The Big Country Message Board
Martha Crawford posts a bold assertion on 2/27/2005 7:25:45 PM
Thanks Dennis. In that shot over the wagon - it was a totally subconscious thing for me to get off of him and pull him over to me by the saddle horn. If someone said I will give you a million dollars to do it again I could not have done it. If I had not done it that way, Jim would have surely snapped off his leg. As it was, he did peel the top layer of skin off but no other injuries. It was a miracle. I am most proud of the fact that I had, after all that, the rein in just two fingers and not in any way interferring with his mouth. My father drilled in to me all the while I grew up the importance of good hands on a horse. I wish he could have lived long enough to have seen the picture. Hopefully the Hall of Fame and the Golden Boot all within a year will cinch the book to be published. It certainly will help! You can all be sure I will let you know 'first' when and if it is a go. The good thing is that my collaborator is very knowledgable about horses and that is a really big plus and she does have a good book already published. So - keep your fingers crossed. A old dressage teacher told me one time that in most horse pictures the rider and the horse have the same expression. That picture really proves that point!
Dennis posts a bold assertion on 2/27/2005 7:07:09 PM
Martha: You should have gotten credit in TBC. In the shot taken of you and Jim (the horse), what happened to him after catching his leg. You were even graceful in that shot. If it's not too bold to ask, I'd like an autographed copy of your book when published. I am still looking for a TBC script copy. Keep asking around, if we get one we'll make copies for all of us.
Dennis posts a bold assertion on 2/27/2005 6:58:22 PM
Brian
Simmons and Heston were never in the same shot until the dance at Ladder. I think that's the only shot they were in together. Baker and Heston met at Julie's house in Rafael.
The Rafael hotel where Buck jumped out the window is in Pollardville along US 80 south of Sacramento.
Brian posts a bold assertion on 2/27/2005 4:22:03 PM
Does anyone know the "exact" location of the old ranch house where Heston and Simmons met. I very familiar with the area near Farmington Ca where a lot of the movie was shot, but have been unable to find the location of the old house.
Martha Crawford posts a bold assertion on 2/27/2005 3:52:09 PM
P.S. The reason so many of the stunt men got screen credit was because most all of them had small parts ie even a couple of lines to say and they had a name in the cast. I didn't have any.
Martha Crawford posts a bold assertion on 2/27/2005 3:26:45 PM
Oh my goodness! That is a very nice compliment. Thank you so much. The ride on the top of the hill (before the tree sit) was one of the funniest things that ever happened to me. It should have been so simple. But when I got up there the top of the hill was flat and it was not easy to find a place to ride that would look like the crest of the hill. I though I was going to get fired before we got the shot. If they ask me at the Golden Boot what was the hardest thing you ever did I will have to say, in reality it was the simplist thing I ever did ie ride on the top of that hill - but I couldn't find it! And, then another funny one, Carroll B. (me) comes out of a hotel I think and gets on the horse to leave. When I got on him he walked right out of the shot like he was going back to Los Angeles. I couldn't stop him. First time I ever had a horse run away with me at a walk. It is funny now - but William Wyler was not the easiest of directors to work for and it was not funny then. In those days, I never knew of any of the doubles to get screen credit. That came later.
Dennis posts a gentle reminder on 2/27/2005 3:15:37 PM
Martha:
Just went frame-by-frame through your run out the back door of ladder to sit under the tree and the run up from the cabin to the main house. You were quite good. The moves made were nearly like a ballet. It was seamless. I couldn't tell the difference between you and Jean Simmons at all.
Couldn't find your name on the credits. Saul Bass designed the open to have the credits up-front. That was unusual for the times.
Martha Crawford posts a bold assertion on 2/24/2005 1:06:45 PM
I will be glad to see what I can find out for you. May take a little time.
Kenton Whitehead posts a call for action on 2/24/2005 1:03:58 PM
Hi Martha Crawford,
With your insight I found the website of the ranch where the stagecoach, and buckboard scenes were filmed as well as your ride up the hill to the old house as Jean Simmons.
My quest is to find Blanco Canyon. I've been up to Red Rock Canyon State Park in CA and seen several of the movie sites there, but I never got far from the road. My next visit will be into the park. My daughter flies, and I'm trying to get a sight seeing tour of the park.
Since Jean Simmons, Carol Baker, and Charleton (spelling?) Heston are the only ones left, would you have a way of contacting any of them? Maybe they remember.
Many thanks for your valuable insight.
Kenton Whitehead
Bill posts a bold assertion on 2/23/2005 2:40:24 AM
Dennis, The Copperopolis Rd. location should not be hard to find as I gave an intersection. To visit the ranch sites you will have to contact my parents (Bruce and Roma Orvis) and make arrangements with them to see the locations. Their contact info is on the orvis ranch website. Or, on March 5, assuming the weather is good, the Lunar model rocketry club will be having a rocket launch near the locations. You can come in and watch some rockets fly and find me (Bill Orvis) and I can show you the sites I know about. Go to the www dot lunar dot org website for driving instructions. e-mail me directly at orvis @ compuserve dot com
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