Master Archer - Howard Hill

Howard Hill was very enterprising in addition to all of the exhibitions that he did and the contests and what-have-you and touring around both the schools into the general public and so on he also made a series of short subjects many many short subjects showing the various aspects of archery and the one that we're going to see is the cavalcade of archery which was made for Warner Brothers in 1945 and it begins with some stock footage from The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938 and a couple of shots that actually weren't in the final release version of The Adventures of Robin Hood so here Howard Hill is showing his trick prowess I mean he could do all kinds of things but here he's he's kind of pointing up the trick shots that he could do in the days when Robin Hood and his Merry Men galloped through the leafy forests of Sherwood archery was the prime sport of England during the 12th century the soldiers have Richard the third were considered the finest archers in Europe their fame had spread far and wide and in the great tournaments which were like the Olympic Games of modern times archers from all over the land met together in friendly competition the Kings trumpeters always signal the opening of the tournaments according to legend the romantic Robin Hood was the best archer in all England no one could outshoot him and in tournaments such as this he walked off with every prize his fame was so great but few archers dared to compete against him for Robin Hood it was the bull's eye every time well my my how times do change from the green sward of merry England to a modern archery course and today a new glamour has been added the modern Robin Hood is a pretty lucky guy if he can come up against competition like this three little girls from archery school Andes and doing all right - nice going girls sing go the arrows from their boat not bad aiming either but here comes some real competition girls meet Howard Hill the modern world's most famous Archer experts tell us that if Robin Hood and Howard Hill were matched today Howard could even out shoot that fabled character which is quite a reputation to live up to and Howard's going to try a few shots just to prove that experts are never wrong that is where archery is concerned one after another straight into the bull's eye too bad Robin Hood's not around to defend his reputation this is really fancy shooting and the targets so full of arrows Howard could hang on no vacancy sign on look at the end of that arrow split into four that's hitting the bull's eye with a vengeance a girl brings Howard a gourd but it's not for decoration it's just another target to Howard it's an old Indian trick taught him by two Indian friends chief Big Thunder and chief Buffalo killer it took two of them to pull off this trick but Howard does it by himself yup nothing left but the neck of that gourd and now watch this right in the neck Indians may have been Howard's teachers right now it looks like they could take some lessons from him and not of balsa wood is the target for another Indian stunt Howard uses two arrows one of the most difficult of archery feats let her go Howard well II did it I tell you if there's a hard way to make a shock you can bet Howard will try it now here's a stunt to try out in your backyard that is if you've got any old light bulbs lying around just hang one on the end of a string like this swing it a bit then invite Howard Hill over that's certainly one way to get rid of those old light bulbs hey watch it Howard keep your mind on your work Howard tries another shot sowee dead-center Oh goody-goody says his girlfriend one of his pretty helpers fastens a bottle to abort say Howard you don't mean you're gonna try and shoot an arrow through that small hole in the board brother if you managed that one I'll believe in miracles well miracles happen I guess not content with proving it can be done once he tries it again right through that hole clean as anything and if you don't believe it there's the broken glass to prove it it shots like this that prove the experts contention that Howard Hill is the world's greatest Archer and now Howard tries his luck with the cards the Ace of Hearts is his target this time Howard believes in that old saying about having an ace in the hole only by his archery magic he makes it to aces yup he does it with mirrors - just watch this folks this is one of the trickiest shots ever performed by any Archer anywhere it really takes perfect timing for this but Howard has what it takes he just can't miss another very difficult trick is this one uh-huh here we go now wait a minute what's this a fruit stall an apple a prune and a cherry now what Oh as I live and breathe William Tell hey Howard not a prune know that cherry either you've got your history mixed take the Apple Howard at least keep to the tradition that's it girls get in on the kill I don't blame you for asking that guy to kneel if I were in his shoes I'd pray too now wait a minute Howard you don't mean you're actually going to try that William Tell trick okay but I'm glad that it's not my head that's holding up the Apple don't breathe girls take it easy Howard he's a live man under that Apple remember hold everything won't be long now well that's one way of making applesauce a prune next friend Williams a little worried and no wonder that's it mister say your prayers again you it's hard to even see that prove much less shooter boy that guy has a lot of courage or a lot of faith in Howard Hill Zingo a direct hit the force of the shot makes the arrow ricochet know-nothing dawn tower now he's going to try it with a cherry and William gets a load of what's coming that Sheree is just a little too much to take hey how are Y Elle's come back here the show isn't over yet but as far as William is concerned it's over and how a fine thing what a sissy that guy turned out to be yes I may have worn fancier costumes in Robin Hood's time maybe the trimmings were more elaborate maybe Robin Hood's own fable shot was spectacular but for real shootin I'll take Howard Hill any day he's the man who put the arts in archery you

Channel: John Muir

Views: 567,106

Rating: 4.7376256 out of 5

Keywords: Master, Archer, archery, practice

Id: zo8UZneuggE

Length: 9min 22sec (562 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 04 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/last_prophet]

Aside from the 50's style of documentary it does show that he's got some skill. I feel spoiled by modern tv/movie archers though, I kept thinking he's no Oliver Queen or Clint Barton. Perhaps all he needs to do is get stranded on a hostile island, although it definitely had a carnival feel to it.

[u/Kodo25]

the guy narrating this is biased to sell the shit outta this guy. He admits the indian training early and repeats it. if this guy is really trained by indians, he probably wasn't the best archer, but he is white, so he took that training into public view, used it as a money maker. you can't tell me this dude is the best archer ever, i'm sure the indian dude that trained him was alot better