LINFIELDER DAN KOENIG (Class of 1970) from the drama of
the courtroom as an attorney, to the drama of the movie set, as an actor. This story
is about…
LINFIELD AT THE MOVIES
By Dan Koenig, Linfield
Class of 1970. This article was written March 23, 2020. It has been
slightly/lightly edited by Wildcatville.
As this article was, so to
speak, going to press, Variety, an American magazine which has covered
entertainment since 1905, highly praised the movie “Apache Junction” (mentioned
below) in a review. Variety calls it “satisfying” old-fashioned western. Read the
review at URL below: https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/apache-junction-review-1235071786/amp/
…………….
LINFIELD AT THE MOVIES
A dry wind blows across the
New Mexican plain, generated by large Hollywood fans. A rusty western windmill
creaks to life, camera left. A tumbleweed rolls down a dusty street, on cue.
The Hero walks out of the familiar saloon, hand on his six-shooter, lighted
perfectly.
Linfield is about to go to
the movies.
Dan Koenig, Linfield Class of 1970,
carefully dressed in outlaw garb, by Chief Costume Designer Samantha
Kuester, Linfield Class of 2001, springs from behind hay bales and boxes
and fires four shots at our hero. The hay bales, boxes, and other set props are
carefully prepared and placed by Sanford Worth, Chief Production Designer.
Sanford's younger brother is Linfield tennis player Will Worth, Linfield
Class of 2021.
Hollywood is filming a
classic Spaghetti Western, and Linfield is all over the set.
Samantha Kuester majored in
Political Science with an emphasis in History and Spanish. She was a mainstay
on Linfield's Women's Lacrosse team. After graduation, she went on to achieve a
Masters in Fine Arts from UCLA, and began chasing her dream as a movie costume
designer.
Operating out of a star
trailer, Samantha brings movies to life with carefully chosen, period
appropriate clothing, hats, boots, and neckerchiefs. From saloon girls to
soldiers; from schoolmarms to gunfighters, her array of costumes are
indispensable.
Samantha credits Linfield
with giving her a sense of history to gain the right perspective on costuming.
With her assistant, she starts at sun-up every shooting day, making sure the
stars and extras are all fitted for the day's filming. After a 12- or 14-hour
shoot, she collects, cleans, and organizes each costume for the next day.
And what does she do with
her free time on the set? Well. there isn't any.
The reward...as credits roll
at film's end and everyone files out of the theater. there on the silver
screen...Samantha Kuester, Costume Designer.
Sanford Worth, Production
Designer, makes all the movie props. That sepia-toned, weathered, 1880's
"wanted poster" on the jailhouse was produced that morning by
Sanford. He scoured the nearby desert for tumbleweeds. and when the director
yells, "Action," he rolls them out into the wind-blown street.
He uses up to 18 3-D
printers to produce elaborate props. All period piece bottles in the saloon
along with the whiskey (sweet tea) and mugs of beer (ginger ale) are staged by
Sanford. He carefully cellphone photographs the poker game scenes, so every
card remains in the same hand. take after take.
Sanford is very proud of his
brother Will. He is a big Linfield booster.
That saloon girl in the
brocade red dress chatting up the cowboys in barroom scenes is extras actress
Teresa Welch. Teresa was born in Astoria, Oregon. Her father, William
"Norman" Welch, Linfield Class of 1952, received his Bachelors
and Master’s degrees from Linfield.
Well, Dan Koenig's four
shots all miss Our Hero. In the return fire of the gunfight. Dan is hit by the
star's blazing pistol. Dan flies backward. landing on a four-inch foam pad,
carefully hidden behind the hay bales. The stunt team has also fitted him with
elbow and knee pads under his costume. As a member of Linfield's Northwest
Conference Champion Wrestling Team in 1968, Dan's teammates might say he was
experienced in lying on his back on a mat.
Our Hero continues down that
dusty street, Colt 45's blazing, and dispatching bad guys into the setting
western sun.
Linfield's there at "Apache
Junction."
::::
More about the author, Linfielder Dan Koenig.
=Dan grew up in Longview, Washington, and graduated in
1966 from R. A. Long High School of Longview. He decided to attend Linfield
because of its liberal arts influence and a partial wrestling scholarship. As a
freshman he was his class representative at large. He was his sophomore class
president and ASLC/Associated Students of Linfield College vice present as a
senior, 1969-1970. Dan was a member of the Linfield Wildcats wrestling team
which won the Northwest Conference championship in 1968. He and Dan Jones won
individual conference championships that year.
In 1970, after graduating with a B.A. in Political
Science, Dan and classmate Duane “Dusty” Rhodes (also R. A. Long 1966 and
Linfield 1970) joined the USMC/U.S. Marine Corps and entered the USMC Officer
Program. Each went through Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia. Dan
was commissioned a Marine 2nd Lieutenant in 1970.
