I decided to film in the alley next to the studio, so that we could roll out the large camera boom and roll it back in when finished. Knowing this was a one chance sequence, I didn’t want to take a chance with a broken fog machine, so I ordered three machines with producer Jan Van Tassel running them.

The 12 thugs that Harry was to fight and slap around were not stuntmen, but young men from a Seattle talent agency. They knew of Harry, so were eager to work on the scene with him. Harry choreographed the actual fight on paper and directed his men with me directing the camera set-ups.  

We didn’t get out into the alley until midnight, but Harry kept his ‘stuntmen’ entertained with his experiences in Hollywood and rehearsing the scene. I had purchased mats and elbow pads for the scene, but the guys were too macho to use them. In fact, they were falling on the street during rehearsal. “Save it for the camera,” I told them. But they kept hitting the pavement.

The girl that Harry rescues, Gina Su, had her boyfriend there, so we hired him to be the one to assault her, thusly protecting her while beating her.

Instead of doing many shots with quick cuts, like many films do, I decided to have longer takes to let the audience see what is going on. The main thing I wanted was to have a ‘boy meets girl’ scene (Harry and his future wife),and show Harry’s character’s anger and prowess.

We finished at 2am with cast & crew happy, and a surprising scene for the movie.