It’s a macabre fact that were it not for the tragic death of John Denver the video release Tuesday of “Walking Thunder” on the fledgling Rated Gee! family entertainment label might have passed unnoticed. A winner on the film festival circuit, this 1995 coming-of-age adventure will now instead be remembered as the singer-songwriter’s last film.
“It’s tragically ironic,” said director Craig Clyde. “A week before he died (Oct. 12, in the experimental plane he was piloting), I would get hundreds of hits on the Web from John Denver fans asking when the video would be out. He had a strongly loyal cadre of people who loved his music and loved him. He was an icon.”
Denver was anything but in 1970, when Clyde, then a sophomore at an Idaho junior college, met him. “He wasn’t a name,” Clyde said. “His biggest claim to fame was writing `Leaving on a Jet Plane.’ He came (to the campus) to do a midweek concert. My little trio was the opening act.”
Twenty-five years later, Clyde was an independent filmmaker based in Alpine, Utah, whose credits included the direct-to-video family films “Little Heroes” and “The Legend of Wolf Mountain.” He wrote “Walking Thunder” with Denver in mind for the supporting role of John McKay, a former shipbuilder who leads his family west in 1850.
Denver, whose most notable recent screen credit was “Foxfire” in 1987, said “yes immediately,” Clyde recalled. “He said, `I’m (anxious) to act again.’ “
The modestly budgeted production was filmed in Alpine in five weeks. “I was in awe at what a regular guy he was,” Clyde said. “It was a very difficult shoot, but he never complained about the cold or the night work. He would grab cables or help move lights.” At the wrap party, he performed a 90-minute concert. He was a WYSIWYG: What You See Is What You Get.”
Eerily, “Walking Thunder” also features narration by Brian Keith, who committed suicide earlier this year. “I wasn’t surprised,” Clyde said. “(When we worked together) he had just been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. Over lunch, he told me, `If it gets bad, I’m checking out.’ “
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“Walking Thunder,” distributed by Rated Gee!, is available for rental in video stores (or call 888-4-RATED-G).
