Club Obi Wan

Figured I'd start a new thread.

Okay I'm going to be doing a video on this but i thought I'd share my initial findings on this disarm. As near as I can make out it IS a forward flick. Let's examine both the clip and the intent. The intent is to disarm by surprise. And a forward gypsy just doesn't have surprise to pull it off. Shortest distance between two places is a straight line. So that gives us the flick. Also we are in a jungle, with branches overhead. No way a gypsy will work. You can really control the height of a throw with the flick, one of the many things it's good for. So now we're making sense with the intent.
Let's examine the clip. As The Other Dan pointed out, Spielberg loves him some edits. And it's a forward flick done in a three beat sequence thanks to the wonders of editing.
We first see the whip on the belt as Indy turns. The next shot is a closeup of the handle and transition as it uncoils behind him, drooping down.
Now the three beats begin and this is where things get interesting.
Beat One: We see the whip in a horizontal position forward following the alignment behind.
Beat Two: We see a long shot of the forward part of the flick
Beat Three: We see Barranca's reaction as the whip finishes.
Let's ignore the sound as it's manufactured in post and has no relation to what's actually going on. So looking at this it's a forward flick with three views of the motion, much like any ending kick on Walker: Texas Ranger. (I can't believe I just said that) He didn't kick him three times, it was just three different points of view of the same kick, all taking place in the present. It's a moment in time repeated three times, all showing the same thing. A forward flick after turning 180 degree's. And that's not even the best part:
From ROTLA script:

Barranca is suddenly on his feet, quietly drawing his pis-
tol. He raises it toward Indy as Satipo realizes with
alarm what he's doing. Too late. Indy's head turns and
he sees Barranca.

Indy's next move is amazing, graceful and fast, yet
totally unhurried. His right hand slides up under the back
of his leather jacket and emerges grasping the handle of
a neatly curled bullwhip. With the same fluid move that
brings Indy's body around to face the Peruvian, the whip
uncoils to its full ten foot length and flashes out.

The fall of the whip (the unplaited strip at the end of
the lash) wraps itself around Barranca's hand and pistol.
He could not drop the gun now if he tried.

Indy gives the whip a short pull and Barranca's arm in
jerked down, where it involuntarily discharges the gun
into the dirt. Barranca is amazed, but feels some slack
in the whip and immediately raises the gun toward Indy
again, cocking it with his free hand.

Indy's face goes hard. And sad.

Indy sweeps his arm in a wide arc. Barranca spins around,
enclosed in the whip, his gun hand stuck tight against
his body. Indy gives one more short jerk on the whip
handle and Barranca's gun fires. Barranca falls dead.

HAH!
try and replicate the scene as it was in the script! ;D


oh, and my guess in the other thread about it being a cattleman's/gypsy crack was based on this shot:
"The next shot is a closeup of the handle and transition as it uncoils behind him, drooping down."

so you might have been quite right about that hehe

Well, you have a point, James. But I think the plot thickens... We are now dealing with "what people see" vs. "what people interpret they see". I'll have to see that part again to give my thoughts. I'll have to reconsider what I wrote on the other thread.

All the best,

Aldo.

It's very obvious that Marvel Comics received an earlier version of the script because there are many things in the comic adaptation that were in the early script that never made the film, the scene above being one of them. In the comic Barranca has the whip wrapped around him just as it was in the script. The script also has Satipo almost falling into the giant pit because it was covered with spider webs making it look like solid ground.
I think many of these early draft ideas were cut for many reasons. As cool as they sound on paper many of the elements were unnecessary to complete what was intended for the scene. Also, there was always the budget to consider (which they were heavily) and some of this stuff was probably cut to complete the film under budget.