Posts from jeeptours in thread „Barrel Cactus Scene“

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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