The film’s set was so meticulously done that it truly reached a level of realism for its viewers. Remodeling a large area in Stockton, California into a prison complex was indeed no joke! It is no surprise that the set designers had to pay a painstaking amount of attention to the details.
They were so meticulous with their work that they even decided to bring trucks full of Spanish moss to achieve a realistic look of the trees around the set. They also added seemingly small but effective details such as dog kennels and warden housing.
Well-Deserved Award
Playing the extremely challenging role of the prisoners' leader named Dragline, George Kennedy truly exceeded everyone's expectations with his phenomenal performance. He was Luke’s nemesis for most of the film but eventually, turned into his best bud. Apparently, Kennedy shelled out $5,000 in trade advertising to promote himself as an actor. Well, he got more than his money’s worth in return!
Kennedy’s acting was so excellent that it landed him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for the corresponding Golden Globe. He was the only actor to win an award for his role in the film and he truly deserved every bit of recognition he got from it! We're pretty sure that nobody could have nailed it better than he did!
Real Broken Meters
The film crew really made an extraordinary effort in making the scenes as authentic as possible that even in the beginning scene of the movie, those parking meters were actually cut down! The mischief was done in Lodi, California, contributing to one of the most notable scenes of the film.
The mischief went on even beyond the film as the meters weren't even replaced, displaying a row of metal poles that remained years after the film was produced!
Condemned
The set was so alarmingly realistic that it even was brought to the attention of an actual San Joaquin County building inspector! Just going on with his duties, he decided to scan and investigate the area he thought was an actual facility for migrant workers.
From his inspections and well, unawareness, he ended up posting a number of notices on the buildings that had "condemned" written all over. Later on, of course, they were notified that the area was just a temporary movie set.
Strict Schedule
If you've never had any experience shooting a film or anything, one might think that a single scene wouldn't really take much effort and time to finish. But when you're working with eight pages worth of dialogue, wrapping up a shoot in one day might seem a bit impossible. This was the case, at least, for the scene where Luke's mother makes a visit to the prison.
With the tight schedule, Jo Van Fleet and Paul Newman had a lot of pressure to deal with. Not surprisingly, the talented pair pulled it off all within just a single day of filming. That's what you get when you cast phenomenal actors!