This is an 8mm home movie shot on the set of Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller by Wes Taylor and Wayne Robson (both RIP) in the fall of 1970. Wes was my stepfather and I visited the set as a boy. It was a magical place to explore as you can imagine! That it turned out to be a classic “anti-western” was icing on the cake!
In the footage you’ll see Rene Auborjonois, Wayne Grace, Wes Taylor, Wayne Robson, Jack Riley, Jackie Crossland, Jace Van Der Veen, Manfred Shulz and others from the cast. The snowball fight is a fun touch given that the weather played havoc with the shooting schedule! And Criterion has finally released a superb Blu-ray version of the film that I’d advise fans to check out.
The B&W photo at the end is of a cast party held in the basement of someone’s home in West Van. My mum, Jane Shaddy, is top right, looking at the camera. The photo was taken by Glenn Baglo in the fall of 1970 for the Vancouver Sun. I had the pleasure of meeting Glenn while shooting a documentary on Vancouver in the ’70s for Telus. Kate Bird, retired PacPress photo librarian who’s just released the book Vancouver in the Seventies, was instrumental in sourcing a good copy of the image. If you have any additional info or stories, please get in touch!