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Show THE ZEPHYR/FEBRUARY-MARCH 2004 GLEN CANYON’'S LAST DAYS ano "PRPECGREATEST STORY IN ITS WANING BY TONY VAN director, George Stevens, Sr., took one look at it, then turned around. In 1963, Page still had a solid Wild West feel about it, what with the hundred or so rugged, young construction workers rappelling from ropes down the steep canyon walls, dynamiting the rocks. They worked night and day shifts to finish the enormous Glen Canyon Dam on time, while their bored wives and girlfriends tried to get hired as extras on "the movie." They hung out at night at Page's only dance hall, flirting with our, equally rugged, Hollywood stuntmen. Except for women and booze, there was just nothing in Page on which these macho young males, brimming with testosterone, could spend their paychecks. It led to some rather explosive situations. “Forget it,” he said, walking off, “it's not dramatic. I'll shoot it in the Grand Canyon. It looks like the river Jordan ought to look.” That's how, in 1962 and '63, we ended up in Glen Canyon near Page, Arizona, shooting exteriors for the $30 million movie, "The Greatest Story Ever Told," featuring Swedish actor Max von Sydow as Jesus of Nazareth. We were shooting against the clock, challenged by the rising waters of the future Lake Powell. Northern Arizona had long been one of Hollywood's most popular locations for the filming of grand old Westerns, such as "Covered Wagon," “Rio Grande," "Red River," and George Stevens Sr.'s classics "Shane" and "Giant.". The beauty of Glen had, however, remained largely undiscovered. Now, our A MOVIE SET RENTERGHEM in from Israel), and sturdy Christian football players from neighboring colleges, cast as Roman infantry. I'm 84 and an old man now, but forty-two years ago I stood in the Holy Land at the edge of the river Jordan, looking out at its slow-moving, muddy waters. Any kid could have easily tossed a baseball to the opposite, reed-lined shore. Movie Canyon EVER TOLD DAYS, GLEN CANYON WAS CLOSEUP OF THE JERUSALEM SET production marked the end of this era, sadly coinciding with the end of Glen Canyon itself, for soon the incredible, primeval beauty of this magnificent desert, with its ancient THE GRANDEUR OF GLEN CANYON: For a sense of its gigantic proportions, = notice the almost invisible movie vehicles and the 40 foot high sets of the _. ‘walls and gates of Jerusalem.’ (the set is just above this caption box) petroglyphs, would be forever lost, drowned in stagnant, polluted waters. Never again would a camera crew record these sacred sights. We were the last. For five years I worked on this one movie as assistant and biblical-historical research advisor to director / producer George Stevens, Sr. | organized and led their four-week research trip through the Middle East, recorded Aramaic and Yemenite songs, and later helped the poet/ writer Carl Sandburg with his early version of the script (rejected as too liberal, because Sandburg’s Jesus had been a dusty, sweaty, young carpenter in work clothes, instead of the standard white garments.) My tasks also included hosting religious celebrity guests, such as Billy Graham and Martin Luther King Jr. “The Greatest Story Ever Told” was a beautifully photographed movie, but, in spite of its enormous budget and all the talent and research, it never was a "great" movie. Why? I think because Stevens, who in his earlier movies had so brilliantly captured the spirit and grandeur of the American West, here lacked a similar understanding of the poetic, mystical culture of the Middle East and its people. Our movie company ended up near Page (where Wahweep Lodge now stands), in a huge camp of prefab cabins and big circus tents used as dining halls, stables, and makeup/ wardrobe areas. Hundreds of vehicles, a helicopter, camels, donkeys, horses and cattle crowded the area, hundreds of extras milling around. Navajo == Indians, cast as Herodian cavalry, rubbed shoulders with Yemenite dancers (flown One Sunday morning, we were awakened by the noisy arrival of a pickup full of shotgun-wielding dam builders, looking for one of our stuntmen. Seems he'd gotten himself somewhat over-involved with the eager young wife of one of the dam builders. We hid him just in time, under a heap of biblical costumes in the wardrobe tent, and finally managed to convince them that he was on leave in Los Angeles. As soon as they took off, we helicoptered him to the Page airstrip, hustling him off to Hollywood in our company plane, never again to set foot in Page. More important problems plagued the production. The massive size of the project resulted in our being not only grossly over-budget, but three months behind schedule, causing major logistical headaches. Shooting simple scenes like, "Behold, the lilies of the field,’ now forced director Stevens to have acres and acres of desert bushes spray-painted a bright pink to simulate wild flowers. Also, by now, "Mary Magdalene” (British actress Joanna Dunham) had become noticeably pregnant, and exterior shots portraying summer scenes, where the interior shots had already established the actors as going barefoot, had to be shot barefoot outdoors at 20°! Meanwhile, George Stevens tried to maintain some sense of religious dignity among his "cast of thousands." Many older, devoutly Christian and Mormon local ladies had eagerly signed up as extras and, draped in their Biblical robes, stared in awe at the six-foot-four Max von Sydow as though he were the genuine Savior. PAGEI4 |