Take One (Jul-Aug 1971)

vated track and arrived to find that section of track being repaired. So we had to change our schedule and try to shoot something else in the script. Five specific stunts were planned within the framework of the chase. These were to occur along various points of the journey of the commandeered car. They were to be cross-cut with shots of Doyle driving fast and with the action that was going on in the train above. A word about the commandeered car. It was a brown, 1970 Pontiac, four door sedan, equipped with a four speed gear shift. We had a duplicate of this car with the back seat removed so we could slip in camera mounts at will. The Original car was not gutted, but remained intact so that it could be shot from exterior. The entire chase was shot with an Arriflex camera, as was most of the picture. There was a front bumper mount, which usually had a 30or 50-millimeter lens set close to the ground for point-of-view shots. Within the car, there were two mounts. One was for an angle that would include Gene Hackman driving and shoot over his shoulder with focus given to the exterior. The other was for straight-ahead points-of-view out the front window, exclusive of Hackman. Whenever we made shots of Hackman at the wheel, all three mounted cameras were usually filming. When Hackman was not driving, | did not use the over-shoulder camera. For all of the exterior stunts, | had three cameras going constantly. Because we were using real pedestrians and traffic at all times, it was impossible to undercrank, so everything was shot at normal speed. In most shots, the car was going at speeds between 70 and 90 miles an hour. This included times when Hackman was driving, and | should point out that Hackman drove considerably more than half of the shots that are used in the final cutting sequence. While it was desirable to have Gene Hackman in the car as much as possible, we hired one of the best stunt drivers from Hollywood, Bill Hickman, to drive the five stunts. Consulting with Hickman, | determined what the stunts would be, trying to take advantage of the particular topography of the neighborhood. THE FIVE STUNTS (1) Doyle’s car driving under the tracks very fast. He looks up to check the progress of the train. A car shoots out of an intersection as he crosses it. Doyle’s car narrowly misses this car, spins away and cuts across a service station to get back underneath the elevated tracks. (2) From within Doyle’s car, as he pulls up behind a truck we see a sign on the truck, ‘Drive Carefully”. The truck makes a quick left turn without signaling, just as Doyle tries to pass him on the left, causing a collision and spinoff. (3) Doyle approaches an intersection while looking up at the tracks. As he glances down, an enormous truck passes in front of him, obscuring his view of a metal fence. When the truck pulls away, the fence stands directly in his path. This particular fence was not part of the Stillwell Avenue route. It was something we discovered while location-scouting beneath the Myrtle Avenue Line, another elevated branch several miles away from Stillwell Avenue. | decided to switch locales because of this fence which suddenly prevented a car from continuing beneath the tracks. (4) Doyle speeds through an intersection against the light. As he does so, a woman with a baby buggy steps quickly off the curb and into his path. Doyle has to swerve and crash into a pile of garbage cans on a safety island. (5) Doyle turns into a one-way street the wrong way to get back underneath the elevated tracks. Over his left shoulder, we see the train running parallel to Doyle, a halfblock away. On the first day of shooting the chase, we scheduled the first stunt, which was to be Doyle’s car spinning off a car that had shot out of an intersection. | had four cameras operating. Two were in a gas station approximately 100 yards from where the spin-off would occur. One was on the roof of the station with a 500mm lens, and another had a zoom lens on the ground, hidden behind a car. Two more cameras were on the street, directly parallel to the ones in the gas station, also about 100 yards from where the spinoff was to occur. What we hoped would not happen, happened, causing this shot to be much more exciting than Hickman or | had planned. The stunt driver who was in the other car mistimed his approach to Doyle's car (with Hickman driving), and instead of screeching to a halt several feet before it, mis-cued and rammed it broadside! Both cars were accordions, and so on the first shot of the first day of shooting the chase, we rammed our chase car and virtually destroyed it on the driver's side. Fortunately, Bill Hickman wasn’t hurt. The driver of the other car wasn’t hurt. Each of them walked away shaken and mad, but safe and sound. And | was able to pick up the action after the crash and continue it with Doyle’s car swerving off and continuing on its way. Naturally, right after this spectacular crash occurred, all four cameramen chimed out “Ready when you are, B.F.”’ We were forced to call our duplicate car into service on the first day of shooting, and on all subsequent days when we had to shoot events that would conceivably occur before the crash. To achieve the effect of Hackman’s car narrowly missing the woman with the baby, | had the car with the three mounted cameras drive toward the woman, who was a stunt girl. As she stepped off the curb, the car swerved away from her several yards before coming really close. But it was traveling approximately 50 miles per hour. | used these angles, together with a shot that was made separately from a stationary camera on the ground, zooming fast into the girl’s face as she sees Doyle’s car and screams. This was cut with a closeup of Doyle as he first sees her, and these two shots were linked to the exterior shots of the car swerving into the safety island with the trash cans. The only other ‘‘special effect’? was the simulated crash of the trains. Since we couldn't get permission to actually stage a crash, we achieved the effect by mounting a camera inside the “approaching” train, which we positioned next to the train that was waiting outside the station. We had the “approaching” train pull away and shot the scene in reverse, undercranking to twelve frames per second. Just after what seems to be the moment of impact, we included an enormous crashing sound on the sound track, completing the illusion. For many of the shots with the car, the assistant directors, under Terry Donnelly’s supervision, cleared traffic for approximately five blocks in each direction. | had members of the New York City tactical police force to help control traffic. But most of the control was achieved by the AD’s with the help of off-duty members of the police department — many of whom were involved in the actual case. Working with Donnelly were second assistants Peter Bogart and Ron Walsh, plus trainees Dwight Williams and Mike Rausch. 27