The Long Ships - Mare of Steel

[philipcarol]

Ahhh... the good old days of being politically incorrect... and not ridiculed for it.

It's a lot like the good old days of playing with toys that could actually hurt you... but boy, where they ever so fun!

It doesn't matter if this film is historically, racially, and culturally INcorrect... it sure is a heck of a lot of fun!

[jobiejoo]

been for ever since I saw this as a kid and was trying to figure out what it was!!!!!!! Cool, cool, cool, thanks for uploading it, and thanks for Youtube!

[superbliek]

Doesn't look very low-budget to me. One of my favorite movies as a kid. Ah, the Mare of Steel, those were the days.

[lapunknoir]

Great film!

[11111111111fdwfs0000]

MOOR....!!

RISE NAGA'S RISE..

[Gabbafoo]

Ok thats not completly the hole story.

they were ruler in portugal (and a bit from spain) but everything wich is north from the Pyrenees were defendet. So they ruled a really REALLY small part in europe (just to point out, that you should reconsider your statement that they ruled EUROPE). The arabs regions were ruled from time to time by moors like egyt itself.

anways . happy new year everybody ^^

[irish89055]

that widmark laugh... like when pushing invalids down stairs..

[soularflarez]

Moor ---> Morisco/Marrano ---> negrito Moreno ---> black-a-Moor ----> negro/black

[butch356]

I'll ride it if I can get my cast iron saddle...I'll be right back...

[DragonLord7667]

lmao why is a black guy in power back then? What an unrealistic movie

[whatisthe666mark]

@DragonLord7667 Hey stupid ass,he was a moor numb nuts.

Do some study on the moors,so you can learn something beyond american history.

The moors ruled Europe,from 800 A.D.

P.S. Forgove me for calling you a stupid ass,and numb nuts.

[DragonLord7667]

@whatisthe666mark hey fuck u, maybe ur a moor or a moor-on

[whatisthe666mark]

@DragonLord7667 Hahaha...

[crackermustgo]

@DragonLord7667 One thing you are,for sure being a DragonLord is a Devil and a Demon, Do You know What Moor Mean?

[Gabbafoo]

@whatisthe666mark lmao

europe is fuckin big ^^

the moors didn't ruled Europe, sry. Not even close. They were in the near east and north africa.

they never ever ruled england or germany or norway ^^. just a handfull of them made it to spain or italy but this is far away from being a ruler.

So you don't mean europe. maybe the southest part with turkey but turkey doesn't belong to euope (just a really small part)

[TheSweetSarahize]

@DragonLord7667 LOL... amazing that uneducated people like yourself don't mind embarrassing yourself and exposing your lack of knowledge in public. Get your GED son and learn something about the BLACK Moors which Sydney Poitier is representing. The only thing unrealistic is that you've got so many unmixed white guys playing Moors and not enough blacks.

[TrollLuv]

@TheSweetSarahize just FYI the test for your GED ask nothing about the moors

[FlyLikeAnEagle2012]

Your turn VIKING

[Emilyjc3980]

I love old or low budget films you see much more go into it than cgi

[wardenphil]

We should bring back the Mare of Steel - the crime rate might drop.

[daniellesealey]

is it just me or does russ tamblyn look rather sexin in his costume lol

[STONEISLAND38]

steel was not invented till 18th century what kinda rubbish is that

[Hataw2008able]

This is no movie for a woman awwwww

[loufalce]

Wonder if the sacrificial Moor got his 72 virgins in heaven after his "ride" on the Mare of Steel?

[LER77]

Why would he make one of his own men ride the mare of steel? If he told me to go I'd cut his head off on the spot.

[SupaDrill]

this movie is miss leading y would the Moors need viking sailors, Moors were the navigators. even the cartoon Pirates of the Dark Waters dipicted that. Columbus used Moors to get to the Americas on more than one occasion. good movie suspect details

[dkapone]

Sidney's lookin very pimpish, indeed.

[Standardfrank]

@zensho1 : well The Eu-Rapians Neva Had Steel...Nothing Much Until Recently...limited to n=0,1 and that's basically it!

[jiggydmented]

That nigga has a jerry curl!!

[alvindlee1]

wonder why this history is covered up. wonder what people would do if they learned that blacks once ruled the world.

[wizenedgoatbeard]

Richard Widmark looks the Viking through and through.

[blaxpear]

those hairless pretty boys are no vikings!

