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F. R. FurtneyThis Is Hormel (ca. 1965)

Perhaps one of the most disturbing films in the Prelinger collection. Do you really want to see your meat being prepared?


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Director: F. R. Furtney
Producer: Unknown
Production Company: Unknown
Sponsor: Hormel Company
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: Food industry: Meat production; Minnesota (History and culture); Animals: Pigs

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Billhope1974 - - July 8, 2009
Subject: If God had not wanted us to eat animals He'd not made them out of MEAT!!!! God Bless Hormel!!!!
From the day when men were men and meat was meat (Ca. 1965) this is a vivid slice of cinematic SPAM and I loved it! Not disturbing at all more delicious!

By the way people need to get a sense of humor...Giminy Christmas you make one silly joke about God and Meat and everyone gets their undies in a twirl!

Reviewer: robertnoack - - May 15, 2009
Subject: interesting
interesting video...

also i have nothing against people eating meat, but to the person who said "if god didn't want us to eat meat he wouldn't have made animals out of it"... that is the worst argument ever. using that argument you could say god wanted us to do anything... you are saying god wanted us to do it because it is so. this is not necessarily true. anyways, whatever.

Reviewer: Gorilla Fart - - July 4, 2008
Subject: Woot
Imagine touring a slaughterhouse with Freddy Kreuger.. Those kids have it made.

Reviewer: PaulHH - - May 7, 2008
Subject: It's PEOPLE
It's People, It's all PEOPLE!
... C. Heston

That movie is all I can think of when I saw this. I still love bacon!

Reviewer: Batavian - - December 16, 2007
Subject: Disturbing no, sanitized yes
The actual killing of the animal is much more interesting. Show me an animal being hauled up by its leg, the actual cutting of its throat, watch it writhe & squirm while its blood squirts out, and now your talking! Disassembly process commencing before the animal is deceased for bonus points. Add those and this is a 5 star video. As it stands, only a 3 for leaving out the best parts. Mmmmm, bacon!

Reviewer: Dwight Mann - - November 12, 2007
Subject: you cant beat Hormel's meat!
I have eaten Hormel meat mega times in my life and it was refreshing to see the quality way it is prepared. I wrote to them in Austin, Tx. and they told me I could go through the slaughterhouse whenever I was in town. Cant wait!!!

Reviewer: doowopbob - - October 10, 2007
Subject: Big Deal....
Big Deal....Women Will Always Eat Pork & Men Will Always Eat Tuna.And Remember Half The Fun Is In The Preparation & Presentation!...And That's Todays Lesson, Boys & Girls.

Reviewer: mjwise - - August 5, 2006
Subject: Delicious!
A not at all disturbing look at meat processing. Then again I'm not bothered by these sorts of things and the video. People should see how their food is made. If mechanized slaughter and meat processing really does bother people, they probably shouldn't be eating its results. This video just ended up making me hungry though.

The only bothersome part (for me) is that as a human factors and safety engineer, some of those machines look like they were just waiting to take an arm off (or steam it, or crush it - major lack of machine guarding in some areas!), and some of those awkward hand carving maneuvers look like RSI (repetitive stress injury) hell.

Reviewer: NoiseCollector - - July 28, 2006
Subject: Wish I could watch it
The GIF looks neat. I just wish MP4's played on Windows Media Player so I could watch it. I tried installing quicktime but it keeps hijacking all the audio codecs and doesn't have any decent usable features like the frequency display visuals and an EQ. Just a stupid grey strip with tiny buttons... I have to disable the addon to Media Player or it takes over and really limits you creatively and analytically. Some day they will free the MP4 codec for the rest of us. Also the MPEG file (845mb?) it doesn't play either. So to be fair and to trumpet the cause of meat eating, I can only give 4 stars.

Reviewer: Ray Double - - August 10, 2005
Subject: But what happened?
Actually, I think its a pretty good film. If made today, I sure it would be changed a lot.

