Piraticalbob
Member
In the 2006 Spanish film Alatriste, based on the series of novels by Arturo Perez-Reverte and starring Viggo Mortensen, the title character, "Captain" Diego Alatriste is shown in the beginning scene with a short, leaf-bladed knife which he uses for sentry removal:
It's a very interesting looking knife, and Alatriste uses it throughout the movie, concealing it in his musketeer-style boot. It's a close quarters weapon; in other fight scenes Alatriste uses the rapier/main gauche or rapier/cape techniques common to the rapier period.
Here's another pic, showing the knife in more detail:
Perez-Reverte describes the knife in his books as a "slaughterer's knife," and indeed, this knife pattern is used in slaughterhouses, where it is inserted at the base of an animal's skull to sever the spinal cord. It is also used in the Spanish bullring for the same purpose: to put a bull out of its misery when a matador has failed to make a clean kill. In the bit of research I did for this thread I came across two names for this knife, the puntilla, which translates to "small point," or lengua de vaca, which translates to "cow tongue," which the blade somewhat resembles.
You can actually buy these knives at Spanish websites, marked as bullfighter's tools:
http://www.cuchilleriaalbacete.com/co-en-tauromaquia-1.html
Anyway, I thought I'd introduce the THR audience to a very different sort of knife, one not common in the United States. In the movies and books it's used as a close quarters weapon, similar to how trench knives were used in WWI, and indeed, some of the scenes in the movie are very much trench warfare.
The books, if you wish to give them a try, start with Captain Alatriste. A half-dozen have been translated into English, and all of them are also available in the original Spanish. They are very much in the cloak-and-dagger tradition of Dumas' The Three Musketeers. The movie is currently available in its entirety on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/Ku_FdxIu66g
You know how YouTube can be about taking movies down, though, so watch it while it's available. (It's in Spanish, w/out English subtitles: be warned.)
Enjoy!
It's a very interesting looking knife, and Alatriste uses it throughout the movie, concealing it in his musketeer-style boot. It's a close quarters weapon; in other fight scenes Alatriste uses the rapier/main gauche or rapier/cape techniques common to the rapier period.
Here's another pic, showing the knife in more detail:
Perez-Reverte describes the knife in his books as a "slaughterer's knife," and indeed, this knife pattern is used in slaughterhouses, where it is inserted at the base of an animal's skull to sever the spinal cord. It is also used in the Spanish bullring for the same purpose: to put a bull out of its misery when a matador has failed to make a clean kill. In the bit of research I did for this thread I came across two names for this knife, the puntilla, which translates to "small point," or lengua de vaca, which translates to "cow tongue," which the blade somewhat resembles.
You can actually buy these knives at Spanish websites, marked as bullfighter's tools:
http://www.cuchilleriaalbacete.com/co-en-tauromaquia-1.html
Anyway, I thought I'd introduce the THR audience to a very different sort of knife, one not common in the United States. In the movies and books it's used as a close quarters weapon, similar to how trench knives were used in WWI, and indeed, some of the scenes in the movie are very much trench warfare.
The books, if you wish to give them a try, start with Captain Alatriste. A half-dozen have been translated into English, and all of them are also available in the original Spanish. They are very much in the cloak-and-dagger tradition of Dumas' The Three Musketeers. The movie is currently available in its entirety on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/Ku_FdxIu66g
You know how YouTube can be about taking movies down, though, so watch it while it's available. (It's in Spanish, w/out English subtitles: be warned.)
Enjoy!
Last edited:
