After all they had been surviving on a diet of only dates, heck, they could have gone vegan on that diet!

Whatever you do, do not go see the remake of The Flight of The Pheonix! It sucked. Do not waste your time. You can go to see it like I did and compare it to the original, but don't expect it to be as powerful or intense as the original. Dennis Quaid's character doesn't even come close to Stewart.
Just some advice.

I would have shot the camel too. It would have been cruel to leave it tied up and dying of heat and thirst.

Frank shot the poor camel so full of bullets, they were probably afraid of chipping a tooth.

If the camel were not killed i would have said - may be to get some water later on!
We're talking about unchecked aggression here, dude.
http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=6221274

Actually, in the book, after the Arabs had killed Harris and the doctor, Frank and Moran had gone out to examine the remains. Moran cut open the camel and took the fluid from inside its stomach. Apparently, he poured the stuff into the tank.
Later, Crow and Bellamy came back to scavenge the blood from the camel.

There was also the monkey to think about.
"We're making a film here, not a movie."

This message has been deleted.

That's just what I've been looking for a good date movie.

They had an endless supply of dates. However, it's a good question.

To be truthful, I have not seen this movie, but I have at home; I will probably watch it on Monday.
My question has been answered.

I saw this when it first came out (hate the remake) My take on it is more psychological. Stewart's character felt responsible for their fate,he saw the lame Camel croaking in pain as what was to become of him and the others. He 'lost it' and emptied the gun into the Camel.
The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get!

This topic needs to end right here. Thanks.

This message has been deleted.

One drawback to that. If the camel was also dehydrated, you would not get very much ahead and may well be worse off. Blood is very salty tasting and very close chemically to seawater. They could have fed the monkey salt and when thirst was driving him mad, let him loose and IF there was any water around, the monkey would find it. I saw that done on Animals are Beautiful people. It appeared to me to be a reliable source I would bet my life on.

You make some good points, but I think if it had been me, I would've been eating some camel. Why would the meat have to be undercooked? I like it well done anyway. Worms? Who cares about worms when you're just trying to survive?
I would not eat the blood; Jews and Muslims have known for years not to do this. I would drain it first. Camel liver? Why eat that when there's plenty of camel meat! As for butchering a camel, you've got camel legs, camel ribs, and, of course, the eternally delicious, camel balls. Hell, there would even be, heh, heh, cameltoe! Plenty of camel meat to eat without getting anywhere near the bowels or organs. Yup, it would be a camel feast for me. Just like you said, these pilots, oil men, and soldiers wouldn't know any better.
By the way, I think you unintentionally made a very funny remark. "The doctor could have explained this to them." Heh, heh; yeah, if only he had vocal cords! His throat was slit! Oops!
I asked the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

Drinking blood and eating undercooked meat - and that camel's flesh would have had the consistency of old leather boots - would have been disastrous. Quite apart from the possibility of worm infection from raw or improperly cooked meat, mammalian blood is a powerful emetic and the men would be throwing up everywhere, contributing to their dehydration. I'm sure the doctor could have explained this to them.
Quite apart from this, these men are soldiers, oilmen, pilots. Do you know how to butcher a camel? Would any one of them? You can't just rip lumps off and eat them. Some parts of a camels body are highly toxic - the liver contains potentially lethal amounts of Vitamin A. Puncturing the gastro-intestinal tract could mean the meat would be contaminated with faecal mattter, leading to all sorts of problems.
No, that camel is better left where it is, out of the way over the other side of the dune.

I don't remember how it was done in the film but in the book the author covered the camel by saying they took the camels blood back to the aircraft and attempted to extract water from the animals blood with a still they had made. In the book it only produced a congealed mass and no water. The science of it I don't know butI guess the film was based more on the book than scientific correctness.

There have been cases of people drinking each other's blood -yes, it's true. Survival is survival, and as you say not for the squimish or faint of heart.

In these cases you drink the camel's blood. Yes, people really do that.

The body is mostly water, though it's salty water. Read the story of "The Lady Be Good" it's the true story of a B-24 crew that overshot their base and bailed out over the Libian desert. They had no real food and only a few swallows of water, yet they covered an unbelievable distance. You can survive on nothing but water(lots of water) for a very long time, though you do get weaker and malnourished. Borgnine could've survived the longest as Stewart would starve first.

Remember that the body is what, 3/4s water? You would drain and drink the camel's blood, then eat it. If a person has about 5 litres of blood, a camel would have quite a bit more than that. Survival is not for the squeamish.

I just finished reading the book. In the book the author said that if they ate the camel, it would increase their thirst. I was wondering the same thingalso the vulturessurely they would taste like chicken! Ready to watch the old film now, if I can find it to rent!

by - glentom1 on Sat Apr 16 2005 19:16:44
UPDATE: I just watched the original again, and they did say that they had an unlimited supply of food (albeit "pressed dates"). Also, they made it clear that they would all die from the lack of water after 12 days, and that the still would not provide enough water to last even another day. So I guess eating the camel (at least according to the movie) would have taken more time than it was worth.
Wonder what the book says about that issue? I have not read it. <<<
Thanks for the response. I'm not sure if that solves it or not, but I suppose it'll have to do.