Some readers may already know that Silvertown, the famed Western street at Corriganville in Simi Valley, Calif., burned down in fall 1970 in the Clampitt Fire, part of the enormous and wildly destructive Newhall-Malibu Fire.
It's not as well-known that it took two fires, almost a decade apart, to finish off Silvertown. Several of the buildings at the northeast end of town survived the Clampitt Fire, only to be destroyed by another fire in 1979.
If you visit Corriganville today, you will still find Gorilla Rock, and below it the foundations of what was once Silvertown. These foundations are all that has remained of the old Western town since 1979.
Lucky for us, what was left of Silvertown after the Clampitt Fire — and essentially what Corriganville looked like throughout the 1970s — was documented in a largely forgotten movie called "Vigilante Force."
The fact that the movie is largely forgotten is probably just as well. Tastes vary, of course, but as movies go, "Vigilante Force" isn't exactly "Citizen Kane."
But as a historical document peppered with unique and fascinating shots of Corriganville at a time when almost no filming was going on there, "Vigilante Force" deserves some kind of special Oscar.
The movie stars Kris Kristofferson and Jan-Michael Vincent as brothers who have what turns out to be a pretty significant beef with each other. But the real star of the movie, as I see it, is Corriganville.
To get a better sense of what Corriganville was like in the '70s, let's start with a bird's-eye view of Silvertown, the movie ranch's Western street, when it was still going strong in the 1950s, before the fires.
Some of the key features in the shot are identified here — including Barn No. 2 and the Hotel, at the northeast end of town. Of the features noted here, only Ray Corrigan's house was destroyed in the 1970 fire.
Now we've turned the angle around so we're looking southeast. From this angle we see a wide shot of Silvertown.
As you can see in this shot, most of Silvertown was destroyed in the 1970 fire.
The buildings at the northeast end of town survived, including the Horse Barn, also known as "Barn No. 2," and the Hotel, which was said to be a working soundstage. The surviving structures would all perish nine years later.
Some of the best views we have of the Clampitt survivors are in "Vigilante Force."
The main surviving buildings seen in this shot are Barn No. 2, the Hotel and one side of the "Mexican Street." The southwest side of the Mexican Street burned down in the 1970 fire.
Also visible in the shot are the foundations of many of the Silvertown buildings that were destroyed in the 1970 fire. These foundations still look pretty much the same today.
Most of the foundations highlighted in the previous shot belonged to these structures at the southwest end of Silvertown. These buildings were fixtures of both Corriganville's filming business and its weekend tourist trade.
The Silvertown building that gets the most screen time in "Vigilante Force" is the hotel, where Kristofferson's character, a decorated war hero, holes up for much of the movie.
The hotel set had already deteriorated by the time the movie filmed in 1975, and the dress code was no longer being enforced.
Bernadette Peters also hangs out at the hotel, occasionally dressing up like a cop and playing guitar.
One of the fun things about seeing the hotel in "Vigilante Force" is that even though the place was a wreck at the time, you could still see bits and pieces of how it used to look in better days.
For example, check out the decorative "white picket fence" treatment highlighted here — and try to ignore the people in the red marching band uniforms.
Here's a tiny bit of that same exterior decor item in a "someone's about to git strung up" scene from "Five Guns to Tombstone," filmed about 15 years before "Vigilante Force" — before the hotel began falling apart.
An even earlier Silvertown shoot, for the Western "The Young Guns," again showcases the hotel front's decorative treatment — with the wooden strips painted a darker shade back then.
Also visible here is what might be described as a "storefront" facade on this part of the hotel building. Twenty years later, a dilapidated version of this storefront area will turn up in "Vigilante Force."
The rundown storefront area as resurrected for "Vigilante Force" has been downgraded to more like a screened-in front patio, but it has all the essentials — namely a refrigerator and canned goods.
The movie really commits to this weird, trashy foyer, even shooting inside the junked-up room. This shot looks out through the patio screens toward the same hanging tree that was about to get some use in "Five Guns to Tombstone." We'll come back to the hanging tree a little later.
One other item of interest in the Russ Tamblyn shot is the small cabin in the background. Situated at the northeast end of Silvertown, this cabin was in its share of movies, and surprisingly, it survived the Clampitt Fire.
