“He’s so poor he’s worn the ass out of his trousers and can’t afford to buy new ones, but when he’s around rich people, he still acts like he’s their equal.”
The first few inches of blade were sharpened on rapiers and other dueling blades. Short slash attacks were used to wear down an opponent while trying to get the killing thrust. If RR had grabbed a little further down the blade, he wouldn’t have cut himself.
Concur that Braveheart took more liberties with history than Tim Roth took with Jessica Lange.
But I still like the scene where the cavalry charge is broken on the schiltron – most movies would have turned away at the last second. Presumably only the development of CGI technology made it possible for them to film the scene without impaling horses and riders.
I seem to remember there was no CGI. Fake horses flung across the screen.
Yep, animatronic horses were used.
*The most horrible one must be a shot during the Battle of Stirling Bridge, when the English cavalry charges the Scottish lines to impale themselves on hastily raised pikes. The cut moves to a P.O.V. shot from the pikeholders’ point of view as very obvious animatronics horses crash into the pikes. That wouldn’t be so bad, except it’s also quite obvious the horses are standing on a wheeled platform - their legs don’t move at all. During a charge. And then, just before the next cut, the platform rolls ever so slightly backwards…
Perhaps it’s obvious in some shots, but some of the shots of horses being impaled on spikes were so realistic that Mel Gibson was subject to an investigation by the ISPCA. *
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpecialEffectFailure
OK, I’m sure you’re right. But I just re-watched the scene here and it’s not glaringly obvious to me, aside from one point in the initial contact where it looks like two horses are joined together as they rear up. Otherwise it happens so fast that the legerdemain isn’t too bad.
I saw them both when they came out and enjoyed them both with a preference for Braveheart. You don’t get a chance to see too many historical epics in the movie theaters. Not of that quality anyways. RR was an enjoyable story about revenge.
Neither can lay claim to historical accuracy.
Watching the two movies again years later, I find that RR did not age so well. Seems kind of quaint and goofy now. A little too “Plastic Scotty” for my liking. A “Quiet Man” for the Scot-Americans and Scot-Canadians and Scot-Aussies.