Hollywood Blunders and Script Writers: Why Don't They Learn?

[Confederate]

I posted a thread about the CBS production The Mentalist in the Autoloaders section and the problem with the final scene from Season 3. Most caught the fact that the protagonist (Patrick) shot the bad guy with an autoloader in his pocket. When he removed the gun from his jacket pocket, it wasn't cocked and the pistol (we're led to believe) cycled flawlessly. The gun also failed to ignite Patrick's clothing!

Now I understand there's some willing suspension of disbelief, but such errors are increasing in Hollywood scripts. The first gun error I ever recall seeing is a movie was in the 1992 film, Sneakers. Towards the end, after a gun battle, Robert Redford's character leaps on a guy with an empty S&W 659. The gun's slide is locked back and he straddles the guy he's overpowering. The camera cuts to the man surrendering and then the next shot shows Redford's gun cocked and ready. Since then I've watched dozens of movies and have seen numerous continuity errors and bloopers.

My other thread was closed because people got off topic. So I thought I'd ask if you've seen any handgun errors.

Another one that really got me was a scene from the Western, The Quick and the Dead. In it, some idiot got shot and looked down at his shadow. There, right in center mass, was a hole with sunlight streaming through. Realizing he lost the fight, he collapsed on the dusty street!

How many saw that?

I'd hate to think such errors could cause otherwise seasoned shooters to make mistakes like shooting an autoloader in a jacket pocket! Even shooting a revolver in a jacket pocket can cause one's clothing to ignite, especially with a .357.

So if you've spotted some Hollywood errors, please post them here, and please stay on topic. Also, why do you suppose more script writers don't learn how to shoot firearms?

If they're going to be writing about them a lot, shouldn't they learn a little more about them?

.

 

[Skribs]

A lot is done for dramatic effect. However, I think if you're going for dramatic effect, you should choose something that will work for it. If you're going to cock a gun, use a beretta or a FNP instead of a SAO or DAO pistol.

My favorite use of this was on Chuck, the guy pulls the hammer back and said "I don't have to do that, but I like the sound."
Another good one, I think, was on Die Hard, when he's in the vent, he pulls the hammer back on his Beretta, but decocks it when the threat goes away.

The worst one I've seen is on Lost. Guy cocks the Glock twice in the same scene for dramatic effect. In HW, the cocking of a gun means you've gone from "I'm willing to shoot" to "I'm ready to shoot."

I do think they've been doing better lately on most procedurals about keeping the finger outside the trigger guard (even better, trained good guys do, bad guys who've never held a gun before or don't care who they kill don't). But there are loads of errors in movies, not just firearms related. I was watching Tim Allen and Jay Leno talk the other day about cars in movies. "Oh, you couldn't hotwire that car very fast."

 

[rcmodel]

Not gonna happen.
Because they don't care, and the average viewer doesn't either.

I watched a new TV show last Sunday evening about a Wyoming sheriff.
Murder committed.
They recover the bullet from the body.
ID it as a 45-70 rifle.
(A 45-70 will shoot through a victim lengthwise at max range, and still not remain in the body)

"Firearms expert" tell the sheriff, yep, a 45-70 is a Very uncommon caliber.
Probably no more then three of them in the whole state so it should be easy to find.
I'd venture a guess that there are thousands of 45-70 rifles in Wyoming, and finding one wouldn't take very much looking!

Then he said the murderer was a long range sniper, and the bullet was low velocity.
So you got 5 seconds to get out of the way after you hear the shot and see the puff of smoke!

Sheriff proceeds to duck & run from on location to the next while the bullets hit where he used to be!
Yea Right!!

rc

 

[robhof]

robhof

Actually the 5 seconds was the time to reload a Sharps after firing, which is what they said was the only gun in 45-70, forgetting that Marlin, Ruger and Thompson also make guns in 45-70 and the Marlin doesn't take 5 seconds to lever up another round.

 

[Sam Cade]

Another one that really got me was a scene from the Western, The Quick and the Dead. In it, some idiot got shot and looked down at his shadow. There, right in center mass, was a hole with sunlight streaming through. Realizing he lost the fight, he collapsed on the dusty street!
How many saw that?

uhhh... I don't think you quite got that movie. It was supposed to be silly and over the top.


I mean, Sam Rami? The Evil Dead/Army of Darkness? Darkman? Xena? Drag me to Hell?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thell_Reed_(Shooter)

 

[rcmodel]

and the Marlin doesn't take 5 seconds to lever up another round.

A good man with a Sharps, or trap-door Springfield, or Remington rolling-block, or Ruger #1 doesn't take 5 seconds to reload either.

Holding spare cartridges between the fingers, or in a wrest cuff?
It can be done faster then I can type this.

And certainly faster then you can run and hide between shots.

rc

 

[armoredman]

Hollywood doesn't care, like they didn't care about the firefighting errors they made by the ton in BackDraft, or the armored trucking errors they made in Dead Presidents. I explained to my son that accuracy or ammo doesn't matter in the movies - the bad guy gets hit or not depending on what the script says.
If enough people complained or quit watching movies with poor attention to detail, maybe they might listen, but that will happen about 4 days after the Second Coming.

