Rifles and movies

[sestoppelman]

My favorite, as far as hunting, scenery and old rifles is concerned, is a movie called 'JEREMIAH JOHNSON' starring Robert Redford. Was filmed all over Utah, if I remember correctly.

Yep, another favorite. Based on a real person. The movie that got me into Hawken rifles. Great movie, soundtrack and books. Mountain Man by Vardis Fisher and Crow Killer by Robert Bunker I believe are the two main stories the movie is based on. The one big booboo in the movie is the reference to a .30 caliber Hawken. Not likely such a small cal Hawken was ever made. 50 would have been about the smallest and most were .54 cal. A .30 cal round ball is like pea size! Not good for much over squirrels.

 

[DOC-404]

I can't recall if there was any 'hunting', but another favorite of mine was 'Quigley Down Under'. Tom Selleck sure was handy with that ol' Sharps of his.

 

[bobbytm]

Jeremiah Johnson and Quigley really are very nice movies !
brgds

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Joe Kidd. Not about hunting, but the shot Clint makes on the "bad" guy towards the end of the movie I was just wowing over when I was a kid. From down in a valley to some guy way up on a ridge. The delay between the shot being fired and bullet impact and the way that was captured I've always thought was pretty cool.

 

[enysse]

Joe Kidd. Not about hunting, but the shot Clint makes on the "bad" guy towards the end of the movie I was just wowing over when I was a kid. From down in a valley to some guy way up on a ridge. The delay between the shot being fired and bullet impact and the way that was captured I've always thought was pretty cool.

You are right. When I was younger...all I liked to watch was Clint Eastwood western movie or "spagetti westerns".

 

[sestoppelman]

Check out Valdez is Coming with Burt Lancaster. He puts a Sharps to good use in the movie. Even without that its still a great western.

 

[Ole Bally]

OK I have a pet hate!!! In one scene of the movie / documentary / espn hunting shows!!! the guys got one gun in hand with which he shot whatever or was carrying in the scene....the next he's posing - supposedly seconds or minutes later - with an entirely different one! Focus man focus!!!!

 

[DOC-404]

OK I have a pet hate!!!

...like the WW2 movie where an SS guy is wearing a Casio Protrek..?

 

[Ole Bally]

Yes Docman , but really like Sarah Palin (on ESPN) shooting (at?) a Caribou on the tundra with a 7mm Mag and then you see her approaching (seconds later supposedly) the downed critter with a lever action carbine sort of thing!
poor editing I suppose!

 

[DOC-404]

Yup, you notice these things quickly when you grow up around guns and some of the Hollywood guys just don't do their homework..!

 

[philip in china]

One thing that amuses me in films is when the experienced shooter has to take the rifle out of his shoulder, look at it for a couple of seconds and only then cycle the bolt! Sure sign of over acting and pitiful realism.

 

[Jay Kelley]

I believe John Wayne's rifle in Hatari was a M70 in .458 Winchester.

Reportedly, he actually killed an elephant during the filming and many of the capture scenes were done by the actors (Wayne's lines had to be dubbed because of his cursing)

Also like Burt's double rifle in Tremors. I've heard everything from a 600 NE to an 8 bore on it's caliber, but whatever it was, it was cool.

 

[PAoutlaw]

I love the old John Wayne movies (grew up watching them) but did anyone ever notice that in alot of his movies that were supposed to be right after the civil war (mid to later 1860's) he carried a Winchester 1892 and a Colt 1873 Peacemaker??? Who says time travel wasn't possible?

 

[Rob404]

I love the old John Wayne movies (grew up watching them) but did anyone ever notice that in alot of his movies that were supposed to be right after the civil war (mid to later 1860's) he carried a Winchester 1892 and a Colt 1873 Peacemaker??? Who says time travel wasn't possible?

With John Wayne,, all things are possible

 

[bdmd5093]

In the lastest Bond film,Skyfall, the double rifle Bond uses on the moors is his "father's old hunting rifle," an Anderson Wheeler 500 Nitro Express.

 

[Cliffy]

How about "Tom Horn" With Steve McQueen and I was going to mention "Breaker Morant" for its connection with the South Africa of old.

 

[DG Gunsmith]

I believe John Wayne's rifle in Hatari was a M70 in .458 Winchester.

Reportedly, he actually killed an elephant during the filming and many of the capture scenes were done by the actors (Wayne's lines had to be dubbed because of his cursing)

Also like Burt's double rifle in Tremors. I've heard everything from a 600 NE to an 8 bore on it's caliber, but whatever it was, it was cool.

It was a Belgian made 8-Bore Double...

 

[fourfive8]

Have wondered what that Tremors graboid popper double rifle was

I used to get irritated at inaccuracies with incorrect/out of place and time prop guns. But not so much anymore. I can't imagine the nightmare it would be to properly outfit ever single movie or TV show to correct time and location for the huge number of props required. Lately I just go with the flow. There are only so many of each possible type of firearm available, no matter how many are in storage or for rent by prop houses. Now if it gets to the point where a pirate, in the the 1700s, pulls out an AR and starts shooting, well I guess I'll have to draw the line! Usually I just let it slide if for example they pull out a percussion caplock pistol when the movie is decent otherwise. Plus why ruin enjoying the fantasy of any movie with trivia of small errors, particularly when it is one of the support cast in a big battle episode. But, for the most part, most directors and producers seem pretty good about matching their prop firearms to time and place. It seems most of the time they make an honest effort to do so.

One of the most obvious errors was likely a design "have to". It was the Winchester Model 1892 loop lever used in the very popular Rifleman TV series. It was modified with a small set screw added by the show's armorer/gunsmith. The set screw was in the trigger bow and contacted the tip of the trigger just as the action closed. This allowed for the fast rate of fire of the loop lever M92 44-40 used in the show. The only problem with using an M92 is the show's setting is in SW New Mexico in +/- 1887. The correct rifle or carbine of that era would have been the Win M1873 but the producer and armorer, IIRC, decided the '73 simply wasn't as suitable for the modification as was the '92 and the audience either wouldn't know or care much if it was a little out of the correct time setting.

I get a kick out of seeing or noticing jams and off-synch report noise to shots and smoke. Seems to happen most often in larger battle scenes with many supporting actors firing this, that or the other type guns. In the African Queen, some of the German Army's local conscripts manning the fort on the river are shown really fighting with and jamming some of their bolt actions as they are shooting at the African Queen as she chugs by.

Some non-firearm props on shows/movies are also real head scratchers. Recently I was watching an old episode of Dr Who, obviously filmed on a stage set in England. There was a neck/shoulder mount of an NA Pronghorn on the wall of the house or apt. How in the world did the prop house in England, supplying the show, end up with a pronghorn in inventory and why did the director use it? Made me chuckle and wonder anyway

 

[wswolf]

The Internet Movie Firearm Database (www.imfdb.org) identifies the firearms used in a great many movies.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Who could ever forget this classic...........with a sling mounted mini-gun no less