Once upon a time in 1975

TwoManyXS1Bs

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Long ago, about this time in 1975, San Antonio, Texas

About 40 years ago, I arrived at the shop early one morning, and found a madhouse of activity. Trucks, moving vans, RVs, etc, parked everywhere around the shop. Crews had been there since the wee hours of the night, completely rearranging the shop and sales floor. It was crowded, people that I didn't know were everywhere.

It was a film crew, and our shop was selected to be in a movie.

Back in the shop, there was a crowd of people clumping around a poor fellow who seemed to be getting overwhelmed.

It was Warren Oates.

I worked my way over to him, and mentioned that he could use my service manager office. It has a chair and he would be more comfortable there. He jumped on the offer, and escaped most of the crowd.

Out in the back lot, a few junk parts were on the welding table, crews standing around, they needed somebody that could strike and hold a long arc. I started to explain how, then got drafted into doing it. So, that became the backdrop to the movie's opening shop scene, with Mr. Oates strolling over to my workstall.

Later, I escaped to the customer waiting area, where we had a few snack and drink machines. A lady in a housecoat, pajamas and bunny slippers (obviously not a morning person) trundles up to me and asks if there is anything good for breakfast in there. As I'm explaining the offerings of the various machines, I do a double take, and realize that I'm chatting with Loretta Switt.

Then, a crewmember tags me and says that they need me at the parts counter. They wanted me to wear Wild Willie's shop shirt (that's another story) and pose in front of the cash register. The film director wants me to pretend to write down a customer order, then drop the pencil, turn to the cash register, and pretend to punch up a sale. OK, I can do that, and rehearsed it to his satisfaction. Now I have to stand there at the counter for nearly an hour while crews rush about and a flurry of activity goes on.

Then the director says 'action'. I do the pretend thing, and as I turn toward the cash register, this humongeous contraption with all these people around it starts moving to follow me.

What th....?!!?... I turn to face this oncoming behemoth, like you would in the moments just before getting hit by a truck, and do the 'deer-in-the-headlights' stare. :yikes:

"Cut, cut, cut...":banghead: Director tells me not to look into the camera, pretend that it's not there.

Not there?? That huge thing?? Evidently, the crew managed to assemble a small railroad with a large panavision camera truck on it, for some sort of moving scene.

The second take went OK, with Mr. Oates in the backround, walking through the parts department. The wrong way! But, that's the way they wanted it, so it was a keeper.

I signed a release form, and got $5.

It took all day to film that 1 minute's worth of opening 'bike shop' scenes.

The rest of the guys were at the track that day, with a second film crew to do some track scenes with Peter Fonda.

We didn't know the name of the movie, or what it was about, until it was released later that year.

Race With The Devil
Race-With-The-Devil.jpg

Here's some clips in my album: http://www.xs650.com/media/albums/2320/

Here's the first 2 minutes of the movie:

The rest of the movie is basically a mixture of horror and "How to destroy a perfectly good RV".

See how many bikes you can recognize...
 
How cool was that !!! Yer a movie star.........

I saw some 2 strokes, but couldn't name them for sure.......also some Triumphs and Hondas.

I'll bet you look exactly the same now as then:D
 
How cool was that !!! Yer a movie star.........

I saw some 2 strokes, but couldn't name them for sure.......also some Triumphs and Hondas.

I'll bet you look exactly the same now as then:D

Yeah, quite unexpected.
Same now??? Errrmm, we'd be talking some serious restoration work to get that...
 
Is that you at the 0:36 to 0:39 second mark?

Yessir. Wasn't expecting that 'close up'.

You have no idea what it took to ignore that massive camera contraption.
Like standing on the highway shoulder and ignoring the passing 18-wheelers.

Warren Oates was a pretty cool dude to work with. He had just finished "Dillinger"...
 
Hi 2Many,
nice story, pity us Canadians ain't allowed to see the video clip.
Click on it up here and it sez sorry, not available.
I wonder WTF was I doing in 1975?
As yes, just bought my first bike in Canada. Sprung Hub Triumph Thunderbird that some stylist had swapped in a 2 gallon gas tank and over-length forks plus had the frame chrome plated.
Completely restorable though.
Oh for a time machine and a telephone to tell myself not to sell the thing.
 
