MovieChat Forums > Khartoum (1966) Discussion > Charlton Heston's head

Charlton Heston's head

posted 18 years ago by zooeyhall
34 replies | jump to latest

Near the end of the movie, after Khartoum has fallen, the Mahdi's followers return to his tent. They are holding aloft what appears to be a spear or long pole, the top of which is out of frame. As they stop in front of the Mahdi's tent and he comes out, he looks up at it. The camera pans slowly pans upwards, and as it nears the top we see a very brief glimpse of blood running down before the shot fades. It is implied, but never shown, that it must be Gordon's head on the end of the spear.

Years ago, when this movie premiered on tv in the early 1970's, there was an article about the making of this movie in TV Guide magazine. I remember the article said that the scene was actually shot showing Gordon's head on a spear. The first preview showings of the film featured this sequence intact. However audiences found it so horrifying that the producers ended up cutting-out part of the scene. So all we see is Olivier looking up in horror before the fade out.

The article also said that after the film was completed, they gave the head "prop" to Heston, who used to bring it out at parties to startle guests.

Is any of this true? Someone said the missing footage was still in existence. Has there ever been a release of the film showing this sequence intact?

[–] steve-haslam 17 years ago

Yes his head was on the pole(I saw this file at the cinema).I have never seen the head on TV or DVD

[–] Whiterim 17 years ago

Yes, I also remember seeing Gordon's head on the pole when I saw Khartoum at the movies. I don't know why it hadn't been restored, given the graphic nature of so many film nowadays.

[–] HORNBLOWER1 16 years ago

As a child my parents allowed me to stay up late and watch this film on NBC "Night at the Movies". To be honest I do not remember if the head was on the pole, but another missing scene has bothered me for forty years. When Stuart and the Europeans are heading up the Nile in the steamer they beat off an attack and begin cheering because the Mahdists have no heavy guns after all. Then as the boat rounds a been you see the gun barrels hidden on the shore. This clears up the mystery of what happened to them when they never arrive upstream and explains how the Mahdi ended up with Stuart's hand and ring. An important scene that needs restoring.

[–] cowgoesmoo 9 years ago

I watched Khartoum again for the first in 20 years and was also surprised that the scene of Gordon's head on a pole was missing. There is a cross fade from the top of the pole to Gordon's statue - with the head of the statue now located on screen where the pole had once been.

I thought perhaps I had remembered that scene wrong but coming here, I find that others remembered it as well. I don't know if it was edited out in recent years (what with the beheadings of Western hostages these days) or if it was done a long time ago because it was thought too graphic for television.

[–] Hammerfanatic46 17 years ago

Gordon P. Clarkson

Its not so much his head that bothers me,it is his presence.Why have an American play such a quintessentialy British character ?. W e have always produced marvelous actors is the UK so why not use one ?

[–] marcuswebb 17 years ago

Why cast an American actor as a British character? Presumably for the same reason that British actors got the plum parts of American characters in films like Gone With the Wind, North By Northwest, Dr. Strangelove, Nixon, Amistad, Bugsy, and dozens more: because they had boxoffice appeal and the film's directors and producers thought they brought the right qualities to the role.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bertrambunter 16 years ago

Tomcat: The diplomatic corps surely lost out when you opted for your chosen profession - on the other hand, you don't, by any means, mince your words, and there's a lot to be said for that.

[–] greenbanzanas 14 years ago

Why was I not surprised to see you refer to someone as a Muslim monkey?

What's wrong with you?

[–] fusillade2000 17 years ago

As marcuswebb says, it is likely that Heston was cast due to both box office appeal as well as the director and producer(s) thinking he brought the right qualities to the role.

