Movie Set’s Debris Stirs a Beach ‘War’

Charred chunks of a yacht blown up by a film crew for the Charles Bronson movie “The Assassins” were dragged ashore at Laguna Beach by the Coast Guard, triggering a confrontation with lifeguards who threatened to ticket the guardsmen for littering the beach.

The two Coast Guardsmen who were ordered by their superiors to clear the debris--deemed a navigation hazard--were chastised and prevented from going back to their ship Friday afternoon during a 20-minute encounter with Laguna Beach lifeguards.

“Tell your superiors that you are physically detained,” lifeguard Mark Klosterman told Coast Guardsman Andy Needle, as he reached inside the seaman’s motorboat and yanked out the ignition key.

Began Breaking Up

The floating debris was from a 50-foot yacht exploded by Cannon Films in Newport Bay last week. While being towed away, the remains of the yacht began breaking up and debris cluttered the ocean off Laguna Beach.

The Coast Guard was called in to clean up the mess before it caused problems for boaters.

Guardsmen Needle and Joe Reavis drew the lifeguard’s attention when they began hauling several large chunks of the debris onto the sand a few hundred yards south of Main Beach.

Klosterman threatened to have the two ticketed if they left the debris on the beach, and radioed for a police officer when they refused to comply.

Told to Remove It

Police Officer G.L. Gosper arrived moments later and told Needle: “Put it back in the boat and take it off the beach. We don’t want that ---- here.”

The officer reconsidered the order when he learned Needle and Reavis were from the Coast Guard. After consultation with a variety of agencies, it was finally agreed to leave the debris on the beach until Cannon Films crews could take it away.

Klosterman then helped the seamen drag the debris to a dry-sand portion of the beach.