When Hollywood Came To Utah

For nearly a hundred years, the state of Utah has played host to scores of Hollywood films, from potboilers on lean budgets to some of the most memorable films ever made, including The Searchers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Footloose, and Thelma &telling how these films were made, what happened on and off set, and more. As one Utah rancher memorably said, Hollywood moviemakers "don't take anything but pictures and don't leave anything but money." James V. D'Arc, Ph.D., is Curator of the BYU Motion Picture Archive, the BYU Film Music Archive and the Arts and Communications Archive of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at Brigham Young University. He directs the BYU Motion Picture Archive Film Series, produces a CD series of original motion picture soundtrack, and appears on DVD documentaries dealing with classic films. For over 30 years, Dr. D'Arc has lectured internationally on motion picture history and has taught film courses at BYU. He lives in Orem, Utah.

A profusely illustrated history of moviemaking in Utah, from the early twentieth century to the present. For more than 100 years, the magnificent scenery and locales of Utah have played host to hundreds of Hollywood films and TV episodes, including memorable films such as The Searchers, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, Easy Rider, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Thelma & Louise, and Forrest Gump. This book gives readers the inside scoop on how these films were made, what happened on and off set, and more. Author and film historian James V. D’Arc provides a wealth of trivial factoids for movie buffs, including anecdotes about the interactions of Utah locals with actors and crew. New and updated text and photos have been added to the previous edition (When Hollywood Came to Town) to bring this edition up to date with movies and TV shows filmed in Utah since 2010. James V. D’Arc was curator of the BYU Motion Picture Archive at the Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, for 41 years. He lives in Orem, Utah.

A special Centennial Edition celebrating 100 years of Hollywood and indigenous filmmaking in the state of Utah. The magnificent scenery and locales of Utah have played host to hundreds of Hollywood films and TV episodes, including memorable films such as The Searchers, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, Easy Rider, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Thelma & Louise, and Forrest Gump . This new edition, published in celebration of the official centennial of the film industry in Utah, includes a new chapter covering significant TV series headquartered in Salt Lake City and at the Park City Studio, including Touched by an Angel (CBS, 1994-2003); Yellowstone (Paramount, 2018-2020); The Chosen (Angel Studios, 2019-2023); High School Musical (Disney, 2006-present), and Kevin Costner's epic Western series Horizon: An American Saga (2023), now filming in Utah. Also includes a look at the history of Indigenous filmmaking and the contribution of Indigenous people to the entertainment industry in Utah.

For nearly a hundred years, the state of Utah has played host to scores of Hollywood films, from potboilers on lean budgets to some of the most memorable films ever made, including The Searchers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Footloose, and Thelma & Louise. This book gives readers the inside scoop, telling how these films were made, what happened on and off set, and more. As one Utah rancher memorably said to Hollywood moviemakers "don't take anything but pictures and don't leave anything but money."

Artists and filmmakers in the early twentieth century reshaped our vision of the American West. In particular, the Taos Society of Artists and the California-based artist Maynard Dixon departed from the legendary depiction of the “Wild West” and fostered new images, or brands, for western art. This volume, illustrated with more than 150 images, examines select paintings and films to demonstrate how these artists both enhanced and contradicted earlier representations of the West. Prior to this period, American art tended to portray the West as a wild frontier with untamed lands and peoples. Renowned artists such as Henry Farny and Frederic Remington set their work in the past, invoking an environment immersed in conflict and violence. This trademark perspective began to change, however, when artists enamored with the Southwest stamped a new imprint on their paintings. The contributors to this volume illuminate the complex ways in which early-twentieth-century artists, as well as filmmakers, evoked a southwestern environment not just suspended in time but also permanent rather than transient. Yet, as the authors also reveal, these artists were not entirely immune to the siren call of the vanishing West, and their portrayal of peaceful yet “exotic” Native Americans was an expansion rather than a dismissal of earlier tropes. Both brands cast a romantic spell on the West, and both have been seared into public consciousness. Branding the American West is published in association with the Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Provo, Utah, and the Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas.

List of charter members of the society: v. 1, p. 98-99.

For well more than a century, Western films have embodied the United States' most fundamental doctrine--expansionism--and depicted, in a uniquely American way, the archetypal battle between good and evil. Westerns also depict a country defined and re-defined by complex crises. World War II transformed the genre as well as the nation's identity. Since then, Hollywood filmmakers have been fighting America's ideological wars onscreen by translating modern-day politics into the timeless mythology of the Old West. This book surveys the most iconic and influential Westerns, examines Hollywood stars and their political stripes and reveals the familiar Western tropes--which became elements in popular action, science fiction and horror films. This then sets the stage for the Western revival of the 1990s and a period of reinvention in the 21st century. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.