HATARI

PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY HOWARD HAWKS
MUSIC BY HENRY MANCINI
A MALABAR PRODUCTION
PARAMOUNT PICTURES

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c187/john-wayne/John%20Wayne/hatari.jpg..http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c187/john-wayne/John%20Wayne/hitari1.jpg

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
John Wayne and his ensemble cast cavort over the African landscape filling orders from zoo's for wild animals. Bruce Cabot plays "the Indian", a womanizing sharpshooter who is gored by a rhino in the opening scenes of the film. This becomes a running theme through the movie; their bad luck in catching rhinos, and provides the climactic ending chase. While Bruce is in the hospital, Elsa Martinelli shows up as a woman photographer from a Swiss zoo, and John wants to send her packing. She strongarms the Duke into letting her stay by promising that her zoo will buy most of their animals this season if she's allowed to go along on the hunts and take photos. Hardy Kruger, Gerard Blain, Michelle Girardon and Valentin de Vargas round out the group. They traipse over the African landscape capturing animals; Elsa also has a running gag where she collects baby elephants as the movie goes along. In the end she's acquired three of them.
Summary written by Marta Dawes

Full Cast
John Wayne .... Sean Mercer
Hardy Krüger .... Kurt Muller (as Hardy Kruger)
Elsa Martinelli .... Anna Maria 'Dallas' D'Allesandro
Red Buttons .... Pockets
Gérard Blain .... Charles 'Chips' Maurey (as Gerard Blain)
Bruce Cabot .... Little Wolf aka The Indian
Michèle Girardon .... Brandy de la Court (as Michele Girardon)
Valentin de Vargas .... Luis Francisco Garcia Lopez
Eduard Franz .... Dr. Sanderson
Queenie Leonard .... Nurse (scenes deleted)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jon Chevron .... Joseph (uncredited)
Sam Harris .... Man in store (uncredited)
Cathy Lewis .... Voice of Radio Operator (uncredited)
Eric Rungren .... (uncredited)
Henry Scott .... Sikh clerk (uncredited)
Emmett Smith .... Bartender (uncredited)
Jack Williams .... Man (uncredited)

Writing credits
Harry Kurnitz (story)
Leigh Brackett

Produced
Howard Hawks .... producer
Paul Helmick .... associate producer

Original Music
Henry Mancini

Cinematography
Russell Harlan

Stunts
Carey Loftin .... stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson .... stunt double: John Wayne (uncredited)
Ted White .... stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams .... stunts (uncredited)

Trivia
* According to director Howard Hawks, all the animal captures in the picture were performed by the actual actors; no stuntmen or animal handlers were substituted onscreen. The rhino really did escape, and the actors really did have to recapture it-- and Hawks included the sequence for its realism.

* Congo, the baby elephant in the filming, died in November 2000 at the Dubbo Zoo. He was the only male elephant in captivity in Australia at the time.

* Hatari means "danger" in Swahili.

* Composer Henry Mancini wrote a brief piece of incidental music to go with a scene where a baby elephant is taken for a walk. The simple little song became an international hit as "Baby Elephant Walk", and has been recorded by a large number of artists and in many different styles.

* Much of the action sequence audio had to be re-dubbed due to John Wayne's cursing while wrestling with the animals.

* Howard Hawks originally wanted to make the film with John Wayne and Clark Gable, but Paramount would not raise the budget to finance Gable.

Jan Oelofse, the animal supervisor, captured and tamed all the animals in Africa; the elephants, leopard, the cheetahs, and flew with 40 animals aboard a DC6 across Africa, through South America to Hollywood to continue scenes shot in Hollywood

Red Buttons, a liberal Democrat, later said that he greatly regretted his "gross misapprehension" line.

According to Hardy Kruger's autobiography, the film crew rented all vehicles available in Tanzania, even the privately owned ones.

Howard Hawks allegedly bought Elsa Martinelli's tight fitting safari suits himself at a New York department store.

Little Wolf was a chief of the Cheyenne tribe in 1878. He, and another chief, led the Cheyenne off their Oklahoma reservation and took them back to their homeland in Montana. This despite hundreds of U.S. Cavalry who tried to stop them. This was called the "Cheyenne Autumn Trail" and is the basis for the movie Cheyenne Autumn (1964).

Budgeted at $6 million, Hatari! was filmed in East Africa from November 1960 to May 1961. All on-location shooting took place in Tanzania – Mount Meru, Serengeti National Park, Arusha National Park and Tanganjika National Park. Reportedly, John Wayne bagged an elephant while on the Dark Continent, killing it with a .458 Winchester Magnum rifle.

Many critics carped that the film seemed like a lazy vacation for Hawks. They were partly right - there was no finished script and Hawks relished the chance of filming what he wanted on location in Tanganyika--now Tanzania--far away from the watchful eye of the studio, happily burning through their $6 million budget.

