Charles B. Pierce
Encyclopedia
Charles B. Pierce was an American film director
, screenwriter
, producer
, set decorator
, cinematographer
and actor
, and is considered one of the first independent filmmakers. Pierce directed thirteen films over the span of 26 years, but is best known for his cult hits The Legend of Boggy Creek
(1973) and The Town That Dreaded Sundown
(1976).
Pierce was born in Hammond
, Indiana
, but moved to Arkansas
early in his childhood. After working in production jobs at television stations, Pierce moved to Texarkana
and started an advertising agency. He made his directorial debut with The Legend of Boggy Creek, a faux documentary
-style film inspired by the legend of the Bigfoot
-like Fouke Monster
. The film was funded largely by a donation from an advertising client, and Pierce rented a local movie theater to exhibit it. The low-budget film grossed roughly $25 million.
Pierce followed the success with several inexpensive, regional films set in Southeastern and Southwestern United States. Among them were The Town That Dreaded Sundown, based on the true story of the Phantom Killer murders in Texarkana. Pierce continued directing films into the 1980s, when he wrote the story for the Clint Eastwood
film Sudden Impact
(1983). For that screenplay, he is said to have written the phrase, "Go ahead, make my day
," which became one of the most famous movie quotes in history.
After years of pressure from producers, Pierce directed a Boggy Creek sequel, Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues (1985), which he considered the worst film of his career. The sequel was featured in a 1999 episode of the comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000
, which ultimately increased Pierce's visibility. Pierce died of natural causes in Dover
, Tennessee
. His work has been cited as an influence on the horror film The Blair Witch Project
(1999).
, Indiana
on June 16, 1938, one of three boys born to Mack McKenny Pierce and Mayven Bryant Pierce. His family moved to the southwestern Arkansas
city of Hampton
when he was just a few months old. There he was a childhood friend and neighbor of future film and television director Harry Thomason
, and the two made home movies together in their backyards using an old 8 mm
camera. His first professional foray into media entertainment was in the mid-1960s as an art director at KTAL-TV
in Shreveport
, Louisiana
. He later became a weatherman and hosted a children's cartoon show for that channel.
Pierce continued working in production jobs at television stations in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas
until 1969, when he moved to Texarkana
, bought a 16 mm
camera and started an advertising agency. He started a contract with Ledwell & Son Enterprises, a Texarkana-based firm that built 18-wheel trailers and farm equipment. Pierce developed commercials for the company that played throughout the Southwestern United States, using mostly footage he shot of trucks on the highway and farming equipment being used. Pierce said the reputation he developed with those commercials later helped him launch his film career. Also during this time, Pierce played a character named Mayor Chuckles on The Laffalot Club, a local Arkansas children's television show. Pierce launched his independent film career in the early 1970s, when he sought funding from L.W. Ledwell, the owner of Ledwell & Son Enterprises. Ledwell was skeptical of the idea, but ultimately agreed to provide about $100,000 of the $160,000 budget for Pierce's first film. Prior to his directorial debut, Pierce worked as a set decorator for television shows like the Western series Hondo
and for films like Waco
(1966) and Coffy
(1973).
, which was inspired by the Fouke Monster
, a six-foot-tall Bigfoot
-like creature said to live in Fouke
, an Arkansas town near Texarkana. Pierce said he did not necessarily believe in the legend but was fascinated with the stories about the monster. After interviewing Fouke residents who said they encountered the monster, Pierce became impressed with their authenticity and down-to-earth qualities. Pierce approached Earl E. Smith, an acquaintance from the advertising business, to adapt those eyewitness tales into a screenplay. The film was shot at locations in Fouke, Texarkana and Shreveport, using a camera Pierce built himself at home. It was filmed in a faux documentary
style as if it was a true story, and included interviews with actual Fouke residents mixed with dramatizations of their supposed encounters with the creatures. Like Pierce, the film's financial backers and many of the actors had never been involved in a film before.
Pierce cast the actors by waiting at a local gas station and approaching customers whenever he saw somebody that looked like they fit one of the parts. He hired high school students as crew members who helped load and move equipment. For the creature itself, Pierce limited the sightings to shadowy figures because he felt the film would be more frightening if the creature was left to the viewer's imagination. Pierce himself sang the theme song featured in the film. Once the film was completed, Pierce put the reel into the trunk of his trunk and drove to Los Angeles
seeking post-production services. He met Jamie Mendoza-Nava, who owned a small post-production company and agreed to work on the film for limited up-front pay and a small percentage of the film's box-office receipts. Pierce could not find a major studio willing to distribute it, so he rented a local movie theater in Texarkana for one week to screen the film. He cleaned the property himself to prepare for the debut.
Released in 1973, The Legend of Boggy Creek premiered at what was later called the Perot Theatre, where lines stretched around the block to see it. Pierce did not expect it to become a financial success, but it made $55,000 in the first three weeks from that single theater. Eventually, Pierce entered into a distribution deal with Joy N. Houck, owner of the independent distribution company Howco
, who paid Pierce $1.29 million for a 50 percent interest in The Legend of Boggy Creek. Pierce and Houck also signed with American International Pictures
for foreign and television distribution. It became a hit at drive-in movie theaters, eventually gaining a cult status
and bringing Pierce a semblance of fame. The film went on to gross roughly $25 million, making it one of the highest grossing films of the year. At the time of the film's release, Pierce incorrectly predicted to newspapers that it would win several Academy Awards. Several similarly-styled films about strange and allegedly true phenomena were released in subsequent years due to success of The Legend of Boggy Creek. J.E. "Smokey" Crabtree, a Fouke resident who appeared as himself in the film, became disgruntled with the production company and filed a lawsuit against Pierce and his financial supporters. Pierce declined to speak to the media about the suit.
