MovieChat Forums > The Caine Mutiny (1954) Discussion > Let the fire run! @ Yosemte, What is the...

Let the fire run! @ Yosemte, What is the deal with THAT??

posted 11 years ago by Daverat
6 replies | jump to latest

We're watching this tonight and kept going back to try and figure out the significance of that act and scene. My wife says it was foreshadowing but what tradition was it supposed to represent?

Was this scene in the book?

It's when the young Esnign is romancing May, the night before she refuses to marry him. SOme guys in the distance pour coals and possibly gasoline over a cliff and shout "Let the fire run" May says "Isn't it beautful?" It looks like it was part of either an End of summer, End of Leave or initiation ceremony.

[–] laxlon 11 years ago

I think it was a tradition years ago in Yosemite. For the tourists, every summer evening they would have a bonfire at the top of the cliff and at some point they would push the burning embers over the cliff, yelling "Watch the fire fall"! Sort of emulating the many waterfalls nearby. I don't know when they stopped it. It looks pretty but it seems sort of dangerous when it gets so dry there in the summertime.

[–] thelordofhell 11 years ago

They stopped it in 1968.....the people were wrecking the forrest area around the attraction and they were using too many trees for the bonfire.........

"Son-of-a-bitch must pay!!"

[–] Daverat 11 years ago

Thanks for BOTH of the explanations. it's a very brief scene but it was cool enough that we kept hitting pause on the DVR and backing up to go back over it. A lot of that outdoor scenery seems to be rear-projection on a soundstage with a wicked fan running to mess up May's hair but the scene at night with the fire spilling over the cliff was awfully cool.

Ikept thinking " Did they ever really do THAT?" due to fire issues and my wife said she was pretty sure they did and that the area where it was done in the film looked like it had been scorched many times by such acts. To hear that they did it EVERY NIGHT is mind-boggling! I assumed it might have been a "Last Day of Summer" ritual or maybe last day that particular cottage site was open for guests kinda deal. Every Night! Geez!

Such neat stuff you learn on IMDB. I'm gonn see if I can find some old images of it on google and link to it.

Thanks again!

[–] Zanza8 11 years ago

My son lived in the backcountry in Yosemite for six months with a trail crew and he turned white when I told him the scene where they drop the fire over the cliff was something that used to be done regularly. He knew the spot well, having worked on it. We have so many wildfires now it's hard to believe they used to throw fire around like that.

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/

[–] Daverat 11 years ago

Zanza - that is EXACTLY whey it caught my eye while airing on TV. My wife and I kept hitting puase and rewind on the DVR and going back over the throw-away moment, puzzled over whether it was an end of summer thing or every night deal.

It's kinda horrifying to know now that they did this EVERY NIGHT just for the amusement of the people staying at that resort.

Smokey Bear would NOT approve! (and it is Smokey Bear and not Smokey THE Bear.. they added the "the" in the song about him to make the timing work out better)

Still, it was a visually exciting moment. I would have liked to have seeen it before they stopped the event.

[–] 11 years ago

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