Shot In My Back 40

Inyokern Airport

By Katherine Keller
July 27, 2009

I grew up in a small town in the Indian Wells Valley of eastern Kern County, CA. One of the jokes about Ridgecrest is that it's two away from everything else: it's two valleys west of Death Valley, two hours from Bakersfield, two hours from Bishop, two hours from Lancaster. It's a remote, sleepy town located just east of where CA State Route 14 meets US 395.

On the surface, Ridgecrest might not have a lot going for it, but it's got four fantastic assets: (a) it's located in the sunniest place in the North American Continent, (b) it's surrounded by a lot of striking scenery, (c) it's got an airport, and (d) it's within half a day's drive of LA.

Which means that if you own a TV, have bought a magazine with glossy car ads in it, or have watched a movie, there's a very good chance you've actually seen quite a few places close to Ridgecrest.

Welcome to "Shot In My Back 40" a series wherein I explore Hollywood's love affair with my old stomping grounds.

The western edge of the Indian Wells Valley is bounded by the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, which form a steep escarpment. The panorama created by Morris Peak, Mt. Jenkins, Five Fingers, (the rocky foothill at the base of Mt. Jenkins) Owens Peak and the dual pinnacles of Lamont Peaks is stunning, to put it mildly.

If these mountains look familiar, it's because advertising agencies have been coming to the now defunct dragstrip and the still active runway 28 at Inyokern Airport* (located a few miles west of Ridgecrest) for years to us

e them as a dramatic backdrop for automobile ads.

The famous Lexus: Gravity advertisement (produced by Team One with FX by MacGuff) is, in my opinion the ad that makes the most stunning use of these visuals.

(FYI, the TV show Mythbusters took on and busted this ad at a place that looks suspiciously like Cuddeback Dry Lake. [Although I will point out that while the Mythbusters car's top speed of 105mph is a lot less than the Lexus IS top speed of 142mph, there is a reason that FX shop MacGuff worked on the ad.] *grin*)

Occasionally movies feature sequences shot at or around the Inyokern Airport; A Man Apart is one of them. During the semi-truck chase scene from 1:57-1:58, look for Owens Peak and Five Fingers in the background. (That clip looks to have been shot on US 395 or on a BLM service road a little to the northwest of the airport.)

But not even my love of all things Vin or the joy of watching Timothy Olyphant chew scenery makes me want to watch this movie again, so no mini review except to say ... it's not a good movie.

So the next time you see a dramatic car ad such as Saab's 'Born from Jets' with that stunning vista in the background, there's no need to wonder "Where on Earth is that?" Because now you know: my back 40.

*Inyokern Aiport has the unfortunate code: IYK — pronounced "icky" by the locals.

IMDB — IMDB's list of movies with 'Inyokern' as a location
Filming at Inyokern Airport — Pictures, pictures, and more pictures of the scenery and facilities at IYK
Inyokern Airport — Wikipedia's page about IYK.