Without question, this is the most complex scene - locations-wise - in the film. It is a heavily edited sequence, with much physical, shall we say, "discomfort" for the actors, and some of that becomes apparent on screen - minor continuity errors.

 ... you can see an inkling of maybe his foot [Eric Schweig's], or something, going over the side of it. [laughs] These things still are pretty easy to turn over. Any canoe, but these things ... a unique canoe! I wish I could take a sledge hammer to one! [laughs] So, he falls out ... anyway ... we're still doing this in and out thing, together/far apart thing ... Eric Schweig, he jumps out. I mean, we're BOOKING, we're flying. We've got this paddling thing down, we're going. As soon as Eric Schweig hits the water, the canoes are gone. There he is. So, we try it again. He gets back into his canoe, and we're paddling on down through there. He jumps out and the wind hits us at the wrong time. Phhoof! There we go. There he's left again. Well, last and final shot ... I don't know how many times we done this. Wait a minute, I'm sorry [laughs] ... there's one time in particular, the boats actually collide. Well, Eric gets smart, I'll be darned. He steps out of one right into the other! [laughs] THAT didn't work. NO! He's got to hit the water! ... Finally, the last shot, the canoes are about two or three feet apart, and he gets in. You see him jump in on one of those times when it's real far away that didn't work, but, then of course, they jump to him ... he and I changed positions ... Eric Hurley

It was difficult to piece together, until I discovered that the huge falls existed only in the recesses of the Director?s mind. Once that became known, the rest was easy. Discussing this sequence to groups at our Mohican Gatherings has always been somewhat special to me as I watch the looks of, "So THAT?S how ..." appear on folks? faces. Here is the sequence, broken down, step-by-step:

- Exiting Massacre Valley, our heroes emerge many miles away at the red clay shore of Lake James near the Fort site.

- After commandeering the canoe, they meet Major Heyward on the lake, in the cove between the canoe "launch" and the Magua/Montcalm meeting place across the way.

- Scenes are then shot out on the lake, with views of Shortoff Mountain, the southern terminus of Linville Gorge, visible in the background.

- Hawkeye shouts, "head for the river!" Well, the "river" is simply the cove they had previously come from!

- We then find ourselves at Linville, in the real river, just upstream from the upper falls.

- As they exit the canoes and push them, empty, over the falls, we?re back at Linville, just downstream of the upper falls.

But, what of the second falls? The big ones that caused them to jump ship. Where are those? Well, the lower falls at Linville, of course, right? Wrong! Sort of. Computer imagery accounts for these. They simply don?t exit! More on this as the scene segues to Under the Falls.

It should be noted here that the script called for a whitewater chase, not over-the-falls sequences as were eventually filmed. To that original end, the gorge up on the Nolichucky River was selected for this scene. Film crews, stuntmen, canoes, all went up there, in Mitchell County, to shoot. It is not known, to me or anyone I?ve spoken to on this, whether any of that footage made it into the film, or even exists at all.

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All these locations, as discussed elsewhere, are readily accessible and free ... with the possible exception of those in Michael Mann's creative imagination!

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