THE RESURRECTION
OF BRONCHO BILLY Live Action Short Film
FOR HIS SENIOR YEAR project at
film school, producer JOHN LONGENECKER formed what he called the Super
Crew, inviting talented film students he knew at the University of Southern
California cinema department to make a western short film that would star
his friend Johnny Crawford and that would win an Oscar.
After BRONCHO BILLY won the 1970
Academy Award for best live action short film, Longenecker arranged for
Universal Studios to release the film theatrically, and the studio made
over sixty 35mm prints and distributed the short on a double bill with
its line-up of feature movies each week for more than two years in theaters
across the United States and Canada.
BRONCHO BILLY holds the record
as Universal Studio's most financially successful live-action short film.
-- Writing Short Scripts | Chapter
6
Writing Short Scripts
| Second Edition by William H. Phillips | Syracuse
University Press 1999
Press Article -- Getting
Real - USC Cinema: by Jennifer Kelleher DAILY TROJAN / University Of
Southern California | November 30, 1999
...To some extent that was still
the case in the 1960s, when movie producer John Longenecker
was a student here [at USC]. "It was very exciting and unique
in the '60s," he said of the time when USC was only one of a small
handful of film schools in the country. Longenecker made his mark here
by winning an Academy Award while still a student.
When George Lucas was still relatively
unknown, he inspired Longenecker. Lucas had been visiting campus
one day in 1968 and Longenecker struck up a conversation.
Lucas gave him this piece of
advice: "He said that all the struggles with the cinema department will be worth it if I can walk
out of school with my film under my arm."
Longenecker took those words
to heart and focused his efforts at making
a short film while in school.
"I started off with a blank piece
of paper with the intention of writing a story and making
a short film that would win an Oscar, and I did," he said.
His senior year project, "The
Resurrection of Broncho Billy," won the Academy Award for live-action
short film in 1970, when he was only 23 years old.
"Broncho Billy" holds the record as Universal Studios' most financially
successful live-action short film, according to the book Writing
Short Scriptsby William H. Phillips.
Longenecker remembers having no stage fright that night as he delivered his acceptance speech with then-department chair Bernie Kantor at his side.
"Right now, it really doesn't
matter much that I got a "B" for this picture. But no hard feelings, Dr. Kantor," Longenecker joked that night.
JL Oscar Speech | Flash
That comment got a laugh from the audience, he said.
Longenecker thinks that today's
[USC] cinema-television school is too institutionally entrenched.
"Back then we were more free
spirited and less cutthroat competitive,"
he said. Older men dominated the movie
industry, Longenecker said. "It was a locked-up industry
of adults," he said.
JOHN
LONGENECKER
