document_title: Theon Greyjoy

question_text: who is the man who tortures theon greyjoy

text: Theon Greyjoy

text: Character description[edit]

text: Theon Greyjoy is the heir apparent and only living son of Balon Greyjoy. After not being a third-person narrator in the first novel, Theon is the narrator for a total of thirteen chapters in the second and fifth novels, A Clash of Kings and A Dance with Dragons.[5]

text: Ten years before the events of the series, Theon was taken hostage by Eddard Stark. He would have been executed had his father Balon displeased King Robert Baratheon. Theon was raised at Winterfell with the Stark children and developed a close friendship with Robb Stark. As an adult, Theon was arrogant, cocky, and proud until being imprisoned by Ramsay Snow, who is the eldest and bastard son of Roose Bolton. During the imprisonment, Ramsay severely tortured Theon physically and psychologically before emasculating him and mockingly changing his name to "Reek".[6]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Originally auditioning for the role of Jon Snow,[7] the English actor Alfie Allen has received positive reviews for his role as Theon Greyjoy in the TV series.[8] Paul Tassi of Forbes explained:

text: In one scene, six year's worth of character development gets thrown out the window. It's maddening. I know the counter-argument to this, that Theon will always be haunted by his time spent being abused by Ramsay, and Reek will always be in there somewhere. But we've done this already. We've had him suffer and suffer and suffer and be a coward and refuse to be rescued by his own sister in an earlier season because he was just that broken. We spent the last year and a half watching Theon crawl his way back to being Theon again, in some capacity, and now the show does him this disservice, having him revert back to being a coward in the goofiest way possible.[9]

text: Storylines[edit]

text: Books[edit]

text: A Game of Thrones[edit]

text: Theon Greyjoy becomes a trusted companion of Robb Stark on the battlefield, participating in the North's victories at Riverrun and the Whispering Wood.

text: A Clash of Kings[edit]

text: Robb sends Theon as an envoy to Pyke, seeking Balon Greyjoy's aid in his rebellion against House Lannister. Theon arrives to find Balon instead intends to seize the North while Robb is fighting in the Riverlands. Theon is charged to reave on the Stony Shore, but is jealous when he learns that his sister Asha has captured Deepwood Motte. After sending some of his men to besiege Torrhen's Square and lure Winterfell's garrison away from the castle, Theon and his party invade and capture Winterfell. He releases the prisoner Reek, formerly a servant of House Bolton. When Bran and Rickon Stark apparently escape Winterfell, Reek advises Theon to kill two young boys and pass their bodies off as those of the Stark children.

text: Winterfell's garrison soon repels the ironborn at Torrhen's Square and besieges Winterfell. When Asha refuses to give Theon men to hold the castle, he allows Reek to seek reinforcements from the Dreadfort. Reek returns with several hundred Bolton men and defeats the Stark soldiers, but then reveals his true identity is Roose Bolton's bastard Ramsay Snow and takes Theon prisoner.

text: A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows[edit]

text: Ramsay imprisons Theon in the Dreadfort's dungeons and tortures him for his own amusement, though most of the Ironborn believe that Theon is dead. At some point, Theon manages to escape with his former bedwarmer, Kyra, though this turns out to be a trick of Ramsay's and the two are soon recaptured.

text: A Dance with Dragons[edit]

text: Ramsay's torture leaves Theon with many of his toes, fingers and teeth missing; it is implied that Ramsay also removes his penis. The trauma of this torture causes Theon to lose much of his body weight, turns his hair white, and leaves him resembling an old man. Psychologically broken, he is forced to assume the identity of Reek. When Roose Bolton begins to lead his forces back to the North, Ramsay (who has since been legitmised as a Bolton) has Theon convince the Ironborn garrison holding Moat Cailin to surrender, but flays them regardless. Theon is ordered to give away Jeyne Poole (who is posing as Arya Stark) at her wedding to Ramsay, who later forces Theon to participate in his sexual abuse of Jeyne. Theon later encounters Mance Rayder (disguised as Abel the bard) and his spearwives, who enlist his help in freeing Jeyne, having been sent by Jon Snow. When the alarm is raised, Theon jumps from Winterfell's battlements with Jeyne and is rescued by Mors Umber, who sends him to Stannis Baratheon's camp several days' ride away. There he is reunited with Asha, who initially does not recognise him.

text: The Winds of Winter[edit]

text: Theon is kept prisoner by Stannis, who notes that he may have useful information about the Boltons but means to execute him for the supposed murders of Bran and Rickon. Asha unsuccessfully tries to ransom Theon before convincing Stannis to behead him rather than burn him alive.

text: Television adaptation[edit]

text: Theon Greyjoy is played by Alfie Allen in the television adaptation of the series of books.[10]

text: Season 1[edit]

text: Theon is introduced as the hostage and ward of Lord Eddard Stark, stemming from the failed Greyjoy Rebellion. Despite his position, he remains loyal to Eddard and is good friends with his sons Robb and Jon. While he has never questioned his position, he soon begins to have doubts after Tyrion Lannister tells him he is nothing more than a servant to the Starks and that not everyone respects him. Nevertheless, Theon initially remains loyal to Robb after he goes to war with the Lannisters and supports his decision to have the North secede from the Seven Kingdoms and form their own kingdom.

text: Season 2[edit]

text: Theon is sent to the Iron Islands to persuade Balon to ally with the Starks against the Lannisters, but Balon instead intends to conquer the North while its army is fighting in the Westerlands. Theon is insulted when he is given command of a single ship to raid the Stony Shore and contemplates sending a warning to Robb, but ultimately decides to remain loyal to his family.[11] When his crew proves to be disrespectful of Theon's station, his first mate Dagmer Cleftjaw suggests that Theon prove himself by capturing Winterfell. Theon lures the Stark garrison away from Winterfell and easily captures the castle, but is forced to execute his old mentor Ser Rodrik Cassel when he refuses to yield. Theon is seduced by the wildling servant Osha, who later frees Bran and Rickon Stark. Theon's men are unable to recapture the two and Theon kills two farm boys to pass their bodies off as those of the Stark boys, an act he soon feels guilty for.

text: Theon asks his sister Yara to bring 500 men as reinforcements, but instead she arrives with a paltry force to warn Theon of his unstable position and to return to the Iron Islands. Theon refuses, and soon afterwards Winterfell is besieged by men of House Bolton commanded by (the then unnamed) Ramsay Snow, bastard son of Lord Roose Bolton. Theon attempts to rally his men to fight to the death, but they knock him out and hand him over to Ramsay, hoping for amnesty. Unknown to the viewer, Ramsay disobeys his orders to free the Ironborn and instead flays them all and sacking Winterfell, before taking Theon back to the Dreadfort as prisoner.

text: Season 3[edit]

text: Theon is taken captive and kept in an unknown castle, where he is briefly tortured, but later manages to escape with the help of a serving boy who claims to work for his sister Yara. He is brought back to the very castle he escaped from, the serving boy proving to actually be his captor and torturer, Ramsay Snow, Lord Bolton's sadistic bastard child. Theon is subsequently brutally tortured, flayed and castrated by Ramsay, who forces him to rename himself Reek, and beats him until he submits to his new name. Theon's penis is sent in a box to his father, with Ramsay threatening to mutilate Theon further unless the Ironmen retreat from the North. Balon refuses, as Theon defied him and is now unable to further the Greyjoy line. Outraged, Yara responds she intends to save her brother of her own accord.[12]

text: Season 4[edit]

text: Theon Greyjoy remains a prisoner, locked in the cages of the dogs under Ramsay's watch. Theon, now adopting and living under the name Reek he was given, is a broken man living in this squalor. Yara Greyjoy, his sister comes to his rescue, however the torture he has endured has begun to take his mind and he thoroughly believes he is Reek. He refuses to go with her, and in a fight with Ramsay, she is beaten and sent away without her brother and running from bloodthirsty hounds.

text: Ramsay rewards his tortured prisoner with a bath and soft words. Easing the body of the tortured Theon into the bath, he asks him to do a job, to play a role. Ramsay tells Reek to assume the name of Theon Greyjoy, and help him fight. He is taken to Moat Cailin, a heavily defended, but winded fortress of the Iron Hills. Surrounded and blockaded the Castle has all but fallen. Theon rides to the gates, holding a white flag of truce and presents the offer of Ramsay extending peace for submission. He is met with contempt, and just as his personality begins to break and blood is spit in his face, another soldier kills the commander with an axe to the head, and accepts the doomed proposal.

text: Theon watches as Ramsay has the keep raided, and all the men were killed. He rides with Ramsay north to Winterfell, now recognized by his father as a trueborn Bolton.

text: Season 5[edit]

text: Theon is stunned to find that Ramsay has been betrothed to Sansa Stark. He tries to avoid her until Ramsay's psychotic paramour Myranda leads Sansa to Theon's sleeping quarters, a cage in the kennels.[13] After learning of their reunion, Ramsay involves Theon in his torment of Sansa by having him give her away at the wedding and then forces him to watch as he rapes her on their wedding night.[14] Sansa asks for Theon's assistance to escape from Ramsay, but Theon, wishing to spare her Ramsay's wrath, instead warns Ramsay, causing him to flay the maid who had tried to help Sansa escape. When Sansa confronts Theon, he confesses that he did not kill her brothers. While Ramsay and the Bolton army attack Stannis Baratheon's forces, Sansa makes another escape attempt, but is caught and threatened by Myranda. Finally snapping, Theon pushes Myranda over a walkway to her death, just as the victorious Boltons return. Rather than face Ramsay's anger, Theon and Sansa jump from the Winterfell wall into the snow and flee.

