Movie guns

[Hawg]

I've mentioned this before, but in 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral', (1957 IIRC) watch for the scene with Burt Lancaster in the jail house.

He is seated and playing with the ladder rear sight on a long barrel Colt SAA.
That gun was the original.

What do you meant by "the"? Most guns used in 57 were originals.

[Jim Watson]

I remember cringing every time I saw him work the block without ever bringing the rifle to half cock first.

A friend who shoots Shiloh Sharps (I am a Highwall man) says that a guy name of Kirk Bryan doesn't half cock either. He owns the company so I guess he can get spare firing pins cheap.


I had an old Gun Digest with an article on western movie guns of the 1950s.
Nearly all were originals, no mass produced originals made at the time, although they proudly showed a fake Walker Colt.

SAAs were easy but not all actors could be bothered to learn how to shoot one, so there were double action revolvers faked up with dummy extractor rod housings, some even with butts remodeled to plow handle shape so they would look better in the holster.

Dummy flint cocks and frizzens were added to Trapdoors to produce "muskets."

Blanks were loaded to suit the scene, blast and smoke for daylight, flash for low light. That sort of stuff faked in post production manipulation now.

There was a chapter on special effects, many done with a big bore air gun firing ball bearings to break windows, capsules like paintballs full of "blood" or even dust for misses.
The prop man even had a barrel for the air gun that would launch a knife with a guard that filled the bore and a 1" blade. The actor to be hit with a "thrown" knife would wear a board under his shirt. Poof - plunk. Got to trust your prop man's aim on that one.

[g.willikers]

It's not surprising that stunt men and women strived to become actors.
At least then they were less expendable being expected to be in more than one scene.

[Hawg]

There was a chapter on special effects, many done with a big bore air gun firing ball bearings to break windows, capsules like paintballs full of "blood" or even dust for misses

I remember seeing a tv show once, must have been over 40 years ago now showing how they did some of that stuff. They showed the blood bullets and the capsules actors kept in their mouth to bite down on when they were shot so blood would leak out of their mouths. They had bullets for shooting stuff like mirrors that left big splotches that looked like jagged holes. They had ropes tied around their waists and when they got shot with a shotgun there would be guys behind a wall snatch the ropes and jerk them backwards into the wall. it was pretty neat the way they did some of it.

[Jim Watson]

Trivia: In black and white, chocolate syrup looks like blood.

[Hawg]

Trivia: In black and white, chocolate syrup looks like blood.

Does that mean if they weren't careful they could have put blood in their milkshakes? Sorry, couldn't help myself.

[Slopemeno]

The special effects guns were "Sweeney Guns" made by Matt Sweeney. Here's paintball historian Dan Bacci showing one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3muvgqTF1xU

I remember seeing a show about 30 years ago that covered firearms special effects and showed how they were able to shoot gel-filled capsules that simulated hits on a windshield, as well as flash-powder filled capsules that sparked when they hit hard objects.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy Again

The classic James Stewart western Winchester '73 was made in 1950, before Italian replicas came onto the scene. All of the firearms used are originals. There one brief one shot during the shooting contest of a Winchester Model 1892 with fore stock removed to look like a Henry rifle. In another scene, when actor Charles Drake, as the character Steve Miller, states he has a Henry rifle, he is clearly holding a Model 1873, and when Dutch Henry complains about the lack of power with the old Henry rifles, he too is shooting a '73.

The 1 of 1000 Winchester at the center of the story was a run of the mill Model 1873 that was sent back to Winchester and customized to look like a 1 of 1000 Winchester.

In the climactic gun battle scene where Lin McAdam (James Stewart) and Dutch Henry Brown shoot it out among rugged rock outcroppings, there are many bullet strikes near the actors. I remember an interview with Stewart where he stated that a marksman was shooting real bullets near them, and he was being struck by rock fragments as the bullets hit.

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

Nothing is real in a movie/s. That's why they call everything props.

[Soclosenotnear]

I just wish people saw the Walther ppk not as James Bond's gun, but instead what it really is: Austin power's gun.

Edit:// just realized we are in the north corral. Whoops.

[SG29736]

I've seen information that the "1 of 1,000 and 1 of 100" rifles was not a success for Winchester. The idea was that these rifles came off the line, and were hand picked as being extra good. Instead, many perceived the other rifles as sub standard. They weren't that highly sought after by collectors until after the movie came out. Mark

[reinert]

The guy who did the shooting in "Winchester 73" was the great Herb Parsons. He used a .348 Winchester to hit the coins in "reel time" tossed in the air that Jimmy Stewart hit to win the rifle in the movie. Herb's .348 is in the Buffalo Bill museum in Cody, WY. One of the coins Mr. Parsons hit in the movie is in-letted into the stock of the .348, along with carved-in autographs of the main actors in the film.

[Boogershooter]

What about the movie Sabota? At the end of the movie Lee Van Cleef has a lever action carbine and a barrel extension for it. I havnt seen that movie in ages but always wondered about that. Anybody know what that was?

[Hawg]

The movie was Sabata and the gun was a prop.

[4V50 Gary]

I used to love going to to theatre on Saturdays to watch a couple of Lee van Cleef flicks that were back to back. Seventy-five and later ninety-nine cents in the seventies (it was twenty-five cents in the sixties). Good times.

BTW, I did not know they used real marksmen to shoot real bullets near the actors in some of those movies. Thanks D_J!

[Hawg]

In my home town around 1966 it was a dime. A quarter would get you in and buy a Coke and a candy bar with change left.

[deerslayer303]

^^^ Whoa. Yall are making me feel very young as I can't remember a movie ever being cheaper than 4.50 and that was a Matinee'

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[Hawg]

Whoa. Yall are making me feel very young as I can't remember a movie ever being cheaper than 4.50 and that was a Matinee'

Movie was a dime, Cokes were 6 cents and a candy bar was a nickel. I don't remember what popcorn was, don't remember ever buying any. Now that I think about it it may have a few years earlier. Black people had to watch from the balcony and whites were on the floor.

[deerslayer303]

Wow, shoot now a Coke, popcorn and some candy will set you back more than the movie. I'm so in the wrong line of work.

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[Hawg]

For two people here it takes about 35.00 now if you get large drinks and a large popcorn.

[James K]

I don't now recall the movie, but years ago I read an interview with a director who went on and on about how he made sure the Civil War uniform buttons had the proper insignia, the boots were all made to the proper specs, the canteens were exact copies of the originals, etc.

But the director's desire for accuracy didn't extend to weapons. The soldiers were all armed with trapdoor Springfields, and the officers carried 1873 Colts.

Jim

[SIGSHR]

Sounds like The Red Badge of Courage with Audie Murphy. The uniforms, etc.. are all Indian Wars, the troops have the crossed rifle on their Kepis, that wasn't authorized until 1875. The canteens in the stills I have seen look they have the post 1883 khaki covers stamped "U.S."
Again, I like the Nock Volley Gun in The Alamo. Did its inventor, James Wilson, give any thought to what it would be like to fire SEVEN Brown Besses at once ?

[armedleo]

Great thread. You guys have an eye for this stuff that I'd say is remarkable.

So, has there been a movie made that you guys give the stamp of approval on because they actually got it right for the period?

[deerslayer303]

^^^ I'm a Novice when it come to Antique Arms and Armament, but The Patriot looked good to me. Only cause it's one of my favorite movies!!

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[4V50 Gary]

I wonder how many of those prop guns in the Patriot were rubber Brown Besses and muskets?