in the Ozark Mountains
. It featured Slim Pickins and the first major performance of Jaclyn Smith
, who went on to play Kelly Garrett
in the television series Charlie's Angels
. Pierce followed that film up with two Westerns released in 1976. The first, Winterhawk, was about violence erupting between Blackfoot
Native Americans
and white villagers. The film proved difficult for Pierce to shoot due to challenges from the weather and problems with the horses on the set. However, according to Pierce, Winterhawk ended up becoming more widely seen than The Legend of Boggy Creek. His second Western was Winds of Autumn. Pierce co-wrote all of these films with his Boggy Creek partner, Earl E. Smith. Pierce made a trademark of casting his friends in his films, and Pierce himself performed minor roles in both Winterhawk and Winds of Autumn. During this period, Pierce continued working as a set decorator for films such as Black Belt Jones
(1974).
Pierce returned to the horror genre with the 1976 film The Town That Dreaded Sundown
, based on the true story of the Phantom Killer, an unidentified serial killer
who murdered five people in Texarkana in 1946. Pierce remembered being scared by news stories about the killer during his youth in Hampton. He received some criticism for the graphic violence portrayed in the film, particularly one scene where the killer ties a woman to a tree, attaches a knife to the end of a trombone
, then repeatedly stabs her while playing the instrument. Pierce said he purposely made the film violent because he felt the real-life situation was horrific and he did not want to glaze over it. While filming horror scenes, he tried to create a suspenseful mood by clearing the set of only the essential cast and staff, then refusing to let them talk to each other as the scenes were shot. Pierce himself appeared in The Town That Dreaded Sundown as police Patrolman A.C. "Spark Plug" Benson, an idiotic comic relief
character. The name "Spark Plug" was a real-life nickname given to the director due to his energy. Pierce described The Town That Dread Sundown as a very easy and enjoyable shoot with no major problems on the set. His wife at the time, Cindy Butler, was cast as the woman murdered by the trombone.
During this period, Pierce worked as set decorator for such films as The Outlaw Josey Wales
(1976) and The Cheap Detective
(1978). The year after The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Piece directed and co-wrote Grayeagle, a Western based on a Cheyenne
legend of a white man whose child (with an Indian wife) is kidnapped by a young warrior named Grayeagle. Pierce himself appeared in the film as Bugler, a half-insane white man who takes on a Shoshone
identity. Pierce next wrote and directed The Norseman (1978), which starred Lee Majors
as a Viking
prince who traveled to America to rescue his father from Indians. Working with a multi-million dollar budget, Pierce shot the film in the Florida
locations Hillsborough River State Park
and New Port Richey
. The next year he co-wrote and directed The Evictors (1979), another documentary-style horror film about a young couple who move into a rural Louisiana
farmhouse and find their lives endangered by a series of strange events. Pierce was inspired to write the script after reading a true story in a detective magazine about a Kansas
family who murdered somebody trying to evict them from the property. In order to match the late-evening sunlight in his cinematography at the farmhouse set, Pierce set up reflectors outside and deflected the sunlight through the windows, which were fitted with sheer white curtains to give the actors an eerie glow. The Evictors was little-seen and did not do financially well, which was a disappointment to distributor American International Pictures, but Pierce believed it one of his better films. He also considered it his most downbeat film, and said of the unhappy ending, "I probably just didn't have any other way to end it."
, where he met and befriended actor Clint Eastwood
. Pierce shared a film treatment
he had developed with Eastwood, who liked the story and helped Pierce develop it into Sudden Impact
(1983), the fourth entry in Eastwood's Dirty Harry
film series. Pierce was given a writer's credit for the story along with his frequent screenwriting partner, Earl E. Smith. Pierce is said to have written the phrase, "Go ahead, make my day
," the film's most famous line, which went on to be identified as one of the ten best movie quotes of all-time by the American Film Institute
. The phrase was inspired by something his father once told Pierce in his youth while encouraging his son to mow the lawn: "When I come home tonight and the yard has not been mowed, you're going to make my day." However, whether Pierce truly invented the phrase has been brought into question, since the same line was used in the action-drama film Vice Squad
(1982) the previous year. Around this time, Pierce also directed Sacred Ground
(1983), which was released the same year as Sudden Impact.
In 1985, Pierce released a sequel to The Legend of Boggy Creek called Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues. American International Pictures had been encouraging Pierce to make a Boggy Creek sequel for years because they believed it would be financially profitable, but Pierce was resistant to the idea. An earlier sequel, Return to Boggy Creek (1977), was directed by Tom Moore
, but Pierce did not participate in the production and did not like the final film. In his own Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues, Pierce starred as an anthropologist who brings three students on a expedition into the bayou to track down the creature. His son, Chuck Pierce, Jr., co-starred as Tim, one of the students. Pierce ultimately considered Boggy Creek II his worst film, believing his own role was too large and that he cast too many of his friends in supporting roles. Boggy Creek II was featured in a 1999 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
, a comedy television series in which the characters watch and make jokes about bad films. The episode ultimately increased Pierce's visibility to a wider audience.
