Movies or tv shows,that seem to not want the heroes armed

[scbair]

Well, in the ols days there were a number of popular, single-action, striker-fired semiautos (like my Dad's old FN M1910). I personally wouldn't carry one in Condition One.

Personally, I'd have carried a revolver, or a .45 Auto . . .

 

[matt87]

WRT Richard Dean Anderson, I rmember in one episode of SG1, the team is investigating a cult (forget which state) which turned out to have a Goua'uld at its centre. When observing the defences, M2s, AKs, Uzis etc, were in evidence and the inference was that they were full autos. Cue RDA's character: "What do you bet those guys never fulfilled the waiting period on those things?" Considering RDA has major control ver script, directing etc. I can see this meaning two possible things: RDA appreciates that criminals get their guns illegally and/or is ignornant or misleading about how to get full auto legally... ideas?

 

[ky_man]

Dr. Who basically never used a gun. In one episode he said to his assistant "never carry weapons weapons; when people can see you mean them no harm, they're less likely to harm you."

The Dr. Who (Tom Baker) quote is from an episode entitled "The Robots of Death", and goes:

The Doctor: "I never carry weapons. If people see you mean them no harm, they never hurt you. Nine times out of ten." Baker placed qualifying emphasis on the "9 times out of 10"...so even the doctor knows that his number will come up eventually.

Dr. Who has always been a kid's show, and although there is violence, the Dr. always takes "the high road". For example, when the Dr. is in the position to prevent the birth of the Daleks, even if it seems morally correct to commit genocide (killing the Dalek mutants in "The Genesis of the Daleks"), the Dr. can't do it.

Dr. Who was and is still my favorite sci-fi series, I grew up watching Pertwee and Baker!

 

[bulgron]

I'm something of a SciFi addict. At the moment the SciFi channel is airing Flash Gordon, which is as cheesy a show as they come. Of all the things that go on in that show which SHOULD bug me, the only thing that DOES bug me is that Flash keeps running off to encounter the bad guys whilst weilding dubious weapons, or no weapons at all. I have yet to see Flash figure out that maybe he should be carrying around a side arm. Heck, if it was me, I'd have gotten a shotgun, at least, after the very first episode.

What he does use for weapons are either alien guns that he hasn't the foggiest idea how to operate, or an experimental particle gun of some kind that's known to be buggy and highly unreliable.

re: Dr. Who. There was an episode recently in which all the people in New New York were trapped for decades in their cars. At one point the Doctor asks someone if they have a gun and the answer is a surprised, "Why no. Where would I get one of those these days?" What interested me in the exchange is how the doctor clearly was thinking of the gun as a possible solution.

re: MacGyver. Whatever attitude Richard Dean Anderson might have had regarding weapons when he made MacGyver didn't stick. See the earlier episodes of Stargate SG-1 for what I mean. Anderson's character (Jack O'Neill) pretty much spends all his time looking for guns, really BIG guns.

The really cool thing about SG-1 is watching the geeky and rather hoplophobic Daniel Jackson slowly evolve into a highly armed and extremely dangerous warrior over the course of the series.

 

[sterling180]

The one time I remember him using a gun was when... I think it was when he 'killed' Davros with a hand-held Dalek gun because he was so mad at him for all the death he had caused.

It's because he hated most of those monsters immensly,anyway, and there have been other times he used a gun too:against the Cybermen,in Earthshock,Peter Davidson's doctor used a gun,that was an ailen weapon made from an Uzi or a Mac-10,before his doctor died,of a nasty virus,Paul MaGann,stole a 9mm Beretta from a cop in the 1996 movie and threatened to use it on himself.

Also there was Tom Baker,in image of the Fendahl,where he uses a double-barrelled shotgun,to kill the Fendahl with it and also gives a dying scientist his last request,when he hands him a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver and the guy shoots himself in the head with it. Sylvestor McCoy's doctor,in Battlefields (The last one in 1989,before the 1996 movie.)takes the Brigadiers revolver and loades it with silver.38 bullets and tries to get to the monster,but is deliberately knocked out by Brigadier LethBridge Steward,who kills the monster,anyway.

 

[camslam]

I'm still trying to grasp the idea that someone spent time watching "The Pacifier" not just once, but twice.

No offense Sterling, but come on. As to your complaint, I think it is valid, but what do you expect from the liberal media and their rabid anti-gun agenda.