[dinkeldude999]

those guys are no vikings

[Commiton]

Hey I thought this was pretty good when I saw it in the '70's.

[jackiemickie]

Great scene::::::Sir Holden Pootingturd.

[sunbloater]

I first saw this movie ages ago on an independant channel and remember that poor soldier was actually seen riding down the mare (via long shot). This part is deleted from the TCM airings (just cuts to everyone turing away in horror) Has anyone the DVD to verify what I saw, or did I just imagine it? Of course it was just a manniquin they pushed down!

[bertiejr]

One of my faves from long long ago. I'ce never seen the soldier ride down the blade. This clip is as I remembered it.

[sclogse1]

The Keeeese of steel...

[sclogse1]

You sir, have no future...only blessed with repeating the past as a form of consciousness till you drop off.

[boiledhooker]

that thing should have been a lot more bloody, and where did the unlucky guard go? he just disappeared along with his blood

[sclogse1]

This is an adventure movie.. not a horror movie. THe best moment is her asking him if he believed. Tarentino can have at this when he grows up.

[philipcarol]

@sclogse1

Dang best answer of the week!!!

A+++

[bertiejr]

He never made it all the way down.

[hedleyclive]

Could be worse..imagine if you had a bad case of piles..

[Surfboard365]

man if I had been that guard I would have been like Allah? whats an Allah????

[krontokoekoe]

*** Auw, that really hurts, Sidney ! ***

[skylarkman2000]

Ouch !!!

[rothaic]

That would just suck. Get to work, talk to the guys. Ride the mare of steel.

[bladrunner6]

imagine how frightening, it must have been, when potier's ho, stops in front of you, askin, if you belived in allah? I would have "no, i'm athiest, yeh best pick someone else sexy!" lol

[hardtechnoboy]

Sidney Poiter looks like an Indian or Pakistani LOL.

[Murdamore]

No he looks like a Moor really looks before 'we" mixed with Christians aka Europeans

[MisterEvasion]

So the poor grunt dies for nothing. Good tension in the scene though.

[dingane19]

I remember this movie as a child. One of a number of movies made by real-life buddies, Sidney Portier and Richard Widmark. It had to be fun, making big money doing something you enjoy with a good friend. Portier`s only bad-guy role to date! I wonder if Eastwood will ever join Fonda and Portier and play the bad guy...unless he wants to count his role in "The Beguiled".

[dingane19]

I agree. Perhaps they were Arab recruits, perhaps even Turks...the Moors were black.

[samiam95124]

I love this movie from when I was a kid. The

thing that always got me was that they had

a set of spikes at the end of the knife, so

that the two sides of your body would each

get spiked individually!

Also, "well, how did you like that? Give

me what I want or I will kill another of my

men...."

[wardenphil]

@samiam95124 The spikes wer for use if the guy tried to jump.

[jonnytightpants]

ah, i always remember the guy screaming like the natives on the old tarzan black and white movies...."aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii­iaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee­eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" this brave chap went down the mare without a murmur! by the way, widmarks pretty short for a viking eh~!

[wardenphil]

Yes, but that guard wouldn't have the guts to go down the Mare of Steel a second time.

[Kalydosos]

Sydney Poitier looks magnificent as a Moor.

[Zeamus634]

"Do you believe in allah"

More fucking religious crap!

[Zeamus634]

I've just seen this clip on tv, They don't show the body going down or at the end, very disappointing, could've at least used a crap manikin.

[firefox8192]

OBAMA THE MOORE

[dingane19]

Dumb comment. One: that`s not how you spell Moor. Two: that`s like saying every Irish white American is Catholic , every German American is Nazi and every WASP is a klansman.

[davidgrahamscott]

When I was a little boy I wanted my pretty school teacher to make me ride the Mare of Steel when I was naughty. That would have taught me a good lesson!

[wardenphil]

The should have given the Mare of Steel an outer coating of Teflon - for a smoother, less irritating....cut.

[wardenphil]

Look at 5:24 - the worst possible way to view the Mare of Steel.

[perfectlydark007]

ouch! man i forgot how painful that looked. I remember a substitute teacher bringing this in one day. stayed with me for life

[SliceSlab]

This thing would give new meaning to the term "anal fissures". Classic late, late, late show movie

[smokanonymous]

I always tell people if they aren't doin the right thing they should probably just ride the Mare of Steel. Of course younger people think I am nuts.

But when the old timers overhear what I am saying and remember this flick its a gut buster for them. This scene is hard to forget.

