Why can't they ever get the guns right in movies?

Question

Just saw "No Country for Old Men"

1. The story takes place in 1980. They have a Heckler & Koch short barrelled submachinegun that wasn't available at that time.

2. The bad guy uses a black synthetic stock on a shotgun that wasn't available at that time.

3. The bad guy uses a silenced shotgun. Naval ordinance tried to make one of these for the Navy SEALS. It ended up looking like a three foot length of five inch pipe. What the bad guy uses looks like a large can of beans.

whatobla

I am a liberal. I own about 30 guns. What is your point.

Well, all of you who say because the audience doesn't notice or care are correct. The killer uses a captive bolt pneumatic cattle stunner to knock key cylinders out and therefore open locks BUT THEN uses a silenced shotgun to kill people. I suddenly realized after reading all the reviews, that none of the reviewers knew the difference between one and the other.

Answer 1

There's a long Hollywood tradition. We older guys grew up with movies set in the Civil War in which the characters were armed with single-action Army Colts (1873) and model 1892 Winchesters. Tom Selleck has something of a cult following for having been more careful about this sort of thing in many of his movies, and that's precisely because it's so unusual.

Answer 2

You're right Jack, they never get it right. In the Sixties they spoke of 'throwing the safety catch' on a revolver. Another bozo ranted & raved about all snub noses were good for was to kill people. Inspector Dirty Harry Callaghan proclaimed the .44 Mag. as the world's most powerful handgun when in fact that honor fell on the .454 Casull around at least a decade when Dirty Harry spoke those words. Not to even mention the six-shooter that never ran out of ammo or the Winchesters that never needed reloading.

Hollywood is not the best source for picking up good gun smarts.

H

Answer 3

Well that's not really any different than 90% of movies/tv where the bad guys Always have to have a Desert Eagle. Or the older action movies with the likes of Chuck Norris, Steven Sega, and Schwarzeneger, where they go against an army and never get touched.

OBTW, the New Rambo movie looks pretty Badass

Answer 4

They use these props because they either do not exist or the companies who manufacture them are actually trying to get feed back from the audience or other gun makers for research and development purposes. Also if the guns did not exist at the time period of the movie the producers of the film can not be held accountable for using guns without permission of the manufacture.

Answer 5

They are going for drama and action not accuracy. It is not at all unusual to find such anachronisms in Hollywood films. In fact it is rare not to find them. There have been a few films made where they were very historically accurate such as the recent version of "Last of The Mohicans". In this film, great care was taken to be sure that everything was historically accurate. But these films are few and far between. Those of us who know better, just have to relax and enjoy the action and ignore these Hollywoodisms.

Answer 6

Just look at Hollywood. It's full of liberal anti-2nd amendment hypocrits. None of these people know anything about firearms. They're the same people that think civilian AK-47 rifles "spray bullets" and that the eleventh round in a pistol magazine is more dangerous than the first ten.

edit: I said "liberal anti-2nd amendment hypocrit". That's alot different than "liberal".

Answer 7

It's Hollywood and they make movies without following details all the time. Period films are often created to appeal to today's audience. So they have elements of current style (clothing, speech) in them. Guns are no exception.

It is irritating, if one is aware of the mistake. This is how a film loses an audiences attention.

Answer 8

Because 99.9% of the people can't tell the difference or care if they did. If you have a wife ask her if she cares at all and you'll see what I mean, especilly if you stop/rewind a movie at home to catch these miscues. I see that a lot with guns in the movies, but oddly, very rarely with cars. I guess there are a lot more car buffs then gun buffs.

Answer 9

Hollywood is fantasy. Everything is larger than life. Realism is what you experience when the camera stops rolling or you leave the movie theater. My only complaint is when there is an anti-gun message or a sporting gun is portrayed as a combat arm. Other than that I am very forgiving.

Answer 10

I'm right there with ya, my son tells me he's going to get me a hollywood gun for Christmas, you know the gun, it never runs out of ammo, never gets hot, is always accurate at insane distances, and apparently no matter how many times you've cycled the action, you still need to cycle it again before you shoot, just for dramatic effect.