Firearms foibles on TV and in the Movies

[Overtaxed]

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slowfiveoh wrote:

I get irritated every time I see a M4 or M16A2 in Vietnam era movies.

Probably just me.

In fairness, some of our troops were issued with CAR-15s which look quite similar to the M4.

 

[Overtaxed]

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My "favorite" is when a character run a semi-auto dry, and the very next shot shows the weapon back in battery, with no quick shot of insertion of a fresh magazine or working the slide release.

 

[simmonsjoe]

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daddy4count wrote:

Have you ever noticed that no matter who, what, when or where... if someone draws a gun you hear the slide action like they just racked a round into the chamber?

And strangely all weapons tend to make the same sound...

Or that even semi-auto pistols make a DA-revolver like "click" when they run out of ammo..?

The only one they tend to get right is the shotgun.

Even worse is when they play the "pulling the hammer back" noise, then go for the menacing-in-the-face-of-the-bad-guy-shot and...
1. It's a @#$%ing striker fired pistol
2. The hammer is not cocked, even though they just acted/sound effected like they did.
3. Boon Dock Saints II - chick FBI with horrible accent repeatedly cocked the hammer on her warthog LDA. (grah!)
BDS II - Shell casings are obviously blanks.
BDS II - the blanks were so @#$%ing weak you can see the wads falling out the barrels in many shots.

MANY movies - Pick up / pull out gun, shoot bad guy 3-5 times and slide locks back. Miraculously they knew exactly how many bullets it was gonna take to kill the guy.
MANY - Don't clear a gun properly, (still round in chamber).

Can't Remember the film- They were fighting for the gun so someone dropped the magazine so it wouldn't fire when the badguy tried to use the bullet in the chamber on good guys face! SMART? Well, It was a 1911a1 so NO MAG SAFETY in real life.

I hate watching most movies/shows. You would think they'd hire a ******* consultant.

 

[builtjeep]

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My favorite is that I don't think I've EVER seen a 1911 in any fictional tv show or movie that wasn't carried, aimed, and fired, with the hammer down. Apparently all 1911's are double action in hollywood.

 

[marshaul]

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simmonsjoe wrote:

I hate watching most movies/shows.  You would think they'd hire a @#$%ing consultant.

Generally, a single round fired implies the presence of a film armorer, exactly such a consultant.

That people pay these folks well and fail to take advantage of them is a very strange phenomenon.

I know that one reason I have never pushed too hard to get into the armorer's business is that I'm just not sure I could take having firearms disrespected to such an extent, with my name on the credits.

 

[marshaul]

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builtjeep wrote:

My favorite is that I don't think I've EVER seen a 1911 in any fictional tv show or movie that wasn't carried, aimed, and fired, with the hammer down. Apparently all 1911's are double action in hollywood.

I don't know about *every* 1911 (ever seen Thief? I seem to recall the 1911s were done accurately in that film. Also The Way of the Gun).

But, generally you're right. I just watched The Pacific, and a guy shot himself in the head using a M1911A1 with the hammer down. I actually lol'ed rather hard at that scene, because it was just so absurd.

 

[JKelly]

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I watched one of the current remakes of the Last of The Mohicans up to the point where the indian villian watched a settler aim his flintlock at him, then DUCKED when he saw the flash from the pan. At that point, I ejected the tape and returned it to the library.

 

[Brimstone Baritone]

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JKelly wrote:

I watched one of the current remakes of the Last of The Mohicans up to the point where the indian villian watched a settler aim his flintlock at him, then DUCKED when he saw the flash from the pan. At that point, I ejected the tape and returned it to the library.

In their defense, flintlock muskets and rifles used subsonic ammunition and ducking was a legitimate, if unreliable, way of avoiding being hit.

 

[JKelly]

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mcdonalk wrote:

JKelly wrote:

I watched one of the current remakes of the Last of The Mohicans up to the point where the indian villian watched a settler aim his flintlock at him, then DUCKED when he saw the flash from the pan. At that point, I ejected the tape and returned it to the library.

In their defense, flintlock muskets and rifles used subsonic ammunition and ducking was a legitimate, if unreliable, way of avoiding being hit.

Nonsense! The squirrel rifles used in that period and locale had a muzzle velocity of between 1600 & 2000 fps. The lock time ofa well-made flintlock isn't appreciably slower than a caplock in the hands of a competent shooter. At that range the indian would have been shot before his eye registered the flash.

 

[eye95]

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JKelly wrote:

I watched one of the current remakes of the Last of The Mohicans up to the point where the indian villian watched a settler aim his flintlock at him, then DUCKED when he saw the flash from the pan. At that point, I ejected the tape and returned it to the library.

It seems to me that ducking would be a reflex. For the move to be completed, the bullet would have had to miss, duck or no. Ducking would not cause a miss, but would be a natural reaction to one!

So would uttering a vulgar profanity, followed by quickly executing the instruction contained in that profanity.

 

[erichonda30]

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What about no country for old men with that shotgun he had

 

[mobeewan]

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My 3 favorites are

1. a .38 snubbiewith a silencer

2. a 1911 with slide locked still shooting

3. after a 1911 is fired several times the next sounds a click, click, click of an empty 1911 with the slide in battery while the person is still trying to fire it

 

[old dog]

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One of the worst blunders I've seen is the old movie "13 Rue Madeleine".

Toward the end James Cagney is engaging the bad guy in a darkened hotel lobby. For part of the gunfight he is using a 1911 but in a couple of scenes the pistol morphs magically into a revolver then back into a pistol. I can only suppose the continuity people were drunk or out to lunch.

Another one is in the Bond movie "Dr. No". OO7 of course has just been issued a .32 PPK (packs a punch like a brick through a plate glass window).

However, when he goes to assassinate a bad guy he is shown affixing a suppressor to his pistol, this time a 1910 Browning.

 

[hopnpop]

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There's a couple favs of mine. One that sticks out in my head is from an episode of The Sopranos, specifically the one where Vito shoots Jackie Jr. in the back of the head, point blank. They show a close-up of Vito and the auto he's holding... you hear the bang, see a little muzzle flash, but the action on the gun doesn't budge and there's zero recoil! It was awful...

Another general thing that cracks me up is when someone's about to get shot in a dark apartment and the camera shot is from outside... and apparently the muzzle flash is always bright as a camera flash, so bright it looks like lightning striking behind the curtains. Whatever... lol

That, and how many movies and shows have people firing guns, sometimes rapidly, with absolutely zero recoil. Especially when someone shoots a sawed-off 12-ga one handed....

Ooh - lastly, Terminator 2. Gotta love Arnold's shooting and twirl-cocking while on the motorcycle. Too funny. Makes for fun entertainment, but c'mon....

 

[eye95]

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Hey, Arnold was a sophisticated piece of equipment. I am sure it had the dexterity and processing power to pull off a twirl cock on a moving motorcycle flawlessly.

What would be unbelievable is if William H. Macy pulled off the maneuver in Wild Hogs.

 

[hopnpop]

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eye95 wrote:

Hey, Arnold was a sophisticated piece of equipment. I am sure it had the dexterity and processing power to pull off a twirl cock on a moving motorcycle flawlessly.

What would be unbelievable is if William H. Macy pulled off the maneuver in Wild Hogs.

LMAO