I DVRed "The Gauntlet" in HD and just watched it again, I think for the first time since I saw it in the theater in 1977.

I shouldn't like it, but I do. The ridiculous plot, the always-annoying Sondra Locke, and Clint's catch phrase (Nag, nag, nag) should all relegate this to the never-watch pile.

Maybe its all the airtime given to Clint's gun and holster set up - a 2 1/2 inch Model 66 with a square butt and PC magnas in a Berns-Martin upside down rig that kept me watching. Or it could have been those awesome 70's jeans painted onto Sondra. Either way, I enjoyed every stupid minute of it.

"The Gauntlet" may also be the worst movie with a truly great poster - a Frank Frazetta masterpiece:

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

I saw some of the movie a couple of days ago on cable. I knew it was a S&W, but didn't know the model no. Thanks.

Guilty as charged. Not sure why, but I like it too.

That's the stupidest movie I have ever watched......10 or 12 times!

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Freedom above all else.

So, that's a Frazetta poster? Now that you mention it, it looks like it.

Didn't realize that he did movie posters. I've see his sci-fi work.

And I knew the gun was a M-66, but not that it had a square butt. But I haven't seen the film in years.

T-Star

I’m embarrassed for you, but next time I watch it I’ll pay closer attention.

Emory

I know this has been talked about before, but I just can't agree it is a mod 66. Did S&W ever make a 66 snub square butt? I have never seen one or if someone has one post a pic. Too me in the movie it looks alot larger than a K frame maybe some sort of N frame 44 special? But not a 66.

It sure looks like a 66 to me, probably a studio gun. It would be a simple matter to swap barrels.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

I just cant believe that the studio or anyone else would go through the trouble to swap a barrel on a gun just for a movie, I am still confused? They sure knew it was a Mod 29 in the Dirty Harry movies how come there is no info on what this gun was? Maybe a Ben Shockley edition?

I'll have to watch the _____ movie again, but it seems like to me the hole in the end of that barrrel was bigger than .357".

I wish he would have dumped that Locke girl yeas before he did. We wouldn't of had to see her in as many movies as we did.

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I have to agree, that hole is a little big for a 357!

Geeezzzz! Only a S&W fan would check what gun he had!!!! Bob

I love that movie, when is it on again?.

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Sure you did

I like it, have it on DVD.

The gun could be any combination of parts. Studios dissolved their firearm departments at the end of the Studio System. An old friend is married to the daughter of one of the largest weapons suppliers to the movie industry. Here is the 411. Guns get reconfigured based on the needs of the production or the actor. A weapons supplier will modify a weapon in house or they will contract with a private gunsmith or sometimes with a gun manufacture.

Dirty Harry’s M29 was not a 44mag but a 45LC so they could use standard blanks. A modern cowboy movie required an actor to fan the hammer of a Colt Peacemaker but a physical issue caused him problems. A M10 had an extractor mounted along with other modifications allowing it to pass for a Peacemaker.

I believe that the gun in the movie is a modified short barrel 45LC. I do remember years ago reading that Mr. Eastwood preferred square butt guns. If the gun was a M66 it would not have been a problem to weld up the grip area making it a square butt.

Funny story. When my buddy and his then girlfriend (now wife) flew out to California to meet her parents over Christmas break, dad wanted to have a little fun with him. They were both in the final year of college and she had never talked much about guys she was dating much less taking them home. Instead of polishing a shotgun when they showed up dad had Clint Eastwood and James Caan interrogate my buddy for several hours. Luckily they did find out that they had been living together (1978).

It was a 2 1/2" M66, in what I know is a ******, yet somehow enjoyable movie. Maybe my favorite part is when novice shooter Locke shoots what would be an expert pattern at the car chasing them, theoretically with her first shots ever fired. I HAD a gun just like that one and would be lucky to pattern that well from one moving car to another, and I practiced all the time. Another thing I find amusing about that flick is that the police fire at the bus from opposite sides of the road, without ever hitting each other. Curious: (Hollywood.) Maybe Clint took that role as another way to work with that skank Locke.

I haven't seen that movie in years, but I really should see it again, as it depicted Phoenix, Arizona in the '70s before its incredible growth explosion has made it the 6th largest city in the nation. The opening scene where Eastwood was walking across the street sticks in my mind; it showed an area I went through often. It's no longer there, swallowed up as the city grew and morphed into something entirely different. What was depicted as "city hall" was actually Phoenix's civic center plaza at the time; the whole area is totally different now with the Phoenix Convention Center swallowing up everything in the vicinity. Those of you who attended the 2009 NRA convention in Phoenix have experienced the "new" city. It's good there are a few movies around that recorded Phoenix when it was still of manageable proportions and not so plagued by hordes of illegal aliens boosting incidences of drugs, kidnapping and other major crimes. I didn't used to feel the need to be armed, but it's just a prudent thing to do in any major city, Phoenix included. "The Gauntlet" showed the old Phoenix - sadly it doesn't exist any more. For that matter, the America I grew up in doesn't either.

John

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I love the stupid scene with the cops shooting at the bus from both sides of the street....

