Indio

Francesco Quinn as Indio

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Brian Dennehey

Chuck Hicks and Marvin Hagler

Chuck Hicks

Sleeping

Indio cast.

Indio, I took this photo so I'm not in it...With David Light and Chuck Hicks, Larry Barry.

Francesco Quinn fights to save the Indians and their forrest. He beats Brian Dennehey, Marvin Hagler, Chuck Hichs and us, the special soft-ball team.

Full movie: click here..

See the other clips
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Born on the 4th of July, the shooting in 1989.

This was a nice one. , meeting with the Hollywooders, great action days.

Me..

   Most of the action was shot at the beach all the way up north in Laoag-City, hometown of former pres. Ferdinand Marcos and capital of the province Ilocos Norte, a restless province with violence at a regular time . Besides the wardrobe and props, there was a large input from the Philippine Army, so were the APC´s, the Armoured Personnel Carriers. It was december 1988 and I was told that the tanks we were running next to on the set, had just been used to fight rebels or members of the NPA, the New Peoples Army, recently. One could say the barrels were still hot...

Me and ?( don't remember the names of the other guys.)

Oliver Stone, our director, had planned a sunset shoot. We were positioned at the beach and marched next to the huge tanks. Can´t say it was like walking your dog, no. We had to go on the double through the sand, me carrying a heavy M60 machine gun on my shoulder, the other guys were on top of the APC (they had the best part.... ). The caterpillar-links grind the sand and crunched at a high pitch. Very dusty and noisy and pretty damn dangerous when you were close next to them, cos they didn't move smoothly but sort of danced . The first time wasn't too bad, but the direct wanted another shot with a lower sun. We had to hurry back to nr.1 and take positions again. We did this for 3 or 4 times, and the sand became a heavy walk, both my shoulders were nearly bruised and getting painful, the M 60 seemed to get heavier every step I made, more stumbling than walking I reached the meet, and I never was more glad to hear 'cut'.

Once in awhile explosives add their effect to the scene..villagers are running around to save some of their belongings a few chickens, a goat or other precious things..it looked pretty real ..cos it WAS for real... most people saw their own houses burn to ashes.!!!

"The next scene we run from dune to dune while shot at, we aim our fire, shooting the enemy. The beach is on fire, all Nipa huts made of flammable materials are burning.."

It's a small barrio they're burning down, people were payed for, but still... It was calculated to be much cheaper to buy out the complete community than to build a 'look alike' village.
Besides the compensations they got to rebuild their homes, the inhabitants were cast to be part of the scene. I'm sure they had a christmas they'll never forget.....

Tom Cruise.

I had never heard of Tom Cruise before, I heard he just made it with 'Topgun', a film I didn't see yet.. He wasn't easy to become friends with, he didn't merge with the lower cast and the times I talked with him were more like formal than friendly. He preferred to stay at his room most of the time. There was a period he didn't feel well and had a fever, as a helot I offered my service but he insisted to be seen by a doctor. OK.

The international productions used to bring their own stunt people and doubles so I was pretty surprised when Ken Metcalfe asked me to be a stand-in for Willem Dafoe...so I got the chance to get to know him a little better.. A stand-in, well, it sounds more interesting than it is. A stand-in is a person who replaces an actor when the settings are being prepared for the next take. The camera is 'blocking' you while lights, reflectors and sounds are positioned and marks are made where the actors need to stand. When all is set, the 'money' comes to do the take....

A double, or body-double as they call it, is a person who takes over when the situation needs an expert to perform a stunt or otherwise. The 'star' steps aside and his double will do the action.

Even Chuck Norris used several doubles in case the stunts were too risky to have it done by himself. Now we're NOT talking fighting scenes, I mean no one else can do that better than him right.?? No, think about jumping down an airplane or other dangerous stuff that's not covered by the insurance....But to perform a stunt that's too dangerous to be done by Chuck Norris ???

In MIA-3, I was stand-by as 3rd double to Chuck Norris, just in case... But double #1 did a good job, so even # 2 had easy days...

Can't win 'm all..............

Oliver Stone

 http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/oliver-stone/147030/oliver-stone-an-independent-american-director

Born on the 4th of july. The action scenes were taken in Laoag during the holidays 1988-'89. Direct Oliver Stone had brought his family to join him on the shooting. His wife seemed to like his work behind the camera and she spent hours on the set. We had a nice New Year barbecue at the beach and I even celebrated my birthday, january 12, on the set. I think we stayed on this location for at least 3 weeks and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Full Movie, click here... 

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Platoon, deleted- and behind the scenes..

Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Francesco Quinn and Kevin Dillon.

Behind the scenes:

Platoon - deleted scenes, different ending door  bert-e-spoor

 Thanks for sharing your memories Henry.

