Murder in High Places

I enjoyed this film very much. It moves along smartly and doesn't have any slow sections. The most interesting thing about it is the complete role reversal in the character played by Ted Levine. The previous film in which most people saw him was Silence Of The Lambs. He played the serial killer Buffalo Bill. In this film he plays a likable good-guy character who elicits the viewers sympathies. Adam Baldwin's character is also very well cast and played. This is a film I'd very much like to find a video copy of to add to my collection. For some reason even though it is one of the better made-for-TV films of this genre this movie never seems to get replayed on television. The scene at the beginning where a dead body is dropped from a helicopter through a glass ceiling into the middle of a large party is a real eye-popper. There are several twists and turns before the who-done-it is solved.

My wife Carole and I were living in Aspen, CO in 1991 when this movie was being made. We read about it coming to town and we read that they were looking for extras AND an expensive car. I was driving a Mercedes 380 SLC at the time and I called the casting director and told her I would make my car available. One thing led to another and I became a stand in for both Adam Baldwin and Ted Levine. Got to know Judith Hoad and Vince Grant really well over the 3 or 4 weeks that John Byrum was putting the production together. I was a camera bug and photographer and everyday I would take 5 to 10 rolls of 35mm film and would go to the local Fox Film store, get them developed, had some blown up and gave them to the cast and crew. Played a few games of chess with Adam Baldwin and when I beat him once, that was over. Ted Levine was just coming off Silence of the Lambs and we shared a lot of great conversation. Brilliant actor. Am writing this review because we just saw Judith Hoag on Criminal Minds episode of the Piano Man. She was a class act all the way. Vince Grant was doing all the hair commercials at the time. I managed to get myself in about 6 to 8 scenes and when it aired on CBS the whole town watched at the Molly Gibson Lodge on Main St. We were all hooting and hollering every time one of us appeared on camera. I taped the show but over the years it either got lost or someone borrowed it. I do remember that it was the top rated show in its time slot on CBS the evening it aired. My car made $200/day and we got $50/day, got to dress up for a scene at the J Bar at the Hotel Jerome, in a Tux for the Wheeler Opera House scene in the balcony, same for the Hotel drop scene filmed at 3 AM in Snowmass. I have about 1,000 shots from the filming and a lot of great memories. Every time we see one of the actors, now 21 years later, the memories flood back.

Tom Huzella 5/23/2012