Choke Canyon

I confess to having seen this film only because I made an effort to search it out. In 1986 I was stationed in Ridgecrest, California, and spent my spare time hanging out at a friends machine shop. We were contracted to build some equipment for a movie being shot locally, and that's how I know the film. I built a satellite dish and control console used in the film from scrap, and was out on the shooting location south of Ridgecrest at an old ready mix plant on highway 395. This was the location for the lab, and where the monster trucks were driven over a canyon. The film itself is so low budget it screams for mercy, with much more money spent on F/X than writing or directing. The cast is composed of Hollywood fringe actors who never quite got the big break they were looking for. Some of the stuntwork, particularly the aerial work which was done in Utah was pretty decent, but overall the film was really hurt by the low budget tack taken in making it. However, getting to watch an almost completely Italian film crew at work has got to be on of the greatest sources of humor that can be found, and anyone who ever gets a chance to do so should. It will keep you laughing for years.