South Central New Mexico

“Scandalous John” (1971), starring Brian Keith with music by Rod McKuen. Filming locations include Alamogordo. A G-rated, Disney movie, “Scandalous John” retells the Don Quixote story as a modern comedic western. John McCanless, played by Brian Keith, and his side kick, Paco, played by Alfonso Arau, embark on a one-steer cattle drive to save McCanless’ ranch. Made when Walt Disney was still alive, but not released until after his death, it was not widely promoted or distributed. The movie has…

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As “On the Waterfront” was winning Oscars during the 1954 Academy Awards, including for director Elia Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg, another movie dealing with unions was actively being suppressed across the country. The juxtaposition of “Salt of the Earth,” filmed in Grant County, New Mexico using real strikers and telling the thinly veiled the story of the Empire Zinc mine strike of 1951 with the movie taking place on the docks of New Jersey, similar on the surface could…

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“Ring of Fear” is part “Halloween,” part “The Greatest Show on Earth” and part “Mike Hammer, Private Eye.” Only very partially filmed in New Mexico, the movie begins with a documentary feel as the Clyde Beatty Circus is shown unloading equipment, circus animals and various acts while roustabouts set up the tents and a narrator welcomes viewers to a place that “brings joy and happiness to the young and old, the hopeless and despairing of the world.” The scene quickly…

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