Sumith Prasad
In S. Craig Zahler’s Western film ‘Bone Tomahawk,’ a group of cannibals known as the “Troglodytes” hide from the civilization at the Valley of the Starving Men. Upon learning about the hideout of the clan, Sheriff Franklin Hunt joins hands with John Brooder, Deputy Chicory, and Arthur O’Dwyer to save the latter’s wife, Samantha, and Deputy Nick, who are abducted by the same tribe. Franklin and his group’s journey, which kickstarts at a local saloon named The Learned Goat, eventually takes them to the valley, where their lives get threatened. These two contrasting places are integral parts of what makes the movie a definite Western!
The Significance of the Deadly Valley
The Valley of the Starving Men is a fictional mountainous region S. Craig Zahler created for ‘Bone Tomahawk.’ The valley, presented as the home of the Troglodytes, is integral to understanding the cannibalistic clan. The Troglodytes are tribal people who stay far away from any civilizations. They are able to hunt down humans, propagate inbreeding, and amputate the female members of the group because they keep a long distance from morally developed societies governed by legal bodies. They cannot survive in a place like Bright Hope, where a murder will guarantee the criminal’s execution.
Thus, to effectively present the cannibals, Zahler had to place them far away from the civilization of Franklin and his town of Bright Hope, justifying the creation of the Valley of the Starving Men. This alienation of the tribe is also significant in juxtaposing them with the townsfolk and presenting two extremes of human evolution. While taking the history of cannibalism into account, clans similar to the Troglodytes often sought refuge in isolated regions that range from deserted areas in Africa to the Solomon Islands. Since Zahler developed the film as a Western, the ideal choice to place the tribe became a valley hidden between the mountains.
The “Starving Men” in the name of the valley hints at a turbulent period in the tribe’s history. The members of the clan might have had to deal with a severe famine that left them without any food items, long away from any other human settlements. If that’s the case, these “starving” people must have resorted to cannibalism to ensure their survival. In reality, famines are often connected to cannibalistic practices. Some of the largest food scarcities, ranging from Europe’s Great Famine of 1315–1317 to The Holodomor, or the Ukrainian Famine of the early 1930s, have allegedly caused cannibalism.
The scenes set in and around the Valley of the Starving Men were shot in the desolated regions in Santa Clarita, California. The production department set up the Troglodytes’ cave in a desert rather than on a sound stage for filming the climax portions of the movie.
The Learned Goat: A Typical Western Saloon
Like the Valley of the Starving Men, The Learned Goat is also fictional. S. Craig Zahler created the film with several typical elements and characteristics of classic Westerns, ranging from the quintessential lawman to the gunslinging men. The saloon is also one of them. From the early 19th century, since the establishment of Brown’s Hole in Wyoming in 1822, saloons have been an unignorable part of life in the Old West. By the end of the 19th century, the setting of the movie, Leavenworth, Kansas, had around 150 saloons, which explains the significance of such establishments in a town on the American frontier.
The Learning Goat is one such property. Similar to the real-life saloons, the place hosts criminals and lawmen alike. When a tragedy hits the town, the potent figures team up at the saloon as well, displaying how integral such taverns are and were to Old West regions. The saloon we see in the movie was set up in Paramount Ranch, a renowned filming destination that is located in Agoura Hills, California. The production hub previously hosted the shooting of popular films/shows such as HBO’s ‘Westworld,’ Clint Eastwood’s ‘American Sniper,’ and Hugh Jackman-starrer ‘Van Helsing.’
Read More: Bone Tomahawk: Is the 2015 Film Inspired by Real Horror Events?
