Barrel Cactus Scene

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    I wonder if anyone remembers which JW movie had the scene with him slicing the top off a barrel cactus and using a dipper to to get a drink of water in the desert.


    I do jeep tours in Tucson and that is a story we tell to tourists to let them know that such a thing is possible only in the movies. It seems that the myth that one can get drinkable liquid from a cactus is widespread, possibly because of that scene. I'd like to see that scene myself so I can better know what I am talking about.


    By the way, a barrel cactus does have a wet mass of pulp inside, and if
    liquid is squeezed out, it is bitter and causes diarrhea...


    Jeeptours

    Hi Jeeptours


    The film your thinking about is Three Godfathers.


    Apparently when the scene was planned Stan Jones (writer of Riders in the Sky) who was employed as a Ranger told Ford that it wasn't possible to get water out of a barrel catus but Ford ignored him and instead rigged up a device that made it look like he was getting water out of the cactus.


    Regards
    Arthur

    Walk Tall - Talk Low

    That's the cultural impact movies can have! Although I believe there must have been films before 3 Godfathers, since Ford was trying to get the same effect until Lee told him it wouldn't work. The whole story of this incident is told on the backside of the record "Rio Grande", because Stan Lee from then on worked for Ford, providing folk songs.

    Thanks, Arthur and Itdo, for the quick replies. I am impressed, both with you two and this forum. Wow, that was quick!


    The post by Itdo mentions a John Lee, whereas Arthur's mentions a John Jones. Same person?


    And how do I track down the record Rio Grande to hear/read that blurb about the incident? We have a good classic films video store here in Tucson, so I think I can find a copy of Three Godfathers.


    Jeeptours

    Hi JeepTours Roland


    The Music to Rio Grande is on a CD Varese Sarabande Digital
    Original Motion Picture Soundtrack VSD-5378


    The Blurb on the record is taken from a conversation with Harry Carey


    Quote


    The songs in Rio Grande go back to a park ranger named Stan Jones who was on location with us in Death Valley when we were making The Three godfathers. We were shooting a sequence in which we were trying to squeeze water out of a cactus- we were supposed to be dying of thirst so Wayne was squeezing the cactus - but no water came out. Now old man Ford was a cantakerous old bird and caustic old guy, but also very funny. Everyone was terrified of him and then along comes this uppity forest ranger and says
    @I don't know who's running this outfit but you can't get water out of that kind of cactus.' The old man turned round and said, 'Who the hell is that? What do you mean you can't get water out of that kind of cactus?' The ranger turned around and said, 'It doesn't have any water in it. It's dry you have to use a barrel cactus, but we don't have them round here.' Well Ford had a prop man soak that cactus in water all night. He shot the scene the nect day and when the water came out he said, 'See, therese water in that cactus!'


    Hope this helps.


    Regards


    Arthur

    Walk Tall - Talk Low

    Hi Jeeptours


    I'm also forgetting my manners. Welcome to the site I hope you will enjoy yourself and make many contributions.


    There are some nice folk around here.


    Regards


    Arthur

    Walk Tall - Talk Low

    Well, I rented 3 Godfathers this morning and watched the whole thing. 3 Godfathers has JW cutting into one of four or five barrel cacti (he calls it a barrel head cactus) and removing the pulp wth his hand. Then the next shot shows a hand squeeziing a cone of cloth that is supposedly full of cactus pulp. Water drips into a canteen. The scene cuts to one with JW and the two other bad guys getting ready to leave and anouncing "that's the end of the barrel head cactus".


    The movie with JW usiing a dipper to get a dipper-full of water by dipping into the top of a sliced-off barrel cactus must have been a different one, or else the story I have been telling is false.


    Does anyone know if there is another such movie? Thanks for the information that got me this far, and thanks for the kind words and comments from all.


    Jeeptours

    jeeptours,


    Welcome to the John Wayne Message Board! A better message board dedicated to the Duke you won't find anywhere!


    You've dashed this image I've had in my mind for over 40 years, of being able to survive in the hot desert by just chopping the top off of a barrel cactus, and drinking the liquid inside. As itdo says, you can see how movies can affect our culture.


    Just a couple of weeks ago, I was down in Mexico (Baja) with my brother, at an upscale condo development, with a large, for-decorative-purposes-only, cactus garden in front. There were a couple of big barrel cacti there, and I commented to my brother that if we were thirsty, all we had to do was chop the tops off the cactus and drink up. His comment was that he didn't think the folks in the front office would appreciate it. :rolleyes:


    In your jeep tour business, do you ever visit any of the locations where John Wayne movies (or those of other stars) may have been filmed, and is that information part of the tour? Maybe you can share with us. What is the basic itinerary of your tours, in case any of us should make it down to that part of our great country?


    Chester :newyear:

    On the jeep tours we don't go to any John Wayne sites. We go to one of three private ranches every time we go out, pointing out the flora and fauna and telling of the history of the area. The only reference to John Wayne is the barrel cactus story, and on tonight's tour I told the other drivers what I saw in the movie. Unless somebody on this message board can verify the dipperfull of water story, we will change our version of the "truth" from now on.


