MovieChat Forums > Branded (1965) Discussion > Here's my big problem with Branded!

Here's my big problem with Branded!


At the opening of each show: How could that dude break a sword in two just by hitting it over his knee? And he does it with his bare hands, no less! Even when I watched the show as a kid I thought that was silly.

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Oh, yeah! Childhood! Maybe it was this show that had me putting that to the test many years ago. Never thought about the influence until I read your comment though. I've broken things on my knee, before I had any martial arts training, just because I saw it done on TV and I wanted to either show off or see if it could be done, or whatever. But you know, unless you have the andrenaline rush from anger or something to aid you, if you don't know what you're doing, it hurts a whole lot! Now I know I was using the wrong part of my leg. Using the soft fleshy part full of nerves, because you think it will soften the impact, is wrong! Using the hard knee bone, is what I should have done. I think when I did break something, I used my knee cap coincidently, rather than intentionally, and when I hurt myself, I didn't use my knee, but my thigh probably. But anyway, I eventually bought a katana as a Christmas gift for my brother one year in the 1980's. A machete some other time. Anyway, the point is, hitting any blade at just the right angle with sufficent force and at the weakest spot, will cause the blade to break, unless it is of the densest material. I didn't try that theory out though on something I just bought as a gift! But I've seen knife blades broken often enough by misuse and abuse. Granted, not on a knee cap. But thanks for making me remember something I'd forgotten about!

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When Alfred Dreyfus was unjustly convicted of espionage in 1894 he faced a public degradation which looks to have been the model for the opening scene of Branded. His badges of rank were stripped from his uniform as were his buttons, and his sword was broken over the knee of a burly Sergent. The sward was filed in advance of the ceremony to ensure a clean break.

(Dreyfus was exonerated in 1906. Today, a statue of Dreyfus holding his broken sword stands at the entrance to the Museum of Jewish Art and History in Paris.)

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I also never bought that his insignia could be ripped off that easily. Unless it was held on by velcro-which it obviously wasn't. It would have been pretty awkward if the guy struggled while ripping off the bars .....

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What happened to McCord and Dreyfus was pretty much standard operating prodeedure
when officers were drummed out of the army. And I'm sure that everything was weakened before hand to make the rip-off and breaking go off without a hitch.

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I should add that everyone would probably be in full dress uniform during such an important ceremony and that 19th Century full dress US army uniforms were much fancier and more Ruritanian than western movies indicate.

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What bothered me was that Hollywood had to give him a weapon to set him apart like he had in The Rifleman. I would have preferred that he just carried a big ole Navy Colt or the like.

Sam

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My big problem with branded was that all McCord had to do was move to Rhode Island say his name was Melvin Glockenspeil and no one would know the difference. Wht live in shame?

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The major reason that he accepted the branding as a coward was that he held fast to his personal code of honor. He did not want to disgrace his CO/mentor by letting the truth come out (showing honor to someone he valued highly) and he was not about to dirty his own name by acting in a fashion very much contrary to his ethical nature: living a lie by falsifying his identity. Besides that, if the time came that the truth did come out and McCord was exonerated, living a lie by living under an assumed name would call into question whether the story was true or only a rumor circulated by a man with so little honor that he preferred to compound the lie with an even bigger lie: a false identity. If he continued to live with the stigma of his cowardly reputation, then it would be more likely that the truth would be accepted and his name properly cleared.

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But this week they showed the episode where they re-arrested him so he could get tight with the leader of a secret group of ex-Confederates (the Knights of Liberty?) who knows where millions in stolen gold is hidden. Admittedly there was way too much plot stuffed into a half hour but I got the impression from some dialogue at the end that McCord's initial court martial was similarly faked so he could work under cover as a spy/agent for the U.S. government. Which has me really confused -- did the series actually end up undercutting its own premise like that? And trick the audience (and not in a good way) in the process?

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This discussion indicates your impression was correct.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058792/board/thread/155022161?d=169318826&p=1#169318826

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It certainly was more believable then Liam Neeson grabbing the sword in Rob Roy.

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I don't see why breakinf a sword is such a catastrophy.

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The saber is ceremonial and symbolic of his oath and honor. Having it broken and having one's rank insignia ripped off one's uniform was considered a "dishonorable discharge." This disallowed the man to try to pass himself as a man of honor and integrity by still claiming to be an officer in good standing. It could be considered the military version of being shunned, you might say.

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My big problem with branded was that all McCord had to do was move to Rhode Island say his name was Melvin Glockenspeil and no one would know the difference.



The Rhode Island Glockenspeils???

Bad move. Trashy family. The Rhode Island Glockenspeils opened the very first trailer park (they were called Conestoga Parks back then) in New England..



Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. Is very bad.

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Many years ago Chuck Connors brought to a talk show an alternate version of that opening sequence that the crew had put together as a joke. It showed the commanding officer struggling unsuccessfully to tear the insignia from the uniform, then, in angry frustration, pulling out the sword and trying to break it over his knee. After three or more futile attempts at this the officer flips out completely and thrusts the sword point-first toward Connors' rear end. There is then a quick cut to Connors' face showing him suddenly going cross-eyed and smiling in a silly way.

I'm pretty sure this was on the Mike Douglas talk show, though I'm foggy about the date.

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Don Martin parodied this beautifully in Mad magazine, in which the commanding officer, while performing the ritual, cuts his leg off.

But throughout it all, my motto was "Dignity! Always dignity!".

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In order to keep a sharp edge, cutting instruments such as knives and swords are made from hardened steel. Steel is hardened by heating it to a high temperature and then rapidly cooling it. Soft steel - like the steel in your cars fenders -
will bend under pressure. Hard steel does not bend, but instead will break when enough force is applied. When used for their intended purpose, knives and swords are quite strong, but if enough lateral force is applied, they can break. I'm not certain a sword could be broken by hitting it against your knee, but I would't rule it out either.

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