# Running across crocodiles backs. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 20, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-across-crocodiles-backs/457166 "2008-07-20T18:18:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-across-crocodiles-backs/457166/1 "2008-07-20T18:18:25Z")
We’ve all seen this depicted in movies( I think?), but has anyone actually done it for real? Would there be insurance problems, if Tom Cruise say, was insisting on doing the stunt himself? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-across-crocodiles-backs/457166/2 "2008-07-20T23:31:15Z")
[QUOTE=ivan astikov] We’ve all seen this depicted in movies( I think?), but has anyone actually done it for real? Would there be insurance problems, if Tom Cruise say, was insisting on doing the stunt himself? [/QUOTE] I doubt it’s ever been done for real, alligators and crocs are notorious divas and never follow direction, they like to move around, submerge themselves and try to eat the actors and crew so it’s easier to use fake crocs. But if Tom Cruise wanted to try it I wouldn’t stop him, although I am sure the insurance company wouldn’t cover it. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-across-crocodiles-backs/457166/3 "2008-07-20T23:39:54Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] I doubt it’s ever been done for real, alligators and crocs are notorious divas and never follow direction, they like to move around, submerge themselves and try to eat the actors and crew so it’s easier to use fake crocs. **But if Tom Cruise wanted to try it I wouldn’t stop him,** although I am sure the insurance company wouldn’t cover it. [/QUOTE] I’d actively encourage him! “Go Tom…Go Tom..” 😃 Cheers for replying, Wile E! 😉 ( I didn’t think anyone would really have done it either, although I have a vague recollection of the Jackass mob doing something like that! ) ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-across-crocodiles-backs/457166/4 "2008-07-21T02:35:42Z")
[QUOTE=ivan astikov] if Tom Cruise say, was insisting on doing the stunt himself? [/QUOTE] You are a very sick puppy, aren´t you?, that would be absolutely inhumane and cruel. Won´t somebody think of the poor crocs? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-across-crocodiles-backs/457166/5 "2008-07-21T03:31:07Z")
I can’t vouch that this is true, but I’ve heard this story about the James Bond flick “Live and Let Die.” Early in the film, Q gives Bond a wristwatch with a powerful magnet. Later, Bond is taken by the bad guys to an alligator farm, and left alone on a small island in the middle of a pond filled with hungry gators. At that point, according to the script, Bond was SUPPOSED to use the magnetic wristwatch to pull a rowboat from the opposite bank over to the island, so he could escape. At that point, a stunt guy suggested it would make for a better scene to run to shore across the alligators’ backs. And apparently, his suggestion worked. He did the scene in one taker, and the use of the wristwatch was scrapped. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-across-crocodiles-backs/457166/6 "2008-07-21T15:15:06Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] At that point, a stunt guy suggested it would make for a better scene to run to shore across the alligators’ backs. And apparently, his suggestion worked. He did the scene in one taker, and the use of the wristwatch was scrapped. [/QUOTE] As far I as I remember, Bond does try the wristwatch on the boat, but it turns out to be tethered to the shore (cue classic Roger Moore bemused eyebrow raise). Then he runs across the alligator backs.