Legendary Revenge: In the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia, in 1979, a legendary story was born. It will be remembered for years as a tale of defiance, creativity, and very shrewd revenge a homeowner had on a movie producer.
Savannah was said to have beautiful parks and astonishingly preserved colonial architecture. Many movies shot way back in the 1800s would often be taken in this city. Film producers would visit this incredible city, take away factors such as electric lights and cars, and it could become the ideal period backdrop. Traditionally, occupants of homes used were always paid for, a customary practice in the film-making industry.
However, things took a turn when a major producer from one of the major TV networks decided to shoot a made-for-TV movie about the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination. The production company contacted homeowners in the area but shockingly informed them that no compensation would be provided for the use of their properties. The city claiming it was a civic duty encouraged compliance. Most homeowners begrudgingly accepted the terms, but not one particularly disgruntled resident.
This homeowner wanted to make his presence felt and began causing production to be a nuisance in all directions. He placed his car before his house defiantly as a gesture that they couldn’t remove the vehicle under any circumstance; if towed, it would surely be confiscated because of impending litigation. He forbade filming on his property, but the city backed the filming crew instead of the resident. Upset but still not finished with them, he came up with another more bold form of vengeance.
On the shoot day, when his house was scheduled to appear, the homeowner unrolled a huge Nazi flag from his window. Shocked, the whole production crew rendered all shots involving his house unusable. They ran to estimate the damage done and found that scenes shot prior to that day involving his house were also affected.
The city, desperate for the help the production needed, sent it back with a reminder that the homeowner would not go lightly into the land of their First Amendment rights. In other words, had they paid the homeowner “fair compensation,” they perhaps would have avoided this embarrassing debacle. Their filming schedule derailed and reputations were at stake; negotiation with the homeowner was the best option the producers had in this regard. After much haggling, he finally acquiesced to the flag being removed—but only when he had a written contract promising money for all the homeowners on his property.
The flag was taken down, but the damage was done. The production was delayed a full year, and The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd, the film that resulted, featured several shots where the infamous flag might be seen waving in the background.
This house owner, perhaps infamous for his bold act of defiance, would eventually become known for reasons other than this act of revenge. The legend of this house in Savannah lives on as an expression of defiance against the authority and the eccentricity of the film industry.