KHARTOUM, I think, was praised at the time of its release (and since) for its battle scenes, lead actors/stars and script. It was also criticized, as by the poster above, for lacking the "authenticity" it presumably sought by casting an American (Heston) as the British Gordon as well as a Briton (Olivier) as the Sudanese Mahdi. But IMO Heston, once into the part, was able to draw on at least some of the steadfast and sturdy qualities (as well as a sense of irony) of his own (mostly) Scottish heritage to portray the Scot Gordon effectively. And Olivier, though also criticized by some for trying to combine the Mahdi and Othello (which he was playing on the stage about the same time this film was made) into the same character, managed to bring out the charisma of the Mahdi while showing a different persona than Othello.

It may be interesting also that in any case (IIRC) it was another American actor, Burt Lancaster, who was the original choice as Gordon in this motion picture. Lancaster in the late 1950's/early 1960's had headed up, with a couple of others, his own production company Hecht-Hill-Lancaster. As happened with actors then and now, his filming schedule was projected several years ahead of time and included KHARTOUM. With the demise of Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, it of course interrupted that schedule. Some of the projects/roles Lancaster did anyway, others were never done by anyone (yet). Still others were done with other actors, such as Charlton Heston in KHARTOUM (and THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY, I believe, was another one first planned for Lancaster). Again, perhaps interesting to speculate on what aspects of his own (Anglo-Irish) background Lancaster might have brought to Gordon, how it might have been different from and similar to Heston.

Returning to marcuswebb's post, British actors have indeed gotten many non-British (including American) parts over the years. Some of these have worked out, some not (Anthony Hopkins as NIXON?!). And all the "ancient" Greeks and Romans portrayed by Brits. One final note is the (IMO mostly good) 1980's Tarzan movie done in Britain. This mythos, created by an American writer yet using many British (Greystoke of British aristocratic ancestry though raised in African jungle) main characters, finally got a "British" spin. However, the lead role was played by a French actor!

Anthony

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 9 years ago

Interesting post (and yes a very old one, I realize). Burt Lancaster as Gordon? He would have been even more miscast than Heston! Leave aside nationality, why are we casting such brawny, physically imposing stars as the short, stout Gordon?

I'm afraid that you underestimate the number of subjects in which I take an interest!

[–] mam13143 15 years ago

Well said sir -- people do get too caught up in who is playing the part - and it is all based on box office appeal. Alec Guinness in Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago are also prime examples. Heston was HESTON then - and Olivier was OLIVIER -- hence the casting!!!

[–] df_az 17 years ago

Such a silly thing to say. Almost all of the American soldiers in "Band of Brothers" were played by British actors. No one should care about such things. If the acting is good and the accents work, so be it.

[–] runbone 17 years ago

I'd have to agree with the above poster. If the actor can "act" and use different accents or at least be convincing as the character than does it really mater were the actor is from and whom they are playing. Khartoum is great film. I saw it while I was in high school working at a video store. Then I got the VHS version and still like to watch the adventure. I wish film makers would bring back the historical colonial/imperial epic films and not the PC version. Look at the 2002 Four Feathers, just awful, see the 1939 version for a great film to be your "sequel" to Khartoum.

[–] bertrambunter 16 years ago

Runbone: I did quite enjoy the 2002 version of the Four Feathers, but as you say, it was very fanciful, and the black guy was certainly well played and sympathetic, but authentic - no way. However, for the sake of PC inclusiveness, they needed him. Have you seen the latest Robin Hood TV series - it's a laugh a minute!! A muslim girl who dresses and wears her hair like a boy and is called Jack. A black mother superior of a convent, and Friar Tuck has been expunged altogether!!

In 1939, however, movie makers were not concerned with PC, just good movie ,making!!

[–] geejaytee76 17 years ago

The man played Moses, for crying out loud! How can anyone object to his playing Charles Gordon?

[–] dolphin_nosed_bottle 16 years ago

A hearty 'hear, hear' to GJT...

...yeah, Heston *should* have stuck to playing a Hebrew enslaved by either egyptians or romans...much more 'authentic'

good grief...it's like affirmative action for actors...smh

...as Edward G. Robinson would say;

"Myahhhh...where's yer Messiah nooooooow?"

