Cinematographer Harry Stradling Jr.: Boy, did he know how to shoot the Iverson Movie Ranch

Oscar-nominated cinematographer Harry Stradling Jr. is well-known for his work as director of photography on a string of successful movies from the late 1960s through the 1980s — "Little Big Man," "The Way We Were," "Rooster Cogburn," "Midway," "With Six You Get Eggroll," "Carny" ... the list goes on. What's less well-known, but also deserving of recognition, is his work at the Iverson Movie Ranch, which was in some cases pioneering and in other cases just plain unequaled.

"The Way We Were" (1973)

Stradling, who earned back-to-back Oscar nominations for best cinematography in 1973 (for the movie "1776") and 1974 (for "The Way We Were"), is the son of another acclaimed cinematographer, Harry Stradling Sr., who piled up an imposing 14 Oscar nominations during his long career and took home trophies for "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945) and "My Fair Lady" (1964).

"Stella Maris" (1918): Part of the Stradling family dynasty

The family's lineage also includes silent film-era cinematographer Walter Stradling, Harry Stradling Jr.'s great-uncle, an industry pioneer whose work goes all the way back to the 1914 drama "Captain Alvarez" and includes a number of Mary Pickford films — "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1917), "The Little Princess" (1917), "Stella Maris" (1918) and others.

On the set of "Gypsy" (1962), L-R: former first lady Mamie Eisenhower, camera operator
Harry Stradling Jr., actress Rosalind Russell and DP Harry Stradling Sr.

Like most DPs, Harry Stradling Jr. spent much of his early career as a camera assistant and camera operator, often uncredited, starting with "Gaslight" in 1944. He worked alongside his dad on some of the elder Stradling's high-profile projects in the late 1950s and early 1960s — "Guys and Dolls" (1955), "The Pajama Game" (1957), "A Summer Place" (1959), "Gypsy" (1962). In the mid-1960s he began spreading his wings as a DP in his own right, starting with the 1967 Western "Welcome to Hard Times."

Stradling Jr. came into his own — and stepped up to the plate at Iverson in a big way — during the middle years of the long-running TV Western "Gunsmoke." Between 1964 and 1967 he shot 87 episodes of the show — a drop in the bucket for a series that aired for 20 seasons and a record 635 episodes, but a significant contribution to the evolution of the TV Western, and an important part of the later history of the Iverson Movie Ranch.

"Gunsmoke" episode "Outlaw's Woman" (premiered Dec. 11, 1965)

Stradling made the most of his "Gunsmoke" work on the Iverson Ranch. Above and below are a few screen shots from the episode "Outlaw's Woman," taken from high up in the rock towers atop the Garden of the Gods — a shoot that had to be a logistical challenge, to say the least. This first shot in the sequence shows two bushwhackers looking down on the iconic rock giants known as Sphinx, on the left, and Tower Rock, on the right.

These are two of the most famous, and most imposing, rocks on the Iverson Ranch. The fact that we're looking down on them says something about how high up we are. You can see a trademark appearance by Sphinx and Tower Rock, filmed from the other side and a much lower angle, in John Ford's "Stagecoach," by clicking here.

"Outlaw's Woman": High up in the rock towers of the Garden of the Gods

The views from this unusual angle are pretty spectacular. This shot looks down on the Iverson Gorge, including Nyoka Cliff just above the hat of the guy on the right. Nyoka Cliff usually looms above everything else, so seeing how far below us it is gives another indication of the height. A number of other familiar Iverson rocks also appear in the shot, including Lone Ranger Rock near the top left corner.

Two of the ranch's most famous features, in the Iverson Gorge below

Stradling and episode director Mark Rydell would have had to overcome some serious obstacles to get these shots. Among the problems: the height and inaccessability of the shooting site; the awkward, heavy, delicate and expensive camera gear; the weather (it's just about always windy up there, not to mention almost always either too hot or too cold); and the uneven rock surfaces. Just getting a camera safely in place would have been difficult.

"Outlaw's Woman" — moving even higher into the Garden of the Gods rock towers

In a shot taken even higher up in the rarefied air atop Garden of the Gods, we're again looking down on the Sphinx, in the top left corner, and Tower Rock, top center. Stradling was shooting, in effect, from the Lower Iverson's highest point — it's the only time in my hundreds of scans of Iverson productions that I've seen any cinematographer attempt this.

One more shot from the same "Gunsmoke" episode — this one isn't taken up in the heights but it's a personal favorite. Marshal Matt Dillon has just shot a bad guy, played by a stuntman who earned his money by collapsing on a big Iverson Movie Ranch rock that probably wasn't as soft as it looked.

Stradling moved on from "Gunsmoke" in 1967 to take a position as the DP for a new TV Western, "Cimarron Strip," which starred Stuart Whitman. The series lasted just one season (1967-68), but it accounted for a few good moments at Iverson. Stradling shot 21 of the show's 23 episodes.

