Little Laura and Big John | |
---|---|
Directed by | Luke Moberly Bob Woodburn |
Written by | Luke Moberly Bob Woodburn |
Based on | story by Phillip Weilding [1] |
Produced by | Lou Wiethe |
Starring | Fabian Forte Karen Black Paul Gleason |
Cinematography | H. Edmund Gibson |
Edited by | Tom Woodburn |
Music by | Bill Walker |
Production company | Louis Wiethe Productions |
Distributed by | Crown International |
Release date |
|
Running time | 82 mins |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $200,000 [2] |
Little Laura and Big John is a 1973 American feature film about the exploits of the Ashley gang in the Florida everglades in the 1910s and 1920s. [3] [4]
Loosely based on the true story about Laura Upthegrove and John Ashley. Laura's mother, Emma Upthegrove tells the story of her daughter and John Ashley. John goes into a life of crime after he accidentally shoots a Seminole, Desoto Tiger.
In December 1929, Ashley murdered Seminole trapper Desoto Tiger, whose body was discovered by a crew building the Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee. A few days later, Ashley sold Tiger's otter furs in Miami. [5] [6] In one of the first instances of a jury of whites convicting a white for the murder of an Indian, Ashley was convicted for murder, but was repeatedly allowed to escape custody, whereupon he began his life of crime. Although he spent jail time for many other crimes, he never served a day for the murder of Desoto Tiger. [7]
Plans to make the film were announced in 1968 by Luke Moberly, who owned a studio near Fort Lauderdale. [8]
Moberly later wrote "twenty-eight features came and went from my place and hundreds of commercials before I realized I had nothing more to show for it than a lot of deferments owed me, and buildings full of equipment. All the little ones I helped went out of business and the ones who made it left and forgot me. I was deciding whether to sell out at offers around a half-million and forget the business or make films myself and try for broke. [9]
He read a story of the history of Florida by Philip Weidling and became interested with the bank robber, John Ashley. He asked Weidling to write the true story of Ashley for him. "I wrote a screenplay from it and scouted locations that were factual and even built eleven sets for it before I had any money to make it", he said. [9]
Moberley met a former theatre owner named Louis Wiethe who was interested in investing himself and raising the balance to shoot it. They produced the film together and Moberley directed. [10]
Wiethe and Moberley went to California to cast the leads. "We had some beautiful offers from name actors, but the only one I regret not using was Burt Reynolds", said Moberley. "He would have made a beautiful John Ashley, plus the fact that I would have had the two hottest young stars in the country in my very first feature." [9]
Moberley said he became interested in Karen Black after seeing her photo. She "had never played a lead role, but I thought she looked like what I needed. I read a few pages of the script with her and said, "That's all I need to hear, you've got the part." [9]
By February 1969 it was announced that Fabian and Karen Black were to play the leads. [11]
Filming began 10 March 1969 on location in Stuart, Florida, in and around Martin County, and at Moberly Film Studios in Fort Lauderdale. [2]
Moberley recalls "Most of the people working with me wondered where I got that kookie little hippie girl, but by the end of the first day's shooting, I was convinced she would be my film and outshine everyone else. Most everyone was mad at me for changing the script every day and the feeling got to be that I was in total confusion and didn't know what I was doing. I guess that happens to most all new film directors. Before the film was over, they all began to realize Karen was stealing the scenes. " [9]
Additional footage was later shot, including filming a nude scene at the public beach at the House of Refuge in Martin County. [2]
The original title of the film was The True Story of the Ashley-Mobley Gang. Then it was Too Soon to Laugh, Too Late to Cry before becoming Little Laura and Big John. [12]
Moberley said "We held our film back till Karen became one of the hottest properties around." [9]
Crown International bought the rights to the movie which was not released until 1973. [13] When the film came out Moberley said "I am grateful to Karen Black, although she has forgotten me the same as the others who made it." [9]
The film marked the first time Fabian was credited as "Fabian Forte." [12]
Moberley later said "After working in the early 1900 era with all of the antique cars and clothes, I tried to write another period picture about the rum runners, but just couldn't come up with something I thought the young people would buy. " [9]
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John Ashley was an American actor, producer and singer. He was best known for his work as an actor in films for American International Pictures, producing and acting in horror films shot in the Philippines, and for producing various television series, including The A-Team.
Upthegrove Beach is an unincorporated community in Okeechobee County, Florida, United States. It is located on US 441/US 98, on the northeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee.
The film industry in Florida is one of the largest in the United States: in 2006, Florida ranked third in the U.S. for film production based on revenue generated. However, more recent 2009-2010 data no longer show Florida among the top four states.
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John Hopkin Ashley was an American outlaw, bank robber, bootlegger, and occasional pirate active in southern Florida during the 1910s and 1920s. Between 1915 and 1924, the self-styled "King of the Everglades" or "Swamp Bandit" operated from various hideouts in the Florida Everglades. His gang robbed nearly $1 million from at least 40 banks while at the same time hijacking numerous shipments of illegal whiskey being smuggled into the state from the Bahamas. Indeed, Ashley's gang was so effective that rum-running on the Florida coast virtually ceased while the gang was active. His two-man raid on the West End in the Bahamas in 1924 marked the first time in over a century that American pirates had attacked a British Crown colony.
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Laura Beatrice Upthegrove Swindal was a 20th-century American outlaw, bank robber, bootlegger, and occasional pirate active in southern Florida during the 1910s and 1920s, along with John Ashley.
Desoto Tiger was a Seminole from a Creek-speaking camp near Indiantown, Florida, and the son of Cow Creek chief Tommy Tiger. In December 1911, Tiger was taking a bundle of ninety otter hides trapped by himself and others to market at a trading post, when he gave a ride in his canoe to John Ashley. On December 29, 1911, a dredging crew working near Lake Okeechobee discovered Tiger's body. Ashley had been seen travelling with Tiger by Tiger's uncle, Jimmy Gopher, so a group of Seminole pursued Ashley to Miami, but were too late to find him. They did, however, find the furs with unmistakable Seminole markings at Girtman Brothers fur traders in Miami, who related that they had purchased the bundle of otterskins from John Ashley for $1200. The Palm Beach County commissioners voted to offer a reward for the apprehension of Tiger's murderer, and asked then governor Albert W. Gilchrist to fund the reward, which was done in the amount of $150 on January 15, 1912. This was Ashley's first crime, and launched a career of misdeeds that earned him the name King of the Everglades.
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The Horse Killer is a lost 1966 American mystery thriller film directed by Luke Moberly, in his directorial debut, and written by Thomas Casey. It stars Shane Erickson, Stephanie Herold, Kathleen Stanley, Julio Cesare, Bud Irwin, Sandra Peabody, and Bob Burns. The story is based on a series of real-life bizarre horse mutilations occurring in Davie, Florida in 1964. Moberly co-produced the film with Louis Wiethe on a budget of US$50,000. Filming took place from August to September 1966. The film was one of Moberly's earliest efforts to contribute to the emerging Miami and Southern Florida film industry. All of the known photographic film existing of it was stolen from him, causing the film to be unreleased.