Interviewing the Director of MTB Film Klunkerz
Klunkerz, a Film Documentary about the History of Mountain Biking
Suite101 had the pleasure of doing an e-interview with Billy and asked him how he made the Klunkerz film.
Finding Original Footage for the Mountain Bike Film Documentary Klunkerz
Suite101: How did you get hold of the photographs used in the film?
Billy: “The main collection of photographs came from Wende and Larry Cragg's Rolling Dinosaur Archives. They were always taking pictures of Gary, Joe, and the gang on those early rides. Joe Breeze introduced me to Wende and she got involved very early in the process. I never could have afforded top make the film without those images and I'm very grateful to Wende and Larry for their support on the project.
Many others involved had a great photo or two so I went through everybody's photos and digitized them. I think there are something like 18 still photographers credited in the film!”
Suite101: And the moving footage?
Billy: “The moving footage was harder to track down. During my initial research in Marin, Joe Breeze mentioned a 'skater/surfer guy' by the name of Ray Flores who had shot some reels of them riding Repack. It turns out that Ray was a world champion skateboarder in the 1960s and he was one of the cinematographers on DogTown!
Ray moved from Venice Beach to Marin around 1975 and became friends with some of the Klunker gang up there. They convinced him to bring his Super-8 camera up on the mountain and he shot all of the moving footage of the Repack crew that you see in the film. I never thought my mountain bike movie would lead me back to DogTown, but that's exactly what happened. Ray was pretty easy to find in the skate/surf circles of Venice Beach.
Russ Mahon of the Morrow Dirt Club also provided reels of Super-8. He had shot footage of the club’s adventures starting around 1974. Initially, Russ didn't want to give up the footage as he was concerned that I might lose the originals. I convinced him that I would take the footage to the best post house in Hollywood to transfer the stuff. When he finally said yes, I realized most of the footage wasn't in reels anymore; it was just cut up little strips of film in an old coffee can!
It was a huge amount of work because the film was so degraded but luckily, it went through without a hitch on the first pass. We had to spend hours trying to get the color back, frame by frame. I'm really glad I got my hands on that film, because in a few more years, it might not have been usable at all.”
Suite101: What about the road racing footage?
Billy: The road-racing footage was provided by Mush Emmons. He was friends with Joe when they were kids in Mill Valley. Unfortunately, Mush moved to a village in Brazil many years ago, taking the film reels with him. I had to fly him from the nearest village with an airstrip to Rio and find a post house that could deal with transferring the materials. It was a lot of work and money for a few seconds on-screen, but they are important moments. The shots of Joe Breeze and the rest of the guys in there are absolutely fantastic.
I was very happy with the amount of footage I was able to uncover. Initially, I was thinking I was going to make a short, because you can only watch talking head interviews and photos for so long. I'm very grateful to all the folks who trusted me to take care of their precious images.”
In the third part of our interview with Billy Savage, find out how he persuaded the key players to participate.
Grab a copy of the mountain bike film Klunkerz.
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Read our Review of Film Documentary Klunkerz plus catch the first part of the interview with Billy Savage.
Billy Savage, Filmmaker of Klunkerz
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Klunkerz, a Film about Mountain Biking
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