A mock western film, made by a group of Canterbury high school students, that went global in the 1980s is ready for a relaunch.
Lincoln County Incident is a western starring students and staff from Lincoln High School and set in the US state of New Mexico in 1881.
The film was written and directed by the high school's then head of art, Tony Brittenden, and filmed by his brother Rob.
About 100 students and staff were involved in making the film.
It featured at the Cannes MipTV Festival in France in 1980 after it was picked up by the New Zealand Film Commission.
Brittenden said: “They took it to Cannes and it immediately sold to three countries and over the next two years it sold to about 18."
The film made a gross profit of about $80,000, which was just enough to break even.
In the 47-minute movie, Samson Peabody-Jones, played by Shane Simms, sets out to conquer the untamed wild west in 1881.
It follows Peabody-Jones’ escapades as he braves the frontier in search of adventure and finds a life of danger and a few rewards.
It takes a miner’s ghost, a mysterious parcel and, finally, the US cavalry to bring the story to a happy ending.
Simms never got to see the final film as he died in a car crash a year after he left school.
Brittenden said Simms’ parents saw the film and were grateful for the memories.
Lead actress Cornelia Schaap, now Connie van der Klei, remembers the year she spent playing a bargirl in the film.
“I was interested in music and drama and I auditioned and got the role, never realising it was the lead actress,” she said.
Because it was all narrated, there were no lines to learn.
“It was a lot of fun. I got to see the teachers on a different level ... you saw them more relaxed.”
In her role, van der Klei helps Peabody-Jones escape the outlaws.
"There were some scary bits (for) Shane, who was Samson Peabody-Jones.
"He and I had to do a lot of jumping in slow motion, so he and I had to climb up on top of this really big rock and I almost fell.”
Van der Klei said she will now be able to show her grandchildren the film.
She has a copy on VHS but doesn’t own a video tape player.
After leaving school, van der Klei went on to sing in Brittenden’s bluegrass band at a range of bars.
“Tony is such a great guy - so funny,” she said.
The movie is being converted from 16mm film to a digital version by Park Road Post, a Wellington-based studio owned by Sir Peter Jackson.
Brittenden said he has been thinking about digitising the film for several years.
As the head of arts at Lincoln High, Brittenden was in charge of directing school shows and, in 1974, he thought it would be a good idea to make a movie.
“The movie grew to the extent that we forgot about doing the concert that year and just stuck with the movie.”
Brittenden said filming took about a year, but it took another five years to be completed, with all the audio and sound effects added afterwards.
Many of the outdoor scenes were shot at Castle Hill, but the saloon itself was a bit closer to home.
The school assembly hall was turned into the film set, becoming a fully-fledged saloon. It meant school assemblies had to be held elsewhere during the filming.
Brittenden is a western film mega-fan with a full saloon built inside his home and filled to the brim with posters, replica guns and other memorabilia.
He has been a fan of the genre since he was young.
“In those days there was no Marvel, there was some Disney, but it all was pretty much westerns,” he said.
Through the years Brittenden has built up his collection and when he retired from St Andrew's College in 2018, he started building the downstairs room.
“It’s finished now because I’ve run out of space,” he joked.
Of all the westerns he has watched, Brittenden whittled his favourites down to two American films: Dance With Wolves, a 1990 film that tells the story of Union Army Lieutenant John J. Dunbar, and The Last of the Mohicans, shot in 1992 and set in 1757 during the French and Indian War. Both films star his favourite actor Wes Studi.
- Lincoln County Incident will be screened at Lincoln High School on December 17. Tickets cost $20, plus a booking fee, and can booked here
