"Christian Haren, who once appeared on TV as the Marlboro Man, was a fixture in San Francisco's castro district when Nancy Kates interviewed him for her short video castro Cowboy (1993). Still fit and trim, he'd had AIDS for seven years and was relishing his role as a lecturer on safe sex--though he does declare, 'I don't want to be admired. I want to get laid.'
"Far more polished and informative is Kyle Henry'sAmerican Cowboy(1997), an affectionate, angst-free portrait of a 39-year-old professional rodeo rider named Gene, who's from a small town in south Texas. Gene and his boyfriend Stephen come across as regular guys--chatting with friends, coping with Gene's broken leg and the death of his favorite horse, discussing the consequences of coming out and getting married. Their life on the circuit culminates with a gay rodeo where Gene grabs the brass ring despite having one leg in cast--a victory Henry equates with his overcoming other handicaps.
"American Cowboy more effectively argues for gay rights than the half-hour documentaryOur Private Idaho(1997), which preaches to the converted as it chronicles a 1994 political battle in Boise, Idaho, over an anti-gay-rights initiative. This fairly pedestrian account by Clare Muller and Daniel Gallagher shows both sides debating ad nauseam with conviction, but it's also obvious which camp the video makers are in."
The June 5, 1998, feature story from theHouston Chroniclehas a excellent interview with Gene and the print edition carries wonderful color photographs. The newspaper's website omits the pictures, but click through above for the story.
An interview with director Kyle Henry in the Houston Voice discusses Kyle's point of view as a director, producer, filmmaker.
WEEKLY WIREhas recently added an Austin Chronicle review and interview aboutAMERICAN COWBOY to its website. Click through the Film Vault link above to see the articles.
Hot off the presses! The June 1998 issue of International Documentary,The Magazine of the International Documentary Association, in its coverage of the South By Southwest Film festival has this to say about the film. "American Cowboy uniquely exames the American mythology of the Western hero and today's rodeos. Directed by Kyle Henry, a student at the University of Texas-Austin, the film's subject is professional gay rodeo star Gene Mikulenka struggling with coming out to his family, while he mends a leg fractured by a 2,000 pound Brahama bull and proposes to his boyfriend in the months leading up to the world gay rodeo finals. An effective, intimate, ultimately humorous exploration of a man who bends the rules of two different cultures, American Cowboy was extremely popular with SXSW audiences."
American Cowboy is featured in this week's edition in connection with the 1998 Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Check out the story at Shades of Gay .
In connection with the 1998 Houston Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, another great article about our film in the May 15, 1998 issue.
THE HOUSTON VOICEarticle about the upcoming festival.
Here's what the Austin Media had to say about American Cowboywhile it was at the South by Southwest Film Festival. Click through to the Austin Chronicle's articles about our film. Kyle's picture and some comments appear in Real Austin Stories by Jerry Johnson. Marc Savlov also has good things to say in another article inThe Austin Chronicle.Featuring Texas
Real Austin Stories And, there was a nice piece in the Daily Texan, The University of Texas at Austin's daily newspaper on Friday. Here's a copy of that page The Daily TexanFrom the Austin American Statesman two good reviews of the film published on Monday, March 16th.
Here's what one reviewer ofAmerican Cowboyhad to say: "A highly personal, beautifully photographed documentary portrait of Gene Mikulenka, a professional rodeo cowboy who happens to be gay. The film opens as he recovers from a broken leg, then follows his three-month journey to the 1996 International Gay Rodeo Association finals in Albuquerque. Mikulenka's remarkable candor under the camera's relentless eye combines with filmmaker Henry's examination of the private and professional challenges his subject confronts to create a lively and revisionist perspective on cowboy culture."
The film was also well received by the Houston gay media, including a thoughtful review by theHouston Voice, a weekly publication.
Early in the pre-production phase This Week in Texas, TWT,did a feature on the production ofAMERICAN COWBOY.It is a nice piece of journalism by Richard Hebert that
provides some background on Gene Mikulenka and our early plans for the film.
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Updated June 11, 1998