July 17, 2012
How do you film the Climax Jim story of him riding through two Arizona towns in the nude?
Mostly from the back. We spent our last day shooting this morning out a Pioneer Living History Museum and shot a couple segments, including the Climax Jim nude ride through Springerville and Eager back in 1901. The impromptu ride began when the arrested Rufus Nephews (Climax Jim's real name) was forced to take a bath in a horse trough by his jailers (they thought he stank to high heaven). As two jail guards watched, Climax walked to the horse trough and spotted a horse tied to a hitching rail nearby. The guards were lax because, hey, what was he going to do, run off nude? Well, Rufus did JUST that, and ended up riding nude through Springerville and Eager, Arizona on his way to freedom.
Cameraman Scott devised a devious tracking shot where he utilized a railing to cover the climax area of Climax. Here's how the line up of the shot looked from my angle:
Before you get too excited, he's wearing flesh colored undies. Utilizing the dolly tracker at left, the finished shot is quite funny and, of course, the convenient coverage angle was parodied to great effect in Austin Powers.
"It's the angle of the dangle, not the heat of the meat."
—Old Phoenix Cruiser Saying
