[music]
hello and welcome to another edition of mysteries of the Superstition Mountains
today we are gonna talk about the old patchy trail and down a lot of stuff
that happens or happened right along that road including a movie being made
with a big pagoda and all sorts of things so let's get at it we're gonna be
talking with Larry Hendrick about all these things and I'm excited to get
started so let's get started with another edition of Mysteries and the
Superstition Mountains here's Larry Larry tell us a little bit about what we
have behind us here well in June of 1959 a friend of mine were going up to Apache
Lake and we got down here about 500 yards from here and a 3/4 ton army truck
went across the highway and down this road and when we got up here I looked up
and here was this giant Chinese pagoda I don't know what else to call it setting
up on top of this hill and people were moving up in that direction that looked
like refugees from world war II I knew I did it had to be a film and but
we didn't actually go up to there we I wanted to follow that army truck well
we'll go follow that road there in a bit anyway I have seen this movie two or
three times and and was actually there for one day of the filming
and the
premise of the story was and we mentioned the movie it's "Mountain Road"
now that was a takeoff of Burma Road and James Stewart and Harry Morgan were two
of the main stars with Lisa Liu and several guys that you've seen in a
million movies the faces yeah you might not remember their names and they were in a
demolition crew they had just blown up the buildings on an airstrip a dirt
field and they blew the filled up with pock marks so it couldn't be used and
now they were going down Burma Road to blow up bridges to slow the Japanese
down and there were hundreds of of Chinese refugees walking these roads and
the main aspect or the main part of that is right here at Fish Creek Hill isn't
it they didn't that yeah they said of it
right there they disguised the bridge to look like a Japanese bridge but they
actually build another bridge and blew it up. okay hope so!
[Laughter]
yeah but that features vary predominantly the road there you if you've been down that that
mountain road there so to speak
you can't miss it that's what that is down
on the way to Apache Lake yeah and they filmed right there at Fish
Creek Bridge too. wow that's amazing we're gonna head on up there and we're
matching shots I think we're got some shots of it matching it up with when the
pagoda was up there right so we'll we'll insert that so people can see that and
we'll go down and take a look where the village was and I think why don't we
head on up there and take a look all right
Larry we are now up here at the
top of the hill where the monastery was or the pagoda for mountain road and
we're going to show a little bit of some of the foundation stuff that's still
here to this day and a field of rebar all around us where they you know made
sure that everything was tied down or tagged down and this was 1959 all right
Jimmy Stewart and this amazing this amazing being up here and I had heard
that then you know they had to take everything down by law they had to take
everything dad but getting some of this would have been a little bit more
difficult it kind of blends in right but you have to know what to look for and I
know a lot of people have come up here and seen the the wall and that's right
there and it does look like it could be some ruins and it fools them but that's
basically something that was left over from Mountain Road yeah it was a huge
building and the only scene that I know they shot in it from watching the movies
is when Stewart came up here to get permission from the Chinese ranking
officer to blow up a bridge and that was the only scene it was done in it so it's
more or less a facade up here there's nothing in it I mean to shoot this so is
all a facade so that makes sense but this is just amazing this is
something that I I've heard about for the last 35-40 years or
a hundred or so year!
so who knows in you know I've wanted to see it and I thought it was a lot
farther off old the old Apache Trail but it's not well know where the village was
is about half a mile
[Chinese music]
Larry we are now here where the Chinese village was for Mountain Road and you
just told me this great story and I'm gonna have you repeat it again for the
people watching so tell us all about your time here at the village
well when we when that army truck came down this dirt road I decided to follow
it there was a rope across the road and a couple of poles in a chair so you know
I knew that there was filming going on someplace because of that pagoda it
couldn't have been anything else and but nobody was sitting there in that chair
so we just drove in and when we got down here to this road I could see that there
were two chrome Airstream trailers parked behind this this village and the
village was L-shaped like this and at the corner it was a two story part and
when we drove in I didn't drive in like we owned the place you know I put
my sergeant stripes in I drove in like I didn't care who the place and I want to
repeat we were dressed Western I had cowboy
we had cowboy hats cowboy boots blue jeans and a pistol we're totally Western
so I drove around behind a building where the air streams were and there was
James Stewart's name on one of them and the other one was Lisa Lu and I got out we
parked about four feet from and I got out and what knocked on door nobody came
out. you...you knocked on... the door. Stewart's door. I was gonna meet Stewart! and about that time a
little box truck came in and parked behind the from here parked
behind the village right behind one of the air streams and opened up the doors
and started passing out box lunches and stuff then I realized when we were up at
the pagoda everybody was heading up to the pagoda and they must have been up
there feeding people then they come down here and fed them and I told my buddy I
said let's go get something to eat he says you're gonna get us in trouble I
said nah! hey man! I worked at Disneyland there used to this is filming going on
all the time they don't they don't care what genera is involved so we got in