Goofs
* Audio/visual unsynchronized: During one of the animal chase scenes, the truck makes screeching sounds as it turns, though it is not on a paved road.

* Audio/visual unsynchronized: Several of the animals (especially the rhino) make sounds that they don't make in the wild.

* Continuity: While riding on the front of a Jeep, Wayne is water-soaked when the vehicle runs through a stream; in all subsequent scenes, Wayne is dry.

* Factual errors: When the doctor needs a blood donor for Little Wolf near the beginning of the film, he states that it will be difficult to find suitable blood because the type is AB-. In fact though the type itself is rare, an AB- recipient can accept blood from any Rh- donor: A-/B-/o- are all ok, and type-specific AB- blood isn't required. Rh- blood is less common than Rh+, but not that rare (particularly o-, the universal donor).

* Continuity: Side shots of Dallas standing in a red shirt under a porch with two other people show them all in shadow, while the frontal shots are all in direct sunlight.

* Continuity: The crate used to transport the animals is taken off the truck to load an animal, and in the next scene, it is back on the truck with no explanation.

* Continuity: When Sean Mercer first catches Dallas with cold cream on her face, there is no cream on her chin; the scene cuts to Sean, and then when it cuts back to Dallas, she has cream covering her entire face, including her chin.

* Factual errors: The group is returning from the hospital in the two vehicles; all the characters are singing on the radio with each other. This cannot be done over this type of radio. Only one vehicle can talk over the radio at one time.

* Continuity: In the opening scene where they are chasing a rhino, The Indian can be seen clutching his left leg where the rhino will gore him in a later shot a few seconds later. It appears to be a longer shot of the one just after the rhino gores him.

* Continuity: In the opening sequence, chasing the Rhino, the catching truck is turning left and you can see half of the windshield is missing and the character of Dallas is in the cab. In the preceding few seconds and the following scene Pockets is alone in the cab. An almost identical take is later used in the buffalo chase.

* Continuity: While Sean is showing Pockets how to milk a goat, and Timbo scares the line of goats, Sean falls backwards onto the ground with the bucket of goats milk landing on the ground behind him. When the angle changes, the bucket of goat's milk is now on top of Sean's head.

* Factual errors: It is impossible to sing into a two-way radio and hear the other party at the same time.

* Continuity: When the jeep is stalled in the river and Chips spots the alligator and warns Kirk, you can see that the water level is at the top of the front left tire. When Kirk connects the chain to the truck to pull the jeep out of the river, the water level on the front left tire is half way down. Either the jeep moved closer to the bank or the river level fell dramatically.

* Miscellaneous: The aforementioned missing left windshield of the catching truck, when in place, is also hinged along the top. Sometimes, from the passenger side of the vehicle you can see the hinge and a visible gap between the windshield and the cab frame. In addition, the windshield cracks partway open at the film's beginning. Racing across the uneven terrain of the Ngorongoro Crater, the catching truck goes hurtling over a ridge, and as it slams down, the left panel windshield comes ajar.

* Continuity: In the opening chase when Sean yells, "Watch her Pockets! Don't lose her!" he is facing to the rear of the catching truck and holding the pole in that direction. The rhinoceros is obviously behind them. The film then cuts to the erroneous take from the buffalo pursuit with Sean facing to the front. As noted, Dallas is in the passenger seat!

* Continuity: Pockets grip on and placement of his beer bottle keeps changing. In the scene where Dallas and he have their first "heart to heart", he sometimes switches his hand hold on the bottle from one shot to the next or has the bottle above the arm rest then suddenly below. The cigarette pack he takes out of his breast pocket a second time and holds in his left hand? That too, is back in the pocket come the cut.

* Plot holes: Dallas makes no further attempt to finish dressing herself after her distraction causes Pockets to crash the vehicle.

* Continuity: When Wayne as Sean Mercer ask to have the ropes loosened on the fallen rhinoceros, both it and he are well behind the catching truck. However, in the following medium and close-up shots, when the rhino slashes his horn at Wayne, the animal's head is even with the catching truck's passenger door. Also, Wayne's dub: "Kasa kamba! Loosen this up a little." is repeated.

* Continuity: Driving in circles? The crew's trip to the hospital, during the main credits, traverses the same countryside hours apart. The Film Editor and the Technical Advisor's credits cover a late afternoon pan shot. Three images later, though the sun has set, Howard Hawk's credit is covering the identical landscape pan we just saw. Poor Little Wolf.

* Continuity: During the zebra chase scene, (the scene where the chase truck plunges into the water while John Wayne is sitting on the front and gets soaked but is dry in later shots), there are shots looking back at the truck showing Dallas leaning out the left window behind John Wayne with one arm hanging out, however during that chase there are several short scenes of the interior of the truck that are mixed in, showing the driver (Red Buttons) and Dallas sitting inside the truck commenting to each other on the chase and Dallas is not hanging out of the window, then the next scene shows her hanging out again.

