Robinson Crusoe on Mars, released in 1964, is not a movie that I would guess anyone has seen, but on a Sunday afternoon, it was the only interesting thing on TV. The premise is that a lone human survivor of a spaceship crash, an astronaut is stranded on Mars with only a monkey who happened to be traveling with the humans. The astronaut must figure out how to find oxygen, water, and food on the lifeless planet.

OK here is why I bring this up at all. First, my suggestion is that no one watch the movie, but what was interesting is that when the astronaut was confronted with potential danger, he draws out his space weapon to protect himself. The space weapon turns out to be a Smith & Wesson Single Shot Pistol with a 10" barrel. Now the director could not have thought a 22 single shot pistol would take care of martian creatures . . . or did he???

The bigger question is will a 22 LR cartridge actually fire with a little or no of oxygen present??

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Gary
SWCA 2515

I remember this movie. Saw it when it came out and saw it again many years later. I did see that it was played in the last few days.
I would like to get some of those sausages and M&M's that put out the oxygen.

Right now it will be as easy to find a box of 22lr. for sale on Mars as anywhere else.

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

I have seen it and it's not a bad Movie for a rainy Saturday.

Can we have a picture and the s/n? More than happy to check the catalog and see if that was possible.

Not a blockbuster but an interesting take on the old RC story. As far as the pistol goes, I don't remember but I'm sure it was chosen for looks over function.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Saw it on TV, years ago. Don't remember the gun.

But guns will fire underwater. There is enough oxygen in the cartridge case for the primer to ignite, and the burning powder seems to produce its own.

I just saw, over to IMDB, that Mona, the girl monkey, was played by Barney, a boy money, who wore fur jockey shorts to hide his boyness.

I'm pretty sure I read that Lassie was also played by a boy, wearing "screening garments" to hide his boyness. Something about "male collies normally having better coloring than females" - I think?

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I always take precautions

When I was a kid, I loved that movie! Now I'll have to watch it again.

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No good deed goes unpunished.

I think gunpowder has a component that supplies the oxygen for it's burn so it's not dependent on atmospheric oxygen. That's one reason a full cartridge full of powder can burn before the bullet leaves the muzzle.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

This is an interesting take on the movie. I don't agree with everything the author says, but it's a good read.

Patriotism, Politics, and Propaganda: The Naturalization of Friday's Man, Robinson, in Robinson Crusoe on Mars - Bright Lights Film Journal

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I always take precautions

Gun powder produces it's own oxygen so no problem there not sure about primers.

In it's day it was quite the futuristic SiFi movie, very entertaining to an 8 year old at the time.

.41 cal

I remember that movie. We had a small local theater that showed a scifi/ horror double feature every Saturday. I saw this when it was first released and it became a fairly popular second feature for several years. I must have seen it a dozen times as a kid. Saw it a few more times on TV over the years.
It was considered to be quite good in its day. If I had known it was on, I would have watched it again.

I saw it at the theater when it came out. I loved the little monkey and have wanted a monkey ever since. I've been married four times and I still can't find one that will let me have a monkey.

Here is the definitive answer: http://www.livescience.com/18588-shoot-gun-space.html

I saw that movie on TV as a kid and happened to catch it again recently. Did not recall the gun either and it is a glaring omission from the Internet Movie Firearms Database.

Saw a movie trailer for it on Youtube and it ended with this little splash screen...

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I bet you can throw the ballistic tables out the window when trying to sight in your high powered rifle in space! This would mean a round fired at 3000 fps would still be traveling that speed a hundred, thousand, or more miles away.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

Here is another take on the answer: Gunpowder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's no "Forbidden Planet", but it's not bad. Can't tell you how many times I've seen it over the years. It was just on last week, I think.

I also noted the pistol when I saw it in the theater as a kid.

Interesting how they recycled props from several other SF movies, including "War of the Worlds" (alien space ships), "Forbidden Planet" (alien weapons) and "Destination Moon" (alien space suits).

Well maybe it would grow on you over time. Maybe I am just too used to high-tech Star Wars quality movies.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

IIRC Adam West as the spaceman? Or am I thinking of a different one?

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Even older, even crankier....

He's in the movie and plays A spaceman, just not the lead.

Not so good episode of 'The Outer Limits' where he was on a planet made of sand that contained giant spaceman eating worms. And the 'sand tide' was rising. Oh screech.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Even on Mars the sights wouldn't be close because of the lesser gravity. Some REALLY adjustable sights would be needed.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Actually, less gravity equals less bullet drop, so you would not need as much adjustment at standard distances. Now if you are shooting a mile, maybe some extension on the sights might be necessary.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

The movie isn't listed on the IMFDB website to cross-reference.

