TEXAS, USA — This year marks the 35th anniversary of Robocop, a film set in futuristic Detroit yet shot in Dallas with familiar landmarks like Dallas City Hall and Reunion Tower making appearances.
And after digging through the SMU Jones Film Library, we found several WFAA stories from the 1970s featuring films shooting in the area.
In 1975, people lined up at Dallas Market Hall as part of a casting call for the movie Logan’s Run. While Michael York was the star, the filmmakers needed 700 extras, no acting experience required.
However, there was one requirement: Be beautiful.
So hundreds of people who felt confident enough in their attractiveness showed up hoping to get a small piece of screen time in movie theaters.
But when superstar Burt Reynolds arrived in Dallas two years later for the filming of Semi-Tough, extras needed to be less beauty and more brawn.
The movie about pro football was shot at the Cotton Bowl with many Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers filling the roles of the players in the movie.
Appropriately enough for a move named “Semi-Tough,” Cowboy legend Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson was going to be as realistic as possible without risking his health.
“I have a better contract with the Cowboys to jeopardize my career,” he said. “I will find the camera, though.”
Oddly enough, one of the greatest 1970s movie stars our area has ever produced was not even human.
In 1973, a dog named Higgins in McKinney strolled in front of the cameras under the direction of his trainer and manager who barked directions at the dog for the filming of the movie Benji. That film was shot in McKinney, Dallas, and Denton with several people in those cities making appearances as extras alongside the star pooch.