Collar City native makes movie about his hitchhiking adventure
By Lauren Halligan TROY, N.Y. >> One local filmmaker is telling a tale from his teenage years in an upcoming movie about a summer spent hitchhiking down south in search of a girl named Karen.
In a screenplay written while he was sick with the flu, Troy native Don Rittner recounts the true story of an adventure from 1966, the summer before the “Summer of Love.”
That year was a unique period in American culture, and one that isn’t often depicted in films.
Amongst the upcoming generation at that time, Rittner was considered a “mod.” He explained, “There were the mods and the rockers before there were hippies.”
Much of this persona had to do with Rittner’s long hair, for which he was kicked out of Troy High School during his sophomore year in 1965.
After becoming a local symbol of rebellion for letting his hair grow out, 16-year-old Rittner hit the road to find love with Karen, another teen who had moved away to Florida.
Rittner brought his fellow long-haired buddy Leonard Champlain (Lenny) on the journey as well, and together with characters encountered on the route, they certainly had a memorable trip.
“Karen or Bust” tells what happened to Rittner and Champlain as they were hitching down U.S. Rt 1. “We were almost killed by rednecks in South Carolina. We got busted in Daytona Beach for vagrancy,” Rittner started. Shown above is 16-year old Don Rittner just before his roadtripping journey featured in his upcoming movie called “Karen or Bust.”
Along the way, the boys discovered a lot about the south and the world outside of Upstate New York. That summer they were introduced to segregation, racism, homosexuality, bigotry and had their first scrape with the law.
“I was book smart, but world-naive,” Rittner said. “I was so clueless.” This makes the exchanges both scary and humorous for audiences.
After an eventful few weeks, Rittner and Champlain were forced to turn around and head back north, but get caught up with a new crowd in Baltimore, particularly Lafayette Square Park, where a good portion of Rittner’s story takes place.
“Baltimore was an interesting place. There was an awful lot going on there,” said Champlain, who still lives in Albany today.
In Baltimore, Rittner quickly fell in love with a woman named Jan, who for reasons not obvious to him, wasn’t interested.
“It really was an eyeopener,” Rittner said about the experience, which he’s been wanting to document for decades.
“All my life I’ve been thinking about that event, what happened, because it made me who I was. All of those things that happened formed my personality,” Rittner said. “It’s a coming of age story, really.” Don Rittner, left, is shown with Leonard Champlain. Champlain agrees that the 1966 trip changed his life and played a role in making him who he became. “We were just young kids,” he said. “I think that whole experience made us grow up an awful lot.”
He continued, “The trip in and of itself was quite the experience. It was a learning experience for both of us. It made us grow and find a better identity for each other.”
Despite their many troubles throughout the journey, a half-century later both men say they’re glad they went. “No question,” Champlain said. “We had a ball.”
When Rittner, a longtime author, started working in the movie industry, he knew that the story was meant for film.
So he wrote “Karen or Bust” as a screenplay a few winters ago when he was in bed battling a bad case of the flu.
Amazingly, the day after he finished writing it, Champlain contacted Rittner on Facebook. It was their first communication in about 50 years.
Soon after, they got together at Famous Lunch on Congress Street in downtown Troy, and Champlain recalled details about the trip that Rittner had long forgotten.
Though Rittner has worked with movies in the past, this is the first time he’s written an autobiographical script for the big screen.
Now, Rittner is ready to shoot the independent film this summer, between Troy and Baltimore.
The filmmaker is currently seeking investors for the endeavor, which is expected to cost a total of $70,000.
Since much of the movie’s setup takes place in the Collar City, Rittner said, “In a way, I want it to be funded by people of Troy, because it’s a Troy story.”
Viewers from the area will be able to recognize old hangouts in the city, Rittner said. “It’s going to be a real flashback.”
Rittner is currently in the process of casting the movie, and hopes to release it in the fall with a Troy premiere event.
Anyone interested in investing or acting in “Karen or Bust” can contact Don Rittner at drittner@aol. com or (518) 378-9256.