Mr. Rugg's hat is a classic of headwear. But the question is, at the end of the movie when the boys and Mr. Rugg are leaving, Mr. Rugg's hat is nowhere to be seen. Did it fall in the weinnie vat and is still hanging out in the back of some jr. high walk-in food locker?

Just wondering in Texas
Ray

Reviewer: Ja30fitz - - July 30, 2005
Subject: DEE--LICIOUS!
This 'Hormel Film' (according to the end titles) runs over half an hour long, and it goes into painful detail of all the things that Hormel does. It shows all the different types of food that Hormel makes, and you get to see Mr. Rugg's RIDICULOUS hat! I did not really find this film that disturbing...the more disturbing film is the one of the Kosher Slaughter on this website. I still thoroughly enjoyed this film...some great processing shots here!

Reviewer: eltatero - - April 21, 2005
Subject: A must-see for those who eat food!
I think anyone who eats food, especially meat, should watch this film. It shows what people have become extremely removed from... where the food they eat comes from, as well as how it's (or rather used to be) prepared. Considering that most folks don't know where on the hog bacon and come from, this can be amazingly educational. For those who are weak-stomach types, this may even help finally push you to vegetarianism! While it is a bit dated (nobody objects to young boys seeing the truth about what they eat) it is still a viable useful film. In all, a great educational show!

Reviewer: moretree5 - - March 29, 2005
Subject: ok promotional video
Because this was a promotional video, a lot of the processes are left out. Most notably, we skip from seeing a queue of live cows to a hanging carcass. I think some "animal rights" campaign footage would be better placed to show the negative side of the story.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - March 3, 2005
Subject: Holy Hormel!
Kids! A word of advice for you... Don't you dare ask your dad to take you on a trip to the Hormel Plant! Otherwise, your dad will accompany you in a ridiculous bowler hat that looks straight from a halloween kit, while you watch pig carcasses get 'disassembled'!! Shoulders to the ham department! Fat to the gelatin department! Pigs feet to the.. pig's feet department! (They're a delicious delicacy!). Really loved the cow hide removal demo, yum. As many reviewers have pointed out, this film has the bubbliest chirpy music for a film about pig carcasses ever made.
Bonus points for the cheap cheap title cards!
This is a MUST SEE on this site!!

Reviewer: albatross2147 - - February 28, 2005
Subject: Troy McClure
Apart from showing how to make Spam, the delicious luncheon meat, this fascinating short allows one to explain to young children the truth behind the long running Troy McClure short film narration joke.

Reviewer: smartpatrol - - November 12, 2004
Subject: I Love Hormel
Anyone who loves their food will love this movie.
To see the inovation at this plant and succulant end resuts inspired me to join and write this preview. Download it today you will be salivating fo more. This is Hormel This is hevean

Reviewer: smartpatrol - - November 12, 2004
Subject: I Love Hormel
Anyone who loves their food will love this movie.
To see the inovation at this plant and succulant end resuts inspired me to join and write this preview. Download it today you will be salivating fo more. This is Hormel This is hevean

Reviewer: Rick Prelinger - - October 24, 2004
Subject: Missing most of film?
The MPEG-2 version is complete; the other versions contain only the very beginning. Why, oh why, do we have to select a star rating to post a review? What do the star ratings measure for a film like this? Excellent photography of meat? Inducement of nausea? And how do star ratings have anything to do with the cultural, historical or evidentiary value of the film? Down with star ratings! [Yes, he's ranting]

Reviewer: PreliViewerKid86 - - October 24, 2004
Subject: Confused...
I'm a bit confused. In Rick Prelinger's wonderful new montage titled, "Panorama Ephermea", there are more shots of this film. I'm not sure why they are missing here...but I would love to see it in whole.

Reviewer: dskaye - - October 4, 2004
Subject: this is a quick reel on soliciting Hormel's PR Dept
I'm not sure the archivist watched the reel. There is nothing graphic in the clip. Two kids write a note to get a tour of a Hormel plant to a PR dept. The description of the reel is more intriguing than the content.