"Idylls of Bakersfield" - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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Before production began on "Idylls of Bakersfield," director Creed Talis had already made a handful of films for Sable Shard Pictures. These films were mostly slasher-type B-movies with limited release, but Talis had proved himself to the studio heads by keeping these productions on-budget and on-time. When he finally decided to take the reins on a more personal project, he approached Sable Shard with a screenplay penned by Ider Castle (screenwriter for "Seeds of the Sage," "Into the Next").  The story was loosely based on the legends of King Arthur and set in the modern-day American West. The studio obliged by offering Talis a modest budget and two weeks in the summer of 1972.

Upon arriving in Bakersfield, California and hiring a minimal crew (most had only worked on commercials and porn), shooting began with his two hand-picked leads, Ace Stidler and Scarlet Die, neither of whom had carried a major film. After only two days, much of the cast and crew had been given over to the enjoyment of local “substances.” Shooting continued, albeit in a devolved form, and following the script became much less important. The remainder of the story was shot in sequence, with most scenes being improvised as the camera rolled. Many years later, Talis admitted in an interview that this had been his plan all along, finding Castle's experimental script “inspirational, but not something that we wanted to be bound to,” adding that he knew the studio would approve the project with such a script attached.

Scenes were shot in poor-light and no-light conditions, sometimes between weather events and sometimes in spite of them, oftentimes being incorporated into the story. Stidler recalls, “Shooting was crazy - none of us were 'at our best,' so to speak. It's amazing that we have a film at all, with all that was going on with the crew.” In spite of the chaotic nature of the shoot, the production wrapped on July 21st, on the thirteenth day of shooting. According to Stidler, “We all felt good about what we had done, in spite of it all. We all sobered up and went home.”

Talis edited the film himself over the next several weeks, and sought out composer Carl Ed Tice for a soundtrack. The mandate to Tice was to have an authentic “Bakersfield” soundtrack, but a decision was made to use local musicians in Barstow and to record in a small local studio there. According to musicians who have claimed to be on these recordings, there was no film viewed in the studio and musical directions were scant at best. Tice himself has verified this, saying that he never saw the first frame before recording was already completed. “Creed called me one night. He gave me a list of scenes, described them to me over the phone, and I wrote it all down. It was the one and only conversation we ever had. Two nights later, I went into the studio with these bar-band musicians, mostly friends of mine, and quite a lot of alcohol. I told them what I needed, and we just started playing - we were finished by sunrise.”

The film hit theaters in mostly western cities just 6 weeks after shooting had wrapped. Expectations were low, and it's fair to say that Sable Shard had no idea how to market such a film, being so unlike their usual fare. It was experimental, edgy and trippy, but at times also soulful and meditative. Over the next ten years, the film slowly found its' way as the cult “midnight movie” that it was perhaps always destined to be. Many young directors have cited this film as a major influence. Creed Talis has always maintained publicly that this film is “the one that I was born to make.”

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