This St. Helens won’t rouse residents
The snap of the clapboard signals a weary crew to action on the next scene.
Hollywood has come to Bend once again.
The small central Oregon town is the location
for the movie “St. Helens" — tinsel town's version
of the May 18 eruption of the now-infamous
volcano.
In any other community the size of Bend (pop.
17,420) moviemaking would spark enthusiasm
and intense curiosity on the part of locals. But
Bend residents, veterans of several movies in
cluding “Rooster Cogburn," and “How the West
Was Won," don’t even slow down when driving
past the Woolen Mill Pub where Panzer Davis
Productions is filming the volcano movie.
“It's not a disaster film,” says assistant dir
ector Duncan Henderson, describing the movie
as a “personal thing.”
The movie focuses on the lives of Cougar,
Wash., residents and oldtimer Harry Truman just
prior to the mountain's eruption. The plot has a
bad guy, a good guy and, of course, a romantic
distraction.
The bad guy, a dirty dealin’ timber man
named Whittaker, is pitted against David
Johnston, a U S Geological Survey scientist who
becomes involved with a pretty little thing from
Chicago.
Art Carney, who won an Academy Award for
best actor in “Harry and Tonto,” portrays whis
key-loving Harry Truman, who refused to leave his
Spirit Lake Lodge during the mountain’s tantrums
last spring. Albert Salmi, (“Brubaker,” "Caddy
Shack”) plays Whittaker, who owns a fictitious
timber company and restaurant in Cougar.
Cassie Yates (“Rich Man Poor Man,” “FM")
plays Linda, who leaves Chicago for the sup
posed tranquility of Cougar after seeing post
cards of the town David Huffman (“F I S T.”)
co-stars as the protagonist scientist Johnston,
who must convince the obstinate townspeople of
an eruption's fatal effects.
But the camera will focus on a slightly differ
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Director of photography Jacque Hartkin critically eyes the "St. Helens" movie set for any visual oddities.
ent Truman than the man who died in the erup
tion. Director Ernest Pintoff has replaced
Truman’s 17 cats with dogs. The explanation on
the set: Pintoff is allergic to cats.
Elk Lake and the Elk Lake Lodge have been
cast as Truman's Spirit Lake home, now only a
giant mud puddle. Bachelor Butte subtitutes for
the once snowcapped St. Helens.
Producer Peter Davis says the Los Angeles
based production company chose Bend for its
reliably dry winters — arid compared to rainy
Cougar.
According to Peggy Sawyer, Bend Chamber
of Commerce manager, production companies
have been filming in and around Bend since the
late 1940s when Marlene Dietrich and crew came
to film parts of the movie “Golden Earring.”
Bend citizens aren’t intimidated by Hol
lywood at all, Sawyer says.
“They’re delighted. That’s the reason why
production companies like to come here,
because of the fine attitude.”
Most Bend citizens enjoy Hollywood's visits.
Moviemakers pour money into the town’s hotels
and restaurants and the pockets of hundreds of
Bend residents who act as extras.
“It gives you something better to do than just
sittin’ around freezing,” says Walt Aleshire, an
extra who has lived in Bend for eight years.
Normally the Woolen Mill Pub welcomes
Bend beer drinkers, except when Hollywood
comes to call. The drinkers might not recognize
the pub through its stage make-up.
They’ve transformed the Woolen Mill into
“Whittaker Lodge,” a fictitious restaurant in
Cougar. The foosball machines are crammed into
a rear room, and bright, hot lights hang from the
rafters. Blue and white checkered table cloths
grace the tables.
Extras sit patiently at tables, looking distas
tefully at rubbery eggs, limp burgers and soggy
sandwiches cooked long ago. The waitresses
wear bright pink T-shirts with “Whittaker Loodge”
emblazoned on the front. They wait patiently for
photography director Jacque Haitkin to finish
checking the visual details of the upcoming
scene.
Haitkin orders an “Oly Gold’’ mirror above
the bar taken down. "It’s in my field of view,” he
explains impatiently.
The actual filming won’t begin for another
hour.
“I can’t get anything over here,” the micro
phone man yells, a long microphone draped
across his shoulders like a yoke.
Not all the crew members work in the com
fortably warm tavern. Some, like Peter Smith,
work outside in the bitter cold.
Smith is putting foam padding in a light
weight beam that will "break” in an upcoming
earthquake scene. 'Actually special effects
should be doing this," says Smith, who works in
the art department.
Six days a week, Smith and the other crew
members report to the set at 7 a m and work 11 to
12 hours. The longer the hours, the sooner the
filming will be finished Assistant director
Henderson estimates the production crew will jet
back to Los Angeles in early December.
With obvious haste, Pintoff commands
“QUIET ON THE SET!” and filming begins.
Outside, Michael Curillovic of Bend sits alone
in the cold, charged by the moviemakers with
keeping away intruding mobs of onlookers. Curil
lovic blandly watches the traffic. The bank ther
mometer across the street reads 28 degrees at
3:23 p.m.
His heavy leather coat and fleece cap pro
tects him from the dry, cold air.
Curillovic has worked on the “St. Helens" set
since filming began. He says he’s noticed one
thing about the sunshine-oriented Californians
making the film.
“They can't handle the weather."
Story by Caroline Petrich
Photos by Dennis Tachibana
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