Gun Related STUPID Movie Mistakes

[DougDubya]

And at the same time, I rejoiced at one Sci-Fi motw when the main actors had proper trigger finger discipline as they carried their M-16's... hunting raptors.

Ya takes the realism when you gets it.

 

[misANTHrope]

I'm not really talking about special effects mistakes ,those aren't the actors fault. I'm talking about actor stupidity like the scene in "We Were Soldiers Once..." when Sam Elliot slaps a fresh magazine into his 1911 (which is in battery & uncocked BTW ) and says in his best "mean" voice "Gentlemen, prepare to defend yourselves " What's he gonna do ? Throw his pistol at the NVA? Mistakes like that, that demonstrate CLEARLY that the actor hasn't a clue how the weapon in his hand works.

I'll have to go back and check the movie again sometime, but I seem to remember him thumbing the hammer back as he delivered that line... guess it still doesn't answer how he got the hammer down in the middle of a firefight.

Saving Private Ryan: the infamous scope shot, but hey, that was still cool at least. Flak gun hits someone and vaporizes him in the ending battle (didnt know a 20mm could do that), unless it was something else that hit him.

I think the guy who gets vaporized is trying to put one of the sticky bombs on the German tank.

My all-time favorite movie mistake came from some dumb B-movie I was casually watching one night. I don't even remember the name of it, but near the beginning, there's a scene where a few BGs rob a video store. They al come in, sort of case the joint or a bit, and then converge on the clerk and some out with their weapons. One guy whips what is obviously a SxS shotgun from under his coat as the distinct sound of a pumpgun racking is heard. I nearly fell out of my chair. :lol:

Other than that, there's mostly just the standard high-capacity revolvers. (see Tombstone) At least there are movies out there like Heat and Collateral which are pretty accurate in their depictions.

 

[SsevenN]

Now I understand we shouldn't expect absolute perfection from any movie. The fact remains when you use a product that actually exists, in film it should function in the same manner it exist in real life. Unless of course it's a surreal style movie meant intentionally to bend or break the rules of your mind and reality. I believe only a small percent of action/thriller's are "surreal", and these are not the types of movies we're referring to.
That being said the editor, director, producer and whoever else it is that is responsible for maintaining the quality and integrity of that film need to be held responsible. Just imagine any other tool in the world being depicted in a blatently incorrect way.
I can see how the editor can really muck up the flow of realism, but even poorly produced and funded films can still keep you drawn into the film. Using style, clever action scenes and an assertation on the intelligence of the audience. But when a gun is misrepresented it draws me out of the movie, wrecking the illusion.

 

[Superlite27]

What completely torques me is DVD cover shots.

Walk through any video store and conciously LOOK at the firearms on most movie covers.

50% of the photos have been reversed. You can tell because the guns are always backwards.

I swear. Steven Segal must have some serious cash. All the handguns he carries have had extensive work done to eject casings from the left side of the firearm.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

My faveorites are when the badguys keep missing with scoped rifles and the good guys pick them off with their snub-nose 38 ...

The old The FBI TV series (early 1970s with Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) was good for that. Insp. Erskine only wounded them, too.
And everyone drove Fords.

 

[MaterDei]

Guess that's just me...

Apparently so.

I'm always amazed that people can be in firefights, indoors even, and end up with their hearing perfectly fine immediately after the firing stops.

 

[Funderb]

I love it when the sniper in movies and on tv starts turning the adjustment knobs on his scope that never ever has a true crosshair in it and then takes the shot.

I don't get it..
what movie has this with a rifle and no crosshairs...
it's not like you can see them from the front of the scope. they are minimalized, as opposed to magnified in this direction.

 

[hi point.40/.45]

i have seen a double barrel shotgun get shot and cocked 8 times!
countless times where people shoot and are allready loaded with out moving
dumb and bumber the man with the phenix arms .22 twice then the slide is locked back then he turns and a new mag was inserted
scarface the car bomb scarface shoots the bomb and sprays his blood all over the window where the bullet should have broke the window
moern day movies need more thought

 

[Funderb]

movies are a big reason why people think guns are evil
they see these hugely destructive things that never seem to run out of ammo, and can explode a huma torso with one hit.

No wonder why people are scared away from us.

