Hellbent for Letterbox

Michael and Pax continue April Fools Month, talking about movies that are Western-connected if not actual Western movies themselves. For this episode, we talk about Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure featuring time-traveling historical figures like Billy the Kid.

Happy April Fool's Month! In this episode Mike and Pax cover Bloodrayne 2: Deliverance which features Pat Garrett and a vampire Billy the Kid!

Michael and Pax continue exploring the Ranown Westerns with Budd Boetticher's Buchanan Rides Alone, starring Randolph Scott and also featuring one of our favorites, LQ Jones. And Pax reads a Western detective novel, Holmes on the Range.

Mike and Pax are joined by their good buddy Jeeg to discuss the 1973 Eastern meets Western, Shanghai Joe starring Chen Lee and Klaus Kinski.

Michael and Pax celebrate the 150th episode of Hellbent with last year's Bass Reeves mini-series starring David Oyelowo, Lauren E Banks, and Forrest Goodluck. And guest-starring Barry Pepper, Shea Whigham, Dennis Quaid, and Donald Sutherland. Pax also talks about his recent guest-appearance on the Authorized Novelizations Podcast discussing Theodore Sturgeon's novelization of The Rare Breed.

Michael and Pax foray once more into western comedy with the Mae West classic, My Little Chickadee, from 1940 costarring WC Fields.

Michael and Pax resume their tour of the Ranown Westerns directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. In Decision at Sundown, Scott comes to town gunning for vengeance against the community's most powerful citizen, but Scott's not saying exactly why. The movie also features John Carroll, Karen Steele, Valerie French, John Archer, and Noah Beery Jr. And in a special Christmas-themed edition of Whatchoo Been Westernin'? the fellas talk about Jack Palance as the title character in Ebenezer, a Western retelling of A Christmas Carol that also stars Ricky Schroeder.

Mike and Pax talk about the other 1969 western starring Robert Redford and Katharine Ross. This one also kind of based on true events.

Michael, Pax, and their Crestwood House podcast co-host Shawn Robare talk about another weird Western just in time for Halloween. The prairie is full of eerie isolation in Emma Tammi's independent film, The Wind, starring Caitlin Gerard, Ashley Zukerman, Julia Goldani Telles, and Dylan McTee.

It's Friday the 13th! Mike and Pax are joined by their Crestwood House co-host Shawn Robare to begin the Halloween season with Grim Prairie Tales from 1990 starring James Earl Jones, Brad Dourif, William Atherton, and Marc McClure.

Michael and Pax are in the mood for some Ranown Westerns, starting with The Tall T. Directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, of course. Co-starring Maureen O'Sullivan and Richard Boone. And based on a story by Elmore Leonard. Also: Michael checks out a stage production of the classic Shane.

Mike and Pax take a look at the Humphrey Bogart classic Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Michael accidentally pulls a fast one and makes Pax watch a non-historical Western, John Sturges' The Walking Hills. It stars Randolph Scott and Ella Raines as two members of a party that enters the desert dunes looking for a lost wagon train and (according to legend) the gold that it was carrying. But even though the movie takes place in the 1940s, the comic Pax read does not. It's the Sixth Gun mini-series Shadow Roads.

Pax and Michael tackle another western-comedy. This one stars George Segal and Goldie Hawn and is directed by White Christmas' Melvin Frank!

Michael and Pax watch the Coen Brothers' anthology movie, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Plus, Pax listens to the 1001 Stories from the Old West podcast and Michael watches The Secret of Convict Lake (1951) and Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949).

Mike and Pax try not to break out into a blood feud when they delve into the History Channel mini-series Hatfields & McCoys starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton.

Michael and Pax return to the world of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove with the chronologically second mini-series in the saga, Comanche Moon, starring Steve Zahn, Karl Urban, Linda Cardellini, Elizabeth Banks, Melanie Lynskey, Wes Studi, and Val Kilmer. Plus: quick thoughts on Robert McCammon's Trevor Lawson books and the movies Station West (1948) and Westward the Women (1951).

Mike and Pax discuss another Clint Eastwood western, Hang em High from 1968!

Michael, Pax, and guest Evan Hanson wrap up their Zorro double-feature with the movie that started it all, the silent classic The Mark of Zorro starring Douglas Fairbanks.

Zorro Double Feature! In this episode we start with The Mask of Zorro from 1998 starring Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Sir Anthony Hopkins. And we are joined by our good friend Evan Hansen.