Carmel Valley's most notorious cowboy once lassoed a horseback sheriff's deputy, yanked him to the ground and peed on him. And that's not even the most trouble Grant Risdon's had with the law.
There was also that time in the early '80s, when he axed off a piece of his fiancé's lover's butt, then fled to the Los Padres wilderness, where (as he told the judge) a female yeti made him her sex slave.
Next month, Risdon's story will make its cinematic debut at the Santa Cruz Film Festival in Conall Jones' short film, An Unwanted Man. The film is a hybrid documentary/re-enactment of the reality-blurring tale of Risdon, a Cachagua vagabond whom Jones, who was raised in Carmel Valley, describes as "a bastard of a man, ex-fugitive and local hero."
It also includes what Jones says are the last images of his friend, Adrian Bryan, who plays a younger Grant Risdon in the film. Bryan died in August 2011 of a suspected drug overdose at age 32.
A 2010 Weekly cover story about Risdon—and Jones' documentary about him—details the filmmaker's delicate approach. As Conall's dad, Cachagua General Store chef Mike Jones (who embraces his own brand of notoriety), puts it on Facebook:
"The struggle to get this film made was immense: making peace with all the many folks who hated Grant (including his own family), finding the exact mix of drugs and alcohols to keep Grant coherent, keeping mercurial Adrian convinced that the project was worthy, convincing law enforcement to revisit a 30-year-old embarrassment, finding a female Yeti suit…"
Conall Jones announced the news on Facebook, saying film festivals rejected his short more than 30 times over the past three years before Santa Cruz Film Festival accepted it. "Someone finally gets it!" he writes. "The film is hilarious, vulgar, rude and nude."
An Unwanted Man is scheduled to run Nov. 16 at 4:45pm, as part of the screening of "Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger." Here's the trailer:
AN UNWANTED MAN - Teaser from Rumsen Films on Vimeo.
As for Risdon, who's in his early 70s:
"I can confirm that Grant is still alive too," Jones writes by email. "He had a stroke and is temporarily in a wheelchair, but he married a 20 year-old Mexican woman who is certified nurse, so he's set.
"He may even move to Mexico before the screening, but I'm trying to get him to stay."
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