La ruée vers l'or noir

This movie was filmed in Tyler and Kilgore, Texas, while I was in grade school. A funny anecdote: The advance scouts had located a little town (Lindale, Texas)outside Tyler, near where I lived. It still had a turn-of-the-century Texas village, and would have been ideal for many exterior scenes. The folks in Lindale, however, got word that a movie was to be made in town, and they assessed and taxed their butts off to make improvements (paved streets, sidewalks, street lights, storefront improvements, etc.). When the movie company arrived, it looked nothing like what the scouts had seen. It was too late to pick another location, so they shot other scenes while dirt was trucked in to cover the pavement, wooden sidewalks were constructed to cover the concrete, the streetlights were removed, storefronts were covered with facades, etc. The budget was blown, but they pulled it off. I saw it several times after it was released, looking for MYSELF. I was rounded up as an extra - a member of the townies who were trying to track down the oil guys for a tarring and feathering. I'd love to see it again, but I think it must have either been scrapped, or it is in Bonita Granville Wrather's vault. Much fun.

I was eight years old when this movie company shot scenes in Overton, Texas near where I grew up (New London). In fact, the baby of Bonita Granville was an infant whose parents were visiting my family. I'm not sure who told them about the baby in our home at the time. I visited the set and watched part of the filming. One thing that shocked me when I saw the movie was how the railroad depot scene was seen as night when I had seen it shot in the hot summer sunlight. I was unaware of filters on the cameras. I'm sure Rod Cameron and Bonita Granville were probably burning up during the scene. Rod Cameron was a very nice guy who pulled me up onto the depot platform and chatted with me while he was taking a smoke break. He was my favorite actor from that time forward. I think he was actually a real life cowboy up in Alberta, Canada before becoming a movie star. I sure wish this old movie was on DVD somewhere. I have searched, but can't find any information on it. There was a later movie by the same title which was NOT about the oilfield.