The Bullwhip

Posted by D.Borton from pm343-21.dialip.mich.net on October 19, 1998 at 22:16:46:

In Reply to: Indy and Zorro - aren`t they similar? posted by John Jones Stork on October 18, 1998 at 17:31:04:

: Does anybody watched "The Mask of Zorro"? I did. I think it`s nice movie, with great sword fighting scenes, very good whip cracking by Sir Anthony Hopkins and very cool explosion in final scene, maded by Amblin (cool). I could tell that story was not so good as I want to see but it`s not a point.
: I think that Zorro is a one of more important heroes that create Indy. You know... whip, fight abilities,some kind of invunerability, and all this things. What do you guys think about my point and about the movie.
: Second thing is about quotation from young Indy scene from LC ( scene with horse responding for whistling, any one of you will recognise it ). As I posted week ago i hate quotations in bad movies but this wos a quotation I like. Made by Spilberg company in movie about such similar hero.
: Wow! I didn`t notice that I wrote so much! OK, at the end one question:
: What do you guys think, did Sir Anthony make a candle trick himself or it was special effect? I think he did. I did it two days ago with very ugly whip and no teacher, so he with good whip and good teacher ( David Morgan`s whip but I dont know a teacher, if somebody knows let me know ).
: OK that`s all for now...
: John

Yes I agree, there were many of similarities between the Indiana Jones movies and the mask of Zorro, and I have to admit I though Zorro was a very enjoyable movie.

Regarding the scene with the candles. I am pretty sure that they were trick candles, for a few reasons. In one of the production videos it shows the whip cracking off to the side far away from the flame. Second there were what looked like two small air hoses attached to the table underneath each of the candleholders that could not be seen in the movie. Thirdly the way the smoke blew upward after the whip cracker looked like it was blown out with a shot of air form inside the candle. While snuffing out candles is a trick that can be mastered, considering how many shots it took to complete the scene a special effect would have been more reliable.

Alex Green was the main whip coach in Zorro. Alex is a well-respected whip coach and stuntman in both the film and wild west arts industry. Aside from Training Sir Anthony Hopkins with the whip he also played his stunt double in several scenes. He also has a few instructional videos available. You might also find it interesting that it was not the first time the two worked together, Green was also his stunt double in the movie “The Edge", and after production ended Alex Green presented Sir Anthony Hopkins with one of his whips as a gift. By the way the whip used in that candle scene is not the David Morgan bullwhip, It is one of Alex’s trademark whips made by Joseph Strain. If your interested its available in two styles through Mark Allen’s site, both as the normal whip and as the licensed “Zorro” whip. The rest of the whips in the movie however were supplied David Morgan. Hope this helps.

Dan

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: : Does anybody watched "The Mask of Zorro"? I did. I think it`s nice movie, with great sword fighting scenes, very good whip cracking by Sir Anthony Hopkins and very cool explosion in final scene, maded by Amblin (cool). I could tell that story was not so good as I want to see but it`s not a point. 
: :   I think that Zorro is a one of more important heroes that create Indy. You know... whip, fight abilities,some kind of invunerability, and all this things. What do you guys think about my point and about the movie.
: :   Second thing is about quotation from young Indy scene from LC ( scene with horse responding for whistling, any one of you will recognise it ). As I posted week ago i hate quotations in bad movies but this wos a quotation I like. Made by Spilberg company in movie about such similar hero.
: :   Wow! I didn`t notice that I wrote so much! OK, at the end one question:
: :   What do you guys think, did Sir Anthony make a candle trick himself or it was special effect? I think he did. I did it two days ago with very ugly whip and no teacher, so he with good whip and good teacher ( David Morgan`s whip but I dont know a teacher, if somebody knows let me know ).
: :   OK that`s all for now...
: :                             John

: Yes I agree, there were many of similarities between the Indiana Jones movies and the mask of Zorro, and I have to admit I though Zorro was a very enjoyable movie.

: Regarding the scene with the candles. I am pretty sure that they were trick candles, for a few reasons. In one of the production videos it shows the whip cracking off to the side far away from the flame.  Second there were what looked like two small air hoses attached to the table underneath each of the candleholders that could not be seen in the movie. Thirdly the way the smoke blew upward after the whip cracker looked like it was blown out with a shot of air form inside the candle. While snuffing out candles is a trick that can be mastered, considering how many shots it took to complete the scene a special effect would have been more reliable.

: Alex Green was the main whip coach in Zorro. Alex is a well-respected whip coach and stuntman in both the film and wild west arts industry. Aside from Training Sir Anthony Hopkins with the whip he also played his stunt double in several scenes. He also has a few instructional videos available. You might also find it interesting that it was not the first time the two worked together, Green was also his stunt double in the movie “The Edge", and after production ended Alex Green presented Sir Anthony Hopkins with one of his whips as a gift. By the way the whip used in that candle scene is not the David Morgan bullwhip, It is one of Alex’s trademark whips made by Joseph Strain. If your interested its available in two styles through Mark Allen’s site, both as the normal whip and as the licensed “Zorro” whip. The rest of the whips in the movie however were supplied David Morgan. Hope this helps.

: Dan

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