Actually watching Roar is such a strange experience. It's supposed to be a comedy, but it's so tense to actually watch. Seeing those people surrounded by all those big cats. The entire time you're just wondering when someone is going to get mauled. It's so surreal.
I never knew this about Tippi Hedren....I always associate her with Hitchcock films more than anything. Nothing short of a MIRACLE that no-one was killed during this 11 year debacle.
Tippi Hedren spoke out publicly about the way they Hitchcock abused her as an actress on set (e.g., psychologically torturing her, putting her in physical danger). She never said anything similar about her husband. That is not uncommon, though. The more far removed you are from someone, the easier it is to admit (to yourself and others) that you were a victim of their abuse.
After seeing her severe abuse to the animals the things she said about Hitchcock just don't make sense... But she also abused her daughter and let her date a pedo so??
Tippi Hedren is honestly an amazing person, and I wish people knew more about her. In addition to founding the animal sanctuary, she sunk a lot of her own money into getting nail salons for Vietnamese immigrants in the 70's and training women to work in them and manage them. She wanted refugees from the war to have a job that paid well that they could run on their own and become independently wealthy. To this day, the majority of nail salons in LA are Vietnamese owned.
They could've saved themselves a whole lot of trouble if they made a documentary instead - which they could have filmed FROM AFAR in the cats' actual habitat.
A far more ethical approach too. How disingenuous to attempt to frame an exploitative venture using wild animals in a captive situation as an environmental awareness production.
@@kitiyana I don't doubt that they meant well (even if they were also hoping to personally benefit from the venture). They probably just thought that taking a more direct approach to saving them was preferable, or at least worth doing for the long term benefit. This was made some 50 years ago, the standard thought process has changed over time. Basically, the argument between zoos and wildlife preserves.
The ideas of "we want to promote the conservation of these animals" and "we need animals to film this movie, so we're going to raise over 100 of them like pets" seem so immediately contrary, I can't believe no one involved put a stop to this film at any point over the course of years.
Their intentions were very dubious from the beginning. Raising lion cubs in preparation for a movie shoot under the guise of "promoting wild life conservation". I'm sure they dumped their sense of reasoning at the abandoned farm house, where they initially spotted the Pride of Lions. lmfao
Definitely, this was a surprisingly very mild horror compared to what I was expecting at the outset. (Lions getting into an overcrowded movie theatre with locked fire escapes.)
Tippi Hedren was so abused on the set of Hitchcock's Birds, having live animals literally thrown at her by crew members for days and days. You have to assume her metric for "dangerous animals on set" became skewed as a result
@@scruffy-thejanitor Actually the birds did exist. Initially Hitchcock was going to use animatronic birds or something like that, but he didn't think the scenes would look realistic enough, so he ended up going for real birds. I'm guessing that torturing Tippi Hedren, who wouldn't acquiesce to his controlling behavior and sexual advances, was also a motive.
My uncle used to live down the street from someone who kept caged animals including big cats in his backyard. Once when I was visiting (5 years old at the time), a cougar escaped. I asked my uncle if I could go outside and play. Opened the front door and the cougar was standing right there. My uncle picked up a broom he had laying there and hit it on the head and closed the door. Probably the most terrifying memory of my childhood.
Tippi Hedren figured that out, Shambala is strictly a rescue facility, and she worked tirelessly for years to get The Big Cat Safety Act passed; it passed this year. breeding by non licensed zoos is now illegal, roadside zoos, cub petting, buying and selling, etc is now illegal in the u.s, thanks to this woman, along with licensed and accredited zoo owner Carole Baskin
@@HemiChrysler dont use nor in a youtube comment section because you come off as pretentious. the only thing worse would be trying to correct another's comment to try and make them use nor
I've seen 'Roar', and read about its filming. It's not a particularly good movie, but it was done with love. The problem is, these folks seems to believe loving the animals would somehow protect them - that the lions, etc, - would 'get it'. I'm amazed no one was killed.
They have very strong feelings and do not do much thinking. If you tell them the truth, they get angry with you, even violent. If you want to take away the animals that they're sure who love them, they identify their bad feelings as coming from YOU, and will act accordingly.
Well, they're in the entertainment industry, which automatically means they're liberals. You know, the "all you need is love" crowd. A bunch of dumbasses.
It's the same thing with the Grizzly Man, seemed to think that his very genuine love and passion for the animals made him different to other people. Wild animals are wild and ultimately unsentimental and will kill you if startled or hurt or hungry
@@MasonMcLeodFilms Yes - that's a good comparison. 'Grizzly Man' was about a man who genuinely loved (and believed he was loved by) wild animals. It was almost as if he saw animals as 'furry people' in their emotional co-understanding. This anthropomorphic belief is almost always a bad mistake, and one that can lead to injury or death - of both the man and the animal.
I grew up in Wyoming, and we have this problem with Yellowstone tourists. Whenever we went up to the park, watching a lot of those out of state people getting close or provoking the bison is like watching toddlers playing with knives. It is like their lack of nature has created some idealistic view that doesn't match reality. Yes, it is beautiful. But, that is a 2,000 pound wild animal with horns that will gore you if you get on it's wrong side.
This is probably the scariest comedy ever made. Found this years ago when it was featured on rlm, immediately watched it and jesus What a bizarre experience that was.
A friend of mine raised and trained big cats for circus performances. He always kept in mind that they were wild animals at heart. Even though he was very good with his cats he still got injured a few times, once pretty badly. He had an epiphany when he hit his 30s; he realized that every day he was playing russian roulette. He gave up that career in spite of it being quite lucrative and became an architect.
Yes and they had a "No animals were harmed during the filming of this movie". Technically true since the cameras were underwater and not filming when the cats were shot, but it was a direct result of this movie 3 cats died.
Thx for posting this. I know now I shouldn't watch this one. I gave a like anyway cuz I love this channel. Can't bear animal cruelty injury or death because of humans.
Tippi Hedren saw the error of the project and worked tirelessly for years to get the Big Cat Safety Act passed, Biden signed it into law this year. it's now illegal to breed big cats without zoo accreditation, as well as owning them, cub petting is also illegal in the US among other things
How about an episode covering the 1981 Dublin stardust nightclub fire, Currently a public enquiry going on after nearly 40 years. Thanks I enjoy your videos.
Have we forgotten the suffering and pain The survivors and victims of the fire in Artane, The mothers and fathers forever to mourn The 48 children who never came home. - Christy Moore
Read about this a few months ago. Absolutely bizarre. "Although there had been numerous close calls, and many serious injuries, no member of the cast or crew had been killed during production." Makes it sound almost OK!
My Mom and Dad's first apartment was across the street from a home where they kept a Lion. So inappropriate and cruel. :( I didn't know this story, but I know of the family and it surprises me that after the torment of Hitchcock films, and being attacked by birds, Tippi didn't think this might be a bad decision. Being attacked by birds versus being attacked by lions/big cats, two completely different things.
She was actively terrified of birds so maybe she was like "oh well I got attacked by the animal I was actively afraid of and I lived so why not film with lions/tigers/etc?"
Tippi Headron also started a big cat sanctuary in the American southwest. In his autobiography, "If Chins Could Kill", Bruce Campbell talks about the difficulty of filming the horse scenes in Army of Darkness: the set was downwind from the sanctuary, and the sound of the lions roaring kept frightening the horses.
I watched this video and remembered another movie which also was a failure,not in cast but also in shooting process. The Conqueror.... Immediately after the release of the film, critics marked it as one of the biggest failures in history. The press ridiculed frank miskast and funny dialogues. However, 20 years later, the film acquired a more sinister reputation. Seven years after the release of "The Conqueror" in 1963, director Dick Powell died of lymphatic cancer. In the same year, Pedro Armendaris, who played the main character's assistant in the film, committed suicide after learning that he had hip cancer. Hayward died in 1975 from brain cancer. Four years after that, John Wayne also died of cancer. Two of his sons, who were present on the set of "The Conqueror", were also found to have cancer. In total, by 1980, out of 220 people of the film crew, 91 fell ill with cancer, 46 of them subsequently died from this disease.
