Julie Andrews On The Field Scene

I always wondered how they filmed that amazing opening sequence of Sound of Music, to this day one of the most dramatic and moving of all time. Julie told the story this week on The Tonight Show:

“We had this monstrous helicopter that had a camera man very bravely strapped to the side where the door would be,” Andrews described to Jimmy Fallon of her scene in the open field. “He had a camera strapped to him, he was strapped into the copter, and he was over like this [shooting downwards]. And it started at one end of the field and I had started at the other and we walked together, and honestly this thing came at me sideways sort of like this giant sort of crab coming at me or a grasshopper or something, and then I’d come into view.”

She explained how sound speakers hidden off camera would blast music so she could lip sync.

When the chopper came around, “the downdraft from the engines just flung me into the grass, and so we did this about six or seven times and I was spitting dirt.”

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Author: craigcrawford

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43 thoughts on “Julie Andrews On The Field Scene”

  1. craig, there was also a kind of continuous light rain in that region during shooting she said.

    movie making back then before the computer aided technology must have been quite an adventure.  considering some of the scenes in the earlier days like the chaplin silents  and  “perils of Pauline” types, the actors had to be a pretty hardy lot.

    here’s an article describing some of it: 6 Dangerous Stunts of the Silent Movie Era


  3. Published on Jul 2, 2017

    John Oliver unveils Last Week Tonight’s collection of presidential wax statues and brings Warren G. Harding’s incredible life story to the big screen.

  4. “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.”

    Abraham Lincoln

  5. First time Gov. Christie could hang out on the beach without a bunch of frenzied by-standers trying to roll him back into the water.

    (apologies in advance for the pre-meditated fat shaming.)

  11. Remembering my trip to Los Angeles in 2o10 and my visit to “The Music Box” steps. The ones where Laurel and Hardy dragged a piano all the way to the top.

  12. KGC…  yeah…  it feels like the 4th is taking forever this year.

    BiD…   I knew the author of I Am the Cheese, Robert Cormier.  He lived and wrote that tale in the same city that Rick worked in as a librarian in our early years of marriage, Fitchburg Mass.   He used to come into the library all the time and he and Rick became friends.  He was one of the nicest guys one could ever meet.

    Going to a party at the family camp later today.  It’ll go into the night when lots of people around the lake will shoot off fireworks (which are legal here in NH).  Some here call tonight…  “the night of the idiots blowing off fingers”.  It happens every year.  I do wish everyone will be safe.

  13. there he goes again according to raw story:

    “The and the cabinet of need to invoke Article 4 of the 25th Amendment and remove him from office, today, or resign,” Olbermann tweeted on Saturday afternoon.

    “Resign, now, or be forced from office. You have no place in a freedom-loving country twitter.com/realdonaldtrum … ,” Olbermann tweeted earlier in the day.

  14. Imagine that moment on the Titanic when the band realizes that yet another gig has ended in disaster.

  15. Chris Christie’s gov’t shutdown ruined some of my family’s vacation to historic places, and then he goes and uses one of the beaches they couldn’t?!  Holy shit, these Republicans are such awful people.

  16. Those are some pretty famous steps you got there…..I’ve always wanted to see them…….

  17. Bink, Christie is term limited and leaves office end of the year.  He couldn’t give a flying frogs fat ass about anyone.  No one out there wants to hire him or elect him to anything since he such a human turd.  Only thing left is something with Trump – and I’m not sure that’ll happen.

  20. Christub clearly has given up – next he will be appearing in mom jeans or sweat pants

    and I hope he plans on moving out of NJ – no one is going to want him for a neighbor

  21. Two words, Chris……Reverse Mortgage.

    But then he couldn’t get a job selling reverse mortgages……Sad!

  22. rr – Very cool.  Glad to know he was a nice guy.  I found out the book disturbing, but it was required reading.  Somehow, Vonnegut never bothered me.  Go, figure. Hiho

  23. Let’s chip in and get him one of those floaty chairs from “Wall-E.”  (Actually, Americans could  probably get a good deal buying those in bulk, if they existed.)

