SPOILER--not a big one though.
So the guy has his hand pinned between the ground and the plane. They try to move the plane, but that doesn't work. So Rawlings grabs a shovel, and instead of just digging into the ground underneath the guy's hand, he cuts off the guy's hand? Am I missing something here? I'm not opposed to gore in movies, just stupidity.
He must not have been terribly bright. Or maybe he panicked because the bullets were coming too close.
shareActually, he DID try to dig the ground out from under Beagle's hand, but the ground was too hard. Rent the DVD, and watch the scene more closely.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity - Robert A. Heinlein
I find it a bit unbelievable that he couldn't move the wing from the mans hand. Aircraft in those days were constructed with wood and canvas and weighed practically nothing. The only heavy part of the plane was the engine.
shareI agree. They should've easily been able to lift the wing.
shareWhile the plane was light enough to lift, they were also under constant fire, it was not possible to get a good hold on the plane to lift it. Remember one soldier came to help them, he got shot.
Also, it could be that the hand was stuck between parts of the plane, perhaps it was impaled. They had to get away fast. Cutting it off was the best decision in that situation.
I didn't know shovels were that sharp. He cut it off with one swipe which is a stretch. The "entrenching tool" I was issued in my Army days had sharpened edges but were still rather dull and cutting off a limb with it would have been possible but messy and would have taken a couple or more swings i think.
shareBut if they would have moved the plane off his hand, while they were being shot at, wouldn't they have lost the thing blocking them from the bullets?
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good point, but i think if i was in the middle of no-mans land, in france, in ww1, and the only thing protecting me from being riddled with bullets was a rickety old airplane, id wouldnt be thinking too rationally. i dunno about you guys,but my brain wouldnt be working too great.
shareThe whole scene needed to be deleted.
1. There is no way you could land an airplane near the battlefield and run across no-mans-land in the first place. The battlefields where sprawling areas covered with trenches, barbwire, and bomb craters. Rollins would have had to land at least 1/2 a mile away and work his way through all that crap.
2. Both of the pilots would have been shot within a few seconds out there near the german trench with no cover. The plane is NOT cover, it is made of cloth and wood, bullets pass right through.
The Nieuport 17 scout weighed only 800 pounds. For comparison, a horse weighs approximately 1,000 pounds. So two men and even one could easily have lifted part of the plane to enable the trapped hand of the pilot to slip out.
In WWI, pilots did land in no man's land - sometimes even to collect trophies from enemy planes they shot down - and take off again. But they would certainly have been killed if they landed in full view of the enemy like in the film.
The scene where Rawlings rescued the French girl was also ridiculous. The German soldiers did not see or even hear him when his plane landed right by the side of the house.
For the scene of him rescuing his girlfriend, he did cut out his engines before landing for whatever that is worth.
I agree that this scene was ridiculous because of his landing in a battlefield, using cloth and wood for cover, and not being able to free his hand. The only thing I could maybe buy is that it was impaled.
I just finished watching it on television. The scene with the girlfriend must have been cut.
shareThe scene where Rawlings rescued the French girl was also ridiculous. The German soldiers did not see or even hear him when his plane landed right by the side of the house.
Geez, these are the same folks that wonder why the Professor didn't build a boat on Gilligan's Island. It's a motion picture people...you want 100% realism watch the Discovery Channel...it's a motion picture- allow a little escapism and excitement....
shareGeez, these are the same folks that wonder why the Professor didn't build a boat on Gilligan's Island
when was the last time a "Professor" actually built a boat, seems to me a "shipwright" was needed in that situation.Thats like saying "Why didn't Mr. Brady build a bigger house for his six kids..because he was an architect, not a contractor.
When was the last time a professor built a coconut phone? You don't need to be a shipwright to built a boat. You just need materials. Native tribes, school children, and carpenters build boats.
shareI agree hapsh.
They didn't show the landing of Rollins and them both taking off, the guy miracously made it to the hospital without bleeding to death.
If the planes were covered with cloth and wood, why not take a swing at that with the shovel, instead of (trying) amputating a limb.
Tip: watch The Great Waldo Pepper (1975, George Roy Hill), with Robert Redford in of his first roles (and Susan Sarandon in her first). It is realy good.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073075/#comment
Soldiers used to sharpen the edges of their shovels to use in hand to hand combat in the narrow trenches. They aimed for the limbs and neck according to my grandfather who fought in France in 1918. An arm resting against the ground like Beagle's would have been easy to sever.
As for what was keeping his hand trapped it was conceivable that a wing wooden spar or rib could have splintered and skewered Beagle's palm. He himself said something was pinning his hand. Under the circumstances chopping his hand off was better than catching a bullet or going up with his plane when it exploded.
If the planes were covered with cloth and wood, why not take a swing at that with the shovel, instead of (trying) amputating a limb.
Plus, Franco always cuts off the limb if he needs to get out of a tight spot.
shareYeah totally stupid, stupid stupid stupid. Besides how do you cut a guys arm off with one swipe of a spade? Yes he tried to dig the ground out and yes they tried to raise the wing, adrenaline would have gotten my hand free, just a silly scene in general. I did like the movie though, I think it totally tanked at the box office. I wish this would have been done it as a lower budget TV series, maybe someday. I hope they follow in the foot steps of a Dawn Patrol if they do.
shareJust watched it last night
The hand COULD have been pinned
The soldier and the pilot should have been able to lever the plane off the other pilots hand HAD the pilot gone back to the fuselage with the soldier, instead of wasting his time at the wing (the planes heaviest part the way it was lying)
The entrenching tool used for the amputation looked like a German issue of the day, it had a virtually flat blade that was almost 1/4'thick at the heel, these were regularly sharpened on one side for chopping wood, so it would do nicely for amputation of a hand at the wrist.
The pilot did cut his engine before saving the french girl, so the Germans might hot have heard him land then, BUT how did he land in no mans land without being seen or shot.
Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster.
Boy, you guys sure don't understand how things work. If he hadn't had his hand cut off then he would not have been able to make his inspiring comeback with the hook.
shareWhen I saw Rawlings cut off the the guy's hand with the shovel I roared with laughter. Wasn't it wierd that James Franco then cuts off his own arm to free himself in 127 Hours. I'm surprised no one mentioned this yet.
shareActually the entire 127 hours movie was made just to reference this scene
shareThat scene was taken from real life facts and diaries of WW1 trench warfare.
Look it up. They also has 'trench knifes' issued. I'm glad they had that scene. You also must remember they were right next to a potential flaming bomb. Some hot shrapnel or tracer near them and WOOOSH !
Aircraft fire was a pilot's worst nightmare. See other movies on this subject; "The Great Waldo Pepper", "The Blue Max", "The Dawn Patrol", "The Stuntman", "The Aviator", "The Right Stuff", "The Flying Tigers", "Twelve O'clock High", "The Hunters", "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", "The Hindenburg", and MORE. Do you own legwork. Of just show your own ignorance on this aeronautical historic period.
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