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Old December 4, 2012, 12:31 AM   #1
Prof Young
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TV and Movie Cops and Guns

So why is it that every TV and movie cop in the whole world immediately puts their finger in the trigger guard every time they pick up a gun, even if it's just to look at it. I'd think the film industry weapons people would know that that is not a real world cop and teach their actors better.

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Old December 4, 2012, 01:54 AM   #2
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For the same reason the guns continue to go bang after the slide locks back?
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Old December 4, 2012, 02:03 AM   #3
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Ignorance. I was working with a vet actor who said that he was being told to hold an AR15 by both the pistol grip and forward grip while running full sprint in tactical gear. Mind you the forward grip was at the /end/ of the handguard rail
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Old December 4, 2012, 06:02 AM   #4
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For the same reason they get 20 shots out of a 10 round magazine. They get at least 12 out of a 6 shot revolver. lol
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Old December 4, 2012, 09:04 AM   #5
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They are actors. In their world style triumphs over substance every time.

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Old December 4, 2012, 03:14 PM   #6
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Quote:
They are actors. In their world style triumphs over substance every time.
+1. Also, the last time I checked...
  • Pistols don't automatically make a "ka-CHIK" sound whenever they're drawn from a holster.
  • Guns must be aimed in order to hit things, even at close range.
  • It's really difficult to hit a man-sized target beyond contact distance while shooting from the hip.
  • High-powered rifles have stout recoil that requires shooter recovery, and the muzzle blast is painfully deafening when firing indoors without hearing protection.
  • Ammo is heavy. It's physically demanding to carry enough of it to sustain constant rapid fire for several minutes.
  • Even a physically fit 19-year-old soldier has difficulty running and bounding over obstacles while carrying a machine gun, several hundred rounds of ammo (see above), full body armor, and a pack containing a full complement of sleeping gear and food.
  • There's not an loud "whiff-POCK" sound when you punch someone.
  • Tires don't squeal on loose dirt or gravel roads.
  • Airplanes don't immediately assume a 45-degree nose-down attitude and make a screeching sound when the controls are released.
  • Auto accidents don't sound like breaking glass.
Hollywood fiction is... fiction.
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Old December 4, 2012, 03:18 PM   #7
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It make the show or movie more dramatic if the gun is constantly in shot and waving about. This is why I can't watch most movies anymore, that are gun related, I just end up getting annoyed.
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Old December 7, 2012, 02:55 PM   #8
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[QUOTE][Tires don't squeal on loose dirt or gravel roads/QUOTE]

Sometimes, they do. I clearly heard mine do it as I slid off a gravel road one time. Most of the time though, if they do, we don't hear it.

One thing that really bugs me is how all the empty guns go "click, click, click" after they run dry. Not just DA revolvers, but everything! Clearly Hollywood knows that when you pull the trigger, a gun goes "click" if it doesn't fire. Every gun,every time....
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Old December 7, 2012, 03:23 PM   #9
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In Hollywood's defence: Sheriff in Aliens Vs Predator Requiem has finger on slide when investigating a parked truck. In the Way of the Gun, the gun work seems quite realistic.

(if it wasn't, keep it to yourself: I really like that film and don't want the illusion ruined... thank you!!)

Aside from that, yes agree with the OP!
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Old December 7, 2012, 04:59 PM   #10
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Most of this stuff doesn’t really bother me, but I saw one the other day where the detective pulls out his GLOCK then a second later you hear him cock the hammer.
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Old December 8, 2012, 12:59 AM   #11
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I seen a movie recently where two guys came in on another and they both pulled revolvers and you heard them both ka-chink and chambered rounds.
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Old December 8, 2012, 02:20 AM   #12
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Just seen one yesterday where a group of training FBI agents were at an indoor shooting range and as the camera panned through each actor firing their large caliber pistols, not a one of them showed any sign of recoil. I wish it was that easy.
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Old December 8, 2012, 01:02 PM   #13
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Quote:
They get at least 12 out of a 6 shot revolver.
What, you never heard of the extended cylinder option for revolvers?
They're fully endorsed by Hoolwood and can double or triple any revolvers capacity.
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Old December 8, 2012, 01:16 PM   #14
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A tad off topic, but I'd like to see a law that would make it illegal for anti-gun actors to be able to EVER use or touch a firearm in any movie. Sure would make for some "interesting" movies ... and fewer of them too!
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Old December 8, 2012, 01:28 PM   #15
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I always find it hilarious finding such goofs.

My favorite so far is in The Walking Dead. Now this is my favorite series on TV right now next to Southland...in the very first episode, Rick tells a deputy to make sure he "had a round in the chamber, and the safety off". Of course, the safety was on, so the deputy audibly clicks it off.

