MovieChat Forums > Rooster Cogburn Discussion > I wonder how they did it?

I wonder how they did it?

posted 9 years ago by marmac2768
2 replies | jump to latest

I'm right in the middle of my umpteenth time of watching this great movie. I was really surprised that it wasn't nominated for another Academy Award as the first one, because it is one of Duke Waynes best performances.

One thing that always puzzled me though; in the scene where Breed and the bad guy were tracking Rooster and the raft down the river and come up with a plan to stretch a rope across the river and stop the raft. It's a good idea, but the "plot hole" for me is how did they tie up a rope on both sides of a river when both of them are only one side? Neither of them is wet as one of them had swam across to tie the rope. A curiosity for the ages I guess!!

[–] TongueFu 8 years ago

This is one of the many movie scenes that requires the viewer to suspend disbelief.

[–] gary-64659 8 years ago

Many, many of "the many movie scenes that require the viewer to suspend disbelief" involve the absolutely carefree treatment of the nitro-glycerine tossed around on a speeding, bumping, swerving wagon travelling across rough country, dumped in a river, and entrusted to be carried by a total stranger (Strother Martin) who doesn't seem the most trustworthy or steady-handed, to say the least. I personally have no experience whatsoever of handling "nitro" but in every previous instance I've seen that it makes an appearance in westerns it is treated with the utmost respect, inspiring fear and terror at the thought of the least jolt setting it off. Did anyone else find its treatment as just another prop device at all jarring?