Hey, Fred! Can't see it in Canada? Odd. What's up with that? Protecting Canucks from budget class-F flicks filmed in the non-Hollywood wastelands?

Oh, yeah, time machine. Think of the damage we could do...
 
I was just a welp, 3 years old. At first I thought you were decribing maximum overdrive . Haven't seen race with the devil.
 
I remember watching that movie when it first came out...

These guys go camping out in the desert and camp in the wrong spot...just so happens to be a bunch of devil worshippers doing sacrifices out by their campsite!

I cant believe I can remember that after all these years, but ya gotta understand...ANY movies that had ANY motorcycles in them back then had a profound effect on me at that time in my life!!

Hell, who am I kidding, they still have a daily profound effect on my life! Lol

It wasn't a bad movie as I recall.
 
Warren Oates, loved the guy, any movie was the better when he was in it, even for 5 min. RIP

2Many you have done 2 many things to keep up with.:thumbsup:

I get a "Not Available" as well.

Maybe it has something to do with this article i read. If not for now then it will happen

YouTube Will Remove Ads for Money.
The streaming service is going to launch its subscription version, for which users will pay to remove the ads. The Google-owned service notified channel owners about its plans, saying that if they don't sign up, all their videos will be set to "private".
screenshot_108.png

This move followed another innovations by YouTube: children's app YouTube Kids and beta launch of YouTube Music Key, a streaming music service selling subscriptions. Although the company didn't specify the cost of a monthly subscription or a launch date, industry observers believe that the price will be about $10 a month and the subscriptions will launch before 15 June.

It turns out that YouTube is going to keep 45% of the revenues and share the rest out among channel owners proportionally to their share of viewing by subscribers. YouTube also informed that channel owners who don't participate would have to set their videos as "private".

The most popular streaming service on the planet has previously experimented with subscriptions for individual channels. However, this feature didn't prove popular. Last year, YouTube also allowed channels to use a tip-jar feature named Fan Funding, which enabled them to top up their revenue from advertising.

It should be noted that YouTube is not the only company trying to figure out whether people will pay a monthly subscription to watch the videos that have always been free or not: for instance, an American startup Vessel has already launched a service charging $2.99 a month for the opportunity to get access to videos at least 3 days before they appear on YouTube. At the same time, a crowdfunding company named Patreon has a roster of YouTube channels whose fans agree to pay for watching the video – either every mo
 
Hey, Skull. Thanx for the youtube info. The folks that uploaded that first 2-minute clip also uploaded the whole movie, which is now giving me a "purchase required" banner! Oh, well.

Oh yeah, Warren Oates was a cool dude to chat with. But, he was busy, I was super busy (customers & bikes coming and going during all this), so didn't have a chance for an extended visit.

When they left, the shop and showroom were a mess. The place didn't normally look that cluttered in real life. Bikes, lifts, benches, tools all clumped together for the shots.
 
Add movie star to 2many's long list of accomplishments!

Hadn't thought about it, maybe that's why I feel so tired...


That was really cool to see....but why would they make you wear a wig in your shot? lol

To enhance the horror factor.

That 'close-up' is terrifying to us country folks...
 
TwoMany......that is just SO cool..:thumbsup:...I gota find that movie and watch it again. I know I saw it at one time or another....but those days (and pretty much every thing that happened) are a bit of a fog for me now.

Take care,

Gordon in NC
 
...I gota find that movie and watch it again.

Hey, Gordon. I guess this thing has become some sort of a cult classic.

You may find that you wished that you'd spent your time on your XS650 instead.


... those days (and pretty much every thing that happened) are a bit of a fog for me now.

Haha, welcome back into the "fog"! Busy time back then. Watergate, 'nam pullout, "Mash", gas crisis, gas lines, folks trading-in their station wagons for mini-cars and motorcycles, the beginnings of superbikes.

Shortly followed by "Star Wars", early PCs (Sinclair), and video games...
 
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