Jeff Haney

Peterson Brothers

Ruby Jane

Greg Izor

“Music Has the Power to Liberate and Bridge All Gaps”

Playing Saturday, August 13, 2011

7 PM- 1 AM

Tickets are $10.00

Location is Big Daddy’s Roadhouse

242 Hwy 95 South

Smithville, Texas 78957

phone: 512 237-1098

We still have a few rooms available at our Katy House Bed and Breakfast.

Smithville is the hometown for the movies “Hope Floats” “Tree of Life,”  “Doonby” and many more!

This review is from the web site: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/49760

Nordling here.

Audiences who engage with Terrence Malick’s THE TREE OF LIFE may find that it will be impossible to watch without bringing their own personal history, their emotional baggage, their own family experiences with them to the film.  The film’s considerable power comes from Malick’s ability to go to a universal place and yet still make the film seem very personal and relevant to each individual who sees it.  It is possible to view the film empirically.  Just from the one viewing that I had, I feel it is a masterwork, but it resonates with me with such force that I find myself unable to think about the film without it being filtered by my own life experiences.  I do not think I will be the only one who feels that way about this film.

THE TREE OF LIFE is absolutely not for everyone.  It’s quiet, contemplative, and it rewards patience and understanding.  Many moviegoers will flat out hate it – they will hate Malick’s refusal to tell his story with a conventional narrative; they will hate Malick’s flights-of-fancy that will come off to some as incredibly indulgent; they will hate the fact that Malick devotes most of the film to a portrait of a family in small-town 1950s Texas and think that it is not a subject deserving of so much time and attention. The criticisms put against this film – it’s indulgent, pretentious, too long – could be valid for a moviegoer unused to working with a film the way Malick requires.  The film is as full and as long as Malick needs it to be; critics of the length remind me of AMADEUS’s Mozart asking which notes he should take out of his opera.  He has a journey in mind, and he will not skip any step, because as so many have said before, the point isn’t about where you arrive but how you got there.  But Malick tells this story the only way he can, and how audiences respond to it is very much what the movie is about, as opposed to any kind of linear narrative path.

We begin with a Bible verse of Job 38: 4, 7 – “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”  But the film doesn’t approach religion from a strictly Christian perspective (although its influence on Malick is clear).  The film’s theme is specified in the opening dialogue from Mrs. O’Brien – “There are two ways through life. The way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you will follow.”  Nature, we are told, is selfish and full of itself.  Grace is love, and the giving of oneself to a higher calling or power.  From there we are taken on a journey through the very foundations of the universe, and into the inner workings of the human heart.  Malick’s film suggests that the difference is miniscule.

Each scene in THE TREE OF LIFE doesn’t play out in a traditional narrative sense – we are either in someone’s inner imaginings, or we are dropped into a remembrance without any pretense.  However, the film is not without plot.  Instead of laying out each scene with a narrative precision, the film puts us in the emotional perspective of the character.  This film isn’t so much watched as it is lived through.  Brad Pitt plays domineering but loving Mr. O’Brien, who is a strict taskmaster to his children and seems unable to express into words his deep, stirring inner feelings.  On the other end of the spectrum is Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain) who isn’t so much a character as she is an ideal of motherhood.   Jack (Hunter McCracken as a child, Sean Pennas an adult) is very much the product of these two powerful figures in his life.  The film is bookended by modern day sequences in Houston – and I’ve never seen Houston look as beautiful as how Emmanuel Lubezki shoots it here, all glass and sunlight – as Jack remembers his conflicted youth, and the loss of his brother.  In the film’s opening, Mrs. O’Brien receives a letter, a telegram that shatters the O’Briens – the death of their child R.L. (Laramie Eppler, who looks uncannily like Pitt) when he is 19.  It is assumed, because of the time and the manner of the telegram that he dies in Vietnam, but I think Malick deliberately left this vague, especially in today’s present circumstances.  It doesn’t matter how he died – what matters is that his death sends the family into a deep questioning of their faith and why it happened.  Mrs. O’Brien, in particular, takes R.L.’s death hard, asking God why, and receiving little comfort.  