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I'm with the banned ...

Here is the link to the movie: Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964) - IMDb

Here is The Outer Limits link: "The Outer Limits" The Invisible Enemy (TV Episode 1964) - IMDb

Yes, Adam West was in both and it is interesting that they were both done the same year.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

Well I did not know he was on Mars but I did know that he is the only man I know who had everything done by FRIDAY !

Look up 'Robinson Crusoe of Schinz-Do'. It's about a Korean war pilot that was hit and ejected just off coast. He ended up paddling to a small island that showed signs of habitation in the past but was now deserted. He did everything to get rescued but nobody ever caught the signs he put out, some he even lit up with fire. He had many small adventures which lifted his spirits, like finding some rusty scissors to cut his hair and a beat up old office chair to relax in. But he could only find a little food that wasn't enough and he just about starved before he was finally 'captured' by some friendlies who realized that he was an American and got him back to safety. Interesting story. Was reprinted in condensed version in Readers Digest in the 50s. BTW His name was Schinz and 'do' was South Korean for 'island' so that's what he called it, because the island wasn't even on the map.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

This was even pre-original series Star Trek so our ideas of getting to other planets was still pretty crude. It was funny that when we really got into space and on the moon and it was shocking how it was 'really' done. I had been so conditioned from watching movies and reading comic books that for a second I was surprised when the Apollo astronauts weren't packing some kind of space rifle on the moon. "What do you think there is up there to shoot at, stupid???" Everybody imagined there was some sort of life up there, but nobody imagined that it was as dead as it was. I saw two propaganda films about landing on the moon, early on. In the American film the astronauts are acting very wary with their space rifles at the ready and in the Russian one they don't have guns and hug each other. Hmmmmm. That doesn't sound right. The Soviets were taking over the moon for nefarious reasons and we were supposed to come in peace. But of course in order to ensure peace we had to take along some guns.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Strange coincidence for me. My brother and I remember watching this movie when I was about 14 (1972). I never saw it again til I got it from the local library last November. Then about 2 weeks later it was on dish. Wow what a coincidence. Yeh it looked a little corny in spots.

If you like this movie and can stand a little corn ee ness. Could I suggest finding my favorite move as a kid, "First Men In The Moon"

the premise is in the 60s a Russian/American space mission lands on the moon and finds a English flag and note claiming the moon for England. The note has a name on it and they get back to earth and look up the name and the guy is still living in a nursing home and he tells the wild tale of how it happened. Great movie if you like old si-fi

I watched it on netflix awhile back. It wasn't bad.

First Men in the Moon. One of the astronauts came back to Earth but one stayed, right? There were Moon-men (the one that stayed was in love with a Moon-girl, maybe?), but they were now all dead. And the movie ends with the one that came back saying, about the one that stayed there, "He had such a terrible cold".

That the one?

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I always take precautions

That was one of my favorites too.

There's a whole line of "steampunk" games/fiction based in the "Space 1889" universe, in which Britain makes it to Mars in the 19th century, shortly thereafter followed by competing European powers and the U.S. It's sort of like a combination of the Burroughs "Mars" novels with the sensibilities of the Robert Downy Jr. "Sherlock Holmes" movies.

As a teenager I was in awe of the adventure of it all. One of my other favorites you may remember is Mysterious Island. Probably made in the 60s. The story line is a couple of Northern civil war prisoners in a South prison camp escape in a hot air balloon on a very stormy nite. They end up on a tropical island and the adventure is on. Maybe that guy who said "most men live lives of quiet desperation" wasn't really thinking of what he thought he was. I wonder if men secretly crave adventure now. I know I do and maybe it comes from these type movies when I was an impressionable kid.
Every summer I take a month off work and ride my motorcycle to the West coast by myself. Everyone you meet is new and don't know what's around the next corner. Adventure!

Is this thread drift? Sorry

Watched it at a drive in-I was 12- Now at some moment in my young life I got hung up on getting hold of a SW K frame-I need to look at that flick again-was this the genesis?!?

Was Adam West the astronaut?

I'm guessing the screenwriter was sure .22 was good a good round for Martian bears. After all, Mars is about half the size of Earth, so the bears must be pretty small, too. Right?

As a child it was one of my favorite movies, I would watch it any time it was on.

One of my favorites as a kid as well. The monkey was named Mona, IIRC. I too wanted my own Mona type monkey for many years. LOL.

It was an interesting and thought provoking movie.

Adam West was one of the two astronauts in the first part of the film. He died when the spacecraft crashed. Paul Mantee was the actor who was the main character of the film. Obviously this was before Adam West became a big TV star for his portrayal of Batman.

I suspect the frigid temperature, even more than the lack of oxygen, would impair the guns operation.