Wednesday, August 5, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
The Bunkhouse
Chronicle
Craig Rullman
Columnist
Lights. Camera.
Cowboys.
It was late June, but there
was frost on my bedroll
when I woke up in the dark
at the Murphy Ranch cow
camp on South Flat, about
25 miles up the Chewaucan
River from Paisley, Oregon.
I was there 4 along with
cinematographer Samuel
Pyke 4 to begin film-
ing The Len Babb Movie
Project, which was an idea
that flashed into my head
two months earlier while
riding my colt.
I had just finished watch-
ing a couple of documentary
films about cowboys and the
life 4 <Fishtail,= and <The
Highly Exalted= 4 and
couldn9t shake the thought:
I can do one better than that.
Which was an especially
arrogant idea, given I had
zero experience making
movies. I could barely make
my iPhone camera work.
But I have learned to listen
to that little creative voice
4 in this case it was simply
screaming in my ears4and
also I am prone to creative
manias that smash any fear
of failure like an ugly bug.
The challenges of mak-
ing a world-class movie 4
with world-class production
values 4 are immense,
but sometimes we arrive
at a confluence of vision,
preparation, and opportu-
nity that9s better left unex-
amined. Sometimes we
just have to embrace the
confidence to go where the
waters are taking us.
In this case I was drawn
to make a film about the
Paisley, Oregon, artist and
cowboy Len Babb. I wanted
to make a film about his 80
years making a living in
the saddle 4 a feat almost
unheard of anymore 4 and
about his accomplished
artwork& but also about
something else.
In an era where it seems
we have gone internal,
and are intent on devour-
ing ourselves, I wanted
to make a film about val-
ues 4 about faith, family,
friends, and community, set
against a backdrop of some
of Oregon9s most intensely
beautiful country 4 and in
a town where working cow-
boys remain the pillars of a
threatened culture.
But there was some-
thing else. I wanted to get as
many local people involved
as I could. I wanted origi-
nal music from Sisters
local musicians 4 Jim
Cornelius, Mike Biggers,
Lilli Worona, and a talented
ZX Ranch cowboy named
Jody Cooper 4 and to have
Keith Banning at Grange
Recorders lay it all down in
his Sisters studio. I wanted
adult supervision and a local
producer, and got one when
Cris Converse came on
board the project.
I wanted Samuel Pyke,
a Sisters native, to film it
because he has travelled
the world with his cam-
eras 4 and he has a lot of
them 4 filming sequences
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that are second to nobody.
I wanted to build a movie
around local collaborations
4 on the production end
in Sisters, and on the nar-
rative end by Len9s family
and friends around Paisley
4 and as far out east as
Juntura.
All of these big ideas
cost money, of course.
So one day I sat in my
barn while the horses ate and
the rain came down and put
together a call to action, a
request for help, and tossed
it out into a world seething
in the grip of a pandemic,
lousy politics, and appar-
ently endless strife.
And in the midst of all
that ugliness the world has
answered with a tremen-
dous outpouring of enthu-
siasm and assistance, and
with an often-expressed
desire to see something built
around cycles of life, natural
beauty, and creativity, rather
than cycles of despair, dis-
temper, and destruction.
That first morning on
South Flat, where Len
Babb and half dozen other
cowboys from neighbor-
ing ranches had gathered to
help the Murphy9s gather
and brand some 800 calves
4 I felt that odd frisson,
that elevating lightness of
mind, that can only come
when a creative project has
real legs.
Five minutes into film-
ing, when the light was per-
fect and there was a lace-
curtain of steam rising out
of Morgan Creek, young
Paisley buckaroo Tyler
Mecham got in a bronc ride
on a cold-backed palomino
4 just as they were trotting
out to get around the cows. It
was dicey for a minute, but
in the end Tyler forked that
bronc, and Sam got the shot.
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15
PHOTO COURTESY SAM PYKE, HILL SHADOW PICTURES
Branding at Murphy Ranch, South Flat. The Len Babb Movie Project is an
artisan project — with every aspect of the production rooted in Sisters
and Central Oregon.
And that9s when I knew
beyond a doubt 4 come
hell or high water 4 we
were going to see this all the
way to the end.
We can never know what
will become of our projects
in the long run. We build
them on a vision, and like
children they grow up with
their own ideas. This movie
project has grown exponen-
tially, and in surprising fash-
ion, from where it started. It
has led to other opportuni-
ties. It has helped a spec-
trum of people understand
how valued they are, and
how valued their work is.
Which, I think, is ultimately
why we create such things:
to show care for each other,
and to find value in each
other.
Which is what my
cowboy movie is really
about.
Editor9s note: To view a
trailer from The Len Babb
Movie Project, visit https://
w w w. g o f u n d m e . c o m / f /
len-babb-movie-project or
find The Len Babb Movie
Project on Facebook.
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