The Mammoth Film “Outdoors” ushered in a new era for Mammoth Films. No longer were films being churned out in a day’s or even a week’s time and the scripts were becoming more advanced and well written. Locations were also becoming more varied. Outdoors, a comedy about two campers and their wilderness trial, was filmed primarily in middle Georgia around the town of Warner Robins. Co-star Charles Armstrong and I would trudge out among the pine barrens on Saturday and Sunday afternoons to film what is still considered one of Mammoth’s best films, despite being an older work.


A small fraction of the film was filmed a few hundred miles away in western Kentucky. I was going to visit Wes Brown after not seeing him for a few years when it occurred to me that he could fill the one vacant role left in the film. Wes and I were both thrilled to have him back in front of the camera and it was quickly evident his acting skills were as sharp as ever. He owned the role of Dorsey Bean.


Knowing the film was set in “the wilderness” Wes suggested we film his scenes at a beautiful slice of Western Kentucky known as Land Between the Lakes or LBL. It was a great day riding around this place. I remember stopping at a small diner to ask for directions where the man behind the counter spoke with a backwoods accent that I thought only existed in the world of movies and TV, at least in this day and age. Another memory of the day is when we found the wreck of an old school bus along one of the many narrow dirt roads that snake through LBL. Somewhere among my tapes, I still have footage of this.


It was along one of these dirt roads that the “adventure” that will forever be a part of the film occurred. As we rode around that day, we randomly picked a dirt road on which to film. We drove a good ways down the road to escape the sight of curious passersby and to have minimal road noise. The road ended at the perfect spot for filming. We were well away from the road and had an ideal spot to get all the shots needed. We knew here filming could commence free of prying eyes and other distractions. We were wrong.


We were almost done filming that day with only a few shots needed of Wes emerging from the woods uttering the immortal line, “Y’all leave’m be.” Suddenly, we heard a vehicle coming up this desolate road. A red pick up truck crested the hill welcomed by our gazing eyes. In quick order, the truck reversed itself back down the hill. “That was odd” was the general consensus and we resumed filming. A few minutes had passed when we heard another rumbling coming up the road. This time we watched another red truck crest the hill. It was not the same truck! It repeated the actions of its predecessor, reversing itself back down the hill. Filming resumed again.


A strange series of events this was, but the strange occurences would continue. The first red truck came back a second time. Again, we looked at each other and again, the driver backed down the hill and left. Filming continued only to be interrupted once more by the second red truck making a second visit. The driver backed down the hill just as before. We found this quite bizarre and started to wrap up the days filming.


Guess what happened next? The first red truck came rumbling back up the hill. Feeling brave, I decided to approach the driver this time. I walked up to see an older man behind the wheel, looking kind of nervous. I told him we would soon be leaving if he needed the spot. He just smiled and said, “No, I’m just out riding around.” If he was doing that, he sure had taken a liking to this random dirt road. He backed up and left. It was almost expected at this point, but you guessed it, the second red truck came back again. Still feeling brave, I approached this vehicle too. The driver was a younger man wearing sunglasses. I said something to effect that we were leaving soon if the man needed the spot for some reason. He said with an air of snootiness, “No” and then drove away. As he drove away, I noticed a sticker on his back window and things suddenly made a little more sense. On the back window of the man’s truck was a rainbow sticker. Figure out for yourself what was going on.


It was jokingly suggested at the time that Wes leave me behind with the camera to see what was going on and possibly extort the pair, but of course we were only joking. Or were we? Much like the SAM4 incident referenced in a previous blog, this one will forever be ingrained into Wes and I’s memory. Hopefully, the years to come will provide a few more adventures.