In 1987, Pierce directed Hawken's Breed, a Western film starring Peter Fonda
as a drifter who meets and rescues a young Shawnee
woman. Pierce largely fell from the movie industry's public eye shortly after the release of Boggy Creek II. In 1996, he directed Renfroe's White Christmas, an adaptation of the classic children's book Renfroe's Christmas. Starting in 1997, he began production on his western film Chasing the Wind (1998), a gritty epic about a mountain man. It proved to be Pierce's final directorial effort, although he continued working as a set decorator for several television shows including MacGyver
, Remington Steele
, The Twilight Zone and Fresno
, a Carol Burnett
miniseries parodying prime time soap opera
s. Pierce's work on the latter show earned him a Primetime Emmy Award
nomination for Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or a Special.
Pierce began writing the screenplay for a sequel to The Town That Dreaded Sundown, but the film never came to fruition. Around 2008, while developing the horror film The Wild Man of the Navidad
, directors Duane Graves and Justin Meeks sought out Pierce, who they cited as a major influence on their work. Graves and Meeks wanted Pierce to work as a consultant on the film, but Pierce turned them down because, according to Graves, "if he's not running the show, he's not interested".
, where festival producers screened a retrospective of his films, and presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Also that year, the festival's best film award was renamed in his honor to the Charles B. Pierce Award for Best Film Made in Arkansas, In October 2009, the Arkansas Arts Council honored Pierce with the Judges' Special Recognition Award at the Governor's Arts Awards ceremony in Hot Springs
. Pierce died of natural causes on March 5, 2010 at the Signature Care nursing home in Dover
, Tennessee
, where he had moved a few years earlier. He was 71. Pierce was buried in the Stewart County Memorial Gardens in Dover on March 7, the day the 82nd Academy Awards
were broadcast, which his family felt was appropriate. Pierce directed thirteen films over the span of 26 years. He was considered one of the first independent filmmakers, and was credited with breaking new ground for other independent filmmakers, particularly for the Arkansas film industry.
Director Harry Thomason, Pierce's childhood friend and neighbor, praised him for finding success independently at a time when the film industry was so controlled by major studios. Daniel Myrick, co-director of the documentary-style The Blair Witch Project
(1999), said he was strongly influenced by The Legend of Boggy Creek, which was one of his favorite films growing up. Myrick said he and fellow Blair Witch director Eduardo Sánchez
wanted to "tap into the primal fear generated by the fact-or-fiction format like Legend of Boggy Creek". In an Orlando Sentinel
article that ran on Halloween
, Myrick identified The Legend of Boggy Creek as the one film that most inspired him. On September 2, 2010, Pierce was inducted into the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Arkansas Governor's Mansion
in Little Rock.
, the University of Arkansas
college sports teams.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, set decorator
Set decorator
A set decorator is in charge of the set dressing on a film set, which includes the furnishings, wallpaper, lighting fixtures, and many of the other objects that will be seen in the film. Props and set dressing often overlap, but are provided by different departments...
, cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, and is considered one of the first independent filmmakers. Pierce directed thirteen films over the span of 26 years, but is best known for his cult hits The Legend of Boggy Creek
The Legend of Boggy Creek
The Legend of Boggy Creek is a 1972 horror docudrama about the "Fouke Monster", a Bigfoot-type creature that has been seen in and around Fouke, Arkansas since the 1950s. The film mixes staged interviews with some local residents who claim to have encountered the creature, along with fictitious...
(1973) and The Town That Dreaded Sundown
The Town That Dreaded Sundown
The Town that Dreaded Sundown is a 1976, R-rated horror film directed by Charles B. Pierce. It is based on the Phantom Killer, who murdered five people in the 1940s in the city of Texarkana, Texas, at Spring Lake Park and was never caught. The film is presented similarly to Unsolved Mysteries,...
(1976).
Pierce was born in Hammond
Hammond, Indiana
Hammond is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 80,830 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hammond is located at ....
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, but moved to Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
early in his childhood. After working in production jobs at television stations, Pierce moved to Texarkana
Texarkana, Arkansas
As of the census of 2000, there were 26,448 people, 10,384 households, and 7,040 families residing in the city. The population density was 830.5 people per square mile . There were 11,721 housing units at an average density of 368.1 per square mile...
and started an advertising agency. He made his directorial debut with The Legend of Boggy Creek, a faux documentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
-style film inspired by the legend of the Bigfoot
Bigfoot
Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid...
-like Fouke Monster
Fouke Monster
The Fouke Monster, also known as the Southern Sasquatch, is a legendary cryptid reported near the town of Fouke in Miller County, Arkansas during the early 1970s, where it was accused of attacking a local family. Initial sightings of the creature were concentrated in the Jonesville/Boggy Creek...
. The film was funded largely by a donation from an advertising client, and Pierce rented a local movie theater to exhibit it. The low-budget film grossed roughly $25 million.
Pierce followed the success with several inexpensive, regional films set in Southeastern and Southwestern United States. Among them were The Town That Dreaded Sundown, based on the true story of the Phantom Killer murders in Texarkana. Pierce continued directing films into the 1980s, when he wrote the story for the Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
film Sudden Impact
Sudden Impact
Sudden Impact is a 1983 American crime thriller and the fourth film in the Dirty Harry series, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood...
(1983). For that screenplay, he is said to have written the phrase, "Go ahead, make my day
Go ahead, make my day
"Go ahead, make my day" is a catchphrase written by Joseph C. Stinson and spoken by the character Harry Callahan from the 1983 film Sudden Impact. In 2005, it was chosen as #6 on the American Film Institute list, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes. The "Make My Day Law" passed in most U.S...
," which became one of the most famous movie quotes in history.