line and this little kid come up a little Chinese kid all dressed up as a
refugee and he says what are you making your film mister I said all we're just
over the hill so they they gave us the lunches never said a thing they gave us
the ice cream we went over on the end gate of the pickup and ate it and then put
the stuff in a garbage can I said well let's go see what they're doing over
at the cameras because when we come in nobody was up here I think they were all
in the building the main stars and the director and stuff having their lunch
inside the building so by the time we ate and walked back around here there
were several people up here at the cameras so we just mosey around got in behind
him I told my buddy just don't say a word if they start shooting just don't
say nothing and you said there was a wall right here there was a small wall
right where this cutout is and three guys come running out of the building
and and I I want to say what happened what this was about was some Chinese
this is army deserters it had ambushed The Deuce and a half truck and killed
two of our guys maybe three I can't remember what it was and the truck was
parked here and that's why Stewart and the rest of them came in was to
catch up with these guys so they were in there they saw them and they started
backing out and then they started running they went over to were the Deuce
and a half was pointing that way and used it for concealment and a big
firefight took out a place as all the Chinese soldiers come out must have been
about a dozen of them and there was three or four guys here behind this wall
giving supporting fire and Stewart and Morgan and the Chinese officer came
running up and exited on the right of the cameras and came in around behind
where we were standing but these guys kept the firefight up and or shooting
down these fellows and I was so engrossed in that I didn't realize that
there was quite a few people standing behind the cameras with us at that time
and when they called cut I turned and look and there was Harry Morgan
stanging right where you are and he was looking at my gun and he says may I see
your gun and I handed it to him but first and I said it's loaded and he took
it off a safety and put it back on to assure himself it truly was on safety
and he started twirling our pistol and he was doing a fantastic job of twirling
and he handed it to Stewart. and Stewart he said it's got good balance and Stewart was twirling
it all that and handed it back and over here where the soldiers were supporting
fire behind this small wall all of a sudden a drum, oil drum started rolling
down the hill and it went right past the front of the Deuce and a half and hit
the wall of the building and some guy said well that's perfect
they were just testing for the next shot and I walked over and looking behind the wall and
there were ore cart tracks and the drum is fit down inside the tracks not up on
top of them and you could tell by the sound it had to be full of something
because it didn't make the tiney noise that you would expect and it didn't
bounce it just rolled perfect right where they wanted it and at that point
Stweart said where are you boys from they realized that we weren't making a movie
anywhere and we said Mesa and they asked a few questions how did you guys get in
here I said well there wasn't anybody up at the gate he must have been out to
lunch so we just drove in he didn't say nothing thank you
they just accepted us while they were twirling the pistols all these guys had
turned around and looked at him doing it for a little bit so I guess they thought
we knew them I don't know but nobody said a word to
us they just let us be well you're dressed like Cowboys so totally tell you
look at Stewart, Morgan did his share of westerns they were all in fatigues you know and after
a while one of these civilians are behind the camera come over he says yeah
you know boys you're gonna have to move your truck because we got to move those
trailers and stuff for the next scene and he said if you
if you have to go now it's the time to do it because if you stay here you're
gonna be here for quite some time so we decided to leave and if I'd known that
the next thing was was that barrel was going to be rolled down and blow up that
village and burned the whole place to the ground I would have stayed but I didn't
That would have been worth the long wait. I was there when that was blown up
The thing that amazes me is
out here a Chinese village is how did they
get around all the cactus all that was bare there you couldn't... where the
village was out in front of the village if there was none of this
it was completely bare that's that's all grown up since it yeah and it looks like
it's grown best where the fire was
[laughter]
that's amazing a great story this is
excellent I mean and you can definitely tell this is where it was from the
pictures you are sharing with us. Wow it was fun great fun
so Larry this is part of the
road in mountain road where you see them all leaving the village is that correct
well as the filming was going on there were on both sides of the village there was
walking just constantly walking. but this is part of the mountain road, part
that they talk about and the other was like in fish creek there. fish creek
[Music]
hey Larry we are right here at the bridge that they used for the movie
Mountain Road they kind of spruced it up a little bit made it not so Americana
like get for it and then when they blew it up they used a model is that correct
I used a whole different bridge but they did they built the bridge and blew it up
okay but this is the one that you see in the film before they blow it up and we
are right down here at the bottom of fish creek and you get a look here of
the road where a lot of these the Chinese and the army came down the road
walking and driving in the movie so I encourage you to watch the movie and
you'll be able to see all that but anyway we're giving you a little
perspective of Mountain Road 1959 you know it doesn't need to always be about
Jacob Waltz and curses of the Superstition Mountains it can be about
things like this the mysteries of the movies that have been made here parts of
the mysteries of the Superstition Mountains
[Music]