| Subject: Re: Can You Identify These Whipping Scenes? |
Author:
Stan
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Date Posted: 14:42:07 01/28/17 Sat
In reply to:
Stan
's message, "Can You Identify These Whipping Scenes?" on 10:58:30 07/23/16 Sat
When I submitted my original post, little did I expect that I would end up answering part of it myself!
Just the other day, I was viewing an old Western movie on DVD. Part way into the movie, I suddenly realized that I was watching the "whipping scene" that had left such an indelible memory on my mind, but whose identity had eluded me for over 50 years!
As I watched that scene, I noted which details my memory had accurately recalled and which memories had not been accurate. Considering how short the "whipping scene" actually was, it's a wonder I had any memory of it at all. But, in the 1950s, there were so few opportunities for a kid to view a whipping (let alone experience one) that I replayed over and over in my mind any such scene I saw on TV or in the movies.
One detail I got wrong probably caused the most difficulty in identifying this movie. The movie was actually filmed in color, but I was unaware of that because I had viewed it on my family's black-and-white TV set. As I accurately recalled, the movie was about 2 brothers, one good (Rock Hudson) and one evil (Robert Ryan). However, the good brother was captured and tortured by another evil person, not his brother. And that evil person was indeed Raymond Burr, but he was the ranch owner, not the foreman. He tied the good brother up by his hands and then tortured him to reveal his brother's whereabouts. Just as I had remembered, the good brother was first punched in the stomach, but he revealed nothing. Then Raymond Burr asks a ranch hand to bring him THE BELT. Surprisingly, the ranch hand removes a belt from his own waist, not from the wall. And the belt was not a garrison belt but what appears to be a Confederate Army belt with a large metal belt plate, rather than a standard buckle. Before Raymond Burr can use the belt, he is interrupted, and he hands the belt back to the ranch hand, who then wraps the belt around his own hand, beginning at the non-buckle end. It becomes apparent that he is going to whip Rock Hudson with the buckle end of the belt! The ranch hand swings the belt, apparently aiming it toward Rock's chest, not his back, but unfortunately, the scene ends before we can hear Rock's response.
I wish I could say that the "whipping scene" was every bit as good as I had remembered it, but it left me disappointed on several counts. First, I should mention that Rock Hudson's shirt remained on during the entire scene. When a man is tied up, hands over his head, for torture or punishment, nothing speaks to his vulnerability like being shirtless, leaving his back unprotected and fully exposed to the LASH.
Second, being whipped with a large metal buckle, rather than the leather part of the belt, seems uncivilized and downright brutal! But even more important, it deprives the viewer of the excitement of hearing the sound of unforgiving leather as it strikes bare flesh and instantly followed by the victim's cries of pain.
Oh yes. By the way, the movie was "Horizons West" issued in 1952.
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