One of the movie sites Godfather, The - Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video Games

says it is a Model 36 and shows this picture:



To me this does not look like a proper 36, but maybe the light shining from the back makes the space under the barrel look bigger

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The lock up for the ejector rod doesn't look right to me, but then I'm not an expert on revolvers of that period. I will say that it was and is quite common for prop masters to create fake guns for use in filming, for a variety of reasons.

looks like a Colt D frame.

The revolver is shown really well in the attached clip.
The godfather Pete clemenza - Psychology of a murder - YouTube

It´s not a Colt.
regards, Ray

Looked like a Colt Detective Special to me.

A S&W Terrier perhaps? Or just a Chiefs Special. In the book he used a .22.

I don't believe it's a Colt, as Colts did not use an ejector rod support on most of their revolvers. Neither do I believe it's a Smith and Wesson product based on the LARGE ejector rod support.

Perhaps a knock off made in Spain?

Now let's get out the popcorn.

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Look at the yoke assembly, and the timing notches in the cylinder. It's definitely a Smith & Wesson. The grip has been modified with both tape and some sort of added extension has been taped onto the bottom of the butt. The extractor rod and locking bolt housing are also of S&W design.

It's a 38 Special caliber, Model 36, 'Chief's Special'. That gun was born noisy; and, personally, being a Sicilian, myself, I wouldn't have fooled around with any (actually unnecessary) snub-nosed revolver. Instead, I would have ordered a, 'nice steak' and used one of the table knives on, 'the Turk'.

Here ya go!

I doubt that the hammer is original, and maybe not even stock S&W. To my eye, also, there seems to be too much room between the ejector rod and the barrel. Basically, I agree with old bear.

While you MIGHT be right about the gun, you are wrong about the knife attack, while you are carving up "the Turk" the police captain/bodyguard would have put a bunch of holes in you.

Either the movie or the book I do not remember which said they had a special tape to put on the gun to preclude having identifiable finger prints!

PS my father was FBI (Full Blooded Italian)

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It's definitely a .38, and has a five-chamber cylinder. Likely a Chiefs Special. It also has football target stocks, can't be seen well due to tape covering the grip, but the large football is very visible on the left side. I don't think there were ever any I or J-frame football target stocks made, so stocks were probably for a K-frame adapted to the smaller frame. Ramp front sight would probably make it from 1952 or later.

Another thought - I think that scene was supposedly set in the few years just following WWII (mid-late 1940s). So a Chiefs Special would have been an anachronism, as would be the target stocks.

It's unlike any Colt that's ever been made.

It's possibly a S&W or a knock-off like a Taurus, INA, or Rossi.

A grade school friend (who later became a drug dealer and user) had an INA Tiger .32 that looked very much like it.

1. In the movie "Verna, USO Girl" starring Sissy Spacek, '70s era GIs at a training site stand in for WWII GIs... M16A1s with red blank adapters and all.
2. I recently saw a documentary about Mussolini in which some of his Black Shirts, prior to the March on Rome, are carrying M1 Carbines.
3. On the same channel as 2 above, I saw '20s and '30s gangsters with (I believe) Beretta 92s and L frame Smiths.

To a lot of movie makers, "anachronism" is the producer's girlfriend.

Gun anachronisms in movies are very common. How many old Westerns have you seen with 1870s cowboys using M92 Winchesters? Remember the M1917 Browning and the M1903A3 in "The Wild Bunch?" I will say that more recent movies have become much better at using prop guns contemporary to the period of the film.

looks like a 36,even has a flatlatch

DWalt,

I may just be misunderstanding you, but I have two pairs of J-frame football targets(from factory), and have seen many more. Maybe I'm missing something here.

Regards,
Andy

I don't know about the availability of J-frame football targets, but I agree with Dewalt's statements about them looking very oversized. With the size of the cutout, and the length of the stocks, they sure look like a set of K-frame targets that have been adapted to the J-frame to me.

It also seems to me that ejector lug and the gap under the barrel both appear larger due to a trick of the lighting - they are silhouetted by being lit from behind.

Does anybody else think those barrel walls look a little thin?

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While outwardly resembling a Chief's Special my vote is the gun is really a Japanese prop revolver, not a "real" gun.

It is beyond me how anyone could believe it is any model of Colt! ROFLMAO!!!!

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It is a 2" Chiefs Special with a flat latch.
It has Factory Target Grips on it.
The hammer spur is wrapped with tape.

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Lee Jarrett

You'll note the ejector rod end is supported. So it's not a Colt. It appears to be a DS at a distance primarily because the grip shape is similar to the Colt D frame.

OI don't think Colt. The ramp front looks Smith or Tauri. I think a period correct Colt would have a barleycorn.

They have made J frame Targets for many decades.
These fit both the round butt and the square butt.
Made in walnut, rosewood, and goncalo.
Smooth and checkered in all 3 woods.
Shown are walnut and goncalo.

Attached Images

	IMG_2471.jpg (94.1 KB, 32 views)
	IMG_2472.jpg (86.5 KB, 26 views)
	IMG_2473.jpg (92.0 KB, 24 views)

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Lee Jarrett

Here's the only other clear picture allegedly showing the gun in question, and that's pretty obviously a Chiefs Special/36.

Attached Images

Godfather snub.jpg (42.5 KB, 93 views)

Yup, and based on the size & shape of the "football" they are the target grips on the left in the photo that Lee posted above.

Quite obviously you've never met — Not an Italian — but a Sicilian* with a knife.

Here's a little personal anecdote for ya: The first time my Italian wife brought me home to meet her Neapolitan family, one of her aunts called me over to tell me how glad everyone was that her niece was dating a, 'nice Italian boy'.

I looked at her aunt, and replied, 'Thank you, Aunt Cecilia; but I'm not an Italian.' The woman looked shocked; and replied, 'Of course you are — Look at you!'

(Like you, I think she'd been in America too long, and had forgotten certain of the distinct differences between an Italian like you, and a Sicilian like me.)

Complications abound. In scenes in that movie showing a handgun being handled but not fired, a 1911 was used. If the gun was to be fired, a Star was used instead, as they are more reliable with movie blanks. The Star's external extractor can be seen here:

Interesting, I had not seen this before. That would be the Star Model "P"?

Kevin

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One famous use of the Star Model B was by hit man Jules Winnfield (played by Samuel L. Jackson) in the movie "Pulp Fiction." Most everyone thought it was a Model 1911. I had forgotten about the Star used in "The Wild Bunch."

"Either the movie or the book I do not remember which said they had a special tape to put on the gun to preclude having identifiable finger prints!"

Regarding the use of tape on the "Godfather" revolver grip and trigger, if in real life a black electrical tape called "Friction tape" would probably have been used. It was tacky on both sides, and it very likely would have been impossible to lift fingerprints from. I wonder if friction tape still exists? I haven't seen any for a long time. Everybody uses vinyl electrical tape now. I wonder if the "Godfather" gun had ALL the SNs removed?

In Pulp Fiction Jackson does refer to his gun as "Mr. 9MM" in one scene. But that could have been a 1911, too, though we now know it was really a Star. I bet it was the same one Tarantino used in From Dusk Till Dawn.

Story is that "Mr. 9mm" was Tarantino's personal gun.

I have a roll right here. We always used it on our hockey sticks. Now I just use it to wrap the grips on my revolvers.

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We used to use it on our baseballs when the cover came off.

Much cheaper to get a roll of friction tape out of Daddy's toolbox than to come up with a dollar to buy another ball.

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After looking over several times I believe it's a studio prop gun

Model B, usually in 9mm
Note also that the trigger pivots on a pin instead of sliding back and forth.