What a joke!

[Captainkirk]

Watched a 1950's western last night called "Colt .45" starring Randolph Scott. Well, I watched PART of it; after the first half hour I had all I could stand and shut it down...
The premise was Scott was a salesman for Colt and was demo'ing a pair of "Colt .45's"...which were actually Dragoons, that were stolen by a vicious desperado. And our hero (Scott) had a second cased set that he straps on and goes after the thief with...also Dragoons. Now, we all know the typical Dragoon shot a .454 roundball...which makes it a .45 bore, but back in they day they were referred to as ".44 caliber" and the .45 designation didn't come around until the advent of cartridge ammunition. So, the movie was a proliferation of stupidity in that aspect. I continues with the dopey-ness by having the other outlaws all carrying a plethora of sidearms, most which appear to be revolvers...in what would have had to have been 1848? So, who made these revolvers and why did they look like 1873 Colts and Remingtons? The thief is amazed as he decides to steal the Dragoons..."six shots without reloading!" he muses...Duh. What about the Paterson and the Walker, you moron? Were you hiding under a rock since 1837? It was too much stupidity, too fast. I couldn't stand it any more so I turned it off.

[sourdough]

One is a 2nd Model and one is a 3rd Model. At least Scott loads it somewhat properly, which is better than Josey Wales did.

It leads one to believe that Army contract revolvers were all cased sets. At least I don't see Phil Spangenberger's extra cylinder.

Around 02:17 Scott puts the revolver on half cock, rotates the cylinder, and then from a rear shot appears to load at least 2 "cartridges" as if it was a cartridge revolver?



I have always found that the later "Gunsmoke" TV westerns (the longer versions) paid very good attention to the historicity of the guns during the time period.

Jim

[Miguel Loco]

Yup....that sure takes the fun out of watching a which might be an otherwise pretty good movie.

[mazo kid]

Well, screen writers aren't (probably) too gun-savvy. Just so they look "old-timey".

[Captainkirk]

So, Jim...I reckon you noticed that in the link you posted, Scott is holding an 1873? LOL! The silliness continues!
Yes, I totally agree about Gunsmoke! When Matt Dillon is tracking down "a buffalo hunter with a Sharps", by golly, it's a Sharps. Even if it's the wrong model for a buffalo hunter (carbine with buckhorn sights VS rifle with vernier tang). I guess if I was a starry-eyed kid in the 50's it would be a good movie. Now I'm too jaded to let stuff like that go un-called.

[Hawg]

I guess if I was a starry-eyed kid in the 50's it would be a good movie. Now I'm too jaded to let stuff like that go un-called.

I can't even watch John Wayne anymore.

[Captainkirk]

I guess if I was a starry-eyed kid in the 50's it would be a good movie. Now I'm too jaded to let stuff like that go un-called.

I can't even watch John Wayne anymore.

Duke gets a pass on anything from me!

[Hawg]

I guess if I was a starry-eyed kid in the 50's it would be a good movie. Now I'm too jaded to let stuff like that go un-called.

I can't even watch John Wayne anymore.

Duke gets a pass on anything from me!

 

[AntiqueSledMan]

Hey Guys,

I need to let my wife read this, she thinks I'm the only one who picks out faults in movies.

AntiqueSledMan.

[Captainkirk]

Hey Guys,

I need to let my wife read this, she thinks I'm the only one who picks out faults in movies.

AntiqueSledMan.

Not hardly....

[mazo kid]

My wife tells me I should be a technical advisor for TV shows, and I don't know half of what others here know. It just gets me when the firearms "expert" says (without a shell casing OR bullet) " the victim was shot with the Werewolf Super 30 caliber Magnum rifle with a 28" barrel" thus discounting the dozen other 30 caliber guns.

[sourdough]

Kind of off topic, but I watched a show a while back (Forensic Files, maybe?) where the firearms "expert" determined that the weapon (shotgun) used had an 18" barrel because of the shot spread at a predetermined distance was larger than a shotgun normally used for hunting purposes. I wonder how much the "expert" knew about chokes/choke lengths. As an example, I used to shoot skeet back in a previous life with an 870 12 gauge that had a 26" barrel cut down from a 30 " FC barrel that miked out at less than IC (what was then known in our circles as "skeet" choke).

Kirk, I had vaguely noticed that but was completely taken aback by the "Army" cased set instead. Good eye, sir!

On one later episode of "Gunsmoke" in the first scenes Dillon is about to be ambushed by a bad guy using a Merwin & Hulbert. Here is a screen shot of it:



One can't do much better than that. I don't know if Arness is to thank for that or the studio armorer. Either way, kudos!

jim

[Hawg]

There's an early episode of Bonanza where Little Joe reloads his converted 1851 navy by pulling the barrel and cylinder. He does it several times. Once he even reloads it again before firing a shot.

[tljack]

I love all of the old westerns. They are not filled with blood and guts, blood splattering all over, very poor morals etc. They are simply light entertainment. I personally to not care so much of exact accurate details. If you do that is awesome. With everything going on today, I really enjoy  some simple and light entertainment to get my mind off the world's craziness!

[mazo kid]

I have a friend who used to be heavy into Civil War reenacting, now fur-trade era rendezvousing. He has been known to stand up in a movie theater and shout out the inaccuracies. It is hard to miss him at 6 feet 10 inches! His family just kinda slouch down in their seats.