Sierra Whiskee – Page 5 – Through the Shattered Lens

Some of my favorite trips have been related to my obsession with movies and Charles Bronson. Today, I share a wonderful trip that my wife and I took to Pennsylvania and the Mahoning Drive-In in 2022. I hope you enjoy!

I was scrolling through Facebook back in the spring of 2022, when an advertisement came up for a “Charles Bronson” night at the Mahoning Drive-In in Lehighton, Pennsylvania on June 24th, 2022. The movies that would be playing that night were THE MECHANIC, MR. MAJESTYK, and DEATH WISH 3, all of which are in my top 10 Bronson films, with MR. MAJESTYK topping out all the way up at #2. I checked the distance and time from my house, and it came back around 1,200 miles and 17 hours. For most people, this is probably where the story ends, but not for Bradley Crain. You see, I had never been able to see Bronson on the big screen, and it was definitely on my bucket list. First, I just started casually mentioning the possibility of going to my wife Sierra, just to gauge her reaction. She didn’t think I was serious. Based on that distance, I knew I was going to have to come up with a better reason than “I just want to go.” Then a brilliant idea hit me. Sierra’s dad only lived about 6 hours from Lehighton, so I promised we’d go spend a couple of days with him after the movie night. She bit, and the rest, as they say, is history. It was a wonderful June night in Pennsylvania, and Lehighton is in a beautiful part of the state.

Aside from watching the movies themselves at the drive-in, I also got to meet an idol of mine, Paul Talbot. Paul has written the definitive, behind-the-scenes, books on the movies of Charles Bronson, with “Bronson’s Loose: The Making of the Death Wish Films” and “Bronson’s Loose Again: On the set with Charles Bronson.” He is a genuinely kind and welcoming man who I now consider a friend.

My wife and I had an amazing time at the movies, and we also had a great visit with her dad for a couple of days. I’m so glad we made that trip, as he would pass away less than a year later. We only saw him one more time after that trip. As much as I loved the night with Bronson, having those additional days with my amazing father-in-law was even more special.

My first view of Bronson on the big screen was the iconic opening of THE MECHANIC. I snapped the picture below:

Paul Talbot was so gracious with his time with each fan of his books on Charles Bronson. He also introduced each film that night with interesting facts and stories about the various productions. He was nice enough to take this picture with me and Sierra:

While at the drive-in that night, I joined the “This Week in Charles Bronson” podcast for my first ever contribution as the boots on the ground correspondent for the event. I have since had the opportunity to meet some of my Bronson-movie idols, and even members of Bronson’s own family through my activity with the podcast. I’ve attached a link to the episode from the Mahoning Drive-In that night.

All in all, this was one of the most enjoyable trips of my life! Soon, I’ll share my adventures in Colorado later that summer visiting the filming locations of MR. MAJESTYK!

In 2023, our family (parents, siblings, kids, nieces & nephews, everybody) took a vacation to the Grand Teton National Park. It was one of the most enjoyable vacations I’ve ever been on. Of course, this dad got on his family’s nerves by continuously referencing the film JUBAL since it was filmed with the Grand Tetons in the background. I just kept thinking about the fact that we were hanging out near a place where Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Rod Steiger, and Charles Bronson worked on one of my favorite westerns. For good measure I mentioned SHANE a few times as well since it was also filmed there.

Nice guy rancher Shep Horgan (Ernest Borgnine) finds Jubal Troop (Glenn Ford) injured and at the point of death. He takes Jubal back to his ranch and they nurse him back to health. The two men hit it off and soon Shep asks Jubal to be his foreman. This doesn’t set well at all with the duplicitous Pinky (Rod Steiger) who’s used to being in charge. It sets too well with Shep’s beautiful wife Mae (Valerie French) who takes the wrong kind of liking to Jubal, a habit that seems to keep rearing its head with the lonely lady. This eventually turns into a powder keg of betrayal, lies & misunderstandings. Charles Bronson has a small, but pivotal role as cowhand who’s there for Jubal when things get really rough.

I bought JUBAL on VHS early in my movie collecting days in the 80’s. Of course, they put Bronson’s face on the front of the box with the other stars, even though it was over-inflating the size of his role in the movie. But that’s okay because it was probably the first time a teenage Bradley ever watched a movie with old Hollywood stars like Ford, Borgnine & Steiger. I loved the movie, and I’ve since searched out each actor’s filmography to watch their best films. Steiger especially stands out as the evil Pinky. I’ve been a huge fan of his ever since.

JUBAL also turned me on to the director Delmer Daves. Daves is one of the great directors of that time period. It’s been nice seeing some of his work being released as part of the Criterion Collection. His other films include DARK PASSAGE with Humphrey Bogart, BROKEN ARROW with Jimmy Stewart, DRUM BEAT with Alan Ladd & Charles Bronson, THE LAST WAGON with Richard Widmark, and 3:10 TO YUMA again with Glenn Ford. Heck, the guy wrote the classic tearjerker AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER. The guy was awesome!

Just to finish off a little personal history related to our family’s trip to the Grand Tetons in 2023…. I recently took my blu-ray of JUBAL to my parents’ cabin and watched it with my Dad and Mom. Me and Dad looked at each other and smiled every time a beautiful shot of the Tetons was in the background, and those majestic mountains are featured in almost every shot. It was marvelous.