"Cimarron Strip" episode "Fool's Gold" (premiered Jan. 11, 1968)

One of the best "Cimarron Strip" episodes for Iverson Movie Ranch content is "Fool's Gold," presumably shot in the late winter months of 1967. The episode includes a rarely seen pond near the Fury Set on the Upper Iverson — an indication that taping probably took place in the rainy season. By the way, that's Slim Pickens at the gate.

Water features weren't all that commonly filmed on the Iverson Ranch, probably in part because they couldn't be counted on to be there. The ranch had a tendency to be bone dry, and water was something that was always in short supply. Film crews that wanted to make a splash could arrange to bring in their own water source — or pay the Iversons a premium for any water they needed and for the use of the family's water truck. 

My sense is that natural ponds such as this one get used in productions only when a production crew comes along that's able to think on its feet. Someone had to adapt quickly to take advantage of something as unexpected as a waterhole on the Upper Iverson, and Stradling got the shot — reflection and all.

"Cimarron Strip": The Fury Cabin

The Fury Cabin is also relatively rare in productions, and is usually just seen as a shed on the outskirts of the Fury Set. Built for the TV show "Fury," the set consisted mainly of a large barn, a small ranch house and a corral. In its "Cimarron Strip" appearance the cabin serves as the home of Malachi Grimes, Slim Pickens' character.

"Fool's Gold": Malachi's cabin, foreground, with the Fury Barn and corral

Here's another angle on the Fury Set, including the barn. The set was situated on the Upper Iverson's North Rim. That's the back of Malachi's place — the Fury Cabin — in the foreground.

Here's one more shot from the terrific "Fool's Gold" episode of "Cimarron Strip," showing a rock I call World of Outlaws — a personal favorite of mine. It was located a short distance west of the Fury Set.

Sadly, World of Outlaws no longer exists — a casualty of the development of the Upper Iverson.

Not long after "Cimarron Strip" shut down, Harry Stradling Jr. returned to Iverson to shoot a key scene for the 1969 feature film "Support Your Local Sheriff." The comedic Western can be thought of as Iverson's farewell to the 1960s and the coda to the era of Iverson as a working movie ranch.

James Garner and Jack Elam in "Support Your Local Sheriff" (1969)

This was after the 118 Freeway was in place, rendering the Lower Iverson largely unusable, and by this time the ranch as a whole had ceased being a full-time filming location. But Stradling shot the title sequence and a few other minor shots for the movie on the Upper Iverson, giving us what amounts to one last look at the place.

Platypus, as it appeared in "Support Your Local Sheriff": horizontally flipped

The title sequence features a fast-paced land rush, with a number of Iverson landmarks popping up. Above is a charismatic movie rock found on the Upper Iverson's North Rim, which I call Platypus. The shot is flipped horizontally — sort of a mirror image of the real world — and you can see my "corrected" version of the shot below. I also want to note that this isn't the angle from which the rock resembles a platypus, but you can click here to see that angle — and decide for yourself whether the rock deserves to be called Platypus.

Platypus: Properly oriented (not as it appeared in the movie)

This is how the rock looks in the real world — or at least how it looked in 1969. However, this is NOT how it appeared in the movie, as the producers wanted to keep the action moving in one direction. Hollywood has a long tradition of flipping shots horizontally, and in fact this same rock has been flipped before. Click here to read about how Platypus was flipped back and forth in the TV series "The Lone Ranger."

"Support Your Local Sheriff": A land rush across the Upper Iverson

Here's a wide shot from the opening land rush sequence, showing Oat Mountain in the distance and again featuring Platypus, in the background at left, along with a neighboring rock, Fish Head. You may want to click on the photo to enlarge it for a better look.

Platypus and Fish Head remain symbols of the frustration that is integral to Iverson research. It appears that both of these intriguing rocks have survived, but I've never seen them in person as they are concealed on private property — hidden under a tree in the backyard of one of the estates that now occupy most of the Upper Iverson. I often wonder whether the owner of the property has any idea about the sandstone treasure he has in his yard.

Harry Stradling Jr. worked in an era that was already well past the heyday of the Iverson Movie Ranch, and things had evolved since the age of the B-Westerns of the '30s and '40s and the early TV Westerns of the '50s. For one thing, Harry notes that the directors called all the shots, which, even in an industry where the director has always been king, stands in contrast to the relative autonomy enjoyed by DPs on some of those earlier productions. When cost-conscious operations such as Republic and PRC showed up at Iverson, with their much smaller crews, we're pretty sure the decision-making responsibility trickled all the way down to the man behind the camera — leaving room for legendary Iverson DPs such as Ernest Miller and John MacBurnie to work things out for themselves. We're curious what Harry would have done with the place had he come along a couple of decades earlier and really had carte blanche. But we're grateful that he got a shot at it when he did.

Thanks for the Iverson memories, Harry!