The Most Infamous Movie Man Scream: The Wilhelm Scream
You’ve heard it dozens of times over the years in movies, video games and TV shows: a guy gets shot, thrown, falls, or gets blown up, and he lets out a scream. You’ve probably never realized that most of the time it was all the same guy screaming. “The Wilhelm Scream” has had a cult following among Hollywood directors and sound editors since it was first used in the 1950’s, becoming something of an inside joke among filmmakers, especially George Lucas and Skywalker Sound, who’ve used the scream in every Star Wars movie made.
Originally used in the 1951 film Distant Drums when a man crossing a stream is bitten by an alligator and dragged underwater (a perfectly good excuse for a guy to scream), the sound effect got its name from its second use two years later when Pvt. Wilhelm takes an arrow to the thigh in The Charge at Feather River [pictured]. The scream has been attributed to actor and singer Sheb Wooley, most known among people not in The Business for his 1958 song, “Purple People Eater”.
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[Duplicate post. – ed.]
The inside game is always fun to learn about==like the tennis shoe being used as a starship fighter?
“Homage” is always interesting when you can actually see it–as opposed to an excuse that doesn’t prove out?
I am becoming too cynical…. I can’t help but think… nah, just another internet hoax….
They just did a piece on this on our local news a couple of days ago. I have no idea why.
I wasn’t sure if this was a hoax or not, so I checked the episode of Family Guy in one of the vids, that scream was there.
Of course, now whenever I see a movie that scream will stand out. Just like those stupid flashing dots.
The more you know, the more you get annoyed.
Lethal Weapon 4 didn’t have that scream when the guy was shot into the semi. Did it?
DAH PURFECT RING TONE !!!
That’s great….
It lends new meaning to the stormtrooper falling down the Death Star
ravine (trench, hole, whatever)…
Hmmmm. Walla-walla, peas and carrots. Peas and carrots.
RBG
I learned about this a couple years ago, and now I’m sorry I did. I hear it in loads of movies, and every time I hear it, it takes me right out of the experience.
Ignorance can be bliss. I was much better off not knowing about it.
[Message deleted – See Comment Guidelines. – ed.]
Have you ever wondered why A is the first letter of the alphabet?
A is the first letter because it is the first sound of creation entering the world. Indeed it is the first word said by every crying newborn as soon as it takes its first breath: AaaAAAAahhhh!
hint: WE are the Alpha. AND we are the Omega.
Ben Colder was another of Shebs many incarnations.
14. Lex. I believe that should read the birthing mother.
RBG