Author Topic: Knots in movies  (Read 22664 times)

DaveRoot

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Knots in movies
« on: June 12, 2006, 10:22:31 PM »
My wife and I were watching "The Man from Snowy River" the other day.  There's a scene in which the main character is in the stables with the main girl, and he impresses her by quickly throwing together a Flying Bowline and then pulling the Standing Part through to make a Running Bowline, which he then threw over a horse's head.  She was amazed and wanted to see how he did it, so he proceeded to show her step-by-step how to make a Tom Fool's Knot. ???  It looked like the movie makers were trying to pull a fast one on us by switching knots!  Later the main guy referred to the knot as a Tom Fool's Knot, but I coulda sworn that the first knot he threw together was a Flying Bowline....

I checked MovieMistakes.com, NitPickers.com, ContinuityCorner.com, IMDB.com's goofs, etc., but nobody picked up on that as a "movie mistake":

http://www.moviemistakes.com/film790

http://www.nitpickers.com/movies/repository.cgi?pg=t&sp=i&tt=72796

http://www.continuitycorner.com/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084296/goofs


Maybe the mistake is mine!  ;D  Watch for that scene if you see the movie sometime, and let me know if it looks like a slip-up.

I found this quote from a book called "Wildfire" by Zane Grey, which describes something akin to a Running Bowline being used as a hackamore:

"Slone held the taut lasso with his left hand, and with the right he swung the other rope, catching the noose round Wildfire's nose. Then letting go of the first rope he hauled on the other, pulling the head of the stallion far down. Hand over hand Slone closed in on the horse. He leaped on Wildfire's head, pressed it down, and, holding it down on the sand with his knees, with swift fingers he tied the noose in a hackamore--an improvised halter. Then, just as swiftly, he bound his scarf tight round Wildfire's head, blindfolding him."


Incidentally, I noticed that the soundtrack for "The Man from Snowy River" contains a theme called "Tom Fool's Knot," which is an example of a knot in a movie soundtrack:

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:K26IF1pNXasJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_From_Snowy_River_(films)+%22the+man+from+snowy+river%22+tom+fool+knot&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

Dave

KnotNow!

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2006, 03:48:33 PM »
oops, so sorry.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2006, 04:12:55 PM by PABPRES »
ROY S. CHAPMAN, IGKT-PAB BOARD.

DaveRoot

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2006, 06:06:31 PM »
I was able to rewind back to that scene and step through it frame by frame.  Sure enough, he threw together a Flying Bowline (AKA "Tugboat B" at http://www.igkt.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=news;action=display;num=1117413521;start=0) by rapidly forming an overhand loop, then swinging the Working End around and over the loop to create the "single wrap" of the Tugboat, then bringing one side of the original loop over the single wrap and through the other side of the original loop to form the Flying Bowline.  Then he pulled the Standing Part through the loop of the Flying Bowline to create a "running knot" or "noose," which he put over the horse's head.

The girl was impressed, and she said, "Show me how you did that."  He grabbed another length of rope, then did some rapid moves which were mostly off-camera, then with a grin and a flourish he pulled the Standing Part and the Working End away from each other, and the knot disappeared.  The girl was delighted, so he put the rope in her hands and helped her step-by-step in forming a Tom Fool's Knot.  The camera cut away to something else in the middle of that, then it came back to her just as she was ready to pull the ends apart and make the knot disappear.  Instead, she pulled the ends apart and ended up with a tangled mess, which completely charmed her.

So it appears that this was not a "movie mistake" after all.  He did switch knots, but it was apparently for the purpose of wooing the girl with his charm and his knotting prowess.

I guess if we can "tie the knot" for marriage, why not tie a knot in courtship!  ;D

Dave


DaveRoot

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2006, 06:43:00 PM »
I was scanning through the "Tugboat Bowline(s) and Perfection Loop" thread (mentioned in my previous post), and found this comment by Brian.  Notice the part which I have bolded:

Quote
Dave,

Wow! Great result on your e-mails! If Phil is reading this, thank you for your help!