"HOY, EH, ACHA...Hoy, Eh, Acha...hoy, eh, acha...oy, e, cha...o, e, a " - Col. Saito

[–] Hammerfanatic46 17 years ago

Gordon P. Clarkson

Ok,Two points.First,here in the UK we Produce great actors,not "stars" they are not the same thing.Secondly ,the next time there is a film about a famous American ,why not try casting a Brit as Abraham Lincoln or George Washington ?The squeals from the American media would be audible from across the Atlantic !

[–] marcuswebb 17 years ago

Well, Hammerfanatic46, you've got your wish, sort of. Liam Neeson is going to play the title role in Spielberg's LINCOLN!

[–] Hammerfanatic46 16 years ago

Gordon P. Clarkson

I am sure he will be excellent

[–] bertrambunter 16 years ago

Ah now, that may be partly because of physique! Lincoln suffered from acromegaly, didn't he? And although LIam Neeson doesn't appear to have that condition, he is very tall and anyway, wasn't Lincoln of Scots-Irish descent, and so is Neeson - well he's from Ulster, anyway.

[–] MystMoonstruck 11 years ago

Lincoln suffered from acromegaly, didn't he?

That has never been suggested.

From Wikipedia~theories:
Marfan syndrome: Based on Lincoln's unusual physical appearance, Dr. Abraham Gordon proposed in 1962 that Lincoln had Marfan syndrome. Testing Lincoln's DNA for Marfan syndrome was contemplated in the 1990s, but such a test was not performed. Lincoln's unremarkable cardiovascular history and his normal visual acuity have been the chief objections to the theory, and today geneticists consider the diagnosis unlikely. {{I still hear/read this in connection with Lincoln, so some haven't given up on it.}}

Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia: In 2007, Dr. John Sotos proposed that Lincoln had multiple endocrine neoplasia, type 2B (MEN2B). This theory suggests Lincoln had all the major features of the disease: a marfan-like body shape, large, bumpy lips, constipation, hypotonia, a history compatible with cancer – to which Sotos ascribes the death of Lincoln's sons Eddie, Willie, and Tad, and probably his mother. The "mole" on Lincoln's right cheek, the asymmetry of his face, his large jaw, his drooping eyelid, and "pseudo-depression" are also suggested as manifestations of MEN2B. MEN2B is a genetic disorder, and recently it has been demonstrated that Lincoln's biological mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, had many of the same unusual facial features as her son, as well as a marfanoid body habitus. Lincoln's longevity is the principal challenge to the MEN2B theory: Lincoln lived long enough to be assassinated at age 56, while untreated MEN2B is generally understood to result in death by the patient's mid-thirties. The theory could be proven by DNA testing.

By now, you know that a British actor~Daniel Day-Lewis~DID play Lincoln. Well, Canadian-born and Oxford-educated Raymond Massey portrayed the martyred president a number of times in film and on stage.

From the Land of Lincoln...

*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***

[–] bertrambunter 16 years ago

There was a very very good TV play on this subject, Gordon was played by Eric?? Cadell - I may have the name wrong - it's absolutely donkeys years ago since it was on. I don't really object to Charlton Heston in that particular role, I thought he was pretty good, and his accent was good, and he is of scottish descent , I understand. Of course now, to be totally accurate they would have needed to cast a very short man, 5' 5".

I am just trying to think who was about at that time, 1966 - Paul
Schofield, Lawrence Harvey (bit young perhaps) Sir Lawrence Olivier himself, then they could have found someone else to play the Mahdi, David Niven Trevor Howard. I'm sure there were plenty, but I guess they want a big star for a big part in a big epic type thing.

Any other ideas, anyone??

[–] bertrambunter 16 years ago

It was in fact, Alan Badell, not eric Cadell, where on earth did I get that one from??? Anyway, it was very good.