 Platoon, Henry's album:

Film Years

By: Henry Strzalkowski

Comments:

Henry Strzalkowski:  Ending. After Barnes' death. Cutting off a souvenir ea.

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• Bert E. Spoor de Rave:  I remember the night shots in Maragondon. Napalm and echoed explosions through the mountains of Cavite.. Shakin'...
  

   
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  Bert E. Spoor de Rave:  A friend from Tanza told me they heard the thunder but there was no rain..
  
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  Gabby Gabaya:  God bless Rhah!!!!
  

  
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  Steve Rogers:  I could tell a story or two or 200 about that shoot...
  
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  Andrew Leavold: ‎Steve: please do!

.Steve Rogers "I read post-release interviews where actors spoke of carrying 50 lb backpacks around. The packs were actually stuffed with wadded up newspaper. I recall carrying 6 at a time up to the set. In a few scenes it was obvious from the way the packs moved and hung that they were light, so we had to weight them up a bit. The actors howled like they were suffering the torments of the damned."

"Charlie Sheen's girlfriend desperately wanted to ride in a helicopter. Nobody would ever let her. One day a car was taking her back to the hotel from the set, she passed the field where the helicopters parked. She had the driver stop, and asked one of the pilots. Of course he said yes. Shortly after we were treated to the spectacle of a chopper flying through a battle scene with a shrieking girl in a white dress strapped into the door gunner's seat..."

" Then they wanted a shot of a chopper flying slowly over a big red setting sun. Couldn't get it right, people kept shouting at the pilot... higher, lower, etc. Finally Nick grabbed a radio, told everyone to shut up. Asked the pilot if he could see the camera on the ground. After an affirmative response he asked the pilot if he could see the shadow of the helicopter on the ground. He then told the pilot to place his shadow over the camera, and the shot was duly placed in the can on the next take, leaving a few embarrassed faces around...

(Thanks Steve.)

  FULL MOVIE.. 

 (2hrs)

and

clip-Shotgun.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+BertESpoordeRave/posts/3GYpwL1kmqC?pid=6370576552630338130&oid=113594002597590518952

Nick Nicholson smoking a doobie...;-)

It's been an honor to have worked with you Nick...thanks.

 RIP.

Dutch witness:

Bert E. Spoor.

De knallen konden nog harder dan ik ze ooit gehoord had en dat ging ook gebeuren in Ternate, net na Maragondon in een bergachtig gebied vlak bij Naic. Dat was zowat in mijn achtertuin, een kleine tien minuten met de auto van  mijn barrio. Dit is een geliefd gebied voor de filmmakers en veel van de klassiekers hebben hier een mooie set gevonden.

Hier werden de voorbereidingen getroffen voor een ongelofelijk spektakel voor “Platoon”.

Een hele vallei zou met napalm-granaten worden bestookt, over de gehele lengte. Dit waren nachtopnames om het effect extra te laten uitkomen. Onze groep had er net 'n paar acties opzitten en was met -”take 5”- ( even rust ) van de set gestuurd. We hadden heen en weer gerend van de ene 'foxhole' naar de andere, mitrailleur-nesten opgeblazen en op de vijand gevuurd. Op het ene moment was alles fel verlicht door een explosie, direct daarna zag je alleen maar het negatief op je netvlies en was het gewoon gevaarlijk om blindelings door te lopen. Overal stonden potten met explosieven klaar om af te gaan en wij moesten daar tussendoor. Na een paar keer vallen en opstaan wist ik een keer bij god niet meer waar ik was en liep weer op een foxhole af die we net hadden veroverd. Er werd zoveel geschoten en er waren zoveel andere effecten dat ik er toen voor gekozen heb na een duikvlucht niet meer op te staan. Als gesneuvelde heb ik gewacht op het stopsein 'cut' en scheen het goed gedaan te hebben want er kwam geen commentaar.....

We mochten even een uurtje bijkomen terwijl de volgende set-up werd klaargemaakt. Er was meestal wel wat te eten of te drinken, en de groep verspreidde zich om her en der wat naar binnen te werken. Na al die drukte en ophef was het een verademing om, na een bak koffie tegen het in slaap vallen, even gestrekt op de bemoste bodem de dag door te dromen. Ik was een beetje weggedommeld toen de hel losbarstte. Het beetje achtergrond geroezemoes stoorde niet in een dutje. Maar het gebulder van laag overvliegende bommenwerpers die hun inhoud over de vallei uitwierpen en het tot ontbranding komen van de napalmgranaten zou een dode tot leven hebben geroepen.