Following Phil's instructions, I keep ending up with the "Tugboat B".  What am I missing?

Elsewhere, one comment I read was that the "Tugboat Bowline" was only used to impress the girls on the dock.  ;D I am glad to hear from a Tugboat Master that it is also a useful and practical knot.  :)

Cheers with a smile - Brian.



So the anecdotal evidence suggests that if you want to woo/charm/impress that certain someone, then the Tugboat is the knot you need!

Dave


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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2006, 06:59:26 AM »
Hi, if people want to point out knot faults in movies, please go to:

http://www.continuitycorner.com

and let me know, using the email address on the site. I cant list faults if I dont know about them.

Thanks

drjbrennan

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2006, 02:35:22 PM »
The Roman Polanski version of 'Oliver Twist', Bill Sykes throws a rope over a beam and ties himself on with what looks like a Marlinspike hitch, then the knot re-appears after a cut only it has changed to what is possibly a Bowline. More movie magic.
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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2013, 09:07:18 PM »
Jet Li - Born to Defend 1986

Throws this anchor knot together in the heat of an attack then proceeds to use the rope to traverse a fiery canyon during the battle.
The hero wins. ;-)

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carson95

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2013, 03:27:29 AM »
I was watching the classic Boy Scout movie "Follow Me Boys!" with some friends a couple years ago. There's a part in the movie when one of the scouts somehow gets stuck on a ledge sticking out from the face of a cliff and the rest of the scouts save him by lowering another scout down by a rope. (not a smart idea in the first place.) The scout older that was lowered to save the younger one then swung onto the ledge, untied himself, and then proceeded to tie the rope around the younger scouts for everyone else to pull up to safety. However, the scariest part is the fact that he tied the rope around the boy with a round-turn and two half hitches. AHHG! I really hope no real-life boy scouts try this. After all, if the knot doesn't slip and the boy falls to his death with the way it was tied he would practically be squeezed to death!

Holywood...

SS369

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2013, 03:01:29 AM »
1925 silent Russian movie. Decorative knotting on a bugle.

kd8eeh

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #9 on: August 04, 2013, 05:06:19 AM »
I really hope no real-life boy scouts try this.

carson95, as i work with boy scouts quite frequently, i can assure you that no boy scout would ever attmpt this.  you should be greatful they managed to tie something as sophisticated as a double half hitch.  In theory boy scouts know how to tie a bowline, but in practice a small few can tie a clove hitch and a square knot, but nothing else.  Most boy scouts I know would have done one of the following:
  called for the one kid in the troop who can tie a bowline (probably the most likely scinario)
  attempted to use duct tape
  attempted to climb down themselves to see what fun they are missing out on
  given up and gone back to their card game/staring at the fire
  a few also rock climb as a hobby and may have thought to use a fig 8 on a bight.  I know one kid in my troop who does, anyway

on the topic, i remember being very upset to find one of my teachers showing a movie (old production of "the crucible") where the characters were hung in the end of the movie by a running eye splice.  I guess it would work, but to make such a big cinematic reveal of the gallows, they could have gone through the trouble of tying a proper noose.

SS369

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2013, 02:19:13 PM »
Looks like it could be ABoK# 1009. Overhand loop.

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SS369

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2014, 01:07:12 AM »
Godzilla vs. Megalon (1976)
 ;D

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struktor

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #12 on: June 09, 2014, 01:14:09 PM »
King Kong (1933)     :)

http://youtu.be/cmixe-Dii0Y?t=32s

struktor

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #13 on: June 12, 2014, 10:45:32 AM »
How to Tie a Bowline Knot :)

http://youtu.be/64BKNAqHcSQ?t=14m

Behind the Wall (1971)
Directed by Krzysztof Zanussi

SS369

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Re: Knots in movies
« Reply #14 on: July 19, 2014, 02:28:53 AM »
1996 - The Rock. Sean Connery/Nicholas Cage.

Looks like a running bowline perhaps.

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anything