By Doyle Keeton, Wichita Falls Times Record News
                                 March 23, 2001

LAWTON, Oklahoma - After making the documentary 
"Mount Washington, The World's Worst Weather," 
which aired on PBS, and another film titled "Firefight:  Stories From the Frontlines," 
which aired on The Learning Channel, 
what could possibly be a logical subject for a documentary filmmaker's next undertaking?
For David Wittkower of Calabasas, California, the winner of multiple film awards 
with 21 years of experience in film making, the next choice was to pack up his camera gear 
and head to Lawton, Oklahoma, to begin filming bull riders and bullfighters.

He and sound assistant Jon Trebilcock shot footage at Bullistic 2001 this weekend at Lawton's Great Plains Coliseum 
for the project titled "Cowboy Up:  Let the Truth Be Told."

"I originally did a documentary called 'Based On True Stories,'" Wittkower said of his start in documentary film making.  
"The theme of the film was how the motion picture industry takes a true story and screws it up by not telling the truth."
Hoping to produce a true representation of his film's subjects, when Wittkower filmed "Firefight," he 
underwent wetland firefighter training and received his certification card.  
Then he worked with a hotshot firefighting crew for five years while making the film.  His research took him to 
Mann Gulch, Montana, where the first smokejumpers were killed, and Storm King Mountain, Colorado, 
the last location where smokejumpers died during a fire.

After deciding to film Bullistic 2001, Wittkower contacted Dr. Matt Jenkins, associated professor at 
Cameron University, his student, Lynn Cordes, and her husband to assist him with camera work.
He said the first planned to do something on the movie "Eight Seconds," which featured the life of bull rider Lane Frost, 
who was killed by a bull.
"After I failed to get anyone interested in the project, I still wanted to do something on cowboys and rodeos.  
I decided to work with the Lane Frost idea but show more on new people who were just coming into the sport.  
I wanted to show more of what goes on behind the scenes," Wittkower said. He also wants to give people a reality check.
"You just don't get on a bull.  You can't be in Chicago and think, 'That looks easy,' and go get on a bull. 
Bull riding requires a lot of training and instruction.  Too many people are getting into the sport without 
proper training and are getting hurt," he said. "I hope to show people who have no idea what rodeo 
or bull riding is about, what it really happens in contestants' lives, just not what happens in the arena."

Wittkower plans to attend rodeos across the nation, including one in Santa Maria, California, 
as well as at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming, 
and he plans to visit with Lane Frost's parents and local champion Cody Lambert of Henrietta.  
He also hopes to spend time with Dr. Tandy Freeman of the Justin SportsMedicine Program, who operates on many 
cowboy injuries.  The crew has been invited to film surgery for typical injuries cowboy sustain.
Another stop included in his travel plans is a memorial bull riding in Austin for bull rider Brent Thurman, 
who was killed several years ago when a bull stepped on his neck and head at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

Wittkower said his first impression of bull riding was the number of injuries contestants receive during competition.
"They really keep medical personnel busy," he said. 
His primary focus at the Lawton event is bullfighters.  Competitors at Bullistic have gathered for bullfights 
with the rankest and meanest Mexican fighting bulls,  which are owned by Rex Dunn's Coyote Hills Ranch, 
located a few miles north of Waurika, Oklahoma.  
Dunn's Mexican bulls are considered the most dangerous animals in bullfighting.

Wittkower films are funding by the sale of videotapes of his previous movies.  
He plans to pursue sponsors, but for a few months he is concentrating on the film's production.  
Unlike many film producers who raise the money prior to the start of filming, Wittkower shoots his on speculation, 
hoping to find a company that will air it on television.
An unexpected market for "Firefight: Stories on the Frontlines" developed as fire departments 
ordered copies as a training film on how to fight wildland fires.

"Cowboy Up" will focus on the life of the professional rodeo cowboy, 
their dedication, training, life on the road, life at home, family sports medicine, faith, animals, and their blood, 
sweat, and tears - not just on the few seconds spent in the arena.

The film will be divided into five episodes.  The first episode deals with "Life On the Road," second on
 "Rodeo History," third on "Stock Contractors," fourth on "Giving It All For What You Live," 
and the fifth on "The Life Savers."

With Wittkower's past experience and reputation, "Cowboy Up" should give insight into the dangerous 
and often deadly sport of bullfighting and bull riding.  Wittkower guarantees it will be 
as close to the truth as possible, not another Hollywood version of the America's true heroes, cowboys.