The Italian Job, a movie that I love, highlights the criminals but nobody carried guns except the worse criminals they were stealing from. In reality, criminals of their quality, I would expect would have some form of "Insurance."

 

[Geronimo45]

I've gotten the feeling when watching a lot of movies and TV shows that the gun would simply solve the situation too quickly and anticlimatically.

Indeed. A-Team episodes would be fifteen minutes in length, tops.
A-Team is approached by people requiring their services.
Client: "Mr. Lee sent us. He said you people could help us."
Hannibal: "What seems to be the problem?"
Client: "We're being constantly harassed by zombies and whatnot. They've been harrassing the children."
B.A.: "Let's kill those suckas."
*Hannibal asks about payment, Face counts and expresses his approval. B.A. is knocked out and put on a plane. They arrive at BG's place.*
Hannibal: "We got a special delivery for you slimeballs!"
*Cue A-Team theme, gunshots. BGs are dead.*
Hannibal: "I love it when a plan comes together."
*Credits roll*

It's easier to use the tried-and-true "I'll fight like a man" than the more sensible "I'll fight to win" - from a writer's perspective. Using more sensible tactics (the BGs or the GGs) complicates things considerably for a writer. Otherwise, James Bond would go up to Goldfinger at the golf course, say something along the lines of 'yippi-kai-eh, mother******' and shoot him in the face.

It's much easier to write a full-length novel/movie script that runs like an A-Team episode than it is to write something like F. Forsythe's Dogs of War.

 

[#shooter]

RDA of SG1 is very anti. This is my beef with anti-hollywood. Many of the well known anti's have acted in, produced, or directed many gunplay movies and tv shows in which the hero uses guns. It seems a bit hypocritical.

 

[Correia]

This thread is pretty amazing. I've learned lots of important things.

Like the Pacifier is serious social commentary on the 2nd Amendment.

And that I can tell that the Rock and Vin Diesel are anti-gun, because they played a roll in a movie, where they didn't use guns, even though they've been in other movies where they used guns, and I can safely assume that this is because of personal politics, and not because it was their freaking job to do whatever the script said...

Okay.

You know what guys, there are a bunch of real, bonafide serious issues facing us as gun owners. If I had to make a list, I'm pretty sure the lack of Navy Seal guns in the Pacifier wouldn't make the first eleven pages.

 

[Fosbery]

Fosberry,
I remember one of the Dr Who films (Dalek Invasion 1999 or similar load of old twaddle), where the plot basically went that the Daleks had invaded Earth and were using the enslaved human population to dig a hole to a subterranian fissure to somehow turn it into a massive space ship. Anyhoo, at least one of the main characters had a boomstick. No.4 rifle IIRC, and I'm sure I spotted a couple of Webleys around.

Yeh, it was set in Britain in 1960 or there abouts. The Daleks had taken over but there was a resistence movement using guns and home made bombs. Inside their secret base they had sterling SMGs, but the fighter who went with them had a rifle. I can't remember what it was but it might have been a sporterised enfield... The trick is to aim at the eye-piece, as that Brit soldier proved when he used his AUG (!) to blind a Dalek and push it otu a window. In another episode their FALs don't work so they use an RPG 7!

The Doctor: "I never carry weapons. If people see you mean them no harm, they never hurt you. Nine times out of ten." Baker placed qualifying emphasis on the "9 times out of 10"...so even the doctor knows that his number will come up eventually.

Yes, I remember now! His assistant asks if he can control the Tardis (since he doesn't know where they are) and he says "9 times out of 10....well, 7 times out of 10...5 times maybe." Then he tells her not take her gun and says "people won't harm you...9 times out of 10." I gues actually it was a pretty pro-gun scene!

 

[ArmedBear]

The source of the silliness: http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_3_peace_racket.html

 

[sterling180]

No offense Sterling, but come on. As to your complaint, I think it is valid, but what do you expect from the liberal media and their rabid anti-gun agenda.

I know what you mean and I understand what you are saying,but look at Sgt Bilko(the movie)and McHale's Navy and the A-team-all prime-time shows and they all have guns.Even in Johnny Quest,the characters are seen occasionally loading guns-particulary Race Bannon.

Still,these are imaginery worlds where the bad guys have all the guns in the world and the good guys have nothing.

