Johnny Dark Movie Book

104 Summary: To us today, the movie “ Johnny Dark ” looks like a nice, quaint, “ B ” sports car movie from the 1950s. Good friend Chuck Tatum who was in the movie – driving his own car shown behind the Irwin Lancer in the above picture – corrected me immediately when I shared this thought with him as follows: “ Geoff … remember that “ Johnny Dark ” was done at a time when sports cars were exploding across America. Universal used their top talent – Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie ….” A level" stars – as their leads. And other actors used were quite famous on their own. In fact, when I first got involved with the movie in the Fall of ’53 there was talk about making this movie a “3 D ” picture (popular at the time) – but that never materialized. My business partner, Andy Botto, was paid $5000 at the end of the race scenes in the Fall of ’53 for keeping the Willys motor running in the Woodill that was used. Money was lavishly spent in making the best film possible at the time – an “ A level" movie all the way. ” So heed the words of Chuck Tatum. At first we may have thought of this as a quaint ole sports car movie with our favorite cool cars. But in reality - it was actually much more. Johnny Dark captures in one film the excitement, thrill, and adventure of driving - and racing - your own American sports car at a time we now call the "Golden Era of Postwar Racing in America." They couldn't have produced a better film to capture the spirit and the moment. The Johnny Dark Produc- tion Notes published by Universal Studios in 1954 begin on the next page.