Yeah, because they shot the film down wind of the Trinity Nuke sight 40 miles, North of Las Vegas. Then for post production work they scooped up 21 tractor trailers full of red radioactive soil, and dumped it on the MGM back lot to use for retakes. And every Western TV show and movie, untill 1983 when the US Air Force was doing flyover nuke testing, and their meters hit the pegs. (when a Judge ordered it removed) Believe it or not John Wayne even mentioned it to Rod Howard, when they were filming The Shootist.
Watching the RLM guys watching this with Macaulay Culkin was hilarious. The fact that the filmmakers considered this a comedy is something else....the guys were covering their eyes at points.
It reminds me of the 1936 short "Catching Trouble", which was ruthlessly and imo righteously riffed on Mystery Science Theater 3000. It basically consists of a herpetologist named Ross Allen (who DID go on to develop a form of antivenom) capturing bear cubs (quite forcibly) to cart off to zoos. It's a short I don't rewatch because it infuriates me to see animals being treated that way (though Tom Servo's 'Catching Trouble' ditty in the opening credits did make me laugh).
I had heard about Melanie Griffith’s Mother and her love of big cats but had never heard of this movie. Seems like common sense was tossed out the window with that whole deal! Thanks for another interesting video.
It seems often to be the case that people who own wild/vicious animals are willfully blind to the nature of those same animals. How many children get mauled by their family's dogs?
@@LJB103 True. A tragic example of this behavior was in a video I watched a couple months ago about a couple who had a couple pet lions in Russia back in the 70s. Apparently the story is famous but it was the first I had heard of it. The first lion attacked someone and was shot dead by the police. Then they got a second one! Lesson not learned. The second one ended up killing the son.
@@LJB103Perfect example of ego over reason. They abused and drugged that poor chimp to keep it under control in a horrible environment. *Nash's friend knew she wasn't able to be a proper caretaker alone, but ignored all good advice on what was best for the chimp. It was no surprise what happened.
Melanie Griffith's mom qualifies as an abuser in my eyes since I learned about this movie. Who puts their child in a situation where a wild animal can disfigure or kill her? Excellent job Tippy!
It's possible she is an abuse victim who went on to enable abuse. The results are the same (abuse), but the motives are different. [TW: child abuse] My mom was psychologically, verbally, and physically abused by her parents growing up (gaslighting, insults, and beatings, respectively). She married my father, who was psychologically abusive. My mom did not let him psychologically harm me because she wanted me to suffer. She enabled it because she didn't know any better. She only knew her abusive family that prevented her from making friends or going over to happy, functional households. Same thing for Liza Minnelli. Her childhood with her mother was chaotic. But Judy Garland became an object owned by Hollywood as a child. They started drugging her as a teen. In an interview, she said she went through an emotional journey of realizing her childhood was so abusive, but ultimately realizing it didn't matter. Her mom loved her and did the best that she could in a bad situation. I know that Hitchcock abused Tippi Hedren. We can see how her husband was abusive. If she loved her children and tried to protect them as much as possible in a bad situation, she might have been the only positive thing in their childhoods. Just like my mom is the best part of childhood for me. As a child who grew up with mild abuse, I recognize which parent was actively hateful toward me, and which one was ignorant but loved me.
TL;DR: It's almost impossible to break the cycle of abuse in families. Us children of abuse appreciate mothers who get us one step closer to breaking he cycle, even if they couldn't entirely protect us.
Truly bizarre. Normally you would get around not having pride of lions with clever camera angles, miniatures or animatronics using just 2-3 live ones. Or just using stock footage or filming some wild life in Africa.
Also, if they were so concerned about wild life, why the hell would they keep 100+ wild animals basically as pets? They acquired lion pups just so they could make this film! They were animal abusers.
The movie was such a batshit crazy idea that only got more insane. How three cats were the only casualties of this debacle, which is still three too many, is shocking to me given the sheer number of animals on set.
It's crazy to me they said they wanted to do a wildlife conservation message, but kept so many big cats in captivity and no doubt in inappropriate conditions. That's not conservation. But these people aren't smart, either.
From what you could see and what was mentioned in the video, it sounds like they looked after them well and had enough space for them all, especially if they had two elephants as well. Conservation sometimes means keeping endangered animals in captivity so that eventually, they can be reintroduced back into the wild so that they can survive.
@@happiestaku6646 Okay but that's absolutely not what they were doing. They were raising lion cubs as pets, meaning they would likely never be able to be reintroduced to the wild.
@abstractaxolotl6961 maybe at the start, but conservation was key to what they were trying to achieve. So they tried to do something good but for the wrong reasons.
I saw "Roar" when I bought it on a streaming service a few years ago. I'd read about it first, in Tippi Hendren's autobiography, so I at least had a head's-up about it. "Hard to watch" is an understatement. I cannot imagine an audience's reaction.
I remember reading about this, in (of all publications) The National Enquirer. I believe Tippi And Melanie had a strained relationship, due to this. What mother allows her child to be attacked by an animal in her care, and doesn't just get rid of said animal? I could see if it was a poodle or Chihuahua, maybe cat, but lions?!? Hell no!
Maybe a mother whose sense of reality was warped due to the constant abuse she faced herself, not only by her own husband, but by big names in the industry as well? Ever heard of Hitchcock? Be mad at the abusers who ruin people's lives, not at those affected, you great big piece of shit!!
I think the thing was some of the old Hollywood mom´s weren´t really good loving mothers in the first place.-Tippi just seemed to be one of them-others were for example Joan Crawford,Frances Fonda,Frances Bergen,Raquel Welsh and sure some others-their children never were their"everything" in the first place and were never loved by them unconditionally as they should have been-Astonishingly some of their daughters later became really great and lovingmothers(Candice Bergen) or at first decent but then good mothers (Jane,Fonda )and Melanie despite her problems ,drugs and alcohol was better than her mother too
This might be one of the best FH videos ever. I'd never heard of this film, let alone been aware of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding its filming.
"The initial estimate of 40 big cats was soon forgotten." So they reduced it to.....? "100 big cats including tigers, panthers, and cougars." Of course, why should they have reacted resonably 😑
Never heard of this film before but I am glad I now know about it. The whole production story reminds me of "Fritzcarraldo" by Herzog. I think that one was way worse than this. I also feel bad for all the people and animals involved. If the producers were Born today, CGI would have helped a lot in the making of the film. This is really a cautionary tale about how good intentions are not enough to make something well done.
I still think Tippi was so traumatized by the experience with Hitchcock and The Birds that she created what psychoanalysts call a reenactment, a similarly risky, and cruel situation she subjects herself to willingly. I don't know if this was Marshall's brainchild or Hedren's, but the effect was still the same. Still, that is no justification for subjecting your child, yourselves, and so many others to injuries and potential death. That's just abusive and straight up crazy.
In 1970 the impact of the big hit "Born Free" was still being felt, and lions and conservation were much in the air (anyone else old enough to remember "Frasier, the Sensuous Lion" in the early '70s? ). So if they'd finished this movie in a reasonable amount of time, it might have gone over pretty well. By 1981, nobody cared about lions (or, alas, Tippi Hedren) anymore. But it seems Hedren and Marshall were sincere in caring about the animals and tried to bring some good out of the whole misadventure.
What on Earth did they expect using wild creatures, especially big cats, trained or otherwise. And wild animals should not be ‘trained’ anyway for the gratification of bloody humans. It’s a pity two animals had to be shot when they escaped. Wild animals will always revert to their instinctive behaviour when stressed. And the predatory instinct in any feline, big or small is very strong. Very good video as always. Thank you.
It will never cease to amaze me how many people who say they're passionate about wildlife seem to not understand how wild animals work. And generally it's the animals who pay for their stupidity. 😢
There are a lot of things going wrong and yet this pair keeps going on. They injured a lot of their crew and families, they go through bad times and financial crises and yet they keep going on All said and done, it's amazing the two just keep going. i would probably stop when my daughter gets injured and swore off touching the big cat forever. They didn't. That is either an insanity or determination.
It’s idiocy and too much pride. And probably sunken cost fallacy - like “we’ve already put so much into it, it would be a waste to stop before it’s done”
Very interesting documentary, unusual to have one without fatalities on a subject rarely covered. I had never heard of the movie "Roar", but am curiously fascinated and feel that I need to see it at least once.
