Reprinted with permission from Editor Greg Platt from Stepping Out New Mexico (http://www.SONewMex.com).
Uvalde Texas Releases Movie with Socorro County Roots
Local Wild Horse Preserve Plays Key Part in Film
Uvalde Texas / Socorro NM - March 22 - Take a small town named Uvalde suffering from a prolonged drought, decaying downtown buildings and local ranches
sparse with cattle waiting for rain. Add a wild horse preserve with stunning mountain views near Socorro on a similarly dry ranch in the Rio Grande Valley. Stir
in a deserted Grand Opera House on Uvalde’s town plaza, once alive with cultural events and activity in the wagon yards outside its doors -- waiting patiently
for revival. Add an enthusiastic film producer who doesn’t know the meaning of words like "can’t" or "impossible". Finally, add a population of hardworking
folks who still believe they can achieve anything if they work together. And you have the recipe for creating a new and very special motion picture.
Uvalde, Texas is the town. It had the opera house and industrious locals. Socorro County’s New Mexico Horse Project near Escondida provided local wild
horses, rolling hills and mountains as a backdrop for the film. The movie Road to El Paso is the delicious pastry producer Shiloh Richter pulled out of her video
production oven and released for sale to the public last week.
Socorro County’s Cindy Rodgers LoPopolo Horse Preserve is just a year old but has made a great start. The preserve located on three sections of land near
Escondida and Socorro is named after the late wife of Carlos LoPopolo of Los Lunas. Both Lopopolo and his wife Cindy had an abiding interest in saving wild
horses -- the offspring of horses brought here by Spanish explorers centuries ago.
The first wild Spanish mustangs were released at the preserve in June 2006. A month later a stallion, mare and foal were added to the herd after being bought at
the State Cattle Board auction by preserve founder Carlos LoPopolo and a New Mexico wild horse advocacy group -- the Wild Horse Observers Association
(WHOA).
Asked how Socorro County’s horses and scenery contributed to the film, Shiloh Richter smiled and said, "When I look at the footage I am amazed by the New
Mexico landscape and the shots we got at the preserve. The wild horses are the symbol for the story told in the film." Then she concluded, "We’d love to bring
the video back to New Mexico, to show there what we’ve done." To enjoy Steppin' Out's versions of the preview for the film, click here.
Like Socorro, Uvalde is a community, enriched by two cultures -- Southwest Texas and Mexican-American -- that was just waiting for a chance to show its true
colors. So, when opportunity knocked the community eagerly adopted the Road to El Paso project. Over time, Uvalde proved it was more than just a movie set.
The town put its heart to every aspect of production writing, acting, set design, costuming, and wrangling. Costumes stored at the old Opera House came off
hangers to get washed, ironed and repaired; an empty downtown building was reborn as a 19th century saloon. Even city leaders took roles as Texas Rangers
and explorers to bring this two-era western -- a full-color modern story and an 1800s sepia-toned western -- to life.
Along the way, the town’s creative impulses were reignited. As many know, art can become the heart of a town. Helping make this film gave many – who had
few roots in Uvalde’s past – chances to become part of its history. The project gave place to old values and a new outlook. Ranchers and hunting lodge owners
opened their gates to help characters come to life. Even horses, normally used only for ranch work and shows got their moments in the spotlight too.
Retired teacher Jama Brown, who was film star Matthew McConaughey’s kindergarten teacher, delighted in the fact that a western was being made in her town.
"That’s what children are missing these days, the heroes of westerns. The values westerns taught." Local University students took roles, sewed costumes,
stayed up late hanging chandeliers and tea-stained curtains, polishing old barstools or rubbing dirt on actors’ faces. Local businessmen and women offered
restaurants, props, drinks and buckets of encouragement. It seems movies aren’t just for Hollywood anymore. The heart of creativity belongs in towns where
stories like this are born, can be nurtured, provide opportunities, stimulate more stories, and reflect community values. Such stories are important for any town
to tell. Keeping the stories alive also brings new life to the communities where the stories were originally born.
On the last day of filming, after nearly two years of production, the community stopped to honor the history of entertainment in the area, pooling their funds to buy
bronze plaques for Dale Evans, Matthew McConaughey, Dana Andrews and Grammy Award Winning group Los Palominos to place in Uvalde’s Plaza, the heart
of a town where cultural activity and events can once again dance the night away on the Plaza, rejoicing in the community’s spirit of creativity and the
knowledge of what people can achieve when they work together.
Now that the movie is ready to sell, local stores in Uvalde proudly display the product of their town’s labor of love. Road to El Paso is available on DVD at www.
thetexasranch.net. Steppin' Out looks forward to hearing retailers in Socorro are also selling this modern-day western with strong local roots too.
A portion of the profits from the film will go to Socorro’s New Mexican Horse Preserve to help protect what became the symbol of the story – the wild horses that,
like creativity and the spirit of the West itself, should always run free.
For more information about Road to El Paso, or to buy your own copy of the movie, visit www.TheTexasRanch.net, contact producer Shiloh Richter at 830-988-
2804, or send email to shiloh@thetexasranch.net. A short preview of the film is available on the front page of www.TheTexasRanch.net. If you're from the
Socorro or Escondida New Mexico area, be sure to look for the smiling wild horses from Socorro County. Those mountains in the background should look
familiar too.
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