Hollywood and guns -- the root of the problem

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Blackbeard

Blackbeard

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I got to thinking today -- can anyone think of a movie in which a gun was featured in a realistic light? By that I mean, a character owned a gun, but was not portrayed as a nut case and did not shoot or threaten anyone? I can't think of any.

This would be an interesting media study. Find out how many guns appear on screen in movies. Then determine the following percentages:

- The gun is used to murder someone
- The gun is used to commit suicide
- The gun is used for self defense
- The gun is used for sporting purpose
- The gun is not used at all in the movie -- it's just there.

Now compare that against the percentages of guns in real life. I'm just guessing that probably 95% of the time a gun appears on screen, someone is getting shot. I'd also bet that less than 1% of guns in America ever shoot someone -- self defense or otherwise.

This I think is the root of the problem. I don't suppose we have any chance of finding a pro-gun Hollywood producer that's willing to make the hero of his next picture a non-violent gun owner. I guess reality is too boring.
 
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pro-gun Hollywood producer? LOL!!

If such a beast exists, he doesn't dare admit it. Hollywood is highly political. The money to make the movies is controlled by people who very much don't like guns.

No one will ever get Hollywood to stop making movies that portray guns in a bad light. Our only alternatives are to stop consuming Hollywood's products altogether, or replace Hollywood with an alternative film making industry.
 
I thought Quigley Down Under was a pretty good "gun movie" but it doesn't seem to meet your criteria.

I saw a rather esoteric movie called Out of Africa with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, that displayed guns being used rationally for hunting. The lady even had a gun and used it pretty well.

I'm sure there are some others, but yeah the general trend is all movie characters with guns are either irresponsible or cops (but I repeat myself :p ).


Edit: just thought of another one - Everything that Rises (Dennis Quaid) showed mostly responsible gun usage, except for when the main character shoots a new housing development sign in disgust. Oh yeah, the deputy shoots into the ceiling of a bar to stop a brawl :rolleyes: But it really isn't anti-gun, and no people get shot (but a horse has to be put down). Part of the story is about selling "Custer's rifle" as a relic in order to pay off a medical bill.
 
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Pretty much most good military and western movies show guns without having to kill loads of people etc.

Full Metal Jacket springs to mind. Especially the idea that even when people are trained to be the best in the world you will still have psychos that will use guns on others (Pvt Pyle).

Dances With Wolves is another one. Guns are used for pretty much all reasons one could expect except target shooting. Hunting, war, defense, and protection.
 
Actually what I'm looking for is movies set in the modern era (say post-1965) where an ordinary family man has a gun, isnt' a psycho, and doesn't shoot anybody.

I finally did think of one -- Remember the Titans. Coach Boone runs out onto his porch with a shotgun after some racists throw a brick through his window. Clearly a self-defense use, and by the hero of the picture. And no one got shot in the entire movie.
 
How about Tremors? No human was ever shot, more guns were probably displayed than shot in the rec room scene and all guns fired were used in a self defense scenario (unless you count it as sporting purpose!) Good handling and attention to detail too. Problem is, you might think Burt to be a psycho... (I don't)
 
Actually what I'm looking for is movies set in the modern era (say post-1965) where an ordinary family man has a gun, isnt' a psycho, and doesn't shoot anybody.
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You should have said that in the first place :p

Everything that Rises is a "modern" movie. Deals with, among other things, subdivision development in rural ranching communities, and takeover of local banks by out of state interests.
 
Maybe "To Kill a Mockingbird"? Atticus Finch was a good man. And a good shot.
Hmmm. I can't really think of anything else off the top of my head.

I've heard that the TV series "Jericho" is okay with portrayal.
I think a responsible firearms owner would make for pretty boring entertainment for a television show. So we are screwed pretty much.
 
How about Tremors? No human was ever shot, more guns were probably displayed than shot in the rec room scene and all guns fired were used in a self defense scenario (unless you count it as sporting purpose!) Good handling and attention to detail too. Problem is, you might think Burt to be a psycho... (I don't)
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I haven't seen it in many years, but I think they portrayed the Gummers as unbalanced. Of course the only thing that could save the heroes from giant worms was an unbalanced couple with way too many guns.
 
To Kill A Mockingbird portrays gun owners as good people, in my opinion, better than the more recent movies do. Though that was placed in a different time period than most of the recent movies.
 
I tought that the first Crocodile Dundee wasn't too bad. Also, I thought that Magnum PI was OK as far as how Thomas Magnum used a gun. Of course he was a license PI, so I don't know if that counts.
 
I think a responsible firearms owner would make for pretty boring entertainment for a television show. So we are screwed pretty much.
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He can't have something interesting happen not involving guns? Lots of characters have hobbies to flesh them out as people. Hang gliders, gardeners, etc. Heck, how about just a gun cabinet as set decoration? It doesn't have to be a plot point.

The point is that to Hollywood, every gun owner is a psycho, a cop, or a psycho cop.
 
I think an "ordinary" gun owner could help a writer pull off a surprise ending.

The gun owner could be interviewd by the investigator as he was packing up to leave the gun range, Columbo-style, and maybe even be the prime suspect in the viewer's mind. But come the end of the picture, lo and behold, he was just a normal gun owner. The victim was shot by a jealous girlfriend.

That would work.

Back to the topic, however, Patriot Games showed responsible use of a shotgun to protect Jack Ryan's home. It even showed how ineffective it was to store the gun empty, which is what most anti's think should be mandatory.
 
Blackbeard, I did a little bit of rooting around after remembering something and you might find this interesting.
I think there is HUGE untapped market out there. But I don't think Hollywood really knows how to really get at it - yet.
link to story
 
It's not a movie but there was one CSI (Las Vegas) episode where a guy wakes up in the middle of the night to the crashing of someone breaking into his house. He goes down the stairs and finds a guy in his kitchen. Doesn't even shoot him (then again the guy never threatened him). The guy runs away. I think that's a pretty good portrayal.
 
"Secondhand Lions" showed very non-psycho (not to mention highly entertaining) use of firearms.

"Barney Miller" springs to mind as a show that showed very rational treatment of guns.

I also thought "Grand Canyon" and "Crash" had some pretty real-to-life scenes with guns in them. That is to say, thieves used their guns to rob people, cops used their guns to protect people, and the gun was never seen as "evil", or to blame for the actions of the person holding it.
 
Who wants entertainment that reflects real life? What percentage of romance movies have an average to homely looking couple that fall sort of in love, decide its a good compromise and get married because they're mostly happy, then gradually grow apart over the years until a bitter divorce?

Its entertainment, don't expect much more than that from it.
 
"Secondhand Lions" showed very non-psycho (not to mention highly entertaining) use of firearms.
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Oh! How could I forget that one? I love how the uncles had enough guns to arm not only themselves but also their pesky relatives and their two kids, and also the four young men :D

Not to mention "shotgun fishing" ;)
 
Well it's from 1961 but the original Parent Trap with Haley Mills and Brian Keith had a scene where Keith played a rancher and was out on his property with a Lever gun of some sort. It was never fired. They also showed adult characters drinking responsibly and smoking. Can you imagine any kids film, let alone a Disney movie doing that today?

Disney also had a TV series in 1955 called the Adventures of Spin and Marty in which in the ranch manager's office was a rack of lever actions just hanging there with no locks or anything.

I also have vague memories of various shows having gun cabinets in living rooms or dens with no dramatic focus on the guns themselves.
 
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