* Continuity: Prior to the giraffe capture when Dallas is running towards the truck, then jumps in, at the compound, and tries to finish dressing, she is wearing neutral color boots. After the capture, back at the compound, she is wearing red shoes or boots that seem to match the red shirt she is wearing.

Memorable Quotes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056059/quotes)

Filming Locations
Arusha National Park, Tanzania
Meru, Tanzania
Mount Meru, Tanzania
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Tanganjika National Park, Tanzania
Tanzania

Watch the Trailer:-

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Unlike my friend Popul,
I do not rate this film so high!
I found it boring, tedious and too long!!
In todays, in environment, this film would
probably never be made, the sight of wild animals,
being caught and locked in cages, being all too much
for the animal right activists!!
Although, the film was mostly ad-libbed, it showed,
and Duke did, most of his own stunts,
one of which, he actually roped a 450-pound
wildebeast in 36 seconds!!
The love story with a much younger woman,
similar to Donovan's Reef made a year later,
once again,showed, that Duke needed to move on
from the leading man, love, role type!

In later years Duke was to confirm that by the time Hatari! was made,
his days of romantic leading men were over.
He had been particuarly displeased with the bedroom and kissing scenes,
he was too old and she too young for such a relationship.
Rating 4/10

Here's an interesting link,
to the actual film location,

Hatari Lodge (http://www.zanzibarmagic.com/english2nd/hatari%20lodge.htm)

Good thing we don't all like the same things Keith. I see I am pretty much alone in rating Hatari! as high as I do.

Reasons:
1. I seem to like Howard Hawks humor and I don't find it boring since the whole movie is filled with it.
2. I think this is a good role for John Wayne even though he is neither a soldier or a cowboy. I like the Sean Mercer character.
3. It's an excellent family film and I could see it with my nephews and niece even though a couple of them are too young to understand more than a little of the dialogue.

On a more personal note, but maybe for me the most important reason:
4. I lived for about 6 months in Kenya when I was 4 years old and some of my first really strong memories are from one of their nature preserves. Seeing all these animals make me feel happy.

As for not being possible to make this movie today because of animal rights activists you may be righ, but I'm not sure you are. After all they didn't kill the animals.

Regards
Popol Vuh

Did you happen to notice all the cigarettes smoked!!!

Also Starbucks has a good coffee from Kenya!!!

Here's another that enjoys Hatari! each and every time I watch the film. Whether its the magnificent scenery, the personal interactions, Elephant Walk, or the light hearted nature of the storyline, I rate this as a film truly enjoyable to watch. I have never found it to be too long, too tedious, or too boring.

Originally posted by erscolo@Jan 22 2006, 06:05 AM
Here's another that enjoys Hatari! each and every time I watch the film.* Whether its the magnificent scenery, the personal interactions, Elephant Walk, or the light hearted nature of the storyline, I rate this as a film truly enjoyable to watch.* I have never found it to be too long, too tedious, or too boring.
25619



Same here!I've always enjoyed watching that film it's in my top 5 I say.

I have to agree with Keith I find this movie pointless and boring.

The music and the Baby Elephant walk are the only highlights

Mike

Well, I am another one who enjoyed this film. I always have. I think allot of times people get to caught up in the little things and forget to just watch a movie for entertainment. I also agree on the point being made about it being a excellent family movie. Fun movie and my kids love the elephant chase at the end of the movie.

Memorable Quotes

[first lines]
Sean Mercer: [over two-way radio] Kurt, can you hear me?
Kurt Muller: Go ahead, Sean.
Sean Mercer: At about eleven o'clock... right in the middle of that herd of wildebeest - see him?
Kurt Muller: Oh, that's a good one.
Sean Mercer: Let's go; start out easy.

[last lines]
Dallas: Oh, no... go away! Go away, now! Timbo, go away, go away. Timbo! Timbo, go away! Timbo...
[the bed collapses from the elephant's weight]
Sean Mercer: Aawwww...
Dallas: Go away!

Sean Mercer: Pockets, what are you doing?
Pockets: I'm trying to milk the goat.
Sean Mercer: Well, that's the wrong kind of a goat - that's a ram!

INFORMATION IMDb

Originally posted by Popol Vuh+Jan 21 2006, 04:53 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Popol Vuh @ Jan 21 2006, 04:53 PM)</div>Good thing we don't all like the same things . . .

As for not being possible to make this movie today because of animal rights activists you may be righ, but I'm not sure you are. After all they didn't kill the animals.
25616[/b]
If we all liked all the same things, it would be a pretty boring world. ;)

As for the animal rights activitists, I'm sure they would not like this film. True, they didn't kill the animals, but they were capturing them and removing them from their natural habitat for the enjoyment of humans, which some would find repugnant.

