Is your action/war film enjoyment reduced?

[Old Dog]

The OP asks

Is your enjoyment of action/war films reduced by your knowledge of firearms?

I wouldn't say that my enjoyment is reduced, though I will confess to fleeting moments of disappointment when the blunders and inaccuracies occur in otherwise worthy movies.

I've gone back and collected everything Michael Mann ever made (including the first two -- the best -- seasons of Miami Vice) and have to say that he and his production crews seem to have made the best efforts to get things right.

Don't know if it's just wishful thinking, but it almost seems to me sometimes that there are some directors and producers around who are striving for accuracy, and even on network television, the prop guns and gun-play seem to be much improved ... Even on a somewhat silly show like the new "Hawaii Five-O" someone is paying attention to what's going on in the law enforcement gun world these days, at least insofar as the actual firearms being used by the cast.

I am always more let down by bad or totally implausible plots and can overlook minor errors in the gun stuff as long as the filmmaker gets it mostly right.

 

[begemot93]

The OP asks
I wouldn't say that my enjoyment is reduced, though I will confess to fleeting moments of disappointment when the blunders and inaccuracies occur in otherwise worthy movies.

I've gone back and collected everything Michael Mann ever made (including the first two -- the best -- seasons of Miami Vice) and have to say that he and his production crews seem to have made the best efforts to get things right.

Don't know if it's just wishful thinking, but it almost seems to me sometimes that there are some directors and producers around who are striving for accuracy, and even on network television, the prop guns and gun-play seem to be much improved ... Even on a somewhat silly show like the new "Hawaii Five-O" someone is paying attention to what's going on in the law enforcement gun world these days, at least insofar as the actual firearms being used by the cast.

I am always more let down by bad or totally implausible plots and can overlook minor errors in the gun stuff as long as the filmmaker gets it mostly right.

I agree that some filmmakers now try harder for authenticity, which is why it's even more disappointing when some continue to phone it in.

I wasn't a fan of Miami Vice but like Mann's movies. Collateral comes to mind as an example of accurate depiction of gun use.

As far as recent TV shows, I think Strike Back stands out in that regard.

 

[Schwing]

While I try to ignore it, some things drive me crazy. The last one that really made me shake my head was the magic Lever action rifle that the guy in Jurassic world kept firing without working the lever.

Some others that are almost universal in movies and tv are the sound effects for rocking back the hammer whenever someone pulls out a Glock and guys that seem to have an odd recoil that causes the weapon to jump forward AWAY from the shooter when it goes off

 

[acdodd]

It's not just gun mistakes.
I laugh at some of the stupid things on TV.
Season opener of Blue Bloods had a terrorist in the hospital.
He was shot in the chest several times so to keep him alive they put him on a life support.
Problem was it was a CPAP nasal mask so he could still say his lines.
I just shake my head and move along.

 

[stoky]

The more you know about anything, you will see more mistakes in movies.

......or Lame Stream Media "news"

 

[jmace57]

I can remember as a fairly young child in the early 60's, being really bugged by gunfighters in the old westerns having Colt or S&W DA revolvers from an obviously different time.

I can remember watching "Where Eagles Dare" as a kid, and going from liking it to disliking it when a Bell helicopter with Nazi markings lands. Also seeing WW2 movies with American tanks with German markings. Oh well....

 

[bearcreek]

The thing that really gets me pissed off and "reduces enjoyment" of movies is the inaccuracies regarding firearms registration and licensing and ballistics. I'm nearly convinced it's done on purpose in some cases to get people used to the idea so that if it ever happened for real they'd think it was already that way and just take it. The handling screwups can be annoying at times but don't "reduce enjoyment" per se.

 

[tark]

Not only do I get tired of seeing misuse, improper use, the wrong gun for the time period, The gun chambering a round every time the camera returns to a character and so on.... I get sick of the silly, stupid things actors do, which the tech adviser to the film should have caught. Semi auto rifles in the movies do not exist, everyone is seen firing long, full auto bursts. At enemies sometimes hundreds of feet away.

And in Saving Private Ryan, when Tom Hanks and his men come upon the Machine gun nest undetected, there is a perfect example. In real life they would have just shot the Germans dead before they ever knew the Americans were there. Can't have THAT! Not dramatic enough! Had to find a way to kill the medic, I guess.