  24. 1983 James Watt, Secretary of the Interior, wants Wayne Newton to do the Fourth of July on the Mall, not those immoral rock groups like the Beach Boys.  Almost immediately he has his rear end on the floor by Reagan.  Seems not everyone is as “moral” as he is including FLOTUS Nancy.  Beach Boys are playing the Fourth on the Mall again tomorrow night.

  25. hip hip hurray!

    the hill: Court rejects Trump’s delay of EPA drilling pollution rule
    The Trump administration cannot delay an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule limiting methane pollution from oil and natural gas drilling, a federal court ruled Monday.
    In an early court loss for President Trump’s aggressive agenda of environmental deregulation, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the EPA didn’t meet the requirements for a 90-day stay of the Obama administration’s methane rule.
    The decision means the EPA must immediately start enforcing the standards.

    unfortunately, it may be too late in the long run. from time:
    Stephen Hawking Says Trump’s Withdrawal From the Paris Accord Could ‘Push the Earth Over the Brink’
    World renowned physicist Steven Hawking said that President Donald Trump’s decision to quit the Paris Climate Agreement could have catastrophic consequences for planet Earth.
    “We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible,” the Cambridge professor said in an interview with BBC News, Sunday. “Trump’s action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of two hundred and fifty degrees, and raining sulphuric acid.”

  26. from time:

    A Reddit user is taking credit for creating the video President Donald Trump posted to Twitter depicting him punching a physical manifestation of CNN.
    The same user, who goes by HanA–holeSolo, has previously posted several racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic memes on Reddit. One post included a photo of CNN personalities with the Star of David attached to each person. Another said “F–K ISLAM.” Many of HanA–holesolo’s posts denigrate black people.

    HanA–holeSolo appears to have submitted the Trump wrestling GIF five days ago to The_Donald, a subreddit where people gather to idolize the President and hurl hatred toward Trump’s supposed enemies.
    [….]
    Trump’s tweet made for a spectacular day among those who visit The_Donald. HanA–holeSolo wrote in the subreddit: “Wow!! I never expected my meme to be retweeted by the God Emporer [sic] himself!!!”

  31. Ever wonder why pet food has good stuff like salmon, lamb and venison in it?  I do.  The salmon I can understand, lot of fish guts have to go somewhere.  But lamb?  Almost all of it is edible.  Venison?  Or sometimes called “Bambi”.  Again, almost all of the deer is edible.  So why do the family critters eat better than I do?

  32. Sturge – First & only other time I heard that was on SNL (back in late 70s, probably).

  33. Harry had a way with a song…..
    (I think he may have gotten away with that one….)

  34. Patd, I almost busted a gut watching the Harding segment on Oliver last night.  Thanks for posting it.

    Still keeping distance from hard political coverage for a bit. Quick checks are about all I can abide.  Of course comedy based coverage of politics, now that I can deal with.

  35. Jamie, indies will be the life or death of drumpf’s 2nd act. I vote for death. IOW. You’re fired A-hole.

  36. Idea Man to insurance Man:

    This is what you do: Call yourself “Farmers”. Then, all you gotta do is talk farmer-talk to ’em…….You know, oh…. Something like “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.”

  37. First time Gov. Christie could hang out on the beach without a bunch of frenzied by-standers trying to roll him back into the water.

    Sturgeon, god you’re killing me. ?

    The score is Christy one, bariatric surgery zero. But really who’s keeping score?

  42. Sturge, there is no need for atonement – I left a beached whale comment at WaPo. Not to be too awfully, ummm, indelicate, but jeez, that’s one unattractive family aside from the couple of cute kids … and I fear they are doomed, apples and trees and all.

  43. Oh damn. I’m watching CNN on Watergate. It is sooooo fuuuuuucking similar to what’s coming out of thermodynamics WH it is goddam scary. Richard Kleindeinst sounds JUST LIKE Sean Spliaer and Sarah Huckleberry Sanders it really is crazy. It’s almost like they went and listened to that ass and thought what he said sounded great, so why not us that. Don’t need to reinvent the wheel, right?

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