 Ed
Raggozino: The truth is, that the costume is better than the actor
who wore it.
BijouFlix: Sasquatch
was shot in the rugged mountainous wilderness of Oregon. The isolation
captured by the immersion into total wilderness is one of the other
reasons I believe this flick worked better in its era and remains
 believable.
The effect is not unlike Deliverance
in this regard. What was that like,
however, shooting under such harsh conditions?
Ed Raggozino:We spent 6 or 8 weeks in the Three
Sisters Wilderness area of Central Oregon. Magnificent country! And
very rugged. The area resembles many of the other "sighting"
venues. I think the wilderness location is half the film's success.
And a real credit to John Fabian's cinematic talent. He was one of
the best wildlife camermen of his day.
There were lots of problems filming in that location: in and out clouds
that sometimes took hours to find the sun; airplane  contrails;
film animals; animals breaking loose; traveling with horses sometimes
would dictate how much we got done; it was an enormous time consumption
to load the horses only to unload them two miles hence. We did not
have today's luxuries of trailers, RV's, caterers with hot meals.
The company basically traveled in their own cars, which meant long
long days starting very early to get the good light  and
staying late to get the good light. And when you forgot something,
it was a long way back to Bend, Oregon. But this area is known the
world over for its beauty and majesty.
BijouFlix: Is
it true that until we sent you a couple of copies of Sasquatch
that you only had an old KTLA airing VHS your son had made for you?
I find that easy to believe
if true, because we literally get handwritten letters from people
are on (and I am only somewhat facetious) a spiritual "quest"
to locate this flick. Have you encountered these kinds of fans over
the years?
Ed Raggozino:
The KTLA story is true. And funny that you should mention
the "quest." Just in the last five years I have had inquiries
from all over the country about the film. Usually from people in ther
late forties who remember the "scare" to this day. And they
are all kinds: professional, business, laborers, etc. It wasn't until
my second son (now 20) was a junior in high school that he told me,
"Dad, you're famous...everybody knows your movie, and I'm famous
because I'm your son." I'm still baffled by it's success.
BijouFlix:
Do you have any idea in which areas of the country Sasquatch
was most heavily saturated?
Ed Raggozino: My instinct tells me that it
had its greatest appeal in the heavy urban areas, such as New York,
Chicago, and LA, because they have so little contact with wilderness.
And I believe that it's univerality lies in the fact that Sasquatch
is one of the few remaining "legends" left in the world,
along with the Loch Ness in Scotland, the Yeti in Napal, and a few
other unknown creatures. And we seem to be proud of ours. God knows
what will happen if we ever really find one.
BijouFlix: We
want to thank you, Ed, for being patient enough to take a trip down
 memory
lane with Bigfoot and BijouFlix. Any parting words you care to share
with your flick's fans?
Ed Raggozino: Dirceting Sasquatch
was a great trip for me and has left me with some fun and funny memories.
None of us ever thought it would such a hit, and that one day we would
have fans. Amazing! The question I am most asked regarding Sasquatch
is: do you believe that there is or was a creature called Bigfoot?
So, to keep the legend alive, I'm not going to answer that question.
Let the majestic Pacific Northwestern moutains and spectacular nature
cinematography of Mr. Raggozino's cult fave Sasquatch, the
Legend of Bigfoot entertain you on a BijouFlix
VHS, VCD & DVD! |
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