Elbow Grease warmly received by Seneca audience

Five years after it was made, Elbow Grease debuted in Seneca to an audience that filled the seats in one of Premiere Cinemas’ screening rooms. One prominent Seneca businessman remarked, “This is exciting” moments before the screen came alive with one of the last movies acted by Burt Reynolds that featured Ramcat Alley and other locations in Seneca and Oconee County. And it was also a chance to see the late Seneca attorney Johnny Fields in the role of “Ned” the barber, along with other Oconeeans in background shots. Elbow Grease lived up to its billing as the comedic travails of a challenged southern family, of which the famed Reynolds served as patriarch in the role of “Grandpa Barnes.” The movie ended in a touching, warm-hearted manner as the credits displayed with a shot of a long, straight stretch of the Friendship Road. Just before movie time, associate producer Shelby Henderson, the Seneca city employee, introduced 10 members of the cast who were present for the Seneca debut. Among them was writer and director Jason Shirley, whose grandmother lived in Seneca. Sending his regrets was Michael Provost, who played the teenage son in the Barnes family. Provost was kept away Friday by filming in his starring role in the Netflix series of the Insatiables. One hour before show time, a note appeared on the theatre door, saying “sold out” which means that some people who ventured out for the free showing left disappointed. But Henderson told 101.7/WGOG NEWS that film editor David Thienes (Thin-es) and city government are working together to try to arrange future showings so, as Henderson put, “So that everybody has an opportunity to see it.”