text: Season 6[edit]

text: Theon and Sansa are caught by Bolton soldiers in the woods surrounding Winterfell, but are saved by the arrival of Brienne of Tarth, who kills the hunters. Although Sansa and Brienne decide to make for Castle Black, where Sansa's half-brother Jon Snow is Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Theon tells her that he does not deserve the Starks' forgiveness and instead decides to return to the Iron Islands. Theon returns to the Iron Islands to discover that Balon is dead, and offers to support Yara at the Kingsmoot, a ceremony where the Ironborn elect their new leader. However, the Kingsmoot is won by Theon's uncle Euron Greyjoy, who admits to killing Balon but wins over the Ironborn by promising to conquer Westeros through marriage to Daenerys Targaryen, who possesses the only living dragons in the world. Correctly surmising that Euron will have them put to death, Theon, Yara, and their loyalists flee the Iron Islands with the best ships of the Iron Fleet. Theon remains psychologically traumatized by Ramsay's torture, but is urged by Yara to find courage. They travel to Meereen, which Daenerys has taken as her seat, and offer her the Iron Fleet in exchange for the Iron Islands' independence and the removal of Euron as king. Daenerys agrees, on the condition that the Ironborn cease their practices of pillaging. Theon and Yara then join Daenerys as she sets sail for Westeros.

text: Season 7[edit]

text: After Daenerys seizes Dragonstone as her base for the invasion of Westeros, Theon and Yara are sent with Ellaria Sand and the Sand Snakes to Dorne to transport the Dornish army to besiege King's Landing. However, Yara's fleet is attacked by Euron in the Narrow Sea, with Euron personally taking Yara captive. Theon is triggered after watching the carnage and jumps overboard, being rescued some time later by survivors of the battle unimpressed by his cowardice.

text: Theon returns to Dragonstone, seeking Daenerys' aid in freeing Yara, but discovers that Daenerys has left to confront the Lannister army on the Roseroad. He is confronted by Jon Snow, now King in the North after defeating Ramsay. Jon reassures Theon that Sansa is safe, but that it is the only reason Jon is sparing his life.

text: After Jon captures a wight beyond the Wall, Theon joins Daenerys, Jon, and their retinues as they present the wight to Queen Cersei Lannister as evidence of the White Walkers' threat. During the meeting, Theon is confronted by Euron, who threatens to execute Yara if Theon does not bend the knee to him. Returning to Dragonstone, Theon speaks to Jon, who reassures him that Theon is both a Stark and a Greyjoy and forgives him. Inspired by this, and remembering that Yara was the only one who tried to free him from Ramsay, Theon orders the Ironborn survivors to aid him in freeing Yara. Their leader, Harrag, defies Theon and nearly beats him to death, but Theon eventually gains the upper hand and beats Harrag senseless. Having regained the respect of the Ironborn, Theon leads his men to find Yara.

text: Family tree of House Greyjoy[edit]

text:
[hide]

v
t
e

Family tree of House Greyjoy

Lady
Stonetree

Quellon[a]

Lady
Piper[a]

Lady
Sunderly[b]

Harlon[b]

Quenton[b]

Donel[b]

Balon IX[c]

Alannys Harlaw[d][c]

Euron III
"Crow's Eye"[c]

Victarion[c]

Urrigon[b]

Aeron
"Damphair"[c]

Robin[b]

Rodrik[e][c]

Maron[e][c]

Asha[c]

Erik
Ironmaker[c]

Theon[c]

several
bastard
children[f]

Notes:

^ Jump up to: a b Martin, George R. R.; García Jr., Elio M.; Antonsson, Linda (2014). "The Old Way and the New". The World of Ice & Fire. ISBN 978-0-553-80544-4.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Martin, George R. R. (2005). "Chapter 1, The Prophet". A Feast for Crows. ISBN 0-553-80150-3.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Martin, George R. R. (2011). "Appendix: King of the Isles and the North". A Dance with Dragons. ISBN 978-0553801477.
Jump up ^ Martin, George R. R. (2005). "Chapter 11, The Kraken's Daughter". A Feast for Crows. ISBN 0-553-80150-3.
^ Jump up to: a b Martin, George R. R. (1999). "Chapter 11, Theon I". A Clash of Kings. ISBN 0-553-10803-4.
Jump up ^ Martin, George R. R. (2005). "Chapter 29, The Reaver". A Feast for Crows. ISBN 0-553-80150-3.


document_title: Indus River

question_text: the indus river is important to pakistan because the river

root

text: Indus River

text: Etymology and names[edit]

text: This river was known to the ancient Indians in Sanskrit as Sindhu, which is literally interpreted to mean "large body of water, sea, or ocean".[5] The Proto-Iranian sound change *s > h occurred between 850–600 BCE, according to Asko Parpola,[6] causing its Avestan name to become Hendu,[7] From Iran, the name passed to the Greeks as Indós ("Ἰνδός") and to the Romans as Indus. The Persian name for the river was Darya,[8] which similarly has the connotations of large body of water and sea.

tag: p

text: However, linguists state that the original meaning of Sindhu/Hindu was not a body of water, but rather a frontier or bank. The Indus river formed the frontier between the Iranian peoples and Indo-Aryan peoples.[9][10][11]

text: Other variants of the name Sindhu include Assyrian Sinda (as early as the 7th century BC), Persian Ab-e-sind, Pashto Abasind, Arab Al-Sind, Chinese Sintow, and Javanese Santri.[citation needed]

text: Indus and the name of India[edit]

text: India is a Greek and Latin term for "the country of the River Indus". The region through which the river drains into sea is called Sindh and owes its name to the river (Sanskrit Sindhu).[12]

text: Megasthenes's book Indica derives its name from the river's Greek name, "Indós" (Ἰνδός), and describes Nearchus's contemporaneous account of how Alexander the Great crossed the river. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians (people of present-day northwest India and Pakistan) as "Indói" (Ἰνδοί), literally meaning "the people of the Indus".[13]

text: Rigveda and the Indus[edit]

text: Rigveda also describes several mythical rivers, including one named "Sindhu". The Rigvedic "Sindhu" is thought to be the present-day Indus river and is attested 176 times in its text – 95 times in the plural, more often used in the generic meaning. In the Rigveda, notably in the later hymns, the meaning of the word is narrowed to refer to the Indus river in particular, as in the list of rivers mentioned in the hymn of Nadistuti sukta. The Rigvedic hymns apply a feminine gender to all the rivers mentioned therein but "Sindhu" is the only river attributed the masculine gender which means Sindhu is the warrior and greatest among all other rivers in whole world

text: Other names[edit]

text: In other languages of the region, the river is known as सिन्धु (Sindhu) in Hindi and Nepali, سنڌو (Sindhu) in Sindhi, سندھ (Sindh) in Shahmukhi Punjabi, ਸਿੰਧ ਨਦੀ (Sindh Nadī) in Gurmukhī Punjabi, اباسين (Abāsin lit. "Father of Rivers") in Pashto, نهر السند (Nahar al-Sind) in Arabic, སེང་གེ་གཙང་པོ། (seng ge gtsang po lit. "Lion River" or Lion Spring) in Tibetan, 印度 (Yìndù) in Chinese, and Nilab in Turki.[citation needed]

text: Description[edit]

text: The Indus River provides key water resources for Pakistan's economy – especially the breadbasket of Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nation's agricultural production, and Sindh. The word Punjab means "land of five rivers" and the five rivers are Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, all of which finally flow into the Indus. The Indus also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of potable water in Pakistan.

text: The ultimate source of the Indus is in Tibet; the river begins at the confluence of the Sengge Zangbo and Gar Tsangpo rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri and Gangdise Shan (Gang Rinpoche, Mt. Kailas) mountain ranges. The Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok, Shigar and Gilgit rivers carry glacial waters into the main river. It gradually bends to the south, coming out of the hills between Peshawar and Rawalpindi. The Indus passes gigantic gorges 4,500–5,200 metres (15,000–17,000 feet) deep near the Nanga Parbat massif. It flows swiftly across Hazara and is dammed at the Tarbela Reservoir. The Kabul River joins it near Attock. The remainder of its route to the sea is in the plains of the Punjab[14] and Sindh, where the flow of the river becomes slow and highly braided. It is joined by the Panjnad at Mithankot. Beyond this confluence, the river, at one time, was named the Satnad River (sat = "seven", nadī = "river"), as the river now carried the waters of the Kabul River, the Indus River and the five Punjab rivers. Passing by Jamshoro, it ends in a large delta to the east of Thatta.

