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Show tAoabites Turned Film Stars iri'Woebeauf" B Curt Slewurt "Thcv're gonna put me in ,l,c movies, they're gonna make a star 0111 ot mo ..and all I gotta do, is Act Rurally-" Biak Owens. The I geatk-s. ami a few others sang ft idatsong. hut for twenty-odd ninab resiilcnts "Act Natural- jv nas been dancing around j -J, thcir collective heads for the I few months. Over the year, movie-making J ,js been a good source of ' avenue here, in scenic South- (jslfrn Utah. However, many ,plewho live here don't get jchance to participate in the movie-making process. Oh slire, there is the outside chance of filling in as an extra. or plaving the part of a Cactus J (local color), but for most folks chance of participating in a )l B0Vie is quite slim indeed. l But last Aug.. ads started to appear in the classified section of the newspapers here, and in Salt Lake City, asking that anyone who was interested in investing in a movie partnership, to contact Rodger Darbonne (two syllables, syllab-les, like Kafka). A few weeks before that, local people were being contacted, one by one. to consider parts in this movie! Not just bit parts mind y.ou. but major roles in a movie. Some with more than a hundred lines, and if the part did not require much dialogue, your presence would be required in just about every scene. Dream Come True? A dream come true? The mythical big break? Well, if nothing else a chance to tell your friends that you were making a movie. Soon, contracts con-tracts were being presented, and signed. (We were'going to get paid? Do 1 need an agent?) such thoughts were swimming around in the minds of those whose big break had finally arrived. I mean, Paul Newman has an agent, doesn't he? I'll bet even Charlton Heston, hero of a thousand epics, has an agent too. And should the chance arrive that someone is really grabbed by this movie, sends to Moab for our cast to rub elbows with the big stars; like Paul, Charley, or (oh my gosh!) Natalie Wood! I would want to drop the name of my agent in the course of casual conversation. Well, fantasy aside, we were involved in making a movie, no matter what the outcome, or who we met. Eventually, after the paperwork paper-work and negotiations with investors were completed, the cast and crew were assembled for the first time in the banquet room of a local motel. We were introduced to one another, told of the rigors of film making, what our roles were, and what was to be expected of us. The following week we would begin filming on location . that's a "movie term"), and were expected to have some idea as to what our lines were. The next weekend, with a cast of teens, a budget of hundredsand possibly up : to five (5) weeks in the making, "Woebeguf would begin production. About the Plot A brief description of the plot is in order here. "Woebeguf" "Woebe-guf" (Col. Tom, U.S.A.), our hero, is a veteran of the Army Special Forces during the time of the Vietnam War, a security conscious man who relies on "stealth and cunning" to carry out his various missions, finds himself in an un-natural role for a traditional military man, such as he is. Somehow, (you've got to see the movie) he gets sent to the war-zone with a group of draft-resisting Hippies. That is where the "Act Naturally" comes in. I mean, if you looked at the ' tamarisk-lined Colorado River, ssi . " ' ' . , , , 1 mon arp iust real folks like you and me. "Is i ,llsnly make-believe " Off the set Viet Cong women are just rea " I 4K ' V.Tu-ov GriO " try to figure ou. ..u . J .fethis before." Sound- any technica, advic, t ' t I LMjm r- V ;r i j -' )''". V -1 1. J4 . 4 II 1 . " . VltTHtrllrt- mill i i iii i ' i "Do you want to hear the joke about the Gorriller?" Cast and crew await their time to be immortalized, on the Silver Screen, spent many hours being it could be Vietnam, and if you looked at the cast (superficially) (superficial-ly) they could be Hippies, of the draft-resisting variety. Anyway, we were told at the outset that film making is magic, and on the screen anything can be made real, depending on what reel you're on, and it all turns out real. Back to the story... The Hippies Hip-pies want to encounter the enemy and greet them with Peace and Love. To say the least, "Woebeguf is skeptical. skepti-cal. It is against all of his "tfaintng'a'rid -orientation to warfare, but he is under orders, so his only alternative is to go along with the scenario as it was dictated to him by the Commander-in-Chief. Well, they do encounter the enemy, and if I go any further, I'll give the whole story away. You will just have to see it to get the full effect, and understand the precarious situation our heroes get themselves into. Fuji and Work We all thought it would be fun, and it could involve some work, and after the second day on the set it became apparent that it would be a perfect blend of both. It really was like in the Movies, or at least how one would imagine the movies as they were being made. "Stand by, read it, sync, Scene 44, take 26, rolling, action, Cut!" Hours of work for just a few minutes of action on the silver screen. For the "Actors", idle moments, coffee, donuts, and a few jokes. "Did ya hear the one about the Gorriller?" Meeting people for the first time, and being thrown into such an undertaking together provides one with a good insight as to what makes this world go round. Abandoning