Also, in the movie: Apocolypse Now, at the ending scene is that a real ox they’re killing?.. it looks pretty damned real but i was wondering how they could get away with it… my idea is that they video taped some tribe doing it and so it’s all good or something like that…
I think your idea is quite right. It’s a real critter. Somebody told me, or maybe I saw it in Hearts of Darkness, that someone discovered a native ritual of one of the Filipino tribes. Coppola (sp?) was informed, and fascinated, and decided to film it. It fit naturally into the final scene.
Let me tell you each time I see that movie I feel bad for the poor beast. Even when I have a belly full of hamburger. Which tells you something about me.
You know, now that I think about, I think there is some analogy between that ritual and Kosher beef preparation. I mean, they hit the animal twice, but one blow would do it … I wonder if it’s actually Kosher? Odd coincidence.
By the way, is it a buffalo, or a cow?
From the original program provided to theatergoers at the premiere (excerpted in the DVD release), penned by Coppola himself:
The Ifugao, if I recall correctly, are an aboriginal tribe of the Philippines, where filming took place.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
Needless to say, the SPCA did not endorse the movie. I’d love to get one of the programs from the first showings before the credits were added.
Sometimes you feel like a coconut, sometime you feel like a yak.
According to the Internet Movie Database:
Gypsy: Tom, I don’t get you.
Tom Servo: Nobody does. I’m the wind, baby.
It’s a water buffalo.