Bought and watched the re-released version. The opening scene of the giraffe running alongside the motorcycle was pretty cool. Seeing the very large pride of lions running around the house was . . . interesting and surreal. Made me want to sing, "Oh give me a home where the lion cubs roam, and I'll show you a house full of sh1t."
I worked on set with Tippi Hedren in the made for television film, "Shadow of a Doubt," the '90's re-make of the Hitchcock classic. This film also starred Mark Harmon. I saw Tipi again three more times over the years, once at the 50th anniversary screening of the classic film, "The Birds." Both actors are very nice, easy to talk with.
That suddenly reminded me of a trailer for the Crocodile Hunter movie (back in the late 90s I think?) where the narrator said something similar. I wonder if that was meant to be a parody of this 🤔
A great episode. Elephants live for a long time, I wonder if any of those elephants are still alive? I wonder if they could recognise themselves if they were show old footage of themselves, on a big screen? I hope all of those rescued animals had a great life at the sanctuary, I believe it is still there?
The cinematographer that was scalped is Jan De Bont. He went on to direct Speed and Twister, and was Cinematographer for a bunch of other notable projects.
When I was little, my parents brought me to visit a couple who were friends of theirs. While I was there I heard what sounded like a lion roaring nearby. The sound was so loud and deep. I thought for years I must have imagined that but later mentioned it to my parents. It was real. Turns out someone in the neighborhood had a pet lion in their garage. whenever it roared you could hear it though the whole neighborhood. There's even a facebook group for people who remember that pet lion in their neighborhood. Poor lion though. Another story: When I was older, I was writing an article about this zoo that took in rescued exotic animals, and I was going behind the scenes with the zookeeper's son (who also worked there). They had a rescued lion that they took in as a cub when it was confiscated by police from a drug dealer. At that time the zoo was still being built so they raised the cub with their family and their dogs. That lion remembered the zookeeper's son and came running over making happy "chuffing" noises. They let me pet him (with a chain link fence inbetween us) - so I got to scritch his ears / mane where they poked through the chain link (I did not put my hand through). He acted just like a giant cat wanting scritches. That being saidthey are not pets, though this one was tamer than a completely wild lion. It was a cool experience though.
4:31 and to think she was scared by a couple of Birds while not a success among Human's , Roar is the family Christmas favourite for Lions, Tigers, and Tabby Cats. They love the bit where the Lion bites the Human, how they laugh, how they roar.
Thank you for profiling this. Kind of answers the question of what happened to Tippi's career. I hope that the current version of the wildlife sanctuary has qualified professionals involved , though why you would want exotic big cats in the hills surrounding Los Angeles is beyond me.
I saw this in college and thought it amazing. It came out about the same time as Flashdance and the Evil Dead and MTV. It was an avant guard time. I certainly don't expect children today to understand.
What a fascinating story. I knew Tippi Hedrin was an animal advocate, but had never heard of this film or it's incredible backstory. Another great job by Fascinating Horror as usual. cheers Pat in New Jersey
One of the weirdest movies and productions in the history of cinema. I'm surprised you didn't mention another "horror" angle, inasmuch as Noel Marshall had been executive producer of "The Exorcist" and the proceeds from that film partially funded production of "Roar." Come to think of it, an interesting video could be made of the troubled production of "The Exorcist" as well, including the strange occurrences that arose during production, and the numerous truly horrific coincidences related to cast members and crew. Both are prime examples of "fascinating horror"!
As someone who's had six domestic cats (felis catus) at one point, I can't even begin to imagine what it must be to have over a 100 of significantly bigger ones.
you can rent a bungalo in the rescue sanctuary which Tippi Hedren created: you cannot mingle with the cats, but you can hear them roar all around you all night
The plot doesn't even make any goddamn sense. The family visits the guy's nature preserve but whoopsie, he was out of town when they showed up. This is Home Alone 2 levels of travel-related stupidity.
So cool u did an episode on Roar. This movie was always very fascinating to me. An entire family of big cat lovers buys a house and trys to film a movie around a bunch of lions in a house. Its absolutely crazy. The teenage girl had her scalp ripped off almost. These people were crazy and then on top of all that blood and sacrifice, the movie was awful. I tried to watch it but its like watxhing a sideshow.
That quote in the beginning about lions moving into an abandoned house tells us everything. He was astonished that lions would use a human constructed house as a shelter. How is that any different than a cave or a thick cover of tree branches? This is an example of anthropomorphizing animals. Animals are more different from us than we can understand, and also more similar to us than we can imagine. But for some reason we generally seem to get it all backward.
I remember when this was released and I knew Hedren was an animal activist as I was starting in about 1980. I felt she had good intentions. The Roar Foundation/Shambala Preserve Sanctuary is still running, taking in former circus and roadshow animals etc. & Hedren who's in her 90s happily lives in the compound, where her grandchildren are taught the same animal welfare values. There are about 60 cats. She was always considered Alfred Hitchcock's muse.
Alfred Hitchcock abused her and pressured her to have sex with him, threatening her career if she didn't! :) So yeah, Tippi was his victim, not his "muse".
"No animals were injured, 70 humans were" is gold, shows so much of modern stupidity going too far but big respect for these utopists, was crazy but definitely worth a special place in movie history and retro legends :)
This is one of the most "fuck around, find out" movie productions of all time. I can only imagine sheer hubris and the sunk cost fallacy were the only things keeping this from getting canned outright.
I cannot get over what a waste of money this whole crazy lion endeavor was - $17million dollars - unreal, if they had donated that money to animal shelters across the USA - it would have been much, much better spent. Crazy!
@@PointNemo9 If you take the middle year of production, 1975, and adjust for inflation from that (to get an average of 1970-81), 17 million is roughly 100 million today, just off the top of my head. They could've spent a quarter of what they did on a good movie. One has to wonder how much of the 17 million was spent on medical expenses, to say nothing of feeding over 100 animals the size of my F& car for a decade.
I wish they’d just filmed the lions who’d moved into the farmhouse (from a safe distance, of course). The mental image of these big cats just living in a house, looking out the windows and hanging out on the verandah, sounds really cool and funny at the same time.
As a zoologist, this story horrifes & angers me in equal measure... I don't care how much of a bond you think you have with a large predator, these animals are capable of hurting you even if they don't intend to. They are stronger & faster than you'll ever be, and they have thousands of years of evolutionary instincts driving their behaviour. All it takes is for the cat to get startled or to play a little rough, and if the injury to a human is severe enough the animal will be put down, through no fault of it's own. This was the epitome of selfishness, even in the 1970's... if Hedren & Co were genuine about the conservation aspect they would have filmed in Africa to highlight the early conservation work happening there. Instead they raised cubs solely for the purpose of a single movie production, seemingly without any thought for the long-term welfare of those animals. The average lion needs at least 5kg (11 lbs) of meat _per day,_ weighs between 120-250kg (265-550 lbs), and lives up to 15-20 years in captivity... imagine the logistics & costs of housing just one lion for it's life. They had over 50 animals. And while they started a sanctuary later on, it's hard to give Hedren & Marshall any credit given their own selfish actions necessitated it's creation in the first place. This was hubris at it's most dangerous, and it's a miracle no-one was killed.
You'd think any one of the injuries to the cast and crew might be enough to say "...Maybe this isn't a great idea". And then Mother Nature comes in and floods the whole damn place, and you STILL don't take that as a sign that maybe this isn't worth it?!
If you do, you need to make the appropriate preparation and treat the enviroment with the respect it deserves, otherwise your asking for things to go horribly wrong.
What are you talking about? They lived in it for eleven years. Surrounded by these animals. Raising these animals. You go play with your things for eleven years and I'll tell you that you know nothing. See how actual that is.
We're just animals that live on the planet as well, so what exactly do you mean my "environments not their own?" Where is this human environment you speak of? Cities? Every city on Earth was wild, natural habitat before a city was built there. Aside from the ocean I don't see what line you're drawing between our environment and not our environment.
