American Cinematographer - November 1988 - 64

"My operator was Ralph
Gerling, who is excellent - I
worked with him many years ago
in

Chicago," Elsenbach stated.
help I'd have been in a

"Without his

lot of trouble. When
ond

we

had

a sec¬

I

operated it. For explo¬
put the third camera
on
high speed and the director
could hold it. We had a very good
gaffer, George Holmes, and we
worked closely with a top film edi¬
tor, Warner Leighton.
"The producers, Frank
Konigsberg and Larry Sanitsky, let
me have whatever
equipment I
camera

sions I would

wanted. I used

a

Panaflex Gold, a

Panaflex X, and a Arri-Panavision
which I could run to one or two

stops on speed. I didn't use an ultra
high-speed camera because I didn't
feel our scenes would look good at
very high speeds. For about 75 per
cent of it I used prime lenses, and
for long shots I used the zoom - 10to-1 outside day and 5-to-l outside
night, because it's a three-stop lens
and I could open up the rear shutter
one-third and take advantage of

Above: Much of the
show

was

aboard the
train

shot

moving

the way to
the locations. Tied
on

down
was

one-third extra

used for

scenes.

night I used all ultra¬
speed lenses, 1.2s and 1.4s, because
there was no room to light properly
in the cars," Elsenbach explained.
"The narrow gauge rails are only
three feet apart and the walls of the

some

Right:

Crew sets up
tracks for a dolly
shot

stop.

"At

tripod rig

alongside the

train.

cars

weren't much wider. I had to

use

wide

angles

-

usually 24mm

and 30mm lenses. Sometimes I had
use a 20mm to show the
length
of the car, and even then we were

to

jammed back against the door. For
some of the
close-ups I had to use a
35mm lens
which I didn't really
-

want to use

because the wide lens

distorts the face
little train to

get to the locations,"
"By two o'clock in

Elsenbach said.

the afternoon the clouds
then

in,

lightning and thunder, and by

three

ther

came

we were

on

into rainstorms, ei¬

top of us or all around us.
"At

night

on

the high

we would get a lot of rain
and then we'd be chewed up by

plateaus

mosquitos. They have tour trains
making a five-and-a-half hour trip,
and when they came along we'd
have to get off onto a sidetrack and

62

American

Cinematographer

let them go by. The tourists would
hang out of the windows and take
pictures of us instead of the
scenery."
Considering the remote¬
ness and
ruggedness of the loca¬
tions, the company was well
equipped and had a compact but
ample crew. Although many of the
production personnel were hired

to

use

little

-

and could

a

normal 50mm lens for

close-ups. We screened most of the
windows down with scrims or gels
so
they wouldn't blow out too
much. One time, when we showed
the girls looking out, I blew the
windows
come

a

little. I let the

in and hit their

from San Antonio, Texas, the cam¬
made up of Los An¬

filled it in."

geles talent.

was

era crew was

November 1988

a

only use the Panaflex short eye¬
piece because we were usually
backed up against the wall. I prefer

daylight

faces, then I

Although the company
plagued by unwanted rain-
American Cinematographer - November 1988

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