personal inhibitions, (there is a love scene) and working under a tight budget, where every mistake is money down the drain, could cause ill feelings if nothing else, create cre-ate downright tension. The cast and crew of "Woebeguf to a person, proved to be a harmonious blend of people working together for the common good. I think Thomas Jefferson said that, (200 years it of Harmony?) Imagine, if you will, sitting around telling jokes, or observing the crew setting up for "special effects" ef-fects" (another movie term) and all at once being called upon to do things that required spontaneous joy and love after as much as an hour of sitting around and talking about anything other than what is going on in front of you. Time and time again, everyone produced and gave the best they could for every scene. Enemy Appears Keeping in mind that this is a movie about Vietnam, a "War Movie", if you will, it can only be a matter of - time that our heroes would encounter encoun-ter the "enemy" and sure enough the enemy appears. Movies are magic, that thought remains as constant to the layman, as it is to the most prolific of Hollywood producers. produ-cers. To put a cast and crew on location for so many days, weeks or months, retake scene after scene, and make a . finished product that blends together with believable continuity con-tinuity for a mere 90 minutes on the screen, is magic. The perfect blend of technological craftmanship and the human factor the enemy appears. Make up, props, and the feeling of being caught up in a make real, make believe project, made us believe that this could only be the Movies. The Hippies were finally confronted with the facts of warfare. Here was the enemy, and we could all be dusted as quick as a monsoon could strike the coast of Cahm Rahn Bay! Wait a minute, this is all make believe, I mean, this is "only a movie". Once again the real world, and the make believe world collide. Here we are in Vietnam, a group of peace, love and tye dyed hippies, and we awake to find Vietcong! Armed and dangerous danger-ous women and child. Rifles aimed at gut level, and we react as with flowers. "It's only a movie!" Cut! One Man Project "Woebeguf, was a one mad project. Written, produced, pro-duced, and directed by Rodger Darbonne. The cast and crew were necessary of course, but the whole production relied on Darbonne to guide us through entertained by the "Heavy Duty Soundman." (right foreground) a myriad of technical problems. prob-lems. Having never worked in films before we had no idea how Preminger or Huston achieved their success. But under Darbonne we witnessed a dynamo of a man, devoted to finishing his project-with an emphasis on time and money-successfully. money-successfully. Of course there were a few hassles, but nothing serious ever came up to provoke undue tension, or hard feelings. We all were not actors, we all had our own lives to lead and jobs to do, and making a movie on some of the most beautiful fall days this planet has to offer added to the feeling of getting it "in the can" as soon as possible. It was like working seven days a week, and don't be late, no matter who you are, or what you did on Saturday night, unless you wanted to catch the wrath of Darbonne. Setting up for scenes that involved such time consuming technicalities I ''''y'yy" y ;:y l ' ' -..'. i v ' . . . . . . ;-, What's next? Director Rodger Darbonne, second from right explains his reasons for the series of events that lead up to this scene from "Woebeguf." Some scenes are short, and involve moro waiting than acting. Ai.9v ik'v; .rir y.-. . . . ,-.y . g&:n Dawn comes, Our Heroes awake to find some frightening visitors to their campsite. "Woebeguf," middle background, as explosive charges, and fake windows that looked like the real thing, but would not cut your ears off in case you had to jump through one, were expensive and time consuming tasks that would severely hamper the completion of the film if something went wrong. Everything went off without a hitch, scene by scene, cast and crew put together the best possible effort to complete the picture with an absolute minimum of time and expense. Ready Next Spring The finished product won't really be completed until early next spring. After filming, there is the task of editing, mixing, and dubbing the soundtrack. Various other finishing touches that the cast and crew will have no part in. When it is finished, the people involved will gather together for the Gala Premier, and get to see for themselves the fruits of their efforts, be it swetet or sour. As for the public seeing it. well, that's a whole different matter. From our understanding the movie is going to be aimed at Public Television (the big Networks have their own stars) and possibly it will become one of those short "Featurettes" you see before the main attraction. So it's possible we could all share the bill with Robert Redford or Faye Dunaway. At any rate, no matter what the outcome, it was fun. and work, and we all made new friends in ; the process, and sometimes i that can be reward enough. ! And if the fickle finger of fate should happen to point to one or all of us, I'm sure that we will never forget the good of days in Moab when we were locked into a production on some of the most beautiful days possible, working together togeth-er to make a movie, and realizing someone's almost forgotten dream. reacts with caution. |