PULSE The Magazine
of Mount Dora, Eustis and Tavares

Honky Tonk Freeway:
When Mount Dora
"Went Hollywood"

by Mari Henninger

It was pretty heady stuff for a sleepy little town like Mount Dora to be chosen as the location for a major motion picture. People living here then described downtown Mount Dora as a place that was so dead, "You could shoot a cannon down Donnelly Street and not hit anyone." Then, suddenly the town was filled with new "movie people" and daily sightings of Bubbles the Elephant learning how to water-ski on Lake Dora.

And there was the enticing possibility of playing a small part in the movie. While the casting director knew he needed a small army of extras for crowd scenes, he was overwhelmed by the response to his first casting call. Thousands of local people and Hollywood hopefuls from across the state answered the call, waiting for hours in a line that snaked its way around the perimeter of the Ice House Theatre's parking lot. The line was four-deep, traffic was backed up to Highland Street, police were brought in to help manage the mayhem, and the local newspaper declared, "Movie mania sets in."

But the actual filming of the movie didn't match locals' Hollywood fantasies. Due to delays in shooting other parts of the movie, the Mount Dora portion was filmed during the summer of 1980 rather than during the cooler spring, as originally planned. Schlesinger, a Brit used to cooler climates, was challenged by the heat, but true to his reputation as the ultimate perfectionist, reshot scene after scene until they met his exacting standards. While William Devane waited in the airconditioned barbershop between takes, the extras waited patiently, wilting in the sweltering heat.

Though a few residents feared that Mount Dora would never be the same again, and would be forever overrun by "...weirdoes, hippies and ripoff artists," for the most part Honky Tonk Freeway appears to have been a love fest between the town and the movie people. Most felt the actors and production staff were polite and thoughtful.

Sam Sadler, whose family hosted William Devane during the filming in Mount Dora, says Devane was a regular guy with no pretensions. Sadler's dad, Buck, bonded with Devane during his stay and they remained lifelong friends. During his promotion of Honky Tonk Freeway on ABC's Good Morning America, Devane credited Buck Sadler as his inspiration for his character, Kirby T. Calo, Ticlaw's mayor.

And the movie brought a much needed infusion of cash to Mount Dora. Merchants on Donnelly Street between 4th and 5th were paid $100 a day to allow shooting in front of their shops, two thousand extras were paid $35 dollars a day to play a part in movie history, and the film brought in additional business to local establishments, as visitors came from miles around to witness the shooting of "a real live Hollywood movie."

Many say the filming of Honky Tonk Freeway helped put Mount Dora back on the radar. Not that everyone wanted the town on the radar. Former Mayor Jeff Ray once said he wished "...the town could build a wall and lock the gates."

Before Honky Tonk Freeway, people described the town as "a little worn" or a "bit bedraggled." Many of the Mount Dora shop owners were hobbyist merchants, retirees who closed their shops on a whim, particularly during the summer months. The downtown area was filled with empty storefronts. Many of the merchants offering basic services had moved to the outskirts of town or had been forced out of business by the more abundant parking, greater selection and lower prices of Kmart and supermarkets in the Golden Triangle Shopping Center on old Highway 441. Young people, so few they were rapidly becoming an endangered species, spent their entertainment dollars elsewhere.

Of the million dollars estimated to have been spent by the filmmakers while on location in Mount Dora, a third was actually spent in Apopka where there were restaurants and hotels. If you wanted to have dinner and drinks in Mount Dora, your only choice was the Lamp Post on 5th and Donnelly.

The final night of the filming, locals flocked to the Lamp Post, hoping to meet William Devane. Women, dressed to kill, anxiously awaited his arrival. He, along with actors still dressed in full highway patrolman regalia, showed up later in the evening. Devane, dressed down in a white t-shirt and jeans, charmed the entire group, promising to return to celebrate the release of the movie.

When the movie was released a year later, hundred's of hours of film had been cut to 107 minutes, leaving the performances of many townspeople on the cutting room floor. While the producers, Don Boyd and Howard Koch, returned as promised to celebrate the film's world premier, William Devane had to cancel at the last moment due to illness.

After a year's anticipation, the audience's reaction after attending the screening in Leesburg was subdued. Few found their faces in the highly edited film; many were left puzzled by the movie they'd helped make. As Al Liveright, then editor of the local newspaper, The Mount Dora Topic, mused, "The town spent a whole year focused on the movie and then there was nothing."

While the movie opened to mixed reviews among critics, its British director's satire of American life failed to strike a chord with most moviegoers. Many found it depressing. It was so memorably depressing that the New Yorker magazine ran a cartoon in October 1981 with a caption saying, "While we were in Westchester - on a whim, mind you - Harold and I turned in to a drive-in movie and saw Honky Tonk Freeway. It ruined our August."

The film had been fraught with problems, from a disjointed script to its title -- and marketing that implied it was just "...another car crash comedy romp." This was compounded by the producers' decision to sell the video rights before Universal Pictures agreed to release the film. Angered by this, Universal minimized their marketing support and limited the number of theaters in which the film was shown. Withdrawn from theaters just a week after its release, the movie disappeared.

Honky Tonk Freeway is now remembered as one of the greatest commercial flops of all time, costing $24 million to produce while grossing only $2 million domestically. The London Times noted in Schlesinger's obituary of July 2003, "His later film career was mostly disappointing. The decline set in with Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), a messy attempt at zany comedy - and a spectacular flop - which ensured that it was four years before he made another film."

But for many, it remains a magical time. The mention of Honky Tonk Freeway to long-time Mount Dora residents evokes nostalgic smiles, giggles and often the recounting of fond memories of the time when Mount Dora "went Hollywood."

Local officials said the film played a role in Mount Dora's renaissance. As the town was returned to its prior non-pink existence, its appearance began to move from shabby to chic. Serious retailers replaced the hobbyists, and developers invested in the renovation of historic downtown buildings. Few current residents understand how far downtown Mount Dora has come since 1980.

But in some ways the town faces similar challenges today. Empty storefronts line the streets, as legions of chain stores continue to open on Highway 441. But today we can make wiser choices, spending a little extra time and money to shop, drink and eat in downtown Mount Dora. Because, while all of the movie people are gone and Honky Tonk Freeway is just a faint memory, Mount Dora is still a magical place.

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