 

[Skribs]

I'd like to know how CSI can immediately tell that a bullet was shot from a .38 as opposed to a .357.

I think you can almost tell a gun nut author, based on him not only mentioning how the gun works, but also dispelling the myth that a non-gun-nut has.

 

[1KPerDay]

Not gonna happen.
Because they don't care, and the average viewer doesn't either.

Bingo. I was just about to post the same thing.

 

[Liberty1776]

one of my faves was a bad movie with Arnie - oh, Commando. He was standing on a wharf in front of a white ship whilst the bad guys shot at him with several smgs... must have let off 40+ rounds at him - and not one bullet hole in the boat!

and my most hated scene was in The Gauntlet, where about 50 cops lined up on either side of the street and unloaded on the bus as it was driving past, and not one bullet went through the bus, or across the street and winged another officer with friendly fire!

 

[PapaG]

Just watched "springfield rifle" with Gary cooper. Wasa great show about the civil war until they unveilled a secret weapon, the trapdoor (1873) springfield....in 1863 or thereabouts

 

[9mmfan]

Google "TV Tropes, Dramatic Gun Cock." Then, sacrifice a chicken, spin around three times. This will only work if'n you do it clockwise. You should then kneel, and remember that everything on TV, and most everything on the internet is nonsense. Subsequently, go and spend some time with your friends in the safe. They will give you their secrets with a minimum of coaxing.

 

[Kiln]

I love how in CSI they remove the bullet from a body, instantly trace it back to the owner because of the ballistic fingerprint registration, (which to my knowledge has never actually helped track down a criminal) and arrest him.

Or in the first episode of "The Walking Dead" when one of the cops chambers a round that is clearly shown to be empty (maybe shoot the scene at an angle that hides the empty chamber and magazine?) and also flicks off the safety on his Glock...by hitting the slide release lever.

The largest and most annoying to me however is when an old school western film character fires a single action revolver 15 times without reloading or a double barrel shotgun 8 times in a row.

Some movies and shows drive me crazy with little details like this.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

The gun also failed to ignite Patrick's clothing!

You think that was supposed to happen? Firing a gun through clothing will not necessarily cause the clothing to ignite.

I know we all think it is realy critical when there are gun bloopers in movies. They knda ruin the show for us. I especially don't like it when in a critical situation, a gun not ready to fire does fire. It bothers me that when folks draw their guns in many movies, the draw produces a mechanical ratcheting sound. I don't even know what it is.

Part of the problem is that the folks doing the scenes don't always keep track of what is going on. You do 20 takes of the same scene where a sequence of events happens and sooner or later the resetting between takes becomes incomplete or changes.

I think I have mentioned this before, but I have a buddy who knows tires. It drives him nuts to see WWII movies where the Willys Jeep has tires on it that were not available in WWII. Strangely, none of us here ever seem very bothered when Hollywood shows us a WWII Jeep in a movie and it doesn't have the right tires on it. We don't question about when will Hollywood ever learn when it comes to tires.

Not gonna happen.
Because they don't care, and the average viewer doesn't either.

And it isn't even that the average viewer doesn't care. The average viewer doesn't know or doesn't recognize the vast majority of inconsistencies in movies. You guys probably never spot the vehicles with the wrong types of tires. You probably don't have a clue what tires do or do not belong.

One thing I see time and time again in movies a generally miss the first time it happens is the setting of the sun during some sort of dramatic event. A plane starting its approach to land in what we know will be a crash landing will start to land in sunlight, but by the time it hits the ground, it is night time. Crashes, fires, sparks, explosions, flashing lights on emergency vehicles are much more damatic when it is dark. So not only is this a chronological error, but an intentional chronological error to enhance the drama of the situation (like the mechanical ratcheting of drawn guns).

 

[Lawdawg45]

Although Silverado is one of my favorite Western's, there's a huge gaff with the Henry rifles used by Malachi and his father. One of the "Henry's" is actually a Winchester with the front stock removed, problem was, the loading gate on the right side of the rifle was still visible. You'd think with the cohen brothers multi-million dollar budget they could afford two henry rifles!

LD

 

[Devonai]

Sneakers appears to have that problem more than once:

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Sneakers

If you can get a screen shot of the error, post it to IMFDB. That site is great for confirming firearms gaffes.

 

[RX-178]

To be really fair, it seems to all of us that Hollywood can't seem to get anything right about guns, but that's just because all of us on the THR community actually UNDERSTAND guns.

What do you think a car buff feels like when he spots something like Fast and Furious on TV? Or an airplane buff seeing Snakes on a Plane, or something like that?

I'm of the firm opinion that Hollywood doesn't get ANYTHING right, we just actually notice the gun part because we know better.

 

[Robert]

Movies/ TV are NOT real.

Now say that 10 times slowly and then go about your day.