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