Movies and TV Show filming is nothing new to Henry County

Movies and TV Show filming is nothing new to Henry County and the area.
I remember vividly in the late summer of 1976 when the film crew came to McDonough with all their equipment to film a scene on the town square for “Smokey and the Bandit”.  We lived just off the square at the time and it was great fun to watch a movie being made.  People came from all around and even people up on the roof tops watching the movie.  McDonough was to be a town in Arkansas where the Bandit was to lure the police away from Snowman in the big rig.  Burt Reynolds played Bandit driving a new year change to a ’77 Trans Am.  The car was to make some maneuvers on the square and hide behind the old police shack on the square.  Of course it is gone today.  The stunt people tried making the turns on Macon Street and with the angle of the road and a small shower it made the scene hard to film, but they made it.  I was standing on the square with many other folks, but I was lucky enough to be next to the camera man and Burt Reynolds in the car

 right in front of us looks at the camera and smiles.  Then they filmed the Snowman played by Jerry Reed who stopped at what he termed a choke and puke which is a restaurant.  He also had his truck fueled there.  They used Lamar’s Sportsman’s Club on Macon Street near the Cemetery for the scene.  He got into a fight for the scene with some bikers about Fred  his dog.  So they threw him out and of course he gets into his rig and Lamar gives him his food.  And as he leaves he smiles and runs over their motor cycles. 

 I got to meet Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, Jackie Gleason, Sally Field and Mike Henry during the filming in Henry County and in Clayton County.  It was a lot of fun.   The movie was released in May 1977 with a budget of $4.3 million and the second largest box office take that year with $126, 737,428.00 behind Star Wars at $307 million.

Then my late father-n-law Mr. Elton Mills was in several scenes of the show “I’ll Fly Away” driving his old pick-up truck for several scenes.  This was in 1989 and he had a great time doing it.  It was something he would never forget.




After Linda and I married we moved to Lovejoy, GA at La Costa Mobile Home Park for a time.  While there one day in May 1995 a knock came on the door and I opened and a whole lot of folks were in our yard looking and a nice man stuck out his hand and introduced himself as Mr. George Harrison (Yes one of the Beatles) and he wanted to speak with me.  His film company was making a movie to be broadcast in Great Britain and they were using some sites in America for the movie.  He said would I mind them using my home and I said for one condition to sign one of my Beatle records which he smiled and happily did.  Then we dealt with the producer and director.  The movie was about an old Motown singing group wanting to get back together for a reunion.  It was entitled the “Soul Survivors.”  The stars were Isaac Hayes, Ian McShane, and Antonio Fargas.  We got to meet all of them.  They wanted to use our house because of the site as we lived in a curve.  They
 were to use it for a “cat house” and Isaac Hayes was to come out in the morning to leave and is caught by reporters.  The scene actually was filmed in the evening as the sun was setting for the effect of a sunrise.  We and about fifty of our neighbors sat in a vacant field across the street watching the filming that went on till past 3:00am in the morning.  The producer said that they handled the “Lovejoy Mysteries” in Great Britain and when they saw the name Lovejoy they decided on using it for part of the movie.  The movie was release in January 1996 to mixed reviews.  It was nice meeting Isaac Hayes who sang the song “Shaft” that was a big hit.

Dr. Mike Moon with his Son and Isaac Hayes

In all the times that I have been involved around or with movie making we have noticed that the production company has things well in hand and we and the others there watching were having great fun.  They seem to want folks there to watch as many of them have performed on the stage and they are used to people watching them.  There is a lot that goes into movie making as well as for making television shows and it takes time and effort.  The crew has to make sure everything is just right with lighting and other parts.  In our case, they used a track system to have the camera man ride to film the scenes around our house. It was a lot of fun and to meet so very famous artists are an honor as well.  We learned that the late Isaac Hayes liked cornbread and pinto beans.  We talked for sometime in between takes.  He was more than happy to speak with us and answer questions.