[rwarreng]

There's no blood on the blade nor on the spikes when the Viking is taken up. And I agree that the weight and momentum would split the body into - we are 70% water after all. God I need to get a life.

[WrightDE100]

Wow! I cant believe I actually found this scene! I never knew the name of the film, however, I did remember the phrase Mare of Steel. It still gives me the heebie-jeebies. I saw this movie when I was a very young boy (late 60s), and although it probably seems cheesy by todays standards, it disturbed the shit out of me when I was little.

[steveritt]

Me too. I remember this from "Sword and Sandal" epics shown on Winter weekend afternoons on UK TV in my childhood. Thanks to YouTube and Google I found this after 20 minutes searching. Can't beat that Mare of Steel!

[architeuthis1066]

Who is Yahawah? Is that the Japanese version of the Hebrew God? (I almost wrote Hewebrew!)

[mpc12345678]

I remember this one, the same music over and over and over and over and over again xD

[wardenphil]

At 2:32, isn't it neat how Sidney Poitier gets that extra syllable into the word "ride"?

[wardenphil]

Can anyone say for certain whether there ever really was a Mare of Steel?

[cjbond73]

See above. YAHWEH

[cjbond73]

Maybe less time spent smoking dust, and more time educating yourself, would rid you of your violent fantasies and delusions of grandeur. It's spelled 'holocaust'.

[Crowrocker71]

'The Vikings' with Kirk Douglas was 100 times better than this one. JMO

[GIFFORD22]

I was seven or eight when I saw this movie, staying at a pals house, im 41 now and this scene has stuck with me all this time, didnt remember anything else about the movie, just the woman choosing the guy. Glad i found out what the movie was though, as its been bugging me for years.

[PatronSaint210]

i think its coal and iron. not sure tho =\

[PatronSaint210]

Where did the first guys body go? lol

[ultrakool]

Leave it to the muslims to devise something like that thing. Instead of spikes at the bottom, they should have put a pool of iodine. ooo, that'll sting. Ha ha. Sidney was a little dark for a Moroccan, me thinks. Russ Tamblyn was too cool in this flick.

[donofwar]

I bet you that others was happy that they did not get picked.

[PatronSaint210]

Idk that they were, when you worship Allah you supposedly dont fear death. I think its bullshit tho.

[wardenphil]

If she asked me if I believed in Allah, my reply would be: "Yes, I believe Allah wants me to live a long life and father many children." LOL

[architeuthis1066]

I'm pretty sure it was invented only for this story, but it certainly sounds like something that would have existed at this time. But all I can say is, how hot is it for a gorgeous woman to go up to an otherwise innocent man and have him put to death--AND while she's wearing a harem outfit! If I were one of the other guards standing near him, I'd have been saluting that gorgeous princess with my boner!

[wardenphil]

architeuthis1066: Yes, but you wouldn't have been saluting if you were the guy she picked. LOL

[architeuthis1066]

Well, I dunno. I might have creamed my pants right there and then. But beauty such as hers DEMANDS that men die for her at her very command. They should all have been expecting it, and should have been "saluting" her anyway. . . .

[wardenphil]

If Mansuh caught you "saulting" his wife, you would have been the next to ride the Mare of Steel.

[architeuthis1066]

Perhaps, but I think every last man in his army would have, too. The Mare of Steel would have been covered in blood and semen. She is THAT hot, and definitely worth dying for! I would say, YES, MY QUEEN!!! and then die like a man for her!!!

[wardenphil]

If she asked me if I believed in Allah, I would have said, "Yes, I believe Allah wants me to live a long life and father many children."

[modelermark172]

While this historical debate re: steel is most interesting, we should not forget that this very entertaining movie was made for fun. Though I first saw it on TV when I was nine, I still think it is fun to watch today. They just don't make 'em like Mr. Portier and Mr. Widmark, anymore!

[deaddoc]

Con't

"Current evidence from archaeology indicates that cast iron was first produced in Europe at two sites in Sweden, Lapphyttan and Vinarhyttan, sometime between 1150 and 1350. "

The article explains further how the Vikings may have picked up steel making from the Mongols in the Volga river area.

[aurelius54]

I first saw this movie at the drive-in with my parents, and then later several times on TV. In fact, it seems like there was always some Widmark action film on TV during the 60s--The Frogmen, Halls of Montezuma, Destination Gobi--entertaining stuff all.

