TRIVIA
PROOF - The Original Short Film
Kevin Reynolds made a short version of the film as his
film school project, this being partly based on his own trip to dig up DOM (see
photo of rock). Spielberg saw this and decided to fund the professional version
that became Fandango - an Amblin film.
Al Kelley, Key West, FL says: "I'm one of the few
lucky enough to have seen the original film, "Proof" that was the foundation
for Fandango. For everyone's information, Proof was only the skydiving portion
of the movie. Amazingly enough, with only a few set differences, the scenes in
Proof were identical to those in Fandango. Truman Sparks was played in Proof
also by Marvin McIntyre, however his hair was much longer. All the other cast
members were different. I started skydiving back in 1985 or so and Fandango was
a favorite at the dropzone. Unfortunately, the dropzone version of Proof was
stolen. We would love to replace it, if anyone has a copy or knows where to get
one. Thanks again for the site!"
Bob Fonseca says: "Fandango as we know it is an
expanded version of a 30-minute b&w short film Kevin Reynolds made while a
student at the University of Texas at Austin called Montezuma's Revenge. I
know, I worked on it. Our instructor at the time was the since departed, once
blacklisted director Edward Dimytryk. Kevin was still in law school at the time
and actually auditing the class. He ponied up a $10k budget and Dimytryk gave
him the green light. Several of us crewed on the short."
Mauricio Parra says: "I had the good fortune to be
a student at USC in the early 80's when Kevin Reynolds was also there. I think
it was in the Fall of 1981 that he made his "480" film "Proof" . It was 20
minutes long (as they all are) and covered the middle part of the story (the
jump school stuff). When I saw Fandango I recognized the Hippie Pilot actor as
being from Proof. I remember coming into the old film school building (WWI era
stables!!) one morning and seeing an entire airplane (a Cessna?) crashed into
the center patio area. It had "Proof" spray-painted on it. To this day I wonder
how the hell they got that plane in there. And then back out! This was one of
the shenanigans pulled off by Kevin and his crew. It was one of the best films
that semester and transferred well to the big screen."
Tarantino Influenced by Fandango?
Quentin has listed Fandango in his top ten favourite
films. We all know how he nicks (sorry, 'homages') the best bits from other
films, right? Well, have you noticed that Fandango starts with the film title,
followed by a dictionary defenition - as does Pulp Fiction.
Truman's Hangar's History
Truman Sparks' skydiving hangar once housed the Anola Gay,
the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. - Ryan Haygood
"Sooo neat!"
E.G Daily (the gum-pulling, "so neat" jail bait girl) now
does lots of voice work in Hollywood. Among other things she is the voice of a
Powerpuff Girl (Buttercup) and was the voice of Babe in the second Babe movie,
Babe, Pig in the City. - Bedford McIntosh
Suzy & Sam
Suzy Amis and Sam Robards also married in real life! On
his IMDB record it shows the dates to be from 1986-94. They had a son (Jasper).
They've both remarried. She to Titanic director James Cameron. - Bedford
McIntosh
Fandango Memorabilia 1
I just found a link to the website for Kevin Costner's
casino in Deadwood, South Dakota, called the Midnight Star (www.midnightstar.com).
When you go to the site, click on the link called "Memorabilia." That will link
to a page listing most of Costner's movies, the titles of which will link you
to previews of memorabilia from those movies that are apparently displayed at
the casino. Of course, I immediately clicked on the Fandango link, and there's
a picture of Gardner Barnes' tuxedo in a display case. Pretty cool. Now I have
an excuse to visit Deadwood, South Dakota! Keep up the great work, John,
Dallas, Texas
Fandango Memorabilia 2
I've written to you ages ago about the Fandango Soundtrack
that I compiled. Well, in my never-ending search for Fandango music, I came
across this little gem:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2542400747&category=2265
Check out the picture sleeve!!! Jon Taylor
Bass Player
A bit of trivia that doesn't mean anything to anyone else
but me: the bass player on 'It's Too Late,' is my cousin, Charlie Larkey. He
was married to Carole King for a time. In fact, their son, Levy, is named after
my great-grandfather, Levy Larkey. Six degrees, right? Bill Rosen
Jailbait girl
Blonde Jailbait girl is the Prom Singer in the film "Better Off Dead"...singing "Better Off Dead". Swede
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Where 'Lester' is now
Info on what 'Lester' is doing now: Dr. Brian Cesak -
chiropractor: drcesak.chiroweb.com Mark Williamson
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Fandango homage in Happy Days?
I've been a huge fan of Fandango since about 1986. This weekend I was watching an awful episode of Happy Days.
Chachi gets diabetes and decides to go parachuting, behaving like his life is over. The pilot flying Chachi around is dressed very similarly to Truman Sparks.
He even offers Chachi a bite of his bolagne sandwich, in much the same way that Truman offers Mr. Hicks a hit.
The Happy Days episode was terrible. I had to know which came first. The Happy Days episode or Fandango.
Very glad to find out Fandango started out as a student film in '81 and the Happy Days Episode aired in '84.
This is how I stumbled on to your web page. Didn't know if this little tid bit of pop culture would interest you.
Carry on. Love the web page.
Brian Higgins
Fandango homage in 'Zenith' advert?
Zenith, the electronics manufacturer, now has a television commercial
running in the US. It goes like this: A skydiver jumps out of
a plane. He pulls his parachute cord and out pops....a bunch of
clothes! The commercial then cuts to a guy in an airport hanger,
airplane in the background, stuffing clothes into a parachute
sack. He's distracted because he is watching a new Zenith high
definition TV. Wonder where they got the inspiration for that!
Bedford McIntosh
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SOUNDTRACK