State of Patriots

This Independence Day weekend, the Autry Museum of Western Heritage will screen a patriotic movie, complete with soaring anthems on the soundtrack and shots of flags waving proudly. Kids should see it. It’s educational, and even has plenty of shoot-em-up stuff--as you’d expect in an American historical epic.

And there will be a discussion of the movie at Saturday’s screening, led by Dr. Doyce B. Nunis, professor emeritus of history at the University of Southern California.

But, from the first shot in the film and the first soaring verses from an unseen chorus, viewers will notice the republic being celebrated is, as the flag on the screen makes clear, the California Republic. Have you ever noticed that’s the slogan on our state flag? It refers to a brief, exciting period about 150 years ago, before we became a state.

Ah, you might say, this is sneaky propaganda linking Independence Day to something like Valley secession. No, this movie is part of a series of summer and fall screenings at the Autry Museum, “California Chronicle: Through the Lens of Hollywood.”

This weekend’s film, titled simply “California,” is just a little off the normal patriotic path, and something else for kids to think about at this time in July. Among other things, Monday marks the date that some Californians began commemorating annually 150 years ago--after naval forces landed in Monterey and claimed California as a U.S. possession in 1846.

This year, and for the next three years, commemorations are planned all over the state leading up to September 2000, the 150th anniversary of California’s admission to the Union. California State Parks recently published a guide to sites where important historical events happened in Southern California, and a special Sesquicentennial “Passport,” which kids and their families can get “stamped” at 22 sites, just like folks get their passports stamped on a tour of the world.

In this weekend’s movie, the stars Ray Milland and Barbara Stanwyck face off with a fictional bunch of businessmen who are trying to take over California. The movie villains try to turn California into an independent republic, which they will rule themselves, rather than letting the people have an election and vote to take California into the American Union as a new state protected by American law.

Armed to the teeth, the crooks also try to take over California’s most valuable natural resources, especially water and minerals.

In his presentation Saturday, Nunis will point out how real and fictional events have been mixed up or compressed by the filmmakers.

In reality, California did declare itself an independent republic, complete with a flag--which we use today. The whole event lasted only three weeks. Then, people got interested in becoming a part of the U.S., and took several years to organize a vote on statehood, Nunis points out.

But, referring to the epic scenes at the beginning of the movie, he notes, “There was a wagon train heading west in 1848 at the time gold was discovered, although there’s no way word could have reached them to cause the race.”

The first people to exploit the gold discovery, he points out, were those who arrived by boat. But, in the main, their dominance was because they went into business and got rich selling food and supplies to miners, or by “claim jumping”--stealing miners’ mineral-bearing land.

“The movie does depict the enormous controversy over mining rights,” Nunis says. Out of the often violent confrontations such as those shown in the movie, “what evolved was America’s earliest mining law,” he says.

BE THERE

“California,” an epic western movie about California’s move to statehood, screens at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles. Saturday’s screening includes a discussion led by Doyce B. Nunis, USC professor emeritus of history. $3 adults, $2 students and seniors. (213) 667-2000.

“California’s Historical Landmarks,” available from California State Parks at $11.95, and “California State Parks--California 150: First Steps to Statehood Passport,” a special sesquicentennial guide at $2.50. To order, call (800) 777-0639.