American Cinematographer - April 1993 - 37

Opposite: Angling in
on

Meteor Man,

a.k.a. writer/director
Robert Townsend.
This page:

Alonzo

(in white cap) sheds
some light on a
shaggy actor, while
an

appropriately

somber superhero
observes.

aired

briefly on local television.
Alonzo then turned to act¬

ing. He played bit roles, mainly vil¬
lains in Westerns. His longest stint
was

10 weeks

on

The

Magnificent

Seven, during which he spent many
hours

talking with legendary cin¬
ematographer Charlie Lang, ASC.
Still photography was Alonzo's
hobby, but he was fascinated by
Lang's lighting and use of the
movie

shot

camera.

a

Soon afterwards, Alonzo
black & white film on a

a complete shot while work¬
ing in the editing room with Mel

Bruce Dern and

Stuart," he says.

steadily in the feature realm, and
the credits he compiled over the
next two decades are both prolific

make

Eventually,
Alonzo
gained more valuable experience
shooting miles of documentary
footage, mainly for National Geo¬
graphic and Jacques Cousteau spe¬
cials. These assignments, he says,
helped mold his eye for realistic
lighting. Alonzo passed another
milestone in 1964 when James

Wong Howe, ASC, asked Wolper
to recommend someone

who could

a

young Robert De

Niro). Alonzo soon began working

and eclectic. His best-known work
includes the films Vanishing Point,

Sounder, Lady Sings the Blues, Black
Sunday, Chinatown, Blue Thunder,
Harold and Maude, Pete V Tilly,
Casey's Shadow, Norma Rae,and Steel
Magnolias.
Describing his first Meteor
Man sitdown with

Townsend,

$3,000 budget with his actor friend

do a good job with a

Alonzo recalls the director's thor¬

George Mather. Floyd Crosby,
ASC, whom he had met while play¬
ing a role on Ballad of a Bad Man,

era on

ough preparation: "He had worked

became his mentor.

During the early 1960s,
Alonzo shot Jimmy Blue Eyes, a
black & white film which attracted
some critical attention. That small
success

David

gave him the courage to ask
Wolper for a job shooting

documentaries. Instead,

Wolper
put him to work in the editing
stint which Alonzo recalls
critical juncture on his career

room, a
as a

path. "I learned what it takes to

handheld cam¬
second unit. Alonzo clocked

enough days with Howe to qualify
for membership in the International
Photographers' Guild. The door to
Hollywood was starting to swing
open, if only by a crack.
Through the 1960s,
Alonzo continued acting in bit
parts, shooting still pictures and
filming commercials. Like a lot of
people, he got his first big break
from Roger Corman, who hired
him to shoot the 1969 exploitation
picture Bloody Mama (featuring,
among others, Shelley Winters,

April 1993

a sketch artist to prepare
elaborate storyboards compiled in
a looseleaf notebook. We spent
hours looking through those draw¬

with

ings one at a time. He also prepared
80-page synopsis of the script.

an

We called it the bible. It described

every

important detail, including

colors, props and

wardrobe, scene

by scene."
The
Alonzo

a

storyboards
clear

gave

picture

of

Townsend's visualization of the
film. "He wanted a bigger-than-life

American

Cinematographer

35
American Cinematographer - April 1993

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