Because...that's kind of, well, animal cruelty.
Damn, I made the apple too big again.
lol...I wondered about the horse stunts myself...
"You say?
"I say you say nothing! I say!"~Al "Big Boy" Caprice, Dick Tracy (1990)
The UK release was cut by eighteen seconds to remove those scenes according to the BBFC:
Cuts required to three instances of real animal cruelty (horses made to fall using techniques likely to result in serious injury). Cuts made in accordance with the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937.So they were real.
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They looked clumsily real, were completely unnecessary and out of place given all the great stylized action in the movie, and their presence took me out of the film for about a minute before I could get back into it. NOT WORTH IT. Dear China, get the lead out of your paint, the poison out of your baby food and the risking harm to animals out of your movies.
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Ya lets get back to using horses for what they were intended to be used for ...glue.
shareand we should get back to using glue for what they were intended to be used for...sniffing...
No, you're not ignorant and stupid. You just have selective amnesia and wear a douche bag as a hat.
When the horse falls to one side, this is a "good" horse fall; that is, it won't injure the horse.
When the horse falls forward, it is being tripped, either by a wire, or by a ditch being dug. This is extremely dangerous and often results in serious injury to the horse.
This is why you never see it in American films. U.S. filmmakers use CGI and animatronics for the most elaborate horse stunts, and there is no reason why Chinese filmmakers can't do the same thing. Harming animals just to make a movie is asinine beyond belief.
This movie contains one of the worst horse falls I have ever seen: the horse falls forward and rolls over on its head. Now, all we see is the final take. There may have been several dozen takes, and several different horses used --- and very likely, seriously injured or killed.
It's unfortunate because this mars what is otherwise and excellent film.
We report, you decide; but we decide what to report.
Hear hear!
I wondered this as well and glad I wasn't just being silly. I knew falling back was normal but wasn't so sure about the fall forwards. I can just imagine how many legs snapped. Poor horses.
To the glue and hamburger comments: Why do people have to be so rude and ignorant? Do they think they're being funny? It's just immature.
Glad to see that people in this thread care about issues like this (the 2 idiots notwithstanding). That had to be the worst horse fall I'd seen since "Return of the Magnificent Seven" where a horse, going about 30 mph, is tripped and lands straight on its head. In another scene, an explosive goes off right as a horse rolls over it.
The point is: Asia needs to kick its ass into the 21st century. Return of the Mag7 was 50 years ago. That doesn't excuse it, but at least USA films stopped doing animal cruelty the 1970s.
i believe this particular stunt is done by attaching ropes to both the horses front feet and yanking them towards the back. i wish i could do it to the film makers.
shame on you people who made this movie. shame shame shame. 1937 standards are not good enough and hurting horses for your movie is pathetic regardless of the official 'standards' or 'rules'. you should know better.
"in this world there's two kinds of people ... those with loaded guns, and those who dig."
Wow. A lot of ignorance here. It is a stunt and they are not harmed. Watch blazing saddles and listen to Mel Brooks commentary about the horse scene.
sharewe are talking about chinese films here not american. the chinese are notorious for hurting animals in films (in seven swords several horses died from the cold during filming).
western countries have rules and regulations, chinese dont.
and why is everyone talking about the horses and not the squiril tied to the tree.
the only ignorance is your ignorance of the FACT that scenes were cut because they showed 'actual animal cruelty'. animals were mistreated making this film. that is not up for debate it is admitted.
"in this world there's two kinds of people ... those with loaded guns, and those who dig."
That is not true. Noone involved in the film said any horses were hurt, rather the opposite. Roger Ebert got a question about it and asked the american distributor.
The english BBFC just makes an estimation of how it looks in the film. They have actually no idea how the film was made.
In any case it is a non-issue.
Apparently, some of the horses took revenge on the actors, since Kaneshiro was hurt pretty badly when he fell from a horse, as can be seen in this video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfK7rhOo-mc
OK I know it's different and actors choose to be in movies, unlike horses.
I do not have the knowledge to distinguish between stunts that might hurt animals and stunts that won't. I agree, though, no animal should be hurt while making a movie... It makes me sad that Chinese films hurt animals since I like these movies.
The scene with the horses stumbling was hard to watch. I hope no horses were hurt. Not sure if it makes a difference, but this film was shot in Ukraine. Yes, it was a Chinese production, but filmed in Ukraine. I wonder if Ukraine's laws in regards to animals were applied to the film then? They might have better laws to protect animals than China. Just a guess. Hopefully it was the case, and also that China will improve its laws in this regard.
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