It was rare that my mother and I would join my father on location but it was Christmas time and we wanted to be together as a family so there we were in Cuernavaca, Mexico while the shooting was taking place in the nearby countryside and at the foot of the mountains. It was very rugged territory around Uruapan with a mixture of jungles, black volcanic rock, and sinister looking black sand. The director was a longtime family friend, Henry Hathaway, who had in fact directed my father in 7 previous films.  

For the most part, we were all based in Cuernavaca and it was wonderful to be around the Hathaways whom I called Uncle Henry and Aunt Skip. Henry was a passionate and exacting director and the frustrations of this location drove him crazy. I’ll never forget one complex scene in particular. The “good guys” are trapped in a ravine with cliffs rising high above them, over 1,000 feet, creating a narrow escape route for my father and his team. Of course, the Indians did not like their territory being invaded by the “white man” and were not friendly.