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Red Headed Stranger-Willie Nelson’s Vision

Willie and Bill and ‘The Red Headed Stranger’ 

By Henry C. Parke

“When I recorded the Red Headed Stranger album,” in 1975, Willie Nelson wrote, “I had in mind doing a Red Headed Stranger movie to go along with it. I had a big dream of an album and a movie out at the same time, each promoting the other. It didn’t work out that way.”

The song Red Headed Stranger was not written by or for Willie; it was written by Carl Stutz and Edith Calisch, for Perry Como, but due to contract disputes, Como never heard it. But others did, and recorded it, and it had become a favorite of Willie’s when, in 1956, he was a deejay for a Fort Worth radio station. “Guitar Boogie Smith’s version was a classic. It was the perfect tune to help parents put their kids down for a nap.” That’s assuming the kids weren’t listening to the lyrics, about a “red headed stranger” shooting a “yellow haired woman” for trying to steal his bay pony.

But even then, “I saw the song as an epic movie. And as a redhead, I naturally cast myself in the leading role.”

This was the era of “concept albums” like The Who’s Tommy. It was perfect timing for Red Headed Stranger—Willie’s 18th studio album, and his first with total artistic control. Willie told his story by weaving a mix of new songs he’d composed, like It Was the Time of the Preacher and Blue Rock Montana, with classics like the title track, and Fred Rose’s Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.

At a time when country music recording had become ultra-sophisticated and complex, Stranger was incredibly stripped-down and basic: just Willie’s vocal, an acoustic guitar, and occasionally a keyboard and a discreet drum. Columbia Records’ response was: nice demo. When do you record the album? They were furious when they learned this was the finished album, but his contract was airtight, and they had to release it as is, in May 1975. It was such a hit that Willie became known as the Red Headed Stranger, and his cover of Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain became his first No. 1 hit.

But there was no movie—and after all, Willie Nelson was no movie star. Yet. But in 1979, a chance meeting with Robert Redford at a New York charity event became a career turning point for Willie. The movie star thought, with his relaxed demeanor, Willie could make an easy transition to film acting. Willie surprised film director Sydney Pollack by calling and asking for a role in Redford’s next film, Electric Cowboy. He ended up playing Redford’s manager, and a year later he was the lead in Honeysuckle Rose, with Dyan Cannon and Amy Irving fighting over him, giving hope and inspiration to scruffy men everywhere!

Fellow Texan Bill Wittliff, who co-wrote the Honeysuckle Rose screenplay, had his career breakthrough the previous year with The Black Stallion and would achieve Western cinema immortality for scripting Lonesome Dove. Bill and Willie became fast friends, and Bill happily took on the assignment of adapting Red Headed Stranger from album to screenplay, fleshing out the plot that is hinted at in the songs. He made it the story of a town dominated by the evil Claver family, who controls the town by controlling the supply of drinking water, until a preacher arrives, and stands up to them, with dramatic results.

Wittliff did it so well that Universal Pictures wanted to make it. Willie writes, “My idea was to make the movie with their money through my production company. Of course, I’d play the Red Headed Stranger. Universal didn’t see it that way. They saw Robert Redford in the role.” To make matters worse, Redford wasn’t sure that he saw himself in the role, and while he hemmed and hawed for a couple of years, Universal lost interest.

Then, in the mid-1980s, Willie Nelson did what all frustrated filmmakers want to do, but few dare to: “I bought the rights [to Red Headed Stranger] back and, together with writer Bill Wittliff, became a producer. That meant finding my own money.” Wittliff would also direct. Willie got a quarter of the film’s paltry million-dollar budget from poultry titan Don Tyson. Willie began building sets on his property west of Austin, Texas, beside his Pedernales Country Club Golf Course. “I built an 1870s frontier town. We put in the facades of a bank, stables, stores, and a church.” He also built a complete saloon which, like most of the town, is still standing and in frequent use. He named his town Luck, because, “When you’re here, you’re in Luck. When you’re not, you’re outta Luck.”

Casting was an unconventional mix. A few cast members were familiar. Hefty, deep-voiced, intimidating R.G. Armstrong, a Peckinpah favorite, usually playing a religious fanatic, played a lawman who had lost his courage. Scarecrow-thin Royal Dano, the model and voice of The Great Emancipator in Disneyland’s Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, played evil patriarch Larn Claver. Willie’s band members, Bee Spears and Paul English, and Willie’s lawyer Joe Longley have parts.

Aside from Willie as Rev. Julian Shay, the most important casting was for the two women in Shay’s life, his wife, Raysha, and his later romantic interest, Laurie. He aimed high and hit two bullseyes. For Laurie, he wanted, and got, Katharine Ross. For Raysha, he wanted fellow Texan Morgan Fairchild.

“Willie and I have been friends for so long,” Fairchild told Rob Word for the award-winning YouTube talk show, A Word on Westerns. But she was dubious about how he wanted to go about shooting, taking a few days off at a time from touring to shoot for a few days.  “And I said, Willie, it’s not really a very cost-effective way to shoot a movie. Actors could die on you. It’ll cost you a fortune.” He kept calling her, asking “… what are you doing in August?” Then: “Morgan, what are you doing in March? I’m serious this time. Finally, we got all the money together.” She had her doubts. “I’ve got an off-Broadway play and a TV movie to do, but I’ll turn it down if you guys really got the money,” Fairchild replied.

They had barely begun shooting when troubles began. “There were disagreements between me and the investment company,” Willie revealed, “so they dropped out, leaving us in the middle of the first week of shooting.” Willie had a clever solution, albeit a temporary one: “I started writing hot checks.”

Of course, Morgan Fairchild didn’t know that. “So, I turned down everything. I arrive on the set, they’ve already been shooting for about a week with Katharine Ross. I get out there in the middle of nowhere at Willie’s ranch. And Willie says, ‘Morgan, I just want you to know we got an heiress coming down from Boston tonight. We got the money to finish the movie.” It was true. Journalist Cheryl McCall was covering the filming for Life magazine, and when she saw the trouble they were in, she flew east and spoke to heiress (and Willie Nelson fanatic) Carolyn Mugar, who not only bankrolled the rest of the film, which turned out nicely—she also ended up running the Cambridge office for Willie’s Farm Aid.

About Henry C. Parke

Henry’s new book, The Greatest Westerns Ever Made, and the People Who Made Them, published by TwoDot, is now available. The Brooklyn-born, L.A.-based writer has contributed articles to the INSP blog since 2016, been Film Editor for True West since 2015, and has written Henry’s “Western Round-up,” the online report on Western film production, since 2010. His screenwriting credits include Speedtrap (1977) and Double Cross (1994). He’s the first writer welcomed into the Western Writers of America for his work in electronic media. He’s done audio commentary on nearly thirty Spaghetti and domestic Westerns.

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