ExclusiveFilms Update May 4, 2009
About the MANSON Book

Kent State University May 4, 1970 – photo courtesy John Filo

Imagine this, it's 39 years ago and the news media announces that Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on Vietnam anti-war protestors at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others. Then, a few months later on August 29, 1970, the news informs us that Ruben Salazar, voice of the Latin community, is killed by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputies at the now historic May Day Chicano Moratorium. We could go on and on, but at some point even the most unaware in America have to, at least, begin to understand that there was a connection between the Manson Family and the turbulent late 1960's, early 1970's. Remember, because it was so bad in 1969, a US president, LBJ actually QUIT!, thus giving a real loser the job.

"You know, you see these bums, you know, blowin' up the campuses. Listen, the boys that are on the college campuses today are the luckiest people in the world, going to the greatest universities, and here they are, burnin' up the books, I mean, stormin' around about this issue, I mean you name it – get rid of the war, there'll be another one."

Richard Nixon, New York Times, May 2, 1970

NOW for the really good part!

When the bad economy first affected our DVD promotions we decided to let that part of our business model slide a bit. Then, together with the wide spread internet piracy (via torrent websites) also having an impact on our business plans, we almost QUIT altogether. Then, Robert Hendrickson started exploring the idea of putting our historical materials out in book form, instead of instead of films. He then came up with the idea of putting a book together about the Manson Family and the turbulent 1960's. But, what do you say about the Family that hasn't already been said before?

So Robert Hendrickson started listening to the 40 year old interview and conversation tapes recorded in connection with the making of MANSON and all of a sudden, the book began writing itself. Imagine, most everything the Manson Family and those associated with the Crime of the 20th Century said over a two and a half year period from late 1969 through the summer of 1972 in print with plenty of pictures. Walla, we got a book like no other.

Besides the recordings, this will also be Robert Hendrickson's story of just how it all came about. It will also include some of the lost movie script he wrote back then, which provides an incredible insight into Charlie Manson's mind set and what helped turn a peaceful, loving family into the most notorious white gang in American history. Soon, you will be able to read it ALL and decide for yourself what the Manson Family was all about.

We've provided some excerpts from the book here and don't forget to pick up a copy of Ultra Violent Magazine issue # 10. It has an in depth interview with Robert Hendrickson on his experiences making the MANSON films. It should be in bookstores soon, but you can get a copy from UVmagazine.com now.

EXCERPTS from the up and coming BOOK
About Robert Hendrickson, author of "The Legend of Charles Manson"

"This being my first airplane ride, when the sun started to come up, I wanted to have a look see of the ground below, but the shade over my window seemed to be stuck. Recognizing my frustration, the man next to me explained: `They're all locked shut, so you can't see out'. He was reading a newspaper and then he made a sarcastic remark about the headline informing the public that Congress had just appropriated funds to make more medium to long range bombers. Realizing my lack of understanding concerning such foolishness, he added that: "Those airplanes are already obsolete". Soon after we landed, I would begin to see things in a whole other light. This kid, not old enough to buy a beer, was now going to enter a world governed by only extreme inventiveness and a budget without limits.

Alone, late that night, I managed time to crawl into the cockpit of an `article', as they were nicknamed then. There's no doubt that in that lonely hanger located in an area surrounded by secrecy and intrigue, somewhere in the Nevada desert, a young man's imagination became unchained, but I never could have imagined life's glorious nightmare lying in wait for me.

Eventually, I became painfully aware that I was now living a life of great deception, but I also understood the importance of national security secrets. What I didn't comprehend was that I was becoming part of the most secret military installation in the world, now known as Area 51. (Note: Area 51 has recently, to a certain extent, been declassified and Mr. Hendrickson may be the first to share some of his personal experiences of being there).

On November 22, 1963, during my yearly two week vacation, I was on the roof of my parent's modest two bedroom house applying a new shingle roof. All of a sudden, my mother came running out and hollered up to me that President Kennedy had been shot. My immediate thought was "Oh my God, they did it", but soon America would be dealing with an even greater dilemma than the questionable assassination of a US president. Lyndon Johnson AKA LBJ, the new commander in chief by default, would transform American support in South Vietnam into a full scale war against Communism.

