Coming Soon!

         An 8 part on line serialization of the groundbreaking 2000 film:

Bobby Taylor was a young man on the run. But his problems multiply when he runs into a larcenous old con man and a town full of greedy scam artists in this rollicking tale of lost innocence in a gentler tme.

Starring Rex Benson, Kris Veneziano and Kathryn Fritz. With: Vince Thompson, Peter Pintozzi, Steve Willding, Joe Eddie Brown, "Rockin' Billy Harnden, James Alan Kraus,                        Camera: Trent Lanier, Robert Bobber, Jim Sikora, Jack Hammond. Set Design: Chuck Manola    Cars and props: Autogasm Memoribilla. Music by: The Stop and Listen Boys, Rockin'  Billy and the Wild Coyotes, Spot, Radio Cowboy, Sam Hubble and Grandpas Ghost.                          Screenplay by: Jack Hammond and Joe Carducci from a story by: Jack Hammond.

                           Produced and directed by Jack Hammond 

"The Takers" is literally the first long feature edited  'at home', and released to a general market. Those of you familiar with our early  association with Jim Sikoras "Rock and Roll Punk" know that "Punk" is the first digital feature film of all, using Sonys first digital camera, and with no editing software ready for it.

...set in "Late August, 1969", rural Louisiana, tells the story of Bobby Taylor, a young man on the run, who encounters a town full of scam artists and a larcenous old con man, as he lives by his wits and woos the local farmers daughter. 

As flawed as it is, "The Takers" is still a remarkable film, in that it replicates large scale Hollywood epics on a miniscule, and I mean miniscule, budget. This was -jackrolls first fore into guerilla film making, later to be more evident in "-disarm" and "Five Below". The filmmakers repeatedly filmed in restricted areas including the car chase on the Illinois Cal-Sag channel, and filming the last shot of the film in the backyard of the Park service ranger who was chasing them around Dupage county throughout the shoot. Including the monumental logistics of coordinating fifty volunteers , dozens of cars, over a hundred and twenty sq. mile location area etc,, the "The Takers" is a little filmic miracle.

-directors note-

"The Takers" is a reflection of my early thoughts on innocence, honesty, greed, etc. Maybe I still haven't grown up yet, but I still stand by the sentiments expressed in my film."  -jack

"God is an idea that man has. When man is gone so will the idea be gone. And all this will still be here."

-Rex Benson, as John Lee Pendergast, in  "The Takers"