Cowboy Movie Night: Jack Loeffler on Edward Abbey Cowboys Real and Imagined

With hallmarks like Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang, author Edward Abbey crafted literature that endeared him to readers, environmentalists, and almost anyone who enjoys a good hike. His 1956 novel, The Brave Cowboy, was made into the movie Lonely Are the Brave, starring Kirk Douglas. Hitting theaters at the dawn of American awareness of the Vietnam War, it delivered an unsettling salvo that has lingered for decades. In 2012, the New York Times called it “one of the bleakest westerns ever to grace the big screen,” one that “poses uneasy questions about the idea, and value, of heroism.”

On Friday, July 19, at 5:30 pm, aural historian Jack Loeffler shares stories of his long friendship with Abbey and introduces a special showing of the film as part of the exhibit Cowboys Real and Imagined. The event is free in the History Museum Auditorium; seating is limited.

Note: This event was originally scheduled to begin at 6 pm. Kindly help us encourage folks to show up a tad earlier.

The Brave Cowboy featured Jack Burns, a man confounded by the changes afoot around him. Riding an unruly mare named Whisky across New Mexico, he finds a land tarnished by society. He refuses to register for the draft, cuts down fences, and forces a confrontation between his personal code of ethics and the law. Filmed in and around Albuquerque, the film co-starred Gena Rowlands, Walter Matthau, and George Kennedy.

Loeffler, who produced oral histories, songs and poetry for the Cowboys exhibit, will read an excerpt from his book, Adventures with Ed: A Portrait of Abbey (University of New Mexico Press, 2003). He will discuss the character of Jack Burns and talk about the legacy of Abbey, author of 21 books.

“Ed and I were buddies for decades and camped and hiked for thousands of miles around the Southwest,” said Loeffler, who lives in the Santa Fe area. (That’s Jack on the left with Abbey in the mid-1980s; photo by Katherine Loeffler. High-res jpeg available.)

A Pennsylvania native, Abbey served briefly in the military, then completed his education at the University of New Mexico and, later, the University of Edinburgh. He became a park ranger and fire lookout at several national parks, fueling his imagination for his writing. He died at home in Oracle, Ariz., in 1989.

Cowboys Real and Imagined explores New Mexico’s cowboy legacy from its origin in the Spanish vaquero tradition through itinerant hired hands, outlaws, rodeo stars, cowboy singers, Tom Mix movies and more. Guest curated by B. Byron Price, director of the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West at the University of Oklahoma and director of the University of Oklahoma Press, the exhibit grounds the cowboy story in New Mexico through rare photographs, cowboy gear, movies and art. The largest original exhibit mounted by the museum since 2009’s Fashioning New Mexico, it includes a bounty of artifacts ranging in size from the palm-sized tintype of Billy the Kid purchased at a 2011 auction by William Koch to the chuck wagon once used by cowboys on New Mexico’s legendary Bell Ranch.

The full programming schedule for Cowboys Real and Imagined:

Sunday, March 10, 2pm—Don Edwards, America’s Cowboy Balladeer

The Grammy-nominated singer, guitarist, songwriter, and historian sings and plays old-time ballads and cowboy songs. $25 at the History Museum Shop; call (505) 982-9543 or log onto www.newmexicocreates.org and click on “Museum Products.” Seating is limited.

Saturday, April 13, 6:30pm—Members Preview.

Museum of New Mexico Foundation members get a first peek at the exhibit and a chance to put on their best cowboy and cowgirl duds. To join, call (505) 982-6366.

Sunday, April 14—Grand Opening.

Visit the exhibit, enjoy refreshments and, at 2 pm, hear a lecture by guest curator B. Byron Price, director of the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West at the University of Oklahoma and director of the University of Oklahoma Press. Free with admission (Sundays free to NM residents).

Friday, April 26, 6pm—Cowboy movie night: “Tom Mix and Ranch Life in the Great Southwest,” with journalist and film critic Jon Bowman.

Besides the 1910 Ranch Life, see a showing of the 1915 short, Local Color, filmed in New Mexico. Free.

Sunday, May 5, 2pm—“I See By Your Outfit: Historic Cowboy Clothing,” a presentation by Emmy award-winning costume designer Cathy Smith.