In 1965, on an otherwise normal operating day at the Los Angeles Army Induction center, parents and girlfriends hugged and kissed their loved ones (draftees) goodbye while two secret service agents debriefed me in the commander's office. My lips would remain sealed and as a member of a very exclusive club, my guardian angels would protect me from being put into compromising situations. Consequently, my military stay at Fort Hood, Texas was to a certain extent bloodless, but as body bags returned to the states, including some containing my personal friends, my attitude, belief and understanding of the US government would be reshaped forever.

An EXCERPT From the Manson story movie script written 40 years ago
Now incorporated into "The Legend of Charles Manson" book

Ext. Ocean surf Night
With a crashing sound, a huge wave pounds the rocks, then we pan up the steep cliffs to a fog bank hugging a mountain side. FADE TO

Ext. Highway Night
All we can see is fog, but slowly a pair of headlights emerge and travel toward us. We may not hear the sound of the vehicle, but our music composer has reached into his bag of tricks to provide a piece of sound that may not be of this earth. The dark gray cloud has given birth to an aged completely black 32 passenger school bus. As it passes we zoom into the pitch black of the bus and the first title card
pops in. FADE TO

Ext. Café / Gas station Night
Establish a café, obviously closing for the night. It is set back from the highway and the fog presents kind of a menacing atmosphere, but most objects are still visible. We drift a few yards until we discover a lamp post close to the highway, with a sign proclaiming "BUS STOP". A pan down the pole reveals a somewhat plain, but rather pretty teenage girl. She has beside her, resting on the ground, one suitcase (the kind one uses to pack a change of clothes and a few bare essentials) and a brown paper bag, likely containing some food from the café.

EXT. Highway Night
We are captured in a fog bank, but we hear the loud rumbling sound of an engine and many mechanical parts vibrating. It's a bit unnerving, but then the fog passes temporarily and we find ourselves attached to the undercarriage of the Black Bus. It's as if we are mounted at the rear looking toward the front. The dampened pavement rushes dangerously close beneath us, while the dark greasy mechanical drive shaft spins, without emotion, above us. The second title card appears.

EXT. Café / Gas station Night
CU of the teenage girl's hands. They are cold, so she rubs them together and then raises them to her mouth to blow warm air into them. Holding close on her face we begin to see a personality emerge. She is leaving from somewhere, but probably going nowhere. It has taken all of her courage to be here, but she has no choice.

EXT. Highway Night
Wide on the highway, where some fog plays with a sign that reads: Highway 1, Los Angeles 190 miles. We drift across the highway, but are interrupted by an eerie sound fast approaching. Then the Black Bus swiftly passes with an almost explosive sound. The third title card appears.

EXT. Café / Gas station Night
Very wide, we drift across a vacant highway to see, at a distance, our teenage girl in waiting. She's very alone under the lamp post. Closer, she seems to hear something and looks to the highway, but nothing is there, only her hopeful imagination. Then the lamp light goes out and only the moon light now reveals her presence.

EXT. Highway Night
Wide angle from our lonely girl's POV, headlights are emerging from a mild fog bank. We slowly zoom to meet them. When we connect, the headlights blind us for a second, then the Black Bus passes taking us to darkness. The fourth title card appears.

EXT. Café / Gas station Night
The teenage girl watches the Black Bus approach. Her reaction turns from "Happy to see you" to "My God, what is it?" and the mysterious object passes her by. She is almost relieved that it did not stop.

EXT. Highway Night
CU of the Black Bus wheels as the brakes begin to scream. Wider, as the bus crosses and turns off the highway to the side of the road where the girls is. The tires skid in the gravel and the bus comes to a dead stop about two hundred feet past her at the entrance to the Café parking area.

EXT. Highway / Café / Gas station Night
The teenage girl reacts with confusion. She doesn't know if the bus stopped for her or what the hell is going on. Being very alone, she is actually a little frightened at this point.

MCU on the bus. It's partly cloaked in mild fog and the noisy engine is still running.

MCU of the girl. She now tries to look away and pretend it doesn't exist. Wide on the bus, it's her POV and the bus engine shuts off.

