Wilhelm Scream: Circa 2023

This month’s can is a Wilhelm Scream from Magic Hat Brewing. It’s named after a sound effect that has been used in movies, TV shows, and even video games for a good seventy years now.

The Wilhelm Scream

Recorded in 1951 for a Grade-B film titled “Distant Drums.” In the relevant scene, several soldiers are fleeing from the Seminoles in the Everglades. One of them is grabbed by an alligator and pulled under the water to his doom. The film makers recorded several different screams, and the one they selected was probably voiced by actor Sheb Wooley, also known for the 1958 novelty song The Purple People Eater and for playing American Indian scout Pete Nolan on the TV series Rawhide.

Here is the clip from Distant Drums. The scream is about 16-17 seconds into the film.

The scream was added to the Warner Brothers studio library and used multiple times, including in 1953’s The Charge at Feather River, where Private Wilhelm gets shot in the leg by an arrow, giving the scream its name. I guess “Wilhelm Scream” sounds better than “Grabbed by an Alligator.” It was also used throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including in classics such as Them! and The Wild Bunch.

Those too young to have been watching 1950s westerns, probably know it from 1977’s Star Wars. The film’s sound designer, Ben Burtt, found the original recording on a studio archive, and used it in the scene where Luke and Princess Leia are trying to escape the Death Star. Trapped on a retracted walkway, Luke shoots a Stormtrooper off a ledge. (EEEIIIIII!!!) Burtt liked it so much that he kept using it, including in The Empire Strikes Back, The Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark (during the last chase scene.). Using it became a tradition, and movie fans began picking it up as an inside joke.

To date it’s been used in over 400 films. Among the movies where you can hear it are…
Toy Story (1995)
Hercules (1997)
Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)
Avatar (2009)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Django Unchained (2012)
Deadpool 2 (2018)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
etc., etc.
I won’t even try to list the TV shows it’s been in, but any effect that has been used in both My Little Pony and Game of Thrones, has some pretty wide usage!

Magic Hat Brewing

Wilhelm Scream is a seasonal beer made by Magic Hat Brewing in Rochester, New York. Founded in 1994 in Burlington, Vermont, Magic Hat was an early craft brewery. Increasingly successful, it moved to a larger facility in South Burlington in 1997. In 2008 Magic Hat expanded, buying Pyramid Breweries, and taking over their brands. That’s fairly common and has been a popular tactic for growing breweries for decades. You buy a smaller competitor, and you have access to their customers and distribution network along with their brands. In 2010 the brewery was purchased by an equity company, North American Breweries, a subsidiary of KPS Capital Partners and they did was equity companies do. They stripped the brewery of its assets and promptly sold what remained to Florida Ice & Farm Company (FIFCO), a Costa Rican food and beverages company. The Vermont facility closed, costing over forty jobs.

The new owners also own Genesee Brewing in Rochester, New York and Magic Hat began to be produced there instead of in Burlington. Another brewery, Zero Gravity, took over Magic Hat’s old facility. I’m not sure if this is a success story or not. I wouldn’t call Magic Hat a microbrewery any longer. However, its beers do get good ratings on beer review sites online.

Sources

Magic Hat Brewing Website (accessed 3 July 2024)

Chris Snyder. "What is the Wilhelm scream used in over 100 Hollywood movies" Business Insider. Nov 30, 2018. (Accessed 4 July 2024)

Wikipedia: Wilhelm Scream (accessed 3 July 2024)

Wikipedia: Magic Hat Brewing (accessed 3 July 2024)

Youtube: Search for "Wilhelm Scream"