Mr. Clean

You’d probably see Oscar-winner Ben Johnson (Best Supporting Actor, “The Last Picture Show,” 1971) more often on the big screen, but he’s got a strict rule about the films he appears in: “No cuss words, no pornography.”

Now 71, he’s been involved in some lower-budget movies of late--”Cherry 2000,” “Back to Back,” “Dark Before Dawn,” all of which he admits he hasn’t seen--but he’s singing the praises of his latest.

In producer Martin Poll’s recently-wrapped “Home Grown,” with Scott Glenn, Tess Harper and Kate Capshaw, Johnson portrays the father of Glenn, a footloose rodeo rider who brings home a brood of wayward kids that need a home.

“You can take your family to that one,” drawled the easygoing ex-cowboy and stunt man, who now lives in Arizona.

Meanwhile, he’s a part-owner of rights to the venerable project, “The Cowboy and the Cossack,” which glasnost has helped revive (it’s set in Russia).

“Armand Hammer’s people have indicated they might want to put up half the funds,” Johnson said. “We may get it made yet.”