Has anyone noticed that in the battle at the end of this film we see several indians falling off their horses at the same time? Obviously several stuntmen acting on the same signal. It does slightly detract from what is otherwise a splendid film.
shareUnfortunately, Yes! It is a classic piece of movie 'not so trivia'. The action was staged by stuntman/second unit director Cliff Lyons, who appeared as a charioteer in 'Ben Hur' numerous John Wayne films (Colonel Greenhill in 'The Searchers') and directed the big horse/battle sequences in 'The Alamo' and 'Taras Bulba' to name a few.
In the early years of cinema, horse falls were acomplished by a device known as a 'running W', a cord running to cables attached to the horse's fetlocks. At the given point the stuntman riding the horse pulled on the chord jerking the horses hooves from under. For instances see the Errol Flynn 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' where the riders throw an arm in the air as the horse falls. At first look it seems they are trying to ballance as the horse falls but when one knows, it is evident that they are pulling the cord. The resulting heavy fall resulted in many severe, if not fatal, injuries to horses, which became unacceptable.
Reputedly Lyons developed a technique of training the horses to lay down and once the technique was perfected it got used and overused to the point (The Comancheros) where its exccesive use aroused comment.
Such tender niceties were evidently not required in the 1967 Russian (Dir. Sergei Bondarchuk) version of 'War and Peace' where horses and riders look like they were shot from a catapault! Maybe they were dummies, or already dead, or it didn't matter.
I just watched this movie for the first time. I thought the stunts were done very well, and a tip of the hat to the stunt men who did them.
Harry Lime
Yes, this is a VERY fun film to watch, which I just saw for the first time ever. How did I miss this one?! The anachronisms, the clearly staged stunts, the missed punches---WHO CARES??!! It's a MOVIE, and it's great fun, with an odd story and good performances, particularly by John Wayne & Stuart Whitman.
It is amazing to consider that this film was directed by Michael Curtiz, the director of "Casablanca" and "White Christmas"--talk about range as a director.
This is a fun movie, with lots of harmless killing & mayhem in Texas that looks a lot like Utah. This was one of John Wayne's bigger-than-life roles, yet there are some surprisingly touching scenes as well.
They can say what they want about historical inaccuracies, this film was made to entertain and it does. We need more films like this for the fans of action films to enjoy and not pander to the elitist critics who don't like anything in a film unless it contains something ultra politically correct or tackles a subject that runs contrary the average American.
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