"This is for all the money you're going to make on Return of the Jedi!"

September 8, 2011 12:31 PM

For years, there was a rumor of practical joke recorded during the shooting of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Specifically, Instead of Indy being whipped by a Thuggee slave-driver, Barbara Streisand came in, wearing a dominatrix outfit, and starts lashing Indy with his own whip. Then Carrie Fisher jumped to Indy's defense, and director Irving Kershner criticized Steven Spielberg's directing of the scene. Well, it's not just a rumor (YT 1:25, with transcript).
posted by filthy light thief (49 comments total)

Couldn't prove it by me. Those indistinct bright blobs could be anyone, for all I can tell.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:34 PM on September 8, 2011 [9 favorites]

Alternate source: Springboard-hosted video on JoBlo (who incorrectly cites the IMDb FAQ (WARNING: SPOILERS) )
posted by filthy light thief at 12:37 PM on September 8, 2011

Man, if that were at all viewable or audible, I'll bet it would be the most awesome thing ever.
posted by Max Udargo at 12:44 PM on September 8, 2011 [16 favorites]

I found that reading the transcript on the YouTube page before watching the clip made it intelligible.
posted by briank at 12:48 PM on September 8, 2011

In the Special Edition, E.T. does the whipping.
posted by brain_drain at 12:50 PM on September 8, 2011 [4 favorites]

All those years I spent wishing Carrie Fisher would save me from a whip wielding Barbara Streisand ruined by the harsh reality of actually seeing someone go through that. Geez it seemed like more fun when it was happening in my head.
posted by jutepanama at 12:53 PM on September 8, 2011 [5 favorites]

In the BluRay edition, Han whips first.
posted by ardgedee at 12:53 PM on September 8, 2011 [7 favorites]

Barbra Streisand: "Y'know, I feel like a faggot!"

WHAT
posted by brain_drain at 12:54 PM on September 8, 2011 [7 favorites]

"I feel like a faggot." -Striesand.

What? Wow!

It's like a real life episode of Meet the Feebles.

Also, I'll be in my bunk. This is better than analog scrambled cable pron.
posted by loquacious at 12:56 PM on September 8, 2011

Joke about replacing the whip with a walkie-talkie.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:56 PM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

This is great and all, but I'm still waiting on the outtake footage from Yentl where Striesand smacks Mandy Patankin around with a six-fingered glove.
posted by cortex at 1:03 PM on September 8, 2011 [5 favorites]

Ah, the 80s. Cocaine is a hell of a drug.

loquacious: "I feel like a faggot." -Striesand.

This isn't what I understood the Streisand Effect to be.

But word choice notwithstanding, she kinda did look like the part. If you're defining gay culture based on a mashup of the Village People and the darkest parts of a Chick tract.Oops, the Orson Scott Card thread is down the hall.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:09 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

I would kill to see a clear copy of this. Maybe even someone I like.
posted by JaredSeth at 1:10 PM on September 8, 2011

Best footage that ever came out of Temple of Doom.
posted by papercake at 1:14 PM on September 8, 2011 [8 favorites]

Wow, saying that around here is just asking somebody to pull out your heart.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:17 PM on September 8, 2011 [5 favorites]

Is it possible that Barbara was referring to needing a smoke? Fag used to be a slang term for a cigarette, way back when being gay wasn't socially acceptable and being a smoker was.
posted by Snowflake at 1:20 PM on September 8, 2011

Man, I wish that was watchable. Hopefully somebody can dig up a better copy.
posted by antifuse at 1:21 PM on September 8, 2011

What's with the studio audience?
posted by BurnChao at 1:22 PM on September 8, 2011

And on top of that, I've never heard anybody call cigarettes "faggots" either. Always fags.
posted by antifuse at 1:25 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Barbra earned the right to say "I feel like a faggot". It's ok.
posted by Nelson at 1:31 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

More like dozens of set people and extras.

It sounded to me like this was a recording of it being played for an audience somewhere. But then, it's basically impossible to tell anything from the horrible quality of it.
posted by antifuse at 1:35 PM on September 8, 2011

All those years I spent wishing Carrie Fisher would...

I'm sorry, I got lost in thought remembering all the things I wished Carrie Fisher would...
posted by quin at 1:36 PM on September 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

Sometimes you just feel like a faggot. What's wrong with that?
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:42 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

What's with the studio audience?

The linked video is from a cam in the audience, pointed at a screen in a theater where this clip is being played.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:49 PM on September 8, 2011

It sounded to me like this was a recording of it being played for an audience somewhere. But then, it's basically impossible to tell anything from the horrible quality of it.

