The Gypsy Moths (1969)

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

William Hanley (screenplay)
James Drought (novel)

Release Date:

28 August 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Action

Tagline:

When you turn on by falling free... when jumping is not only w way to live, but a way to die, too... you're a Gypsy Moth.

Plot:

Three skydivers and their travelling thrill show barnstorm through a small midwestern town one Fourth of July weekend.

Plot Keywords:

Skydiving | Adultery | Suicide | Female Nudity | Based On Novel

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Mike Rettig
Deborah Kerr	...	Elizabeth Brandon
Gene Hackman	...	Joe Browdy
Scott Wilson	...	Malcolm Webson
William Windom	...	V. John Brandon
Bonnie Bedelia	...	Annie Burke
Sheree North	...	Waitress
Carl Reindel	...	Pilot
Ford Rainey	...	Stand Owner
John Napier	...	Dick Donford

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | West Germany:18 (f) | Canada:14A (video rating) | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Abilene, Kansas, USA

Company:

John Frankenheimer Productions Inc.

Trivia:

TCM occasionally plays a 15-minute long documentary short entitled "The Sky Divers", narrated by Wink Martindale, on the making-of this film. The short is also provided on the Warner_Home_Video DVD, often cited as simply a "Behind-the-scenes documentary" featurette.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the parachute jump that opens the film, the Gypsy Moths jump from the exact same plane flown by the same pilot they meet and hire - supposedly for the first time - in another town several days later.

Quotes:

[Last lines]
Elizabeth Brandon: He wanted me to go with him.
Allen Brandon: Did he?
Elizabeth Brandon: [long pause] The thought terrified me.
Allen Brandon: And me...

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Sky Divers (1969)

A film that is near to my heart for personal reasons

As a very young boy in El Dorado, Kansas, I marveled when the film crews came to town from Hollywood to shoot this film, what is considered John Frankenheimer's `lost classic.' The story is sub-par: three barnstormers stop at a small Kansas town to put on a show and get involved in a less-than-intriguing soap opera with the occupants of a house where they are staying. What makes the movie work for me is the reoccurrence of so many memorable images from the town where I grew up, but for outsiders, the essence of small-town Kansas life is captured so purely you'll be transported to the peacefulness of a world where the arrival of daredevil skydivers is a Big Event.

Most interesting to note in this film are the back-stories. Scott Wilson was called in to replace an injured John Philip Law, who was originally cast as the young daredevil. Gene Hackman was still a fledgling, relatively unknown, and yet he managed to steal most of the scenes from the established Burt Lancaster. For the locals, this film still lingers in the memory. The Victorian home where the barnstormers stay still stands, and the screened in porch on the house's north side--built exclusively for this film by the visiting film crew--is still referred to by locals as the `MGM porch.' The fight song that the marching band plays throughout this film is still the fight song of the Butler County Grizzlies, the athletic team of the local community college. And even today, old-timers wonder whether or not that was really Deborah Kerr in the buff … or if a body double was used. Either way, you'll get a real feel for this community, an interesting first look at up-and-comers Gene Hackman and Bonnie Bedalia, and a fascinating series of sky-diving sequences that set the tone for many such scenes to come.