Read the Internet Movie Database entry for "Tilt" here.

A guy named Mark emailed a bunch of stuff for this site, including an article that was an interview with director Rudy Durand, which unfortunately I have since misplaced. He did have this though, to add about this pinball cult oddity:

"According to articles in American Cinematographer (Apr 1979), the
pinball game footage was mostly real.  The crew shot 30,000 feet of film
- about 5 hours - to get the 20 minutes used in the movie.  The task of
shooting perfect close-ups of a game in progress with a 35mm movie
camera was no doubt pretty frustrating so some mock-ups were used,
including a few scenes where the ball was attached to a rod overhanging
the camera lens and photographed against a background.  Those scenes are
in the minority and are fairly easy to spot since the ball is not
rolling and the reflections from it are different than they would
normally be.

The entire film, both interiors and exteriors, was shot on locations
around Santa Cruz, CA and Corpus Christi, TX which adds to the realism
and atmosphere considerably.  I've seen the theatrical version of Tilt
(on film) many times and have had the chance to examine it pretty
closely over the years.  It's quite well done but unappreciated
unfortunately by people who view movies superficially.  Tilt is the sort
of film that if a person doesn't care about filmmaking details he/she
probably won't enjoy the movie much.  I think director Rudy Durand, in
his zeal for pinball and the project, over-estimated the acuity of his
audience.

Another thing to consider is that the Warner Bros version of the movie
was not the director's cut.  It would be nice to see the film the way
the Mr. Durand intended but that doesn't seem likely at this point."

FRONT COVER

BACK COVER.

"I believe it was not a complete game, just a complicated mock-up.  Back in the early 80's I visited an old-time coin machine industry person named Bob Jonesi.  During our conversation he told me that he was the one who "designed" that game mock-up for the movie.  Back in the late 40's he worked for Universal Industries who was a subsidiary to United and made console slots, etc."

Fast forward to June 26, 2014, approximately 13 years after this page you are looking at went online, I received an email from an individual by the name of Kevin Cacy, who not only let me know of a couple pins I missed noting, ("Stingray" and "Far Out) but also offered more information on the Koala pins and even a one of a kind "Tilt" pin.

"The two games created for the film were called fabricated from Gottlieb, Williams, and Bally pieces and the fake company was called Koala. The two games are Koala Astrological and Koala Cosmic Venus. Williams also made a prototype cabinet that was to be mass produced if the film was a success, but we all know that never happened. I live in San Antonio, Texas and I have a friend by the name of Tim Jenison, who is the focus of the documentary, Tim's Vermeer, which is out on dvd/blu now! Tim owns the two games and the prototype machine from TILT and I was able to play him in a game of Cosmic Venus! You see, Tim was able to take the game and place an MPU board in to make it actually play and the game is pretty bada*s!! Apparently Brooke was actually a pretty good pinball player and was one of two people who actually could knock down the ten drop targets on Cosmic Venus in numerical order."

I recently rented "Tim's Vermeer." Although I'm not an artist, seeing a project from start to finish over years was fascinating. Also, the brief pinball reference and sighting was an unexpected surprise.

Russ actually interviewed Harry Williams, the founder of Williams Pinball. In this excerpt, Mr. Williams comments on "Tilt."

"The last thing that Harry mentioned during this conversation was that he had recently attended a special showing of the new Brooke Shields movie, "Tilt", the idea being that the producer wanted him, the inventor of the "tilt", to endorse the film. He said that the film wasn't too bad but that it's the portrayal of 'pinball hustling' "certainly could not help the image of the pinball industry. Harry ended by saying that the movie was somewhat boring to him and that he hoped it would not be very popular. He didn't think it would be. Well, we never really had a chance to find out since the film was never really released to theaters but several years later made limited appearances on cable and regular television."

from the article, "A Visit With Harry Williams" by Russ Jensen

"Many years ago I was visited by an old Jr. High buddy who ended up in the movie industry (like his father before him who had been a cameraman at Paramount).  Anyway he once came to visit us with a friend who was also in the movie industry.  When they saw my pins his friend told me that earlier that year he had worked on the production of the movie TILT.  He then told me that the title originally planned for the film was "Nickle Lights".  I thought that was interesting."

"Where can I find this cinematic.....um.....masterpiece?" Well, it goes without saying this movie went out of print almost instantly. I've seen VHS used copies on Ebay affordably priced. I would search under "tilt VHS" and there's usually one fairly cheap.

Also, check your cable listings. It shows up every now and then on WTBS, etc..

Stingray, Stern, 1977

Far Out, Gottlieb, 1974

300, Gottlieb, 1975

Astrological, Koala, 197?

Cleopatra (EM), Gottlieb, 1977

Skylab, Williams, 1974

Space Mission, Williams, 1976

College bar scene

Triple Action, Williams, 1974

Thorn Arcade, ?Mexico?

?Mustang, Gottlieb, '77

King Pin, Gottlieb, 1973

Cosmic Venus, Koala/Williams, 1978

The Whale's bar/gameroom, "Tilt"(Brooke Shields), challenges "Whale"(Charles Durning to a game of pinball.

(end of movie)