MythBuster: Dirty Harry Did NOT Carry .44 Magnum!

[Orange_Magnum]

That Mr Dirty would tour the town with .44 Specials doesn't make sense. In the mentioned movie clip, doesn't he say he uses a down-loaded .44? He IS a gun freak and surely that means he is brewing at home. A down-loaded .44 implies a soft magnum, not a .44 Special, because that would not be down-loaded, that would be butchered. If he did use .44 Specials, why would the scumbag in the first movie fly off the paltform into the lake upon being hit? Plus, if he used .44 Specials, why would he say "This is the most powerful..." etc, etc, when any .357 magnum of equal barrel length would outperform what he had? Now, if he DID tour the town with .44 Specials, holy smoke, that would be so schizo and gay, magnum force my ass. I mean, he is blabbering about "magnum" in every other sentence throughout the movies.

 

[zxcvbob]

Didn't he use a .44 Automag instead of a revolver in at least one movie?

(I think a "stretch" version of the .44AMP -- cut a .30-06 case off at 2.00" instead of 1.3" and straighten out the little shoulder -- would make a great rifle cartridge for a Mauser action. Like a .444 Marlin, but more-so)

 

[Logan5]

I remember this thread from three years ago! The Millius clip on youtube is great though, worth resurrecting to see. What's he working on now, anyway?

The Auto Mag was in Sudden Impact, and at that point in handgun history it was apparently the cat's pajamas, pretty much your .50 Desert Eagle if that one had failed, or more like the .480 Ruger Super Redhawk.

 

[Stainz]

This post brings up bad memories. Harry Callahan wasn't real? Next thing, someone is going to try to tell me Murphy Brown isn't a real person... even if she moved to Boston and started practicing law.

Ah, the AutoMag - AMT's big thingie - that only worked in the movies. Once a give-away kluge, today they are collectible. Go figure! It's still a bottom-feeder - sometimes!

Stainz

 

[22-rimfire]

I think he used a Model 17 and they added a deep throated sound effect afterr the fact.

Had they wanted to use a Model 29, there were no shortages of guns available. The most powerful handgun in the world frightened a lot of people from buying one... it will blow your head clean off! or ... it will shoot your eye out! After the movie, potential buyers would say "that recoil doesn't look like much". That is where all the guns came from that had a half a box of shells shot through them.

 

[Deanimator]

I used Federal 200gr. LSWC-HP or Speer 200gr. Gold Dot JHP .44 Specials in my 4" Model 29-2. It's my primary home defense gun. If I asked for volunteers to be shot COM with it, I doubt I'd get many takers.

 

[Deanimator]

If he did use .44 Specials, why would the scumbag in the first movie fly off the paltform into the lake upon being hit?

Because it's in the script.

Of course he could really have been killed in the scene too... which makes his appearance as Kirstie's dad in "Hellraiser" even more ironic...

 

[unspellable]

Availability?

I will offer no opinions on whatt he revolver in the movie actually was, but I depart from orthodoxy on the matter of how available the M-29 was before the movie.

I first saw an M-29 in the flesh when the local game warden had one. he said they were hard to come by. At that point I decided I had to have one. It took a lot of beating the bushes to come up with a used one. The one I found was the classic case of part of a box through it. All this before Dirty Harry.

 

[Onmilo]

Man, somebody had to be seriously bored to bring up a thread from so long back in the distant past!

I searched high and low for a .44 AutoMag for my uncles retirement gift from the police force.
Cost a small fortune and he doesn't even shoot the gun, 'it's just for lookin' at' to paraphrase Chief Dan George from another Clint Eastwood movie, "The Outlaw Josey Wales".
Great movie, still enjoy watching this one, the book was very good too.

Gawd I hate AutoMag pistols!

 

[Hawk]

Resurrection via Youtube via boxed set.

The "Model 57 myth" is certianly understandable - it's reported as fact (presently) on IMDB and attributed to a prop department worker on Wikipedia.

 

[Onmilo]

Yeah, even if Mr. Callahan did use a Model 57 the speech just wouldn't have sounded as cool,,,,,,,

'This is a .41 Magnum, a caliber most people have never heard of,,,,,at this range it will make a really loud noise and turn your brains into Jello',,,,,,,,,

 

[qwert65]

Sure, John Wayne is cooler, but not because he never statement he was using powered down ammo. I don't recall John Wayne ever saying that much about ammo power at all.

