After Thomas Edison built one of the first hydroelectric stations in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1882, dam construction surged throughout the United States, and the world. His Vulcan Street Plant produced 12.5 kilowatts of electricity, but each new project grew in size and capability, and now the mammoth Three Gorges Dam (pictured above) in China generates over 20 gigawatts of useful electricity.

Aside from their practical use, dams also serve as social and aesthetic forces that are hard to ignore. Controversy has surrounded them due to their impact on nature, as well as local populations; and they are, without a doubt, interesting constructs that beg the camera eye. These aspects are not lost on filmmakers, from Hitchcock to Michael Bay.

Sepulveda Dam

The Los Angeles River is kind of a movie star in itself, having been featured in so many movies it deserves a column of its own; the Sepulveda Dam is part of that waterless waterway, and due to its close proximity to Hollywood, it’s often been utilized in films. These include Sabotage, Buckaroo Banzai, Iron Man 2, The Fast and the Furious, The Italian Job, Gattaca, and most memorably in Escape from New York, where Snake Plissken is almost killed before being saved by the President.

(YouTube Link)

Dam! Hit the jump for more examples.

Hoover Dam- Hollywood’s Favorite

The towering power plant formerly known as Boulder Dam, which powers California, Nevada and Arizona, shows up in the bulk of movies. Above is a still from 1978′s Superman: The Movie, as the villainous schemes of Lex Luthor take effect.

Albert Brooks directed the comedy Lost in America, in which he and his wife decide to drop out of the rat race of society, and travel the country in an RV. Their entire monetary supply, or “nest egg,” is lost by the wife (Julie Hagerty) in one night in Las Vegas. The following day at Hoover Dam, Brooks unleashes his anger with the classic line, “Nice dam, huh? Do you want to go first, or should I?” And he forbids her from ever saying “nest egg” again: “The bird lives in a round stick, and you have things with ham!”

Another comedy that takes place in Las Vegas is, well, Vegas Vacation. When addressing a trip to Vegas, it seems like there was a clause in filmmaking that a stop at good old Hoover Dam was a requisite.

After Cousin Eddie asks, “When the hell does the damn dam tour start?” hijinks ensue, and Clark has to try to stop a leak he created that threatens the dam. The level of comedic gold is definitely dialed down in this, the final Vacation movie; but the dam tour was possibly the highlight. (Photo: Warner Bros.)

One part of any renewable resource installation is the transformer, which steps up the wattage to send the electricity to the grid. The fact that in Transformers, the Autobots are hanging out on Hoover Dam, home to enormous transformers, was a subtle touch of irony.

1992′s Universal Soldier also exploited the dam’s potential, as a scenario involving terrorists and hostages is thwarted by the military’s new elite force of UniSols, played with robotic charm by Dolph Lundgren and Jean Claude Van Damme (hey now!).

Criminals, Controversy, and Cops

The presence of dams in crime dramas is an irresistible plot tool. One of the most breathtaking scenes in The Fugitive is when U.S. Marshall Gerard seemingly has the titular Kimble cornered atop a spillway at Cheoah Dam. Not willing to be detained again, Kimble jumps from the towering height and manages escape.

In 1998′s Hard Rain, a severe storm threatens a dam in the Midwest. Officials open levees to protect the power station, and the flood increases, greatly influencing the conflict as thieves battle thieves amid the torrential waters.

Chinatown is an award-winning story of the corruption, scandal, and mystery surrounding a Department of Water and Power’s shadowy manipulations of 1937′s Los Angeles energy production and water procurement. As Jake Gittes, Jack Nicholson turns in a performance that will cement his status as acting icon, portraying a private investigator determined to uncover the theft of water via dam.

World War II Dams

MGM

The sequel to The Guns of Navarone, titled Force 10 from Navarone, features a small group of commandos who secretly enter Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Their mission is to destroy a bridge, but when the plan goes south, they improvise. Instead of blowing the bridge with their erstwhile explosives, they decide to use smaller devices to create a chain reaction in an upriver dam. The force from the ensuing rush of water accomplishes the destruction of the bridge.