Originally posted by erscolo@Jan 21 2006, 08:05 PM
Here's another that enjoys Hatari! each and every time I watch the film.* Whether its the magnificent scenery, the personal interactions, Elephant Walk, or the light hearted nature of the storyline, I rate this as a film truly enjoyable to watch.* I have never found it to be too long, too tedious, or too boring.
25619
Couldn't have said it better myself! :D

<!--QuoteBegin-SXViper@Jan 22 2006, 01:43 PM
I also agree on the point being made about it being a excellent family movie.* Fun movie and my kids love the elephant chase at the end of the movie.
25678
Amen to that! As much as I love the Duke and his movies, not all are as family friendly as others, but Hatari has components that satisfy even the younger members of our little audience (our family :rolleyes: ).

So while I would agree that it is not among the most memorable John Wayne movies, it is a good time every now and then.

Chester :newyear:

I'll throw my hat in the ring here too! I've always enjoyed "Hatari." The scenery is great, the episodes involving the capture of the animals has excitement (I've always enjoyed "Pockets" deliberations toward capturing the monkeys) and I've always liked Hawks' dialogue which has an ad lib character. Not the Duke's best effort, but enjoyable for all its elements.
Cheers - Jay :D

Keith, when was this actually filmed? You have 1962 in your original post but, is that the release date? I ask that for this reason. In your facts section, you said that Hawks wanted Clark Gable in this along with Wayne. Gable died in 1960 so, unless pre-production began before he died, it would've been impossible for him to star in this.

A real Howard Hawks classic. This movie is so good it could have been an hour longer in my humble opinion. It has a great feeling to it, the sets and interaction between the players is great. My favorite Howard Hawks movie is El Dorado where Hawks creates the same pleasant atmosphere but within a much smaller environment.
The scenes are great and some magnificent filming has been done. Certainly in my top 10 of John Wayne movies.

Hi all,
I watched yesterday Hatari! for the first time and really like it/ It is a very entertaining lighthearted movie. Some moments and lines of dialoge are funny. And of course beautiful landscapes and animals! I wish i could see Africa some day!
Regards,
Senta

A movie does not have to be complicated to be enjoyable. It has to be enjoyable.

This one is. I like the sets, the scenery, the animals.....all of it.

I catch this movie five or six times per year and enjoy it more each time. It shows the Duke in a different light and, like Donovan's Reef, it grows on you.

Originally posted by ethanedwards@Jan 20 2006, 12:46 PM
I do not rate this film so high! I found it boring, tedious and too long!!

I agree, Keith.

It is funny, but in all honesty, I dearly love this movie. It is one of my all time favorites. I am an animal conservationist, a female and in my 30's and yet, I am able to look at the movie from the time it was made. I also know that the methods used were the most humane at the time. Granted we have other methods to capture animals today and there are few places in the world where they are captured because they have been hunted to near extinction in so many places... but we are talking about a movie made almost 50 years ago. I love it, my four year old daughter also dearly loves it. It is amazing but she can sit and watch it 2 or 3 times in a row and in all honesty I would much rather her watch Hatari than much of what is on in the world. If you watch them handle the animals other than the actual captures, the animals are handled with love and tenderness, watching Sean take a thorn out of the little animals shoulder, or Brandy and Chips give the hyena's a bath, or dallas loving on the baby elephants.

I love the movie because it shows a totally different side of John Wayne, it shows a light, humorous side. It also shows a side of him that is rather amazing. The fact that he was a very capable animal handler. He was a good rider and watching him in this movie, well handling all sorts of animals, roping animals, it is amazing.

I think this is a great movie, but like all movies that can be dated, you have to watch them with the understanding of the time frame that the movie is supposed to represent , as well as the time when it was made.

Nicole

Hi all,
I agree with you Nicole about catching the animals. I was wondering, while watching, why they was not using some kind of sleeping bullets? And it is very impressive to know that the actors of the film did all catchings themselves. And one of them even bought the farm, were film was shoot. There is a link to it at the beginning of this thread.
By the way I reread pages in Alissa's Wayne book about filming this movie and find it awful and selfish. She didn't like beeing at location at all (and couldn't see nothing over it) and also she didn't like when Duke bring a baby elephant at her bithday.
Regards,
Senta :rolleyes:

There's no way you could make a film like Hatari today, actors really capturing wild animals for a film's sake. Which is surely a good thing, but still... they're clearly having the time of their lives and I wish I could have been there too! So yes, Hatari is one of those films I enjoy watching all over again.

I've always enjoyed Hatari and have fond memories of watching it with my brothers when we were little kids. We'd then pretend to go out into the "wilds" and catch our pet dog with a catching noose. He didn't appreciate that much I can tell you. :D

This is also one of my kids favorite movies. The film is great entertainment and a delight to watch!