text: The Indus is one of the few rivers in the world to exhibit a tidal bore. The Indus system is largely fed by the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindu Kush ranges of Tibet, the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh and Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. The flow of the river is also determined by the seasons – it diminishes greatly in the winter, while flooding its banks in the monsoon months from July to September. There is also evidence of a steady shift in the course of the river since prehistoric times – it deviated westwards from flowing into the Rann of Kutch and adjoining Banni grasslands after the 1816 earthquake.[15][16] Presently, Indus water flows in to the Rann of Kutch during its floods breaching flood banks.[17]

text: The traditional source of the river is the Senge Khabab or "Lion's Mouth", a perennial spring, not far from the sacred Mount Kailash marked by a long low line of Tibetan chortens. There are several other tributaries nearby, which may possibly form a longer stream than Senge Khabab, but unlike the Senge Khabab, are all dependent on snowmelt. The Zanskar River, which flows into the Indus in Ladakh, has a greater volume of water than the Indus itself before that point.[18]

text: That night in the tent [next to Senge Khabab] I ask Sonmatering which of the Indus tributaries which we crossed this morning is the longest. All of them, he says, start at least a day's walk away from here. The Bukhar begins near the village of Yagra. The Lamolasay's source is in a holy place: there is a monastery there. The Dorjungla is a very difficult and long walk, three days perhaps, and there are many sharp rocks; but its water is clear and blue, hence the tributary's other name, Zom-chu, which Karma Lama translates as "Blue Water". The Rakmajang rises from a dark lake called the Black Sea.

text: One of the longest tributaries – and thus a candidate for the river's technical source – is the Kla-chu, the river we crossed yesterday by bridge. Also known as the Lungdep Chu, it flows into the Indus from the south-east, and rises a day's walk from Darchen. But Sonamtering insists that the Dorjungla is the longest of the "three types of water" that fall into the Seng Tsanplo ["Lion River" or Indus].[18]

text: History[edit]

text: The major cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation, such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, date back to around 3300 BC, and represent some of the largest human habitations of the ancient world. The Indus Valley Civilisation extended from across northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India,[19] with an upward reach from east of Jhelum River to Ropar on the upper Sutlej. The coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor at the Pakistan, Iran border to Kutch in modern Gujarat, India. There is an Indus site on the Amu Darya at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan, and the Indus site Alamgirpur at the Hindon River is located only 28 km (17 mi) from Delhi. To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries. Among the settlements were the major urban centres of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Lothal, Dholavira, Ganeriwala, and Rakhigarhi. Only 90–96 of more than 800 known Indus Valley sites have been discovered on the Indus and its tributaries.[citation needed] The Sutlej, now a tributary of the Indus, in Harappan times flowed into the Ghaggar-Hakra River, in the watershed of which were more Harappan sites than along the Indus.

text: Most scholars believe that settlements of Gandhara grave culture of the early Indo-Aryans flourished in Gandhara from 1700 BC to 600 BC, when Mohenjo-daro and Harappa had already been abandoned.

text: The word "India" is derived from the Indus River. In ancient times, "India" initially referred to those regions immediately along the east bank of the Indus, but by 300 BC, Greek writers including Herodotus and Megasthenes were applying the term to the entire subcontinent that extends much farther eastward.[20][21]

text: The lower basin of the Indus forms a natural boundary between the Iranian Plateau and the Indian subcontinent; this region embraces all or parts of the Pakistani provinces Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh and the countries Afghanistan and India. It was crossed by the invading armies of Alexander, but after his Macedonians conquered the west bank—joining it to the Hellenic Empire, they elected to retreat along the southern course of the river, ending Alexander's Asian campaign. The Indus plains were later dominated by the Persian empire and then the Kushan empire. Over several centuries Muslim armies of Muhammad bin Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazni, Mohammed Ghori, Tamerlane and Babur crossed the river to invade the inner regions of the Punjab and points farther south and east

text: Geography[edit]

text: Tributaries[edit]

text:
Beas River
Chenab River
Gar River
Gilgit River
Gomal River
Hunza River
Jhelum River
Kabul River
Kunar River
Kurram River
Panjnad River
Ravi River
Shyok River
Soan River
Suru River
Satluj River
Swat River
Zanskar River
Zhob River

tag: ul

text: Geology[edit]

text: The Indus river feeds the Indus submarine fan, which is the second largest sediment body on the Earth.[22] It consists of around 5 million cubic kilometres of material eroded from the mountains. Studies of the sediment in the modern river indicate that the Karakoram Mountains in northern Pakistan and India are the single most important source of material, with the Himalayas providing the next largest contribution, mostly via the large rivers of the Punjab (Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and Sutlej). Analysis of sediments from the Arabian Sea has demonstrated that prior to five million years ago the Indus was not connected to these Punjab rivers which instead flowed east into the Ganges and were captured after that time.[23] Earlier work showed that sand and silt from western Tibet was reaching the Arabian Sea by 45 million years ago, implying the existence of an ancient Indus River by that time.[24] The delta of this proto-Indus river has subsequently been found in the Katawaz Basin, on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

text: In the Nanga Parbat region, the massive amounts of erosion due to the Indus river following the capture and rerouting through that area is thought to bring middle and lower crustal rocks to the surface.[25]

text: In November 2011, satellite images showed that the Indus river had re-entered India, feeding Great Rann of Kutch, Little Rann of Kutch and a lake near Ahmedabad known as Nal Sarovar.[17] Heavy rains had left the river basin along with the Lake Manchar, Lake Hemal and Kalri Lake (all in modern-day Pakistan) inundated. This happened two centuries after the Indus river shifted its course westwards following the 1819 Rann of Kutch earthquake.

text: The Induan Age at start of the Triassic Period of geological time is named for the Indus region.

text: Wildlife[edit]

text: Accounts of the Indus valley from the times of Alexander's campaign indicate a healthy forest cover in the region, which has now considerably receded. The Mughal Emperor Babur writes of encountering rhinoceroses along its bank in his memoirs (the Baburnama). Extensive deforestation and human interference in the ecology of the Shivalik Hills has led to a marked deterioration in vegetation and growing conditions. The Indus valley regions are arid with poor vegetation. Agriculture is sustained largely due to irrigation works. The Indus river and its watershed has a rich biodiversity. It is home to around 25 amphibian species and 147 species, 22 of which are only found in the Indus.[26]

text: Mammals[edit]

text: The blind Indus River Dolphin (Platanista indicus minor) is a sub-species of dolphin found only in the Indus River. It formerly also occurred in the tributaries of the Indus river. According to the World Wildlife Fund it is one of the most threatened cetaceans with only about 1,000 still existing.[27]

text: Fish[edit]

text: Palla fish Tenualosa ilisha of the river is a delicacy for people living along the river. The population of fish in the river is moderately high, with Sukkur, Thatta and Kotri being the major fishing centres – all in the lower Sindh course. But damming and irrigation has made fish farming an important economic activity. Located southeast of Karachi, the large delta has been recognised by conservationists as one of the world's most important ecological regions. Here the river turns into many marshes, streams and creeks and meets the sea at shallow levels. Here marine fishes are found in abundance, including pomfret and prawns.

text: Economy[edit]

text: The Indus is the most important supplier of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh plains – it forms the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan. The river is especially critical since rainfall is meagre in the lower Indus valley. Irrigation canals were first built by the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation, and later by the engineers of the Kushan Empire and the Mughal Empire. Modern irrigation was introduced by the British East India Company in 1850 – the construction of modern canals accompanied with the restoration of old canals. The British supervised the construction of one of the most complex irrigation networks in the world. The Guddu Barrage is 1,350 m (4,430 ft) long – irrigating Sukkur, Jacobabad, Larkana and Kalat. The Sukkur Barrage serves over 20,000 km2 (7,700 sq mi).

text: After Pakistan came into existence, a water control treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 guaranteed that Pakistan would receive water from the Indus River and its two tributaries the Jhelum River & the Chenab River independently of upstream control by India.[28]

text: The Indus Basin Project consisted primarily of the construction of two main dams, the Mangla Dam built on the Jhelum River and the Tarbela Dam constructed on the Indus River, together with their subsidiary dams.[29] The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority undertook the construction of the Chashma-Jhelum link canal – linking the waters of the Indus and Jhelum rivers – extending water supplies to the regions of Bahawalpur and Multan. Pakistan constructed the Tarbela Dam near Rawalpindi – standing 2,743 metres (9,000 ft) long and 143 metres (470 ft) high, with an 80-kilometre (50 mi) long reservoir. The Kotri Barrage near Hyderabad is 915 metres (3,000 ft) long and provides additional supplies for Karachi. It support the Chashma barrage near Dera Ismail Khan use for irrigation and flood control. for The Taunsa Barrage near Dera Ghazi Khan produces 100,000 kilowatts of electricity. The extensive linking of tributaries with the Indus has helped spread water resources to the valley of Peshawar, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The extensive irrigation and dam projects provide the basis for Pakistan's large production of crops such as cotton, sugarcane and wheat. The dams also generate electricity for heavy industries and urban centres.

text: People[edit]

text: The inhabitants of the regions are mainly Muslim as Pakistan is an Islamic country through which the Indus river passes and forms a major natural feature and resource are diverse in ethnicity, religion, national and linguistic backgrounds. On the northern course of the river in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India, live the Buddhist people of Ladakh, of Tibetan stock, and the Dards of Indo-Aryan or Dardic stock and practising Islam. Then it descends into Baltistan, northern Pakistan passing the main Balti city of Skardu. A river from Dubair Bala also drains into it at Dubair Bazar. People living in this area are mainly Kohistani and speak the Kohistani language. Major areas through which the Indus river passes in Kohistan are Dasu, Pattan and Dubair. As it continues through Pakistan, the Indus river forms a distinctive boundary of ethnicity and cultures – upon the western banks the population is largely Pashtun, Baloch, and of other Iranian stock. The eastern banks are largely populated by people of Indo-Aryan stock, such as the Punjabis and the Sindhis. In northern Punjab and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, ethnic Pashtun tribes live alongside Dardic people in the hills (Khowar, Kalash, Shina, etc.), Burushos (in Hunza), and Punjabi people.

