Broken bones in films

[Stumpy Pepys]

I was having a conversation over new year, where we were trying to think of films where broken limbs were integral to the story.

I could only come up with Misery and Rear Window. Are there any more?

[Tony C]

Broken bones in films

'127 Hours'.

He had to literally break free.

[Alderman Barnes]

Broken bones in films

Kevin O'Callaghan taking a broken arm for Sylvester Stallone in Escape To Victory.

[I.Wright]

Broken bones in films

Not sure if it covered a broken bone or not but Bridget von Hammersmark's leg cast played an important part in Inglourious Basterds.

[Heliotrope]

Broken bones in films

Urban Cowboy featured a broken arm or hand, but I don't know if you'd say the story depended on it.

[erwin]

Broken bones in films

Deliverance - Burt Reynolds gets chucked down the rapids and ends up with a very nasty exposed fracture ... Jon Voight has to step in and become the unlikely, but ultimately crucial, leader of the group.

[willie1foot]

Broken bones in films

'Unbreakable' - Samuel L Jackson broke about every bone in his body in that one.

edit: I am seriously losing my ability to type anything error-free

[delicatemoth]

Broken bones in films

Frenzy - Bob Rusk is trapped in the back of a potato van desperately attempting to retrieve his tie pin from the corpse, so breaks its rigor mortis-ed fingers to do so.

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

Broken bones in films

Boxing Helena?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Broken bones in films

I'm glad Escape to Victory's been mentioned, because that was the very first one that came to mind. Edit: Rear Window , too. Well, you've got me then.

NB in the novella Misery , she doesn't break his ankle with a sledgehammer, she chops his foot off altogether with an axe. I wonder if they ummed and ahhed in production and decided that the latter was too horrific, even given the alternative?

[tracteurgarcon]

Broken bones in films

In "Payback" Mel Gibson's character, Porter, has his fingers broken.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Broken bones in films

Well there's hardly a Mel Gibson film I can think of where someone isn't mutilated, burnt alive, forcibly drowned, hung, castrated and beheaded, or crucified. The man's clearly got something wrong in his head.

[Nefertiti2]

Broken bones in films

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

I'm glad Escape to Victory's been mentioned, because that was the very first one that came to mind. Edit: Rear Window , too. Well, you've got me then.

NB in the novella Misery , she doesn't break his ankle with a sledgehammer, she chops his foot off altogether with an axe. I wonder if they ummed and ahhed in production and decided that the latter was too horrific, even given the alternative?

There's a long description of this very debate in Which Lie Did I tell? by screenwriter William Goldman who adapted the book from Stephen King's novella.

[Wyatt Earp]

Broken bones in films

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

Well there's hardly a Mel Gibson film I can think of where someone isn't mutilated, burnt alive, forcibly drowned, hung, castrated and beheaded, or crucified. The man's clearly got something wrong in his head.

Fuck, which version of Chicken Run have you seen?

[Stumpy Pepys]

Broken bones in films

I think Boxing Helena and 127 would be better classified as films with amputation as a plot device. See also Saw.

[evilC]

Broken bones in films

Although it's not central to the plot, a breakage that always haunts me is when Charriere has his feet smashed with rifle butts in 'Papillon'.

Believe it or not, I still haven't seen 'Shallow Grave', and I can't say I'm looking forward to it, either, just due to the scene with the knocking out of teeth!

[Stumpy Pepys]

Broken bones in films

evilC wrote:

Believe it or not, I still haven't seen 'Shallow Grave', and I can't say I'm looking forward to it, either, just due to the scene with the knocking out of teeth!

Like many (but not all) such films, it's all implied.

[tracteurgarcon]

Broken bones in films

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

Well there's hardly a Mel Gibson film I can think of where someone isn't mutilated, burnt alive, forcibly drowned, hung, castrated and beheaded, or crucified. The man's clearly got something wrong in his head.

True, which is worring considering that his latest film is called "The Beaver"...