In the 2015 Quentin Tarantino Western The Hateful Eight, the character of Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) plays an authentic, 1870s guitar borrowed from the Martin Guitar Museum. The script called for John Ruth (Kurt Russell) to then destroy the instrument. Prop guitars were built for that purpose—but for some reason, in the heat of the filming, Russell grabbed the original antique and smashed it to pieces. Cast and crew were horrified.
The museum folks were upset and said they’ll never

True West May/June 2025
In This Issue:
Features
- Historic Hotels of the American West
- A Journey Through Wyoming’s Outlaw History
- A Journey Through Washington’s Wild Frontier
- Blazing The Oregon Trail
- Journey Through Time
- Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre?
- Mountain Meadows Scapegoat John D. Lee VS. A Firing Squad
- Mormons in the Movies
- An Indigenous Consultant Ensures Accuracy
- The Battle Axe And A Raw Deal
- Showdown: Bridger VS. Brigham
- The Mountain Man and the Mormon Moses
- The Ghosts of Mountain Meadows
- The War Before the War
- Mountain Meadows