text: The people living along the Indus river speak Punjabi and Sindhi on the eastern side (in Punjab and Sindh provinces respectively), Pushto plus Balochi as well as Barohi (in Khyber Pakhtoonkha and Baluchistan provinces). In the province of Sindh, the upper third of the river is inhabited by people speaking Saraiki; which is a somewhat transitional dialect of the Punjabi and Sindhi languages.

text: Modern issues[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: The Indus is a strategically vital resource for Pakistan's economy and society. After Pakistan and India declared Independence from the British Raj, the use of the waters of the Indus and its five eastern tributaries became a major dispute between India and Pakistan. The irrigation canals of the Sutlej valley and the Bari Doab were split – with the canals lying primarily in Pakistan and the headwork dams in India disrupting supply in some parts of Pakistan. The concern over India building large dams over various Punjab rivers that could undercut the supply flowing to Pakistan, as well as the possibility that India could divert rivers in the time of war, caused political consternation in Pakistan. Holding diplomatic talks brokered by the World Bank, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The treaty gave India control of the three easternmost rivers of the Punjab, the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, while Pakistan gained control of the three western rivers, the Jhelum, the Chenab and the Indus. India retained the right to use of the western rivers for non-irrigation projects.[30]

text: There are concerns that extensive deforestation, industrial pollution and global warming are affecting the vegetation and wildlife of the Indus delta, while affecting agricultural production as well. There are also concerns that the Indus river may be shifting its course westwards – although the progression spans centuries. On numerous occasions, sediment clogging owing to poor maintenance of canals has affected agricultural production and vegetation. In addition, extreme heat has caused water to evaporate, leaving salt deposits that render lands useless for cultivation.

text: Effects of climate change on the river[edit]

text: The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, said the recent fast pace of melting and warmer temperatures will be good for agriculture and tourism in the short term, but issued a strong warning:

text: "There is insufficient data to say what will happen to the Indus," says David Grey, the World Bank's senior water advisor in South Asia. "But we all have very nasty fears that the flows of the Indus could be severely, severely affected by glacier melt as a consequence of climate change," and reduced by perhaps as much as 50 percent. "Now what does that mean to a population that lives in a desert [where], without the river, there would be no life? I don't know the answer to that question," he says. "But we need to be concerned about that. Deeply, deeply concerned."[32]

text: U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke said, shortly before his death in 2010, that he believed that falling water levels in the Indus River "could very well precipitate World War III."[33]

text: Pollution[edit]

text: Over the years factories on the banks of the Indus River have increased levels of water pollution in the river and the atmosphere around it. High levels of pollutants in the river have led to the deaths of endangered Indus River Dolphin. The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency has ordered polluting factories around the river to shut down under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997.[34] Death of the Indus River Dolphin has also been attributed to fishermen using poison to kill fish and scooping them up.[35][36] As a result, the government banned fishing from Guddu Barrage to Sukkur.[37]

text: 2010 floods[edit]

text: In July 2010, following abnormally heavy monsoon rains, the Indus River rose above its banks and started flooding. The rain continued for the next two months, devastating large areas of Pakistan. In Sindh, the Indus burst its banks near Sukkur on 8 August, submerging the village of Mor Khan Jatoi.[38] In early August, the heaviest flooding moved southward along the Indus River from severely affected northern regions toward western Punjab, where at least 1,400,000 acres (570,000 ha) of cropland was destroyed, and the southern province of Sindh.[39] As of September 2010[update], over two thousand people had died and over a million homes had been destroyed since the flooding began.[40][41]

text: 2011 floods[edit]

text: The 2011 Sindh floods began during the Pakistani monsoon season in mid-August 2011, resulting from heavy monsoon rains in Sindh, eastern Balochistan, and southern Punjab.[42] The floods caused considerable damage; an estimated 434 civilians were killed, with 5.3 million people and 1,524,773 homes affected.[43] Sindh is a fertile region and often called the "breadbasket" of the country; the damage and toll of the floods on the local agrarian economy was said to be extensive. At least 1.7 million acres (690,000 ha; 2,700 sq mi) of arable land were inundated. The flooding followed the previous year's floods, which devastated a large part of the country.[43] Unprecedented torrential monsoon rains caused severe flooding in 16 districts of Sindh.[44]

text: Barrages, bridges and dams[edit]

text: In Pakistan currently there are three barrages on the Indus: Guddu barrage, Sukkur Barrage, and Kotri barrage (also called Ghulam Muhammad barrage). There are some bridges on river Indus, such as, Dadu Moro Bridge, Larkana Khairpur Indus River Bridge, Thatta-Sujawal bridge, Jhirk-Mula Katiar bridge and recently planned Kandhkot-Ghotki bridge.[45]

text: Kala Bagh Barrage, Chasma Barrage, and Taunsa Barrage are also built in Punjab on the Indus.

text: Tarbela Dam in Pakistan is constructed on the Indus River, while the controversial Kalabagh dam is also being constructed on Indus river.

text: Gallery[edit]

text:
Play media

Video of River Indus at Kotri Barrage, Sindh, Pakistan.

Frozen Indus, Near Nyoma

Indus at Skardu


document_title: Eiffel Tower

question_text: what was the reason for the eiffel tower

question_tokens: what was the reason for the eiffel tower

text: Eiffel Tower

text: History

text: Origin

text: The design of the Eiffel Tower was the product of Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier, two senior engineers working for the Compagnie des Établissements Eiffel, after discussion about a suitable centrepiece for the proposed 1889 Exposition Universelle, a world's fair to celebrate the centennial of the French Revolution. Eiffel openly acknowledged that inspiration for a tower came from the Latting Observatory built in New York City in 1853.[4] In May 1884, working at home, Koechlin made a sketch of their idea, described by him as "a great pylon, consisting of four lattice girders standing apart at the base and coming together at the top, joined together by metal trusses at regular intervals".[5] Eiffel initially showed little enthusiasm, but he did approve further study, and the two engineers then asked Stephen Sauvestre, the head of company's architectural department, to contribute to the design. Sauvestre added decorative arches to the base of the tower, a glass pavilion to the first level, and other embellishments.

text: The new version gained Eiffel's support: he bought the rights to the patent on the design which Koechlin, Nougier, and Sauvestre had taken out, and the design was exhibited at the Exhibition of Decorative Arts in the autumn of 1884 under the company name. On 30 March 1885, Eiffel presented his plans to the Société des Ingénieurs Civils; after discussing the technical problems and emphasising the practical uses of the tower, he finished his talk by saying the tower would symbolise,

text: Not only the art of the modern engineer, but also the century of Industry and Science in which we are living, and for which the way was prepared by the great scientific movement of the eighteenth century and by the Revolution of 1789, to which this monument will be built as an expression of France's gratitude.[6]

text: Little progress was made until 1886, when Jules Grévy was re-elected as president of France and Édouard Lockroy was appointed as minister for trade. A budget for the exposition was passed and, on 1 May, Lockroy announced an alteration to the terms of the open competition being held for a centrepiece to the exposition, which effectively made the selection of Eiffel's design a foregone conclusion, as entries had to include a study for a 300 m (980 ft) four-sided metal tower on the Champ de Mars.[6] (A 300-meter tower was then considered a herculean engineering effort). On 12 May, a commission was set up to examine Eiffel's scheme and its rivals, which, a month later, decided that all the proposals except Eiffel's were either impractical or lacking in details.

text: After some debate about the exact location of the tower, a contract was signed on 8 January 1887. This was signed by Eiffel acting in his own capacity rather than as the representative of his company, and granted him 1.5 million francs toward the construction costs: less than a quarter of the estimated 6.5 million francs. Eiffel was to receive all income from the commercial exploitation of the tower during the exhibition and for the next 20 years. He later established a separate company to manage the tower, putting up half the necessary capital himself.[7]

text: Artists' protest

text: The proposed tower had been a subject of controversy, drawing criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and those who objected on artistic grounds. These objections were an expression of a long-standing debate in France about the relationship between architecture and engineering. It came to a head as work began at the Champ de Mars: a "Committee of Three Hundred" (one member for each metre of the tower's height) was formed, led by the prominent architect Charles Garnier and including some of the most important figures of the arts, such as Adolphe Bouguereau, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet. A petition called "Artists against the Eiffel Tower" was sent to the Minister of Works and Commissioner for the Exposition, Charles Alphand, and it was published by Le Temps on 14 February 1887:

text: We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection … of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower … To bring our arguments home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal.[8]

text: Gustave Eiffel responded to these criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian pyramids: "My tower will be the tallest edifice ever erected by man. Will it not also be grandiose in its way? And why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris?"[9] These criticisms were also dealt with by Édouard Lockroy in a letter of support written to Alphand, ironically saying,[10] "Judging by the stately swell of the rhythms, the beauty of the metaphors, the elegance of its delicate and precise style, one can tell this protest is the result of collaboration of the most famous writers and poets of our time", and he explained that the protest was irrelevant since the project had been decided upon months before, and construction on the tower was already under way.