Closer on the girl, she turns to look at the bus and wonders what will happen next.

WA, her POV of the bus. Hold for a few seconds, then click, bang, whoosh bang and the bus door opens. Closer, we see that it is the typical bus type door. As the last sound of the door fades, the melodic tones of a violin, guitar, zither and voices in harmony emerge.

MCU and we go even closer on the girl as the music and voices seem to send out a beckoning call. She begins to respond, first by a sigh of relief and then by a thought of "Maybe I should at least check it out". The music continues and after some careful thought, she decides to at least investigate the situation further. She picks up her suitcase and slowly walks to the bus. As she reaches the back of the bus, she slows a little, but continues walking toward the door. Walking along side the bus she tries to see up into the windows for answers to the question, "Who is in there?" But the windows are all draped and not even a sign of light exists. Upon reaching the still open door, she tries to peek inside. The music stops and the engine starts abruptly. Startled, she starts to turn away when a voice from the driver's seat commands "All Aboard".

Without thinking, the girl asks, "Where are you going?"

The Driver, who is so dimly lit that we can only see his outline and maybe a glare from his eyes states rather matter of factly, "No where... and everywhere".

She is now confused again, but the Driver quickly rings a bell and hollers out, "Bellboy"!

With that, a hand reaches down and grabs her suitcase out of her hand. Now she must enter the Black Bus, whereupon the door slams behind her. The engine races, the back tires spin in the gravel and the Black Bus jets back onto the highway and off into a fog bank. The remaining title cards appear

EXCERPTS from tape conversations that are incorporated
into "The Legend of Charles Manson" book.

Recorded in Hollywood, California in 1970

Gypsy:

...and Nixon points his finger at Charles Manson and he says, with his bloody finger, he says "That man is a murderer". So you look at that man he's pointing at and you say, "Oh that man's a murderer". Well, take a look at Nixon, look back at Nixon, the one's that's pointing his bloody finger and see how many man, this, this man is murdering, how many men this man is murdering.

Clem:

Or allowed them to be murdered, to allow some.

Merrick:

To murder, she said it better than you did, why are you apologizing, why are you compromising?

Clem:

Compromising?

Merrick:

Yes

Clem:

I'm not compromising.

Merrick:

She called him a murderer and he is. Why are you saying "Allowed to be murdered".

What becomes most relevant here is that Clem is apparently recognizing the distinction between an actual physical killer and a person who has control over the actions of the killer, but "allows" that person to kill. Of course, the prosecution in the Manson murder cases will argue that a "controlling" person can also be considered a murderer. In fact, in 2008,
Mr. Bugliosi made the case that George Bush should be prosecuted for murder in connection with the killings in the Iraq War. I would add, what about Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War? What do you think?

The following was recorded in Death Valley, California in 1971

Phil Phillips:

Charlie Manson's best known personal friend recalls an incident late one night at the Manson Gang's Barker Ranch hideout.

And then it was a little while after that, I had a weird experience with Charlie. I went to bed and ah, I was layin' there in bed and somebody came into the cabin there and they stood there. And I get these real, you know, fear vibrations and I reached over and picked up a ball peen hammer. I wasn't asleep and I picked up this ball peen hammer and whoever was there, I couldn't determine who it was, but they just stood there and looked at me. And I just felt, you know, that, that there was a danger like, you know, my life was being threatened. And then this person just turned around and walked out. And dis, I never have understood, you know, why this happened but, you know, I just felt that was like my life was in danger.

Paul Watkins:

Shit, you saw where Snake was at. Didn't you ever consider where Snake was at?

Phil Phillips:

No.

Paul Watkins:

You didn't ever have second thoughts about Snake jump' in outta' the car, goin' down the highway.

