Excerpts from Ben Boulden's column in the Ft. Smith Times Record Tuesday, April 15, p. 2B:

"Fort Smith" may become a television show.

According to a news release from the AMC cable network and information on a TV Guide Web site, Robert Cochran, producer of "24" on the Fox television network, has an agreement with AMC to produce a post-Civil War western titled "Fort Smith."

Although I have long since given up hope of true, historical accuracy coming out of Hollywood, I hope that if we're lucky enough to see a finished series with that title on AMC next year, then it will approximately follow events and what we know about the people around here.

Please, no snow-capped Rockies standing in for the Ozarks Mountains as in "True Grit"--the 1969 classic starring John Wayne.

Speaking of which, rumor has it the Coen Brothers want to remake the movie, returning to the Charles Portis novel as source material and not copying what was done before on film.

No one has contacted Bill Black about it, he said, but he did once meet actor Morgan Freeman . . . when he paid the historic site a visit almost 10 years ago.

Alas, the Bass Reeves biopic in which Freeman was interested has remained in what cinema folks call "development hell." That means it hasn't found enough financial and other support to be made.

Ft. Smith would have all the elements for a really good series. Many of the deputy Marshals operating out of there were true American heroes; others had feet of clay. But, the dynamics and interplay which screenwriters would have readily available from the surviving files of the court could be devised into wonderful story plots. Bass Reeves' story is something America needs. He was muy hombre, gigantic in personality and exploits.
Might be, the hang up is because the 'money people' don't believe the place, times, and people are sexy. There seems to be a Hollywood/New York hangup that the Old West happened only in Arizona and New Mexico; sometimes Colorado or Wyoming, where the place names are Hispanic. (Kansas is excepted because it's on the way to Az.) Come up with a sexy title and attitudes might change.

From information gathered on the internet, much of the story will be fictional. It will concern a deputy U.S. marshal named Isiah Parker and his posse going after outlaws in the Five Corners region of the Indian Territory which is the home of five Indian tribes. This is the way the it was written in the description. It is evident the deputies' name is a play on Judge Isaac Parker's name. That was all I could gather. I hope they keep some historical integrity involved in the production.

This is very interesting and I hope this series does bloom into reality.

I visited with author Elmer Kelton in San Angelo, TX a few months ago and we talked about western fiction as well as western history. Younger people overall do not read very much. Secondly, people who do read are turning away from westerns and this is a shame.

My local Super Wal-mart's book section no longer seperates western books. They are all thrown in under fiction. If I find a western book I am lucky.

Therefore, I tend to visit a major book store when looking for new books.

Being there is a smaller audience, the backers of any western books or TV series would likely consider the possibility of low ratings.

Thanks for informing about this possibility. I for one, hope they do it!