It’s in this part of the film that Malick takes us into the depths of Creation and into the beginnings of life on Earth.  Audiences may struggle with the meaning behind it, but that’s the point – when we are given difficult moments in our lives, we question why, and our thoughts may turn to the very foundations of the universe to find our answer.  This 20-minute sequence takes us from the creation of everything to the pool of water where the first life takes shape, to dinosaurs on the beach and in a forest, and in all of this we are shown the aspects of Mrs. O’Brien’s argument of nature and grace.  Huge in scope, Malick himself seems to search for the truth as much as Mrs. O’Brien.  Nature can be cruel, as demonstrated in a sequence where two dinosaurs meet in a forest, one dinosaur putting his heel to the other, fallen dinosaur’s head, almost teasing, much like a brother teases his younger. 

From these origins of the world we go to Waco, Texas, and a loving couple, as they fall in love and have children.  The three O’Brien boys, Jack, R.L., and Steve (Tye Sheridan), behave as children do – they play, they do their father’s bidding, they grow.  R.L., especially, seems a sensitive youth, into music (in one of my favorite scenes of the film R.L. sits on the porch outside playing guitar as his father quietly accompanies him on the piano).  The youngest, Steve, is quiet and unassuming.  But it is Jack, the oldest, who is the most tempestuous, questioning his father’s authority and his own place in the world.  The film portrays childhood wonderfully and truthfully – never has a film captured quite so well what it is like to be a young boy with the infinite summer ahead of him.  In the meantime, Mr. O’Brien is struggling; feeling rejected by his peers and neighbors, he is increasingly tougher on his children as they grow older.  In his rebellious nature, Jack starts to push back, and this becomes the central conflict of the film.  Will Jack go the way of nature, or of grace?  Is he his father’s son, or his mother’s, or both?

Brad Pitt is amazing in his performance.  It is a simplification to say that he’s a simple abusive father.  For Mr. O’Brien, his children are his hope to achieve in ways that he has not, and he truly loves them.  At the same time, every moment of anger pushes them further and further away, and he is incapable of articulating the storm of emotion within him.  Jessica Chastain is terrific as well, although as I said, her character is a very broad portrait of motherhood as opposed to anything specific.  She seems to live to serve her husband, and only when he is gone away on a trip that she comes to life with the children, playing and enjoying life.  Young Hunter McCracken’s Jack doesn’t feel like a performance – it feels like a life.  His curiosity, his imagination, and his love for his family all shine through.  It is an entirely genuine performance.  Sean Penn isn’t in it much, but his performance is essential as a touchstone to the audience, especially in the film’s ending, which will either send filmgoers out either enraptured or just confused.  I felt that the ending was Malick’s way of making peace with loss, and found it very effective.

Emmanuel Lubezki’s camerawork is transcendent.  It’s one of the most beautifully shot films I’ve ever seen.  The way he captures the light, the angles, and the playful movement – it’s cinematography on a level that seems larger than any accolades that could be thrown at it.  Alexandre Desplat’s score is triumphant, and as the focus of the film shifts from cosmic to intimate in a breath’s time, his music accentuates the shift and stays cohesive.  The effects work of the Creation sequence is immaculate – Douglas Trumbull of 2001 and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND was a consultant on the visual effects, and it shows.  There is a real weight to each vision, and as we go from the very foundations of the universe to present day Texas, it feels effortless.

But it is Terrence Malick, the master filmmaker, who creates something truly amazing with THE TREE OF LIFE.  The film is a prayer, without being any specific religion (although the underpinnings seem decidedly Christian).  The film’s portrayals of spirituality and our relationship to the universe and each other are very universal, and yet, I felt the film was intensely specific to my own life.  I imagine my experience with THE TREE OF LIFE will not be unique.  The film is both epic and intimate, both grandiose and personal, and challenging to the extreme.  There will be those who will not be open to what the film offers.  Because the film refuses to follow a traditional narrative, because the film wears its emotions on its sleeve, and because of the length, if you are not a diehard film fan, willing to take risks, I cannot recommend this film.  As for me, I’ve seen it once, and I know I’ll be seeing it again.  This summer will be full of action films, and superhero films, big budget effects extravaganzas that will promise an experience never seen before.  But if any come close to what Terrence Malick’s THE TREE OF LIFE does, then they may have something to brag about.  It is a difficult film, an ambitious film, and not for the casual filmgoer.  THE TREE OF LIFE, for any true film fan, must be seen on the biggest screen that can be found.  It is a celebration of life, hope, family, and a singular, transformative film experience.

Nordling, out.