StudioCanal

The Dam Busters is a classic British film with all the right elements of a war adventure movie in place. The historical account of how Royal Air Force planes flew in low to drop bombs that would skip over torpedo-catching nets, and then sink to a proper depth before discharging against the dams was a major influence on another movie. The attack on the Death Star in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope plays out very much like the exciting sequence in this film. YouTube user HenryvKeiper made two videos comparing the two.

(YouTube Link)  (Alternate Version)

Anyway, are there any movies we may have missed that feature a dam? Don’t hold back (see what I did there?), tell us in the comments.

Previously In the Movies: Drive-In Movie Theaters, Elevator Shafts

]]> http://www.neatorama.com/2010/09/04/in-the-movies-dams/feed/ 8 http://www.neatorama.com/2009/06/18/interesting-facts-about-beavers/ http://www.neatorama.com/2009/06/18/interesting-facts-about-beavers/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:47:22 +0000 Jill Harness http://www.neatorama.com/?p=24672 After watching a movie about beavers a few weeks ago, I became highly interested by their strange behaviors. I came to research a bit about the critters and came along some info that may be interesting to all of you readers out there. Personally, I’d like to see a Meerkat Manor-like show based on beaver’s lives. Do you think it would work?

Water is music to beaver ears

Or at least, music they can’t stand. The sound of running water is a beaver’s main motivator in building a dam. A scientist once performed a study where they placed speakers beside a beaver dam that were continually playing the sound of running water. The beavers built up their dams by the speaker until it effectively was silenced. The noise drives them mad. Source

Those darn dams

We all know beavers love their dams. In fact, by building their dams and changing river flows, they are change the world more than any other creature besides man. They’re quite good architects and take water flow into consideration when building, using straight dams on trickling waters and curved dams in raging rapids. They use these dams as protection from predators and as shelter throughout the winter. If a predator destroys part of the dam, it will be fixed overnight.

Also just like men, they won’t stop building until the job is done -resulting in some massively huge dams being built along large rivers. The largest beaver dam was over 2,750 feet long. These dams are the only animal-created structures that can be seen from space. Source

It’s Ok To Eat Beavers on Friday

No, that’s not a naughty sex innuendo. The 17th century Catholic Church actually declared beavers to be a fish according to dietary restrictions, meaning they are ok to eat on both Fridays and throughout Lent. Beaver meat was a common dish by Native Americans and French settlers to America, so the decision was believed to be important to these people’s behaviors. The church decisions are based more on an animal’s environment than their physical characteristics. Source

European and American Beavers Don’t Mix

Because the animals have a different number of chromosomes, they do not cross breed with one another. Russian scientists once tried to breed the two together. In 27 attempted experiments, they only had one semi-success and the baby still came out as a stillborn. Source

They’re Our Only Hope and They’re Terrible Pests

Beavers have an interesting role in the environment. Their dams trap sediments in the water, turning rushing rivers into peaceful wetlands. When the dams break, the sediment stays and rich meadows are formed. Some scientists claim beavers can help prevent drought and that they are our only chance and maintaining our precious wetlands. Source

On the other hand, beavers are notoriously destructive. They cause $100 million in property damage yearly and their re-working of river currents can cause massive floods on our nation’s farms. They have been known to destroy whole forests and one beaver couple almost took out a world-famous cherry tree forest in Washington D.C.. Source

My, What Nice Sex Organs You Have

Beaver sex organs have been used for traditional medicines for centuries. Their testicles and vaginal follicles can actually help with a few conditions, but mostly because the sailicin from the willow trees they eat turns into an aspirin-like salicylic acid with anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties. These same naughty beaver parts are still used in perfume production, you may have some beaver residue on you right now- particularly if you’re wearing any of these brands: Emeraude, Coty Chanel Cuir de Russie, Magie Noire, Lancôme Caractère, Hechter Madame, Carven, Givenchy III or Shalimar. Source

Canada Loves Them…But Almost Killed Them All

Beaver is the Canadian national animal and is depicted on the Canadian five cent piece and their first pictorial stamp issued in 1849. The beavers were highly loved in part due to their fur, which was widely sought after up until the mid-19th century. It was so widely adored that the animal was almost hunted to extinction in Canada. If the fur trade hadn’t stopped when it did, the Canadian national animal might be little more than a memory to its residents. Source