Back in the 70's when young filmmakers made motorcycle, horror and
T&A flicks I did the opposite and made a G rated goofy comedy, The Man From
Clover Grove. As a first time film director, I was blessed with a great cast,
Ron Masak, Rose Marie, Buddy Lester, Cheryl Miller, Richard Deacon, Paul
Winchell, Stu Gilliam, Jed Allan, Spencer Milligan, Joe Higgins and Billy
Hillman. The all union crew were fantastic. It was a union/guild challenge,
(NABET, SAG, DGA and WGA) to make a film for less than $50,000 all in and
delivered. As a testament to young filmmakers we brought the film in and
delivered it for distribution for less than $45,000. So, as it turned out we
made what has become a classic. It's corny fun the kids loved then and still
love today. We even had a World Premiere in Houston Texas at the Tercar Theatre
in the Mayor’s Limousine and a full police escort that led the entire cast to -
at the time - one of the largest theaters in town. We shot in 35mm and after
1,500 plus theaters played the film in the U.S., it enjoyed a theatrical
foreign run before finally being released on Beta and VHS. Now for the firs
time, the film has been digitally re-mastered with a soundtrack in Dolby Stereo
The Dove Foundation gave the film 5 Doves. As a young filmmaker I had no fear.
The things I didn’t learn in school I discovered on the set. I made every
mistake a young filmmaker can make and the cast and crew helped me reach the
goal line. I wanted Children of all ages to enjoy a clean silly movie and as history
proved we made a film that is ageless and has outlived all the biker, horror
and T&A films made back then. From Leomark Studios and available on Amazon
worldwide, you can get the official Dolby Digital re-mastered copy as: www.amazon.com/dp/B079MK9S2T
