Berettas in movies; idle curiousity question

[NMGonzo]

I think the movie with the most berettas in one single frame is in some Jean Claude Van Damme film.

I remember thinking ... "that is a rather large pistol"

Most actors are rather small!

 

[Dihappy]

I think your all wrong.

I think its simply a readily available, cheap, design that has been around for years.

Some hollywood props guy probably got a good deal on em, people liked em and they have carried over ever since.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I think the movie with the most berettas in one single frame is in some Jean Claude Van Damme film

i'm thinking a number of Chow Yun Fat movies would give it a run for that honor. i think in "The Replacement Killers" he was carrying 6-8 in one scene...no need to reload, just pull another 92

 

[nwilliams]

Why is the Beretta 92 so prevalent in cinema?

Because they look so damn cool!

 

[Cosmoline]

The more Berettas in the film, the more purile and nonsensical its shootouts will be. Case in point--no major characters have a 92 in "Heat," and they ditch the short guns as soon as possible when the SHTF. In that "Gunkata" movie they used tricked out 92's almost exclusively.

 

[DirtyHarry31]

It's an Italian designed gun. Look at the culture over there. If your going to get shot, do it in style!

 

[GRIZ22]

Any firearm adopted by the US military gains instant recognition among the shooting community and public. Many LE agencies were switching to semi-autos in the 80s and in many cases it was S&W. You really didn't see too many Berettas in LE until the late 80s when the 92 became issued widely by the military. The Glock started showing up in the late 80s and that swayed the LE community and gave the Glock the spotlight.

Films and TV shows before the 80s generally showed LE and private detectives with a snub nose. That was a standard. I entered LE in the 70s and was mildly surprised when I saw a few detectives carry a 4" K frame.

 

[Shung]

The Colt 1911 was holstered in his Ferrari.. You need one !

For chicks, the flower shirt isnt enough !

 

[fireman 9731]

Berettas are gorgeous compared to the Block

I never said that Glocks were pretty either!

 

[mustang_steve]

The Glock and the 92 are not in the same class.

The Glock is known as "the cop gun", since it's usually found in police hands...it's the replacement for the old 38 revolver in police movies of the past. In movies it's pretty much a generic firearm, and often used in scenes where they honestly don't care what's used so long as it's not going to distract from the rest of the scene.

The 1911 is a good all around handgun, due to basically being the handgun version of barbie for men....you can get all kinda of stuff for it to make it fit the role. From military bone-stock to pimped out, to tacti-cool, to straight up unique....anything is possible cosmetically with a 1911.

The 92 on the other hand looks mean...it's the practical Desert Eagle as far as movies go. They both make a very solid impression when used as a prop.

Best prop handgun ever....the skeletonized "Dagger" from "Romeo and Juliet" (the Leo DiCaprio version). It was over the top, but looked mean as hell.

 

[Chindo18Z]

GRIZ22: Any firearm adopted by the US military gains instant recognition among the shooting community and public. Many LE agencies were switching to semi-autos in the 80s and in many cases it was S&W. You really didn't see too many Berettas in LE until the late 80s when the 92 became issued widely by the military. The Glock started showing up in the late 80s and that swayed the LE community and gave the Glock the spotlight.

Spot on.

Prior to military adoption of the then new 92, most autos in LEO holsters were various generations of S&W (who had cornered that market).

Enter various 92 wielding action hero films from the eighties (e.g., Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, etc.).

"It's the same one that Mel Gibson and the Military use. I'll take that one...".

The public ate up the 92's looks with a spoon. That's kind of interesting when you consider that the single stack Beretta M1951 version had been on the scene for decades.

 

[woodybrighton2]

a prop company probably got a good deal on them.
thats why the SA80 appears in a various films one company got a bunch cheap

 

[Zeabed]

They have a photogenic distinctiveness up on the screen. In Ronin and Leo the Professional, Jean Reno's image is wedded to his Berettas in a viewer's memory. In Ronin, his satin nickel or S/S Beretta is the most readily identifiable gun in that gun-heavy movie. You can even see the transfer bar moving during the street ambush. And who can forget Martin Riggs attempting to eat his Beretta in the first Lethal Weapon. Another strong iconic reference is the first Die Hard movie. More "sophisticated" handguns that are not used by military or law enforcement in the U.S., such as Hans Gruber's H&K PSP, are usually assigned to villains. Fly in the ointment, monkey in the wrench, Hans...

 

[Foofles]

I see it everywhere... including ads from the government. For example, all the ads NYC uses to show "Gun = Jail" The gun is usually a 92 looking thing. It's just a design we instantly associate with semiauto pistols, like AKs with assault rifle... everyone can recognize the design.

And they're awesome to boot.

 

[Leanwolf]

MONKEYLEGS - "I wonder if Beretta didn't contact Hollywood at some point and offer them guns for free. It's very common with other products such as Coke, Pepsi, Miller, Bud, etc."

