Great movie but one thing always bothered me...
Why didn't they eat the camel?
shareI just saw the movie and that really bothered me a lot too...i was like eat the fu**ing camel idiots.
share
MovieChat Forums > The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) Discussion > Great movie but one thing always bother...
Have you ever tasted camel? It's not very nice. That's why.
shareI don't even know why the camel was shot??? Unfortunately people were talking while I was watching and I missed what was said. Would you be able to tell me...thanks if you can help.
AB.
If errors have been made..others will be blamed.
>>by - AppleBlossom on Sat Apr 2 2005 21:38:30 I don't even know why the camel was shot??? Unfortunately people were talking while I was watching and I missed what was said. Would you be able to tell me...thanks if you can help. <<<
It appears to have been entirely an emotional gut reaction from Jimmy Stewart's character at the horror of the situation. (The camel was lame and was tied to a post and left there by the bedouins, and it was making a whole lot of noise)
It appears to have been entirely an emotional gut reaction from Jimmy Stewart's character at the horror of the situation. (The camel was lame and was tied to a post and left there by the bedouins, and it was making a whole lot of noise)
Quite an understandable reaction given the situation. I just wasn't too sure if the dialogue was connected to the action of Stewart's character. Now I know....thanks for answering me.
AB.
If errors have been made..others will be blamed.
For all any of us know, the man could well have lugged the dead camel over the sanddune, back the the plane, cut it up, and eaten it. It was the alck of water that was crucial, not the lack of food. There's nothing to suggest the guys DIDN'T eat the camel, its just that equally nothing ever says they did.
"He's a bit of a rough diamond but his heart's in the right place."
Dear Apple Blossom:
Well you've waited a long time for the reply: the camel was lame.
Thank you for being considerate, but I did receive a response to my question previously. I read your review on this film...and I'm glad we have the same thoughts...
Cheers!!!
AB.
If errors have been made..others will be blamed.
The flavor of camel is not very nice? Do you truly believe that men who are starving to death are going to concern themselves with how good the food tastes?
I was also bothered by the fact that nobody even suggested eating the camel. That part of the movie was never addressed. Maybe it was addressed, but ended up on the cutting room floor.
Along with being bothered by not eating the camel, I was also wondering why the lame camel was included in that scene in the first place. The scene would have worked just as well without the camel. There must have been a reason to have the camel there and I have a feeling that the reason is unknown because it got edited out of the movie.
Not only that, they should have eaten the monkey. I know a little monkey like that wouldn't provide much meat divided how many ways but ... a wee snack, maybe.
Now some people say it's WRONG to eat monkey ... with white wine. But perhaps a nice pressed date-camel's blood-cream sauce could have made for a very tasty, succulent monkey dish.
They should have bashed its skull in, then eaten it. Nasty little monkey.
..is because it would have made them thirstier - as stated in the book.
shareI live in Saudi, and have camel 3 times. In fact last week I had a camel T-bone steak. It't very tasty.
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. Samuel Beckett
I don't recall that they were short on food, the biggest problem was the lack of water. In other words, they had a very disciplined system for rationing water, and their calculations led them to believe they would die for the lack of water long before for the lack of food. If needed, I am sure they would have eaten the camel, as bad tasting as it might be.
share>>>by - glentom1 on Fri Apr 8 2005 18:32:01 I don't recall that they were short on food, the biggest problem was the lack of water. In other words, they had a very disciplined system for rationing water, and their calculations led them to believe they would die for the lack of water long before for the lack of food. If needed, I am sure they would have eaten the camel, as bad tasting as it might be. <<<
It's been a while since I saw the movie, but if I recall correctly, the only food they had was dates. I'm sure the dates helped sustain them somewhat, but I think that adding some good old-fashioned animal protein would have improved their diet considerably. (Plus, I have to wonder if a diet consisting of nothing but dates might have contributed to dehydration, due to certain... ahem... laxative properties of dates)
You're correct that water was the biggest issue, but they also needed to keep up their strength for the demanding work which was required of them. And strength requires protein.
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I totally agree with you, BlondeVicVega. What the hell is with today's studios and all this remake garbage? Flight of the Phoenix - A Christmas Carol(1951) - Miracle on 34th Street - Captains Courageous, just to name a few. These are classics because of the era in which they were made and the original actors. You cannot "improve" them! You can do similar themes, i.e. Blackboard Jungle/To Sir With Love, but you cannot "remake" the ORIGINAL. It's time the writers, producers and directors to get off their lazy, wealthy asses and earn their money by being creative and honest with the movie goers instead of sucking the hind titty of the classics for material. Apologies for the rant but these lazy jerks are really pissing me off.
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I just bought the DVD, since I had no success finding it on other than VHS at rental shops. I am going to pay particular attention to the food issue and the camel, as we watch it tonite.
We just saw the remake a few days ago. The biggest problem was the role of the model airplane designer, almost all of the dramatic tension between him and Mr. Towns from the original was missing. Although the remake is a fair movie on its own, without Hardy Kruger in the original role it was a failure as a remake.