After years of pressure from producers, Pierce directed a Boggy Creek sequel, Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues (1985), which he considered the worst film of his career. The sequel was featured in a 1999 episode of the comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
, which ultimately increased Pierce's visibility. Pierce died of natural causes in Dover
Dover, Tennessee
Dover is a city in Stewart County, Tennessee, United States, westnorthwest of Nashville on the Cumberland River. An old national cemetery is in Dover. The population was 1,442 at the 2000 census...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. His work has been cited as an influence on the horror film The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
(1999).
Early life
Charles B. Pierce was born in HammondHammond, Indiana
Hammond is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 80,830 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hammond is located at ....
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
on June 16, 1938, one of three boys born to Mack McKenny Pierce and Mayven Bryant Pierce. His family moved to the southwestern Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
city of Hampton
Hampton, Arkansas
Hampton is a city in Calhoun County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 1,579 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Calhoun County.Hampton is part of the Camden Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
when he was just a few months old. There he was a childhood friend and neighbor of future film and television director Harry Thomason
Harry Thomason
Harry Z. Thomason, , is an American film and television producer and director, best known for the television series Designing Women. Thomason and his wife, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, are close friends of President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and played a major...
, and the two made home movies together in their backyards using an old 8 mm
8 mm film
8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight millimeters wide. It exists in two main versions: the original standard 8mm film, also known as regular 8 mm or Double 8 mm, and Super 8...
camera. His first professional foray into media entertainment was in the mid-1960s as an art director at KTAL-TV
KTAL-TV
KTAL-TV, virtual channel 6, is the NBC television affiliate serving the Shreveport, Louisiana/Texarkana, Arkansas-Texas market. It is licensed to the Texas side of Texarkana and is the only station in its market licensed outside of Louisiana. Its main studio is located in Shreveport with a...
in Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. He later became a weatherman and hosted a children's cartoon show for that channel.
Pierce continued working in production jobs at television stations in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
until 1969, when he moved to Texarkana
Texarkana, Arkansas
As of the census of 2000, there were 26,448 people, 10,384 households, and 7,040 families residing in the city. The population density was 830.5 people per square mile . There were 11,721 housing units at an average density of 368.1 per square mile...
, bought a 16 mm
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
camera and started an advertising agency. He started a contract with Ledwell & Son Enterprises, a Texarkana-based firm that built 18-wheel trailers and farm equipment. Pierce developed commercials for the company that played throughout the Southwestern United States, using mostly footage he shot of trucks on the highway and farming equipment being used. Pierce said the reputation he developed with those commercials later helped him launch his film career. Also during this time, Pierce played a character named Mayor Chuckles on The Laffalot Club, a local Arkansas children's television show. Pierce launched his independent film career in the early 1970s, when he sought funding from L.W. Ledwell, the owner of Ledwell & Son Enterprises. Ledwell was skeptical of the idea, but ultimately agreed to provide about $100,000 of the $160,000 budget for Pierce's first film. Prior to his directorial debut, Pierce worked as a set decorator for television shows like the Western series Hondo
Hondo (TV series)
Hondo is a Western television series starring Ralph Taeger, that aired in the United States on ABC during the 1967 fall season.-Overview:Hondo was based on the film of the same name starring John Wayne, which was in turn based on an early Louis L'Amour novel...
and for films like Waco
Waco (1966 film)
Waco is a 1966 western film starring Howard Keel and Jane Russell. The film was directed by R. G. Springsteen and written by Max Lamb, Steve Fisher, and Harry Sanford...
(1966) and Coffy
Coffy
- Track listing :# "Coffy Is The Color" - 3:03Vocals – Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Ayers, Wayne Garfield# "Priscilla's Theme" - 3:58# "King George" - 3:00Vocals – Roy Ayers# "Aragon" - 2:55# "Coffy Sauna" - 2:16# "King's Last Ride" - 1:10# "Coffy Baby" - 2:26...
(1973).
The Legend of Boggy Creek
His directorial debut was The Legend of Boggy CreekThe Legend of Boggy Creek
The Legend of Boggy Creek is a 1972 horror docudrama about the "Fouke Monster", a Bigfoot-type creature that has been seen in and around Fouke, Arkansas since the 1950s. The film mixes staged interviews with some local residents who claim to have encountered the creature, along with fictitious...
, which was inspired by the Fouke Monster
Fouke Monster
The Fouke Monster, also known as the Southern Sasquatch, is a legendary cryptid reported near the town of Fouke in Miller County, Arkansas during the early 1970s, where it was accused of attacking a local family. Initial sightings of the creature were concentrated in the Jonesville/Boggy Creek...
, a six-foot-tall Bigfoot
Bigfoot
Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid...
-like creature said to live in Fouke
Fouke, Arkansas
Fouke is a town in Miller County, Arkansas, United States. It is part of the Texarkana, Texas - Texarkana, Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, an Arkansas town near Texarkana. Pierce said he did not necessarily believe in the legend but was fascinated with the stories about the monster. After interviewing Fouke residents who said they encountered the monster, Pierce became impressed with their authenticity and down-to-earth qualities. Pierce approached Earl E. Smith, an acquaintance from the advertising business, to adapt those eyewitness tales into a screenplay. The film was shot at locations in Fouke, Texarkana and Shreveport, using a camera Pierce built himself at home. It was filmed in a faux documentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
style as if it was a true story, and included interviews with actual Fouke residents mixed with dramatizations of their supposed encounters with the creatures. Like Pierce, the film's financial backers and many of the actors had never been involved in a film before.
