Switchback

Filming a train project in Winter.

Switchback...Frozen on a Train

A call came in from Second Unit Director of Photography Mike Benson to show up in Northern Colorado on a Dennis Quaid and Danny Glover action film called Switchback. Almost every feature film employs at lease two camera teams. The “First Unit” is the one that works with the principal actors....the “stars”. The second unit which I worked on usually does the stunt work, the fights, the high falls, the car chases and so forth. By far more fun believe me. It was mid winter....and working on a moving train for the stunt and action sequences was going to be pretty harsh....so I packed my warmest gear and signed on.

On the top of the train in Colorado

The story involved a mystery killer (Glover) who kidnaps and hides the son of the FBI agent tasked with catching him(Quaid)! As the story develops Glover’s character is escaping on a freight train high in the mountains....freezing cold and covered with deep snow.

The second unit crew was made up of action veterans but none better known than Tony Rivetti Sr a legendary 1st Assistant Cameraman with perhaps a thousand credits. More on Tony to come.

One of the main chases involves Quaid chasing the train through the Colorado mountains at night in his car. The usual sequences were shot intercutting Quaid at the wheel....with exterior action shots involving stunt drivers and a real train.

At one point I was stationed with a hand held camera on a trestle overlooking a road where Quaid’s car would roar through underneath us. The Assistant Director started the train headed for the trestle where I and my AC were standing(maybe 2 feet or less of leeway up there....cosy).

Another camera was below us shooting the oncoming car sliding from side to side in pursuit. Somehow the sunshade and filter holder dislodged from my lens just as the train gained the trestle.....and fell to the road below. AC Trevor Loomis grabbed the shade and slung it underhand to my Assistant who slapped it hurriedly on the lens in a sensational move reminiscent of a baseball double play.... . Not 2 seconds later the chase car appeared in my shot....holding the onrushing car.....and then a pivot to hold the front of the train as it grazed past us.

Rigged off the side of a freight car to shoot a fight below. Rene Treyball AC(foreground) and Billy Westbay rigger.

These kinds of mishap adventures happen frequently on the second unit of any film....but this one was close. One take....the shot is in the movie!

Quaids’ character has one chance to catch the train....but to do this he must slide down a steep snow covered slope toward a tunnel where the train will pass....and in doing this he slips and stumbles and slides all the way to just above the tunnel entrance where he is able to grab an iron bar and keep himself from falling down to the tracks. The train is coming fast and Dennis is hanging onto his bar above the tunnel. Are you with me on this?

This film was done some time ago....before the next shot would have been done today using Computer Graphics and Special effects....but amazingly the next shot required hoisting Dennis up on a harness....clipping him into the iron bar with 2 or 3 feet of slack in his safety cable and then running the real freight train underneath him. The idea is that as the train roars underneath...... Dennis lets go and drops on the train....to catch the bad guy. The shot involves Dennis Quaid releasing his grip on the bar....and falling 3 feet to just above the train when his safety cable is “supposed” to catch him above the train !!!

Mike Benson sent me....and a climber assistant named Doug Nethercutt out to a position just above where all of this was to take place. It was dicey....we had to shoot straight down at Dennis and take the greatest care not to kick rocks or dirt down on him in the process. Doug was not a camera assistant....(the person in charge of setting the focus on feature films) so I called over to Tony Rivetti who with the rest of the crew were watching nearby and asked him to tell us what the focus should be. Only someone with Tony’s expertise could do this from 20 feet away....but,without hesitation, he called over....”13 feet”. If this had not worked, the whole shot would have been ruined! …….Tony!!!

Dennis was lifted into place and the AD called for the train. Doug and I are roped in and looking down at film star Dennis Quaid as the train roars underneath. Just before he is cued to let go....he looks up at us and shakes his head as if to say “Are you shitting me”. And flashes his famous Dennis Quaid grin. Then he drops away from us toward the train!!!

The shot is in the movie.