text: Indeed, Garnier was a member of the Tower Commission that had examined the various proposals, and had raised no objection. Eiffel was similarly unworried, pointing out to a journalist that it was premature to judge the effect of the tower solely on the basis of the drawings, that the Champ de Mars was distant enough from the monuments mentioned in the protest for there to be little risk of the tower overwhelming them, and putting the aesthetic argument for the tower: "Do not the laws of natural forces always conform to the secret laws of harmony?"[11]

text: Some of the protesters changed their minds when the tower was built; others remained unconvinced.[12] Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the tower's restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible.[13]

text: By 1918, it had become a symbol of Paris and of France after Guillaume Apollinaire wrote a nationalist poem in the shape of the tower (a calligram) to express his feelings about the war against Germany.[14] Today, it is widely considered to be a remarkable piece of structural art, and is often featured in films and literature.

text: Construction

text: Work on the foundations started on 28 January 1887.[15] Those for the east and south legs were straightforward, with each leg resting on four 2 m (6.6 ft) concrete slabs, one for each of the principal girders of each leg. The west and north legs, being closer to the river Seine, were more complicated: each slab needed two piles installed by using compressed-air caissons 15 m (49 ft) long and 6 m (20 ft) in diameter driven to a depth of 22 m (72 ft)[16] to support the concrete slabs, which were 6 m (20 ft) thick. Each of these slabs supported a block of limestone with an inclined top to bear a supporting shoe for the ironwork.

text: Each shoe was anchored to the stonework by a pair of bolts 10 cm (4 in) in diameter and 7.5 m (25 ft) long. The foundations were completed on 30 June, and the erection of the ironwork began. The visible work on-site was complemented by the enormous amount of exacting preparatory work that took place behind the scenes: the drawing office produced 1,700 general drawings and 3,629 detailed drawings of the 18,038 different parts needed.[17] The task of drawing the components was complicated by the complex angles involved in the design and the degree of precision required: the position of rivet holes was specified to within 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) and angles worked out to one second of arc. The finished components, some already riveted together into sub-assemblies, arrived on horse-drawn carts from a factory in the nearby Parisian suburb of Levallois-Perret and were first bolted together, with the bolts being replaced with rivets as construction progressed. No drilling or shaping was done on site: if any part did not fit, it was sent back to the factory for alteration. In all, 18,038 pieces were joined together using 2.5 million rivets.[15]

text: At first the legs were constructed as cantilevers, but about halfway to the first level, construction was paused in order to create a substantial timber scaffold. This renewed concerns about the structural integrity of the tower, and sensational headlines such as "Eiffel Suicide!" and "Gustave Eiffel Has Gone Mad: He Has Been Confined in an Asylum" appeared in the tabloid press.[18] At this stage, a small "creeper" crane designed to move up the tower was installed in each leg. They made use of the guides for the lifts which were to be fitted in the four legs. The critical stage of joining the legs at the first level was completed by the end of March 1888.[15] Although the metalwork had been prepared with the utmost attention to detail, provision had been made to carry out small adjustments in order to precisely align the legs; hydraulic jacks were fitted to the shoes at the base of each leg, capable of exerting a force of 800 tonnes, and the legs were intentionally constructed at a slightly steeper angle than necessary, being supported by sandboxes on the scaffold. Although construction involved 300 on-site employees,[15] only one person died thanks to Eiffel's stringent safety precautions and the use of movable gangways, guardrails and screens.

text:
The start of the erection of the metalwork.

7 December 1887: Construction of the legs with scaffolding.

20 March 1888: Completion of the first level.

15 May 1888: Start of construction on the second stage.

21 August 1888: Completion of the second level.

26 December 1888: Construction of the upper stage.

15 March 1889: Construction of the cupola.

text: Lifts

text: Equipping the tower with adequate and safe passenger lifts was a major concern of the government commission overseeing the Exposition. Although some visitors could be expected to climb to the first level, or even the second, lifts clearly had to be the main means of ascent.[19]

text: Constructing lifts to reach the first level was relatively straightforward: the legs were wide enough at the bottom and so nearly straight that they could contain a straight track, and a contract was given to the French company Roux, Combaluzier & Lepape for two lifts to be fitted in the east and west legs.[20] Roux, Combaluzier & Lepape used a pair of endless chains with rigid, articulated links to which the car was attached. Lead weights on some links of the upper or return sections of the chains counterbalanced most of the car's weight. The car was pushed up from below, not pulled up from above: to prevent the chain buckling, it was enclosed in a conduit. At the bottom of the run, the chains passed around 3.9 m (12 ft 10 in) diameter sprockets. Smaller sprockets at the top guided the chains.[20]

text: Installing lifts to the second level was more of a challenge because a straight track was impossible. No French company wanted to undertake the work. The European branch of Otis Brothers & Company submitted a proposal but this was rejected: the fair's charter ruled out the use of any foreign material in the construction of the tower. The deadline for bids was extended but still no French companies put themselves forward, and eventually the contract was given to Otis in July 1887.[21] Otis were confident they would eventually be given the contract and had already started creating designs.

text: The car was divided into two superimposed compartments, each holding 25 passengers, with the lift operator occupying an exterior platform on the first level. Motive power was provided by an inclined hydraulic ram 12.67 m (41 ft 7 in) long and 96.5 cm (38.0 in) in diameter in the tower leg with a stroke of 10.83 m (35 ft 6 in): this moved a carriage carrying six sheaves. Five fixed sheaves were mounted higher up the leg, producing an arrangement similar to a block and tackle but acting in reverse, multiplying the stroke of the piston rather than the force generated. The hydraulic pressure in the driving cylinder was produced by a large open reservoir on the second level. After being exhausted from the cylinder, the water was pumped back up to the reservoir by two pumps in the machinery room at the base of the south leg. This reservoir also provided power to the lifts to the first level.

text: The original lifts for the journey between the second and third levels were supplied by Léon Edoux. A pair of 81 m (266 ft) hydraulic rams were mounted on the second level, reaching nearly halfway up to the third level. One lift car was mounted on top of these rams: cables ran from the top of this car up to sheaves on the third level and back down to a second car. Each car only travelled half the distance between the second and third levels and passengers were required to change lifts halfway by means of a short gangway. The 10-ton cars each held 65 passengers.[22]

text: Inauguration and the 1889 exposition

text: The main structural work was completed at the end of March 1889 and, on 31 March, Eiffel celebrated by leading a group of government officials, accompanied by representatives of the press, to the top of the tower.[12] Because the lifts were not yet in operation, the ascent was made by foot, and took over an hour, with Eiffel stopping frequently to explain various features. Most of the party chose to stop at the lower levels, but a few, including the structural engineer, Émile Nouguier, the head of construction, Jean Compagnon, the President of the City Council, and reporters from Le Figaro and Le Monde Illustré, completed the ascent. At 2:35 pm, Eiffel hoisted a large Tricolour to the accompaniment of a 25-gun salute fired at the first level.[23]

text: There was still work to be done, particularly on the lifts and facilities, and the tower was not opened to the public until nine days after the opening of the exposition on 6 May; even then, the lifts had not been completed. The tower was an instant success with the public, and nearly 30,000 visitors made the 1,710-step climb to the top before the lifts entered service on 26 May.[24] Tickets cost 2 francs for the first level, 3 for the second, and 5 for the top, with half-price admission on Sundays,[25] and by the end of the exhibition there had been 1,896,987 visitors.[3]

text: After dark, the tower was lit by hundreds of gas lamps, and a beacon sent out three beams of red, white and blue light. Two searchlights mounted on a circular rail were used to illuminate various buildings of the exposition. The daily opening and closing of the exposition were announced by a cannon at the top.

text: On the second level, the French newspaper Le Figaro had an office and a printing press, where a special souvenir edition, Le Figaro de la Tour, was made. There was also a pâtisserie.

text: At the top, there was a post office where visitors could send letters and postcards as a memento of their visit. Graffitists were also catered for: sheets of paper were mounted on the walls each day for visitors to record their impressions of the tower. Gustave Eiffel described some of the responses as vraiment curieuse ("truly curious").[26]

text: Famous visitors to the tower included the Prince of Wales, Sarah Bernhardt, "Buffalo Bill" Cody (his Wild West show was an attraction at the exposition) and Thomas Edison.[24] Eiffel invited Edison to his private apartment at the top of the tower, where Edison presented him with one of his phonographs, a new invention and one of the many highlights of the exposition.[27] Edison signed the guestbook with this message:

text: To M Eiffel the Engineer the brave builder of so gigantic and original specimen of modern Engineering from one who has the greatest respect and admiration for all Engineers including the Great Engineer the Bon Dieu, Thomas Edison.

text: Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years. It was to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City of Paris. The City had planned to tear it down (part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it should be easy to dismantle) but as the tower proved to be valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiry of the permit.