=Prior to joining the USMC, Dan had taken the LSAT/Law
School Admission Test and applied to attend a couple law schools. “The Marine
Corps asked if I wanted to go on USMC Reserve duty, attend law school, and then
come back on active duty.” He accepted the opportunity and enrolled in the
Willamette University Truman Wesley Collins School of Law in Salem. He
graduated from the law school in 1973 with a Juris Doctorate degree.
=Following law school graduation and passing the Oregon
State Bar exam he served four years, two months, and 27 days, on active duty in
the USMC. He served overseas duty in Okinawa, and several other bases, serving
primarily as a Staff Judge Advocate, but also in other duties occasionally.
=Upon Marine Corps discharge in 1977, he joined the Lane
County, Oregon, District Attorney’s Office in Eugene. Dan served more than
seven and one-half years as an Assistant District Attorney. During that time,
he prosecuted major felony cases and supervised the interagency narcotics team.
He received a federal Drug Enforcement Administration certification as a
Narcotic Team Supervisor.
In 1984, Dan left the District Attorney's Office and
formed a law firm in Eugene with his former boss, (former) District Attorney
Pat Horton. “We had a mid-sized law firm for 17 years. I defended many major
felony cases including trials in 26 of Oregon's 36 counties. I tried cases in
seven western states and one Canadian province.”
In 2001, Dan left the law firm and started his own
private practice. “I primarily defended death penalty cases throughout the
state. I also served as defense attorney for a number of University of Oregon
football players and several Nashville country/western music stars,” he said.
=During Dan’s legal career he, “won outright five
homicide cases. I believe I am one of a handful of Oregon lawyers that have
ever completely won a Death Penalty case – during a two and one-half month
trial in Douglas County, Oregon --with not guilty verdicts on all counts,” he
said.
=Still maintaining active enrollment in the Oregon State
Bar, he has not taken a law case since 2019.
=His service as a Linfield alum includes two terms as
Linfield Alumni Council president. Recently he helped fund the renewal of the
Linfield University wrestling program for both men and women.
=Upon law retirement in 2019, his nephew, Justin Lee, a
Hollywood director, asked if he was interested in being an extra in his next
movie which was about to shoot at the Eaves Movie Ranch near Santa Fe, New
Mexico. The movie, “Apache Junction,” stars Trace Adkins, Thomas Jane, Stuart
Townsend, Ed Morrone, Phil Burke, and Victoria Pratt. It was Justin’s tenth
Hollywood movie. Dan said “yes,” quickly.
“Arriving in New Mexico, I learned one of the "gun
fighter" extras hadn't shown up. He never did,” said Dan. “They asked if I
would step in and do some gun fight scenes and a little stunt work. Piece of
cake for an old Marine and Linfield wrestler! Through 12-hour days of shooting,
both with film and guns, I get out-dueled by 'Our Hero': Stuart Townsend. I am
also in several bar room scenes and street scenes. It was a fantastic
experience. And, by the way, meals from Hollywood caterers are excellent.”
Plus, Dan got to die in a Western movie, specifically on the dusty streets of
Apache Junction. He became acquainted with actors Stuart Townsend and Phil
Burke. That movie will be/was released this Sept. 24, 2021, on Apple Plus
streaming and in selected theaters.
=In addition to Apache Junction, Dan also appears in
"A Tale of Two Guns" filmed at a Western movie ranch outside
Hollywood. It features Tom Berenger, Jake Busey (actor Gary Busey's son),
Casper Van Dien, and Ed Morrone. “I get killed in a gunfight in this movie,
too. Seeing a pattern, here?" "A Tale of Two Guns" is slated to
be released November 2021.
NOTE: Daniel “Dan” Koenig and his former wife, Marilyn
Olson Koenig, both Linfield Class of 1970, met as Linfield College students,
1966-1970. He is from Longview, Washington, and she is from Hermiston, Oregon.
Their daughter is research scientist, Dr. Lora S. Koenig, Linfield Class of
1999 and Linfield Outstanding Young Alumna of 2011. Lora earned her B.S. degree
in Mathematics from Linfield in 1999, her Master's Degree from University of
Utah, and her Ph.D. in Geophysics from the University of Washington. Their son
is attorney Jeffrey D Koenig. His undergraduate degree is from the University
of Oregon and his law degree from his father’s alma mater, the Willamette
University Truman Wesley Collins School of Law.
AUDIO
=Listen (URL link below) to song “Badland” inspired by “Apache
Junction." Lyrics by Dan Koenig, music and vocals by Scott Casey.
https://soundcloud.com/user699942183/dk-sc-bland
PHOTOS
=DAN KOENIG with some members of Linfield’s 1967 wrestling
team. He was a member of the 1968 team which won the Northwest Conference and
NAIA District 2 championships. Photo from 1967 Linfield Oak Leaves yearbook.
=“APACHE JUNCTION" movie poster.
=OUTSIDE A MOVIE SET SALOON is actor Dan Koenig.
=THIRD FROM THE RIGHT, actor Dan Koenig is the left-handed
gunfighter in "A Tale of Two Guns." Tom Berenger is the third actor
from the left.
