The Wilhelm Scream (1951 "Aaaaaahhhhhh!!" used in hundreds of movies since)

Damn Interesting ^ | February 11th, 2007 at 11:48 pm | Greg Bjerg

[Farmer Dean]

Or rename it "The Fort Marcy Park scream."

[rabidralph]

Fascinating insights such as this are the reason I joined FR.

[Argus]

As a kid I always enjoyed the distinctive bird calls on Ramar Of The Jungle. Seems to me I've heard the same bird in every jungle movie from the beginning of sound to about 1975, when you had to start calling them "rain forest movies".

[Charles Henrickson]

The Wilhelm Seam

(And then batters would scream when they couldn't hit it.)

[trisham]

Wow. What a great article. Thanks.

[dljordan]

This thread is the apex of nerddom. I love this kind of stuff.

[RosieCotton]

LOL!

Wonder if the sound engineers are a little disappointed that their in joke has been spread all over the Internet, though. ;-)

[workerbee]

[jonascord]

BTTT

[untenured]

I remember there was a sitcom laughtrack laugh - two or three "Huhs" in a row that I used to hear on numerous shows - on both "M*A*S*H" and "Taxi," IIRC. It was unmistakeable.

[Lancey Howard]

Great find.

[Ragtop]

YES!! The M*A*S*H* laugh track guy is infamous. His voice is unmistakable and used at least two to three times per episode.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Another sound track that has been endlessly cloned is the sound of the exhaust notes from Steve McQueen's Mustang in "Bullitt" (1968). I've heard it on about 10 occasions - being overlaid on more recent chase sequences.

[Killborn]

"...and The Green Berets in 1968."

Next time I watch it, I have to find it.

[dighton]

Eventually a sound effect aficionado named Ben Burtt noticed the same scream wailing from the speakers of movie after movie.

Some people are terrifyingly observant. Thank the likes of me for balancing them out.