Scene from Six Steps to Hell.
Six Steps to Hell was a silent black and white Western movie directed by John Ford in 1920. The movie starred leading man Harry Carey, Kitty Mayfack as "Kitty Simms" and Edwin as "Slim Flint".
Although the script was written by Alphoney Stutters, both Ford and Carey thought it was terrible, and little of the original material survived beyond the title itself.[1]
History[]
Unimpressed with the existing Six Steps to Hell screenplay, director John Ford and star Harry Carey recycled the premise of one of their collaborations from the previous year about feuding farmers and ranchers and flipped it, then workshopped a story about a rancher family named Flint trying to violently evict the Simms, a local farming family.[2]
Before filming, Ford asked his producer Pete for four times the amount of stock he had budgeted, and that they would film all six days on location instead of one. Ford also brought in former lawman Wyatt Earp to be a consultant for the film.[2]
Stuntmen on the picture included Larry, Jerry, Logan and Bob. Flannagan and Carl worked as music assistants during shots. Indiana Jones worked as an assistant on the film to help pay his way through the University of Chicago.[2]
By the end of filming, all stuntmen were injured, and Edwin had been killed by a snake bite. Indiana Jones stepped in to film the final stunt where he could be seen being dragged behind a wagon in the finished picture though he broke a foot in the process.[2]
Behind the scenes[]
Six Steps to Hell is a fictional film invented for "Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies". However, the premise – feuding ranchers and farmers – appears to be based on John Ford's 1917 Western Straight Shooting, which starred Harry Carey. Like Six Steps to Hell, Straight Shooting was intended to be a two-reeler, but Ford turned it into a feature-length picture.
The teleplay has dialogue cut from the final episode which reveals that the titular six steps were retroactively given depth when Ford hears Wyatt Earp list the ways a man named Tyke violated the code which got him killed by Blackjack. Cut lines also indicated that Carey and Kitty's characters, who develop a romance between each other, were distant relatives.
Appearances[]
- The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles – "Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies" → Hollywood Follies
Sources[]
- Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide
- The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume Three, The Years of Change