By Jared Council
Patriot Guard documentary premiere sells out..
MOLLY BARTELS / Courier & Press Seattle-based Independent filmmaker Ellen Frick talks with moviegoers during a party at Bud's Harley-Davidson after the world premiere screening of the documentary "Patriot Guard Riders" film at Showplace East Cinemas in Evansville on Sunday. Frick hopes to place the film in festivals and is eyeing the home market as well.
EVANSVILLE — Those engine-revving, leather-clad bikers, who began aiding military families in 2006, for the first time are profiled in a film.
More than 400 people came to see its sold-out premiere on Evansville's East Side on Sunday afternoon.
"These guys are true patriots," said former Congressman Brad Ellsworth, who attended the premiere of the documentary "Patriot Guard Riders" at Showplace Cinemas. "Some are vets and some aren't, and no matter the weather, they show their patriotism and respect for our troops."
The group Patriot Guard Riders began in 2006 when a few American Legion riders in Kansas coalesced in response to protests by the Westboro Baptist Church, whose members believe that soldiers' deaths are God's way of punishing America for tolerating homosexuality.
Since then, the Patriot Guard Riders group has grown to nearly 250,000 members nationally, with about 250 in the Tri-State.
Families that have had the Patriot Guard Riders as part of their cortege during their military funerals have often thanked and commended them. In the film, a top Westboro member shared her thoughts.
"The first time I saw them ... was in Chelsea, Oklahoma," said Shirley Phelps, a member of the controversial Kansas group that often protests at military funerals, in the documentary.
MOLLY BARTELS / Courier & Press Peggy Jo Hammond greets friends during a party at Bud's Harley-Davidson after the world preview screening of the Patriot Guard Riders documentary film at Showplace East Cinemas in Evansville on Sunday. The movie, created by independent filmmaker Ellen Frick, talks about the origins of the Patriot Guard and its relationship with military families and funerals. Hammond's son, Pfc. Jonathan Pfender, was killed in Iraq in 2005, and Patriot Guard Riders warded off protesters at the funeral.
"And no joke: They started revving those engines, and the earth shook."
The film opens in the Tri-state, profiling Newburgh resident Peggy Jo Hammond. Hammond's son, Pfc. Jonathan Pfender, was killed in Iraq. Westboro members came to Evansville to picket at his funeral and they found the Patriot Guard Riders protecting the funeral.
National range
The film also captured the riders in other states, including Washington, Oregon and Iowa. Despite the different places, genders, vehicles and ages (not all members are bikers; some were adolescents), the mission seemed to be the same.
"You, leather-clad bikers who nobody knows ... you took some of that pain from them," said a Washington state rider named Mike Flannagan.
"They're going to look back on today and think about what a horrible, nightmare of a day it was that their son is gone. And probably the one bright spot that they're going to be able to look back on is you."
In addition to spotlighting military families and the riders, the film also touched on other issues, including free speech. Some of the film's videographers spent some time with Westboro members, including taking a four-hour trip with them to a funeral.
The other issue the film touched was the treatment of Vietnam veterans, when those soldiers came coming home from tours. Some were met with urine-filled balloons, veterans in the film recalled.
"When I got home," Jim Dickson, a Vietnam veteran and Patriot Guard Rider, said in the film, "I felt like I was in a foreign country."
The film garnered much headshaking during the Westboro scenes. But it also extracted some laughs and had a few emotional parts. Several people hugged and thanked filmmaker Ellen Frick, who attended the showing, as they exited the theater.
"It feels fantastic," said Frick, who had been working on the film since 2006. She was inspired by a piece in Time Magazine that ran in May that year, titled "The Harley Honor Guard."
Rick Williams, the ride captain of the local Patriot Guard, is the reason Frick came to Southern Indiana. Frick was looking for a good story and had been in contact with local riders, and Rick told her about Hammond, whom Frick later spent a week with in spring 2010.
Festival plans
The Evansville premiere was only Sunday, but the film will be shown in select theaters in other cities. Frick said she intends to market the film to networks and at film festivals, and plans on having it mass-produced for consumers come August.
"It was great," said Brad Youngblood, 29, of Evansville. "It was a good depiction of what Patriot Guard (members) do."
"I'm glad to see it premiering," said Williams. "I think it's a story that needed to be told. It was a bit overdue."
"(I hope it raises) awareness so that people who don't know about PG will soon know about it and so that people can see the evilness and the heartlessness of Westboro."
Hammond said she will always remember the Patriot Guard as "the silent heroes who rolled up on steel to protect my family, my friends and most importantly my son," and she wants people to realize how much the Patriot Guard helped.