Considering it's 28 years old, the quality if fantastic. This is the low-quality feed from the video tap and the audio person; it's what the director sees while shooting (although mercifully, the monitor is better than the recording and the technology has moved on since then).
posted by anigbrowl at 1:50 PM on September 8, 2011

By the way, the video tap is basically a small video camera that mounts onto the side of a film camera. A small prism in the film camera viewfinder module splits the image between the eyepiece and the video tap. The quality is pretty decent before shooting during rehearsals, while the scene is being rehearsed. It's less good during shooting because the shutter is strobing 24 times per second, while the video is being recorded at 29.97 frames per second - that's why it's so dark. Of course, this is also an nth generation copy, most likely.
posted by anigbrowl at 1:58 PM on September 8, 2011 [4 favorites]

Thanks for the explanation, all. It had seemed like an SNL skit just because of the laughter, and I couldn't figure out why it would seem authentic to anyone.
posted by BurnChao at 2:18 PM on September 8, 2011

Looks to me like Gene Simmins whipping, with Elvira intervening and the fish guy from Hellboy coming in to yell.
posted by cmoj at 3:29 PM on September 8, 2011

She feels like a bundle of sticks?
posted by gottabefunky at 3:42 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ya know, Babs...

I, too, feel like a faggot.

Only I never got to whip Harrison Ford while wearing leathers.

Can we trade?
posted by hippybear at 4:09 PM on September 8, 2011 [7 favorites]

Thanks for the explanation, all. It had seemed like an SNL skit just because of the laughter, and I couldn't figure out why it would seem authentic to anyone.

Just because something doesn't 'seem' authentic doesn't mean it's not.
posted by delmoi at 4:23 PM on September 8, 2011

She feels like a bundle of sticks?

Exactly.

In other words, she meant to say "I feel like a fascist".
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:43 PM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

The audio is so terrible, it's entirely possible that is what she actually did say!
posted by hippybear at 4:47 PM on September 8, 2011

This would be the perfect time for someone to link to that Streisand tape where she goes all foul-mouthed ballistic on someone, but I don't have time to look for it...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:07 PM on September 8, 2011

I sorry I didn't use the exact wording that you would approve of, delmoi. Let me rephrase that until you are capable of parsing the correct meaning from my statement. Here's take two:

I didn't understand why the heck people would think this skit with a live studio audience is from the actual filming of the movie. But now I get that the studio audience was not present at the filming, and just appears that way to the oft stated extremely low quality of the recording linked to. Let me express my gratitude to most Mefites for kindly pointing that out to me, instead of misinterpreting my comment as an absurd, absolute statement about the nature of reality.
posted by BurnChao at 5:11 PM on September 8, 2011

Studio audience?

You do realize that most movies are made with a zillion people you cannot see in the final product but who nonetheless are RIGHT THERE while filming is happening, right?

On a movie like Temple Of Doom, I'd expect the support crew for the shoot would be pretty huge.

Maybe it is those people who are laughing which you are referring to as a "studio audience"? If so, they most definitely were present at the filming.
posted by hippybear at 5:26 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

I like the part with the monkey brains.
posted by Brocktoon at 5:34 PM on September 8, 2011

""Temple of Doom" is worth another viewing if only to spot all the comedic casual racism."

C'mon, it's a period piece! The casual comedic racism is authentic!
posted by klangklangston at 6:04 PM on September 8, 2011

Let me rephrase that until you are capable of parsing the correct meaning from my statement. Here's take two

Huh? It's not my fault if you can't write clearly.
posted by delmoi at 7:27 PM on September 8, 2011

could've used more metal bikini
posted by beau jackson at 7:36 PM on September 8, 2011

I got lost in thought remembering all the things I wished Carrie Fisher would...

I hear she can sarcastically self-deprecate herself until you achieve orgasm.
posted by dhartung at 9:34 PM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

Indiana Jones and the Temple of So. Much. Fucking. Blow.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 9:35 PM on September 8, 2011

All those years I spent wishing Carrie Fisher would save me from a whip wielding Barbara Streisand ruined by the harsh reality of actually seeing someone go through that.

And yet the years I spent wishing Barbara Streisand would not save me from a whip-wielding Carrie Fisher remain unsullied.

Probably.
posted by Decani at 9:58 PM on September 8, 2011

Sigh.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:02 PM on September 8, 2011

There was a great interview with Carrie Fisher on CBC a while back. She's got more character in her little finger than the entire cast of Temple of Doom. (Wait! That's not very much...)
posted by sneebler at 5:17 PM on September 9, 2011

Snowflake: "Is it possible that Barbara was referring to needing a smoke? Fag used to be a slang term for a cigarette, way back when being gay wasn't socially acceptable and being a smoker was."

Tell me this is sarcasm? Because 1984 was not that time. I was there.
posted by desuetude at 10:28 PM on September 9, 2011

Fag is the British slang for cigarettes. Cue a lot of unfunny gags by comedians who've just visited New York for the first time.

(By the way, the original video is gone now - mirror?)

It's less good during shooting because the shutter is strobing 24 times per second, while the video is being recorded at 29.97 frames per second - that's why it's so dark.

That suggests that somewhere there's a film canister containing this delightful scene in pristine 35mm. Yes?
posted by Grangousier at 2:30 AM on September 10, 2011

Possibly. Chances are it wasn't printed, but the negative may be in a vault somewhere.
posted by anigbrowl at 9:22 PM on September 10, 2011

THE VIDEO IN QUESTION WAS REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF LUCASFILM

This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Paramount PIctures Corporation

Huh. I wonder who requested that (Lucas, Streissand, or others). And it seems to have disappeared for now. I'll see if I can dig up some other sources.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:21 AM on September 13, 2011