Biggest Movie/TV ML Gaffs

[Loyalist Dave]

Gosh where to begin...,

In the opening scenes of American Outlaws, Colin Farrell gets hit at about ten feet with a .58 caliber slug from a Springfield Rifle, jumps up, pulls his revolver, disarms the yankee, then jumps on a horse and rides away without bleeding. (I get the impression that Mr. Farrell is "just a pretty face".)

All of the Daniel Boone series was pretty bad both in costumes and in guns, but I give them credit for the time period where it was produced, and having a well educated Indian character. Women without caps, men wearing western hats with the brims pinned up into tricorns, and button down shirts with breast pockets..., gad. :barf:

The Bastard TV Mini Series, where they used the same Springfield trap-door .45-70's with some of the most gosh awful hammer adaptations to try and make them look like flintlocks.

BTW I was a "black powder extra" in the TV Miniseries George Washington, which means I was "qualified" along with about 50 other guys to actually shoot black powder muskets in the film. They used the same Springfield trap door guns for distance shots of massed formations that had been used by Hollywood since Little Big Man, if not earlier. At least for close shots they used Pedersoli guns.

One of the things we noticed on that filming was that the historic advisors as well as the black powder advisors are normally NOT listened to by the director, unless the director has a penchant for authentic productions. Most of the BS is the direct responsibility of the director, and the leading cast member(s)..., if the director demands authenticity, it gets done, ..., if the leading actors (and it's a big production) demand authenticity, it gets done.

If all they want is a paycheck....

LD

 

[Supercracker]

tried to watch the new Hatfields and McCoys series when it came on. 5 minutes in Costners character picks up a cap and ball revolver OUT OF THE WATER and fires all 6 shots with no misfires. I couldn't watch after that.

 

[Don]

Not to get off topic but one movie that I thought did a good job with PC guns was Gangs of NY. It was on this weekend so it stuck in my head. I own dozens of westerns and few of them get it right visa vi PC firearms.

Don

 

[Jim Blair]

LOL You're spot on about some of those trapdoor abominations created to make them look like flintlocks.Some of them are truly horrible looking.

 

[illuveatar]

Not to get off topic but one movie that I thought did a good job with PC guns was Gangs of NY.

As Loyalist Dave pointed out it was probably because Martin Scorsese is a meticulous director who pays attention to detail and demands authenticity.

It's been a while since I watched it but I always thought the movie April Morning with Tommy Lee Jones was fairly accurate. Has anyone else seen that one ?

 

[ihuntsnook]

Yes indeed, April Morning was first rate. I had a copy on VHS but don't know where it is anymore. Would like to see it again. Next year I plan to take in the re enactment of Lexington and Concord in Mass.

 

[vtbuck223]

My wife was recently watching an episode of The Waltons...of all things....and John pulled out a gun that I'm pretty sure didn't exist for another 30 years...and ofcourse I commented on it...to which my wife responded "you are the only person who would notice that". Ofcourse...I had to tell her that this was not true...there is a group of people...probably small...who are far "worse" than me when it comes to such things...and that would be you all on this site. I have shut quite a few movies off myself for similar reasons...but not just gun related. I remember one native american movie where there was a fight scene taking place in the mountains and in the distant background you could see the ski trails...

 

[kodiakmarine]

I especially like your point about the wound to Colin Farrell. I don't know how many times I have seen a character hit "only in the shoulder" by a Revolution or Civil War musket and manage to keep on fighting. Such a wound from a musket of .54 to .75 caliber would have been fatal. I guess those were real men in those days!

 

[kodiakmarine]

I should also add that you are right on target about the role of the director. He controls the final product and sets the tone for everyone involved throughout the making of the film.

 

[kodiakmarine]

I missed the gun out of the water scene. Must have been reaching for popcorn. I enjoyed the series but I kept seeing one glaring mistake over and over, the brass framed 1858 Remington. Waren't no such critter!

 

[rabjr]

My wife was recently watching an episode of The Waltons...of all things....and John pulled out a gun that I'm pretty sure didn't exist for another 30 years...and ofcourse I commented on it...to which my wife responded "you are the only person who would notice that". Ofcourse...I had to tell her that this was not true...there is a group of people...probably small...who are far "worse" than me when it comes to such things...and that would be you all on this site. I have shut quite a few movies off myself for similar reasons...but not just gun related. I remember one native american movie where there was a fight scene taking place in the mountains and in the distant background you could see the ski trails...

