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Chapter 1 Movie

No longer available online

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Though no longer available online - the short film, shot at Oscar 01 at Whiteman AFB, was instrumental in attracting the interest of investors and producers to the project. A number of behind-the-scenes stories of that production are included here.

"Floods"
Permission to shoot the movie in an actual Launch Control Center (Oscar 01 - now a museum) was a challenge... scheduling - was a nightmare.

This production involved actors from Oklahoma, production crew and gear from Texas and local interns and grips from Kansas CIty - all converging on a high-security Air Force Base for a VERY fast two-day shoot. EVERY duck was in the row when, two days before shooting, we got a call that a burst water pipe caused the elevator lobby 60 feet underground to flood - knocking out the elevator. They MIGHT get the water out before we arrived, but there would be NO elevator.

The production manager contacted Delta Capsule (the OTHER Launch Control Museum - located in South Dakota and formerly part of Ellsworth AFB), got a green light from the local authority and JUST before changing the plane reservations, the new location added the restriction that NOTHING could be touched in the capsule. Shooting an action movie without touching anything OR SITTING IN THE CHAIRS was not workable. Back to Plan A - Whiteman and the 60 foot climbs.

Upon arrival the crew assessed the situation and with the help of the site manager, TSgt. Shannon Banks, loaded all of the gear down the two 30 foot ladders with block and tackle then descended - hand over hand - down the ladders to the Launch Control Center - the set. The director, now in his late '50's, shook his head and said, "I hated these ladders when I was 23," and started down. Every meal, biology break (the restroom was topside!), trip for batteries, or missing props involved a round trip 60 foot climb. At the end of the two-day shoot the film was in the can - and the crew was in the bag. But with GREAT results.

"Veterans Approve"

Hundreds of current and former Missileers - veterans of the Launch Control Centers - have now viewed the film and have inundated the office with letters of thanks and congratulations. The Executive Director of the Association of Air Force Missileers said it was possibly the most faithful depiction of missile life - and launch crisis sequence - he had seen produced.

Some Missileers complained that it was TOO realistic, and came too close to revealing highly classified procedures. Steve McCurdy, the writer of the book from which the material is adapted, assures them that everything was changed "just enough" to satisfy the keepers of homeland security.

The film has received OFFICIAL SELECTION status from two prominent film festivals... but more importantly it has received "This was the way it was" status from those who were there during the crisis.

We are enormously proud of both... and the book on which it all is based.