UPDATE: I just watched the original again, and they did say that they had an unlimited supply of food (albeit "pressed dates"). Also, they made it clear that they would all die from the lack of water after 12 days, and that the still would not provide enough water to last even another day. So I guess eating the camel (at least according to the movie) would have taken more time than it was worth.
Wonder what the book says about that issue? I have not read it.
>>by - glentom1 on Sat Apr 16 2005 19:16:44
UPDATE: I just watched the original again, and they did say that they had an unlimited supply of food (albeit "pressed dates"). Also, they made it clear that they would all die from the lack of water after 12 days, and that the still would not provide enough water to last even another day. So I guess eating the camel (at least according to the movie) would have taken more time than it was worth.
Wonder what the book says about that issue? I have not read it. <<<
Thanks for the response. I'm not sure if that solves it or not, but I suppose it'll have to do.
I just finished reading the book. In the book the author said that if they ate the camel, it would increase their thirst. I was wondering the same thing...also the vultures...surely they would taste like chicken! Ready to watch the old film now, if I can find it to rent!
shareRemember that the body is what, 3/4s water? You would drain and drink the camel's blood, then eat it. If a person has about 5 litres of blood, a camel would have quite a bit more than that. Survival is not for the squeamish.
shareThe body is mostly water, though it's salty water. Read the story of "The Lady Be Good" it's the true story of a B-24 crew that overshot their base and bailed out over the Libian desert. They had no real food and only a few swallows of water, yet they covered an unbelievable distance. You can survive on nothing but water(lots of water) for a very long time, though you do get weaker and malnourished. Borgnine could've survived the longest as Stewart would starve first.
In these cases you drink the camel's blood. Yes, people really do that.
shareThere have been cases of people drinking each other's blood -yes, it's true. Survival is survival, and as you say not for the squimish or faint of heart.
shareI don't remember how it was done in the film but in the book the author covered the camel by saying they took the camels blood back to the aircraft and attempted to extract water from the animals blood with a still they had made. In the book it only produced a congealed mass and no water. The science of it I don't know butI guess the film was based more on the book than scientific correctness.
shareDrinking blood and eating undercooked meat - and that camel's flesh would have had the consistency of old leather boots - would have been disastrous. Quite apart from the possibility of worm infection from raw or improperly cooked meat, mammalian blood is a powerful emetic and the men would be throwing up everywhere, contributing to their dehydration. I'm sure the doctor could have explained this to them.
Quite apart from this, these men are soldiers, oilmen, pilots. Do you know how to butcher a camel? Would any one of them? You can't just rip lumps off and eat them. Some parts of a camels body are highly toxic - the liver contains potentially lethal amounts of Vitamin A. Puncturing the gastro-intestinal tract could mean the meat would be contaminated with faecal mattter, leading to all sorts of problems.
No, that camel is better left where it is, out of the way over the other side of the dune.
You make some good points, but I think if it had been me, I would've been eating some camel. Why would the meat have to be undercooked? I like it well done anyway. Worms? Who cares about worms when you're just trying to survive?
I would not eat the blood; Jews and Muslims have known for years not to do this. I would drain it first. Camel liver? Why eat that when there's plenty of camel meat! As for butchering a camel, you've got camel legs, camel ribs, and, of course, the eternally delicious, camel balls. Hell, there would even be, heh, heh, cameltoe! Plenty of camel meat to eat without getting anywhere near the bowels or organs. Yup, it would be a camel feast for me. Just like you said, these pilots, oil men, and soldiers wouldn't know any better.
By the way, I think you unintentionally made a very funny remark. "The doctor could have explained this to them." Heh, heh; yeah, if only he had vocal cords! His throat was slit! Oops!
I asked the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
One drawback to that. If the camel was also dehydrated, you would not get very much ahead and may well be worse off. Blood is very salty tasting and very close chemically to seawater. They could have fed the monkey salt and when thirst was driving him mad, let him loose and IF there was any water around, the monkey would find it. I saw that done on Animals are Beautiful people. It appeared to me to be a reliable source I would bet my life on....
share[deleted]
This topic needs to end right here. Thanks.
shareI saw this when it first came out (hate the remake) My take on it is more psychological. Stewart's character felt responsible for their fate,...he saw the lame Camel croaking in pain as what was to become of him and the others. He 'lost it' and emptied the gun into the Camel.
The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get!
To be truthful, I have not seen this movie, but I have at home; I will probably watch it on Monday.
My question has been answered.
There was also the monkey to think about.
"We're making a film here, not a movie."
Actually, in the book, after the Arabs had killed Harris and the doctor, Frank and Moran had gone out to examine the remains. Moran cut open the camel and took the fluid from inside its stomach. Apparently, he poured the stuff into the tank.
Later, Crow and Bellamy came back to scavenge the blood from the camel.
If the camel were not killed i would have said - may be to get some water later on!
We're talking about unchecked aggression here, dude.
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