Sep 12, 2010 By Christine Haines 4 min read

BROWNSVILLE – The black sport utility vehicle with a New York license plate and extra-dark tinted windows carrying teen actor Taylor Lautner drove to the Brownsville set location of the movie “Abduction” Friday morning without a single person snapping a photograph or calling for the star’s autograph. It was the final day of filming in Brownsville and with little to see of the actual filming on the closed set, the crowd was reduced to a small group near the production company’s base camp in the Brown Street parking lot and a single family at the corner of Market and Bank streets Friday morning. Fans had apparently caught on that Lautner usually signs autographs and poses for pictures at the end of his day, not while he’s still working. A publicist anticipated a larger crowd in the late afternoon, after school had let out for the day.

By late Friday morning, crews were already starting to roll up electrical cables and pack up the generators that supplied power to all of the equipment on the set for the past four days. While the filming would end by dinnertime, the technical crews were expected to work into the night packing all of the props and equipment brought in for the movie, though a few elements will remain behind.

As past history has shown, the memories of a movie shot in Brownsville also will linger.

Some of the changes such as new light fixtures at Fiddle’s Restaurant will remain after the movie crew leaves Brownsville.

Paul Synuria of Brownsville recalls the filming of “Maria’s Lovers” in Brownsville in the 1983 and made sure he caught at least some of the action for the filming of “Abduction” and “Riddle,” which was filmed in Brownsville earlier this year. Unlike the teens in the crowd who were hoping to see Lautner, Synuria was hoping to meet director John Singleton.

The filming of “Abduction” also brought back memories of “Maria’s Lovers” for Hugh and Colleen Rawson of Brownsville, who met when Hugh Rawson came to Brownsville as the assistant director for that film.

“Her house was the first location I was sent to when we shot here,” Hugh Rawson said. “She was in the pool in a bikini.”

The couple married the following year.

The Rawsons were standing at the corner of Bank and Market streets in downtown Brownsville watching the filming of “Abduction,” which is about a teenager who finds his baby picture on a missing persons website.

“I do like the premise. It’s a ‘Tales from the Darkside’ theme,” Hugh Rawson said, referring to the 1984 television series on which he also served as an assistant director.

“It’s nice to see them bring a movie back to town,” Colleen Rawson said. “What’s strange is “Maria’s Lovers” was down in this area. It brings back a lot of memories. I was one of those groupies. That was the first movie that was done here.”

A new generation of groupies created some new memories this past week.

Samantha McVicker, 15, of Vestaburg visited the set Tuesday in West Brownsville and Wednesday in Brownsville, even though she had already gotten Lautner’s autograph the first day.

“He signed her shirt. She had only worn it once,” said her mother, Sara McVicker.

“The cast and everybody, they were really nice,” said Samantha McVicker.

“They made you feel involved,” said Betsy Barbacow, 32, of Millsboro.

Becky Bardin of Brownsville brought her three young daughters, ages 6, 8 and 11, to the set too see Lautner. They were making a sign to attract the actor’s attention. Bardin said that despite their ages, her children are big fans of Lautner’s and have seen his “Twilight” saga movies.

“Mickenzi (age 6) has been in love with Taylor since he was Sharkboy in “the Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl,” Bardin said.

Tena Pendland of Fredericktown said she was glad to see Brownsville featured in “Abduction.”

“It’s going to be so nice when the movie comes out,” Pendland said.

“Abduction” is scheduled for release next year.

Brownsville Mayor Lester Ward said the production went well and was a good experience for the town.

“We’ve had very good cooperation in the town itself,” Ward said. “Our citizens have been treated very good throughout this whole process. It brings some excitement to the town.”