Phillips:

Yeah but ah, I didn't understand why. I mean, I understood that she was paranoid, but I couldn't understand why she was paranoid, cause I didn't know what was happening, you know, with Charlie when he was with his other people. Cause the only time I saw Charlie was, I mean the only time I could relate with him was when I was with him. And then when I went to Spahn's Ranch and I saw the, I experienced all that organized confusion there, you know, I begin to see the control Charlie had of all these people, but yet he was, he had me believin' that he wasn't in control. But yeah, I could see that he was. But, you know, he tried to convince me that he wasn't, that he was still the little

I must mention here that from all of the people that I met over the two and a half years of doing the MANSON movie, Mr. Phillips impressed me as being the most credible and the only person who acquired years of intimate knowledge of Charles Manson before and after his release from Terminal Island Penitentiary in 1967. From his telling story, it is apparent that Charles Manson was not a dangerous man, nor was he any sort of gangster prior to 1968. So what happened to change all that?

Merrick:

Ronnie, when you were up for an award of $25,000, who musseled in? Say it.

Howard:

Who musseled in?

Merrick:

Yes.

Howard:

You mean, you mean about the deal, the cops made with me?

Merrick:

Uh huh.

Howard:

Well, the deal they made with me was, you know, they told me that I had to ah, either give'm a cut, a kick back of, of the reward money and that way they'd make sure I get the whole twenty five grand. Otherwise ah, they said, "Well, Ronnie, you know how it goes, records have a way of disappearing.

Merrick:

What else did they say?

Howard:

That was the main thing, that I should kick back to'm just a few thousand a piece.

Ronnie Howard was the prosecution's key witness who actually broke the Tate and LaBianca murder cases, by snitching on Susan Atkins. A few years after testifying, she was murdered.

Recorded in Hollywood, California in 1971

Merrick:

What are your suspicions as far as the Zodiac killer?

Paul Crockett:

Well, the things that they told me and the places they've been and all the different associative things that came into my head, I was suspicious that ah, one of the members of the Manson Family was the Zodiac killer.

Most significant here, Paul Crockett not only deprogrammed Paul Watkins and Brooks Poston, he became Charlie Manson's arch rival in Death Valley.

Recorded in Hollywood, California in 1970

Gypsy:

They're trying to connect us to thirty of their unsolved murders. That's just the parts they've gotten to so far. That's just the cases they've gotten to so far.

Clem:

They have cases in England too; they're trying to get us.

I'm somewhat surprised to hear Clem mention the case in England, because it actually involves the murder of Joel Pugh, Sandra Good's husband, at the time Bruce Davis was there.

Gypsy:

One at a time.

Clem:

Now, they're trying to get us for two girls killed in what, San Jose and they, they questioned us about some murders in England. Some more, every, every unsolved murder they got, they're trying to get, get it off the books and use this to get it off the books with.

Recorded in Hollywood, California in 1970

Clem:

The black man is going to save this earth. (a pause) Who's always taking out the garbage? Been the black man, hasn't it. Chinese, Mexican, they've always been our slave. They're the love, but we haven't treated them with love. We have treated them exactly the way that we wanted to be treated. We have whipped them. We have hug, hung them, cut their nuts off, fucked their women and fucked up their whole blood line. We done everything we could possibly do to'em, except treat'em with love. And now, they're gonna give us back exactly what we gave them, tenfold, wheeee, whooo. And like Black mans gonna slide White man’s finger off the button real easy and gentle like.

Soon it will be 40 years since the Tate / LaBianca massacre became known as the Crime of the Century and we still can only guess at what actually triggered an explosion in the minds of Charles Manson and his Family, to the extent some of them would kill, as the rest stood by. It's not smart enough to simply say "Oh, they got too wrapped up in "Helter Skelter". What was the mental process by which this otherwise peace loving group of kids became known as the most notorious white gang of the 20th Century? And how is the Manson thought process relevant today?

Perhaps the entire Manson Family affair needs a more careful examination of the facts and circumstances as they relate to today. Maybe it's finally time to apply better science to the applicable issues, because make no mistake, for the public; the case is still missing several pieces to the puzzle. We are not going to completely solve the issues for you, but instead provide you with the never before heard, first person testimony, in order for YOU to make your own reasonable conclusions. In short, we are going to provide you with ALL we have in written form. That's our thanks for your support of The Exclusive Film Network. Your continued purchases of our Limited Edition DVDs will make this incredible last word on the Manson Family possible.

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This Time YOU will be the Judge and Jury

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