The late, great, movie icon--
On set of The Hunter
with the legendary Steve McQueen
in his spectacular final performance
Steve McQueen was cool. No doubt about it. As he was seen on screen, so was he in person.
McQueen didn't have to say a single word to make a statement. Not in a movie, and not sitting one-person away from me at a long picnic table in the front yard of an Illinois corn-famer's house.
Through lunch, McQueen said little. But the statement and the person were thicker and louder than clouds in the Illinois sky.
We, your fans, miss you Steve McQueen.
Bourbonnais, Il, October 10, 1979
It shows in their voice and in their eyes.
"I like working with Steve McQueen," says cameraman, Frank McNeal of Los Angeles, Calif. "He's got it all together." McNeal starts speaking with me as he exits the helicopter he and his partner, Ross Reynolds, also of Los Angeles, use while filming actions that occur in a corn field just west of Manteno, Ill.
"Most of them (movie stars) are living in a world of fantasy and they're hard to work with. They read their scripts and really think they're the character."
McNeal and Reynolds, a team for 20 yuears, enjoy their work, although, they agree, there is a lot of wasted time.
"It sometime takes a week's work waiting around and filming to turn out a three or four minute script."
There is no sitting around and waiting, however, for Cliff Lubirdi, Ron Schroeder, Jay Hirsh, George Stuart, and Joe Marazzits, who were sent to Kankakee, Ill., by Paramount Pictures to get a shack-like building ready for use in The Hunter.
The attractive "shack" was made of all new materials in Hollywood and trucked to Aroma Park, Ill. The wood used was stained and antiqued throughout. Everything is made to look old and run-down, from the rustic cabinets to the distressed kitchen tiles. The outside walls are stained, then shellacked and made to peel. Informal light fixtures on the walls hold screw-in bulbs. And what look like real electrical wires running from the river bank to the structure is actually closesline wire painted black.
The Hollywood shack, designed by Ron Schoreder, located on Kankakee River at Aroma Park, will actkually be seen as waters in Houston, Texas. And the scene shot in the Manteno corn field will appear as Lamont, Neb.
According to assistant director Frank Bueno, of Holleywood, Paramont sent out a scout months before the filming of The Hunter.
It was really kind-of funny how Carol and I found McQueen and all the other movie-makers. After all, the movie company was trying to do it filming in secluded areas, I guess to keep the cornfields from flooding with screaming fans. Carol and I both worked for small newspapers at the time and were always out for stories, especially that might be involving famous people like Steve McQueen.
So, we went out looking for Holleywood down on the river miles away for everything. We were in my old red Olds when we caught sight of house actually being constructed in the water. A couple men were in sight. Carol leaned out the window, from her waist. She called, "Hey, can anybody tell me where I can find Cliff."
"He's down there," a man came back.
I parked under some big hickory and oak trees and we scuffled through the dried weeds to house, which was still under construction.
I don't know if Cliff ever asked why we were looking for him. I didn't even know myself. I later asked Carol how she knew about Cliff."
Carol looked at me like--silly. "There's a Cliff on every movie set," she said, matter-of-factly.
While filming at the "shack" on the Kankakee River, Steve McQueen was doing a scene on the river bank before making his appearence to capture the "bounty" he was after "in Houston, Texas."
My friend and fellow-writer, Carol, sat with her note pad and little instant camera, flash on clearly, and snapped McQueen, generating a re-shot.
McQueen turned to her, pointed his finger and said, "I don't have to take this shit from you."
Carol was totally embarassed and teared up.
"I slept for years with Steve's picture under my pillow and these are the first words he says to me," she whimpered.