Smith has presented at the Smithsonian Institutions’ Renwick Gallery in 2003 and the Trappings of the American West exhibition in 2008. Her lecture is an accurate and humorous look at the historical evolution of the American cowboy through photos of his costume, equipment and horses. Examples of Smith’s costumes and pieces from her historic cowboy clothing collection are included in Cowboys Real and Imagined. Free with admission (Sundays free to NM residents).

Friday, May 17, 6pm—Cowboy movie night: “An Introduction to The Hi-Lo County,” with Max Evans and Jim Harris.

The authors discuss how Evans’ background led to his storied career, including the making of movies from his works, with a showing The Hi Lo Country (1998). Free.

Friday, July 19, 5:30pm—Cowboy movie night: “Edward Abbey and Lonely Are the Brave,” with oral historian Jack Loeffler.

Loeffler discusses his friendship with author Edward Abbey and the transformation of Abbey’s novel The Brave Cowboy into a 1962 icon of Western movies, filmed in and around Albuquerque, the Sandia Mountains, Manzano Mountains, Tijeras Canyon, and Kirtland Air Force Base. Free.

Sunday, August 4, 2pm—“Pride in the Saddle in New Mexico: The Story of Gay Rodeo,” by Out West producer Gregory Hinton and photographer Blake Little.

Hinton and Little talk about the history of gay rodeo in New Mexico and Little’s rare collection of gay rodeo photographs taken from 1988-1992, when he was a champion bull rider in the International Gay Rodeo Association. Little’s photographs will be exhibited at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis in 2014. Free with admission (Sundays free to NM residents).

Friday, August 9, 6pm—“Jack Thorp’s Songs of the Cowboys,” by music historians Mark Gardner and Rex Rideout.

Gardner and Rideout perform and discuss the cowboy ballads collected by New Mexico cowboy, rancher, surveyor, and state cattle inspector N. Howard “Jack” Thorp, who published the very first book of cowboy songs at Estancia, NM, in 1908. The Palace Press this year debuts a special, fine-press reprint of the book. Gardner and Rideout use vintage instruments and historic playing styles to present a close approximation of how this music sounded. Free.

Saturday and Sunday, August 10 and 11, 10am to 4pm—“Wild West Weekend.”

Join us for two days of family fun celebrating the heritage of cowboys, featuring singing cowboys (and gals!), saddle makers, trick ropers, bootmakers, poets, dutch-oven cooking demonstrations, and lots more. Mark Gardner and Rex Rideout will lead a one-hour workshop for families on traditional cowboy songs and discuss the New Mexico cowboy lifestyle and culture as represented in the songs. Free with admission (Sundays free to NM residents; children 16 and under free daily).

Friday, September 20, 5:30pm—Cowboy movie night: “On the Trail of The Cowboys,” with journalist and film critic Robert Nott.

Filmed at various locations in New Mexico and elsewhere, The Cowboys (1972) is considered one of John Wayne’s greatest movies. Based on the William Dale Jennings’ novel, the movie follows a cattle drive from Montana to South Dakota with real “boys,” after the real ones flee the range in search of gold. Free.

Friday, November 15, 5:30pm: Cowboy movie night—“Oh, to be a Cowboy,” with best-selling author David Morrell (of Rambo fame).

Based on Frank Harris’s My Reminiscences as a Cowboy,” the 1958 movie Cowboy stars Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon. A Chicago hotel clerk dreams of life as a cowboy and gets his shot in a cattle-driving outfit. Not surprisingly, the tenderfoot finds out life on the range is neither what he expected nor what he's been looking for. Free.  

Friday, January 17, 5:30pm—Cowboy movie night: “Revisiting City Slickers,” with author Johnny Boggs.

A mid-life crisis plagues a man and his friends, who find renewal and purpose on a cattle-driving vacation, filmed at various locations in New Mexico. Starring Billy Crystal and Jack Palance (1991). Free.

Cowboys Real and Imagined is generously supported by the Brindle Foundation; Burnett Foundation; Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, Houston; Candace Good Jacobson in memory of Thomas Jefferson Good III; New Mexico Humanities Council; Newman’s Own Foundation; Palace Guard; Eugenia Cowden Pettit and Michael Pettit; Jane and Charlie Gaillard; Moise Livestock Company; the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association; and the many contributors to the Director’s Leadership, Annual Education, and Exhibitions Development Funds.