LET’s GO FOR BROKE

“Stuart Duncan financed a film project to promote Christa,” says John O’Dowd. “It was an adventure film produced partially in Haiti.”

Originally titled Go for Broke and later expanded to Let’s Go for Broke, the film featured Christa in the lead role of Jackie Broke, an investigative journalist who infiltrates a nefarious criminal operation.

The film’s plot involved ”a situation where these girls get kidnapped and taken to an island,” says Steven Thompson. “Christa’s character gets herself kidnapped and ends up saving them.”

This wasn’t the first time Christa had graced the silver screen. She was previously featured in the schlock horror film from Deep Throat helmer Gerard Damiano - Legacy of Satan. Shot in 1972 and eventually released in April of 1974, the film cast Christa as a member of a satanic cult with overtones of vampirism. Much of the film was actually shot in Christa’s NYC apartment. In a spooky twist of irony, her character is stabbed to death near the conclusion of the film.

Let’s Go for Broke promised to provide more of a showcase for Christa. Envisioned as a female version of Dean Martin’s popular Matt Helm character, Jackie Broke gave Christa a vessel to show off both her kick-ass physicality and comedic chops.

The original budget was set at $700,000, but soon ballooned beyond a million. The choice of Haiti as a filming location might have seemed like a wise cost-cutting measure prior to shooting, but the country’s political and cultural strife proved cumbersome once production began.

Haitian workers were employed for $1 a day to perform the grunt work for the professional crew. Among them were government informants who kept an eye on the crew’s every move. Much of the film was shot at Le Chateau, one of the safest structures in the region but still within earshot of frequent gunfire.

Said key grip Dustin Smith. “I didn’t have much respect for the entire project.”

Interestingly, out of all the cast and crew members involved in this stage of production, the script supervisor would go on to enjoy the most renowned career. Her name was Randa Haines, the acclaimed director of Children of a Lesser God, The Doctor and Wrestling Ernest Hemingway.

Christa’s father made a trip to the Haiti set and was recruited as an extra.

The inexperience of the principal filmmakers made for a scattershot shoot. At the conclusion of their six week production period, the team returned to the States, but their film was far from completion. Reshoots were scheduled to take place in Miami, and a new production crew was brought in to complete the picture, including assistant cameraman Steven Cohen.

”During an exterior day shoot at Vizcaya in Miami, Christa was wearing a halter top costume,” Mr. Cohen recalls. “The DP felt that her breasts looked a little unnaturally squeezed together and asked wardrobe to loosen her top. The wardrobe girl replied with words to the effect of: "I could take the halter off and they're not gonna move!" It was the first time anyone on the crew had seen a boob job.”

Christa began a friendship with the film’s stunt coordinator while filming in Miami - George Fisher. His recollections are featured on the page devoted to Our Investigation.

After two weeks of shooting exteriors and stage work (working from 5:30 am to 8:00 pm), the film completed production once again.

During one of the action scenes, Christa injured her back, which was already vulnerable from the scoliosis she had endured as a youngster. She went into the hospital when she returned to New York, and spent time in leg and pelvic traction.

”What I wouldn’t do for my career,” Christa reflected to Miami reporter at the time.
”I’m tied to peril.”

While she was in the hospital, she found herself in the company of a recent fling - football legend Joe Namath - who was being hospitalized for a shoulder injury. The two would have wheelchair races in the hallways.

Rumors abound that another set of reshoots was ordered to secure the film an R rating, but no evidence of these efforts have materialized.

During this time Christa had begun a relationship with composer and producer Joel Diamond, who encouraged her to sing a theme song for the film. “We flew out to the U.K. to record the song with John Barry’s orchestra from the James Bond films,” he remembers.

Ultimately, the film was unsuccessful in finding public distribution, though it did enjoy an exclusive two-week engagement at the now-defunct 20th Century theater in Cincinnati. During this engagement, on Saturday, December 28, 1974, Christa and other figures from the film attended a pre-screening meet and greet.

One of the attendees was a 27-year old Michael Schlesinger, a film lover who would later serve as Vice President of Sony Pictures. “I have little recollection of the film other than it was the standard Caribbean spy thriller with a female lead,” Michael shared with us. “The only distinctive thing about the film is that they correctly pronounced Haiti as Hi-EE-Tee instead of the usual Hay-tee. The lady was there and we did take a picture together, but God knows where it is now.”

In fact, no photos have been uncovered from this event, and very little is known as to why Cincinnati was chosen as the host city for the theatrical run. It is said that the Mayor Theodore Berry was there that evening, and presented jewelry to Christa during the photo ops from the event. We’ve reached out to the University of Cincinnati, which houses the papers of the former mayor. They have been unsuccessful in locating photos from this event on our behalf.

Christa was undoubtedly hopeful that the film would eventually find exposure across the remainder of the country. She generated a fair amount of press for herself and the film around this time, mainly through Earl Wilson’s gossip columns which were widely syndicated. In these columns, Christa discusses the famous men in her life, her extravagant lifestyle and the arduous experience of filming Let’s Go for Broke.

Perhaps sensing the imminent release of the film and a renewed potential for stardom, she decided to move to Los Angeles in the early weeks of 1975.

We’ve unearthed never-before-published photos of Christa hosting a party at her New York apartment from November of 1974. You can see these photos on our blog. Christa is particularly stunning in these photos, smiling warmly, and looking radiant and joyful as she was on the cusp of starting a new life of possibilities in L.A.

Next chapter: THE LOS ANGELES YEARS