Huh uh. Vice versa.

Corporations pay the studios big bucks for product placement in movies.

A few "free" guns worth three or four thousand $$$$ for a movie are absolutely meaningless to a studio when the production budget for a flick can run between $20,000,000.00 up to $200,000,000.00 and beyond.

Most screenwriters know nothing about firearms, and quite often in a script, describe some character's firearm as some kind that would never be used. I.e., Shane Black, who wrote the screenplay for "Lethal Weapon," hadn't the faintest idea what LAPD cops carried, so in his original script, had Det. Riggs carrying a ".22." Later it was changed by a technical advisor.

That's the way it is in Hollywood.

L.W.

 

[Monkeyleg]

The more Berettas in the film, the more purile and nonsensical its shootouts will be. Case in point--no major characters have a 92 in "Heat," and they ditch the short guns as soon as possible when the SHTF. In that "Gunkata" movie they used tricked out 92's almost exclusively.

Yep. And the guy with the most style in the movie--Al Pacino--carries a 1911.

As for the Beretta's being in movies because they're government issue, the first Die Hard movie (1988) had Bruce Willis with a Beretta.

 

[Erik M]

I think its simply a readily available, cheap, design that has been around for years.

OP said Beretta, not Glock

The heavily modified 92's that Christian Bale uses in Equilibrium, and Leon's guns from the Professional come to mind. If I had to choose one reason that I own a 92 looks would be high on the list.

 

[steveracer]

They run great with blanks.

They are easy to teach actors to use.

They are in every holster in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

I've talked to prop masters for movies (Stembridge Rentals, way back when), and the Beretta, as a 9mm weapon, works the best with blanks. It is that simple. Other guns can be adapted to blank use, but they are more finicky than the Beretta, and require more "takes" on occasion, and directors/producers balance the NEED for a variety or accuracy of weapons with that. The old Walther P-38 locks up like the Beretta 92, so it works well with blank adaptation, too. Simple blowback weapons, Walther PPK, etc, should also be easily modified for blank use.

 

[danprkr]

Another possible contributing factor is that it is the current US Military general issue sidearm. That never hurt any firearms popularity.

That'd be my guess.

 

[PandaBearBG]

92's, Glocks, 1911's, most prevelant in the military and law enforcement. Perhaps the prop master uses pistols that everyone knows if only by sight.

They have unique and quickly recognizable designs that anyone can relate to, also like the desert eagle's angled slide. The fact that most American's encounter's with guns are seeing it in a cops belt, or a G.I.'s photograph, it maybe the only one they have ever seen in real life. It's like when you see an M16 you see "America" when you see an AK you see "Enemy" anything else brings confusion to the simple visual relation of the guns.

Besides the 92 and 1911 are beautiful in a utilitarian way, while the Glock is ugly in a utilitarian way (which many people like)

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Practically every gun in existence, including dreamguns fabricated specifically FOR just one movie, have been converted or modified for special movie use. An example of a totally fabricated gun is the pistol Harrison Ford used in "Blade Runner". They used a Charter Arms revolver, a bolt action rifle, and then added some custom trim. But back to the 92, it has it all: US recognition by being an Army sidearm, one of the first 9mm DA doublestacks right when US police agencies went looking for a replacement for their 38's, stunningly sexy good looks, and a cult following (at the time, before the Glock stole it) put it at the top of popular choice for movies (don't forget, it "worked" on the set when they rented it) for all of those reasons. It is still the "go to" gun on TV and in movies.

 

[Yenba]

just yesterday i saw that box at my local video store and was thinking the same thing. i onw a 92fs and love it and I have noticed them quite often in movies.

funny thing is, i saw Taken at the theater several months ago and I don't remeber Liam Neeson's character ever using a 92 in the movie. Maybe I just missed it.

 

[Quoheleth]

Berettas are gorgeous compared to the Block. Hell, Berettas are gorgeous compared to Denise Richards.

Someone owes me a bottle of windex for my computer screen.

Q

 

[Dulvarian]

I think Beretta autos are quite pleasing to the eye. My carry is an 8045. I've seen some beat up ones that I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole (one in particular that the guy working a range tried to sell me when I was 19... and he knew it. Maybe he thought me being 19 would entice me to pay $300 for a 92 that was so used that when you shook it in your hand the slide rattled, along with the barrel).

The blanks sounds familiar as well. I think it was on Discovery and some dweeb who had never fired was all excited about shooting blanks. Can't recall the show. But, they also showed how they made mock ups of the weapons out of foam and rubber so the pint sized actors could carry them around. There was also a company that had thousands of guns that could be used as props. I don't think that the manufacturer pays advertising, or much. Guns are part of the props group responsibility.

And if you want to go all nit picky on movies, I really hate when they show an actor shooting and not even aiming in the general direction where bad guys is supposed to be and then holes show up all over. Lol, I don't like movies, but the ridiculousness writers think about guns is just amazing sometimes.