So about those tarantulas in "Raiders"

[Sharno]

Let's talk about it.

The scene, for those who have not seen "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (who hasn't seen it!?) starts about 35 seconds in:

Mexican Red Knee, but all nice big sizes. I wonder if they used some fakes in there to make it seem like more (they tried with the snakes, I read, but the fakes looked awful). That's a long drop off the guy's back, I assume the shot of them falling to the ground was them being dumped from a few inches up?

How on earth did they get so many at that size? Does anyone know how many total they got? Any info from a "behind the scenes" moment? How many takes, anyone with arachnophobia, etc.

I guess I am probably not the only one that always sees that scene and thinks...geez what I would do for that batch of b. smithi.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

That's a classic flick. Lol i remember one man here in Italy who had snakes (venomous snakes eh) T's, Scorpions etc and the Wildlife Dep. took them away, one officer said: "He's room.. it was like an Indiana Jones movie... snakes everywhere" lol.
Note that in Italy venomous snakes were banned long time ago, when i was a children, so go figure since i'm 37.

I'm not able to answer your questions but i can't resist to state something. IMO i know that someone would disagree with me on this, and even if i know that EU is, let's say, in a better position when it comes to T's in general (breeding etc) like USA, i say that those type of movies, combined with the facts that in U.S you people have native T's, helped, for me. Maybe a bit, but helped. That's my sensation... "Home Alone", Indy movies and we can continue mentioning those IMO class vintage "B" movies (a la Corman) giant Tarantulas ones.

I mean, how many people here in Europe owned T's in the '70 when Poec54, for instance, already in the US owned dozens of T's (save for England, of course, and probably West Germany because in that crazy commie one DDR i highly doubt lol)?

 

[Chris11]

Stop. Stay out of the light. so casual and awesome! i think the same thing too everytime.i see that.

 

[Sharno]

Oh yeah for sure - I remember those Mexican Red Knees big time from TV etc. Wasn't there one in Brady Bunch crawling on someone? I knew then that I HAD to have one. I had been messing around with garden spiders and those common false widows outside. I wanted the big guy. Took years of begging and for my 11th, 12th or 13th birthday I was gifted with a gorgeous Mexican Red Knee, complete in an aquarium with totally wrong substrate and a sponge in a bowl. Ah, the good old days. This was the late 70s so there was not as much info out there.

What was the substrate - what's that crap they use at the bottom of fish tanks?

I had that tarantula all the way up until I had to go to college and at that point I gave him/her to the science teacher at my high school to keep as the class pet. I wanted to make sure it was taken care of, because I could not keep it with college. It lived many more years after. Damn I wish they had such big, gorgeous Mexican Red Knees still -- but I am sure it was caught in the wild. I can't imagine it cost them more than about $40 at the time though.

Anyone from So Cal / Orange County may remember "Hobby City" and the little reptile store they had - -that's where it was bought!

That's a classic flick. Lol i remember one man here in Italy who had snakes (venomous snakes eh) T's, Scorpions etc and the Wildlife Dep. took them away, one officer said: "He's room.. it was like an Indiana Jones movie... snakes everywhere" lol.
Note that in Italy venomous snakes were banned long time ago, when i was a children, so go figure since i'm 37.

I'm not able to answer your questions but i can't resist to state something. IMO i know that someone would disagree with me on this, and even if i know that EU is, let's say, in a better position when it comes to T's in general (breeding etc) like USA, i say that those type of movies, combined with the facts that in U.S you people have native T's, helped, for me. Maybe a bit, but helped. That's my sensation... "Home Alone", Indy movies and we can continue mentioning those IMO class vintage "B" movies (a la Corman) giant Tarantulas ones.

I mean, how many people here in Europe owned T's in the '70 when Poec54, for instance, already in the US owned dozens of T's (save for England, of course, and probably West Germany because in that crazy commie one DDR i highly doubt lol)?

 

[Sharno]

Screw the light and the hovitos and that gold idol, I would have gone in there to get the tarantulas.

Stop. Stay out of the light. so casual and awesome! i think the same thing too everytime.i see that.

 

[Chris11]

I would have gone in there to get the tarantulas.

Oh, naturally, as would i

 

[cold blood]

Pretty easy to see how it was done. Both times just before they are knocked off by Han Solo(hehe), the camera switches angles, in both cases now giving you a poor view (probably fakes) or none at all of the ts. And then when they show them hitting the ground, they only show a few inches off the ground as the camera is focused on the ground in a downward position.

Redknees used to come in by the boatload, back then, and they were not expensive, like buying a rosie nowadays (or last year). This mass influx was one of, if not the main reason for CITES to be enacted.