:haha: This reminds me of growing up watching Little house on the Prairie until they blew it for me using the wrong guns for that time. Don't remember now but I think they were carrying mod 92 winchesters for something pre Civil war... just couldn't watch it after that. :haha:

 

[illuveatar]

I just watched an original '68 Star Trek episode titled The Squire of Gothos. A character pulls a matched set of dueling pistols from the mantle piece and says they were just like those used by Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton (1804). The guns shown were breech loaders with a rolling block actions. They didn't even try to make them look like flintlocks. Ok it was Star Trek and the show is known for it's cheesy effects and props, but if the character referenced the pieces they could have at least tried to accurately replicate them.

 

[misher]

I wonder how the guns were in another episode "A Private Little War" I think. The Klingons were giving muzzleloaders to one side in a war and Kirk had to decide to arm the other side or not. Gotta see now!!! :shake:

 

[illuveatar]

They're all available to watch online through Netflix. I just looked that one up too, season 2 episode 19. They appear to be well made replicas.

I would guess they are Trapdoor Springfields but they have been restocked and the lock plates reworked to look like flintlocks. From a distance they look legit but when they fire you can see that there's no flash in the pan. There is a shot of smoke that comes up from some ejection port on the top of the barrel a few inches past the lock plate.

Hey this is my 100th post ! At this rate I'll match RBs post count in just over 300 years. By that time he'll have nearly 700,000 posts though.

 

[Coffeecup]

Congrats on your hundredth post! This will be my first here.

Absolute worst movie gaff . . . (probably shouldn't admit to having watched the movie) Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies: 1863. Teddy Roosevelt standing on Abe's shoulders to take shot after shot over a fence, without reloading. Next to that, the mixture of flintlock muskets firing from an open pan and 7 shot Colt Peacemakers didn't even count.

 

[Geraldo]

Not to get off topic but one movie that I thought did a good job with PC guns was Gangs of NY.

As Loyalist Dave pointed out it was probably because Martin Scorsese is a meticulous director who pays attention to detail and demands authenticity.

Too bad he wasn't as meticulous about the history.

The most current one I saw was Hatfields and McCoys. Along with the brass frame Remington, Costner helps the wounded soldier cock his brass framed, 5" barreled, .44 "Navy". That and the Romanian scenery didn't look much like West Virginia and Kentucky.

 

[Cheyenne]

Hollyweird is full of them.....take American Outlaws.....south Texas looks nothing like the Missouri/Kansas border country! Not to mention guns and their uses!

Ride with the Devil, scenery was good, but our 'hero' carries brass framed Remingtons!

And though I love the movie, The Patriot is full of them, if you watch closely, you'll see left handed Brown Besses being wielded by Redcoats in a couple of scenes.....when Gabriel and Co. attack Tavington, the parson kneels to reload....first he pulls the ramrod out of the barrel and drops it to the ground, then it pans to another part of the action, then back to the parson, who is now drawing his ramrod from the stock...then when Tavington and Co. are searching the aunt's house for Martins kids, the servants are brought before them....the first one is shot, then when another Dragoon goes to shoot the 2nd, there is just a flash in the pan of his pistol, which has lethal results on the 2nd servant.

In the fight with the British after Benjamin Martin, standing alone in the road stops the wagons, as the general engagement ensues, Mrtin takes cover behind a fallen tree and produces a pistol and fires!....well, sorta, it also flashes the pan, but does not set off the main charge, however it seems to have leathal effect on the British! :hatsoff:

 

[necchi]

"however it seems to have leathal effect on the British!"
Scared'm to Death! :grin:

 

[WBROWN]

Hollyweird is full of them.....take American Outlaws.....south Texas looks nothing like the Missouri/Kansas border country! Not to mention guns and their uses!

Ride with the Devil, scenery was good, but our 'hero' carries brass framed Remingtons!

And though I love the movie, The Patriot is full of them, if you watch closely, you'll see left handed Brown Besses being wielded by Redcoats in a couple of scenes.....when Gabriel and Co. attack Tavington, the parson kneels to reload....first he pulls the ramrod out of the barrel and drops it to the ground, then it pans to another part of the action, then back to the parson, who is now drawing his ramrod from the stock...then when Tavington and Co. are searching the aunt's house for Martins kids, the servants are brought before them....the first one is shot, then when another Dragoon goes to shoot the 2nd, there is just a flash in the pan of his pistol, which has lethal results on the 2nd servant.

In the fight with the British after Benjamin Martin, standing alone in the road stops the wagons, as the general engagement ensues, Mrtin takes cover behind a fallen tree and produces a pistol and fires!....well, sorta, it also flashes the pan, but does not set off the main charge, however it seems to have leathal effect on the British! :hatsoff:

If the hero you are talking about in "Ride with the devil" is "Dutchy"I believe he carried Spiller and Burrs revolvers. They do resemble remmies from a distance.
Y.M.H.S.
Wendell

 

[Robert Egler]

Just saw a show on the History Channel on pirates in the 1600s that had the Spanish defenders of a fort shooting percussion rifles. :shake: