Escapee (1988)

"Escapee"is a short film by filmmaker Clarke M. Smith, completed in 1988 via equipment from the University of Arizona and Tucson Community Cable Corporation. It was made for a college class called Intermediate Video Production, and produced by TimeAxis Entertainment.The lead character was played by Homer Lambert, who was a lifelong friend of the family, and suggested by Ande Felix. Also featured was Sergei Droban from Smith’s previous short “Contamination”, as well as the first in a series of films with actor Thomas Findlow.

Realizing the Script
The film has a real time structure, and was mainly inspired by the group’s friends “Beth and Beth” who at the time were notoriously too trusting of people they’d meet. Smith thought, one of these days they are going to meet a psycho while out partying, and regret it!

Ande Felix (1950 - 2000) wanted to be in it. He loved acting. He suggested that two psychos escaped from jail, not just one. (Would it have been called “Escapees”?) However, Smith didn’t think it would be realistic for a convict to be allowed to have long hair and a beard, and rejected the idea.

In order to get his U of A teacher to approve of the project, Smith had to sell it as a documentary style project, with dramatic recreations. Patterned after TV shows like America’s Most Wanted, Smith set out to tell a story about prison inmates, and of one escaping. In secret, however, he was going to make a short little fictitious thriller.

A near impossible feat, Smith single-handedly utilized U of A video equipment, as well as an entire second production packages from Tucson Community Cable Corporation, a non-profit production house used for community programming. In this way, two cameras could be used, as well as extensive behind the scenes footage, which Smith wanted in order to have two projects made at once, with a detailed making-of video about Escapee. So in October 1988, on the Friday before shooting began, he went all over town collecting the gear for the weekend shoot. And of course, did it all again for the 2nd weekend.

Shooting Details
Shooting began early on a Saturday in October 1988, at the home of Roger, Tom and Kyle as they were called, at 7258 N Meredith Blvd, Tucson, AZ. The film was notorious for having been shot completely out of order and more often than not, without all the actors present, pretending to talk to each other. In only a handful of shots, do all three characters actually appear together in the frame.

Actor Homer Lambert was drinker at the time. Not an alcoholic, but a heavy drinker with a penchant for hard partying. Towards the end of the extremely stressful shoot, Lambert was pretty drunk, and a discerning eye can tell in the 3rd act, that he is pretty hammered.

Sergei Droban, a high school friend of Smith’s, was in it for the fun. He had a good time in “Contamination” and was clearly having a blast being in another movie. Tom Findlow, however, took the project very serious, and had major trepidations about being in it to begin with. He didn’t want to disappoint, this being his very first time at acting. He didn’t mess around at all, and in some cases, helped the project move along and got people to settle down and get to work.

The 3rd act is a scene Smith is very proud of. “It came together really well, really tight,” he said, noting that it was storyboarded and followed to a tee. All hell breaks loose, and it keeps up that tension and chaos for several minutes before ending rather abruptly, leaving the audience to temporarily wonder what the outcome was. Smith’s uncle Mike Sees, a real cop at the time, was recruited to do his scene. He was very worried that someone outside would see him breaking in with gun drawn and think it was real.

Clarke’s bandmate friend from high school Wil Gerken (and parents) allowed for the use of their home on nearby 3843 W Mars St. Findlow assisted in the great dolly shot in the scene. Smith’s mother Sherry Felix (1942-2015), appeared as the next hapless victim of the Escapee. She had appeared in many other Smith short films.

Film Analysis
The film ended differing from the script in one major way. The two college roommates swapped characters after the bat scene. This happened because of schedule conflicts. No one knows the difference, and it all somehow worked out, but Findlow (who clubbed the escapee) was supposed to be the one questioning him and being aggressive (“who the hell are you?”) but all the lines went to Droban. Droban’s flippant attitude also seems more appropriate for the character.

There is also some confusion about the aliases. When Findlow says “he must be using a different name”, that was wrongly spoken and interpreted. That “different name” is John Williams, already established. He was supposed to say something along the lines of “he must be using different names and aliases”. However, this is a non-issue as the lines were later changed to make more sense in a subsequent re-edit.

The use of names like Michael Meyers, John Williams, James Cameron, Matt Hooper, and Martin Brody (all famous characters and movie people) were not household names at the time (especially Cameron - yet).

A number of techniques such as a dolly, rack focus and shallow depth of field helped create the illusion that the video production was shot in film. The project was shot entirely in a narrative, cinematic style.

Typical of short films of the type, there is a downer of an ending where the good guys do not win. Not only do they not win, but they die in cold blood. Offscreen, the unfortunate roommates are shot to death by the Escapee. The cop is left in critical condition, but at least not dead. Its a brutal story and a depressing one, but was supposed to serve the idea of being more careful and vigilant of who you invite into your home, your life.

Aftermath
A very trepidatious Smith showed the film to the class and instructor in December 1988 as the class was ending. While everyone in the class (usually partnering up) did talking head videos about documentary subjects like the Red Cross and the Humane Society, as well as ENG type news stories, Smith had his epic little thriller. It did not fit in for obvious reasons. However, the teacher certainly recognized the amount of effort and coordination that went into the film, and gave the film (and semester grade) an A. No questions were ever raised about the white lie of the film being a documentary about Pima County prison escapees.

Video Links
"Escape" (1988) (Full Movie)

1999 Visual Audio Commentary

Escapee: Behind the Scenes (1988/2005)