So bizarre! All those people getting hurt, including their own daughter, and they didn't give up the project! And really, where was the respect and compassion for those animals??
People like this have very strong feelings, and can think of nothing else. They just want to feel good, and will commit horrible cruelties to do it. And if you tell them they're wrong, they see bad feelings coming from YOU, and will react with hostility, even violence. Common among the left side of the political spectrum.
I really enjoyed this exploration of Roar. I know there are some crazy movies out there with doomed casts, but this one is quite unique. Thank you for covering the topic.
I love that this is the first I’ve ever heard of it, please keep it up and don’t change your voice or music. This is something I look forward to every week :-)
This whole situation is just dripping with Sunk Cost Fallacy. Being unwilling to abandon a course of action because you are so invested in it even when it is clear there is no value/benefit in continuing.
06:34 I was expecting some animals would get killed even if no humans died during this film I'd never even heard of. That's a shame but utterly unsurprising like most of the avoidable tragedies you've coverer, including the worse _Twilight Zone_ movie accident I had already been aware of.
I worked on this film for many years. 2nd Camera Assistant and once in a while camera operator when there were multiple cameras. The DP was a very good Dutch cameraman and he was quite demanding. It was an experience of a lifetime. Nothing like being chased by TOGAR, the biggest baddest male Lion on the ranch.
Didn’t know that they were Melanie Griffith parents and in looking this up to confirm I also found out that Dakota from the horrid 50 shades of bland is Melanie’s daughter
This is very interesting. I’ve ridden the Metrolink from Lancaster to Los Angeles and the train runs right by the preserve. All I knew was that Tippi Hedron owned it and nothing about its history, nor had I heard of “Roar” before today.
It's a pity, that so much effort and care was indifferent by the majority of the people around the world. That's just reflect how really the people cares about animal wildlife, and the animal life in general. Even now, when in the social media is predominantly a topic, the animals is still a object to humans. In that era, the fate of this work as a documentary, never can be better, cause the mentality of the entertainment industry then. The best thing to do is doing now what these persons try to share with the world. I haven't any idea about this movie until now. Thank you for this valuable episode.
Just seeing an animal in the thumbnail for this video had me twitching. Ffs people, wild animals shouldn't be used for entertainment! It's so sad that we force wild animals into situations like these. People have no one to blame but themselves when things go wrong. I would rather suspend disbelief and see someone in a costume or see CGI versions of these creatures than hear about real ones being mishandled. It's bad enough when we do this to domesticated animals (people too, for that matter. No film is worth dying for.).
It will never cease to astound me how many people claim to be passionate about wildlife, but then don't seem to understand how wild animals work at all. And generally it's the animals that end up paying for their ignorance. 😢
This is one of the wildest stories I am aware of (pun intended), thanks for the coverage. Having encountered lions and elephants in the wild myself, I cannot imagine people doing something like this.
Great episode! The movie The island of Dr morou (spelled wrong) with burt Lancaster looks like half the animals used were injured. Brutal. Makes me wonder if that movie after watching it is why they started monitoring the handling of them.
Nothing is more infuriating than “animal lovers” who care more about getting their cuddles in than animals. If you actually like animals you understand that basically most animals except dogs, cats, and some fish do not thrive in pet-care conditions and that the industry providing pets for you, especially if they are not dogs and cats, is horrific. No one should EVER be in close contact with big cats. It’s deranged to think otherwise. Even at accredited zoos with trained staff and safety equipment, no human is ever in the same area as a big cat.
Actually watching Roar is such a strange experience. It's supposed to be a comedy, but it's so tense to actually watch. Seeing those people surrounded by all those big cats. The entire time you're just wondering when someone is going to get mauled. It's so surreal.
Not seen it but got to now!
I would have begun the film shooting with actual shooting, promptly solving any potential safety issues. I'm more of a dog person anyway.
@@SofaKingShit Okay, tough guy.
It must be strange knowing, in your heart, the answer was usually "shortly after the film cuts"
@@SofaKingShit haha I like your humor dude
"No animals were harmed in the making of this film. 70 cast and crew members were."
Know what I’d rather
Lol
What about the three that were killed because they "escaped"
@@scottcol23exactly what I was thinking 🤔
Lmao 😭
I never knew this about Tippi Hedren....I always associate her with Hitchcock films more than anything. Nothing short of a MIRACLE that no-one was killed during this 11 year debacle.
Tippi Hedren spoke out publicly about the way they Hitchcock abused her as an actress on set (e.g., psychologically torturing her, putting her in physical danger).
She never said anything similar about her husband.
That is not uncommon, though. The more far removed you are from someone, the easier it is to admit (to yourself and others) that you were a victim of their abuse.
Hitchcock told her that if she didn't go to bed with him, he'd destroy her career. She wouldn't, and he did. Sh'e has talked about this.
@@LJB103 wtaf?! I guess Weinstein wasn't the first. Ar$ehole
After seeing her severe abuse to the animals the things she said about Hitchcock just don't make sense...
But she also abused her daughter and let her date a pedo so??
Tippi Hedren is honestly an amazing person, and I wish people knew more about her. In addition to founding the animal sanctuary, she sunk a lot of her own money into getting nail salons for Vietnamese immigrants in the 70's and training women to work in them and manage them. She wanted refugees from the war to have a job that paid well that they could run on their own and become independently wealthy. To this day, the majority of nail salons in LA are Vietnamese owned.
They could've saved themselves a whole lot of trouble if they made a documentary instead - which they could have filmed FROM AFAR in the cats' actual habitat.
I liked one quote I read "It's like watching a live-action remake of Lion King while Mufasa holds a switchblade to your throat"
A far more ethical approach too. How disingenuous to attempt to frame an exploitative venture using wild animals in a captive situation as an environmental awareness production.
@@kitiyana I don't doubt that they meant well (even if they were also hoping to personally benefit from the venture). They probably just thought that taking a more direct approach to saving them was preferable, or at least worth doing for the long term benefit. This was made some 50 years ago, the standard thought process has changed over time. Basically, the argument between zoos and wildlife preserves.
pft. That's not how the 70s/80s were, man.
@@kitiyana well put😂. The irony is so bad. Lol😊
The ideas of "we want to promote the conservation of these animals" and "we need animals to film this movie, so we're going to raise over 100 of them like pets" seem so immediately contrary, I can't believe no one involved put a stop to this film at any point over the course of years.
Their intentions were very dubious from the beginning. Raising lion cubs in preparation for a movie shoot under the guise of "promoting wild life conservation". I'm sure they dumped their sense of reasoning at the abandoned farm house, where they initially spotted the Pride of Lions. lmfao
that seems to be how it goes. anyone who claims to love animals and then takes in wild animals as pets are delusional
I'd have to agree that it's almost unbelievable that no one died during the filming of that movie. Absolutely bizarre. 😨😨😨😰
Definitely, this was a surprisingly very mild horror compared to what I was expecting at the outset. (Lions getting into an overcrowded movie theatre with locked fire escapes.)
Lions died
To bad they dident. Animal abuse.
The crew probably fed the dead to the lions to keep it secret 😂
@@CanadianGirlRevenge we didn't ask
Tippi Hedren was so abused on the set of Hitchcock's Birds, having live animals literally thrown at her by crew members for days and days. You have to assume her metric for "dangerous animals on set" became skewed as a result
Always wondered how many birds were killed doing that film!
@@MegaMesozoic It had to be so many. Watching that movie I ended up being more concerned about the birds.
... and birds don't even exist
Oh wow, was that her in the birds? That was a great movie.
The chicken farmer had one bummer of a day !
@@scruffy-thejanitor Actually the birds did exist. Initially Hitchcock was going to use animatronic birds or something like that, but he didn't think the scenes would look realistic enough, so he ended up going for real birds. I'm guessing that torturing Tippi Hedren, who wouldn't acquiesce to his controlling behavior and sexual advances, was also a motive.
My uncle used to live down the street from someone who kept caged animals including big cats in his backyard. Once when I was visiting (5 years old at the time), a cougar escaped. I asked my uncle if I could go outside and play. Opened the front door and the cougar was standing right there. My uncle picked up a broom he had laying there and hit it on the head and closed the door. Probably the most terrifying memory of my childhood.
