Your Ears Have Heard This Scream Many Times, You Didn’t Notice!

This scream has been used and continues to be used in over 400 productions in many high and low budget movies and television series for almost 70 years. It is usually used when someone is hit, falls from a great height, or in the event of an explosion. It is also used in scenes more than once in a movie.

Due to the sound recording conditions of those times, it is not a very realistic scream that reflects the situation today. Apart from exceptions, it cannot be said that it is very compatible with the scenes in which it is put, and we can even say that it is quite grinning.

Wilhelm’s cry was first used in a 1951 western film called Distant Drums.

In the scene where it is used, a man is bitten by a crocodile and this scream is heard. This sound effect is a later recorded sound, as in many movies. 6 different screams were recorded for this scene and this scream recorded in the 5th recording marked the beginning of a milestone. This scream, which was later added to the sound effects library of Warner Bros., began to be used in many of the films shot for the company.

After a scream… Why “Wilhelm”?

In the 1970s, Oscar-winning sound specialist Ben Burtt started researching when he discovered this scream in the movies he watched while he was still a student.

The earliest production Burtt was able to reach during his long research was The Charge at Feather River, shot in 1953. In the movie, a soldier named Wilhelm is shot in the leg with an arrow by the Indians and he screams. This sound effect, which has survived to the present day, takes its name from this character and begins to take its place in history as the “Wilhelm scream”.

That scene from The Charge at Feather River:

Where does the popularity of the scream come from?

George Lucas, the director of the Star Wars movie, which started shooting at that time, entrusts the sound editing to Ben Burtt. Ben Burtt also does not miss this opportunity, and uses this original cry, which he has just discovered and named Wilhelm, in the film. In the video above, you can hear the scream at the moment of the fall in the scene where Luke shoots a Stormtrooper.

The scream, which continues to be used in Star Wars sequels and Indiana Jones series, continues to be popular with the attention of other directors. Famous directors such as Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton started to use this cry in their own films, not neglecting their homage to Ben Burtt, and this has become a tradition for other directors as well.

Its popularity does not end there. A band, some songs and a beer company come out with the name “Wilhelm scream”.

Here are excerpts from movies and TV shows in which that popular Wilhelm scream is used:

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