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The Gypsy Moths Overview:

The Gypsy Moths (1969) was a Action - Drama Film directed by John Frankenheimer and produced by Edward Lewis.

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The Gypsy Moths Quotes:

Joe Browdy: Look, kid, this is a business. They don't pay to watch us walk across the street. Now, when are yuh gonna get that through your head? If you're so concerned with Rettig doing the jump, I mean, you can learn it yourself. Then you wouldn't have to worry about him.
Malcolm Webson: I have a better idea. Why don't you do it?
Joe Browdy: Because I recognize my limitations. It's the secret to my success in life.
Malcolm Webson: Remember what you always said when I first started with you? "Be careful." That's what you always said. "That's what's important in this business kid. BE careful."
Mike Rettig: Is that what I always said?
Malcolm Webson: Why are you taking so many chances now? What are you trying to prove?
Joe Browdy: We'll be jumping from a Howard DGA-15. "DGA": that stands for "Damn Good Airplane", which if course it is. Very tricky to land though. Heh heh. You're much better off jumping out if it than you are taking a chance on landing in it. This one's in good shape.
Malcolm Webson: To Browdy, a airplane is in good shape if it has wings and a prop.
Joe Browdy: Hey Kid... Next time you get in an airplane, make sure it's got a door on it!
Elizabeth Brandon: I imagine you're the sort of man who always manages to find the best and rightest reasons for everything you do. Do you think that's possible for everyone?
Mike Rettig: I'm always hopeful.
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The Gypsy Moths Facts
Experienced but amateur skydivers, most with several thousand jumps to their credit, were brought in from California to double for the actors. During one take an unexpected gust of wind pulled the chute and caused one of the skydivers to be slammed into the ground, breaking his collar bone and dislocating his shoulder. Even though in great pain, he stayed in character and managed to get up and finish the scene. He was retained by the director as a consultant.
This film is one of John Frankenheimer's two favorites of the films he has directed.
According to Frankenheimer the dancers in the go-go club were local Kansas girls, not city girls, because they looked authentic.
TCM occasionally plays a 15-minute long documentary short entitled "The Sky Divers", narrated by Wink Martindale, on the making-of this film. The short is also provided on the Warner_Home_Video DVD, often cited as simply a "Behind-the-scenes documentary" featurette.
During the filming of Gypsy Moths at the airfield in Benton, Kansas, the director, John Frankenheimer, wanted to get a real, horrified reaction from the extras playing the audience, so he had a Mannequin dressed like a skydiver and tied it under a helicopter which ascended a couple of hundred feet, then released the dummy. Most of the people hadn't noticed what had been rigged up, so when it fell, they thought it was a real person hitting the ground and he got the reaction he was looking for. One minor problem was that the pilot didn't gauge the wind accurately and the "skydiver" fell into the parked cars, narrowly missing some people and caving in the roof of an extra's ride. The studio bought the car for several times what it was worth and the damaged vehicle spent the rest of the shooting behind one of the hangers.
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