    I recognized Old Tucson Studios as the town of Welcome, Arizona in the 3 Godfathers movie. Old Tucson is now a tourist attraction on the West side oof the city, still occasionally used for commercials and some movie scenes, but not as many as in its hayday when oaters were more popular. I also recognized Death Valley in the movie, before I read it here, but that is in the Mojave Desert 500 miles from here... even though John Ford put some Sonoran Desert saguaro cacti in the closing scenes.


    Thanks for the welcome. You sure are a friendly bunch!


    Jeeptours

    Hi Jeeptours
    Arthur gave you the right name in his first post: STAN JONES.
    When I mentioned a Stan LEE I messed the guy up with another Stan (the creator of Spiderman, now you see how my sick mind works!)


    The town you saw in 3 Godfathers wasn't Old Tuscon. Yep, these old main streets often look alike. But Godfathers, an MGM production, was probably shot on a Hollywood backlot. All interior scenes were shot at the RKO-Pathé-studios (Wayne's first film at Old Tucson was Rio Bravo).

    Come to think of it, there IS a scene that fits your description although not a Wayne western:
    NEVADA SMITH, 1966, directed by Henry Hathaway. Steve McQueen crosses the desert, cuts a cactus with his knife and DRINKS WITH TWO HANDS out of it. Some cactus!

    Jeeptours;


    Nice to have you aboard! Living in Tucson you should have a lot to add. I live up by Sedona and they have many Jeeptours all over the Red Rock Country near Sedona to the old locations of the Westerns Films from the 1940s and 1950s. :D


    As to the Barrel Cactus, when we hunted all over Arizona in the 40s and 50s us young Bucks tried the Cactus trick many times but it tasted very bad. :uhuh: Now they will put you in Jail if you cut the top off a Barrel Cactus. :fear2: Chilibill :cowboy:

    Itdo, are you sure that wasn't old Tucson? The train station sure looked like it, as did the two story building with the big veranda. Were the mountains a painted backdrop? They sure fooled me!


    Thanks for the Nevada Smith tip. I'm on my way to the classic video store to see if they have it.


    Jeeptours

    Emmanuel, since you were there, was the town of Welcome AZ in 3 Godfathers shot on a backlot in Hollywood? Not that I don't believe Itdo, I just hate to be wrong... (one of my many character defects)


    Jeeptours

    Ok, in the 1966 movie "Nevada Smith", I just saw a young Steve McQueen dip clear water from an Agave (aka Mescal) cactus that he had cut the leaves from, leaving the top of the stem exposed with the cut leaves splayed out around it. First he dipped one hand in and took a drink, then he dipped both hands in and took a drink; with clear water dripping back into the cactus both times.


    So, it is beginning to seem that the cultural myth of getting drinkable water from a cactus may have stemmed from a combination of the 1948 John Wayne movie, 3 Godfathers, and this one. The story of JW using a dipper in a barrel cactus, that I and the other jeep tour drivers have been telling tourists, appears to be an embellishment of the two scenes.


    Unless someone someday checks this forum and gives us new iformation about a dipper scene...


    Thanks again for all the help.


    Jeeptours

    jeeptours, I just wanted to add my greetings to you as well. And I invite you to check back with us as often as possible.


    I must say you sure know how to make a entrance with the cactus story. :lol: Hope you come back :)

    Life is hard, its even harder when your stupid!!
    -John Wayne

    I am retired and have been fortunate to find a passion that keeps me active, mentally and physically. My wife and I travel around the country in our RV to volunteer in State Parks. We spend each winter in our mobile home (not an RV) in Tucson. My interest is in doing interpretive hosting on site, and my specialty is checking out local beliefs about local history/anthropology/geography etc. We leave Tucson next Saturday for at least three months of volunteering on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.


    Last fall, I saw an ad for part-time, on-call, jeep tour drivers. I get paid for each tour which lasts 3-4 hours from the time we pick up the tourists at their resort to the time we bring them back. In the 2 1/2 hours actually on a jeep trail, we explain the desert and I throw in a lot about the Apaches (Cochise and Geronimo) and the local geology. My job is to make the tours interesting for people with minimal interest in the desert. As a retired educator, I also try to give good information. Most of the tourists find that not only is it fun to bounce around in a jeep, they also learn something.


    A few of the drivers just try to make it interesting so they get good tips. I'm the "nut" who insists that what I tell the tourists is true, not just local hearsay, both here on the jeep tours and at the state parks in the summers. I am continually checking what others tell me. I found this forum by doing a Google search for "John Wayne movies", to see for myself if the cactus story was true, embellished, or false.


    Thanks to you good folks, the truth I have learned is more interesting than the fiction. I told of both cactus scenes yesterday and one of my passengers said Nevada Smith was one of his favorite movies. He was thrilled when I pointed out an Agave cactus to him.


    Jeeptours