Which would be fine, if it weren't a standard Glock 17
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Old December 8, 2012, 01:50 PM   #16
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I watched an old Columbo film last night. The bad guy used a .38 special revolver with a silencer. Sure enough, when fired it just went "Phhhht" with no audible sound...
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Old December 8, 2012, 02:10 PM   #17
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What, you never heard of the extended cylinder option for revolvers?
Of COURSE we’ve heard of it but since Hollywood is in California it isn’t allowed there any more.
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Old December 8, 2012, 08:00 PM   #18
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Yeah that walking dead episode where he took the safety off of a glock is hilarious.
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Old December 10, 2012, 06:50 PM   #19
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Another goofy issue is I can't count how many times cops pull there weapons out of holster then have to rack a round into the chamber. Where in the wrold are all of these crazy cops who don't carry their weapons with rounds in the chamber?
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Old December 11, 2012, 02:13 AM   #20
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And then there is the opposite, the totally unexpected good gun handling.

For no ulterior motive whatsoever I was watching a Jack Lemmon movie ‘How To Murder Your Wife’ (and I was watching it with my wife, so there!).

Jack Lemmon plays a cartoonist that draws a secret agent comic strip but he acts everything out in real life that he draws.

In getting ready to go out on a caper his butler hands him his snub nosed .38 and the very first thing Lemmon does with no fanfare or comment is swing out the cylinder to check the load.
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Old December 11, 2012, 09:24 AM   #21
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Same reason that actors can cock Glocks, continue to shoot on an empty mag, fire 346 rounds without reloading (unless it's convenient), and disassemble a Beretta 92 one-handed via some manner of ninja voodoo.

Might also be the same reasoning behind movie cops shooting fleeing suspects, last I knew that was a no-no.

It's showy, flashy, and exciting, especially considering that the a lot of the people who enjoy the movies are not really gun people.

Me? I try to ignore all these things and just enjoy the show or movie. If you're calling out everything that was done wrong after every movie shoot-out, it won't be long until no one wants to watch with you anymore

Quote:
Guns must be aimed in order to hit things, even at close range.
What, you don't have any of those newfangled heat-seeking bullets?
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Old December 11, 2012, 10:14 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deadcoyote
Another goofy issue is I can't count how many times cops pull there weapons out of holster then have to rack a round into the chamber. Where in the wrold are all of these crazy cops who don't carry their weapons with rounds in the chamber?
This is the one that makes me nuts. It doesn't matter if it's a semiauto pistol, a shotgun, rifle . . . apparently, nobody in TV-Land ever carries anying (except maybe a revolver) with a round in the chamber. Cops gonna kick in a door? Always wait until you're right at the door to chamber a round. . . You know, because nothing bad could happen before then.
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Old December 11, 2012, 10:33 AM   #23
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apparently, nobody in TV-Land ever carries anying (except maybe a revolver) with a round in the chamber.
Not necessarily, they always seem to go for single-action mode on a first shot
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Old December 11, 2012, 10:37 AM   #24
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I was catching up on the Walking Dead over the past week (don't worry, not going to turn this into a Zombie thread), and one of the episodes, might have been the first in Season 3, not a single gun had any recoil. It was very difficult for me to suspend my disbelief.
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Old December 11, 2012, 12:14 PM   #25
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Did you ever see anyone in a movie or on television have an accident with a gun? Of course, that never happens in real life, either. Or how about this: the person shooting either runs out of ammo or it jams, which seems to happen a lot, too, and he just throws the gun away, not necessarily at the other guy. Only the bad guy does that!

As far as sound goes, most, but not all, of the audio in movies is added after the fact because of technical reasons. Mostly it is just voices that are recorded. It took a while before they got that worked out, too. But that's why car engines often don't sound right and why lots of other sounds are never heard.

Now and then you will learn something that is surprising. Elmer Keith once mentioned something about how movies give a false idea of the capabilities of guns, particularly handguns. He said something about how hits are made by someone off camera using a rifle. I didn't believe him. Well, he was sort of correct, though I have no idea how he came by his information. I saw a photo of such a thing being filmed. The scene was probably being filmed in the 1940s or 1950s.

The scene was a close up. The camera and the actor were just a yard or two apart. As I recall, the actor was down on the ground (this was a Western). The camera was screened or protected by something like plexiglass. A man with a rifle was shooting into the ground just a few feet away, presumably to create the effect of a bullet striking the ground. I don't recall where I saw the photo but it was a very surprising thing. I doubt it would have been in a B movie because they were made on the cheap and they wouldn't have gone to the trouble. These days, the effect would have been achieved in other ways, of course, and there's always the special effects that weren't even around 30 years ago. I must try to find that scene.

In older movies one does see empty cases being ejected from lever action rifles but these days you don't even see that.
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