It is a picture perfect day for ballooning; blue skies, light winds. Several pilots have gathered at the local balloonport. A number of balloons are present in various stages of inflation and readiness for flight. The usual pre-flight preparations and passenger briefings are underway when suddenly a car screeches to a halt in the drive, the driver exits and the sound of gunshots shatters the morning stillness.
Suddenly the unknown driver, gun in hand, jumps into one of the balloons ready for flight. Taking those aboard as hostage, he orders an immediate lift off. Close by and giving chase is a peace officer. He too rushes to a waiting balloon and orders the pilot to "follow that balloon!"... and the chase is on! If this plot line sounds familiar then you obviously watched the recent CBS Made-for-TV movie, "Sons of Thunder." If you missed it, you can always hope for a re-run.
For a number of balloon pilots and crew this was a chance to experience a real TV shoot-em-up from behind the scenes thanks to balloonist-actor-stuntman Kinnie Gibson. Gibson, of Carrollton, Texas has worked in the film and television industry for years. Most balloonist know him as a stuntman on the hit CBS drama Walker, Texas Ranger but his credits list is much longer than that. In fact the stunt shown in Sons of Thunder, whereby Ranger Walker jumps from one balloon to another while in flight to capture the bad guy, was very similar to a stunt Gibson orchestrated for the 1980's TV hit The Fall Guy. But we're getting ahead of the story...
Sons of Thunder was produced by the same studio (Amadeus Productions) that films Walker and was directed by Chuck Norris' brother, Aaron. It is hoped the movie will launch Sons of Thunder as a new series spin-off from the highly successful Walker show. When the balloon stunt made it into the script, Stunt Coordinator Gibson did not have to look far for help. Bill Bussey (enjoying his own TV/video success as host of the series Wind and Fire was quickly cast in the role of the "Old Balloon Pilot" for which he has received much well deserved kidding. Bussey would be the pilot to whom Walker would turn for help when the time came to follow the bad guy. Others who figured prominently were Ron Frusher, Joe Heartsill, Jeff Haversat, Bruce Bussey, Linda Haas, Mike and Betty Bauwens, Bill Stallcup, Robert and Jonna Manchester, Sandy Graff and Rob Schantz - who drew the lucky role of serving as a double for Bill Bussey - Old Balloon Pilot. (I'm sure there were others and to them my apologies.)
To continue with the story of the actual stunt, once the chase is on, the good guy's balloon navigates to a position above the bad guy's balloon. Walker then jumps from his balloon to the other balloon, where he rappels down the crown line, into the basket and karate chops the bad guy into submission. Seems simple enough, right?
In reality it took multiple days of shooting with multiple pilots flying and acting. First the ground closeups were filmed with Bussey and Haversat piloting the two balloons. This is when Chuck Norris "jumps" from the basket (landing safely on an air mattress a few short feet away). After the closeups were accomplished, additional scenes were filmed as the two balloons lifted off and hopped a tree line into an adjacent field.
Next were the aerial shots with Schantz (doubling as Bussey - a role for which he had to shave his mustache) piloting Walker's balloon and Frusher piloting the bad guy. Instead of Chuck Norris, Kinnie Gibson plays Walker and with the bad guy's balloon carefully positioned between his balloon and the helicopter photo ship, Gibson jumps (skydives) out of the basket, seemingly onto the other balloon. In reality, the position of the balloon between Gibson and the camera hides the fact that he skydived safely back to earth.
Back on the ground, Mike Bauwens has constructed an elaborate basket and skirt which can be suspended from a crane above an equally elaborate faux cold air balloon top. It is from this relatively safe height that Gibson is then filmed jumping from one balloon onto the other.
In the end, when it is all edited together... well, if you saw the movie you know how it looked!
Bill Bussey had been a guest on the set of Walker before but on this first day of filming was somewhat surprised to find that he had his own dressing room, complete with a star. However, instead of his name on the door, it read simply, "Old Balloon Pilot." His next surprise came when the director asked him if he knew his "lines."
"They had told me I would have one line to say, but when we started filming it turned out I had several; but you never know how much will survive the cutting room, " Bussey explained in an interview done prior to the movie's airing. What a shame it would be to lose such classic dialogue as "Piece of cake" - Bussey's response when Walker asks if he can maneuver his balloon above the bad guy's. Or, "Son, you put just put your eggs in the wrong basket" - Bussey in response to a police officer who jumps into the basket at the last minute only to profess his fear of heights.
For Frusher, the excitement came in the flight to altitude prior to filming the scenes where Walker/Gibson jumps from the balloon. To keep the two balloons within 20 feet of each other for the camera they were tethered to each other.
"Rob and I tried to establish a climb rate of 2 to 300 feet per minute but eventually almost doubled that. This put the two balloons into a series of 360-degree spins that got very intense." Fortunately, once a level altitude was established the spinning stopped.
Later more scenes were filmed of the two balloons flying side by side, this time to accommodate the aerial gunfight as the script calls for the bad guy to shoot at Walker. These scenes were filmed in far north Dallas where ballooning is not uncommon, "but I can just imagine what the farmers down below thought, " says Frusher, "as these two balloons went flying by overhead with gunshots ricocheting back and forth between them."
All of those lucky enough to be involved in the filming took from their experience a variety of stories to tell, but none more exciting than Rob Schantz. Next time you see him, ask him how it feels to shave a mustache that you've had almost since birth!