[modelermark172]

Interesting observation: The Vikings believed that when they died, they went to Valhalla. No doubt the Moor chosen to die thought that he would receive 72 virgins by dying in Mansuh's "demonstration." These two cultures probably had more in common than they realized.

[modelermark172]

"Your turn, Viking . . ."

Too Cool!

[Varsonoviev]

Actually,there was a sequence in the original showing(c1964)where they show teh poor sap lying on the bed of spikes,moaning.A trio of slaves comes up and drags him off.

[architeuthis1066]

Really? How would he have been moaning, considering he would have been sliced in two, from head to penis? He would have been dead before he even hit the spikes.

[Ragnar06]

I just watched this movie at Netflix online. Great movie!!! I checked around to see if such a thing as the mare of steel ever actually existed. I found that Damascus steel is a hot-forged steel used in Middle Eastern swordmaking from about 1100 to 1700 AD. Damascus steel swords were of legendary sharpness and strength, and were apocryphally claimed to be able to cut through lesser quality European swords and even rock. Comments like "steel was not invented before 1800" are thus--ridiculous.

[deaddoc]

Ragnar - with a handle like that you ought to know more about Vikings. Vikings were making steel blades before the Moors or Muslims in Damascus. And Damascus is INFERIOR to blended tempered steel that the Vikings used. Damascus steel looks interesting, but its many folded leaves are not superior to blended steel. Steel was common in Europe in the Middle Ages. Although tests have often been made, even Myth Busters have debunked that one sword can cut another in half, even a Samuari sword.

[PatronSaint210]

Actually i saw that mythbuster show. A sword cannot cut another in half, but it can break it from the bending and vibration.

[deaddoc]

I have broken many blades, mine and others, in 40 plus years of fencing. But in the early 1980s a new grade of steel was required for fencing. They will bend, but hardly ever break.

It all comes down to steel quality. The low carbon European swords would have not been easy to snap. A bent sword can be straightened and we actually have records of how the Celts would have to straighten their bronze swords while the Romans used iron - a real diadvantage in combat!

[wardenphil]

deaddoc: I can't understand how they could have made the Mare of Steel blade - I would think that if they made it sharp enough to cut, it would be so slender that it would fold down under the weight of the condemned.

[deaddoc]

Read this from the Midieval History Dept of the University of Toronto;

"...... while Europeans made steel from their low-carbon wrought iron and seem not to have used cast iron at all. (There is some evidence the Romans made small amounts of cast iron by accident and discarded it as a "waste product.")

[theydontlikeitupem]

Umm, no... Steel has an ancient history dating to BCE. Perhaps you were thinking of stainless steel?

[theydontlikeitupem]

Hehe, I'm not sure he would have agreed there. Maybe he could have sacrificed his wig.

[40AcreMule]

The spikes at the bottom make no sense. The body would be cut in half and fall off either side of the blade before it even reaches them.

[theydontlikeitupem]

Overkill I guess.

[ccpixall]

美しい映像ありがとう

Thanks Uploading

[Paladin1441]

He was one hell of an Actor

[GuyJon57]

I met Sidney once but never knew he played such a evil role, had I known, I would have asked him.. it's just so out of his character...

[quesondriac]

Evil yes, but that James Brown hairdo.....

is to die for.

[quesondriac]

So,if somebody asks you if you believe in Allah

the correct response is

Who's Allah?

[GenericGene]

Great classic clip - I always liked his movies - may he R.I.P. passed at 93 Info LATimes

[theydontlikeitupem]

Oh man, I've just found out. Great actor with a glittering career. May he rest in peace.

[loom28]

what do you think happened to the guy

[theydontlikeitupem]

Cut in half from the sternum to the groin, and impaled on the bed of spikes at the bottom! Then mysteriously taken away before the camera can pan onto his mutilated remains...

[GenericGene]

Richard Widmark Passed away yesterday age 93 - I should have been more clear.

[theydontlikeitupem]

Yeah, sorry, I thought loom28 meant the guard in the vid, not Widmark.

[Adventurestud]

As Widmark passed away one day ago and loom28's comment was from 4 days ago I believe your original assessment was correct.

[theydontlikeitupem]

You're right. I seem to be getting confused!

[gasgas270]

loved this scene. horrified but compulsive as a kid... thanks for the post

[Oplexicon]

Epic!!

[freein2339]

This scence was coldblooded and unforgettable

[Tomboycarol]

This scene really scared me as a kid

[ettoredb]

Me too.

Regards from Brazil