The reason that tranquilizer darts were not used at the time this movie was made was that in the early 1960's they were not available as of yet. They are a fairly modern invention. They are not also entirely safe. The daarts themselves can cause permenant if not fatal harm. Also, the drugs used can also cause serious injury and or death. Also if an animal is only grazed by the dart then there is the chance that it could escape a capture team and die or be injured in the drugged and drunken state. Many animals do not tolerate tranquilzers well at all.

Here is an idea.. trans that are considered safe for horses.. ace.. can cause male horses to have serious life threatening injuries to their privates.. to remain out, rather than retracted, it is a about a 1 in 10,000 injury but it happens, also that particular trank known as ace, has been known probably 1 out of 10 times to make horses go the opposite way, making them really hopped up. Another trank used in horses called Rompun, often makes horses what is known as jkicky, they will kick anything they sense move behind them.. see where I am going with this, these are drugs that have been used on hundreds of thousands if not millions of equines and they can have serious side effects or problems, think about using darts on animals that they have not been extensively tested or used on, in the wilds.. which is why darting is a problem. Even now, most of the time, problem wildlife are trapped or killed rather than darted... or at least in the US.

I love the movie and I am an animal conservationist, but I also realize when the movie was made and accept it for what it is. Also in all honesty for many people other than the old wild kingdom you dont see the african plains looking like that anymore, it is a step back time. game is not nearly as plentiful now..
nicole

Originally posted by Ravenslight@Sep 14 2006, 09:57 PM
Also in all honesty for many people other than the old wild kingdom you dont see the african plains looking like that anymore, it is a step back time. game is not nearly as plentiful now..
nicole
34475


hi Nicole,
But why? I visited the site devoted to the place were Hatari was filmed and it looks exactly the same. Have you ever been in Africa?
Regards,
Senta :rolleyes:

No I havent, but I have read significantly. Yes the land itself looks the same, but the wildlife that is there, there are very few free ranging elephants not on preserves, same for rhino's , wilderbeest, etc.. some aniamls like the addax have diminished to where they were thought to be extinct in the last ten years until a national geographic explorer spotted a couple, litterally just 2 were spotted..

The Tanzania/Kenya area or what is called the Eastern Arc is one of the top 25 hotspots for loss of endemic species, mammal, reptile and plant. It is also considered to be what is know a hyperhot spt.. meaning that it is at the highest risk for loss of species.. true conservation efforts did not start until the mid 1990's. So much of the land was stripped for farming and big game hunting that there has been a huge loss..

Big game hunters still hunt for trophies.. local taxidermist say that in the last 10 years...the big cats are being taken younger and younger so that many of the trophy cats are only 3-4 times bigger than the average house cat, because they are not reaching maturity.

There are 307 species in Tanzania on the threatened or endangered species list, many mammals and even more in the fauna . What I am getting at is this, there is little protection, what has come is coming way late in the game.

Steve Irwin was very much into conservationism, which most people did not realize.. they only saw him as the zany animal person, but in reality his true life long passion was conservation around the world.. which he put his money and his dedication behind.. there are really very few actors or personalities that I respect.

I have great respect for John Wayne, Steve Irwin, Angelina Jolie, Patrick Swayze ( he is very much an average person- a friend of mine who passed away last year trained arabian horses and comes from a long line of arabian horse trainers, of the international caliber... spoke highly of patrick saying he was an average person.. did not think of himself as better.. and was very very dedicated to family-which is a rare quality in today's stars) and I also respect Patrick Wayne as well.. but that is pretty much my long list of stars that I have great respect for as both stars and as humans.. Anyway, there is some really , really good information on the tanzania situation if you visit Critical Ecosystem Patnership Fund. There are a whole lot of other places on the web to research it, but this one has extensive scientific research, there is way too much sensationism out there and this site is not about that, it is about true scientific research
Nicole

Hi Nicole,
Thank you for your information, sad enough. It is interesting how our descussion of the movie turns out to the animal welfare and problems. But it is great thing which I love in Duke movies that they opened some new sides of the world for me.
Regards,
Senta :rolleyes:

Actually, i think that those are the very reasons that so many people do not care for this movie in mainstream america, can not speak for elsewhere. I have spoken or shared the movie with many people because I so dearly love it and what I generally here is that the scenery is beuatiful but that they have issues with the way the animals are handled etc.. and I also attempt to remind them of these very important facts

You can not watch a movie made circa 1960 and expect it to meet the same standards of today. It would be the same as watching a movie about say slavery and saying that it is an awful movie because slavery is norm in the movie.. It does not make the movie bad, it simply projects an idea of what was the norm for the period the movie represents
I dearly love the Duke and his movies. I share my movies all the time, but I also make an attempt to educate when I share movies. I generally enclose a little note if I know the person is an ardent feminist and I am loaning McClintock, to remind them that up until the 1960's women were handled significantly differently than since that time. The spanking scene and the way that John "manhandles " O'hara is often frowned on. Well, i remind people that the movie is about a different era, made before feminism was the norm.