 

[abrink]

Sorry if someone said it all ready but walker texas ranger when his revolver fires at least 10 times between reloads. And i hate when they have their damn fingers on the triggers. I love it when you see an actor that follows the safety rules. It's obvious they've been taught.

 

[frankie_the_yankee]

Seagal handles guns authentically in his movies and it shows.

"Outlaw Josie Wales" and "Unforgiven" are two of the best for those interested in 19th century type guns. Again, the handling is quite good IMO.

The all time most disgusting gun blooper, IMO, is at the climax of one of the Lethal Weapon movies, the one with Renee Rousseau in it. In a big shootout the BG is coming after Gibson and Glover with a bulldozer with its blade elevated as a shield. Gibson and Glover are firing their handguns at the dozer but the bullets are just bouncing off the blade to no effect. Then Glover throws a box of ammo to Gibson and yells, "Cop killers!" Gibson quickly loads his pistol with these 9mm rounds and proceeds to shoot right through the bulldozer blade and kill the BG.

Glover's politics and the anti-NRA poster in another scene just make it worse.

And why is it that whenever someone draws a gun in a movie, we get some kind of "click" or "chink-chink" sound effect? My guns never do this when I draw them. Do anybody's?

Then there's Charles Bronson in Death Wish 4 - the one set in Brooklyn. In one scene he is firing a Wildey Magnum at a fleeing BG at around 50 yards. He assumes a one handed classic bullseye shooter's stance and lets loose with a couple of perfect shots that drill the guy right through the breastbone. When firing these shots, the gun recoils about as much as my Ruger Standard Model Mk II.

And finally, the big shootout scene at the end of Commando. Arnold is running along a wall with a belt fed machine gun with about a foot of belt sticking out of it. In spite of this, he is able to fire dozens of shots at the horde of soldiers pursuing him before he finally runs dry and throws the gun away. The whole time, the belt never moves.

 

[45Guy]

I'll chime in with the question, why do they ALWAYS have to cock double action revolvers?

On the plus side, in the show "Third Watch" the character Bosco was advising one of the rookies to move his spare magazines to where he could reach them better, and also to get a BUG. So, sometimes they get it right.

 

[Gunnerpalace]

Shooter, now when anyone ask me what gun errors in movies mean I can point to it and say "pretty much that".

 

[SsevenN]

In True Lies, Arnolds wife drops an Uzi down a flight of stairs. The gun fires full auto the whole time as it tumbles down....

 

[paramedic70002]

The Bourne Ultimatum (and maybe earlier flicks)

Just watched it last night. Really got tired of that crunchy cocking sound every time he extended what I believe was a Glock.

 

[Silvanus]

There are too many to list all of them here...But the last one I saw was in the movie "16 Blocks".

Bruce Willis shoots a BG in the back of the head, 1 round. Then the camera is circling around him in slow-motion (you know, the emotional "oh no I shot somebody" moment) and you can clearly see that the slide of his Glock 17 is locked back WTH? After one shot?

 

[Zach S]

Just watched Death Sentance, pretty good flick, but I couldnt help but notice that his single-stack 1911 held more rounds than my glock.

I am legend has plenty, most involve his M4. The most obvious is the rapid clicking noise after he runs out of ammo. Then there's the ACOG with the wrong reticle and the surefire light thats on different sides of the gun in different parts of the mov'e. Less obvious mistakes are the 16" bbl and commercial buffer tube, and the light that cost a few hundred bucks on a UTG forend. I also think its strange that there's at least one gun in every room, but he doesnt carry any spare mags. Not even for his M4.

I've found that the gun handling in anime films I've seen is pretty impressive. Its actually kind of agrevating to watch Ghost in the Shell because its a toon drawn in a country where you cant have guns yet the characters have much better gun handling than hollywood.

In True Lies, Arnolds wife drops an Uzi down a flight of stairs. The gun fires full auto the whole time as it tumbles down....

IIRC it was a MAC...

The Bourne Ultimatum (and maybe earlier flicks)

Just watched it last night. Really got tired of that crunchy cocking sound every time he extended what I believe was a Glock.

In some scenes Borne couldnt make up his mind on the Glock or the SIG. It seems like I saw him cock a glock and be holding a SIG in the next shot.