text: Eiffel made use of his apartment at the top of the tower to carry out meteorological observations, and also used the tower to perform experiments on the action of air resistance on falling bodies.[28]

text: Subsequent events

text: For the 1900 Exposition Universelle, the lifts in the east and west legs were replaced by lifts running as far as the second level constructed by the French firm Fives-Lille. These had a compensating mechanism to keep the floor level as the angle of ascent changed at the first level, and were driven by a similar hydraulic mechanism to the Otis lifts, although this was situated at the base of the tower. Hydraulic pressure was provided by pressurised accumulators located near this mechanism.[21] At the same time the lift in the north pillar was removed and replaced by a staircase to the first level. The layout of both first and second levels was modified, with the space available for visitors on the second level. The original lift in the south pillar was removed 13 years later.

text: On 19 October 1901, Alberto Santos-Dumont, flying his No.6 airship, won a 100,000-franc prize offered by Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe for the first person to make a flight from St. Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and back in less than half an hour.[29]

text: Many innovations took place at the Eiffel Tower in the early 20th century. In 1910, Father Theodor Wulf measured radiant energy at the top and bottom of the tower. He found more at the top than expected, incidentally discovering what are known today as cosmic rays.[30] Just two years later, on 4 February 1912, Austrian tailor Franz Reichelt died after jumping from the first level of the tower (a height of 57 metres) to demonstrate his parachute design.[31] In 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, a radio transmitter located in the tower jammed German radio communications, seriously hindering their advance on Paris and contributing to the Allied victory at the First Battle of the Marne.[32] From 1925 to 1934, illuminated signs for Citroën adorned three of the tower's sides, making it the tallest advertising space in the world at the time.[citation needed] In April 1935, the tower was used to make experimental low-resolution television transmissions, using a shortwave transmitter of 200 watts power. On 17 November, an improved 180-line transmitter was installed.[33]

text: On two separate but related occasions in 1925, the con artist Victor Lustig "sold" the tower for scrap metal.[34] A year later, in February 1926, pilot Leon Collet was killed trying to fly under the tower. His aircraft became entangled in an aerial belonging to a wireless station.[35] A bust of Gustave Eiffel by Antoine Bourdelle was unveiled at the base of the north leg on 2 May 1929.[36] In 1930, the tower lost the title of the world's tallest structure when the Chrysler Building in New York City was completed.[37] In 1938, the decorative arcade around the first level was removed.[38]

text: Upon the German occupation of Paris in 1940, the lift cables were cut by the French. The tower was closed to the public during the occupation and the lifts were not repaired until 1946.[39] In 1940, German soldiers had to climb the tower to hoist a swastika-centered Reichskriegsflagge,[40] but the flag was so large it blew away just a few hours later, and was replaced by a smaller one.[41] When visiting Paris, Hitler chose to stay on the ground. When the Allies were nearing Paris in August 1944, Hitler ordered General Dietrich von Choltitz, the military governor of Paris, to demolish the tower along with the rest of the city. Von Choltitz disobeyed the order.[42] On 25 June, before the Germans had been driven out of Paris, the German flag was replaced with a Tricolour by two men from the French Naval Museum, who narrowly beat three men led by Lucien Sarniguet, who had lowered the Tricolour on 13 June 1940 when Paris fell to the Germans.[39]

text: A fire started in the television transmitter on 3 January 1956, damaging the top of the tower. Repairs took a year, and in 1957, the present radio aerial was added to the top.[43] In 1964, the Eiffel Tower was officially declared to be a historical monument by the Minister of Cultural Affairs, André Malraux.[44] A year later, an additional lift system was installed in the north pillar.[45]

text: According to interviews, in 1967, Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau negotiated a secret agreement with Charles de Gaulle for the tower to be dismantled and temporarily relocated to Montreal to serve as a landmark and tourist attraction during Expo 67. The plan was allegedly vetoed by the company operating the tower out of fear that the French government could refuse permission for the tower to be restored in its original location.[46]

text: In 1982, the original lifts between the second and third levels were replaced after 97 years in service. These had been closed to the public between November and March because the water in the hydraulic drive tended to freeze. The new cars operate in pairs, with one counterbalancing the other, and perform the journey in one stage, reducing the journey time from eight minutes to less than two minutes. At the same time, two new emergency staircases were installed, replacing the original spiral staircases. In 1983, the south pillar was fitted with an electrically driven Otis lift to serve the Jules Verne restaurant.[citation needed] The Fives-Lille lifts in the east and west legs, fitted in 1899, were extensively refurbished in 1986. The cars were replaced, and a computer system was installed to completely automate the lifts. The motive power was moved from the water hydraulic system to a new electrically driven oil-filled hydraulic system, and the original water hydraulics were retained solely as a counterbalance system.[45] A service lift was added to the south pillar for moving small loads and maintenance personnel three years later.

text: Robert Moriarty flew a Beechcraft Bonanza under the tower on 31 March 1984.[47] In 1987, A.J. Hackett made one of his first bungee jumps from the top of the Eiffel Tower, using a special cord he had helped develop. Hackett was arrested by the police.[48] On 27 October 1991, Thierry Devaux, along with mountain guide Hervé Calvayrac, performed a series of acrobatic figures while bungee jumping from the second floor of the tower.[49] Facing the Champ de Mars, Devaux used an electric winch between figures to go back up to the second floor. When firemen arrived, he stopped after the sixth jump.[citation needed]

text: For its "Countdown to the Year 2000" celebration on 31 December 1999, flashing lights and high-powered searchlights were installed on the tower. Fireworks were set off all over it. An exhibition above a cafeteria on the first floor commemorates this event. The searchlights on top of the tower made it a beacon in Paris's night sky, and 20,000 flashing bulbs gave the tower a sparkly appearance for five minutes every hour on the hour.[50]

text: The lights sparkled blue for several nights to herald the new millennium On 31 December 2000. The sparkly lighting continued for 18 months until July 2001. The sparkling lights were turned on again on 21 June 2003, and the display was planned to last for 10 years before they needed replacing.[51]

text: The tower received its 200,000,000th guest on 28 November 2002.[52] The tower has operated at its maximum capacity of about 7 million visitors since 2003.[53] In 2004, the Eiffel Tower began hosting a seasonal ice rink on the first level.[54] A glass floor was installed on the first level during the 2014 refurbishment.[55]

text: Design

text: Material

text: The puddled iron (wrought iron) of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tons,[56] and the addition of lifts, shops and antennae have brought the total weight to approximately 10,100 tons.[57] As a demonstration of the economy of design, if the 7,300 tons of metal in the structure were melted down, it would fill the square base, 125 metres (410 ft) on each side, to a depth of only 6.25 cm (2.46 in) assuming the density of the metal to be 7.8 tons per cubic metre.[58] Additionally, a cubic box surrounding the tower (324 m x 125 m x 125 m) would contain 6,200 tons of air, weighing almost as much as the iron itself. Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the tower may shift away from the sun by up to 18 cm (7 in) due to thermal expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun.[59]

text: Wind considerations

text: When it was built, many were shocked by the tower's daring form. Eiffel was accused of trying to create something artistic with no regard to the principles of engineering. However, Eiffel and his team – experienced bridge builders – understood the importance of wind forces, and knew that if they were going to build the tallest structure in the world, they had to be sure it could withstand them. In an interview with the newspaper Le Temps published on 14 February 1887, Eiffel said:

text: Is it not true that the very conditions which give strength also conform to the hidden rules of harmony? … Now to what phenomenon did I have to give primary concern in designing the Tower? It was wind resistance. Well then! I hold that the curvature of the monument's four outer edges, which is as mathematical calculation dictated it should be … will give a great impression of strength and beauty, for it will reveal to the eyes of the observer the boldness of the design as a whole.[60]

text: He used graphical methods to determine the strength of the tower and empirical evidence to account for the effects of wind, rather than a mathematical formula. Close examination of the tower reveals a basically exponential shape.[61] All parts of the tower were over-designed to ensure maximum resistance to wind forces. The top half was even assumed to have no gaps in the latticework.[62] In the years since it was completed, engineers have put forward various mathematical hypotheses in an attempt to explain the success of the design. The most recent, devised in 2004 after letters sent by Eiffel to the French Society of Civil Engineers in 1885 were translated into English, is described as a non-linear integral equation based on counteracting the wind pressure on any point of the tower with the tension between the construction elements at that point.[61]

text: The Eiffel Tower sways by up to 9 centimetres (3.5 in) in the wind.[63]

text: Accommodation

text: When originally built, the first level contained three restaurants—one French, one Russian and one Flemish—and an "Anglo-American Bar". After the exposition closed, the Flemish restaurant was converted to a 250-seat theatre. A promenade 2.6-metre (8 ft 6 in) wide ran around the outside of the first level. At the top, there were laboratories for various experiments, and a small apartment reserved for Gustave Eiffel to entertain guests, which is now open to the public, complete with period decorations and lifelike mannequins of Eiffel and some of his notable guests.[64]

text: In May 2016, an apartment was created on the first level to accommodate four competition winners during the UEFA Euro 2016 football tournament in Paris in June. The apartment has a kitchen, two bedrooms, a lounge, and views of Paris landmarks including the Seine, the Sacre Coeur, and the Arc de Triomphe.[65]

text: Passenger lifts

text: The arrangement of the lifts has been changed several times during the tower's history. Given the elasticity of the cables and the time taken to align the cars with the landings, each lift, in normal service, takes an average of 8 minutes and 50 seconds to do the round trip, spending an average of 1 minute and 15 seconds at each level. The average journey time between levels is 1 minute. The original hydraulic mechanism is on public display in a small museum at the base of the east and west legs. Because the mechanism requires frequent lubrication and maintenance, public access is often restricted. The rope mechanism of the north tower can be seen as visitors exit the lift.[citation needed]