If you want to watch a movie where the guns and tactics are correct, watch any John Milius movie, or, my gold standard; The Sand Pebbles, directed by Robert Wise, starring Steve McQueen and Richard Crenna. All guns are period correct and used realistically.

 

[samweller]

It depends on how glaring it is. I am a WW II and Civil War buff, so I am a bit more picky about those movies. The good Civil War movies use re-enactors, and those guys are usually sticklers for accuracy and detail. Some things that bother others don't bother me, like in Pearl Harbor they had the ships arranged a bit differently from the actual attack for filming convenience. I had a little trouble with American trainers painted up as Zeros, though. But, Kate Beckinsale's presence made it all ok...

 

[samweller]

Not only do I get tired of seeing misuse, improper use, the wrong gun for the time period, The gun chambering a round every time the camera returns to a character and so on.... I get sick of the silly, stupid things actors do, which the tech adviser to the film should have caught. Semi auto rifles in the movies do not exist, everyone is seen firing long, full auto bursts. At enemies sometimes hundreds of feet away.

And in Saving Private Ryan, when Tom Hanks and his men come upon the Machine gun nest undetected, there is a perfect example. In real life they would have just shot the Germans dead before they ever knew the Americans were there. Can't have THAT! Not dramatic enough! Had to find a way to kill the medic, I guess.

If you want to watch a movie where the guns and tactics are correct, watch any John Milius movie, or, my gold standard; The Sand Pebbles, directed by Robert Wise, starring Steve McQueen and Richard Crenna. All guns are period correct and used realistically.

I wondered about that in Private Ryan, as well. I think the first option would have been to crawl up within grenade range. The Sand Pebbles was, indeed, a fine movie.

 

[dekibg]

when guys that are using AK-47's have fire selector on SAFE in the middle of a gun fight

 

[Speedo66]

I always get a chuckle when the movie cop hands the victim or other non law enforcement person a gun to use or keep with them. Would you care for a mint or a gun? lol

Never. Happen. Never seen it or heard of it being done in 40 years of law enforcement. What could be more hazardous to your health than giving a loaded firearm to someone who you have no knowledge of their training who's in a state of elevated stress and anxiety?

In addition, sounds like a fast track to dismissal from any agency.

And yeah, my wife would appreciate it if I kept my thoughts re: improper and impossible gun procedures to myself during a movie.

 

[M-Cameron]

Im watching a movie where the main actor is flying through the air on a motorcycle he just jumped off a sky scraper, while shooting at a helicopter, in an attempt to kill a bad guy who is threatening to destroy the world with some Bio-weapon he managed to synthesize with ancient Egyptian technology.......im willing to temporarily suspend my disbelief enough to accept this as fact within the confines of the movie..i really dont think hearing someone flick the safety off a glock is going to all of a sudden make this movie unbelievable.

 

[Shovelhead]

I got a chuckle watching Olympus Has Fallen, seeing the AC-130 fly all the way into Downtown DC while shooting F-22s out of the sky.

Then watching the SS Agents file one after the other like lemmings out the front door of the White House into machine gun fire.
Great tactics. :banghead:

 

[Rock185]

There's so much of that stuff, I try to ignore it. I do OK not letting the expected mistakes about the guns themselves, gun handling and usage, etc. bother me, but the anti-gun political swipes worked into the dialog still kinda bug me. One kind of interesting thing that seems to occur pretty regularly is when a character uses a firearm to save the lives of themselves and/or others, then looks at the firearm in disgust and throws it down, etc. I don't know, but I don't think I'd be disgusted with anything that I'd just used to save my life.......ymmv

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

Where to Begin...

It bothers me a lot. When I point out these items many fail to see why it matters until I point out something along the lines of "Well imagine if you are watching a movie set in the 1920s and someone drives up in a Trans Am."

In some of the cases I think they know better but money or time constraints forced their hands but in other cases they just don't have a clue.

The Horse Soldiers - set in the Civil War, when the Union troops face the Confederates in the street battle they are using Single Action Armies and Trapdoor Springfields.

The Untouchables - really good overall except for the scene where Ness (Costner) knocks at Malone's (Connery) door. Malone retrieves an outside hammer sawed-off double with the hammers down and opens the door with the hammers down. Would a Chicago cop of his years not have pulled back the hammers first?