* BONK *
I'm kind of amazed a bonk was enough, you must have surprised him or something 😂
@@alexw.7097 lol yeah I think everyone involved was surprised!
Your uncle had balls of steel apparently
@@naomiskilling1093 what else was he going to do? Ask for Duke if Edinburgh rules and 10ounce gloves?
The problem is when people treat wild animals like pets when they simply aren't or ever will be
Tippi Hedren figured that out, Shambala is strictly a rescue facility, and she worked tirelessly for years to get The Big Cat Safety Act passed; it passed this year. breeding by non licensed zoos is now illegal, roadside zoos, cub petting, buying and selling, etc is now illegal in the u.s, thanks to this woman, along with licensed and accredited zoo owner Carole Baskin
I mean pets were wild animals once apon a time..
You do know dogs and cats exist, right? RIGHT?!
_nor_
@@HemiChrysler dont use nor in a youtube comment section because you come off as pretentious. the only thing worse would be trying to correct another's comment to try and make them use nor
"No animals were harmed in the making of this film. 70 casts and crew members were."
Gotta admit, that's a good marketing slogan.
I've seen 'Roar', and read about its filming. It's not a particularly good movie, but it was done with love. The problem is, these folks seems to believe loving the animals would somehow protect them - that the lions, etc, - would 'get it'. I'm amazed no one was killed.
They have very strong feelings and do not do much thinking. If you tell them the truth, they get angry with you, even violent. If you want to take away the animals that they're sure who love them, they identify their bad feelings as coming from YOU, and will act accordingly.
Well, they're in the entertainment industry, which automatically means they're liberals. You know, the "all you need is love" crowd. A bunch of dumbasses.
It's the same thing with the Grizzly Man, seemed to think that his very genuine love and passion for the animals made him different to other people. Wild animals are wild and ultimately unsentimental and will kill you if startled or hurt or hungry
@@MasonMcLeodFilms Yes - that's a good comparison. 'Grizzly Man' was about a man who genuinely loved (and believed he was loved by) wild animals. It was almost as if he saw animals as 'furry people' in their emotional co-understanding. This anthropomorphic belief is almost always a bad mistake, and one that can lead to injury or death - of both the man and the animal.
I grew up in Wyoming, and we have this problem with Yellowstone tourists. Whenever we went up to the park, watching a lot of those out of state people getting close or provoking the bison is like watching toddlers playing with knives. It is like their lack of nature has created some idealistic view that doesn't match reality. Yes, it is beautiful. But, that is a 2,000 pound wild animal with horns that will gore you if you get on it's wrong side.
This is probably the scariest comedy ever made. Found this years ago when it was featured on rlm, immediately watched it and jesus What a bizarre experience that was.
A friend of mine raised and trained big cats for circus performances. He always kept in mind that they were wild animals at heart. Even though he was very good with his cats he still got injured a few times, once pretty badly.
He had an epiphany when he hit his 30s; he realized that every day he was playing russian roulette.
He gave up that career in spite of it being quite lucrative and became an architect.
Your friend has a unique resume! Big cat trainer, then architect. At the interview, "So, do you have any experience?" "I'm glad you asked!..."
A bizarre story with a huge sense of impending doom. RIP to the 3 cats that lost their lives
Yes and they had a "No animals were harmed during the filming of this movie". Technically true since the cameras were underwater and not filming when the cats were shot, but it was a direct result of this movie 3 cats died.
@@BrettonFerguson yea normally it’s “during the *making* of” but clearly they couldn’t say that anymore…
I swear your comments make me sick. Like are you guys for real? Please be realistic.
@@cryingbananajo if you don't like my comments, just scroll past. I've not said anything nasty to you
Thx for posting this. I know now I shouldn't watch this one. I gave a like anyway cuz I love this channel. Can't bear animal cruelty injury or death because of humans.
Roar is one of those few movies where the actors are showing real terror
See, this is why sometimes its important to have practicality in mind rather than just a lot of "passion"
Tippi Hedren saw the error of the project and worked tirelessly for years to get the Big Cat Safety Act passed, Biden signed it into law this year. it's now illegal to breed big cats without zoo accreditation, as well as owning them, cub petting is also illegal in the US among other things
Passion? More like delusion...
@@alistairmackintosh9412 bold of you to assume there is a difference.
Along those lines I was thinking this is good example of why it's not always best to "follow your dreams"...
@@alistairmackintosh9412The two are not mutually exclusive.
How about an episode covering the 1981 Dublin stardust nightclub fire, Currently a public enquiry going on after nearly 40 years. Thanks I enjoy your videos.
Have we forgotten the suffering and pain
The survivors and victims of the fire in Artane,
The mothers and fathers forever to mourn
The 48 children who never came home.
- Christy Moore
qxir did a video covering it, being irish himself, its heartfelt and heartbreaking at the same time
Read about this a few months ago. Absolutely bizarre. "Although there had been numerous close calls, and many serious injuries, no member of the cast or crew had been killed during production." Makes it sound almost OK!
By Fascinating Horror standards it was a great success. Now if he'd said 'a plane carrying 183 Lions left the airport at 7.25am'....
My Mom and Dad's first apartment was across the street from a home where they kept a Lion. So inappropriate and cruel. :( I didn't know this story, but I know of the family and it surprises me that after the torment of Hitchcock films, and being attacked by birds, Tippi didn't think this might be a bad decision. Being attacked by birds versus being attacked by lions/big cats, two completely different things.
She was actively terrified of birds so maybe she was like "oh well I got attacked by the animal I was actively afraid of and I lived so why not film with lions/tigers/etc?"
@@naomiskilling1093 Oh my! Honestly though, I am shocked no one died.
@trumpisthemessiah7017 Your bait is not a good one. Try a little harder next time!
Tippi Headron also started a big cat sanctuary in the American southwest. In his autobiography, "If Chins Could Kill", Bruce Campbell talks about the difficulty of filming the horse scenes in Army of Darkness: the set was downwind from the sanctuary, and the sound of the lions roaring kept frightening the horses.
Yeah it’s near me and from what all of her ex volunteers say, it is a shit show.
If I was a horse i too would be frightened.
I watched this video and remembered another movie which also was a failure,not in cast but also in shooting process. The Conqueror....
Immediately after the release of the film, critics marked it as one of the biggest failures in history. The press ridiculed frank miskast and funny dialogues. However, 20 years later, the film acquired a more sinister reputation. Seven years after the release of "The Conqueror" in 1963, director Dick Powell died of lymphatic cancer. In the same year, Pedro Armendaris, who played the main character's assistant in the film, committed suicide after learning that he had hip cancer. Hayward died in 1975 from brain cancer. Four years after that, John Wayne also died of cancer. Two of his sons, who were present on the set of "The Conqueror", were also found to have cancer. In total, by 1980, out of 220 people of the film crew, 91 fell ill with cancer, 46 of them subsequently died from this disease.
I'm certain the radioactive fallout had no detrimental effects on the cast and crew, because it was measured in 'sunshine units'.
Ah yes, "The conqueror". the epitomy of 'cultural appropriation'-
Yeah, because they shot the film down wind of the Trinity Nuke sight 40 miles, North of Las Vegas.
Then for post production work they scooped up 21 tractor trailers full of red radioactive soil, and dumped it on the MGM back lot to use for retakes.
And every Western TV show and movie, untill 1983 when the US Air Force was doing flyover nuke testing, and their meters hit the pegs. (when a Judge ordered it removed) Believe it or not John Wayne even mentioned it to Rod Howard, when they were filming The Shootist.
I thought FH did a video about this movie, but I can't find it. I may be mistaken.
@@bennyboogenheimer4553 Just a small correction, Trinity Site is located in New Mexico, it was all the other ground nuke testing they did at Nevada.
Watching the RLM guys watching this with Macaulay Culkin was hilarious. The fact that the filmmakers considered this a comedy is something else....the guys were covering their eyes at points.