The Italian Job, a movie that I love, highlights the criminals but nobody carried guns except the worse criminals they were stealing from. In reality, criminals of their quality, I would expect would have some form of "Insurance."

Which one are you referring to,the 1968 original or the remake?
The reason why they never used guns in this movie,was because a pickaxe handle is effective enough to do the job and of the fact that they only wanted the gold but never wanted to kill anyone,but they did injure people.It was considered clever,to find an alternative way to get the job done without firearms-much like how the original Mission Impossible series was-to some extent,but guns were used by the characters,though.

 

[larry_minn]

bulgron posted.

The really cool thing about SG-1 is watching the geeky and rather hoplophobic Daniel Jackson slowly evolve into a highly armed and extremely dangerous warrior over the course of the series


I have to agree. I also liked that. He really matured into a person (character) to be respected.
Many shows have anti gun angles. Also as said if main characters had gun the show would be over quick.

 

[PILMAN]

Children Of Men I heard was pretty anti-gun. I heard the main character didn't even pick up a gun once in the movie even throughout the long shootout process.

Also the movie "American Gun", the entire movies pretty much about guns being bad and that no one should have them. The end of the movie shows this regular well dressed white guy go into a convenience store, asks for a pack of smokes and then pulls out a gun from a holster in the back of his pants with the jacket covering, shoots the clerk and then shoots a girl getting soda from a fridge and ends up fleeing. Pretty stupid movie overall.

 

[SamTuckerMTNMAN]

http://eiconline.org/resources/topicareas/gvfsip_ds.php


whoa nelly!

I can't help but feel like a hard times for our country is what we need, to sharpen the men and remind us that freedom isn't free. I believe the Creator has ways of humbling a proud and haughty nation. . . I just wish we didn't need it so bad

st

 

[Correia]

Children Of Men I heard was pretty anti-gun. I heard the main character didn't even pick up a gun once in the movie even throughout the long shootout process.

The character was a hippie, former peacenik activist, pot-head... so I suppose it would have made perfect sense for him to pick up a gun and take on the army and the terrorists and suddenly turn into an action hero, instead of just running away over and over again. Damn those anti-gun writers!

Guys, honestly sometimes I think we do our side a real disservice by looking for an anti-gun conspiracy behind every little thing. There are plenty of real ones to worry about.

At the same time, I can think of about fifty movies I've seen recently where the hero used a gun to solve problems, including some really surprising ones. When Denzel Washington's house had a brick thrown through the window in Remember The Titans, Denzel came out with an 870 to defend his family. So can I assume that this is a top secret pro-gun propaganda moment? Is Denzel pro-gun?

How the hell would I know? I would just be making a wild guess, like everybody else in these kinds of threads. More than likely, the script writer decided that that was how Denzel's CHARACTER should react to that situation.

 

[Leif Runenritzer]

I believe The Rundown ended up on our side. The Rock's character didn't like guns, once saying something like "when i have a gun, bad things happen". Seann W Scott's character gainsays this with something like "so if your best friend was about to be killed, you wouldn't pick up a gun?" [Spoilers:] This foreshadows a later scene where The Rock rescues Seann W Scott from a small army. In the end, many of the Oompa-Loompas had armed themselves to confront Christopher Walken's character. They didn't really do anything, as he was already overcome, but it at least shows the everyman achieving armed freedom.

 

[HankB]

MASH moved to a more political and human-impact type of show from a slap-stick comedy when Alda started writing, producing and directing episodes.

It was pretty obvious towards the end of the series - if an episode was cr@p, you could pretty much count on Alda being listed as director in the credits. (IIRC, Paul Harvey mentioned something about MASH being a better show before it became heavily political.)

It's OK if some hero on TV chooses not to use a gun, but sometimes the hero's aversion to being armed is just asinine . . . like where they somehow get the upper hand on some BGs and disarm them, but then rather than be armed when facing the rest of the BGs, they throw their guns away.

On the other hand, sometimes guns can make a screenplay more difficult in some ways:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1094232574024579484

 

[akodo]

I am going to split the difference.

Yes, sometimes NOT using guns is a plot element to keep the suspense rolling, as a gun would fix the problem.

however, sometimes the suspicious lack of guns IS a political statement. Even if you don't have the Navy Seal babysitter using a gun, having one strapped to his thigh as part of his costume still makes sense. Hos and Little Joe and all the rest had guns strapped to them as part of their costumes.

