Environmental Progress - Fall 1997

What's That Airplane Doing in the River?

Things aren't always what they seem, when Hollywood gets involved.

A visit to the vicinity of Bay City, Ill., last summer could have been unsettling. First off, the wreckage of a 727 floated upside down in the Ohio River, but the numerous photographers at the scene weren't news crews and they seemed more interested in "Roy Willy's World's Best BBQ" than what appeared to be a deadly plane crash.

It's a shattered aircraft in the Ohio River, all right, but the only thing that was damaged was the 727. For a short time last summer, Bay City, Ill. was home of the "World's Best Bar-B-Q."

It would have gotten more confusing if the visitor tried to get some information along with a barbecue and brew at Roy Willy's -- the World's Best BBQ wasn't serving anything.

For about a month, Bay City wasn't its usual placid Pope County self, while opening footage was being shot there for "U.S. Marshals," Warner Brothers' film sequel to "The Fugitive." Even the Illinois EPA was involved.

When filming was ready to begin on the "U.S. Marshals," the director needed a spot with a large river, with a highway and a barbecue restaurant at the river's edge. Bay City fit the bill -- sort of. The Ohio River was there, the highway was there, and there was a structure that was once a general story and had been converted into a residence. The film makers worked their magic and the structure was remodeled into Roy Willy's, while a serviceable 727 was purchased in the Chicago area, then virtually destroyed to make it look as if it had crashed into the river. The fuselage was hauled by barge from Chicago on the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio rivers to the "crash site."

Less magical, but needful, was compliance with water pollution regulations. Concerns were raised about the possibility the filming activities could cause water pollution, violate applicable water quality standards, interfere with permitted uses of nearby public recreational areas or threaten the public water supply of nearby Golconda. It was also expected that about 1000 cubic yards of clean river sand might have to be dredged from two locations to allow placement of the 727 fuselage. Staff from the Illinois EPA's Marion regional office provided compliance assistance, and in the process got to witness some of the shooting and even meet the film's stars, Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes and Robert Downey Jr. As they say, "it's a tough job, but..."

As it turned out, only a letter of permission from the Corps of Engineers was required, and even the often-difficult river cooperated -- water levels were such that it wasn't necessary to dredge to stage the scene. The cast and crew told Byron Marks from the Marion office they enjoyed the people, the food and the weather in southern Illinois before they packed up their lenses and left. Roy Willy's has gone out of business.