Well, "survived" may be too strong a word. The cabin did escape the fire, but it had its own problems. For whatever it's worth, "Vigilante Force" documented the cabin's status as of 1975.
The cabin was looking a lot sharper in the 1956 Columbia serial "Blazing the Overland Trail."
The cabin was one of the attractions for tourists visiting Corriganville, as was a nearby church. The church also appeared on screen pretty regularly — and it, too, survived the Clampitt Fire.
We know the church survived the fire in 1970 because we can see it in this shot and others from "Vigilante Force." It doesn't look as much like a church as it once did, but it's still standing, as of 1975.
The church made many appearances in movies and TV shows. This shot comes from the "Death Valley Days" episode "Eruption at Volcano," filmed in 1958 and aired in 1959.
This Internet photo reveals the condition of the church in the 1970s. Based on the shape it's in here and what we can see of it in "Vigilante Force," I'd say this photo was taken sometime after the "Vigilante Force" shoot, with just a little more deterioration evident here.
Another church also plays a role in "Vigilante Force," and while this one is technically not at Corriganville, it's in the neighborhood — close enough that Kristofferson can watch what's going on there from Corriganville.
As the camera begins to zoom in, we get a better look at the church. Both in the real world and in the movie, the church is a neighbor of Corriganville, and can even be filmed from the movie ranch.
It turns out a funeral is under way at this church. In contrast to the previous shot, now a black banner has been added to cover up the real name of the church.
I don't know what the church was called in the 1970s, but it's still standing today, on Santa Susana Pass Road near Kuehner Drive, and today it's known as the Church of God of Prophecy. The same rocky hill seen in "Vigilante Force" can still be seen behind the church.
The church also made an appearance in the fairly obscure 1973 movie "Camper John." The movie was later rereleased as "Prologue to Wounded Knee" and then rereleased again as "Gentle Savage."
Other shots in "Vigilante Force" connect with Corriganville history in various ways. For example, take a look at this shot of the perennially shirtless Kristofferson with actor Antony Carbone.
It's easy to miss, but if you look closely you can see an old chimney still standing in the background — a survivor of the Clampitt Fire.
The chimney is gone today, but it was once part of Ray Corrigan's house. This photo was taken around the time Corrigan purchased the property in 1937, and shows the only buildings that were standing in the area before he began building Silvertown.
Among those earliest buildings is "Barn No. 1," also known as the Old Barn. The buildings in this photo, including Ray's house, would later be incorporated into Silvertown, but they would all be destroyed in the 1970 fire.
The Old Barn would go on to become a fixture of Silvertown, and would be seen in countless movies and TV episodes. But when "Red River Robin Hood" filmed at Corriganville in 1942, the barn looked kind of lonely without any other buildings around.
Just two years later, when "Gangsters of the Frontier" came to town, there was an actual town to come to. By then Silvertown was a bustling Western street with plenty of buildings — and plenty of action.
Shots taken in the other direction — looking southwest — often capture some of Ray Corrigan's original ranch buildings in the background.
I believe the Old Barn was moved from its original position, because it appears to be much farther from Ray Corrigan's house in later Silvertown shots than it did in the 1937 photo.
Barn No. 2 was part of an expansion of Silvertown that took place between 1947 and 1952. The new barn was constructed of sturdier material than the old barn, but the main reason it survived the Clampitt Fire was probably because it was set off from the rest of the town.
Barn No. 2, seen here on the left, was still pretty new when it appeared in "Fighting Lawman." This shot from the movie also features the hotel's storefront facades, on the right.
Other features in the screen shot include Gorilla Rock, the hanging tree and the small cabin we looked at before. These features were at the northeast end of Silvertown, and they all survived the 1970 fire.
The tree at the northeast end of town was just one of multiple trees at Corriganville that became known as "hanging trees," but I think it was the main one. This tree made a big impression on me when I visited Corriganville as a kid, because it was used to stage live hangings for the tourists. Ah, the good ol' days ...
By the time "Vigilante Force" filmed in 1975, the hanging tree, which resided in a circular stone planter next to Barn No. 2, had grown to be enormous.
With the massive oak tree situated right next to the barn, cast members could easily be filmed looking pensive while seated on the planter or leaning against the tree..
On a recent visit to Corriganville, I was able to confirm that the old hanging tree is still alive and well, and still resides in its circular planter — near the surviving stone wall segments that once held up the barn.
