Today's Blind Items - Whose Film Is This? - An Intercerebellar Blind Item

Decades ago, there was an independent movie being shot. One whose record of safety violations is the stuff of industry legend. It was directed by a lunatic who, under the influence of a lot of white powder and the success of producing one of the biggest hits of the decade up to that point, thought he was invincible.

Leading the crew was this foreign-born cameraman who would go on to have one of the biggest careers of anyone in his field. But back then, he was a young hot-shot who was trying to get his union cards, and with the film’s director completely out of control, he was basically the one responsible for salvaging anything resembling a movie from the madness.

When our cameraman almost lost his head - literally - the crew staged a mutiny. They all agreed the director - who was putting his cast, crew, and family in mortal danger - was insane, and were following the cameraman’s lead.  Not wanting his first major assignment to end in ruin, he returned despite his grave injury, and when he did, so did much of the crew. The director was in so far over his head, the film was basically a documentary at this point.

While our cameraman wouldn’t officially have his first directing credit for a couple more decades, the fact this movie exists at all in any finished state has a lot more to do with him than the director and his “friends”.