The Italian Job, a movie that I love, highlights the criminals but nobody carried guns except the worse criminals they were stealing from. In reality, criminals of their quality, I would expect would have some form of "Insurance."

actually, my understanding of highly skilled hiesters is that the normally do NOT carry guns...they plan to avoid confrontation, and if they are forced into confrontation, they desire to flee. As they are normally confronting cops and security guards, people who aren't supposed to shoot unless someone's life is in danger, fleeing rather than fighitng is smart. Plus, if anything goes wrong, the firearms posession can lead to a lot longer harsher charges...especially if they are intercepted BEFORE they actually get high dollar items in their possession, then it is simple breaking and entering, not grand theft. If the DO ever use a gun in a confrontation, now they have murder charges added on top of all the rest.


As far as 'Children of Men'

The character was a hippie, former peacenik activist, pot-head... so I suppose it would have made perfect sense for him to pick up a gun and take on the army and the terrorists and suddenly turn into an action hero, instead of just running away over and over again. Damn those anti-gun writers

There is no need for someone to turn into an action hero just because he touches a gun, and still have him be smart enough to bring one along or grab one when it becomes available. But maybe the guy just concealed really well.

 

[Joe Demko]

Guys, honestly sometimes I think we do our side a real disservice by looking for an anti-gun conspiracy behind every little thing. There are plenty of real ones to worry about.

But it's more fun to feel like you're keenly insightful and At The Center Of Big Things by ferreting out The Hidden Agendas in popular entertainment from the comfort of your chair than it is to actually, you know, do something to further your 2A goals IRL.

 

[joab]

Sheriff Andy Taylor very rarely touched a gun when patrolling the mean streets of Mayberry

Only because actor Andy Griffith didn't like the weight of it on his hip

 

[2TransAms]

I can't tell you how many movies and shows I've watched where having a gun may be a genuinely good idea and the hero/heroine won't even invest any time to look for one or enlist the aid of someone who might have one. My wife watches One Tree Hill. This girl has an abusive boyfriend come back to town and whale on her. She hides in the house,then comes back and confronts him with some cheesy line like,"I'm not afraid anymore," and the camera pans out and she is equipped with, I kid you not, sparring gloves. I tried to give her advice but I guess she couldn't hear me because she got kicked down the stairs. At least she was rescued when her hot friend showed up and beat the guy with a garden hoe.

Now on Supernatural, Dean Winchester has himself a nickel-plated Colt 1911 and sawed-off double-barrel. I like it. Of course,they shoot demons instead of people,and I guess nobody really has a problem with shooting demons. With salt.

 

[medmo]

Correia - Don't hang me with the rest. I was only having fun with The Sheriff of Mayberry. I love Andy.

Honestly, there are a lot of scripts that would have run shorter had the protaganist been properly armed.

 

[rocinante]

I really liked the Rundown a lot. The scene when he was partially paralized and the baboons showed up was a riot. Don't know what he is like for 'real' but I like his public persona a lot. The Rock is turning into an actor that picks very likable roles that are more than just bone head shoot em ups. I got kids and I am actually looking forward to the movie where he is a quarterback that gets an instant kid.

I agree that the gun phobes in television and movies can make it more interesting. I may be wrong but I do not remember James Gardner having a lot of gun play in the Rockford Files.

 

[ceetee]

Could it be that writers only write what they get paid to write, and actors say whatever they're paid to say? If an actor has personal views on fireearms, and has been directly quoted espousing those views, he'll still say or do whatever's in the script, because that's what he's paid to do. And however much the movie-makers and TV producers are ruled by their politics, money talks. I have a real hard time with the idea that they would deliberately introduce anti-whatever elements into a script, unless they thought that would make the script (and final production) more salable.

The original Buford Pusser rarely needed to shoot anyone. He also never had carloads of casino-backed gangsters perforate the Sheriff's Office with automatic weapons, either. So? While I thought that made the movie just that much more tawdry, obviously the producers thought otherwise. For everyone that sees a distinct lack of guns in any particular movie as "anti-gun propaganda", I'd have to say, "Go raise up your own 40 million dollars, and finance your own pro-gun movie, where everyone carries, and the streets never run red with blood." See how much you gross at the box office. That's where all the truly important movie-making decisions are made.