text: Engraved names

text: Gustave Eiffel engraved on the tower the names of 72 French scientists, engineers and mathematicians in recognition of their contributions to the building of the tower. Eiffel chose this "invocation of science" because of his concern over the artists' protest. At the beginning of the 20th century, the engravings were painted over, but they were restored in 1986–87 by the Société Nouvelle d'exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, a company operating the tower.[66]

text: Aesthetics

text: The tower is painted in three shades: lighter at the top, getting progressively darker towards the bottom to perfectly complement the Parisian sky.[67] It was originally reddish brown; this changed in 1968 to a bronze colour known as "Eiffel Tower Brown".[68]

text: The only non-structural elements are the four decorative grill-work arches, added in Sauvestre's sketches, which served to make the tower look more substantial and to make a more impressive entrance to the exposition.[69]

text: One of the great Hollywood movie clichés is that the view from a Parisian window always includes the tower. In reality, since zoning restrictions limit the height of most buildings in Paris to seven storeys, only a small number of tall buildings have a clear view of the tower.[citation needed]

text: Maintenance

text: Maintenance of the tower includes applying 60 tons of paint every seven years to prevent it from rusting. The tower has been completely repainted at least 19 times since it was built. Lead paint was still being used as recently as 2001 when the practice was stopped out of concern for the environment.[51]

text: Tourism

text: Transport

text: The nearest Paris Métro station is Bir-Hakeim and the nearest RER station is Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel.[70] The tower itself is located at the intersection of the quai Branly and the Pont d'Iéna.

text: Popularity

text: More than 250 million people have visited the tower since it was completed in 1889.[3] In 2015, there were 6.91 million visitors.[71] The tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world.[72] An average of 25,000 people ascend the tower every day which can result in long queues.[73] Tickets can be purchased online to avoid the long queues.

text: Restaurants

text: The tower has two restaurants: Le 58 Tour Eiffel on the first level, and Le Jules Verne, a gourmet restaurant with its own lift on the second level. This restaurant has one star in the Michelin Red Guide. It is run by the multi-Michelin star chef Alain Ducasse[74] and owes its name to the famous science-fiction writer Jules Verne. Additionally, there is a champagne bar at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

text: Replicas

text: As one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, the Eiffel Tower has been the inspiration for the creation of many replicas and similar towers. An early example is Blackpool Tower in England. The mayor of Blackpool, Sir John Bickerstaffe, was so impressed on seeing the Eiffel Tower at the 1889 exposition that he commissioned a similar tower to be built in his town. It opened in 1894 and is 158.1 metres (518 ft) tall.[75] Tokyo Tower in Japan, built as a communications tower in 1958, was also inspired by the Eiffel Tower.[76]

text: There are various scale models of the tower in the United States, including a half-scale version at the Paris Las Vegas, Nevada, one in Paris, Texas built in 1993, and two 1:3 scale models at Kings Island, Ohio, and Kings Dominion, Virginia, amusement parks opened in 1972 and 1975 respectively. Two 1:3 scale models can be found in China, one in Durango, Mexico that was donated by the local French community, and several across Europe.[77]

text: In 2011, the TV show Pricing the Priceless on the National Geographic Channel speculated that a full-size replica of the tower would cost approximately US$480 million to build.[78]

text: Communications

text: The tower has been used for making radio transmissions since the beginning of the 20th century. Until the 1950s, sets of aerial wires ran from the cupola to anchors on the Avenue de Suffren and Champ de Mars. These were connected to longwave transmitters in small bunkers. In 1909, a permanent underground radio centre was built near the south pillar, which still exists today. On 20 November 1913, the Paris Observatory, using the Eiffel Tower as an aerial, exchanged wireless signals with the United States Naval Observatory, which used an aerial in Arlington, Virginia. The object of the transmissions was to measure the difference in longitude between Paris and Washington, D.C.[79] Today, radio and digital television signals are transmitted from the Eiffel Tower.

text: FM radio

text:
Frequency
kW
Service

87.8 MHz
10
France Inter

89.0 MHz
10
RFI Paris

89.9 MHz
6
TSF Jazz

90.4 MHz
10
Nostalgie

90.9 MHz
4
Chante France

text: Digital television

text: A television antenna was first installed on the tower in 1957, increasing its height by 18.7 m (61.4 ft). Work carried out in 2000 added a further 5.3 m (17.4 ft), giving the current height of 324 m (1,063 ft).[51] Analogue television signals from the Eiffel Tower ceased on 8 March 2011.

text:
Frequency
VHF
UHF
kW
Service

182.25 MHz
6
—
100
Canal+

479.25 MHz
—
22
500
France 2

503.25 MHz
—
25
500
TF1

527.25 MHz
—
28
500
France 3

543.25 MHz
—
30
100
France 5

567.25 MHz
—
33
100
M6

text: Illumination copyright

text: The tower and its image have long been in the public domain.[80] In June 1990 a French court ruled that a special lighting display on the tower in 1989 to mark the tower's 100th anniversary was an "original visual creation" protected by copyright. The Court of Cassation, France's judicial court of last resort, upheld the ruling in March 1992.[81] The Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) now considers any illumination of the tower to be a separate work of art that falls under copyright.[82] As a result, the SNTE alleges that it is illegal to publish contemporary photographs of the lit tower at night without permission in France and some other countries for commercial use.[83][84]

text: The imposition of copyright has been controversial. The Director of Documentation for what was then called the Société Nouvelle d'exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SNTE), Stéphane Dieu, commented in 2005: "It is really just a way to manage commercial use of the image, so that it isn't used in ways [of which] we don't approve".[85] SNTE made over €1 million from copyright fees in 2002.[86] However, it could also be used to restrict the publication of tourist photographs of the tower at night, as well as hindering non-profit and semi-commercial publication of images of the illuminated tower.[80]

text: French doctrine and jurisprudence allows pictures incorporating a copyrighted work as long as their presence is incidental or accessory to the subject being represented,[87] a reasoning akin to the de minimis rule. Therefore, SETE may be unable to claim copyright on photographs of Paris which happen to include the lit tower.

text: Taller structures

text: The Eiffel Tower was the world's tallest structure when completed in 1889, a distinction it retained until 1929 when the Chrysler Building in New York City was topped out.[88] The tower has lost its standing both as the world's tallest structure and the world's tallest lattice tower but retains its status as the tallest freestanding (non-guyed) structure in France.

text: Lattice towers taller than the Eiffel Tower

text:
Name
Pinnacle height
Year
Country
Town
Remarks

Tokyo Skytree
634 m (2,080 ft)
2011
Japan
Tokyo

Kiev TV Tower
385 m (1,263 ft)
1973
Ukraine
Kiev

Dragon Tower
336 m (1,102 ft)
2000
China
Harbin

Tokyo Tower
333 m (1,093 ft)
1958
Japan
Tokyo

text: Structures in France taller than the Eiffel Tower

text:
Name
Pinnacle height
Year
Structure type
Town
Remarks

Longwave transmitter Allouis
350 m (1,150 ft)
1974
Guyed mast
Allouis

HWU transmitter
350 m (1,150 ft)
 ?
Guyed mast
Rosnay
Military VLF transmitter; multiple masts

Viaduc de Millau
343 m (1,125 ft)
2004
Bridge pillar
Millau

TV Mast Niort-Maisonnay
330 m (1,080 ft)
1978
Guyed mast
Niort

Transmitter Le Mans-Mayet
342 m (1,122 ft)
1993
Guyed mast
Mayet

La Regine transmitter
330 m (1,080 ft)
1973
Guyed mast
Saissac
Military VLF transmitter

Transmitter Roumoules
330 m (1,080 ft)
1974
Guyed mast
Roumoules
Spare transmission mast for longwave; insulated against ground


document_title: The Last Boy Scout

question_text: who played billy cole in the last boy scout

text: The Last Boy Scout

text: Plot[edit]

text: During halftime at a televised football game, L.A. Stallions running back Billy Cole receives a phone call from a mysterious man named Milo, warning him to win the game or he's "history". Cole ingests PCP and, in a drug-induced rage, brings a gun onto the field, shooting three opposing players to reach the end zone. Cole then shoots himself in the head. Meanwhile, private investigator Joseph Hallenbeck, a disgraced former secret service agent who at one time was a national hero for saving the president from an assassination attempt, discovers that his wife Sarah is having an affair with his best friend and business partner, Mike Matthews. Mike gives Joe an assignment to act as bodyguard for a stripper named Cory. Afterwards, Mike is killed by a car bomb outside Joe's house.

text: Joe is approached by Cory's boyfriend, former Stallions quarterback Jimmy Dix, who was banned from the league on gambling charges and alleged steroid abuse. After an argument where Joe and Jimmy scuffle, an annoyed Jimmy takes Cory from the stage while she is performing. Joe plans to wait outside, where he is knocked out by a team of hitmen. Jimmy and Cory leave the bar in separate cars while Joe is left to dispatch one of the hitmen. When Cory is struck from behind and stops to confront the other driver, she is killed by the hitmen. Jimmy is fired upon and pinned down, but is saved by Joe.

