New movie ranch owner wants to bring in public, support Western filmmakers

Oct. 11—A local film set where Western icons like Johnny Cash, Clint Eastwood and John Wayne once performed was filled with colorful Ferrari cars Friday.

Members of the Ferrari Club of America made a pitstop at the ranch during a road rally and got to pose for photos with a movie buffalo named Clyde.

Clint Mortenson, new owner of the Eaves Movie Ranch, is hosting public and private events like the road rally to let the public to know the movie ranch is making a comeback, and it's no longer just for filmmakers.

The Eaves Movie Ranch — now Mortenson's Eaves Movie Ranch — is located at 75 Rancho Alegre Road, 8 miles south of Santa Fe. It was originally built by J.W. Eaves at the request of 20th Century Fox, which was looking for a set for Gene Kelly's The Cheyenne Social Club.

Since then, it's been the venue for more than 250 films, including recents like 2020's News of the World and 2018's The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

The ranch consists of all the buildings that would make up a Wild West town: a few saloons, a bank, a jail, a general store and more, all with their own interior sets.

Former owner Craig Eaves, who inherited the movie ranch from father J.W. when he died of lung cancer in 2001, wanted a break from keeping up all those buildings. When he offered to sell the ranch to Mortenson last July, it was an instant yes.

Mortenson, 60, owns Mortenson Silver and Saddles. But the lifetime horse rancher is no stranger to the Santa Fe movie ranch. His own ranch, which he moved into around 25 years ago from South Dakota, is just down the road.

He hadn't been here long before he started providing his livestock to act in films. Eventually, Mortenson was eventually asked to get in front of the camera, first in 2015's Ridiculous 6 as a stunt double for Taylor Lautner.

Mortenson became a go-to stuntman for movies at the ranch, doing the "hard and fast horse riding or wagon driving" when the actors didn't have the horse-riding skills of their on-screen characters.

Mortenson said he expects the ranch will take a lot of his time away from his saddle business, but he called it a labor of love prompted by watching Westerns as a kid.

"Being from South Dakota, I never thought I'd ever have anything to do with movies," he said. "So it just really evolved from stabling the horses up to this, and then photo shoots. I grew up just training horses, and it's every little cowboy's dream to ride through these towns. And then, to actually have one next to these next to you is pretty neat."

He also owns one of the world's most famous acting buffalos — the afore-mentioned Clyde, who has acted in Paramount's Yellowstone, Amazon's Outer Range and in a host of commercials and photoshoots for companies from Banana Republic to YETI.

Clyde stood alongside the 35 cars at the Ferrari show, organized by the Rocky Mountain Region chapter of the Ferrari Club of America, welcoming Ferrari owners from New Mexico, Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah and Colorado.

Ozana Sturgeon, president of the club's New Mexico chapter, said she knew Mortenson from a photo shoot she did at the ranch. When the opportunity came for the Ferrari Club's yearly fall ride, she knew to bring the club here.

"Most people here, they're out-of-towners," she said. "And if you're not from around here, how many times are you in a movie ranch?"

But even if you are from the area, there's a good chance you've never been. That's because in the past, the ranch was closed to the public. Mortenson wants to change that by hosting events — including a flea market that will take place Saturday — while still supporting filmmakers.

"We might even cater to some people that want to make, like, some lower-budget Westerns and supply horses and wagons and costumes for them and stuff, but I'm open to everything right now," he said.

It's part of an effort to open up the ranch, and part of a greater effort to repopularize Westerns, which Mortenson said slowed down with last year's film industry strikes. He expects a turnaround soon.

"I think Westerns will always be a big deal," he said. "Maybe it won't be as big as it used to be, but there'll always be some room for some of them."