Hollywood Studio Magazine (August 1971)

How Jodi Wexler became an actress shot on location at Riverside, Calif., where a sod hut farm set was constructed, with other authentic 19th century ranch accoutrements. At Riverside, the cast and crew had to contend with all conceivable problems of location shooting — bad weather and lighting, wind and rain — which extended the “three-weekend” shooting schedule to three months. “There was constant noise from airplanes and race cars which later made it necessary for us to loop 105 lines of dialog on a home-interlock system and completely build the sound effect tracks from virtually nothing,” Gadney recalls. “Props were stolen, the sod hut was vandalized, and the horses ran away when they saw their owners in India costume. Even later, when we shot interiors on a nice, relaxed sound stage, the set caught fire when the prop fireplace erupted.” In terms of money, Gadney muses, “West Texas’’ probably is worth $100,000 or more by professional standards. However, he and the other students made the film out-of-pocket for about $5,000. Part of the financing came from scholarships awarded Gadney by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Directors Guild of America - The film has an original score by Robert Randles, whose USC studies were in Music Composition and Cinema, and whose music has been performed in 14 countries. In order to provide for special sound track requirements, composer Randles designed a new synchronization system, which since has been published. This system enabled him to record conflicting tempos that merge at given points. The major portion of the score was recorded to picture with the Hidden Valley Music Seminars Orchestra in Carmel, Calif. Additional portions of the s'core include ethnic instruments from UCLA, computer and electronic synthesis and modification, in addition to a ragtime piano. Movie Maker magazine prased Randles’ “West Texas” music as “fitting the action like a glove,’’ and the Hollywood Reporter said “Randles’ score impresses.” Randles is continuing his career in music scoring for films. He was commissioned by the State of Arizona to write and record the music for a film which was presented recently as part of an hour-long television special and will be shown throughout the nation. He also recently presented an original music score as part of the dedication program for the Louis B. Mayer Medical Teaching Center at the USC School of Medicine. Gadney, Alston and Alexander recently formed their own film production company to produce commercials, documentaries, and feature-length motion pictures. Appropriately enough, the new organization’s name is the west Texas Co. A willowy blonde from Kansas, Jodi Wexler was a professional model in Denver whose beauty and personality led her agent to the most un-agentlike procedure of buying the girl a one-way ticket to New York. “I bet the first week you are in New York you will do two commercials,” was the agent’s educated guess. Miss Wexler did more than two commercials; she also became the darling of the New York fashion photographers. Within four months from her arrival on the east coast, she found herself flying west to appear in M. J. Frankovich’s film version of Jacqueline Susann’s controversial best-seller, “The Love Machine,” in a cast which includes Dyan Cannon, Robert Ryan, and Jackie Cooper. Jodi plays Amanda, the beautiful but doomed girl who tries to make it in New York, as a model. Tall, with long hair and fantastic eyes, Miss Wexler’s success as a model and her presence in “The Love Machine” can be attributed to the fact that her face is photographable from any side or angle, according to veteran Academy Award-winning photographer Charles Lang, Jr. Now, still in her early 20’s, Jodi joins a select group of actresses who achieved stardom via the modeling route, following the recent example of Ali “Love Story” McGraw who also went from star model to model star. Others who made good through modeling are such famed screen luminaries as J«ne Fonda, Elsa Martinelli, Suzy Parker, Capucine and Candice Bergen, to name but a few. 10