The quirky plot in the mini-movie “Halfway to Amarillo,” produced by Burt Binder, involves a struggling writer, Michael Coleman, who finds his life turned upside down when his Western novel’s outlaw Eli West and crooked sheriff Morgan Ambrose escape the page and appear in his life, forcing him to wrangle with his own creations while racing against a deadline.
“It was filmed in the San Fernando Valley here in California, where I’m based,“ said Binder. “Growing up, my family and I would drive to Nashville every summer, and we always stopped in Amarillo along the way. I loved the place — and the name stuck with me.”
In the film, Coleman is pushing a deadline and experiencing writer’s block when his created characters appear in the flesh and wreak havoc, while he tries to explain modern life to them. It makes a viewer wonder what people from the Old West would think about life today.
In one scene, the rough sheriff is in the middle of the street, pointing a gun at an oncoming car. Coleman is yelling at him to get out of the street and trying to explain what the car is, while the sheriff is wondering where the horses are.
“Halfway to Amarillo” has become an award-winning, 82-minute Western comedy whose fictional Old West characters come to life in a comical, absurdist tale. Filmed in just 11 days on a budget under $60,000, it has earned a 9/10 from Film Threat, a 4.5-star rating from Michael Knox-Smith, and coverage in “Variety” and “MovieWeb”. The film won Best Independent Feature at the IFS Los Angeles Film Festivaland audience awards at festivals, includingthe Lake Travis Film Festival, RiverRun, and Malibu, according to the producer.
“On one of our stops in Amarillo, we took our dog Hogan on a beautiful hike at Wildcat Bluffs. He was going blind at the time, so we wanted him to experience as much nature as possible beforehand. Sadly, he has since passed,” Binder said. “On another trip, I remember going to an airplane and space museum. I was very into planes, so my dad took me to see them in person. It was very exciting. I will always have fond memories of Amarillo, and I plan on going back soon to see how much it has grown.”
“My favorite genre has always been Westerns,” he added. “I grew up watching ‘Lonesome Dove,’ ‘The Searchers,’ ‘Once Upon a Time in the West,’ and ‘3:10 to Yuma.’ The beautiful vistas and quiet, calm vibe were so new and foreign to me, as someone who grew up in Los Angeles. I used to imagine the history of the place; seeing so much nature untouched by time made my imagination run wild.”
Binder said the title “Sundown in Amarillo” came to him years ago as a name for a Western, and the novel the character is writing in the new film is based on that original idea. “Over time, because of practical constraints, I ended up folding it into this story as a ‘story within a story,’ which gave me a way to finally use it,” he said.
“Halfway to Amarillo” is currently streaming free in the United States on such outlets as Amazon Prime, Tubi, Plex, and Fandango, with an international release scheduled for later this month.
It’s a funny, quirky story about a mixed-up time travel, well worth streaming for a few kicks.