This quote gets brought up from time to time and it seems to be agreed to be false and pure Hollywood fiction. Found a video where a guy puts it to the test and raises some good questions about the whole statement.
I'm currently reading "The Deer Slayer" and will read "The Last of the Mohicans" next.As we all should know, the request for some silk from Cora's petticoats was merely a ruse to get to see her ankles. Very sexy. Now if Cora had been wearing her linen petticoat, then a case could have been made for Bumpo's request. The request was not penned by James Fennimore Cooper. I doubt that Mark Baker, the technical advisor, would have wanted that change to the script either. Oh, and Bumpo (Hawkeye) would not have wanted to use material he was not familiar with for a shot that required such precision.
No it’s not in the book.I'm currently reading "The Deer Slayer" and will read "The Last of the Mohicans" next.
I was wondering if the line came from the book or the movie. Thanks you've answered that question!
Enjoying the book as a youth, I was excited when life brought me from Illinois, and planted me smack dab in the middle of TLOTM setting. I’m really amused at how far off the geography of the book was. You can tell it was written by someone who was only peripherally aware of the locations.No it’s not in the book.
But then Cora and Alice’s parts are switched. All and all I enjoyed the movie much more than the book. Basically both stories take place around Ft William Henry during the F and I war, but that’s about the end of the similarity
Sadly, having Hawkeye ask for silk to use as patching did not make Hawkeye sound more knowledgeable to me. It made Michael Mann the director seem dumb for not listening to Mark Baker. After all, Hawkeye was probably wearing a linen shirt and had plenty of linen or a wad of tow from flax wadding to use as patching in his shot bag. Then too, out at Fort Willliam Henry, way far away from refined society, Cora and Alice were probably wearing linen petticoats. James Fennimore Cooper was far too circumspect to tell us what Cora and Alice wore under their dresses.The silk thing was just something made up by Michael Mann because he thought it sounded good, and made Hawkeye sound more knowledgeable. Also, he commissioned a much more correct rifle for Hawkeye, then didn't like it, thought the other later design looked better, and replaced it. And when hitting a moving target, in low light, with open sights, and long distances, not doubt the silk helped.
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