Sweet, I now have a good follow-up video to watch. RLM FTW 🤘
It reminds me of the 1936 short "Catching Trouble", which was ruthlessly and imo righteously riffed on Mystery Science Theater 3000. It basically consists of a herpetologist named Ross Allen (who DID go on to develop a form of antivenom) capturing bear cubs (quite forcibly) to cart off to zoos. It's a short I don't rewatch because it infuriates me to see animals being treated that way (though Tom Servo's 'Catching Trouble' ditty in the opening credits did make me laugh).
Lol
RLM (with Culkin as guest) is when I first heard about this movie
I first heard about roar from RLM also
I had heard about Melanie Griffith’s Mother and her love of big cats but had never heard of this movie. Seems like common sense was tossed out the window with that whole deal! Thanks for another interesting video.
It seems often to be the case that people who own wild/vicious animals are willfully blind to the nature of those same animals. How many children get mauled by their family's dogs?
@@LJB103 True. A tragic example of this behavior was in a video I watched a couple months ago about a couple who had a couple pet lions in Russia back in the 70s. Apparently the story is famous but it was the first I had heard of it. The first lion attacked someone and was shot dead by the police. Then they got a second one! Lesson not learned. The second one ended up killing the son.
@@DardanellesBy108 Also, what about Charla Nash who had her face and hands ripped off by her friend's chimp?
@@LJB103 OMG! That was horrible! Yep I remember that one.
@@LJB103Perfect example of ego over reason. They abused and drugged that poor chimp to keep it under control in a horrible environment. *Nash's friend knew she wasn't able to be a proper caretaker alone, but ignored all good advice on what was best for the chimp. It was no surprise what happened.
Honestly, this makes the filming of "Apocalypse Now" look like a stroll in the park.
Melanie Griffith's mom qualifies as an abuser in my eyes since I learned about this movie. Who puts their child in a situation where a wild animal can disfigure or kill her? Excellent job Tippy!
Basically, stupid people. Hard to consider her an abuser. Just a bad parent who should not be in care of children.
It's possible she is an abuse victim who went on to enable abuse.
The results are the same (abuse), but the motives are different.
[TW: child abuse]
My mom was psychologically, verbally, and physically abused by her parents growing up (gaslighting, insults, and beatings, respectively).
She married my father, who was psychologically abusive.
My mom did not let him psychologically harm me because she wanted me to suffer.
She enabled it because she didn't know any better. She only knew her abusive family that prevented her from making friends or going over to happy, functional households.
Same thing for Liza Minnelli. Her childhood with her mother was chaotic.
But Judy Garland became an object owned by Hollywood as a child. They started drugging her as a teen.
In an interview, she said she went through an emotional journey of realizing her childhood was so abusive, but ultimately realizing it didn't matter. Her mom loved her and did the best that she could in a bad situation.
I know that Hitchcock abused Tippi Hedren. We can see how her husband was abusive.
If she loved her children and tried to protect them as much as possible in a bad situation, she might have been the only positive thing in their childhoods. Just like my mom is the best part of childhood for me.
As a child who grew up with mild abuse, I recognize which parent was actively hateful toward me, and which one was ignorant but loved me.
TL;DR: It's almost impossible to break the cycle of abuse in families.
Us children of abuse appreciate mothers who get us one step closer to breaking he cycle, even if they couldn't entirely protect us.
I think society in general was often abusive or at best lax about children's safety in those days
@apatheticnoncombatant7750
There's no excuse for abuse, period. But of your own child(ren) especially! Not knowing better, what?
Nobody can accuse these Hollywood actors of being especially bright. It was a good idea for a film but did they really need so many big cats???
Ego and narcissism separates you from reality. Hence this insanity
Yeah, that's more than, friggin' strange.
Truly bizarre. Normally you would get around not having pride of lions with clever camera angles, miniatures or animatronics using just 2-3 live ones. Or just using stock footage or filming some wild life in Africa.
Also, if they were so concerned about wild life, why the hell would they keep 100+ wild animals basically as pets? They acquired lion pups just so they could make this film! They were animal abusers.
The movie was such a batshit crazy idea that only got more insane. How three cats were the only casualties of this debacle, which is still three too many, is shocking to me given the sheer number of animals on set.
It's crazy to me they said they wanted to do a wildlife conservation message, but kept so many big cats in captivity and no doubt in inappropriate conditions. That's not conservation. But these people aren't smart, either.
From what you could see and what was mentioned in the video, it sounds like they looked after them well and had enough space for them all, especially if they had two elephants as well.
Conservation sometimes means keeping endangered animals in captivity so that eventually, they can be reintroduced back into the wild so that they can survive.
@@happiestaku6646 Okay but that's absolutely not what they were doing. They were raising lion cubs as pets, meaning they would likely never be able to be reintroduced to the wild.
@abstractaxolotl6961 maybe at the start, but conservation was key to what they were trying to achieve.
So they tried to do something good but for the wrong reasons.
How interesting that this film is going to be appreciated more today than during the days of its creation.
I saw "Roar" when I bought it on a streaming service a few years ago. I'd read about it first, in Tippi Hendren's autobiography, so I at least had a head's-up about it. "Hard to watch" is an understatement. I cannot imagine an audience's reaction.
I remember reading about this, in (of all publications) The National Enquirer. I believe Tippi And Melanie had a strained relationship, due to this. What mother allows her child to be attacked by an animal in her care, and doesn't just get rid of said animal? I could see if it was a poodle or Chihuahua, maybe cat, but lions?!? Hell no!
Maybe a mother whose sense of reality was warped due to the constant abuse she faced herself, not only by her own husband, but by big names in the industry as well? Ever heard of Hitchcock?
Be mad at the abusers who ruin people's lives, not at those affected, you great big piece of shit!!
I think the thing was some of the old Hollywood mom´s weren´t really good loving mothers in the first place.-Tippi just seemed to be one of them-others were for example Joan Crawford,Frances Fonda,Frances Bergen,Raquel Welsh and sure some others-their children never were their"everything" in the first place and were never loved by them unconditionally as they should have been-Astonishingly some of their daughters later became really great and lovingmothers(Candice Bergen) or at first decent but then good mothers (Jane,Fonda )and Melanie despite her problems ,drugs and alcohol was better than her mother too
This might be one of the best FH videos ever. I'd never heard of this film, let alone been aware of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding its filming.
"The initial estimate of 40 big cats was soon forgotten."
So they reduced it to.....?
"100 big cats including tigers, panthers, and cougars."
Of course, why should they have reacted resonably 😑
Never heard of this film before but I am glad I now know about it.
The whole production story reminds me of "Fritzcarraldo" by Herzog. I think that one was way worse than this.
I also feel bad for all the people and animals involved. If the producers were Born today, CGI would have helped a lot in the making of the film.
This is really a cautionary tale about how good intentions are not enough to make something well done.
Noel Marshall: I've got 150 untamed big cats.
Werner Herzog: I've got Klaus Kinski.
@@mario27171 😂😂😂 I laughed so hard at this
Yeah this is definitely a film where Hollywood's current obsession with having effects be 90% cgi would benefit the movie.
My german teacher had us watch that movie in class recently and I was so baffled by the filming that I couldn't focus on the actual story
I dont like cgi. Its for kids.
Wow, what a disaster! I never even heard of this film and i bet a lot of other people never have either.
Jon da Bont the cinematographer who was scalped would later direct Speed in 1994 and Twister
Jan de Bont. He's Dutch.
"No animals were harmed in the making of this film"
Yikes. That disclaimer printed on the poster wasn't entirely accurate, was it?
No, you see, they weren't in the process of making the film when these animals were shot. :) /s
@@YuBeace Ah yes, I'm mistaken. They were just given an early retirement. 😂
Well yes, it is inaccurate as humans are animals and it seems that about seventy of them were.
The numerous scenes of big cats fighting each other was all pretend too!
I still think Tippi was so traumatized by the experience with Hitchcock and The Birds that she created what psychoanalysts call a reenactment, a similarly risky, and cruel situation she subjects herself to willingly. I don't know if this was Marshall's brainchild or Hedren's, but the effect was still the same.
Still, that is no justification for subjecting your child, yourselves, and so many others to injuries and potential death. That's just abusive and straight up crazy.
