Houston Native’s New Texas Cowboy Movie Gets a Red Carpet Premiere in Katy — Telling the Story of Bass Reeves
Corsicana Brings a Lot of Star Power to Texas
BY Shelby Hodge // 08.29.22Isaiah Washington, Thomas Q. Jones at the premier of 'Corsicana, held at Studio Cinema Grill in Katy, Texas.
What: The red carpet premiere of the full-length film Corsicana
Where: Star Cinema Grill in Katy
PC Moment: The premiere of a new Western movie called Corsicana (after the Texas town) carried a local vibe. The movie was co-written and directed by Isaiah Washington ( Dr. Preston Burke of Grey’s Anatomy), a Willowridge High School grad. Washington also stars in the flick.
For the opening, Washington brought in the cast, the producers and co-author/part-time actor Robert Johnson, who happens to be the Corsicana police chief of more than two decades.
“Being in law enforcement, I’ve known Bass Reeves’s history for 40 years,” Johnson tells the Corsicana Daily Sun. “I’ve always thought it was important to tell that story. Just think: He was the first Black marshal west of the Mississippi. He was a great role model that time had forgotten.”
The movie tells the story of Reeves, a former slave who in the late 19th century became the first Black deputy United States Marshal and a law enforcement hero as he tracks an outlaw gang of killers to the oil-rich town of Corsicana. Washington plays Reeves in the movie.
“I wanted to immerse myself in the history of this American hero,” Washington tells the Daily Sun. “This human being who lived and did so much, who sacrificed so much to do his job at the federal level, this former slave who did the job so well that the state of Oklahoma was created safely. That’s Herculean.”
There is more to come on Bass Reeves as his story has captured the attention of Sheridan Williams.

The day following the premiere festivities, which were open to ticket buyers, Mayor Sylvester Turner declared it Isiah Washington Day in Houston. The star took in a little shopping on that day, stopping by the chic Western store Pinto Ranch where he purchased a cowboy hat.
PC Seen: Producers/actors Amber McNutt of Corsicana (as in the Collin Street Bakery McNutt family) and Los Angeles based Ryan DeLaney, and actors Lew Temple (The Walking Dead), Major Dodge, Thomas Q. Jones — a former NFL running back turned actor who is also the CEO of the mobile application developer Castar Applications — and Billy Blair.