Big O screens ‘Sometimes a Great Notion’
W
What better place to watch the great-
est movie ever made about logging than
in a real logger bar decorated with chain-
saws and saw blades? Well, “Sometimes a
Great Notion” is that movie, and the Big
O Saloon in Olney is about the best logger
bar I’ve ever patronized. It certainly has
the biggest chainsaw I’ve ever seen. Ru-
mor is: It still works.
On Thursday, Feb. 26, the Big O Saloon
will reprise its public screening of “Some-
times a Great Notion.” The movie, adapted
from Ken Kesey’s epic novel about a de-
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tionwide audience but remains a cult classic
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ging/timber communities.
Last year, I approached Dale and
Shawrron Searls, owners of the Big O,
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promote my book about its production,
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man, Ken Kesey and the Filming of the
Great Oregon Novel.” They enthusiasti-
cally agreed, and we staged the event on a
Thursday night in late January.
I thought a dozen people would show
up and I might sell
one book. I was
wrong. The place
was jammed; there
was standing-room
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from as far as Man-
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Long Beach. One
man even bicycled
from Astoria. In the
dead of winter!
After I introduced
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tled in with food and
drink and watched
a movie containing
incredible
scenes
of logging and log
drives of the type
that will never hap-
pen again because
environmental regu-
lations and industry
The Big O will
off er a Hank
Stamper Olympia
and meatloaf
sandwich special,
free popcorn,
the warmth
of crackling
woodstove fi re
to enjoy the fi lm,
and a special
musical guest.
4 | February 19, 2015 | coastweekend.com
Watch the ultimate logging movie in a logger bar
Submitted photo courtesy Nestucca Spit Press
The 1971 fi lm “Sometimes a Great Notion” remains a cult classic in the Pacifi c Northwest.
Submitted photo courtesy Nestucca Spit Press
Photo by Matt Love
“Sometimes a Great Notion,” adapted from Ken Kesey’s epic novel about a defi ant family
of loggers, starred Paul Newman and was fi lmed on the Central Oregon Coast during the
summer of 1970.
The Big O Saloon boasts a full bar and is a great setting to watch “Sometimes a Great Notion,” a film about logging, Thursday, Feb. 26.
changes disallowed or precluded them in
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appeal, but it is today.
At last year’s screening, there were
members in the audience who logged the
old-school way and cut down the monster
trees. There were members in the audience
who politicked to end that type of logging.
There were current loggers, log truck driv-
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and members of conservation groups in
attendance, too.
Quite honestly, it was the most interesting
politically diverse audience for any presenta-
tion I have ever given. The question-and-an-
swer session afterward was respectful and
fascinating to moderate. I learned a few
things myself. That’s often what happens
when you bring people of different perspec-
tives together for a conversation about some-
thing both sides care passionately about.
The Big O will offer a Hank Stamper
Olympia and meatloaf sandwich special,
free popcorn, the warmth of crackling
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special musical guest. I will introduce the
movie and moderate a discussion after the
screening if there’s interest. (There will
be.) I’ll also discuss new revelations about
the legend of whether Newman cut the
legs off a tavern pool table with a chain-
saw during the production. It’s the story
that never seems to die.
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Submitted photo courtesy Nestucca Spit Press
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2UHJRQ+LJKZD\*HWWKHUHHDUO\WR Paul Newman and his wife, Joanne Woodward, enjoy themselves at the wrap party for
the fi lming of “Sometimes a Great Notion.”
snag a good seat.
Matt Love is the publisher of Nestucca Spit
Press and the author/editor of 12 books
about Oregon, including “Of Walking In
Rain,” his account of one of the rainiest
winters in Oregon history. They are avail-
able at coastal bookstores and through
www.nestuccaspitpress.com
Coastal Life
Story by MATT LOVE