Raiders of the Lost Ark - in the end they use what I believe is a Swedish anti-tank missle launcher from the seventies - it is not a bazooka or a Panzerschrek.

The Manchurian Candidate (the original one) - In the final scenes Raymond takes out a Japanese paratrooper rifle, puts on a scope and then adjusts the crosshairs.

Also in this movie not an error per se but you can't help but notice. In the flashback when they are in the talk about flowers when Sinatra hands one of the others his pistol to shoot one of the Americans it is a Walther P38. Am I saying there was never an American officer in Korea who carried a P38? No but since it is likely they were very few it jumps out at you.

Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows - In the scene at the arms factory the Germans are using what appear to be Italian Villa-Perosa submachine guns. The scene is set in 1891 but the V-P wasn't designed until 1914.

 

[yugorpk]

Raiders of the Lost Ark - in the end they use what I believe is a Swedish anti-tank missle launcher from the seventies - it is not a bazooka or a Panzerschrek.

Its was a dolled up Soviet RP-2 made to look like a panzerfaust ...sort of.

Spend some time watching spaghetti westerns especially Django or any of the Clint Eastwood Man with no name series. Just suspend your disbelief first.

 

[samweller]

I did not see too much dumb stuff in Justified. I've known guys who were fast and accurate like Raylan was portrayed. The dumbest thing in Justified was Raylan not ditching his idiot whiney wife way back and going off somewhere with Ava.

 

[Old Dog]

Everyone loved "Band of Brothers," yet this one scene (either the episode right before, or the episode in which, they liberated a concentration camp) where a soldier is holding a Government Model 1911 ... with 3-dot sights. Sigh. (Otherwise, I loved that mini-series)\

What I didn't like about "Justified" was the thin belt and off-the-rack Bianchi holster (with thumb-break) that they had Raylan wearing ... Oh, and the Glock thing.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Obvious repetitive errors get old. Over exaggerated action gets old too.

But Hollywood and TV are fantasy. So accept it for what it is.... Entertainment.

 

[USAF_Vet]

The walking deads first episode, when Rick tells the other officers to take the safety off on their glocks. Or the fact that in this day and age a cop would use a colt python cool though it is.

It was said to his rookie partner, in a sarcastic tone, because the kid was nervous about the job. Not because it was a writing/ acting faux pas.

 

[USAF_Vet]

If you like gun faux pas movies, the Arnold Schwarzenegger (can't believe I typed that correctly, up yours autocorrect) movie Last Action Hero does a lot of tongue in cheek jokes about the Hollywierd film industry, like when Arnold's character shoots a car and it doesn't blow up. He was dumbfounded and looked at his gun like it was malfunctioning. Great stuff, in an otherwise atrocious movie. Hollywood knows it gets it wrong, they just don't care because they know what sells. In action movies, it full auto, bodies flying, blood spraying, explosions everywhere and lots of dramatic gun handling action that has almost no basis in reality.

My wife gets annoyed when I point out errors, too. In over the top action movies, I roll my eyes and get over it, but if it's trying to be a somewhat serious, reality based action movie, it yanks me out of the zone.

 

[The Exile]

Generally speaking too many movies just turn me off just because general knowledge of violent proffessions. For example I just saw a movie called SWAT that opened with a bank robbery, a "hot shot maverick" went solo, burst into a room full hostages and two panicked robbers who just saw two of their friends get sniped trying to get to the get away car. Said "hot shot maverick" burst in with no cover or coordination and shot a man *through a hostage* (yeah, you heard me) and the whole time I'm just wondering exactly how the hell this man made it on to the force in the first place. Last time I checked you don't make into being a mall cop with an attitude like that.

 

[TforTexas]

Him being a hotshot who shot someone through the shoulder did set up the rest of the movie however!

Worst of them all is Carl in the walking dead getting head shots from 100 years with a Beretta 92

 

[Mp7]

considering i find 95% of hollywood produced stuff incredibly boring, no.


Generation Kill for example was a superb series,
with incredible actors imho.

If there had been any equipment inaccuracies in it,
i would not have flinched at them.
It wasnt the point of that series.

American Sniper on the other hand ... i spent the whole
movie looking at the equipment, because story and actors were so mediocre.