A horse get shot during a shootout. I've seen so many shootouts in westerns where people get shot off of horses but wonder how the horses miraculously never so much as get wounded. I just find something like that very unlikely.
Yippee: "For king!"
Yappee: "For country!"
Yahooie: "And, most of all, for 10¢ an hour!"
True Grit.
Yippee: "For king!"
Yappee: "For country!"
Yahooie: "And, most of all, for 10¢ an hour!"
Hondo and Cahill US Marshall.
shareI can only guess that it is hard to make it look believable. There is a high standard of authenticity in westerns. Steve McQueen went to the authority on western authenticity; Louis L'Amour.
It is more unbelievable in the old tv westerns where someone would "hide" behind a 4x4 fence post for protection in a shootout. I would keep looking for a place to hide behind before I would stop there.
I think that it would be just as believable as hitting the man on the horse. I would think hitting a horse unintentionally would be within the realm of reality.
"I'm in such bad shape, I'm wearing prescription underwear." Phyllis Diller 1917-2012
I guess there are two ways to look at it. It might be hard to make it look like a horse was shot without getting in trouble with PETA and ASPCA. Also, in the old west a horse was the most valuable thing beside a human and I am sure there were some people who regarded horses as more valuable. That is why it was universally accepted that stealing horses was a hanging offense. If someone got caught red handed stealing a horse he/she had better ride fast.
I was always curious how horse swapping worked. A rider might have a horse that was played out and needed to be rested and the rider would grab another horse and leave the first one behind. Maybe some of the authorities on the old west could answer that for me.
I wish Louis L'Amour was still with us because he probably knew the answer. Just thing what he could do with today's technology. He was old school with his writing and I heard that he had the ideas for eight more Sackett books that he never got to put together and flesh out. Sorry to get off on this bunny trail.
If they can make it look as if Mongo knocked out a horse with a punch in Blazing Saddles, they could make it look as if a horse was shot dead without really hurting it. Anyway, I think you're kind of missing my point. I'm not saying in the Old West that a horse was shot on purpose. I'm saying that with all of the bullets flying around during shootouts, that it would be possible that a horse would get hit by accident. Or, just maybe, there was some really mean outlaw who would shoot someone's horse to leave them stranded somewhere like in the desert. I know how horses were regarded during this time. That is why in the scene where Horn's horse gets killed while he's in a shootout, Horn shoots the man again even though he's already dead.
Deputy marshal Bass Reeves was noted for taking two horses with him. He would ride one during the day, then switch to the other at night while pursuing outlaws. He would be able to make up ground on his quarry while they were sleeping at night.
"I'm in such bad shape, I'm wearing prescription underwear." Phyllis Diller 1917-2012
I had forgotten about the scene from Blazing Saddles. Technology in that area has certainly come a long way since then so you are right that my point is moot. I regret missing your point about horses and maybe bystanders getting shot with all of the bullets flying back and forth. It is also amusing in the older westerns where a showdown is fixing to happen and people are standing around and behind the shooters. Hello! The smarter ones got off the street.
It falls into a genre of weird west, which I wish I could find more of that, one of the main threads of "Purgatory" was one of the "good" outlaws meeting a lady in purgatory who had been killed in their robbery by a stray bullet. I am sure that happened a lot. In another interesting western, Hildalgo, Frank Hopkins took revenge on one of his Arab competitors who was trying to kill him when the Arab was in a trap with stakes at the bottom. Hopkins used his rope to pull the lever to cause him to fall because the Arab had set the same type of trap and the horse, Hidalgo, had gotten hurt. "A good line, I told you, don't hurt my horse."
"without getting in trouble with PETA and ASPCA"
Any time there's an animal anywhere, regardless of whether it's being harmed, someone is in trouble with PETA. The only way to deal with their lunatic screeching is to ignore them and carry on.
I thought the reason stealing horses was a hanging offense is that a horse was pretty much accepted as a necessity of survival for a person. If you were out in the middle of nowhere someone taking your horse would be like you being left to die as you would not make it to any town alive. So stealing a horse would be dooming someone to death. Now while stealing multiple horses from a ranch or just one from a ranch that had lots wouldn't really be the same as taking one from a person in the middle of nowhere, at least they were consistent in applying the justice.
shareIt's rare, but did happen.
I believe in the early getaway scene in "One-Eyed Jacks," Brando's or Malden's horse gets shot. One of them has t stay and keep the federales busy while the other goes for a new horse.
I suspect it's seen as cruel, & thus usually not done, like having a kid get killed or hurt.
I think part of the reason you don't see lots of horse killed in early films was the film code in the early days set limits on the numbers of deaths you could have in a movie. I thought I read somewhere it was also the reason you often had a dog getting killed, the dog didn't count as a human so killing the dog to show how bad the villain was didn't waste a human kill in the movie where you could only have so many people killed. Horses may have cost more within the film code than a dog, there were apparently some very strange rules in the old film code prior to a rating system.
shareI think it's the only Western I've seen with custom-constructed gallows for the condemned.
shareIn every western film and tv show I've ever seen in which someone is hanged, the gallows is built in the days leading up to the execution specifically for that event. The construction is usually used for dramatic effect, with the condemned man sitting in his cell listening to the hammering and testing of the trap.
shareThe first act of "Bandolero!" is a good example.
shareI agree! I've made the same observation while viewing many westerns but those were traditional gallows.What I meant by "custom-constructed gallows" was this: https://kingfm.com/wyomings-creepiest-invention-the-julian-gallows/ From what I remember of the movie, no one wanted to be his executioner.
shareYes, I gathered the same (that no one wanted to be his executioner).
shareIn the Hunting Party some get shot and in a lot of the obscure ones from the late 60s.
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