[–] davedrawsgood 17 years ago

SPOILER!

[–] zooeyhall 17 years ago

huh?

[–] bertrambunter 16 years ago

I think they did actually stick Gordon's head on a pole (not that it really mattered to him, did it). I understand, however, that when the relief column finally arrived in Khartoum and the Mahdi had died, the British dug him up and put his head up on a pole, which is quite a shameful thing, and totally unnecessary. That also happened to Oliver Cromwell, and his MOTHER!! of all awful things, so it seems that the British were equal opportunity grave desecrators one way and another.

[–] cowgoesmoo 9 years ago

You are correct about Cromwell's body. Following the restoration of the monarchy after Cromwell's death, King Charles II ordered Cromwell's body (as well as the bodies of two others who participated in the overthrow of King Charles I) disinterred whereupon it underwent a ceremonial "execution" and decapitation, with his head being publicly displayed on a pole for about 25 years (give or take) thereafter.

You are also correct that the Mahdi's grave was desecrated by the British, with his skull being turned over to Lord Kitchener.

However, a reader might think from your post that Cromwell's mother got the same treatment as Cromwell did and had her head stuck on a pole. His mother (Elizabeth Steward) and several others who backed Cromwell were disinterred from their graves within various chapels, but were reburied outside. While her grave was disturbed as part of the reburial process, to the best of my knowledge, nothing disrespectful was done to her remains.

[–] LionHearted99 16 years ago

In the version I saw years ago, the faces of the decapitated ones were also shown. Now in this new DVD version, that part has been eliminated.

[–] pete36 11 years ago

Just saw the original roadshow copy of "Khartoum" (with intermission included)in UltraPanavision 70 mm at the Schauburg theatre in Karlsruhe (Germany that is)
Looks incredible on this very large and curved screen. Supersharp images, great sound and it feels if you are there with Gordon et al.in the desert.

But : no head of Gordon on a stick and only back shots of the decapitated heads of the Europeans.

Sorry guys !

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

Thanks for that Pete. I remember seeing

...the original roadshow copy of "Khartoum" (with intermission included)in UltraPanavision 70 mm ...

too and to be honest, I can't remember seeing his head either. This was back in 1966/67 when such graphic depictions as described, weren't generally allowed or encouraged.

BTW I enjoyed reading the commentary above in the knowledge that Daniel Day - Lewis went on to play Lincoln and did a sterling job.

Given the time, his pedigree and commercial appeal I think Chuck Heston did quite well too sans Scottish accent (which IMO was sensible)and in the knowledge that he looked nothing like "Chinese" Gordon.

[–] ronfirv 10 years ago

I re-watched my dvd a few weeks ago and although we say a long pole being lifted up and down in the darkness, no head was shown. It was extremely obvious we were left to imagine what was at the end of the pole - not too difficult or must everything be spelled out nowadays?
Yes, wise to not attempt a Scottish accent. In any case I doubt it would have been a strong one as he lived most of his life overseas and in southern England.
By all reports, he was barely of medium height, did enjoy a drink, and had an explosive temper. (Scottish traits there!)
As the Sudanese (or most of them)loved and respected him, that suggests to me he retained the common touch, was just, and talked straight. People respect that as they know where they stand irrespective the facts that they will not like the message.
Oh that our British politicians would learn!

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

In any case I doubt it would have been a strong one as he lived most of his life overseas and in southern England.

I agree. Heston IMO tried a neutral sort of accent which as far as I am concerned did the job. He more than anyone I'm sure would have realised the folly and possible humour resulting from him attempting a Scottish dialect.

[–] TheBoz 9 years ago

I saw it on TV with the head on the pole ages ago. Just watched it on Cable and they only had the Mahdi seeing the Pole disappear into the darkness with only blood running down it.

Im glad to see that I wasn't crazy expecting to see the head today yet still it got censured.