Thats cause, he knew shot placement was important

 

[Evyl Robot]

Well, if they made the movie today instead...

...all the guns would be blue plastic, all action would be shot in front of green-screens with plastic balls all over the actors (never on set together), and when they "fired" their weapons, the actors would make "pew, pew!" sounds that would be edited out later.

Then, the Wachowski brothers or Frank Miller would piece the whole thing back together in some kind of a virtual-CG world. Most of the wardrobe, and all of the props and sets would be completely fictional, and Harry Callahan would be played by somebody like Timothy Oliphant.

This entire thread would be completely irrelevant as there would be no "actual" gun in the movie, as its existence would amount to no more than bits and pixels.



My father-in-law had an elderly neighbor who offered to give him a 29-2, claiming that it belonged to Clint Eastwood. It may or may not have been Clint's actual property as far as I know or care, but this gentleman was about 3/4-senile, and I really doubt it. My father-in-law declined the gift, as his wife is an anti. I can't help but poke fun at him for that one. I won't soon let him forget.

 

[Footcheese]

I read somewhere that the sounds used in the original movie, Dirty Harry, were recorded using a rifle (.30 Carbine or .30-30, not sure which).

I saw Magnum Force recently and that specific line invoked an immediate slew of emails to friends and family. I didn't really like MF as much as DH. MF had one scene in which he's on an airplane and a terrorist runs behind the wall where the stewardists work, then Callahan shoots him through the wall. I understand he's supposed to be a free swinging loose canon type but it didn't really seem like a shot ANY cop would take.

 

[novaDAK]

are you all going to make me go down to the NRA Museum and get a picture of one of the guns? It's about 15min away...but I was just there last week (I've been there so many times )

 

[Checkman]

Well according to Roy Jinks the studio was unable to locate any Model 29's. So they went to the factory and the factory assembled a couple 29's for the production.

Mr. Jinks also states that originally Callahan was going to carry a 4" Model 29, but all they had in stock was the 6.5" barrel.

But it was a Model 29 in the first movie.

No I don't remember where I read the interview with Mr. Jinks. Anybody else?

Love these Zombie threads.

 

[BlackBearME]

Not to nitpick, but in real life John Wayne got out of going to the military, so he never really got shot at. This from Richard Boone's biography:

Boone was a college student, boxer, painter and oil-field labourer before ending up in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he used the G.I. Bill to study acting with the Actor's Studio in New York.

Yes, Paladin is cooler than John Wayne in my book too.

I see your Richard Boone and raise you Audie Murphy.

 

[Stainz]

Footcheese,

Hmmm, about 'cops shooting through barricades... remember NYPD detectives blasting through, I believe his name was Amidou Diallo's, or something like that, front door? I think they fired 57 rounds, hitting him less than 20 times. He was an innocent immigrant worker - they had the wrong guy. It happens.

Audie Murphy was the real deal. Richard Boone was a great actor, doing most of his stunts in 'Have Gun; Will Travel' - including riding a camel in a desert race! I really liked him in that 'Suspense' show, 'Heck Ramsey', that shared the time slot with 'McCloud', 'MacMillan and Wife', and 'Columbo'. Yeah, no one else liked it. Boone was a supurb actor. His man-servant in 'HG;WT', a Chineese fellow, had a non-pc name - certainly inappropriate today; 'Hey-boy!' is all he ever called him. Loved that SAA.

Speaking of guns... Steve McQueen always carried a cutdown Win 1892 - only made in pistol calibers - yet his belt's ammo loops always held either .38-55s or .45-70s. He never had to reload from his belt, either. Often thought 'aloof' or arrogant, because he ignored folks, he really couldn't hear very well. I liked his movies - he was a great actor. John Wayne always played the same guy, whether he was in 'The Alamo' or 'The Green Berets'.

Stainz

 

[Checkman]

Yes but Wayne played the same guy very very well.

I am also a fan of Mcqueen. I also like Gregory Peck. When he was alive I didn't agree with his politics, but still liked most of his movies.

Oh and honorable mention for Robert Mitchum.