 

[Silvanus]

In some scenes Borne couldnt make up his mind on the Glock or the SIG. It seems like I saw him cock a glock and be holding a SIG in the next shot.

Yep, saw that too. Even though they showed a close-up of the Sig-Pro's grip (which is very distinguishable from other pistols, especially Glocks) earlier in a scene.

 

[uneasy_rider]

I don't understand why people get upset because actors aren't shown reloading in movies.

You know they had to reload to film the movie, it just was not shown or got cut. If someone shoots 12 rounds out of a SAA, you know a reload was involved, even if they were filming a movie and he was shooting blanks. Movie guns arent magic.

They don't usually show actors taking a crap, clipping their toenails, or doing many other mundane things we do each day. If they did, the movie would last for days, not two hours.

 

[Coastie2010]

In that scene, I think the switch was due to the fact that he was really holding a Sig in the present, but a glock in the flashback, and they two were blending together as his memory came back.

 

[Superlite27]

The A Team. Don't forget The A Team.


Mini-14's that could always cause Army jeeps to veer off the road and explode. Or fly into the air and explode. Or just sit there and explode.

All while not injuring anyone, because they all walked away.

Somehow, these awesome Mini-14's were fearsome enough to consistently cause everything to explode, yet harmless enough to not hurt anyone.

 

[Blackbeard]

Top ten movie gun errors:

1) Cocking sound from a hammerless handgun
2) Bang bang click click click from a non-DA gun
3) Recocking a semi-auto in mid-magazine, without a round ejecting
4) Bullets flying downrange with their casings still attached
5) SA pistols firing without being cocked
6) Rifle rounds failing to penetrate a dinner table, car door, or other useless cover
7) People dying instantly from wounds that should take minutes if not hours to bleed out
8) Revolvers that are clearly empty still able to fire six shots
9) Wrong type of brass ejecting from the gun
10) Too many rounds fired without reloading

 

[knockonit]

ggg

Gosh, its Hollywood, not the history channel, you all probably think everything on the internet is real too.
ha, Entertainment, thats the key word, you want real, make one and market it, see how much money it brings in, only gun folks enjoy the real visual aspects, Hollywood figured that out years ago, surprised many of you haven't figured out real don't sell,
Much like the news these days, whats real and what ain't
jmo

 

[Sato Ord]

Not that I like to defend Hollyweird, and they do make plenty of mistakes: how many times have you gritted your teeth and tried to suspend disbelief when the car chase has tires squealing on unpaved roads? The explanation I've always been given by those in the industry for such things is that doing so is a "convention" that the movie goer expects. Well, either they know their market, or they underestimate the intelligence of the average movie goer.

However, often such things as cocking the hammer back on 1911 are simply trimmed in the cutting room. Sometimes it is integral to a scene and is left in for dramatic effect, but when they are trying to trim a two hour and ten minute movie down to under two hours they cut seconds where ever they can. Doesn't necessarily make for a good movie, but most of goobs who go to these things haven't got the attention span to spend any more time sitting still than about eighty to ninety minutes.

That beings said, Hollywierd doesn't care about reality, they simply want to put out a movie that will get your dollars into their pockets.

Yeah, I'm one of the ones who has enough vestibular sense that I had to leave that obnoxious one with the shaky camera. From what I saw of it it wasn't worth the bucks for the ticket. Glad I didn't pay for that one!

I normally avoid theaters because I don't like watching a movie while some moron sits and chats on his/her cell phone. Worse are the people in the next isle who have already seen the movie twice and insist on tell their friend next to them what will is about happen. It only gets worse when the movie is full of bad mistakes concerning firearms, or cars, or both.

I've got good friends who drag me to a movie once in a while, but I prefer to watch movies on home theater when the DVD comes out. Costs less money, I can make the popcorn with real butter, and if I need to go to the restroom I can stop the machine and not miss anything.

 

[KD5NRH]

I'll have to go back and check the movie again sometime, but I seem to remember him thumbing the hammer back as he delivered that line... guess it still doesn't answer how he got the hammer down in the middle of a firefight.

In combat I could see it; slide fails to lock back and he dryfires, or slide locks back before he thinks it's empty, so assumes a malfunction, hits the release and dryfires. Either way it results in an empty, uncocked 1911.