Pierce cast the actors by waiting at a local gas station and approaching customers whenever he saw somebody that looked like they fit one of the parts. He hired high school students as crew members who helped load and move equipment. For the creature itself, Pierce limited the sightings to shadowy figures because he felt the film would be more frightening if the creature was left to the viewer's imagination. Pierce himself sang the theme song featured in the film. Once the film was completed, Pierce put the reel into the trunk of his trunk and drove to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
seeking post-production services. He met Jamie Mendoza-Nava, who owned a small post-production company and agreed to work on the film for limited up-front pay and a small percentage of the film's box-office receipts. Pierce could not find a major studio willing to distribute it, so he rented a local movie theater in Texarkana for one week to screen the film. He cleaned the property himself to prepare for the debut.
Released in 1973, The Legend of Boggy Creek premiered at what was later called the Perot Theatre, where lines stretched around the block to see it. Pierce did not expect it to become a financial success, but it made $55,000 in the first three weeks from that single theater. Eventually, Pierce entered into a distribution deal with Joy N. Houck, owner of the independent distribution company Howco
Howco
Howco later Howco International was an American film production and distribution company based in New Orleans specialising in low budget B pictures designed for double features. In 1951 Joy Newton Houck Sr...
, who paid Pierce $1.29 million for a 50 percent interest in The Legend of Boggy Creek. Pierce and Houck also signed with American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
for foreign and television distribution. It became a hit at drive-in movie theaters, eventually gaining a cult status
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
and bringing Pierce a semblance of fame. The film went on to gross roughly $25 million, making it one of the highest grossing films of the year. At the time of the film's release, Pierce incorrectly predicted to newspapers that it would win several Academy Awards. Several similarly-styled films about strange and allegedly true phenomena were released in subsequent years due to success of The Legend of Boggy Creek. J.E. "Smokey" Crabtree, a Fouke resident who appeared as himself in the film, became disgruntled with the production company and filed a lawsuit against Pierce and his financial supporters. Pierce declined to speak to the media about the suit.
Post-Boggy Creek career
Following the success of The Legend of Boggy Creek, Pierce was encouraged to film a sequel, but he initially resisted because he wanted to prove himself as a filmmaker rather than duplicate the same idea. He continued to make inexpensive regional films set in Southeastern and Southwestern United States, targeting primarily small-town and rural audiences. His family said Pierce liked to be continuously working and would start a new film immediately after finishing the last. His sophomore effort was Bootleggers (1974), a period action-comedy film about rival families making moonshineMoonshine
Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...
in the Ozark Mountains
The Ozarks
The Ozarks are a physiographic and geologic highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the southern half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northwestern and north central Arkansas...
. It featured Slim Pickins and the first major performance of Jaclyn Smith
Jaclyn Smith
Jacquelyn Ellen "Jaclyn" Smith is an American actress and businesswoman. She is best-known for the role of Kelly Garrett in the television series Charlie's Angels, and was the only original female lead to remain with the series for its complete run...
, who went on to play Kelly Garrett
Kelly Garrett
Kelly Garrett is one of six female fictional private detectives in the 1976–1981 television series Charlie's Angels. She was portrayed by Jaclyn Smith, who also portrayed the character in the 1977 pilot episode of The San Pedro Beach Bums and reprised the role in a cameo in the 2003 film Charlie's...
in the television series Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
. Pierce followed that film up with two Westerns released in 1976. The first, Winterhawk, was about violence erupting between Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
and white villagers. The film proved difficult for Pierce to shoot due to challenges from the weather and problems with the horses on the set. However, according to Pierce, Winterhawk ended up becoming more widely seen than The Legend of Boggy Creek. His second Western was Winds of Autumn. Pierce co-wrote all of these films with his Boggy Creek partner, Earl E. Smith. Pierce made a trademark of casting his friends in his films, and Pierce himself performed minor roles in both Winterhawk and Winds of Autumn. During this period, Pierce continued working as a set decorator for films such as Black Belt Jones
Black Belt Jones
Black Belt Jones is a 1974 American Blaxploitation action film. The main musical theme was performed by the funk guitarist Dennis Coffey. The film was featured as number 38 on the documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made.-Plot:...
(1974).
Pierce returned to the horror genre with the 1976 film The Town That Dreaded Sundown
The Town That Dreaded Sundown
The Town that Dreaded Sundown is a 1976, R-rated horror film directed by Charles B. Pierce. It is based on the Phantom Killer, who murdered five people in the 1940s in the city of Texarkana, Texas, at Spring Lake Park and was never caught. The film is presented similarly to Unsolved Mysteries,...
, based on the true story of the Phantom Killer, an unidentified serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who murdered five people in Texarkana in 1946. Pierce remembered being scared by news stories about the killer during his youth in Hampton. He received some criticism for the graphic violence portrayed in the film, particularly one scene where the killer ties a woman to a tree, attaches a knife to the end of a trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
, then repeatedly stabs her while playing the instrument. Pierce said he purposely made the film violent because he felt the real-life situation was horrific and he did not want to glaze over it. While filming horror scenes, he tried to create a suspenseful mood by clearing the set of only the essential cast and staff, then refusing to let them talk to each other as the scenes were shot. Pierce himself appeared in The Town That Dreaded Sundown as police Patrolman A.C. "Spark Plug" Benson, an idiotic comic relief
Comic relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...
character. The name "Spark Plug" was a real-life nickname given to the director due to his energy. Pierce described The Town That Dread Sundown as a very easy and enjoyable shoot with no major problems on the set. His wife at the time, Cindy Butler, was cast as the woman murdered by the trombone.
During this period, Pierce worked as set decorator for such films as The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 American revisionist Western film set during and after the end of the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood , with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldine Keams.The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman...
