Acapulco Gold

I worked on this film; creating an animated short film also called "Acapulco Gold", based from a song by the same name. This was a hand drawn traditional made on 16mm film. The Director of this animation: Arnie Wong, with his team of artists: Jack Tom, Mark Matsuno, Ron Wong, Joey Valera, Phyllis Wong, Annabelle Valledor, Wendy McPhee, and many others forgotten, worked tirelessly for 6 months to complete this work of love in 1971. For the time period, this was a major breakthrough and radical in content. Smoking marijuana was illegal and a generation of hippie teenagers were breaking the law in mass. This film depicted the various ways one could get marijuana; harvesting, cultivating, or smuggling it across the border. It was shot documentary style, and all the characters in the film were not acting. Once you realize this, this film should be considered important historical archival footage.

A flighty, dull peek at the underground marijuana distribution system of the early 1970s, complete with tie dye, VW buses and a soft-focused romp through fields of hemp at sunset. Stereotypically '70s in almost every fashion, it's shot on cheap stock with a bad soundtrack, boring subjects and jumpy editing. It's interesting in a purely historical sense, as we get a pretty good idea of where law enforcement stood in regards to the substance a decade before Nancy Reagan instituted the war on drugs, but viewers out for a bit more insight are due to be sorely disappointed. It's cool to see the narrator reach out of a moving car to grab a fistful of buds off of a roadside plant, but that's about the extent of the excitement.

I photographed and edited Acapulco Gold in 1971-2. As for the uninformed comment above about "cheap stock", it was mostly shot on Eastman Kodak Commercial Ektachrome (ECO) (the best and most expensive 16mm film at the time). The exceptions were the night scenes, which were shot on High Speed Ektachrome - ASA 400, usually pushed one stop to ASA 800 - or more. It was different times. There weren't ISO 3200 choices then. And lightning generally wasn't an option.

It was a true adventure, fun but also scary. Because of the subject matter, we filmed without a crew, which would have drawn unwanted attention. The budget was minimal for a feature length documentary, to say the least - especially considering the extent of travel involved. I mostly worked alone, occasionally with an audio recordist.

Some scenes were set up, for obvious reasons, but most of it was true documentary - no retakes.

I'll admit the film is outdated now. But when it was made a "Bud" was a beer, and a "lid" was a unit of measure. It's a relatively unknown history, and I'm proud to have been a part of it. When it was released, in 1973, I watched the 35mm print in several theaters. The houses were always packed to the gunnels, standing room only - loud, screaming, enthusiastic young audiences. Admittedly, mostly stoned.