Sky Dive! The Movie, or was it Wings?

[PROGRESSIVE 0]

Question, what poem does Carl Boenish have at the end of his movie? Something like "...pursuing your dreams and willing to pay the price?"

Pete

[riggermick 6]

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Question, what poem does Carl Boenish have at the end of this movie. Something like "...pursuing your dreams and willing to pay the price?"

Pete

Don't know where it came from and haven't seen it in 20 + years, but I do remember the quote " happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to see them come true" It was, and still is my credo!! I, personally feel that was the movie that turbo kicked skydiving into the "new age". Hell, it was Sky Capers that actually got me started in the first place!! I met Carl on one ocassion at Perris years ago and he left a lasting impression on me. I guess we all have our heros. Most of my early heros were not superstars or the "industry" people, but the local guys that just had common sense. The late 70's was a great time to begin "the journey" into the skydiving scene. Most of he really scary shit was leaving the stage and new innovaions were beginning to arrive on the scene. These people left and still do ,have a huge footprint on the equipment industry today. Looking back, it wasn't really that long ago, really!

Mick.

[PROGRESSIVE 0]

Thanks! Good memory!

Those old flicks are really special. I started skydiving in 79 at the age of 16. We would all huddled in the hanger at Baldwin, Wisconsin watching these movies as it would thounderstorm outside.

As soon as the weather cleared we would be so amped up that we would routinely funnel an 8 way. Back then we would have to fly the 180 and 182 in formation in order to attempt something like this.

30 minutes to altitude, 9,500.

Aaah, those were the days!

Pete

[murrays 0]

"Happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to see them come true." - I wrote it in the front of my 4th logbook.

I think that was at the end of "Skydive". I would dearly love to see that film (and other films by Carl) done up right on DVD.

--
Murray

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

[riggermick 6]

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"Happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to see them come true." - I wrote it in the front of my 4th logbook.

I think that was at the end of "Skydive". I would dearly love to see that film (and other films by Carl) done up right on DVD.

I liked "Wings" as much as "skydive", remember the theme song? "Give me wings so I can fly, touch the clouds and touch the sky" forget the rest of the lyrics for now, it's been a while. If Jean Boenish would have them digitally re-mastered I'd buy 'em. Both movies were way ahead of their time.

Mick.

[docjohn 0]

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I would dearly love to see that film (and other films by Carl) done up right on DVD.

I have it on 16mm film. Anybody know how convert it to DVD?



.

Doc
http://www.manifestmaster.com/video

[murrays 0]

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I would dearly love to see that film (and other films by Carl) done up right on DVD.

I have it on 16mm film. Anybody know how convert it to DVD?



.

I am sure that you can find an audio-visual place that can go from film to digital. I don't know how they reconcile the difference in frame rates (24fps/film vs. 29.97 fps video) but there are ways to handle it. Doing from a 16mm video could result in an awesome product....I wonder if it could be captured in HD resolution...you'd have black bars on the sides but I bet it would look incredible.

BUT...these are things for which Jean Boenish should receive the benefit.

--
Murray

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

[howardwhite 4]

I'm looking for a similar conversion, "A Sport is Born," the 1962 Oscar-nominated feature with aerial filming by Lew Sanborn. A friend says he has a copy somewhere and is looking for it.
It's further complicated by the fact that it's in Cinemascope and requires a special anamorphic lens to project.
And I haven't yet addressed the question about whether conversion houses will balk at converting copyrighted material.
It won't be cheap. I paid ~$100 earlier this year to have about 40 minutes of 8mm silent film converted to DVD.
Lew told me that the original freefall footage, in cannisters carefully marked "Original -- Do Not Project," was stolen from storage in Orange, MA after Parachutes Incorporated closed in 1984.
Virtually everyone who took a first jump course at a PI center over a span of more than 20 years saw this movie. Anyone who taught those courses can recite large chunks of Chris Schenkel's narration from memory.
"Four baton passes in 30 seconds -- a new record."
"There's Lew Sanborn, making it all look so easy."

