A few years ago, Amy and I attended the Iola Car Show in Iola, Wisconsin. I was in the middle of a 1929 Ford Model A restoration and Iola has a couple thousand swap meet vendors. After scouring the venue for parts for a couple days, it was time to check out the car show. One of the most unique displays was an area designated as “Cars from the Movies and TV”. They displayed the Kenworth semi-tractor from the TV show BJ and the Bear and a brown Mercury from Hawaii 5-0. I distinctly remember seeing about a dozen cars from the John Dillinger movie and a couple other period films. Once that Model A restoration was complete, that car and I had the opportunity to also be part of a movie. The film was called Return to the Hiding Place and was a period piece about the Dutch resistance during WWII. I had to travel to downtown Manistee for the day of filming. My role was to accidently drive into or hit a German soldier who was chasing a resistance leader across the street. The German soldier then would pound on the hood of my car and yell something, really loud, in German. I nailed that scene on the third take, it was awesome! That entire day of filming is probably on some cutting room floor somewhere, because it never made the final film. It never even made the deleted scenes. But what it did do is make me much more aware of the vehicles used in TV and films, especially 60’s and 70’s TV shows like Route 66 and Adam 12.
If you would like to borrow a copy of the film, let me know. It is quite intense.
Save the Wave,
Brian Martinie