Actually as an interesting side note. Hardy Kruger gave up his acting career when he bought the "Momela Game Preserve" and ran it for aproximately 13 years when the political arena got too dangerous he had to abandon it and return to germany and to his acting career. It lay in near ruins until about 5 years ago or so when a german couple bought the farm and restored it to it glorious heydey and now it runs the place as a bed and breakfast and also offers screenings of hatari in the rooms where many of the films scenes were filmed. They restored it with period furniture and decorations, to include no tv's visible etc

I think it is amazing that the place caused such a deep stir within Kruger that he literally walked away from his life to live there and farm and do very well until the government became so unstable
It is obvious that the region has been inspiring heartfelt awe for sometime

Hatari is one of those movies that when the world seems overwhelming, when the world seems too cruel or complicated or even just too lacking in taste and class.. it is one of those movies that reminds of us a time when ladies were ladies and gentlemen were just that, all man, but with that side that showed a man knew how to treat a lady.. where courtsey was the norm, where I dont know, it just is a refreshing, happy movie that can wash the dirt and scum of modern day away for a couple of hours
Nicole

Hi

Interesting arguements, and as I have never been to Africa one that I will keep out of.

Just to say if you look at this a man at peace with his life and his surroundings possibly?

[ATTACH]704]

In the "Elephant Walk" scene where John Wayne scares off that elephant who
is menacing Elsa Martinelli by firing his rifle in the air at it, such is not what originally occurred in that scene it is my understanding. In an interview
for a shooting and hunting magazine Wayne related that as originally filmed he
actually killed that elephant, shooting it with the .458 Winchester Magnum rifle he is seen carrying in that scene. Director Howard Hawks wanted to make thisscene real Wayne remarked and had some of the locals stir up a small herd of elephants until they managed to get one to actually charge at him. Knowing itwas to be real the .458 Magnum rifle was loaded with live ammunition but also precautions had been taken to insure Wayne's safety in case of mishap (there was a jeep beside him with engine running and a driver, which Wayne was to jump into as it sped off to safety with him in it just in case his shot failed to stop that elephant). On cue Wayne was to shoot the elephant and stop or kill it with shots from that rifle; which he did much to his relief and that of the jeep driver. Afterwards though, fearing possible charges of wantonly killing an animal the producers reputedly had the scene edited, reshot, and changed to what it is now seen as. But according to that article and interview John Wayne did actually shoot and kill an elephant in the original filming of that scene, and not frighten or chase it off as we see him do in it now.

If memory serves me correctly, the article in which I read the account of
Wayne killing that elephant during the filming of "Hatari!" was from an earl-
ier interview with him that was reprinted in Guns Magazine during the summer of 1980. If you can find issues of this magazine from that period you will find that article in it along with a photo of John Wayne and the .458 Winchest-
er Magnum rifle he used to kill that elephant during the filming of that scene.

:agent:

Hi Robbie,

According to Hawks Hollywood's Grey Fox Wayne did shoot an elephant in Hatari I'm not sure if it was during the making of the picture in a scene or after during recreation. if I remember right it was a source of embarrassment later.


Regards

Arthur

Hi Arthur

Thanks for that response. To be honest I was hoping the story would have been false, I'm disappointed Duke took it upon himself to shoot and elephant whether as part of a movie or for fun (if you can call it that). This is one of the few times I have ever criticised Duke but I don't think he should have shot that elephant, I didn't think such actions were even legal.

:agent:

I doubt he did it for sport. What's illegal is killing them for the ivory tusks. If it was a do or die situation they may not have had a choice. From what I've read they spook easy. If your in to animal rights, I'd think there would have been more problems when they filmed Circus World and all those caged animals.

Robbie,

You have to keep in mind that when Hatari was filmed, people's mindset towards hunting big game in Africa was a lot different than it is today. The animal rights organizations really didn't get started until the end of the 70s. I'm sure there were some groups of smaller size, but they never really affected public opinion. Prior to that time, it was quite the rage to go to Africa as a big game hunter and shoot lions and tigers and . . . whatever jumped up in front of you.

Personally, I wouldn't find that very interesting, as I would only be interested in hunting for something I planned on eating, but like I say, that was a different time, and things change. At that time, very few big game animals were actually being shot. It has only been in the last twenty to thirty years that poachers armed with machine guns have been killing off these animals in order to sell different body parts to the highest bidder. Now that, I think, is a truly a criminal act.

