As a tribute to Maureen, who just passed away at the age of 95, thanks for giving us one of the greatest mud scenes in cinematic history. Here is a behind the scenes clip on how they built the mud pit.
This is a ubiquitous mud scene, but it's never done anything for me. Maureen was past her prime and bentonite ain't clay. Plus, letting Stefanie Powers escape the mudpit was a crime worse than Phil's koi pond. Imagine if they'd made THE GREAT RACE and Natalie Wood wasn't in the pie fight!
Yeah, bentonite is clay. I meant to write that it ain't mud. Which it ain't!
Stefanie's GIRL FROM UNCLE mud scene is about 90% water and makeup but it's a decent fight, at least. I do love those vintage '60s wam scenes. Always hoping someone will unearth some lost classic from that era....
Regis said: .... letting Stefanie Powers escape the mudpit was a crime ....
You sure? It's been years since I saw the movie or that scene, but IIRC Powers does get knocked into the mudpit. She just doesn't get very messy, which I agree is a disappointment. :ahahah:
FYI I just double checked my copy of the film, and actually Stefanie did not "escape" the mud pit....she was never in the movie at that point when the mud scene happens. Stefanie only arrives later in the film (on a train) after the mud scene has already happened....so she was never in that scene anyways.
Actually, here in Florida we had no option but to use bentonite mixed with red iron oxide when we built our mud pits on my ranch in the 1990's and we did all our mud shoots. Rob Blaine flew in from Texas to help us do our mud pit shoots in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 and he gave us the instructions for how to create and mix a mud pit when there is no natural clay in your area. FYI we drove over 1000 miles and spent 10 days scouting all over Florida looking for good mud or clay locations, and we could not find any decent mud or clay in Florida. We visited several of the mud bog racing areas where the off road racers go but that was not deep mud of a good consistency either...so all we have in Florida is a topsoil with sand and that mixed with water makes for lousy mud. We do not have great mud locations as Rob had in Texas...the nearest good spots to Florida are located in Georgia...more than 10 hrs drive away. So, we ended up ordering several dozen 80 pound bags of bentonite and iron oxide and I had it delivered to my ranch on a flat bed truck. The truck driver was very "curious" when he saw I had 8 topless British models sunbathing around my pool, and wanted to know what we wanted all the bentonite for.....so I just smiled at the truck driver and told him that we were having an international pottery convention and all these girls were experts at making pottery.....I don't think he believed me....
I may have overdone the iron oxide a bit, cos the color was a bit too browny-red...but without the iron oxide bentonite just makes a grey color clay and I did not want a grey colored mud pit.
Love you, too
