Bronson's S&W in Death Wish- ID anyone?

dplunkett187

dplunkett187

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If anyone can ID the nickel/pearl .32 from the original I would greatly appreciate it. Bronson's character, Paul Kersey received it as a gift from Ames Jainchill, the developer in Arizona. We all know the infamous Wildey from the 3rd entry in the series but I've often wondered what model his S&W revolver was and I'm sure it's a pre 45 gun so I figured I'd park my post here. Thanks in advance fellas.
 
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If anyone can ID the nickel/pearl .32 from the original I would greatly appreciate it. Bronson's character, Paul Kersey received it as a gift from Ames Jainchill, the developer in Arizona. We all know the infamous Wildey from the 3rd entry in the series but I've often wondered what model his S&W revolver was and I'm sure it's a pre 45 gun so I figured I'd park my post here. Thanks in advance fellas.
 
I think this is a screen cap from the film, but I'm not sure. Sometimes the guns used in promotional stuff aren't the ones used in the actual movie, but I think this is the gun:

9728.jpg
 
Originally posted by sigp220.45:
I think this is a screen cap from the film, but I'm not sure. Sometimes the guns used in promotional stuff aren't the ones used in the actual movie, but I think this is the gun:

9728.jpg
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the gun. Good catch on the pic there. The single action revolvers he used were in Jainchill's firing range. This would be the one I'm searching for.
 
Bronson used the .32 Regulation Police in "Death Wish." Since 1902, the .32 S&W Long has been used by many men/women of Law Enforcement to good effect.

Scott
 
Sorry guys, please don't hate me, but when I saw this thread my first thought was that the gun used was a.....a.....Colt.....like a Police Positive.

But I wanted to be sure before saying anything so I got into the web some and found an old movie trailer. It showed the gun, but not too well and pretty fast, but I managed to get a pic of it off my computer screen (read NOT good quality).
Deathwishgun.jpg


I was looking at the longish cylinder flutes and the round looking cylinder latch, but I still wasn't sure.

We went to town tonight for groceries and stopped at the video rental place....yeah, they had it....it sure looks like a Police Positive Special to me, unless Bronson has right big hands and it's an Official Police. Here's two more pics taken off my cheap TV screen:

32DeathWish001.jpg

32DeathWish002.jpg


And a short video if you want to see it: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5414319194141788801&hl=en

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Wow, nice work. That last picture sure looks like a nickle Police Positive to me.
 
Looks like I stirred up quite the debate here. Lord knows I'm not a be all and end all expert. I just had glanced at the gun when he first took it out of the package and thought I spotted a S&W emblem on the side. No mistaking the 475 Wildey in Part 3 though
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Good work guys
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I just looked at one on GB and I gotta agree that it's a Police Positive. Pretty nice specimen on there right now but I'd kill for one with the presentation case just like the one Charlie had. Oh well, I'll dream on
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I'll throw my .02c in. I have seen the movie a few times although not recently. I always thought it was a Colt, Police Positive would have been my first guess-.32 cal is mentioned in the film at some point IIRC. The photo above is fairly clear about it being a Colt, I would not be convinced that it is a Police Positive on all counts. There was a slightly different model that had a smaller grip frame that was the Pocket Positive, either way it certainly appears to be a shorter cylinder than anything made after WWII/.38 special.
 
It is claimed to be a .32 in the film. If I were the Bronson character riding the subways looking for muggers to dispatch, I'd want more than a .32 S&W!
 
In the original Death Wish novel, author Brian Garfield had the character using a .38 Special. After the movie prop department for some reason equipped Bronson's character with a .32, Garfield says he received scores of letters from people lecturing him about stopping power and the .32's inadequacy.
 
Very interesting. I would realistically have to say that I would not carry a .32 in the scenario that Bronson was in but I suppose the best explanation was that he simply used what he had. I did not know in the novel that the character had a .38 so that's interesting to learn. Either option would be more reliable than the Wildey, IMO. The experiences I've had personally with those firearms is they're essentially a $1500 single shot pistol....they hang that badly. A heckuva conversation piece nonetheless
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Originally posted by dplunkett187:
Very interesting. I would realistically have to say that I would not carry a .32 in the scenario that Bronson was in but I suppose the best explanation was that he simply used what he had.
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Well, it must have been a very good .32 (musta been a .32-20 huh?), because I just watched the movie and I'd say that eight of his ten first hits on bad guys caused 'one shot stops'.
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Funny, once we get to the last movie we see he has gone from a Police Positive .32 S&W to a .50 Semi Auto (or some kind of sledge hammer of a gun).
I think in the second movie he is using a Beretta or a Browning Hi Power 9mm
 
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