Austin360 blogs

Director Malick wins Palme d’Or at Cannes for ‘Tree of Life’

By Charles Ealy | Sunday, May 22, 2011, 01:09 PM

CANNES, France — Austin director Terrence Malick  became the first Texan ever to win the top prize, the Palme d’Or, at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, for his ambitious, cosmic “The Tree of Life.”

The movie centers on a family in 1950s Waco, includes about a 20-minute segment that focuses on the birth of the universe and has been called a Texan “2001,” a reference to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Malick, who does not make public appearances, did not show up at the Palais to accept the award, but two of his producers did. “He remains notoriously, infamously shy but quite humble,” said producer Bill Pohlad.

When the movie premiered Monday, it received a mixed reaction from the press, but support for the film, which was made in Smithville and Austin, has been growing in recent days. It stars Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn.

Movie Review: Doonby

by Bill Sardi

Directed By: Peter Mackenzie

Produced By: Mike Mackenzie, Peter Mackenzie, Mark Joseph, Tommy G. Warren,
Dawn Krantz, Antonio Quintos

Starring: John Schneider, Jenn Gotzon, Robert Davi, Jennifer O’Neill, Joe Estevez,
Will Wallace and Ernie Hudson

Most of us look forward to a night at the movies to enjoy a comedy, a thriller, or even an on-screen romance. But would we be enticed to go to a movie that had a serious meaning to it?

The tag line to the movie I’m talking about is: “Every story’s worth telling. Every life’s worth living.”

Hmm, sounds a little heavy for a night at the movies. But the meaning of the movie is held right up until its tearful end. So its meaning doesn’t get in the way of an action movie that will grip your insides. It jumps from one action scene to another as movie goers are left to ask just what the connection is between each spine-tingling scene. As much as you want to figure out the meaning of this movie, it won’t let you discover it till its emotional end.

There’s a shoot ‘em up robbery at a bar, and a just-in-the-moment of time plucking of a baby from the path of an oncoming truck, and a rescue of a damsel in distress from a knife-wielding stalker, thrown in with a doctor who is falsely accused of rape. And then there is a budding but immature romance that is woven from beginning to end.

Well then, you ask, is it a guy flick or a gal flick? Not telling.

To understand the movie, entitled Doonby, you have to understand its lead character,

Sam Doonby, played by John Schneider of Dukes of Hazard fame.

You will join the entire cast of the movie in trying to figure out just who Sam Doonby is.

They all want to know too. “Where’d you come from Doonby?” asks the town’s sheriff. He says a small town in Louisiana, where his girlfriend and her mother travel to find out what they can about this mystery man named Sam.

You get to see flashbacks in his life, which gives you a growing hint at his roots, his true identity. Yet every tidbit of information is never enough to let you know what you need to know about Sam.

This guy Doonby turns a sleepy Texas town into a whirlwind of events which somehow throw him into the center of each one.

And as the movie unfolds you are going to ask yourself, why is this saintly guy Doonby falling in love with the town’s floozy? But then again, why is angelic Sam working as a bar tender in Smithville, Texas?

And why doesn’t Sam Doonby become, just for a moment, a little bit human and succumb to the seductions of his lusty drink-mixing bar maid whom Sam discovers naked in his bed?

Sam Doonby has this mysterious diary which we never get a peek at, and with every event in the movie, he jots down another chapter. Laura, his spoiled girlfriend, played by Jenn Gotzon, whom he says he fell in love with the moment he spied her from a bus driving down the highway in her convertible sports car, is dying to get a look at that diary. At the movie’s very end, she finally snatches Sam’s diary. You’ll want to be there when Laura opens its cover and examines its pages.

May 14, 2011

For more information on Smithville, visit the Chamber web page.  www.smithvilletx.org

For more information on our Katy House Bed and Breakfast visit the web site. www.Katyhouse.com

This is a blog from http://bighollywood.breitbart.com.  Actor Robert Davi writes about Doonby. Doonby was filmed in Smithville, TX and we were honored to have Mr. Davi stay here at the Katy House Bed and Breakfast.

Exclusive Premiere: Trailer for John Schneider’s ‘Doonby’

by Robert Davi

Friends:            When I write it is usually out of a deep concern for our country and the world in which we live, and not to hawk a project except, perhaps, in those cases where entertainment and a cultural message can be married. This is one of those times. Also, the producer of the project, Mark Joseph, is one big pain in the butt and wouldn’t leave me alone until I did this. I know it comes from his passion for the project and he is a friend, so here’s the trailer for the new John Schneider film “Doonby“:

Doonby from Doonby the Movie on Vimeo.

