The Victory Model in Cinema: The Odessa File

[ordnanceguy]

Gentlemen:

I like old movies, and I like 'em even more when there are Smith & Wessons involved. The other night I happened to watch "The Odessa File" filmed in 1974 in West Germany and which starred Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell and a lot of other guys who convincingly played a bunch of ex-Nazis. The film was based on the best seller of the same name by Frederick Forsyth.

The premise of the film is that Voight, a West German journalist, is infiltrating the Odessa Organization in the hunt for a prominent SS war criminal. The Odessa Organization was a shadowy group whose function was to assist ex-Nazis in getting new identities or escaping to other countries. When the bad guys learn of Voight's plans they send an assassin to kill him, armed with a 5 inch 38-200 S&W Victory Model. The assassin even has a silencer he mounts on the revolver, a rather dubious proposition. Anyway, Voight ends up with the revolver and uses it to good effect for the rest of the film.

I managed to irritate my wife by playing back several scenes that allowed me to identify the gun. In one scene Voight holds the revolver up to the camera and the characteristic smooth walnut stocks and lanyard ring are evident.

I searched around for some still photos of Voight with the gun and the one below is the best I could find. Here he is seen confronting the fiendish character played by Maximilian Schell.

The film was actually quite entertaining. While it is not up to "Bourne Identity" standards as a thriller, it was much better than I had expected and held my interest throughout, although perhaps that was due in part to the Victory.

Can anyone else remember a motion picture "starring" the Victory? The only other film I can think of is "The Bridges of Toko Ri" with William Holden armed with the reliable Victory as a Navy pilot in Korea.

 

[RenoGuy]

In case you didn't know, there is a website which tracks guns in movies and some TV. It's called the Internet Movie Firearms Database, and can be found at this link:

Main Page - imfdb :. guns in movies :. movie guns :. the internet movie firearms database

They have a page about "The Odessa Files" here:

Odessa File, The - imfdb :. guns in movies :. movie guns :. the internet movie firearms database

According to them, the S&W in the film was a Model 10 shown with and without a suppressor (scroll down the Odessa page to see scenes with the Model 10)

Also, you can search for specific firearms to see where they show up in different movies. A search for S&W Victory Models turns up here:

Smith & Wesson Victory Model - imfdb :. guns in movies :. movie guns :. the internet movie firearms database

Looks like it appeared in two films and two TV shows.

IMFDB is a very interesting site and I've done a lot of searching around there from time to time.

 

[DWalt]

I think there was one in PT 109 with Cliff Robertson as JFK - but I'd have to see the movie to be sure. But it's not mentioned in IMDB.

 

[Texas Star]

IMDB has numerous errors, but remains a useful search place.

Thanks for the tip on The Odessa File. I like Forsyth's books, but didn't read that one.

I loved both the book and the movie to, "Day of the Jackal."
No S&W's, though.

 

[Malysh]

I was going to ask how you know it was a Victory instead of a Mod 10, but RenoGuy beat me to it. The suppressor on the S&W revolver is just Hollywood, of course.

Great movie. I've seen it about 6 times, and could see it more often if I wanted to due to cable. I originally saw this movie when it was first run. Heck, they've turned Bladerunner into the cable equivalent of radio stations playing Stairway to Heaven, they run that movie so often. It's overexposure.

Although I enjoy the Bourne movies, I'd take The Odessa File over any of them. I don't know your age, and I'm getting up there, so it may be a generational thing.

As far as the books they came from, I've read all of Frederick Forsythe's books and Robt. Ludlum's books and I'll take Frederick Forsythe books over Robt. Ludlum books any day.
If you are a reader, I'd suggest reading the original book and you may also like The Day of the Jackal, about a plot to assassinate Charles DeGaulle by fellow French officers who had served in Algeria. It is also based on historical events like the Odessa File although both are fiction.

 

[ordnanceguy]

Thanks for the link to the movie gun site. I was not familiar with it.

In reading a little bit on that site there do seem to be a few errors evident. While I could not see the serial number of the Voight S&W in the Odessa File, the gun was a parkerized, 5 inch barreled Smith with smooth walnut stocks and a lanyard ring. No Model 10 fits those characteristics, unless it has been modified. The movie site seems to make the common error of assuming that all Military & Police revolvers are Model 10s.

Yes, I have both read and seen "Day of the Jackal", also written by Forsyth. Another barn burner of a movie.

 

[1HAWKEYE]

Dwalt's right,Cliff Robertson has a Victory model hanging around his neck when they are wading ashore after the 109 went down.

 

[ordnanceguy]

Dwalt's right,Cliff Robertson has a Victory model hanging around his neck when they are wading ashore after the 109 went down.

Bingo! Just found this of Cliff as JFK armed with a Victory.

 

[mikepriwer]

An interesting feature of those two photos is that the gun is loaded with something.
Typically today, the revolvers are always empty - nothing in the chambers !

Mike Priwer

 

[DWalt]

PT 109 was on the Military Channel last night, and I watched it solely to see about the Victory Model. There were numerous scenes showing Robertson walking around with a revolver in a flap-type belt holster, and there are at least five scenes with Robertson holding the revolver in his hand, including one near the end in which he fires three recognition shots in the air (because he has only three rounds - why this is is not explained), plus another V-model fired in response by an officer on the rescue PT boat. There are numerous scenes of both Robertson and Robert Culp in the water with Kennedy's V-Model on a chain through the lanyard loop around their respective necks. I find it odd that the revolver is always shown as being in a leather holster in those chain-around-the-neck scenes, but it is not the same flap-type holster seen earlier. Why would it have been kept in a holster?

The revolver can be seen well enough to determine that it is a V-Model. The stills shown above are better at showing it.

It is obvious from our present perspective that the movie was a form of political propaganda made to portray JFK as a war hero, as it was released in 1963, during his administration and before his assassination. There are many who believe that his actions that night were far from heroic, and that he would have likely been court-martialed for allowing his command to be rammed without warning by a Japanese destroyer and jeopardizing the lives of his crew had his name not been Kennedy. The movie shows PT 109 as having radar. Maybe it wasn't working while the destroyer approached. but that also is not explained.