December 1951 marked the American premiere of a film that is now long forgotten, but which changed the sound of cinema forever. It was there that audiences not only saw but also heard the famous cinematic scream for the first time.

The film Distant Drums premiered just over 70 years ago, in December 1951. The western, with its unusual setting of Florida swamps instead of the traditional Utah desert, had the potential to become a smash hit. It was directed by Raoul Walsh, freshly off the set of a series of popular gangster films starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, with Gary Cooper at the peak of his career playing the lead. Despite fairly positive reviews, Distant Drums did not win over the hearts of the audiences, and is impossible to find on today’s lists of the top 100 most popular productions.

It would most likely remain one of the hundreds of westerns made at the time and remembered only by the most zealous followers of the genre, if it weren’t for one scene. At one point, as Cooper’s team is wading through muddy waters, one of the cowboys is attacked by an alligator. As he dies, he lets out a scream which, if you have a good ear, may sound familiar. Perhaps you remember it from The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, or the Indiana Jones series? Maybe from films by Quentin Tarantino or various Pixar movies?

“Even without the sixty-year reputation and cultlike following that has eventually attached itself to this sound clip, [it] is remarkable. It scrambles up the anonymous