
I’ve recently heard RUN OF THE ARROW compared to Kevin Costner’s DANCES WITH WOLVES, and there are definitely similarities. I won’t go into all of those here, but one of the things I appreciated the most about RUN OF THE ARROW is the fact that the movie makes its feelings known about politics. In a movie filled with characters who have had their lives upended by the various decisions of political leaders, Fuller has crafted a story that focuses most sharply on defining the quality of men based on what’s in their “hearts.” When it’s all said and done, oftentimes the only control we have is the way we respond to the events in our lives, and that’s not politics, it’s personal. To drive this home, an older scout named Walking Coyote tells O’Meara that he could have been a chief if he had wanted to be. When O’Meara pushes him on why he didn’t want the position, Walking Coyote responds with, “Because I hate politics!” On that point, I couldn’t agree more.
James Woods was recently asked on X if he would have enjoyed starring in a sequel to one of his movies!
His response… “John Carpenter’s VAMPIRES, because it was just so much fun to do!”
As a huge fan of Woods going back to the 80’s, I saw VAMPIRES when it played in the movie theater. I really enjoyed it, and I’ve even written a review for the film for this website. (On a side note, I shared that review with Mr. Woods, and he thanked me for it.) One of the main reasons I like the film is the badass opening sequence. Woods couldn’t have looked any cooler, and Carpenter’s guitar sets the macho mood perfectly. Today I thought it would be fun to share that scene with all of you. It’s a long clip, but it’s still awesome. Enjoy!
My title may be a little misleading, but I always find it fascinating when certain iconic individuals work together on screen. Tom Laughlin and Charles Bronson crossed paths early in both of their careers, with Laughlin accomplishing something that very few actors would be able to claim later on… he knocked out Bronson!
It all goes back to the pilot episode of Charles Bronson’s T.V. series MAN WITH A CAMERA, titled “Second Avenue Assassin,” which premiered on October 10th, 1958. In that first episode, Mike Kovac (Charles Bronson) wants to get a picture of his old neighborhood pal, Joey Savoyan (Tom Laughlin). Joey has risen in the boxing ranks, and is getting a title shot at the champ, Sal Benning. But it seems that success has changed Joey from the guy Mike knew, and there have been many reports that he’s turned into a jerk who’d rather punch a reporter or photographer than look at them. When Mike goes to Joey’s training camp and proceeds to tell him that his attitude is an embarrassment to the people pulling for him back home, Joey gets pissed and the two men end up in the ring. Apparently, Mike could whip him back in the day, but times have changed and after absorbing a few of Mike’s jabs, Joey lays his ass out cold with one punch. The photograph that makes the papers that night is Mike lying flat on his back with the headline “Joey Savoyan puts ace photographer in darkroom!” There’s more to the story, and Bronson and Laughlin end up working together, but not many characters have knocked Bronson out and got to live to tell about it!
In celebration of Laughlin’s 95th birthday in badass heaven, I decided to share that video with you today. Enjoy!
I loved STAKEOUT when I was a teenager. Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez are hilarious and Aidan Quinn is suitably nasty as the bad guy, but I have to admit that the main reason I love the movie is because it’s the first time I remember seeing Madeleine Stowe. I was 14 years old when our family rented it for the very first time, and I’ve been in love with her ever since.
STAKEOUT was released on August 5, 1987. In celebration of its 39th anniversary, I present this scene that was burned into my memory a long time ago.
(Parental Discretion is advised, as the Rhythm is probably gonna get you!)
One of the greatest actors to come from the state of Arkansas was born in Hot Springs on August 4th, 1955. Sometimes called the “Hillbilly Olivier,” Billy Bob Thornton seems to be aging like fine wine!
Happy Birthday, Billy Bob. You’re the best!
One False Move (1991)Sling Blade (1996)A Simple Plan (1998)Friday Night Lights (2004)Bad News Bears (2005)Landman (2024)
Through the Shattered Lens 