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Croc stepping stones

forgotmyusernameforgotmyusername
edited April 2011 in Bond Movies Posts: 2,782
Just watched the Boat chase which was fab and then found this clip. I've never seen it before but you gotta hand it to the stunt man. I must say although I don't like RM movies, his term certainly gave us some of the best stunts and set pieces. My word you had to be brave man to do this.

Comments

  • RunawayRunaway
    Posts: 24
    Absolutely brilliant stunt, I think one of those clips shows that the crocs teeth actually went through the stuntman's foot! Ouch!!!!
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    yeah they caught his trousers,an amazing stunt,and as you say FMUN Moore's term did have the best stunts .
  • Master_DaharkMaster_Dahark
    edited April 2011 Posts: 4,813
    Oh you have to watch 'Inside Live and Let Die'- there's one on each of the old DVD's- this is actually a pretty cool story.....
    scouting for locations to film, they actually saw that 'TRESPASSERS WILL BE EATEN" sign (it wasn't a prop)- the guy who lived/worked there was named Ross Kananga, and those Gators were HIS. He actually did the stunt himself and they all thought he was crazy/awesome enough to name the villain after him!
  • The_Preacher711The_Preacher711
    Posts: 139
    The thing I'd always wondered about that story is how did Mr Kanaga discover such a thing was possible?

    Did he wake up one morning and say to the missus: 'Honey, today I'm gonna run across the back of those Gators, and use em as stepping stones!'

    Awesome stuff, and an amazing stunt...... It's a shame that a lot of casual viewers think it's faked....
  • Master_DaharkMaster_Dahark
    Posts: 4,813
    lol I've wondered that myself!
    With my vivid imagination, I like to pretend that he treats those gators as a regular guy would treat a bunch of puppies and kittens- and rolls around and wrestles with them all the time- even before the Bond movie showed up on his doorstep, lol
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    Quoting The_Preacher711: It's a shame that a lot of casual viewers think it's faked
    Safe to say these days they would assume this was faked.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    I don't really understand why ppl would think that stunt was fake. It always looked pretty real to me.
  • barryt007barryt007
    edited April 2011 Posts: 19,339
    People are so used to CGI, Bain,that to see an actual stunt like that means that it can only be fake or CGI.....sad.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,718
    CGI in '73 ?? That would have looked quite horrible.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    Quoting DaltonCraig007: CGI in '73 ?? That would have looked quite horrible
    It would have been like one of those moments in old horror films where Dracula turns in to a bat and they use animation for the effect. Oh wait...they did that for the parasurfing in DAD didn't they? ;-)
  • Master_DaharkMaster_Dahark
    edited April 2011 Posts: 4,813
    I suppose if they hadn't met this Kananga guy, they probably would have used fake stuffed gators, lol Thank god for Kananga and his bravery

    You know, they never showed him in the 'current' interviews like they did with everyone else in the movie... I wonder if he's still alive?
  • The_Preacher711The_Preacher711
    edited April 2011 Posts: 139
    blockquote>Quoting Master_Dahark: You know, they never showed him in the 'current' interviews like they did with
    everyone else in the movie... I wonder if he's still alive?

    One sunday morning Gator run too many, you think?
  • forgotmyusernameforgotmyusername
    Posts: 2,782
    you know what i always thought they were clever models like in the old Tarzan movies. - That guy Kanaga should have a medal; it's an iconic Bond moment along with the Union Jack parachute.

    DAD just showed you CGI can only give you so much. I think Bond and real stunts go hand in hand. Just a question the crane scenes in CR, how much was that done in post production and how much was real?