I also gained some insight into why this particular oak tree became the movie ranch's preferred venue for public hangings. It has the one essential feature every hanging tree needs: a high, sturdy horizontal limb.
The legacy of Barn No. 2 also lives on in today's landscape, its stone wall still intact below Gorilla Rock. The ruins of the barn are one of only a handful of surviving Silvertown relics that rise above ground level.
You may want to get out a hanky for this one, but here's a photo that ran in the Los Angeles Times on Nov. 2, 1979, capturing the demise of Barn No. 2. The photo was posted by John Bickler. The flattened building in the background appears to be the Hotel.
One other Corriganville scene that caught my eye in "Vigilante Force" is a brief sequence filmed in the concrete basin that once held the location ranch's famed Robin Hood Lake.
Scenic Robin Hood Lake was a common sight in productions filmed at Corriganville, with part of the scenery provided by a manmade stunt rock. The rock can be seen here directly above the front of the canoe.
The stunt rock was often used for ... (wait for it) ... stunts! And fancy dives too, in case they're two different things. This shot comes from the first in a series of "Jungle Jim" movies Johnny Weissmuller started making at Columbia as soon as he wrapped up his run as Tarzan at MGM and RKO.
Weissmuller spent so much time at Corriganville making "Jungle Jim" movies that people tend to think he filmed "Tarzan" movies there too, which as far as I can tell is incorrect. Surprisingly, Weissmuller actually made more "Jungle Jim" movies (13) than "Tarzan" movies (12).
The "Vigilante Force" shot also features the stunt rock, and with the lake already dry in 1975, the shot provides a preview of what the lake and stunt rock look like today.
Robin Hood Lake hasn't changed much since "Vigilante Force" filmed at Corriganville, and the fake stunt rock still looks about the same — as long as you don't look too closely.
If you do happen to take a close look at the stunt rock, the "movie magic" is quickly stripped away and the rock's true nature is betrayed by pieces of concrete, wood and chicken wire popping out of it.
Located at the end of Smith Road in southeast Simi Valley, Calif., Corriganville today is a regional park and a popular hiking area. It's open to the public, so check it out if you can — but watch out for poison oak!
Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down
Before he decided to try his hand at acting, Kris Kristofferson was a heck of a singer-songwriter. Here's one of his classics — click on the arrow then click on the YouTube logo to watch it in a larger format.
7 comments:
How sad that fire has changed the landscape and our environs historically and continues to do so, even in locations that I, for one, would never have expected it. Hawaii is one of the last places I would have expected a monumentally destructive and lethal firestorm. Nevertheless, this article is another fascinating look into the entertainment that dominated the collective youth of many of us. Thank you so much for continuing to post these excursions into the old west. I've read them all, I think, and I've loved every one. It don't git much better'n this!!
hard to believe from looking at the slope of the concrete that it was deep enough to film diving scenes
Good point, Mike. After I saw your comment I realized that the stunt rock was positioned so that anyone going over the edge would land in the deepest part of the "lake" (really more of a river). Even so, I imagine a few people conked their heads on the bottom. I hope that diver was OK.
did the fort and corsican village survive the fire
Neither Fort Apache nor the Corsican Village has survived into modern times. I'm not sure what happened to either set, but I know the Corsican Village was gone by 1967, while remnants of the fort were still standing as of 1969. By 1976 the fort was also completely gone, suggesting it may have perished in the 1970 fire. Even so, it could have been taken down separately.
I have heard that the location where the fort previously stood was later used as a law enforcement shooting range, and a large berm was put up for that purpose. The roads through much of Corriganville, including around where the fort used to stand, were also used for motocross racing for several years, I believe in the late '60s and into the '70s. One of the big races was known as the Hopetown Grand Prix, since Corriganville became known as Hopetown after it was bought by Bob Hope.
Thanks for your comment, Mike.
... SN
Great post and detective work. It should be mentioned though that if "Vigilante Force" deserves some kind of special Oscar, it should be for shooting not only at Corriganville but also at Culver City's 40 Acre backlot, which had been the home of everything from "Gone with the Wind" to "The Andy Griffith Show," and which made, perhaps, it's very last appearance in this same film.
that might explain when i went to the location of the fort it was not flat ground but looked like dirt had been piled up as you stated into berms
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