MovieChat Forums > Inchon (1982) Discussion > Life on the set

Life on the set

posted 15 years ago by drwoo-2
5 replies | jump to latest

Was in the Air Force working out of Osan Air Base, south of Seoul at the time. Did a week as an extra and got a few glimpses of Bissett, Janssen, Garzarra, Roundtree, Reed and Olivier.....Bissett was stunning! She was very friendly, letting folks take pictures with her. There was free transportation to and from the filming location (battle scenes), a free meal, and about $30/day in pay. The budget, 40-something million, nearly 3 decades ago was enormous, and remains one of the largest productions related to the Korean War. While on the set most of the day was spent waiting around for the few seconds of filming that would take place. Don't recall hearing about the Korean soldier that got killed during production, but did get to see one of the U.S. soldiers (another extra) get hurt when he went too close to the front of a howitzer when it shot off it's round - shooting blanks, but powerfully packed nonetheless. The Korean tank commanders were ruthless; during idle time between takes, they would physically abuse their crew members with slaps, punches and repeated laps running around and crawling under the tanks. Since a peace treaty was never signed (to this day there's just a cease fire in existence) and filming was just minutes distance from the DMZ, the Korean soldiers take things seriously. When the movie finally came out I was in Hawaii and was able to see it on the big screen. There was also advertisement of cash and car giveaways. Subsequently, a friend, who was also an extra, sent me a VHS copy of the movie. Whether the movie's financing, script, or acting is viewed as good or bad, the events of Inchon hinge on one of the most successful maneuvers in military history and Jackie Bissett was icing on the cake!

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CULTEGUY 15 years ago

Very interesting. When you saw the film, were you in the final cut? I mean, there were a few versions of the movie? I assume you saw the original cut, I've read where American armed forces had to pull out of the production.

It's cool you got to see Jackie in her prime, though. And, you can always tell people you saw Olivier (and Reed, for that matter) before he died.

[–] carnoce 10 years ago

The South Koreans had to guard themselves every minute against possible invasion from the extra-extra-deadly commie North Korea (with help from evil giants Red China and the then-USSR). I see 100% why they were so tough. On the acting side I really felt Jackie Bisset was all wrong for this film. Not enough was it her kind of movie. She was eye candy in movies much of the time and her presence here was hard to totally take dramatically and historically. Why did film studios give her so many dramatic roles after she had been largely introduced as eye candy? It is so uneven a career!

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[–] gking-77384 8 years ago

As 1 of the 5 members of the "Inchon" American Special Effects crew for 5 months, I can verify that the "American" soldier who ran in front of the tank during one of the major battle scenes was actually a South Korean 15 yr. old. From my close position and POV of the scene,it was obviously a combination of the tank cannon firing along with the faster speed that surprised him. We were also setting off multi-ground explosions located in the water-filled rice paddy that the troops and tanks were next to. I heard over the radio as the director(Terrance Young) demanded that the tanks increase in speed after the first rehearsal. Unfortunately, the extra was crushed and killed instantly. After "Cut " was called out by the 1st AD, film production shut down for the day. The director actually wanted us to reload and prepare to get another shot in the can, but my Special Effects coordinator ( Fred Cramer) refused and told all of his crew to wrap for the day and head back to the hotel until further notice. Production actually shut down for the next three days. I heard that the boy's family was contacted and paid $ 5,000.00 US ,the tank driver was temporarily arrested, but Fred Cramer filed a report at the police station and got the tank driver released with no further charges being filed.
Personally, I never saw any mistreatment of crew by any tank commanders.
I also believe that the total budget was closer to $72 million instead of the $40+.

[–] BQQ 8 years ago

Soon enough everyone involved with the movie will have posted on this board. Not that I doubt any of the stories, but it's a bit unusual.

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