Horse scene shot at Caesars Palace

One of most challenging scenes in a Sydney Pollack film happened at Caesars Palace.

The idea was to have Robert Redford's character ride a white stallion off stage and through the casino during an early scene in "The Electric Horseman."

"Stallions are known to be high- strung so we spent months training him," the Hollywood director, who died Monday at age 73, told me during an interview at Paris Las Vegas about eight years ago.

"We played a tape recording of slot machine sound for hours in his stall," said Pollack. "He behaved better than the actors."

Pollack, who shot the Las Vegas scenes in 1978, hooked up Redford and Jane Fonda for the romantic comedy.

The premise: Decked out in a neon costume, Redford plays a washed-up rodeo star who appears with the horse in a cheesy stage revue. But when the horse needs to be sedated to appear on stage, Redford decides to make a run for it. Fonda, who plays a reporter, tracks the two down in the scenic wilds.

According to Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com), the movie was inspired by an incident during the filming of "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" when Penny Chenery, the owner of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, was invited to bring the racehorse to the studio. Knowing Secretariat would be skittish in the TV lights, she declined.

Local author Jack Sheehan said Pollack got along famously with Jimmy Chagra, then the king of high rollers at Caesars Palace, during the filming.

They often partied, and "Pollack liked Chagra so much he included him as a gambler during the filming, and even got him a Screen Actors Guild card.

"But as the final cut of the film was being edited, Chagra was indicted for conspiracy in the murder of federal Judge John Wood. Pollack then re-cut the film and left Chagra out, not wanting to take any heat for using him in the movie."

JACKSON SIGHTINGS

Michael Jackson met with one of Donald Trump's go-betweens at the Trump International Hotel & Tower last week.

Jackson and local deal maker Jack Wishna had their meeting early last week in the Trump tower boardroom. Wishna facilitated Jackson's move to Las Vegas in December 2006 after several years of self-exile.

The original plan was to move Jackson into Trump's $125 million mansion in Palm Beach, Fla.

Jackson lived at Trump Tower in New York back in the '80s and has had a personal friendship with Trump for years.

Meanwhile Jackson's eccentric ways surfaced again over the weekend when he attended the UFC 84 event at MGM Grand in a wheelchair, with a black fabric over his face.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Vastly differing reports surfaced about a post-fight exchange between Tito Ortiz and UFC President Dana White. Local celebrity blogger Robin Leach quoted an eyewitness as saying the press conference turned into "total chaos and bedlam." Leach said four police officers were called "to keep Tito and (White) apart." His report is here: http://blogs.lasvegasmagazine.com/VegasLuxeLife/mayhem-after-ufc-battle-cops-called-to-keep-tito-ortiz-and-dana-white-apart/. Michael David Smith of AOL Sports, reporting from the scene, saw it this way: http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/05/27/sorry-robin-leach-tito-ortiz-jenna-jameson-and-dana-white-sto/.

SIGHTINGS

A record crowd at Rehab (Hard Rock Hotel) on Sunday included: Lightning-rod NFL stars Randy Moss and Terrell Owens, along with Shawne Merriman, Kellen Winslow Jr., Brady Quinn, Gabrielle Union, Javon Walker, Champ Bailey, Alex Smith, Reuben Droughns, Lawyer Malloy, and Braylon Edwards. ... Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, drinking Silver Oak at Caramel Bar & Lounge at Bellagio on Saturday. ... Shaquille O'Neal, backstage at "Love" (Mirage) with his family. ... At the UFC event: Michael Jackson, Trump, O'Neal, Jaime Pressly, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, David Spade, Stephen Baldwin, Jenna Jameson, Jason Statham and Mandy Moore. ... Motown icon Smokey Robinson, dining at Vintner Grill in Summerlin on Sunday night. ... Robin Williams, joining Cook E. Jarr on the Carnaval Court stage at Harrah's on Saturday evening.