Gun Related Stupid Movie Mistakes

[Wyatt Burp]

In "Butch Cassidy..." Paul Newman fans his hand over a Colt New Service D.A. He used one of those guns at the end of Hombre, too. Robert Redford holds a 4 3/4" Colt SAA while telling Katherine Ross to disrobe. The gun was pretty turned on about it because the barrel length soon became
5 1/2".

 

[Qball]

I had the missfortune of watching "Dead in Tombstone" (sort of a horror western)
Actor Danny Trejo sports two really interesting revolvers with three barrels

Pictures & Photos from Dead in Tombstone (Video 2013) - IMDb

that turns into Smith & Wesson 629? at the end of the movie.
Lots of BG with S&W 1917 revolvers to.

 

[GaryS]

My absolute favorite of all time is the John Wayne movie "The Commanceros" in which the Duke portrays a Texas Ranger in the "Republic of Texas" while he carries a Colt SAA and a Winchester Mod. 92 carbine.

I've noticed that every time I've watched that movie. The guns are all wrong for the purported time frame of the movie. It's set in 1843. It could have been set in the 1870s, but that would have probably killed the duel scene at the beginning that set up the story.

 

[timn8er]

I've got nothing to contribute here except to say I've got to get me one of those .45 Magnums!

 

[vigil617]

I've got nothing to contribute here except to say I've got to get me one of those .45 Magnums!

As long as it will handle +p.......

 

[steveno]

Dirty Harry movies are another good example of things wrong

 

[BaldEagle1313]

The main problem is that movies are full of all kind of technical errors. It only bothers the people that are experts in that field. This forum is populated by firearm people who can pick out errors immediately while most of the audience is enjoying the movie. I restore old Jeeps so when I watch war movies they almost never have the appropriate Jeep for the period (just about every movie gets taken apart on various antique Jeep forums) "John Wayne in a Korean War Jeep in In Harms Way, a WWII movie) I can only imagine what other enthusiasts say about other topics. I've mellowed over the years and try to watch the story telling myself "it's probably the only piece of equipment they could find that was semi close". Sometimes it works, but my wife still has to tell me to shut up and watch the movie.

TV shows are even worse - they have a smaller budget and a much tighter filming schedule so there's precious little time for the prop guy to get what the script calls for.

You have Jeeps, I have cars. If you are doing a period piece and reference the president as JFK, don't have 1967 Continental parked out in front of the brownstone.

I try not to let it get to me but sometimes it's too much to ignore.

 

[Smoke]

The medical stuff always gets me like the scene in Rocky III where Mickey has a Heart Attack and the Dr. says BP is 180 over 60 (which means Mikey has a pulse, which means CPR is contraindicated) Start CPR.

There was also an episode of Bones where the killer took a 1400 yard shot with a .338 Laupa without making any allowance for the fact that the bullet would drop 700 + inches over that distance. Then they show Booth setting up for the same shot with an M4.

I also like it when they say " that shot was over 150 yards the killer must have been a professional sniper"

 

[Road Rat]

Lots of people carry Condition 2. If you do, and you want to shoot it, you kinda GOTTA thumb the hammer back.

Getting a 1911 in condition two scares me!

I can lower the hammer on a six-gun all day long but never a 1911.

Just me.

 

[snubbyfan]

There's a few but that stand out. I don't remember the show but there was a slide racking sound and the actor holds up a revolver. When trained FBI agents are using cup and saucer holds. The sound of a pump shotgun being racked when the actor's holding a double barrel shotgun. Hammer cocking sounds with a Glock.
Now I know there's a "suspension of belief" thing with Hollywood but there's also the "establishment of reality." When a weapon is involved you establish the reality of that weapon. It adds to the effects sequence.

 

[Aticus]

You actually can suppress a Nagant revolver

Aw come on!

 

[Vegetaman]

Sort of related... It bugs me that the Mosin Nagant on the poster for "Enemy at the Gates" is obviously mirrored, which makes it appear as though it is operated left handed. Even though they obviously put a "sniper" style Mosin on it, since it has the curved bolt, though I'm sure they'd have done that ANYWAY because the bolt would otherwise be straight out towards the observer and that wouldn't look cool!

Other than that just the usual stuff like James Bond and his notorious habit of shooting more bullets than his gun can hold or people repeatedly racking shotguns and other weapons that were already ready to go...

 

[kozmic]

I don't know about you guys, but the way Barney Fife wields around that Colt with his finger on the trigger, I find myself ducking behind the sofa.

 

[bluegrassarms]

Mythbusters has done a great job debunking a bunch of them. They've also missed on a few, and confirmed a few, but debunked a bunch of the most absurd ones.

My fav is from a movie where the shoots a kid's merry go round thing to keep a baby away from the bad guy. Shoots the bars and makes it spin. The problem is that the kinetic energy of a 9mm isn't quite high enough to spin a multi hundred pound 6' wide steel wheel like you'd put a motor on it.

Of course they found the obvious: rounds not powerful enough to go through the steel hand bar didn't move it, rounds big enough to make it even wiggle penetrated the steel tube. They even put 1/2" of steel plate on it and shot a .50 cal and couldn't do more than nudge it.

OTOH if you want to see guns done fairly well, not perfect but well, watch Firefly. Great selection of different weapons, and for the most part properly used.

 

[S&W45Colt]

My favorite is the constant is multiple shows where the cock their glocks/ pull the hammer back. I instantly think what pansy moron made this movie/show.

 

[Old cop]

Almost every movie I see has a clicking noise just before a gun, any gun, comes into a scene. Drives me nuts . . . .

Dirty Harry just ended his movie by shooting the bad guy w/his .44 magnum. The BG sails backward in mid air several feet and falls into a lake.

 

[Taurus627]

Got to thank you all. This thread is proof that we are all guilty of being "gun geeks"!!!
(except, I don't say anything in public)


Gun Geek Moments (We all have them) - YouTube

 

[tyusclan]

One glaring gun goof to me was Jeff Bridges in the new True Grit. He wore the patch on his right eye, but shot the revolver and the rifle right handed.

 

[timn8er]

I don't know about you guys, but the way Barney Fife wields around that Colt with his finger on the trigger, I find myself ducking behind the sofa.

Yeah,but he just had the one bullet, so the odds were probably in you favor!

 

[Alpo]

My son-in-law is new to guns, so I seldom miss a chance to show him BAD gun handling, and stupidity in movies/TV.

We were watching Taken. The hero has gone to the CIA guy's house, and when the CIA guy comes home he greets the hero, and excuses himself to "wash his hands". And from under the vanity he pulls out a Beretta of some sort (92 or 96) and sticks it in his pants, under his vest.

I immediately start harping on, "he shoulda checked the gun, you always check the gun, never assume the gun is loaded/empty, always check the gun".

About five minutes later the CIA guy whips the gun out to shoot the hero and the gun goes "click click click", because the hero had already been in the bathroom and unloaded the gun.

Another fine teaching point. "See, if he had checked the damn gun he would have seen it was empty, and either reloaded it before going out to shoot the hero, or taken it on the lam out the window".