Chester :newyear:

I can't believe I just found this, but they are advertising big game hunting in Africa again. The Big 6 (http://www.huntinafrica.com/forum/big5hunting.asp) is what they are calling it... "Information on hunting lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino, leopard and hippo in Southern Africa." And Wayne's 458 Mag would have been sufficient. They only require a minimum of a 375 mag but they prefer you use a 458. So there may be some truth to the story, I hate to say. But like you said, different time, different mindset. They allow it now due to over-population in most areas.

I think I remember reading or seeing mention of this incident in Hatari.

The elephant was shot as described by John Wayne and then used in the
poaching scene in the movie by which time with the heat the elephant corpse was pretty
ripe.

As you say different time and era.

Hey, you guys, I just wanted to let you know that I merged our current discussion (from the past couple of days) with the Hatari thread in Duke Movie Reviews forum, as it keeps it all together, and also follows the previous discussion in a pertinent manner.

I hope y'all don't mind . . . .

Chester :newyear:

Here are three posters. The second one is a 1965 re-issue and the third is from 1967. I think I like the first one the best of the three.

Here is an example of the book. Enjoy!

Mark

http://www.dukewayne.com/imagehosting/2147fcb462d3e26.jpg

interesting to hear that Mr Kruger bought and ran the film location property for 13 years.
I liked the light nature of this film.

I watched this again and really enjoyed it ( except I wish I did not know John Wayne killed n elephant) but it was the time and another film I love African Queen killed of a few animals when John Huston when big game hunting when he was not filming. I guess you just have to accept it was a different time.


Because I had not seen it for a while and I went over to IMDB to check out some things.

Something in the trivia really annoyed me

There was enormous criticism for making a film in Africa under the apartheid regime. However, John Wayne (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000078/) was a staunch supporter of the apartheid system and segregation, so he ignored the critics.

Now I politically would not have agreed with John Wayne about many things but gee talk about giving a guy a bad rap 30 years after he's dead and can't say anything back. And talk about ignorance. The whole of Africa was not an apartheid state. South Africa was. The film was made in Tanzania which at that time was just out of British rule and in a relatively peaceful transfer was an independent state with Tanzanian government. Tanzania is actually a fair way from South Africa.

I am not sure if John Wayne ever said anything about African politics so I can't honestly say I have any idea what he thought about it all but it really annoys me when I see people painting horns on someone because their views were different and getting away with leaving it there for all to believe. That is making it up. Telling fibs. And not being called on it.

I do have to make one supposition though. If that really was John Wayne doing most of those stunts, and it sure looked like it the way he kept turning his head to the camera so you could see it was him, he was putting an awful lot of faith (like his life in their hands) in the African guys on the truck with him and helping moving the animals around. In quite a few scenes you can see them hanging on tight to actors (including John Wayne) when things looked rough. I never get the impression that the Duke was someone who would be blissfully unaware they were protecting him or ungrateful.

dee

This is one of my Duke favorites. When I first purchased a DVD player it was one of the first DVD's I got of his.
The only movie comic book I have is Hatari.
Enjoyable start to finish.

i thought this was an ok film - it was a film all the family could watch although i couldn t help noticing the number of cigaretttes jw was smoking. it had a lot of humour in it and i loved the scenes with the baby elephants. it looked as though they were all being well looked after as well. the only bit of the film i didn t like was the ending - i don t know what i was expecting but i thought it was a bit feeble - all in all though 7/10 for me:thumbs_up:

I thought Hatari was a very good film, politics aside it was true entertainment. That is what I look for in movies just sit back and enjoy.
Andy:wink_smile:

I agree it is Fun to Watch, and I liked the Other People and The Action in the Film !!!
Bill
:cowboy:

This flim has always held a special place in my heart because it is the only time I saw John Wayne live. I was fifteen and in the front row when he came on stage doing a promotion tour for this film. Red Buttons was also there.

That must be a great memory!
HATARI! is among my Top 3 Wayne films. Partly because of Africa (I guess it's maybe the best film describing the magic of this continent), partly because of Hawks. Besides the technical aspect (Hawks was a sort of a motorhead, he even constructed a race car in the late 20's) - building those special vehicles for filming at high speed on rough terrain - Hawks managed something unique: this special feeling of a group that really is a family. That film could run for 4 hours and still would never be boring. In the 70's Hawks replied to historian McBride: 'Yes, I like to be around them too.' (Speaking of his film characters in HATARI!).
I met Hardy Krüger 5 years ago. I wanted him to be the narrator of my Sam Peckinpah documentary. He is a though, honest and adventurous man - great character. He likes to tell the story how he drank Wayne under the table: When they first got together, Wayne played the old 'let's check this young turk out..' game and planned a long night at the bar with Kruger. Kruger had great respect for Big John (naturally) and did some investigation beforehand. Before they met that night he drank a lot of oil because someone had told him that it somehow helds back a lot of alcohol in the stomach. It worked and Wayne was impressed!