(1976) and The Cheap Detective
The Cheap Detective
The Cheap Detective is a 1978 American satirical comedy film written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore as a follow-up to their successful Murder by Death ....
(1978). The year after The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Piece directed and co-wrote Grayeagle, a Western based on a Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...
legend of a white man whose child (with an Indian wife) is kidnapped by a young warrior named Grayeagle. Pierce himself appeared in the film as Bugler, a half-insane white man who takes on a Shoshone
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....
identity. Pierce next wrote and directed The Norseman (1978), which starred Lee Majors
Lee Majors
Lee Majors is an American television, film and voice actor, best known for his starring role as Colonel Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man and as Colt Seavers in The Fall Guy ....
as a Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
prince who traveled to America to rescue his father from Indians. Working with a multi-million dollar budget, Pierce shot the film in the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
locations Hillsborough River State Park
Hillsborough River State Park
Hillsborough River State Park is located in the northeast corner of Hillsborough County, Florida near Zephyrhills which is itself in Pasco County. It is a popular park due to its proximity to the city of Tampa....
and New Port Richey
New Port Richey, Florida
New Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. The next year he co-wrote and directed The Evictors (1979), another documentary-style horror film about a young couple who move into a rural Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
farmhouse and find their lives endangered by a series of strange events. Pierce was inspired to write the script after reading a true story in a detective magazine about a Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
family who murdered somebody trying to evict them from the property. In order to match the late-evening sunlight in his cinematography at the farmhouse set, Pierce set up reflectors outside and deflected the sunlight through the windows, which were fitted with sheer white curtains to give the actors an eerie glow. The Evictors was little-seen and did not do financially well, which was a disappointment to distributor American International Pictures, but Pierce believed it one of his better films. He also considered it his most downbeat film, and said of the unhappy ending, "I probably just didn't have any other way to end it."
Later career
In the 1980s, to further his career as a filmmaker, Pierce moved to Carmel, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where he met and befriended actor Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
. Pierce shared a film treatment
Film treatment
A film treatment is a piece of prose, typically the step between scene cards and the first draft of a screenplay for a motion picture, television program, or radio play. It is generally longer and more detailed than an outline , and it may include details of directorial style that an outline omits...
he had developed with Eastwood, who liked the story and helped Pierce develop it into Sudden Impact
Sudden Impact
Sudden Impact is a 1983 American crime thriller and the fourth film in the Dirty Harry series, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood...
(1983), the fourth entry in Eastwood's Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry (film series)
Dirty Harry is the name of a series of films and novels starring fictional San Francisco Police Department Homicide Division Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, portrayed by Clint Eastwood...
film series. Pierce was given a writer's credit for the story along with his frequent screenwriting partner, Earl E. Smith. Pierce is said to have written the phrase, "Go ahead, make my day
Go ahead, make my day
"Go ahead, make my day" is a catchphrase written by Joseph C. Stinson and spoken by the character Harry Callahan from the 1983 film Sudden Impact. In 2005, it was chosen as #6 on the American Film Institute list, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes. The "Make My Day Law" passed in most U.S...
," the film's most famous line, which went on to be identified as one of the ten best movie quotes of all-time by the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
. The phrase was inspired by something his father once told Pierce in his youth while encouraging his son to mow the lawn: "When I come home tonight and the yard has not been mowed, you're going to make my day." However, whether Pierce truly invented the phrase has been brought into question, since the same line was used in the action-drama film Vice Squad
Vice Squad (film)
Vice Squad is a 1982 action/drama film, starring Wings Hauser, Season Hubley, and Gary Swanson, directed by Gary Sherman. The original music score was composed by Joe Renzetti and Keith Rubenstein...
(1982) the previous year. Around this time, Pierce also directed Sacred Ground
Sacred Ground (1983 film)
Sacred Ground is a 1983 western adventure film that stars Tim McIntire, Jack Elam and L.Q. Jones. The film was shot in several outdoor locations in Oregon. The film was directed by Charles B. Pierce and is rated PG in the USA.-Plot:...
(1983), which was released the same year as Sudden Impact.
In 1985, Pierce released a sequel to The Legend of Boggy Creek called Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues. American International Pictures had been encouraging Pierce to make a Boggy Creek sequel for years because they believed it would be financially profitable, but Pierce was resistant to the idea. An earlier sequel, Return to Boggy Creek (1977), was directed by Tom Moore
Tom Moore (director)
Tom Moore is an American theatre, television, and film director.Born in Meridian, Mississippi, Moore graduated with a BA from Purdue University where he received the alumni distinction as an Old Master. Moore began his career in the late 1960s, directing Loot at Brandeis University and Oh, What a...
, but Pierce did not participate in the production and did not like the final film. In his own Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues, Pierce starred as an anthropologist who brings three students on a expedition into the bayou to track down the creature. His son, Chuck Pierce, Jr., co-starred as Tim, one of the students. Pierce ultimately considered Boggy Creek II his worst film, believing his own role was too large and that he cast too many of his friends in supporting roles. Boggy Creek II was featured in a 1999 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
, a comedy television series in which the characters watch and make jokes about bad films. The episode ultimately increased Pierce's visibility to a wider audience.
In 1987, Pierce directed Hawken's Breed, a Western film starring Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
as a drifter who meets and rescues a young Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
woman. Pierce largely fell from the movie industry's public eye shortly after the release of Boggy Creek II. In 1996, he directed Renfroe's White Christmas, an adaptation of the classic children's book Renfroe's Christmas. Starting in 1997, he began production on his western film Chasing the Wind (1998), a gritty epic about a mountain man. It proved to be Pierce's final directorial effort, although he continued working as a set decorator for several television shows including MacGyver
MacGyver
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...
