Audie L. Murphy Memorial Website Message Boards

This guy seems to be the main inspiration for the Craig Benson character in Battle at Bloody Beach: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_parsons

Wikipedia does not list any films about him, which is surprising for such a picturesque figure.

Christie,

A very interesting read for sure. He was quite the fellow and much more interesting than anything in that film. I could not stand the actress Dolores Michaels who played Audie's wife. I could never have seen him with her under any circumstances. Anything I have read is that Audie was not happy making Battle at Bloody Beach one because it was in black and white and it pretty much got relegated to a second feature film at the drive-in. I try and avoid watching this film as much as possible. I know that Gary Crosby caused all kinds of problems on the set and years later he apologized to people for all the discourse that he brought to movie sets when he was drinking heavily including this film.

Sharon

It's not much of a movie, but I like it just because Murphy gives quite a good performance, especially in the romance, he really sells that. and his character has a cool sounding job which the film doesn't do much with, so that's why enjoyed reading about Chick Parsons.

I knew that Gary Crosby had issues, but I had never realized that he made trouble on this set. Do you remember any details?

Christie,

He came on the set drunk and did not know his lines. He would get into fights with the crew people and was at odds with the director. He was unprofessional most of the time and it just added on to the time they took to film the movie. Also I think this film was done almost exclusively on the studio lot and and in areas right around there. I think the outdoor scenes were around Catalina Island (where Natalie Wood would drown in 1981). I think Gary's problems on the set only made Audie even unhappier about doing the movie in the first place. Audie always knew his lines and was prepared and to be on a set with someone who did not have that work ethic would not have made for a good or pleasant work experience for anyone in the movie. I think Gary got away with a lot because he was the son of Bing Crosby and I do think he realized that years later when he sobered up and got into AA. You talk about a dysfunctional family that was Bing Crosby and his 4 sons with his first wife.

Sharon

That's interesting. I seem to recall Murphy almost worked with him again on a western project in the mid-sixties that didn't get off the ground.

Audie also worked with another Bing family member, Kathryn Grant in "Guns of Fort Petticoat". I haven't checked the time lines but if Bing was engaged to Kathryn while the movie was being made I wonder if he stood by with a nine iron in his hand during the filming of the love scenes. LOL

LOL. I believe she married Bing in Vegas shortly after filming ended. Her character and Murph's character have an adversarial relationship until very late in the film, so there's only two lovey-dovey bits. In any case, I suspect that Bing would've known perfectly well that it would take more than a nine iron to intimidate Murphy.

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