NOT A GOOF!

There is a goof listed for this movie that most certainly is NOT, as I watched this the other night on TCM. The goof in question talks about the scene in the boat where they have to "amputate Dustin Hoffman's ankle because gangrene set in". If you WATCH THE MOVIE, you can clearly see that they are cauterizing a bloody wound on Hoffman's ankle, NOT cutting his foot off. The person reporting the "goof" said it was amazing that later we find Hoffman's character on devil's Island, fully ambulatory with both feet. He didn't lose a foot in the scene in the boat. In fact, the young doctor/prisoner who escaped with them knocked out De Gaus in order to set teh leg. It is possible the fracture had punctured the skin; such an open wound in the jungle would have been asking for trouble. To stop the bleeding and kill any surface infection, they would have had to cauterize that wound. Seen it in a million war movies.