American Cinematographer - October 1968 - 25

WEXLER: I'd say that about 85% of the Film was made on
locat'.on in Boston, and the normal problems of shooting
street exteriors were present-the same type of thing you
will Find in any major city. People are curious. They want
to see what's going on, and so, they crowd around. I'm
always surprised to discover how many people don't have
to work, how many there are who have so much time to
waste and don't have to be somewhere. We had a num¬
ber of scenes on the street, showing how the bank rob¬
bers converged on the bank. We wanted to shoot it as
realistically as possible, and for that reason

we didn't

want to populate the street with extras. The way people
actually walk when they are doing their normal things on
the street is quite different from the way extras would
walk-not only how they walk, but how they dress and
what they carry in their hands, how they may stop and
tie their shoes or cast a sidelong glance at some girl
who is going by. We wanted to get into these scenes out¬
side the bank all of the little things you capture when you
shoot documentaries. So, I convinced the director, Nor¬
man Jewison, that a good way to Film the bank robbery
^ exteriors would be to use concealed cameras and do it
documentary style-as in "BATTLE OF ALGIERS" or "WAR
GAMES"-and have our Film characters function in these
scenes just as they would naturally, in the actual situa¬
tion.

QUESTION: It would seem to me that in order to get a
variety of angles and be assured of matching action
with that technique, you would almost have to use
multiple cameras.

Inside a black bag, with just the lens of the camera sticking out,
Wexler prepares to shoot a lengthy scene of Yaphet Kotto moving
about a Boston subway station. Purpose of the bag was to eliminate
danger of reflections on chrome and glass surfaces of telephone booths.

WEXLER: We did. For the main bank robbery sequence,

with

we had four cameras going-three of them with zoom

located in the right places to cover the action. So I simply

lenses and another one hidden in a station wagon across

took the Eclair and stood there on the street corner for

the

concealed cameras,

because

they couldn't be

the street, with a 25mm lens on it. The main problem was

about 40 minutes, just holding it under my arm. Then,

that of coordination, because all of the cameras had to

when everything seemed right for shooting the scene, I

be started at the same time. The actors had to be cued

signaled the actor with a nod of my head and he began

and so did the cars which were involved in the sequence.

walking a pre-determined path. I just picked up the cam¬

The more coordination, the more supervision was required

era and shot the scene like a home movie. It worked fine,

-and the more supervision, the greater was the danger

but that sort of thing is good for only one take because,

of calling attention to ourselves.

QUESTION: I would assume that your concealed cam¬
eras had to remain in fixed positions. Wouldn't that
rather limit your flexibility in covering such a sequence?
WEXLER: To a certain extent. For example, we had a num¬

after that, the people in the crowd spot you and you have
to do something else.

QUESTION: You mentioned four concealed cameras,
one of which was hidden in a station wagon. Where
were the others located, and how were they concealed?

ber of scenes in which one of the main characters was to

WEXLER: One of them was set up across the street in a

walk down a crowded street, cross the street and walk into

window camouflaged with Venetian blinds and little
drapes, so that just the lens peeked through. The camera

a building. Some of those shots couldn't be Filmed well

(LEFT) Arc lights are used in conjunction with standard incandescent and quartz units to light vast bank interior. A major problem was balancing
of artificial light with natural daylight coming through the windows. (CENTER) On sound stage of the Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Hollywood,
bank robbers threaten bystanders while hauling the loot away. (RIGHT) Camera mounted on a crab dolly moves down corridor of Boston bank
during filming of a follow shot. Windows were covered with sheets of plexiglass 85 filter material to equalize color temperature.

American Cinematographer - October 1968

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