Old Man With A Camera

So I’m about to buy a camera from a guy I’d talked to almost a year ago. He’s a quiet older guy in Colorado who had all this film gear. I got into a conversation with him that led to me scanning a portion of footage he’d shot years ago. He was impressed by the outcome but he just disappeared. I think he’s retired now. It’s hard to figure out the details. It did get into my mind, maybe this is who I will be decades later. An old man with a lot of gear and the world passing me by, until some pissant from Los Angeles contacts me and talks to me about movies. He held onto his gear as long as he could. Now he just happy to be done with it. Move on with life, as he related to me.

Again, we are talking about a miniscule percentage that ever go into their 70’s doing this. We become old, mind becomes feeble and the effort and hassle no longer is worth it. With only our memories to show for it. Movie making does seem to be living in the past, in some ways. We can relive moments. As they slowly fade away. And the stories become those we can’t stand telling anymore.

I oftentimes wonder about people that have longevity. I doubt Eastwood sits around reminiscing about his past. I’m sure he enjoys revisiting set stories about him and Sergio Leone, But he has bigger things to deal with. I watched “Play Misty For Me” recently. He loves revisiting that movie. I think that’s the same thing as when a pro football player has the fondest memories about college. That’s when the game was the least about business. I think Eastwood probably thinks of “…Misty” as the last time he thoroughly enjoyed the process of making a movie. The rest that he does have moments. But, reading any interview it’s oftentimes about how quickly he’d like to shoot a movie and get back out on the golf course. “…Misty…” so happened to also be the first time he was taken seriously as a director.

I’m not sure what “inheriting” this old fellas camera means. I feel it’s passing the torch to someone who he may think exhibits that can-do attitude. I see the mountain before me, and chop at it to become a mole hill. Yes, I have massive fear. It’s an investment in the faith of filmmaking. True unadulterated filmmaking. Spinning good yarns has so little to do with gear, but it’s not to say the unspoken truth is, if it was worth putting in front of an audience, it’s worth thinking about it before you put it to film.