Howard Koch has a real love affair going with "Utah's Little Hollywood," a k a Kanab. The 83-year-old filmmaker first "discovered" the southern Utah community while working as a second assistant director on someone else's film -- 1953's "The Naked Spur."
So when the makers of "Yellow Tomahawk" were looking for a scenic location to shoot their film later that year, Koch, who had by this time become a producer, said he knew the ideal place."(Kanab) has these majestic canyons where you can look out forever," Koch said during a telephone interview from Southern California. "It just cries out to be photographed. It's so perfect."
Now in a state of semi-retirement, Koch spoke from his office on the Paramount Pictures lot; he served as vice president of production at Paramount during the '80s.
Koch said that as director or producer, he returned to Kanab with 10 other film productions over the next decade, making such Westerns as "Fort Yuma" (1955), "War Drums" (1957), "Fort Bowie" (1958) and "Sergeants 3" (1962), the latter starring Frank Sinatra and the "Rat Pack."
"We started our own little cottage industry out there, Koch recalled. "The whole community got involved in each production. In fact, we'd look for ways to include the locals in each film. They'd be our extras, our stunt men. Sometimes they'd even get small parts in the film, depending on their acting ability. They really loved us, and it was mutual."
Koch is returning to Kanab next week, as one of the guests of honor for the first "Western Legends Round-Up," a three-day festival of events intended to "develop, promote and preserve (Utah's) western legends, culture and heritage," according to promoters.
The roundup, which runs Sept. 9-11, will include live performances by cowboy singers, poets and other entertainers from around the country. It will also feature a mini-film festival with screenings of Koch's works (exactly which films will be shown had not been determined at press time).
Also, Kanab officials are planning to give Koch the key to the city, as well as unveiling the first plaque in the Kanab Walk of Fame, which will be dedicated to Koch.
The veteran filmmaker said he he is looking forward to the event, especially his duties as host for a panel discussion on "The Real Cowboy vs. the Reel Cowboy."
"When we were out here filming, I got to know several ranchers and got to see what the real cowboy lifestyle was all about," Koch said. "It was nothing like the movies. Those guys are much
tougher than any on-screen cowpokes."
One star who learned that lesson the hard way was crooner-turned-actor Sinatra, who starred in two westerns for Koch, "Sergeants 3" and the 1963 comedy, "4 For Texas."
"Frank was as tough a guy as they come, but I don't think he was prepared for what those roles entailed," Koch said. "At first, the riders made it really hard on him, so he could see what being a cowboy was really like."
Eventually, Sinatra did warm to Kanab. In fact, he wound up building a swimming hole for the town's youngsters and insisted that the set for "Sergeants 3" remain standing as a tourist attraction and a monument to his working relationship with Kanab.
"I don't think people really understand what a warm person Frank was," said Koch, who worked during the 1960s as the executive producer for Frank Sinatra Enterprises. "But if you got to know him, he was one of the kindest, most loyal people you could ever meet. And he really grew to love Kanab."
While Koch remains hopeful that Hollywood will rediscover the movie western, he realizes that many studio heads believe the genre is dead. (Aside from this year's big-screen retooling of "Wild Wild West," the last "real" film westerns were 1993's "Geronimo: An American Legend" and 1994's "Maverick," both partially filmed in southern Utah.)
"It costs a lot of money to mount a huge production on the scale of an epic western, and they're just not willing to put out that much money for something they think is a risk," Koch explained. "I think it's a real pity, because there are a lot of filmmakers out there who I think could make a great western. Spielberg, for one, would be a real natural."
But even if Hollywood rediscovered the western, Koch said he would still be reluctant to make one in the current film environment. (His last big-screen production was the 1990 "Ghost.")
"I'm disgusted, frankly, at the state of filmmaking," he said. "All the violence, the sex, the language that's so awful. It's like no one really knows how to make a good, clean picture anymore.
"You feel afraid for all the kids who are watching all these movies nowadays. What kind of education are they getting from all that? I'm glad I don't have to see that garbage and even gladder I don't have to have my name attached to any of it."
Still, he is proud to have passed on his legacy to his son, Howard Koch Jr., who has become a film producer in his own right. (The younger Koch's works include "Primal Fear," "Heaven Can Wait," "Wayne's World" and both of the "Airplane!" movies.)
"I find myself hoping that maybe he can help turn things around (in Hollywood)," Koch said. "But I know he feels the same way as I do -- that things are out of control and they're just getting worse. It's very disheartening."
Advance tickets for many events at the "Western Legends Round-Up" are now available; there are also a number of free-of-charge events scheduled. For information, call Denny's Wigwam at 1-888-644-5033 or 1-435-644-2452, or the Kane County Office of Tourism, 1-435-644-5033 or 1-800-733-5263.
Information on specific events is also available of the festival Web site www.kaneutah.com; click on "Western Legends Round-Up".