To celebrate Colorado’s 150th anniversary, films produced in and showcasing the beauty of the Southwest will screen in historic venues throughout the state – including the Sunflower Theatre and the Mancos Opera House – through November.
“These venues are gathering spaces. They’re important parts of the community,” said Festival Director Rob DuRay.
The initiative plans to host 150 screenings of the best movies connected to Colorado via their filming locations, inspirations, directors or cast.
“We want people to feel like ‘Oh, my God,’ – they know this is from Colorado,” DuRay said. “They’re building pride together.”
“True Grit” screens at the Mancos Opera House at 7 p.m. Saturday. The 1969 Western starring John Wayne is a classic shakedown of a murderous outlaw, filmed in the Ouray and Montrose counties.
“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” screening July 23 at the Sunflower Theatre, features Pagosa Springs in its adrenaline inducing introduction depicting a chase aboard a moving train.
“It’s a very easy on-ramp to learn more about different aspects, different points in time in the state's history,” Programming Director Chris Getzan said. “Different things that were happening in Colorado show up in these movies.”
Getzan pointed to the 1974 thriller “Mr. Majestyk,” which takes place on a farm in La Junta and features Charles Bronson as its melon-growing protagonist. The film touches on farmworkers’ issues, including those of immigrant farmworkers, capturing both regional and national discussions at the time, Getzan said.
“There’s a real rich history of cinema emanating from Colorado,” Getzan said.
The Silverton Powerhouse in Silverton will screen the 1950 Western comedy “A Ticket to Tomahawk” about the expansion of the Tomahawk and Western Railroad through the Rockies on Sept. 9. The film features a model train now in the possession of the Durango Historical Society and the Rio Grande Southern No. 20, kept at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. Festival directors plan to bring in an expert from the railroad museum to speak at the screening.
“It's a great, fun way – easy way – to learn about the state, to learn about different points in the country’s past,” Getzan said.
Other Southwest Colorado locations screening the program’s films include Three Springs in Durango and the Liberty Theatre in Pagosa Springs.
A full list of the CO150 movie selections and showtimes along with tickets is available at colorado150film.com.
avanderveen@the-journal.com
