| When it came to making a movie about this mysterious story, the filmakers had 2 books to choose from. The factual "Blood and Money" written by Thomas Thompson or "Prescription: Murder" by John Hill's second wife, Ann Kurth. Ann's account of being married to John Hill was straight out of a Hitchcock movie. Its not hard to see why Hollywood chose her version to film. The Thompson book is quite a read as far as presenting the facts. Kurth's book is a good read as well, taking into account it may seem to have an ax to grind. Ann Kurth's book doesn't delve into the marriage of John and Joan, or the aftermath of Johns slaying. The film tends to show a reasonably accurate portrayl of John and Joans marriage. It seems that the film version of Joan is of a weaker woman than the real Joan Robinson was. Other than a few basic things like where it was filmed (L.A. & Houston) and that Farrah Fawcett had to learn how to ride a horse in a different style than she was used to, I know almost nothing about the actual production. I recently heard from a gentleman who was the little boy drumming at the first scene depicting "Chatsworth." It was filmed at a horse farm in Rosharon, TX. It was 34 degrees and the rain made it a miserable shoot. Director William Hale was furious, but filming commenced. The filming lasted from 8am to 7pm. The little boy caught pneumonia and was hospitalized. Not sure about any of the senior cast members! Ryan O'Neal was present to visit Ms. Fawcett. While he was there, the tent dumped water on the both of them. O'Neal made sure that the boy got a towel as well when crew members ran to tend to him. Sam Elliott was very cool and distant and Andy Griffith dropped a whole lot of "F-Bombs" when his bit about giving himself an appendectomy had to be shot over 20 times. All the cars were brought in on a trailer and looked great. Ms. Fawcett was what you heard about her: sweet and very approachable. This was one of the first films Ms. Fawcett did that made people start looking beyond her natural beauty. |