I don’t have a major role in the film. I did my best to serve sensitive English director/writer Peter Mackenzie’s vision, as I always do when I take on a project. Speaking of the English, I confess I did watch the Royal Wedding and was moved. In this chaotic world a little romance and beauty is good for the soul. To see the crowds cheering was very emotional, but more importantly, it proved that a tradition for love and magic is what we all yearn for, as opposed to the latest celebrity rehab reality show. We yearn for the nobility of the human soul, the best it has to offer, not the lowest that we are barraged with continually on television and elsewhere. The poetry of life has given way to crude and destructive programming . But last week while watching the marriage of a beautiful young couple, two billion people dreamed.

One of my favorite films is “It’s a Wonderful Life.” When first released it was not received well because it was considered “Capracorn,” a derogatory term referring to the sentimental and heartfelt emotion that director Frank Capra infused in his work.  So of course the cynics panned it, but the public eventually discovered it and today it is considered a classic . The basic theme of Capra’s classic is that one life can make a difference, and here n lies the similarity to “Doonby. ” Only this time you have John Schneider in the Jimmy Stewart role.

How many of us may have imagined what things would be like if we did not exist – – what lives would be touched or not? I have not seen the finished film so cannot give you a full rundown, but from what I’ve been told it packs a wallop.

Yes, Mark told me so!

Anyway here’s the trailer, please watch and pass on. Thank you for your your indulgence.

–Robert Davi

Explosion rocked Smithville

Thursday, February 3, 2011 | Denis McGinness, Smithville Times

Ceremony to commemorate dark day in history from 1911 

 Like tracks weaving through a rail yard, Smithville’s history is intertwined with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, affectionately dubbed the Katy. On Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m., at the Gazebo, a ceremony will be held to commemorate a dark day in that history known as “The Terrible Explosion at Smithville.” 

 The ceremony will take place 100 years to the day and almost to the minute that the disaster took place.  

The tragic event occurred when a boiler on one of the huge switch engines exploded from massive steam pressure at the large MK&T Railroad roundhouse facility on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 1911 at about 2:10 p.m. 

“I am unaware of any greater tragedy that has befallen this city,” said Bruce Blalock, railroad historian and a member of the James. H. Long Railroad Park and Museum board. 

  Dozens of Smithville residents can be seen taking in the scene of a boiler explosion on Feb. 8, 1911 that killed 10 men and injured several others. Pictured to the right, the remains of the switch engine after the boiler blast. Prior to the explosion, the engine had been located in the center of the picture between two locomotives. Bruce Blalock/Courtesy Photo 

 Auditions for Young Actors: Cereal Thrillers, Playhouse Smithville, September 18     

Snap, Crackle and Pop (TM Kellogg’s Cereals)

 (www.playhousesmithville.com)

 PlayhouseSmithville.com announces auditions for

 Cereal Thrillers

 Saturday Morning Children’s Theatre

 Playhouse Smithville is putting out a call to young actors of any age over six.  Cereal Thrillers, written and directed by the Playhouse Artistic Director john daniels, jr. (sic), needs Snap, Crackle, Pop, Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Boo Berry, Sugar Bear, Trix and Silly Rabbit, L. C. Leprechaun, Crunch Berry Beast, SeaDog, Jean LaFoote and of course the Cap’n.

 Come be in a silly, serial-cereal play, a “who or what done it.”  Adults, children and families welcome to audition.  Cereal Thrillers begins Playhouse Smithville’s Saturday Morning Children’s Theatre.  The show will play Friday evenings October 15 and 22, Saturday mornings October 16, 23, and 30 and one special Sunday October 31 matinee which will include a costume contest before audience and cast members go out trick-or-treating.

 Cereal Thrillers auditions Saturday, September 18 at 2:00 PM.  Come dressed to play and have fun. Playhouse Smithville, 110 Main Street.   For more information or to purchase pre-sale tickets visit www.playhousesmithville.com or call 512 360-7397.