  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    Apparantly the crocs were tied down to keep them in a row, but how the heck do you tie a croc down?
  • Master_DaharkMaster_Dahark
    Posts: 4,813
    Quoting The_Preacher711: One sunday morning Gator run too many, you think?
    lol Well I sure wouldn't be surprised- or maybe he had one of those incredibly random deaths, like Lawrence of Arabia- and died in an auto accident? Or then again, maybe he's still hopping through his gator- obstacle course.....
  • The_Preacher711The_Preacher711
    Posts: 139
    Think you're onto something there Master..... bound to be something like that...
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited April 2011 Posts: 11,189
    I heard he got hit by a bus the day after doing that stunt. Talk about bad luck! ;)

    On a side note, doesn't the stunt look like something the Jackass boys might do? Lol.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    One of the best stunts of the series without a doubt, simple, short stunts are so much better. I hope EON get the momo soon...
  • forgotmyusernameforgotmyusername
    Posts: 2,782
    I've tried to find out what's happened to the Ross but Google won't give it up. After I've done some proper work, I'll get back to my mission. Whenever I see someone do something brave or unbelievable I'm going to say 'he's so Kananga'

  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    I'm glad I wasn't the only one @forgotmyusername! As you said, Google seems to have nothing so I'll continue to look. Even if Kananga was 30 during filming, he must've been older, he'd only be 69 this year, so hopefully he's alive and well.
  • saunderssaunders Living in a world of avarice and deceit
    edited April 2011 Posts: 987
    Funnily enough I've just been reading production designer Syd Cain's autobiography and he tells the story that when on a location scout he went out in a small boat with Ross Kananga into the alligator reserve and then getting slightly lost Kananga told him to get out the boat and climb onto a fence while Kananga left to try and find a route by hacking through the bush back to the moorings. Syd was apparently left alone for a fair while with just the alligators for company! He also mentioned that rather than payment Ross asked that the building used in the scene as the drug factory to be made as a permanent structure that he could then use (presumably not for manufacturing drugs). It is also mentioned that while the alligator reserve is still there Ross sold the business many years ago.
  • forgotmyusernameforgotmyusername
    edited April 2011 Posts: 2,782
    the guy sounds like a real dude; no payment but build me a proper house, I like this guy. I wonder how long alligators live, maybe some of the original cast are still with us?


    Bad news:

    Tragedy struck in 1978 when a son, Ross Heilman, 32, died of cardiac failure while spearfishing in the Everglades. Ross Heilman, who used the stage name Ross Kananga, performed the crocodile stunts in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die and in Papillon.

    http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1990-03-07/news/9001280398_1_mrs-heilman-ross-heilman-sheep


    So young. I wondered if Eon dedicated anything to him in credits or something?



  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    That's unfortunate, so very young. And only 27 when in Live And Let Die. Thanks for finding that @forgotmyusername at least you've put my mind at rest.
  • The_ReaperThe_Reaper
    Posts: 1,092
    Wow, what a stunt! But wait, that wasn't Rog doing it? Huh? :/
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    edited April 2011 Posts: 1,699
    Crikey, sad to hear he only lived another five years after The 'Die's release. Still, no question, in having the flick's villain named after him he'd earned his beans by offering up his grounds for the shoot and delivering that quite brilliant, nay insane stunt. One of the very, very best to have graced the series that one, surely... :)
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    Quoting forgotmyusername: a question the crane scenes in CR, how much was that done in post production and how much was real?
    @Forgotmyusername..

    I am fairly certain that was all done practically - and that they only used CGI to airbrush out the wires that the stuntmen are harnessed to.. the Crane closeups with Craig and Sebastian were no doubt done much lower to the ground than up on 400ft crane lol.... but the stuntmen were really up there, fighting and jumping - just with the safety of wires..
  • cwilliams1217cwilliams1217
    Posts: 1
    I just wanted to add a comment about the late great Ross Kananga Heilman. Ross worked in the ghost town tourist attraction Pioneer City in Florida. He worked with many wild animals in late 60s and early 70s. My family were caretakers of that town after it closed and Ross was a very good friend of my mother, Jan Aycock. Ross had all his own crocs and other wild animals. He was really very good at his job of training them or convinced me they were listening as i was a 9 yr old. I was in high school when he passed. Very sad indeed. Bottom line. Those were Real crocs.
  • OHMSS69OHMSS69
    Posts: 2,341
    The stunt man was the owner of the crocodile farm Ross Kananga. Sript writer used his name for the main villain BTW...
    Nowadays they would do it with CGI.
    The youtube video about the filming is very entertaining. I see how it became more dangerous with each take as the crocs were beginning to get used to the trick and would be waiting for Kananga's next take.
    Balls of iron...jumping in shark infested water is safer than messing with crocodiles.

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