I'm still looking for BIG GAME HUNTING WITHOUT GUNS, the 1961 35mm or 16mm making of - featurette. :(
Nobody? You can get A LOT from me for that one, just want to make a copy, no need to sell it to me...

Some behind the scenes shots from my archive:
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/peckinpah69/wayne/hatari2axx-kl.jpghttp://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/peckinpah69/wayne/hatari2bxx-kl.jpg
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http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/peckinpah69/wayne/location1961hatari2xx-kl.jpghttp://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/peckinpah69/wayne/location1961hatarirepro-xx-kl.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/peckinpah69/wayne/hatari2fxx-kl.jpghttp://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/peckinpah69/wayne/hatari2exx-kl.jpg
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i thought this was an ok film - it was a film all the family could watch although i couldn t help noticing the number of cigaretttes jw was smoking. it had a lot of humour in it and i loved the scenes with the baby elephants. it looked as though they were all being well looked after as well. the only bit of the film i didn t like was the ending - i don t know what i was expecting but i thought it was a bit feeble - all in all though 7/10 for me:thumbs_up:

Does anyone know why there was so much smoking in Hatari? I know it was made in a very different era, but whenever I watch the movie I can't get over just how many cigarettes there were.

A bit more interesting information:-

Budgeted at $6 million, Hatari! was filmed in East Africa from November 1960 to May 1961.
All on-location shooting took place in Tanzania – Mount Meru,
Serengeti National Park, Arusha National Park and Tanganjika National Park.

Reportedly, John Wayne bagged an elephant while on the Dark Continent,
killing it with a .458 Winchester Magnum rifle.

i love this movie saw if the fist time a few years ago and have loved it ever since

I also enjoy Hatari, it is so much better and enjoyable than Reap the Wild Wind that I watched the other day.

I find it like Rio Bravo and Rio Lobo, a movie I can watch without paying that much attention to it, my computer being next to my TV

i enjoyed the movie not a great movie but watchable.is it true that john wayne got one of his crew on the picture.showing him shooting a elephant. The film shows a laughing Wayne shooting a shackled elephant the villagers brought in for him to kill, because Wayne wanted a trophy to take home and their were no wild elephants in the area and he also couldn't get a permit. So he paid villagers for a zoo elephant.i cant believe that is true.

As much as I enjoy this film, does anyone know if it might have been sponsored by a cigarette company? Never seen so much smoking in all my life. I'm surprised the elephants weren't lighting up!

Ringo - think about it. JW would NEVER shoot a chained animal under ANY circumstances, as that just wasn't in his makeup. Also, the story tha I've heard through the years is that it was, in fact, shot in the wild. The scene that has with the one coming too close and trumpeting angrily, is supposedly the one that he shot (outside the scene). Of course, I've been wrong before, and my memory could be a bit fuzzy...

you could be right tennesseean,with the many books i read about john wayne i have never read that he shot an elephant.it was on another site that they said he did.i know there are loads of people out there who wants to destroy the image of our hero.i even have friends who dont like john wayne or what he stands for.

I read somewhere that the elephant was charging and that was why Duke shot it-dont' remember the exact circumstances tho, but it wasn't any type of "setup" as I remember.

Along the same lines, (forgive me if this has been mentioned) Duke's double on the film, Ted White, shot either a tiger or lion-again memory's a bit fuzzy-that was set to attack one of the actors. A newspaper ran an article on how John Wayne's stuntman saved someone, and it Duke got peeved. He didn't like them mentioning he used a stuntman in some of the scenes, and I guess blamed it on White leaking the info. he said Duke never used him again in any of his films. The interview was in one of Tim Lilley's fine books.

Could be sour grapes on White's part, as Duke was fiercely loyal to folks and expected the same from them. He kept Bruce Cabot around in nearly EVERY movie he made in the 60's and early part of the 70's to make sure he was taken care of...no one would give Cabot work.

It's sad that we can't get the stories straight from JW himself, as you KNOW he'd tell you straight up what went on!!

Although we use IMDb as our database for movie information,
we have never claimed it to be totally accurate.
However it is the best of it's kind, for the vast detail it provides.

Here is the information from the opening post.
Reportedly, John Wayne bagged an elephant while on the Dark Continent,
killing it with a .458 Winchester Magnum rifle.

As The Tennesseean says,
if only Duke was around to tell us!!

The guns are one of the reasons I like the movie.

I am trying to recall if they used a hidden marksman to shoot the swinging bottles in the contest between Kurt and Little Wolf (I can't believe I remembered the names my memory is so lousy).

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Lobby Card Mexicaine

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two thumbs up! ( except for the italian girl) way to young! Would have rather seen Sophia Loren! ( italian women! )

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Photo 65: the picture was crudely hidden behind the Duke. Do you know why? :wink_smile:

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