, Remington Steele
Remington Steele
Remington Steele is an American television series, co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic...
, The Twilight Zone and Fresno
Fresno (TV miniseries)
Fresno is a 1986 television comedy miniseries that parodied popular prime time soap operas of the day such as Falcon Crest, Dallas, and Dynasty...
, a Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
miniseries parodying prime time soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s. Pierce's work on the latter show earned him a Primetime Emmy Award
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
nomination for Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or a Special.
Pierce began writing the screenplay for a sequel to The Town That Dreaded Sundown, but the film never came to fruition. Around 2008, while developing the horror film The Wild Man of the Navidad
The Wild Man of the Navidad
The Wild Man of the Navidad is a 2008 horror film picked up by IFC Films shortly after its world premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. - Plot :This movie is allegedly based on the real-life journals of Dale S...
, directors Duane Graves and Justin Meeks sought out Pierce, who they cited as a major influence on their work. Graves and Meeks wanted Pierce to work as a consultant on the film, but Pierce turned them down because, according to Graves, "if he's not running the show, he's not interested".
Death and legacy
In 2008, Pierce was honored at the Little Rock Film FestivalLittle Rock Film Festival
The Little Rock Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Downtown Little Rock, Arkansas each spring. Based in the historic Little Rock River Market District, home to the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library, the Little Rock Film Festival has showcased the best in Narrative,...
, where festival producers screened a retrospective of his films, and presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Also that year, the festival's best film award was renamed in his honor to the Charles B. Pierce Award for Best Film Made in Arkansas, In October 2009, the Arkansas Arts Council honored Pierce with the Judges' Special Recognition Award at the Governor's Arts Awards ceremony in Hot Springs
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
. Pierce died of natural causes on March 5, 2010 at the Signature Care nursing home in Dover
Dover, Tennessee
Dover is a city in Stewart County, Tennessee, United States, westnorthwest of Nashville on the Cumberland River. An old national cemetery is in Dover. The population was 1,442 at the 2000 census...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, where he had moved a few years earlier. He was 71. Pierce was buried in the Stewart County Memorial Gardens in Dover on March 7, the day the 82nd Academy Awards
82nd Academy Awards
The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2009 and took place March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. The ceremony was scheduled well after...
were broadcast, which his family felt was appropriate. Pierce directed thirteen films over the span of 26 years. He was considered one of the first independent filmmakers, and was credited with breaking new ground for other independent filmmakers, particularly for the Arkansas film industry.
Director Harry Thomason, Pierce's childhood friend and neighbor, praised him for finding success independently at a time when the film industry was so controlled by major studios. Daniel Myrick, co-director of the documentary-style The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
(1999), said he was strongly influenced by The Legend of Boggy Creek, which was one of his favorite films growing up. Myrick said he and fellow Blair Witch director Eduardo Sánchez
Eduardo Sánchez
Eduardo Miguel Sánchez-Quiros is a Cuban-born American director most famous for co-directing and writing the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project with Daniel Myrick....
wanted to "tap into the primal fear generated by the fact-or-fiction format like Legend of Boggy Creek". In an Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
article that ran on Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
, Myrick identified The Legend of Boggy Creek as the one film that most inspired him. On September 2, 2010, Pierce was inducted into the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Arkansas Governor's Mansion
Arkansas Governor's Mansion
The Arkansas Governor's Mansion is the official residence of the Governor of Arkansas and his family. The mansion is located at 1800 Center Street in Little Rock, and is included in the Governor's Mansion Historic District, a district that is listed on the National Register of Historic...
in Little Rock.
Personal life
Pierce was married first to Florene Lyons. The marriage lasted 17 years and produced his only children. Pierce's second wife was Cindy Butler, who appeared in a role in his film The Town That Dread Sundown. Although they divorced, Pierce said they remained friends after they parted. He later married Beth Pulley, who he met while filming Hawken's Breed. Charles and Florene had two daughters and one son: Pamela Pierce Barcelou, Charles Bryant Pierce Jr. and Amanda Pierce Squitiero. He also had two stepdaughters and six grandchildren . Pierce was a Baptist who attended the Carlisle Missionary Baptist Church in Dover, Tennessee. He was also a passionate fan of the Arkansas RazorbacksArkansas Razorbacks
The Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the names of college sports teams at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The term Arkansas Razorbacks properly applies to any of the sports teams at the university. The Razorbacks take their name from the feral pig of the same name...
, the University of Arkansas
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
college sports teams.
Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Waco Waco (1966 film) Waco is a 1966 western film starring Howard Keel and Jane Russell. The film was directed by R. G. Springsteen and written by Max Lamb, Steve Fisher, and Harry Sanford... |
Set decorator | |
| 1966 | An Eye for an Eye An Eye for an Eye (1966 film) An Eye for an Eye is a 1966 Western film directed by Michael D. Moore. The film is about two bounty hunters who team up to track and take down another man.... |
Set decorator | |
| 1970 | The Strawberry Statement The Strawberry Statement (film) The Strawberry Statement is a 1970 cult film about the counterculture and student revolts of the 1960s, loosely based on the non-fiction book by James Simon Kunen about the Columbia University protests of 1968.-Cast:* Bruce Davison: Simon... |
Set decorator | |
| 1970 | The Phantom Tollbooth The Phantom Tollbooth (film) The Phantom Tollbooth is a 1970 American live-action/animated film based on Norton Juster's 1961 children's book The Phantom Tollbooth. This film was produced by Chuck Jones at MGM Animation/Visual Arts. Jones also directed the film, save for the live action bookends directed by fellow Warner Bros.... |
Set decorator | |
| 1970 | Dirty Dingus Magee Dirty Dingus Magee Dirty Dingus Magee is a comic 1970 anti-western film starring Frank Sinatra as the title outlaw and George Kennedy as a sheriff out to capture him... |
Set decorator | |
| 1971 | Pretty Maids All in a Row Pretty Maids All in a Row Pretty Maids All in a Row is an American mystery film starring Rock Hudson and Angie Dickinson that is part dark comedy, part murder mystery. It was released on April 28, 1971, directed by Roger Vadim, and written and produced by Gene Roddenberry based on a novel by Francis Pollini.Pretty Maids was... |
Set decorator | |
| 1972 | The Legend of Boggy Creek The Legend of Boggy Creek The Legend of Boggy Creek is a 1972 horror docudrama about the "Fouke Monster", a Bigfoot-type creature that has been seen in and around Fouke, Arkansas since the 1950s. The film mixes staged interviews with some local residents who claim to have encountered the creature, along with fictitious... |
Director, cinematographer, producer | |
| 1973 | Coffy Coffy - Track listing :# "Coffy Is The Color" - 3:03Vocals – Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Ayers, Wayne Garfield# "Priscilla's Theme" - 3:58# "King George" - 3:00Vocals – Roy Ayers# "Aragon" - 2:55# "Coffy Sauna" - 2:16# "King's Last Ride" - 1:10# "Coffy Baby" - 2:26... |
Set decorator | |
| 1973 | Dillinger Dillinger (1973 film) Dillinger is a 1973 gangster film about the life and criminal exploits of notorious bank robber John Dillinger.It stars Warren Oates as Dillinger and Ben Johnson as his pursuer, FBI Agent Melvin Purvis. The film, narrated by Purvis, chronicles the last few years of Dillinger's life as the FBI and... |
Set decorator | |
| 1974 | Bootleggers | Othar Pruitt | Director, writer, producer |
| 1974 | Black Belt Jones Black Belt Jones Black Belt Jones is a 1974 American Blaxploitation action film. The main musical theme was performed by the funk guitarist Dennis Coffey. The film was featured as number 38 on the documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made.-Plot:... |
Set decorator | |
| 1976 | Winterhawk | Director, writer | |
| 1976 | The Winds of Autumn | Director | |
| 1976 | The Outlaw Josey Wales The Outlaw Josey Wales The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 American revisionist Western film set during and after the end of the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood , with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldine Keams.The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman... |
Set decorator | |
| 1976 | The Town That Dreaded Sundown The Town That Dreaded Sundown The Town that Dreaded Sundown is a 1976, R-rated horror film directed by Charles B. Pierce. It is based on the Phantom Killer, who murdered five people in the 1940s in the city of Texarkana, Texas, at Spring Lake Park and was never caught. The film is presented similarly to Unsolved Mysteries,... |
Patrolman A.C. Benson | Director, producer |
| 1977 | Grayeagle Grayeagle Grayeagle is a 1977 western adventure film, written by Brad White, Charles B. Pierce and Michael O. Sajbel, starring Ben Johnson, Iron Eyes Cody, and Lana Wood. The film was directed by director Charles B. Pierce and is rated PG in the USA. The music was composed by Jaime Mendoza-Nava... |
Director, writer | |
| 1978 | The Norseman | Director, writer | |
| 1978 | The Cheap Detective The Cheap Detective The Cheap Detective is a 1978 American satirical comedy film written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore as a follow-up to their successful Murder by Death .... |
Set decorator | |
| 1979 | The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal is a 1979 film about the March 25, 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 garment workers died and which spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.... |
Set decorator | |
| 1979 | The Evictors | Director, producer, writer | |
| 1983 | Sacred Ground Sacred Ground (1983 film) Sacred Ground is a 1983 western adventure film that stars Tim McIntire, Jack Elam and L.Q. Jones. The film was shot in several outdoor locations in Oregon. The film was directed by Charles B. Pierce and is rated PG in the USA.-Plot:... |
Director, cinematographer | |
| 1985 | Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues | Professor Brian C. "Doc" Lockart | Director, producer, writer |
| 1987 | Hawken's Breed | Noel Hickman as an old man | Director, producer, writer |
| 1996 | Renfroe's White Christmas | Director | |
| 1998 | Chasing the Wind | Director |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | T.H.E. Cat | Set decorator 1 episode |
|
| 1966 | Please Don't Eat the Daisies Please Don't Eat the Daisies (TV series) Please Don't Eat the Daisies is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 14, 1965 to April 22, 1967. The series was based upon the 1957 book by Jean Kerr and 1960 film starring Doris Day and David Niven.... |
Set decorator 1 episode |
|
| 1986 | The Ellen Burstyn Show The Ellen Burstyn Show The Ellen Burstyn Show is an American sitcom starring Ellen Burstyn. The series was produced by Touchstone Television and debuted on ABC on September 20, 1986 The series was canceled after 13 episodes.-Synopsis:... |
Set decorator 1 episode |
|
| 1986 | Fresno Fresno (TV miniseries) Fresno is a 1986 television comedy miniseries that parodied popular prime time soap operas of the day such as Falcon Crest, Dallas, and Dynasty... |
Set decorator Miniseries |
|
| 1991 | MacGyver MacGyver MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles... |
Set decorator 8 episodes |