HW

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi Howard,

I saw that film in early 1960 while in Basic Training at Lackland AFB. I made the decision then and there to get to Orange one day and make a jump.

Well, never made it to Orange but I did make a jump.

Jerry

[Zing 2]

I have 16 mm copies of "This Is A Sport," labeled as good quality, "Masters of the Sky," labeled as fair to good quality, and another labeled "El Capitan with sound," labeled as excellent quality.
Every time I've checked, its been prohibitively expensive to have them transposed to video tape or digital ... hell, I can't even find anyone with a 16mm projector anymore. Even took them over to Elroy for the recent Pops Boogie, hoping someone else might have brought old movies and equipment, but no such luck.
Anybody have any idea what they might be worth?

Zing Lurks

[howardwhite 4]

No clue as to their worth. I've seen all of them. I saw the original El Cap with sound at a USPA board meeting in the mid-70s, personally projected by Carl Boenish. (I seem to remember stunned silence among board members.)
Probably the only way to amortize the expense of conversion would be to sell the resulting DVDs, but that would involve licensing/copyright issues with the holders of the property, assuming their availability and cooperation.
Pepperell Skydiving Center in Massachusetts has copies of "Masters of the Sky," "Wings," and a couple of other old classics. At a boogie a few years ago I dragged out their projector (the only person around old enough to remember how to run it) and showed them. It was hard explaining over the PA that these were "movies," not videos.
Steve Noonan (D-3331) was there and pointed out "that's me" in the sequence of jumpers all over the outside of the Beech 18.
I think it's important to preserve these treasures. I don't want to project them much any more, because each time I do, they break in another place -- it's only a matter of time when they can't really be salvaged.
Perhaps the National Parachuting Museum can serve as a vehicle for arranging preservation; I'd be happy to help organize such an effort.

HW
(BTW in a earlier post I said "A Sport is Born" was an Oscar nominee in 1962. In fact it was in 1960.)

[BCA 1]

"This is a Sport?" was great. We used to show it to new jumpers back in the mid 1960's. You might try a local college or university to see if they have an old projector stashed away some where. They usually keep everything. Just a suggestion.

BCA

[PROGRESSIVE 0]

I loved that sceen where everyone was hanging out of the Beach with the one guy waiving continuously at the chase/filming plane. This was followed by the guy that slid down the top of the beach striking his head on the horizontal stabilizer...Ouch! Was this at Grand Gultch? Goolidge?

Who were those guys? And who was the guy in Wings? where he flys into his "back in" slot from about 25 feet away? Smooth!

USPA should resurrect these classics and sell them for the origanization and for the owner of these films. I think there's enough interest, especially for the older crowd.

Pete

[bozo 0]

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I loved that sceen where everyone was hanging out of the Beach with the one guy waiving continuously at the chase/filming plane. This was followed by the guy that slid down the top of the beach striking his head on the horizontal stabilizer...
---------------------------------------------------------
He actually struck and broke his shoulder.

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

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[Guru312 0]

Interesting that this would be posted now.

I've been looking through old memorabilia and found a VHS tape with Skycapers, Wings, Masters of the Sky and something else on it.

Unfortunately, it was recorded about 20 years ago at a slow speed and the quality really sucks. I'm hoping the quality isn't so bad that my daughter won't say, "Dad, this move is terrible. I don't want to watch this."

Kids brought up on HDTV and cable can't seem to appreciate grainy 16mm and old, blurry VHS with washed out color.

Of course, they aren't old guys trying to relive their youth through film.

Guru312

I am not DB Cooper

[bozo 0]

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Interesting that this would be posted now.

I've been looking through old memorabilia and found a VHS tape with Skycapers, Wings, Masters of the Sky and something else on it.
------------------------------------------------------------
I bet the "something else" is A Day At The Races.
I have the same VHS all washed out and hard to watch.

