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The Whip In The Movies
by Alex Green
I thought you might like to look up a few of my old favorite late
night videos to catch the whip in action. Like the knife, the whip
is a dubious weapon. It is mostly used by the bad guys, however when
“Indiana Jones” & “Zorro” are wielding it, it’s all for good and
justice!! Showing not brutality but exoticism, as we all sit out
there in the dark! A couple of B Westerns - Lash La Rue and Whip
Wilson chose to name themselves after the bullwhip.
Look out for some of these “oldies”! Watch all the “Zorro”s -
Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, Guy Williams, Anthony Hopkins and
Antonio Banderas to name just a few. Lee Marvin “The Man Who Shot
Liberty Valance” – 1962, Ted De Corsia in “Showdown At Abilene” and
Clint Eastwood’s “High Plains Drifter” - 1972. Whip-wielding Spencer
Tracy in “Broken Lance” – 1954 (I own this very whip; it’s in my
collection and is a real prize! I got it at the 20th Century Fox
auction over 25 years ago!)
Sometimes employed as an instrument of humiliation which you can see
by looking at Walter Matthau in Burt Lancaster’s “The Kentuckian.”
By the way Whip Wilson appears in a character roll in the saloon and
was Walter’s whip coach in this 1955 movie. Karl Malden in Marlon
Brando’s “One Eyed Jacks” - 1960, Kirk Douglas gets whipped in “The
Way West” so does Arthur Kennedy in “Nevada Smith.”
“Forty Guns,” made in 1957, has Barbara Stanwyck playing the Ranch
Boss and the movie’s theme song describes her as “The high-riding
women with the whip!” Years later, she played a station owner
(that’s a rancher, to you Yanks) in the Australian mini-series “The
Thorn birds” where she wields an 8 ft. true Aussie Stock Whip!
A few of the films I’ve worked with the whip on over the last thirty
five years are “Buffalo Bills & The Indians,” “Unforgiven,” “Voyage
of the Unicorn,” “Shanghai Noon,” “Call of the Wild,” “Klondike
Fever,” “Natty Gann” and “White Fang.” Also here are a few T.V.
Series where I used the whip; “Gunsmoke,” “Hawkeye,” “The Immortal,”
“Friday the 13th,” “Davey Crockett,” “X-Files” and “Bordertown.”
And of course my greatest time of all – doubling Sir Anthony Hopkins
in “The Mask of Zorro” and getting to be whip coach and doing all
the off screen wraps, catches, etc. It would be wonderful if all
films were made that way. It doesn’t matter if you are eight or
eighty, all can enjoy the magic and adventure of this movie mostly
because there is no bad language, nudity or sex all over the place.
Now everyone go out and practice! Good night Rider and Roper Kiesner
where ever you are.
Adios, Alex & Whisky.
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Legendary Montie Montana, Jr.
and Sir Anthony Hopkins take
a break on the set of the
movie "Hearts in Atlantis"
Enjoy articles and tips from masters
such as world-famous TV and
Movie Stuntman, Whip Coach
of the Stars Alex Green |
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