Cowboy Country Meets Hollywood!

Ruby Mountain Film Festival 2011 Elko Nevada, USA 

Sixty years ago Lowell Thomas called Elko “the last real cow town in the American West.” Film buffs and movie goers have enjoyed 100’s of Western films since that time. There has been a huge revival of Western films from "No Country for Old Men" and "3:10 to Yuma" recently to "True Grit" currently. RMFF will offer a retrospect of the modern depictions of the American Cowboy as it was the Western movies which shaped the worlds view of the West.

Although the Elko area is known by many as “Cowboy Country” its love of the cinematic experience has ties back to the 1940’s. Older residents of Elko may still remember the day when Hollywood Rancheros such as Bing Crosby, Joel McRae, and Jimmy Stewart owned ranches nearby and roamed about providing glamour and sophistication to the area. Elko entered a golden age at the end of the 1940’s.

On February 7, 1948 Bing Crosby was named “Honorary Mayor of Elko” and held that post until his death in 1977. In July 1950 Bing Crosby also became a member of the Western Shoshone-Paiute tribe at Owyhee, near Elko. His Indian name was “Sond-Hoo-Vi-A-Gund” (the man of many songs). On July 30, 1951 Bing was in Elko for the world premier of “Here Comes the Groom”. The movie premiered at the Hunter Theater, which is now the Commercial Casino parking lot.

In 1985 Cowboy Poetry was revived again and in 2000 received its national title. In 2005 the Western film “Don’t Come Knocking” was shot and set in Elko. The film was directed by Wim Wenders and co-written by Wenders and the film’s star Sam Shepard. Local saddle maker The J.M. Capriola Co. not only does worldwide business making saddles right upstairs in their shop but has notably made saddles for President Reagan, Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford.  If you are not careful, you just might bump into an actor or filmmaker in Elko today.

We currently have 71 films submitted from the following countries:  Israel, Argentina, France, Australia, India, Iran, Iraq, Canada, Russian Federation, Turkey, Finland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Mexico, Spain, Japan, and Indonesia.

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