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

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[Zing 2]

In Reply To
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I loved that sceen where everyone was hanging out of the Beach with the one guy waiving continuously at the chase/filming plane. This was followed by the guy that slid down the top of the beach striking his head on the horizontal stabilizer...
---------------------------------------------------------
He actually struck and broke his shoulder.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That was Dirty Fred who slid down the fuselage. He didn't hit his head ... he didn't break his shoulder. The leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer hit him under the arm and made him tumble impressively.
Fred said, "It would have killed a normal man." But it didn't even make a dent in the stabilizer.
I was the one hanging on the rear floater handle, waving at the camera.
Prior to the filming, a couple hang loads had been done, one of which appeared on the cover of a Sunday newspaper magazine in the southwest, and another that became a poster. The picture made it to the FAA, who came down and insisted that the handles be removed and refused to consider granting a field approval for the airframe modification. It really sucked, because we used those handles for RW dives more than we did for hang loads.
When Ghoulidge owner, Bill (Darth) Dailey, was offered money to have is airplanes used in Carl Boenish's filming, we put the handles back on. Did the filming ... and let me tell you, Boenish's high-speed slo-mo 16mm camera weighs about a ton and mounted on the helmet, is wider than the riser span of the Paradactyl I jumped back then ... and went back to our normal Ghoulidge-style jumping.
A few months after the movie came out, someone at the FAA got wind of it and after seeing the movie, made another visit to the drop zone.
The FAA guy told Bill that if they had to talk to him again about handles on the airplane, they'd let Bill keep the handles ... and they'd confiscate the airplane.
That kind of pissed old Bill off, something I know from personal experience to be an unwise and foolhardy thing to do. Hell was raised, phone calls were made, letters were sent, and all of a sudden, the FAA granted Bill a field approval for the handles.
Bill Dailey was one of those incorrigible, unforgettable characters you only get to meet a few of in the course of a lifetime ... I still miss him.

Zing Lurks

[bozo 0]

Quote

In Reply To
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I loved that sceen where everyone was hanging out of the Beach with the one guy waiving continuously at the chase/filming plane. This was followed by the guy that slid down the top of the beach striking his head on the horizontal stabilizer...
---------------------------------------------------------
He actually struck and broke his shoulder.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That was Dirty Fred who slid down the fuselage. He didn't hit his head ... he didn't break his shoulder. The leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer hit him under the arm and made him tumble impressively.
Fred said, "It would have killed a normal man." But it didn't even make a dent in the stabilizer


He told me he broke his shoulder .

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

• Quote

[Zing 2]

Strange, since we jumped again later that day and the next weekend.

Zing Lurks

[bozo 0]

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Strange, since we jumped again later that day and the next weekend.

Well....it wouldnt be the first time sumbuddy added a little more to a good story.....god forbid that I would

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

[Zing 2]

"Well....it wouldnt be the first time sumbuddy added a little more to a good story....."

I never fail to be amazed at the stories I hear told by others about some of my past escapades ... particularly the ones when I was there, and they weren't.

Zing Lurks

[howardwhite 4]

While looking for something else, I just stumbled across an ad in the June, 1969, Parachutist advertising "This is a Sport?" I had forgotten that it was produced by USPA, written and directed by J. Scott Hamilton, then Assistant Director of USPA.
It was on sale for $100 for affiliated centers, $150 for others, and $10 for centers to rent.
So presumably USPA has a decent copy and the legal/copyright issues would not exist -- just the money to convert it to DVD.
HW

[wmw999 2,121]

I have a DNC Image Transfer machine which is designed to allow you to project images onto a screen for transfer to a VHS tape. It's free to whoever wants it.

You can do sound later with it. I've never used it (we paid someone to put the home movies onto a DVD, because I put off doing it for so long that the technology had advanced).

Lemmeno if anyone wants it to put movies onto VHS and I'll send it out.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[howardwhite 4]

I have a similar thing; it basically allows you to project the film onto a little screen at a 90 degree angle from the projector. You then photograph the screen with your video camera. It works, but is hardly good quality.
In the very old days I used it to project 35mm slides to be included in a video. There are better solutions now with scanners and software, so my gadget is gathering dust. (If anybody wants it, pay shipping.
HW

[wmw999 2,121]

I figure it's the kind of thing that was used to make those low-quality versions of "Proof" I used to watch. Which was why I never invested a whole lot of effort into using it. That and the whole lazy thing

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)