The interview was from:   www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews

  INTERVIEW: Ernie Hudson

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 at 3:41 pm  

Recently we got the chance to interview the great Ernie Hudson. Being the huge Ghostbusters nut I am, naturally the interview got pushed on me. Currently Mr. Hudson is involved with a film titled Doonby:

Sam Doonby, a mysterious, handsome drifter gets off a Greyhound bus in a small Texas town and finds work at Leroy’s Country Blues Bar where his great musical talents make him very popular, especially with Laura, the beautiful but spoiled daughter of successful doctor Cyrus Reaper. Sam always seems to be in the right place at the right time to avert disasters befalling the town and its people until suspicion and jealousy drive folks to ask who he is and where he comes from.  Even Laura starts to question him so now he disappears as quickly as he came and things start to go badly wrong. His rejection results in terrible shocks for the whole town, not least for the doctor and his family as Cyrus’ past comes back to haunt him.

Below is the conversation Ernie and I had about Doonby, as well as a few other things:

BSR!: What’s new in your life right now?

Ernie Hudson: Right now things are going well, obviously the film Doonby that John Schneider and me that we did in Texas. That’s the that’s happening most relevant right now. I also do have a reoccurring on the Secret Life of a Teenager, and you know, just staying busy doing Law & Order last season. I didn’t get picked up this season. And I’m always looking for something fun and exciting to be a part of.

Sure, so you play Leroy in this upcoming Doonby movie, correct?

Right, yah. He’s a blues musician who decided to settle down and runs a night club. I hire Jon’s character and it’s about friendship and the music. To me he’s an interesting character because he’s a guy just trying to reconcile that thing of which you love to do and how do you make peace with the woman that you love. And how do you hold things together but still be who you are. And somehow be responsible for all these people who surround your life. I really liked the character a lot, it was a great character.

That’s wonderful. How soon does this movie come out?

I think they are looking at the Fall. They haven’t given me any exact dates. I think they are shooting for a Fall release, I’m told. I’m not totally sure yet.

ON SET: Doonby

Film: Doonby

Location: Smithville, TX

 

Synopsis: Sam Doonby, is a happy-go-lucky drifter who takes up residence in a small Texas town but seems suspiciously immune to the misfortunes that beset the other townsfolk.

 

I have a supporting role in a feature film called Doonby, shooting this month.  The film was written and is being directed by Peter Mackenzie. The cast is an amazing group of actors - John Schneider, Robert Davi, Will Wallace, Jenn Gotzon, Joe Estevez and, of course, many others talents!

Here is a photo from our last “crowded bar scene” and Ernie Hudson’s last day on set.

Doonby Castorama! From left: Myself, Tom Lagleder, Dwayne, Lizabeth Waters, John Schneider, Jenn Gotzon, Ernie Hudson, Brandi Blevins 

Below is the Katy House, run by Sallie and Bruce, the most generous couple one could hope to find wandering on location.  Sallie hosted the principal cast at the house so we didnt need to wait in trailers or tents the whole day.  It was good to have a ‘home front’ to camp out for most of the day.  Thanks again, Sallie and Bruce!

Katy House 

Katy House owner: Sallie (with a friends on the porch) 

Katy House: Living Room “Home” for three days of shooting 

In the film, I play a swinger who is intrigued with Sam Doonby’s charisma as well as integrity.  Below is myself and my on-screen hubby, Tom Lagleder in full costume.

Swingers on set 

Sallie always gets pictures with the cast of films that come through her house.  This is our token “fireplace mantel” shot with her

Myself, Sallie and Tom 

There’s a lot of meandering and waiting to shoot on any set.  Smithville has a particularly interesting vibe, a small town chill that can only be felt, not described. I’m quite happy to slow down and wait around in Smithville, TX.

Smithvillery 

Waiting in my trailer, I often took off my red heels, which then became interesting subject matter.

Red Hells, i mean Heels 

And this is the woman who put me in those shoes

Wardrobe department (extraordinaire) 

I found out at the end of the day why people were asking Scotti (below) for guitar picks while we chat.  He is co-guitarist for Skid Row (and an awesome dude as well!)

Scotti Hill, co-guitarist for Skid Row 

Skid Row (Scottie on left) 

After the bar scene wrap, there was a small afterparty at the Tamble’s House, the location where I’ll shoot my next scenes May 31, June 1.  Im ready to go back to Smithville and see everyone again!

Afterparty! From left: Chris Armstrong, Jenn Gotzon, Tom Lagleder (who got shafted by a mystery shadow) and Myself 

Look for the film early 2011!