text: At Cory's house, Jimmy and Joe find a taped phone conversation between Senator Calvin Baynard, who is leading a congressional investigation into gambling in sports, and Stallions owner Sheldon Marcone. When the tape is ruined in Joe's faulty car stereo, Jimmy realizes that Cory tried using the tape against Marcone to put Jimmy back on the team, prompting Marcone to send the hitmen. Joe saves Jimmy from a second car bomb, and manages to trick two hitmen into blowing themselves up. However, the explosion destroys the remaining evidence.

text: Joe reveals to Jimmy that when he was in the Secret Service, he witnessed Baynard torturing a woman in a hotel room and assaulted the senator to stop the attack. Baynard retaliated by having Joe fired from the Secret Service for refusing to cover up the incident. At Joe's house, Jimmy meets Joe's abrasive daughter Darian. When Joe catches Jimmy attempting to use illegal painkillers in the bathroom, Joe kicks him out. As Jimmy leaves, Darian asks him to sign a football trading card, stating that Joe was a fan of Jimmy's and never watched another game after he was banned from the league. He leaves her with the signed card, "To the daughter of the last Boy Scout." Learning of Mike's affair with Sarah, the police assume Joe killed him and move to make an arrest. But Milo, Marcone's top henchman, captures Joe first and shoots a detective using Joe's gun. Marcone explains to Joe that he has been buying Senate votes to legalize sports gambling, but that Baynard tried to blackmail Marcone for $6 million. Being aware of Joe's history with Baynard, Marcone explains it would be cheaper to kill the senator and frame Joe for the murder. Joe is forced to hand a briefcase full of money to Baynard's bodyguards, who switched it with a wired briefcase. Joe is rescued by Jimmy and Darian, and acquires both briefcases after running the bodyguards and Milo off the road. However, Milo survives and while Darian is left to wait for the police, she is abducted by Milo.

text: Heading to the stadium to rescue Darian, Joe and Jimmy are captured and escorted to Marcone's office. Jimmy creates a diversion, allowing them to fight their way free. Realizing Milo will attempt to shoot Baynard, Joe goes after Milo while sending Jimmy to warn the senator. Grabbing the game ball, Jimmy throws it at Baynard, knocking him down just as Milo starts shooting. Joe knocks Milo to the edge of the stadium light platform, where S.W.A.T. officers shoot him several times. Milo then falls into the moving rotor blades of a helicopter. The suitcase of money is recovered and the fleeing Marcone, having escaped with the rigged briefcase, is killed when he opens it at his house. The next day, Joe and Sarah reconcile, and Joe and Jimmy decide to become partners.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Bruce Willis as Joseph "Joe" Cornelius Hallenbeck
Damon Wayans as James "Jimmy" Alexander Dix
Chelsea Field as Sarah Hallenbeck
Noble Willingham as Sheldon Marcone
Taylor Negron as Milo
Danielle Harris as Darian Hallenbeck
Halle Berry as Cory
Bruce McGill as Mike Matthews
Kim Coates as Chet
Chelcie Ross as Senator Calvin Baynard
Joe Santos as Benjamin Bessalo
Clarence Felder as McCoskey
Tony Longo as Big Ray Walston
Frank Collison as Pablo
Eddie Griffin as Club DJ
Billy Blanks as Billy Cole

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: The film was based on an original script by Shane Black who was known for writing Lethal Weapon. He wrote the script after having taken a two-year break from writing, triggered in part by the end of a relationship. Black later recalled:

text: I was busy mourning my life and, in many ways, the loss of my first real love. I didn’t feel much like doing anything except smoking cigarettes and reading paperbacks. All things come around. Time passed and eventually I sat down and transformed some of that bitterness into a character, the central focus of a private eye story which became The Last Boy Scout. Writing that script was a very cathartic experience, one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I spent so much time alone working on that. Days which I wouldn’t speak. Three, four days where I maybe said a couple words. It was a wonderfully intense time where my focus was better than it’s ever been. And I was rewarded so handsomely ($1.75 million) for that script, if felt like a vindication and like I was back on track.[3]

text: Shooting[edit]

text: The Last Boy Scout was filmed in 90 days between March 11 and June 9, 1991.[4]

text: The film had a very troubled production. Everybody involved in the film had a miserable time working on it. Producer Joel Silver and main actor Bruce Willis took over the production, altered much of Shane Black's original script and forced director Tony Scott to film scenes he disliked under threat of being fired. Silver mentioned in later interviews how making of The Last Boy Scout was one of the three worst experiences in his life, while Willis swore that he would never work with Silver again. In his next film, True Romance, Scott parodied Silver by having character Lee Donowitz, a movie producer who is also a cocaine user and dealer, act just like Silver.

text: Scott said about Silver; “He’s insane, with long, horrible fits of sanity.” He compared Silver to a fighter pilot riding as a passenger. “As soon as you hit a little bit of turbulence, he’s right away going to throw the guy out of the window and take over the steering.”

text: Taylor Negron, who played Milo described Silver as extremely hands on and involved himself in every aspect of the production.[5]

text: Assistant director James Skotchdopole later recalled how some of the production problems were caused due to the “Overabundance of alpha males on that project”. As he said in an interview; “Bruce was at the height of his stardom, so was Joel, so was Tony and so was Shane. There were a lot of people who had a lot of opinions about what to do. There were some heated, early-Nineties, testosterone charged personalities on the line. It was a ‘charged environment’, shall we say.”

text: Writer Shane Black also said about problems with the script; “I was forced to do more rewriting on that movie than on anything else I’ve done. There was tremendous pressure from the studio to get Bruce Willis and have this be a follow-up to Die Hard. He was reluctant, and rightly so: ‘This whole movie is about me saving my wife. I just did that in Die Hard.’ So they said, ‘OK, let’s minimize the wife and, and while we’re at it, add a big finale. There was a general pressure to somehow make it bigger.”

text: Although they play buddies in the film, Willis and Damon Wayans hated working with each other so much that they despised each other.[6]

text: Composer Michael Kamen hated the first cut of the film when he saw it, and he only agreed to compose music for it because of his personal ties to Willis and Silver.

text: Editor Stuart Baird was brought in by Silver and Warner Bros. to completely re-edit the film since the original cut turned out to be a borderline unwatchable workprint. Baird did the same job with several other Warner Bros. films, including Tango & Cash, which suffered even more problems during production.

text: One of the reasons for problems with post production re-editing of the film was Scott's habit of filming excessive coverage with multiple cameras. Editor Mark Helfrich said how he had to go through "mountains of raw material" in order to edit the first cut of the film. He mentioned; “There was more footage shot for The Last Boy Scout than on any film I had ever worked on.” He recalled with incredulity that the work of previous editors appeared to have been rejected, taken apart and put back into the daily reels: “There were still splices all over the place.” Expert action movie editor Mark Goldblatt who also worked on the film recalls it as one the most painful and frustrating experiences of his entire career and refuses to talk about it in interviews. He did mentioned in podcast interview how before he was brought in several other editors were hired but were then fired for some reasons, and how Warner Bros. started testing the movie before it was completely finished. They were very worried about the movie because they put lot of money into it but reactions from test screening audience weren't very positive, and they also thought that Willis's character wasn't very likeable. It wasn't until Stuart Baird was hired that movie was finally turned into something watchable. Some later cuts were done on the film's graphic scenes after it was originally rated NC-17, which explains quick-cut edits in some of the death scenes in the film.[7][8][9]

text: Original script[edit]

text: Joel Silver said in a Q&A for The Nice Guys (2016) that Shane Black's original title was Die Hard. Silver asked if he could take the title for a project he was working on at the time called Nothing Lasts Forever, which eventually became Die Hard (1988).

text: Shane Black and Tony Scott both said in later years how the original script was far better than the final film.[10][11]

text: Awards[edit]

text: The film was nominated for two MTV Movie Awards.[12]

text:
Best Action Sequence – For the helicopter blade sequence
Best On-Screen Duo – Bruce Willis & Damon Wayans

text: Reception[edit]

text: The film under-performed expectations given the star power and hype surrounding the then record price paid for the screenplay by Shane Black ($1.75 million).[13]

text: Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, saying it was "a superb example of what it is: a glossy, skillful, cynical, smart, utterly corrupt and vilely misogynistic action thriller".[14] It has a 44% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 34 reviews. Reviews were mixed, and some critics cited the Christmas time release for such a violent film as a reason for its somewhat underwhelming box office.[15][16][17][18] It grossed $7,923,669 in its opening weekend, and the total gross was $59,509,925.[19][20] Although the film was not a blockbuster, it helped Bruce Willis recover his star status after the disastrous Hudson Hawk, and both turned a profit at the box office and became hugely popular in the video rental market.[21][22]

text: Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[23]

text: Music[edit]

text: The film's score was composed and conducted by Michael Kamen (who also scored Hudson Hawk that year), his only work for Tony Scott. Bill Medley performed the song "Friday Night's A Great Night For Football," written by Steve Dorff and John Bettis, on screen during the opening credits (the song is also reprised over the end titles); the song was released as a CD single by Curb Records.[24]

text: On August 25, 2015, La-La Land Records released a limited edition soundtrack album featuring most of Kamen's score, plus Medley's song.[25]