Several television programs and movies have featured lookouts and towers. Here's a sampling:

MacGyver. "The Invisible Killer." Mac leads a group of Phoenix Foundation employees, two of which turn out to be criminals in disguise, on a wilderness outing that passes by a lookout tower, which is almost completely fogged in and is apparently built near the valley floor!

Northern Exposure. "Bolt From The Blue." The local lookout is being closed for good, but the hermit inside refuses to leave his post. Peoh Point Lookout was filmed for one brief distant shot, while a cabin seems to have been built in a studio lot for the closeups and interior shots. Trees protrude up around the cabin, which appears to block the view from the lookout.

The Red Green Show. Many episodes feature Ranger Gord at his fire tower, with Red always making fun of his "being out of touch with society."

Got another for your list if interested. On an early 1960's episode of Timmy and Lassie, his mother, played by June Lockhart, temporarily staffed a steel 7x7 lookout called the Calverton Tower. Shows a couple of shots of the tower. The Forest Ranger was Cory Stewart (Robert Bray), who played on the next generation Lassie episodes where there were yet more tower episodes that I can remember. I guess only fire lookouts or ex-lookouts like myself would pay attention to such details. Regards, Rick Miller from Upstate NY

The 1960's CBC Television series "The Forest Rangers" featured a couple of lookouts.

One Cheerios cereal commercial features a lookout-man driving to town for groceries, especially to buy cheerios, and that is important because "the breakfast table is 200 feet up." This is highly unbelieveable since the commercial shows an Aeromotor steel 7x7' tower, which would not be lived in. The breakfast table, therefore, is in the cabin on the ground! Plus, there are no steel lookout towers in North America that are over 175' tall.

"Fire On Kelly Mountain." Young firehose Phil Mallory (played by Larry Wilcox, who played Jon on "CHiPs") would rather be out fighting fire than watching for it. He gets his chance when he spots a fire nearby. The ranger has no one to send but Mallory, because he has all other men committed to the raging Vinegar Creek Fire. Mallory's fire gets out of control, and the smokejumpers are sent in to assist. This was apparently filmed on the Eldorado National Forest in California by The Walt Disney Co., as an hour-long feature for their weekly television program at the time. The long, flyby shots show a 20' all-steel live-in tower, while the closeups show a 30' all-wooden tower. Go figure.

"A Fire Called Jeremiah." The Walt Disney Co., 1961.

"Homeward Bound." The Walt Disney Co.

"Red Skies Over Montana."

Hello Rex,

I have a list of movies that have lookouts in them.

1.It Waits--horror movie 88mins,2004

2.The Story of a Forest Ranger, 1954

3. Susanna Pass--Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, 1949, 70mins

4. Forestry and Forest Industries, 1946

5. The Ranger,The Cook and a hole in the Sky--Sam Elliott

6. Always--Richard Dreyfuss

7. In the Line of Duty {Smokejumper}

8. CCC: A letter Home

9. Red Hot Rangers (cartoon)

Talk with you later,

Howard Verschoor

Another movie for the list Rex:

Wrong Turn, another horror flick that came out in 2003.

Mike

Hi Rex,

Didn’t see this on your website list; Far From Home (1994 Twentieth Century Fox).

Story takes place in Canada and has a lookout scene. Just watched it with the Grand Kids.

Rod Fosback

Grizzly, another horror flick that came out in 1976.

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This page created by Rex Kamstra