The Prop Store First Look On Location: Buttercup Valley, 1982

This is a truly great store!! Times were so different then. I was only 5 at the time that it hit theaters and it makes me feel like a kid again just looking at these photos.
Thank you for sharing!!!!!!!!
 
Great pics and great story!

Minor note: Any of the "stunt doubles" might be stand-ins instead. Hard to say either way.

Actually, does anyone besides me recall the late 1982/early 1983 article on Starlog written by the guy who was Luke"s stand-in in Buttercup Valley (presumably the same guy pictured in the Luke outfit with Carrie)? Cool article -have it been able to find it anywhere online. But I remember poring over it back in the day trying to glean any scant details about the film"s plot.

Sigh. I think "anticipating a movie" WAS more fun in the pre-Internet days :)

M
 
You have to be a hermit if you want to go into a movie clean.

Mic - I agree with you 100%. But are you referring to today, or 30 years ago?

Because I remember living in Jacksonville Florida, the butthole of the universe, and not knowing a thing about ROJ except for one or two Starlog articles until the day a month before release when an issue came out that showed some stills from the film, including the 2nd Death Star (which blew my mind.) So, to me as a person located not he outskirts of the country in the pre-internet days, I waited three years to find out about the film, and knew almost nothing walking in. In fact, I remember winning a radio station pass to an early screening of the film and seeing a list of credits as I walked in - it referenced "Anakin Skywalker played by Sebastian Shaw" and, as I'd never heard of the character, I remember thinking "what - is that going to be Luke's cousin?" In other words, there was no need, at least for me, to be a hermit to avoid learning everything about a new movie.

But you managed to find out where the actual filming was going on. How in the world did you get that information in the pre-Internet days?

M
 
Yes now.

I was alerted to the build in the desert from a friend who lived in Yuma or Phoenix and if I recall it was one of my first contacts with Mr. Frank Cerney.

Was that you Frank? I got sent a newspaper article and phone call.
 
Hi Micdavis,

I saw an article on the web years ago about guys who travelled out to the site and they had photographs of the set but it was the set basically crumbling but still identifiable - was that one of your excursions as well?

Also isn't there some film footage of your trips as well? I have a few film files of Boba Fett flying etc on the barge which I believe was gifted to the RPF by you some years ago but my memory might be failing me.

Thanks again for the pics and the great story :thumbsup

Cheers Chris
 
Thank you so much for sharing. I was a kid and it really was a special time - to me...haha.

That must have been so cool.

How old were you?

Hot hot was it?

How far a hike from where you took the first three shots up to the set?

I always thought the scene was filmed in Yuma AZ.

You really did get up close.

That set was huge. It just amazes me what they built for these films. It's like a little city.

So they tore the set down and just trucked all the stuff away into a dumpster? That's a ton of stuff.

Thanks!!!
 
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Odd behavior for a curmudgeon, eh?!

You ain't seen nothin' yet.

(well some of you have, and yeah I was able to post a bit a few years ago)

More to come.
 
You really did get up close.

The first crew who came to converse with the "people east of the ship" (us), were Howard Kazanjian and Robert Watts. I knew who Robert was but not Howard.

They asked us why we were there and what we thought it was.

They had only started filming the day before and the barge was buttoned up most of the time. But R2 was up on the deck.

I pointed up at him and said. "Well, I'm pretty sure it's Revenge of the Jedi or R2 is on vacation."

We asked if it was cool to hang out and they said it was fine. I even asked permission to pitch a tent at a later time. They were cool with it all as long as we did what they asked, sure....... Not a problem.

I spent 2 weekends and a 6 day (2 of that sandstorms) campout total time.

They actually kept in touch with us for about a year and half after that, through the release, asking us how we thought it was all going.

And as cool as that was. What came later was even cooler.

I'd be impressed if someone can find that story. I am pretty sure it was published in a Bantha Tracks. I and some of the others "involved" did an interview.
 
"I'd be impressed if someone can find that story. I am pretty sure it was published in a Bantha Tracks. I and some of the others "involved" did an interview."

It was a little dusty, but I think I found it. This was in Bantha Tracks #20, May 1983:

BanthaTracks_BlueHarvestGang.jpg
 
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Great find.

Those are friends of ours but that is not the group I went out with. They came out after us and we made the Blue Harvest shirts & hats.

The story I am looking for is, a clandestine (under dark of eclispe) trip to the sail barge location months after filming & a little tunneling.
 
Ah, unfortunately my old Bantha Tracks collection is pretty spotty at this point. Hopefully someone will dig up the other article.

I'd like to join the rest in thanking you for sharing the story and fantastic photos. What a great adventure, you guys were living the dream!
 
Great story and pics! Thanks for sharing :)

It's cool to see how movie sets were made on location with full-sized props as compared to the green screens they use today.
 
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