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

Yeah, you can tell that's a Frazetta poster. He's got clint muscled up to rival Schwarzenneger.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

I dont know how old you guys are but you notice how young they look in that frame on page one!!. uh and I bet you'd all break your leg tying to get to the safe if Sandra wanted to see your guns......

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Viet Nam 70-71

I love/hate this movie.

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Soli Deo Gloria

During a very hot, humid May in 1977, I was one of many Phoenix officers who worked in that movie. We turned our guns into the movie weapons guy and he issued us guns to shoot at the bus with. We, and Mr. Eastwood, knew we wouldn't be shooting at a bus like that, from opposite sides of the street, in real life. Mr. Eastwood also knew what would look good on film. I got to chat with him for a couple between takes on E. Adams St. Ms. Locke soon came and took him away. I was just going to work one day in the movie, but my Sgt. at the time called me at home that night. He asked if I'd like to do one more day, for that final scene at the Civic Center. I was one of the guys standing in that little circle around Clint, Sondra L. and the evil police commissioner. From a couple feet away, Clint's gun did appear to me to be a 2 1/2" 66, rather than an N frame or something else. Do people really think officers would just stand in a little circle and watch a shootout an arms length away and take no action? I guess that was something that supposed to look good in the movie too, but I was kind of embarassed by it. I used the proceeds from that two days of movie work to buy a new 27-2 with 5" barrel. I still have that gun, wearing a pair of Keith Brown's cokes now. I always figured Clint bought me that gun. Gauntlet probably was the worst movie he ever made, but I guess I can admit it here, I always enjoyed watching it. I haven't seen it in years myself, but may have to hunt it up now. I kept waiting for Hollywood to call, but they never did. I ended up having to keep my day job...

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According to IMFDB it is an M66. The pic looks like a 2" or 2.5" round butt?

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Clint_Eastwood

Will this never end ? You get used to hearing this from all the 'internet experts' but this cabbage has been chewed to death here numerous times. It was a 44 . . .

My thoughts too. Loved those bikes. Almost cried whe he put a bullet thru the oil tank of that cool Knucklehead chopper!

Searching for the Gauntlet revolver I came across a site for Clint Eastwood's movie guns. <shaking head>

Pretty bad when the movie poster makes the movie look ten times better than it really was. I watched for the first time on Netflix not too long ago. I kept thinking, "Clint Eastwood was in this drivel???"

What does it say to my frame of mind when, upon reading the title of this thread, I initially thought of Smith not Eastwood?

It was a .32 Regulation Police Target Model with an oversize barrel sleeve and fake red ramp front sight. The sleeve was a half inch longer than the gun's barrel, so the "bore" looks a lot bigger than it actually was.

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David Wilson

That's a 66 but it appears from the picture that it is a round butt (the gun-not Sandra Locke). She was his "girlfriend" in real life and that's why she was in so many of his movies-it sure wasn't because of her acting.

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I haven't seen the movie in years, but I seem to remember that it was just a standard 2.5 inch 66 with a red ramp front sight and a round butt. Are you SURE it was a square butt? The photo here is not that great...but it looks more like a round butt to me. But, I mean, I could certainly be wrong about that.

I think he used the same revolver in that other movie his did, the one in New Orleans...uh..."Tightrope" I think it was called.

Take it from someone with both talent and junk in the trunk...
Sondra Locke had NOTHING going for her except Mr. Eastwood, because Queen said it best about Fat Bottomed Girls.
I don't trust skinny women.

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Soli Deo Gloria

Worthless without pics, etc etc....

We have a winner

Yeah, I was thinking the movie poster was awfully kind to 'ol horse faced Sondra in the depiction of her figure . . . .

Would a draw the banhammer for posting up the Sir Mixalot video?

Eastwood semed to playing to the lowest common denominater with that movie. And Phoenix has grown WAYY bigger than need be! Places near town where we used to find doves and quail we are no longer allowed access to because of new developments. Have to go a bit further from town to get our birds. Still, we don't get "rained out" much.

BTW-- I should have said that he has had several other movies "featuring" S&W. Seems like better than half his action pics have Smiths in them, used by both good and bad guys.

Of what? The talent, the junk in the trunk, or the talent of the junk in the trunk? Two out of three are obvious and OK to share.

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Soli Deo Gloria

I'm voting for the trunk

What does it say about me that I have no idea who Clint Smith is?

Well.... since ya gimme a choice...

"Talented junk in the trunk for two hundred, Alex."

"Hey! That's my bike, Jack!"

"And this is my gun, Clyde."

i checked out imfdb.org and according to that website the revolver in question is a s&w model 66 with a 2.5 inch barrel and a square butt instead of a round butt. the round butt is more common on the short barreled versions of the s&w model 66

if I HAD to put a price tag on it, it would be a lot more than $200.

And now back to your regularly scheduled firearms and Clint Eastwood discussion!

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Soli Deo Gloria

I know I am going to get the "This Post is useless without photos" reply, but I watched the Gauntlet and froze-framed it when Eastwood handed the revolver to Locke just after stepping onto the bus.

It's a square butt. I tried to do a screen capture and ended up wasting a pile of time and frustrating myself. But yes, it WAS a square butt, at least in that scene.