In 1970 the impact of the big hit "Born Free" was still being felt, and lions and conservation were much in the air (anyone else old enough to remember "Frasier, the Sensuous Lion" in the early '70s? ). So if they'd finished this movie in a reasonable amount of time, it might have gone over pretty well. By 1981, nobody cared about lions (or, alas, Tippi Hedren) anymore. But it seems Hedren and Marshall were sincere in caring about the animals and tried to bring some good out of the whole misadventure.
What on Earth did they expect using wild creatures, especially big cats, trained or otherwise. And wild animals should not be ‘trained’ anyway for the gratification of bloody humans. It’s a pity two animals had to be shot when they escaped.
Wild animals will always revert to their instinctive behaviour when stressed. And the predatory instinct in any feline, big or small is very strong.
Very good video as always. Thank you.
It will never cease to amaze me how many people who say they're passionate about wildlife seem to not understand how wild animals work.
And generally it's the animals who pay for their stupidity. 😢
There are a lot of things going wrong and yet this pair keeps going on. They injured a lot of their crew and families, they go through bad times and financial crises and yet they keep going on
All said and done, it's amazing the two just keep going. i would probably stop when my daughter gets injured and swore off touching the big cat forever. They didn't.
That is either an insanity or determination.
I vote insanity 😡
It’s idiocy and too much pride. And probably sunken cost fallacy - like “we’ve already put so much into it, it would be a waste to stop before it’s done”
@@cloudsncats Yup - the Vietnam syndrome. "we can't stop now because..."
Very interesting documentary, unusual to have one without fatalities on a subject rarely covered. I had never heard of the movie "Roar", but am curiously fascinated and feel that I need to see it at least once.
Bought and watched the re-released version. The opening scene of the giraffe running alongside the motorcycle was pretty cool. Seeing the very large pride of lions running around the house was . . . interesting and surreal. Made me want to sing, "Oh give me a home where the lion cubs roam, and I'll show you a house full of sh1t."
I worked on set with Tippi Hedren in the made for television film, "Shadow of a Doubt," the '90's re-make of the Hitchcock classic. This film also starred Mark Harmon. I saw Tipi again three more times over the years, once at the 50th anniversary screening of the classic film, "The Birds." Both actors are very nice, easy to talk with.
My cinematography teacher from college, Arledge "Ace" Armenaki worked on Roar. He'd tell us stories about the set.
"No animals were harmed innthe making of this movie.
70 crew mrmbers were."
Thats both hillarious and scary
That suddenly reminded me of a trailer for the Crocodile Hunter movie (back in the late 90s I think?) where the narrator said something similar. I wonder if that was meant to be a parody of this 🤔
A great episode. Elephants live for a long time, I wonder if any of those elephants are still alive? I wonder if they could recognise themselves if they were show old footage of themselves, on a big screen? I hope all of those rescued animals had a great life at the sanctuary, I believe it is still there?
A previous post said it's still there
The cinematographer that was scalped is Jan De Bont. He went on to direct Speed and Twister, and was Cinematographer for a bunch of other notable projects.
When I was little, my parents brought me to visit a couple who were friends of theirs. While I was there I heard what sounded like a lion roaring nearby. The sound was so loud and deep. I thought for years I must have imagined that but later mentioned it to my parents. It was real. Turns out someone in the neighborhood had a pet lion in their garage. whenever it roared you could hear it though the whole neighborhood. There's even a facebook group for people who remember that pet lion in their neighborhood. Poor lion though. Another story: When I was older, I was writing an article about this zoo that took in rescued exotic animals, and I was going behind the scenes with the zookeeper's son (who also worked there). They had a rescued lion that they took in as a cub when it was confiscated by police from a drug dealer. At that time the zoo was still being built so they raised the cub with their family and their dogs. That lion remembered the zookeeper's son and came running over making happy "chuffing" noises. They let me pet him (with a chain link fence inbetween us) - so I got to scritch his ears / mane where they poked through the chain link (I did not put my hand through). He acted just like a giant cat wanting scritches. That being saidthey are not pets, though this one was tamer than a completely wild lion. It was a cool experience though.
4:31 and to think she was scared by a couple of Birds
while not a success among Human's , Roar is the family Christmas favourite for Lions, Tigers, and Tabby Cats. They love the bit where the Lion bites the Human, how they laugh, how they roar.
Funny comment! 😄
🤣🤣🤣🙄🤣
I've never heard of this film before. But I can't help admiring their dedication and devotion.
Thank you for profiling this. Kind of answers the question of what happened to Tippi's career. I hope that the current version of the wildlife sanctuary has qualified professionals involved , though why you would want exotic big cats in the hills surrounding Los Angeles is beyond me.
I saw this in college and thought it amazing. It came out about the same time as Flashdance and the Evil Dead and MTV. It was an avant guard time. I certainly don't expect children today to understand.
This is such a crazy and incredible story. Had never heard of it before, shows what too much money and time can lead to.
What a fascinating story. I knew Tippi Hedrin was an animal advocate, but had never heard of this film or it's incredible backstory. Another great job by Fascinating Horror as usual. cheers Pat in New Jersey
She´s still alive and still has some big cats but the conditions are not that dangerous anymore
Advocate for keeping wildlife in captivity.
My mum took me to see the 'lovely lion movie' when I was a kid in Melbourne. Australia. 😮 I was 10 and remember it pretty well.
One of the weirdest movies and productions in the history of cinema. I'm surprised you didn't mention another "horror" angle, inasmuch as Noel Marshall had been executive producer of "The Exorcist" and the proceeds from that film partially funded production of "Roar." Come to think of it, an interesting video could be made of the troubled production of "The Exorcist" as well, including the strange occurrences that arose during production, and the numerous truly horrific coincidences related to cast members and crew. Both are prime examples of "fascinating horror"!
As someone who's had six domestic cats (felis catus) at one point, I can't even begin to imagine what it must be to have over a 100 of significantly bigger ones.
Especially when you look in your fur baby’s eyes and realize that if your sizes were reversed, you would have a life expectancy of 30 seconds.
yeah it's just mind blowing what they pulled off
Giant wild cats sounds suited for a horror movie
But a comedy?
you can rent a bungalo in the rescue sanctuary which Tippi Hedren created: you cannot mingle with the cats, but you can hear them roar all around you all night
The plot doesn't even make any goddamn sense. The family visits the guy's nature preserve but whoopsie, he was out of town when they showed up. This is Home Alone 2 levels of travel-related stupidity.
@@harridan. That would be cool
Watched it in late 80s on vhs after finding it in the corner of a vid shop in Tasmania. Ive never forgotton it in all that time. Unique
That pop-up ad in the middle of the video for White Claw was spot on, bravo! 😆
On a similar theme, I’d really love to see you cover the Zanesville Ohio incident, when the owner released all his dangerous animals
So cool u did an episode on Roar. This movie was always very fascinating to me. An entire family of big cat lovers buys a house and trys to film a movie around a bunch of lions in a house. Its absolutely crazy. The teenage girl had her scalp ripped off almost. These people were crazy and then on top of all that blood and sacrifice, the movie was awful. I tried to watch it but its like watxhing a sideshow.
I dont think it was the teenage girl whose scalp got ripped off. It was the assistant director.
I remember watchin this on a VHS as a kid in the 80s 😯
That quote in the beginning about lions moving into an abandoned house tells us everything. He was astonished that lions would use a human constructed house as a shelter. How is that any different than a cave or a thick cover of tree branches? This is an example of anthropomorphizing animals. Animals are more different from us than we can understand, and also more similar to us than we can imagine. But for some reason we generally seem to get it all backward.
I remember when this was released and I knew Hedren was an animal activist as I was starting in about 1980. I felt she had good intentions. The Roar Foundation/Shambala Preserve Sanctuary is still running, taking in former circus and roadshow animals etc. & Hedren who's in her 90s happily lives in the compound, where her grandchildren are taught the same animal welfare values. There are about 60 cats. She was always considered Alfred Hitchcock's muse.
Alfred Hitchcock abused her and pressured her to have sex with him, threatening her career if she didn't! :)
So yeah, Tippi was his victim, not his "muse".