Klaarwakker schoot ik rechtop, me met bonkend hart realiserend waar ik was. Het zijn vooral ook de schokgolven die na de klappen over je heen denderen en tot in de ingewanden te voelen zijn, het bijbehorend lichtspektakel met wit, oranje en rood, de zwarte rookwalm die er als een deken overheen hing en het onheilspellende van de donkere nacht maakten het tot een illuster plaatje. Ik was beslist de enige niet die uit zijn sluimeringen was opgewekt; in diverse talen schoten er prachtige superlatieven door de lucht en aangezien men dat soort taalgebruik vaak het eerst leert in een andere taal, kon ik er vrij veel van verstaan ! De dreunen echoden wat heen en weer tussen de bergwanden en stierven geleidelijk uit na, naar ik aanneem, menigeen in de omgeving uit de slaap te hebben gehaald.

Ik was danig onder de indruk van het werk van Oliver Stone. Ik zou hem en zijn familie nog eens terugzien op de set van "Born on the 4th of July".

 Francesco Quinn

 Kevin Dillon

 Reggy J.

 Forest Whitaker

 John McGinley

Keith David

Tom Beringer

Kevin Dillon

Tom Berrringer

Willem Dafoe

Charlie Sheen

Tom Berringer

Filmography when-i-was-in-movies.html

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Hamburger Hill

Full Movie (1:45:06)

Working on a movie-set isn't without danger, especially movies with a lot of special fxs. Hé that's different from a regular Soap-series set. And when you're talking about war movies it's even more dangerous, there's not only the explosives, fire and loud noises; you need to run, to jump and fall, try not to get hurt during a stunt, don't get burned , avoid to get flying debris in your eyes. But the most scary thing is running around with helicopters at close range, on the ground or in the air. I've seen people come very close to the rear propeller.....( Vic Morrow was beheaded by a chopper, accidents with casualties on two Chuck Norris movies, David Carradine almost got hit in Behind Enemy Lines )

A long shot, continuous rolling cameras for several minutes in a field of action, pots with explosives on every 10 meters, fire, smoke, darkness. Pyro-pro's are checking on the pots filled with gasoline and other addings to get the required effects. These iron pots look like an up-side-down pyramid, the blast can be lead to any direction this way. Most of it goes up.

Then there is action. We go, run and duck and shoot, but 'cos we're not moving in a straight line it's hard to memorize the position of the pots.... ! Blasts from the left, from the right and from all sides. This must be close to real.... You could expect something to go wrong and it did.

...

We are working in the second unit. We were the 'Bravo' company, the Hollywooders were the Alphas.

We were positioned on a hill and blocked for camera already, the technicians   twisting the last wires together, big screens were placed to reflect the sunlight. That added more heat to the set and it was hot already... I figure we, the soldiers, were about 15 to 20 feet apart, I was talking with some buddies around me, waiting for the things to come...

I was blocked close to a pot, less than 2 ft behind me. On action I'll have to make one step ahead and jump as the blast will be ignited asa I step forward. (not wired to me..!) Other colleagues around me were given  similar instructions as well.

..I'd been sitting there on one knee for quite some time and I got stiff so I stood up to stretch a little and talk a bit. And got back to position again...  the very same time I sat, the blast behind me fired off and gave me a push. One second earlier it would have hit me full-face... I was launched and air born, after a short flight I hit the ground. Besides my shaking knees I didn't move. Waiting for the rest to come, but they didn't. It was quiet .

I really thought I fucked up, cos I hadn't heard 'Action'.

Cautiously I opened my eyes to see what had happened, did I miss 'Cut' also ?? Then I heard a voice: "Burt, are you alright? Hé man, what happened?" I peeped around and saw everybody looking my way. Jezub, I really screwed up I thought.

“Fuck man, that looked realistic, thought you were hurt or something”, somebody said. Then I realized it wasn't me to blame. Mistake, thank you..Pyro-man..! "About my 'stunt', was it OK ?", that's what I wanted to know... "Oh it looked perfect ", they said, compliments all over.

Just one thing's a pitty, cameras weren't rolling....

Hamburger Hill

Click to enlarge pictures..

Cast 1st unit

Mud in my underwear, my ears, my nose. When you see mud or smoke in this movie I'm probably not far from there, shot or blown to pieces. Falling and tumbling, dying and changing into hamburger meat.....

When we climbed the Hill, it was supposed to be rainy season, but it was dry. So several fire trucks showed up to 'sprinkle' us. It became so muddy we slide down 0ne meter on every 2 we climbed. Thousands of car tires were used for special fxs. Tell you, those fumes weren't healthy. There were complaints against this pollution, man we couldn't breath... and indeed some of the pots were covered with sand. This was TOO much water and TOO much smoke... 

Intro:

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Cast of the Hill. It isn't really rainy season as you can see.

 My Filmography..

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