Roar is a odd film...its exciting, daring, keeps you on the edge but the ending is so poetically beautiful. Its dangerous yet quite entertaining
@alexandria65 lol go online and rent....omg lol
"No animals were injured, 70 humans were" is gold, shows so much of modern stupidity going too far but big respect for these utopists, was crazy but definitely worth a special place in movie history and retro legends :)
This is one of the most "fuck around, find out" movie productions of all time. I can only imagine sheer hubris and the sunk cost fallacy were the only things keeping this from getting canned outright.
I cannot get over what a waste of money this whole crazy lion endeavor was - $17million dollars - unreal, if they had donated that money to animal shelters across the USA - it would have been much, much better spent. Crazy!
Yep
17 million was a lot of money in those days
@@PointNemo9 If you take the middle year of production, 1975, and adjust for inflation from that (to get an average of 1970-81), 17 million is roughly 100 million today, just off the top of my head.
They could've spent a quarter of what they did on a good movie. One has to wonder how much of the 17 million was spent on medical expenses, to say nothing of feeding over 100 animals the size of my F& car for a decade.
I wish they’d just filmed the lions who’d moved into the farmhouse (from a safe distance, of course). The mental image of these big cats just living in a house, looking out the windows and hanging out on the verandah, sounds really cool and funny at the same time.
I had never heard of this movie!! Wow, just wow. Thank you!!
I'm loving these new exciting topics!
As a zoologist, this story horrifes & angers me in equal measure... I don't care how much of a bond you think you have with a large predator, these animals are capable of hurting you even if they don't intend to. They are stronger & faster than you'll ever be, and they have thousands of years of evolutionary instincts driving their behaviour. All it takes is for the cat to get startled or to play a little rough, and if the injury to a human is severe enough the animal will be put down, through no fault of it's own. This was the epitome of selfishness, even in the 1970's... if Hedren & Co were genuine about the conservation aspect they would have filmed in Africa to highlight the early conservation work happening there. Instead they raised cubs solely for the purpose of a single movie production, seemingly without any thought for the long-term welfare of those animals. The average lion needs at least 5kg (11 lbs) of meat _per day,_ weighs between 120-250kg (265-550 lbs), and lives up to 15-20 years in captivity... imagine the logistics & costs of housing just one lion for it's life. They had over 50 animals. And while they started a sanctuary later on, it's hard to give Hedren & Marshall any credit given their own selfish actions necessitated it's creation in the first place. This was hubris at it's most dangerous, and it's a miracle no-one was killed.
Several of them almost died yet none of the animals were put down for it
You'd think any one of the injuries to the cast and crew might be enough to say "...Maybe this isn't a great idea". And then Mother Nature comes in and floods the whole damn place, and you STILL don't take that as a sign that maybe this isn't worth it?!
I'm a huge film buff, and find it amazing that this is the first time I've heard about this movie!
Me too...and now that I'm watching this...I don't feel like I missed anything
I had no idea this existed. Now I'm conflicted on whether or not I want to see it.
Thanks for another thought provoking documentary.
When will “people” learn to stop going into environments that’s not their own just because it looks interesting to you. They were not the smartest 😳
If you do, you need to make the appropriate preparation and treat the enviroment with the respect it deserves, otherwise your asking for things to go horribly wrong.
Why did you put people in quotes? Are you implying that they're not actually people? I don't get it...
What are you talking about? They lived in it for eleven years. Surrounded by these animals. Raising these animals. You go play with your things for eleven years and I'll tell you that you know nothing. See how actual that is.
We're just animals that live on the planet as well, so what exactly do you mean my "environments not their own?" Where is this human environment you speak of? Cities? Every city on Earth was wild, natural habitat before a city was built there. Aside from the ocean I don't see what line you're drawing between our environment and not our environment.
_Oh the irony of the original comment._
So bizarre! All those people getting hurt, including their own daughter, and they didn't give up the project! And really, where was the respect and compassion for those animals??
Gone when money entered the scene.
People like this have very strong feelings, and can think of nothing else. They just want to feel good, and will commit horrible cruelties to do it. And if you tell them they're wrong, they see bad feelings coming from YOU, and will react with hostility, even violence. Common among the left side of the political spectrum.
I really enjoyed this exploration of Roar. I know there are some crazy movies out there with doomed casts, but this one is quite unique. Thank you for covering the topic.
I love that this is the first I’ve ever heard of it, please keep it up and don’t change your voice or music. This is something I look forward to every week :-)
This whole situation is just dripping with Sunk Cost Fallacy. Being unwilling to abandon a course of action because you are so invested in it even when it is clear there is no value/benefit in continuing.
Usually it’s worse than that, as continuing doesn’t just not gain you anything, but rather causes you to lose even more.
06:34 I was expecting some animals would get killed even if no humans died during this film I'd never even heard of. That's a shame but utterly unsurprising like most of the avoidable tragedies you've coverer, including the worse _Twilight Zone_ movie accident I had already been aware of.
I worked on this film for many years. 2nd Camera Assistant and once in a while camera operator when there were multiple cameras. The DP was a very good Dutch cameraman and he was quite demanding. It was an experience of a lifetime. Nothing like being chased by TOGAR, the biggest baddest male Lion on the ranch.
This channel and RLM are the only places I have ever heard of this film.
Didn’t know that they were Melanie Griffith parents and in looking this up to confirm I also found out that Dakota from the horrid 50 shades of bland is Melanie’s daughter
I've never been this early!
GEEZ, they had tunnel vision when it came to this movie....obsessed and a bit delusional. 🤯
This is very interesting. I’ve ridden the Metrolink from Lancaster to Los Angeles and the train runs right by the preserve. All I knew was that Tippi Hedron owned it and nothing about its history, nor had I heard of “Roar” before today.
Love your content my man. You and the Heckles. Keep it up, please.
Yeesh you got to analyse this shitshow! The filming process never ceases to amaze me by how risky and dangerous every decision made was.
They could have made this animation and saved a lot of angst
It's a pity, that so much effort and care was indifferent by the majority of the people around the world. That's just reflect how really the people cares about animal wildlife, and the animal life in general. Even now, when in the social media is predominantly a topic, the animals is still a object to humans.
In that era, the fate of this work as a documentary, never can be better, cause the mentality of the entertainment industry then.
The best thing to do is doing now what these persons try to share with the world. I haven't any idea about this movie until now.
Thank you for this valuable episode.
My drumming instructor was the percussionist on the original score of this movie.
Now THAT'S a claim to fame.
Just seeing an animal in the thumbnail for this video had me twitching. Ffs people, wild animals shouldn't be used for entertainment! It's so sad that we force wild animals into situations like these. People have no one to blame but themselves when things go wrong. I would rather suspend disbelief and see someone in a costume or see CGI versions of these creatures than hear about real ones being mishandled. It's bad enough when we do this to domesticated animals (people too, for that matter. No film is worth dying for.).
It will never cease to astound me how many people claim to be passionate about wildlife, but then don't seem to understand how wild animals work at all.
And generally it's the animals that end up paying for their ignorance. 😢
@@alexw.7097 Exactly!
This film is one of those cases where the intentions were good but how those intentions were carried out were not so.
would've been as well just making a documentary about the original lions in the house
This is one of the wildest stories I am aware of (pun intended), thanks for the coverage. Having encountered lions and elephants in the wild myself, I cannot imagine people doing something like this.
Great episode! The movie The island of Dr morou (spelled wrong) with burt Lancaster looks like half the animals used were injured. Brutal. Makes me wonder if that movie after watching it is why they started monitoring the handling of them.
Nothing is more infuriating than “animal lovers” who care more about getting their cuddles in than animals. If you actually like animals you understand that basically most animals except dogs, cats, and some fish do not thrive in pet-care conditions and that the industry providing pets for you, especially if they are not dogs and cats, is horrific. No one should EVER be in close contact with big cats. It’s deranged to think otherwise. Even at accredited zoos with trained staff and safety equipment, no human is ever in the same area as a big cat.
First thing I thought of when reading this comment was the girl from Animaniacs lol
I can proudly say my first exposure to this film involved Macaulay Culkin
Can't beat those real life effects.
I remember in the late 80s Tippi Hedren used to advertise a commercial for the Roar Foundation. I had no idea this was tied to a movie.