Dirty Harry, Magnum Force (Smith 29 vs. Colt Python. 'nuff said)
The Way of the Gun (watch Benicio Del Toro's 1911 wounded arm reloads and James Caan's excellent handling of his snub 38 S&W)
Thief (great James Caan with custom 1911s, Michael Mann directing. Watch Caan conduct Gunsite perfect room clearing drills in the final shootout)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (a civil war film that actually used cap and ball revolvers)
Heat (Pacino press checks his ivory gripped Colt Commander before busting down the door of an informant, a little detail that director Michael Mann made a point of showing).
Of more recent vintage, I'd recommend Open Range. If I remember correctly, it has some of the best sound associated with on-screen gunfights of just about any movie I've seen. The movie has lots of entertaining pistol and rifle play, but my favorite scene was Robert Duvall's character cutting loose on a bad guy through a thin wood wall with a double-barrel scattergun, complete with said bad guy's leg quivering as he lay in the dirt.
I have to agree with Heat being one of the greats. I personaly think it was one of Pacino's and Deniro's last great movies. The 1911 play in that movie was great but the final bank roberry followed by the attempted getaway shootout was probably one of the better scenes of the movie.
It has been WAY too many years since I have seen Last Man Standing but would definitely have to rank it pretty high.
I have to agree with all mentioned thus far, except the Jesse Stone movies and SWAT. I've never seen those.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is pretty historically correct, showing Schofields and the 1875 Remington. 3:10 to Yuma and the 2008 Apaloosa also deserve mention. For that matter, so does Marlon Brando's Apaloosa due to his use of an 1874 Sharps.
Dirty Harry, Magnum Force (Smith 29 vs. Colt Python. 'nuff said)
Heat (Pacino press checks his ivory gripped Colt Commander before busting down the door of an informant, a little detail that director Michael Mann made a point of showing).
Yep...I like the Old School Python Stuff...we thought it was so cool back then... Surprised no 6 in Model 19s showed up.....
Heat- Ya just gotta love the IA drills during the shoot in Heat...
I have to agree with all mentioned thus far, except the Jesse Stone movies and SWAT. I've never seen those.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is pretty historically correct, showing Schofields and the 1875 Remington. 3:10 to Yuma and the 2008 Apaloosa also deserve mention. For that matter, so does Marlon Brando's Apaloosa due to his use of an 1874 Sharps.
Completely forgot about 3:10 to Yuma. That one deserves a little mention, as well as Open Range as someone else has already mentioned.
Another of my all time favorites is The Professional with Jean Reno, Natalie Portman and Gary Oldman. Lots of great gun handling scenes with a great mix of revolver and semi auto action by Jean. If you can find it, the director's cut is greatly more encompassed including extra scenes of his training of Natalie.
When entering the USO club in Naples, Italy, during WWII, Humphrey Bogart was asked by a GI where he could get one of those pistols he used in the movies that held 16 shots. Bogie replied "Ain't Hollywood grand!"
If I may detour slightly from OP's topic. My favorite movie for the depiction of weaponry is "The Professionals" which is set in the post-Mexican Revolution era in the New Mexico-Mexico border region. The weaponry is interesting because it fairly accurately shows the evolution of firearms (and modes of transportation horse-horse drawn wagon-railroad-tin lizzy)from the Frontier era to the WW1 era.
Lee Marvin carries a 1911 Colt, an Colt Official Police .38 DA revolver, a Winchester '97 Trench Gun, and is seen at the start of the movie demonstrating the use of a 1917 Browning Machine Gun. Burt Lancaster carries a Colt SAA and a Springield '06 and also uses a Winchester 1887 shotgun. Robert Ryan carries a Colt New Service DA revolver and a Winchester '92 Carbine. The Revolutionaries have a mix of Colt SAA's and Springfields and Jack Palance also has a Colt New Service DA revolver. The Revolutionaries also "liberate" a Lewis machine gun from the Mexican Army which Lee Marvin then "liberates" and uses when they raid the Revolutionaries camp. Ralph Bellamy's men have the same mix of Colt SAA's and DA revolvers and Winchester rifles and shotguns.
To top it off Woody Strobe uses an Apache-style bow and arrows!
The Wild Bunch is an all time great gun movie in general. The final gunfight is probably the best of best.
DeathWish 3 is lame movie, but who can't love Charles Bronson dealing death in the Bronx with .475 Wildey Automatic, or Ernest Borgnine slaying punks on the fire escape with a .30 Browning Belt fed
Also liked The Last Hard Men where prisoners escape from jail after 30 years. When they went in the SAA was "state of the art", but when they got out things had changed.
Love the scene where one fires a 1911......then nearly kills his companions when it just kept firing without cocking the hammer.
Later in the book (can't remember if it was in the movie) one of the "bad guys" was in a shoot out and hiding behind a rock. He counted his opponents shots and when they reached 6 he charged.....thinking it would take a while to reload a SA revolver. He didn't figure on a 1911 holding 7 rounds....and his friends didn't think about the quick reloading with magazines.
"Ronin", how could anyone forget that one????? Another EXCELLENT DeNiro film.
"The Untouchables" ain't too bad, either, Nitty at the courthouse, Ness with the Official Police Colt. The train station scene, heck, all kinds of great gun scenes in that one.
Always liked the scene from the Good Bad and the Ugly, where Tuco takes parts from several revolvers and assembles the best into one gun, then goes "out back" and trys it out.
Civil war era with the first Richards convirsions from black powder to cartridge.
Robert Duvall has a couple of good scenes in Lonesome Dove. Loved it when he raised the ladder sight on his 1873 and drilled the Comanchero ala Billy Dixon.
I liked the part in the "The Professional" when Gary Oldman takes the pills before entering the apartment to kill the man and his family and the other cops are afraid of him.
Robert Duvall has a couple of good scenes in Lonesome Dove. Loved it when he raised the ladder sight on his 1873 and drilled the Comanchero ala Billy Dixon.
Always liked the scene from the Good Bad and the Ugly, where Tuco takes parts from several revolvers and assembles the best into one gun, then goes "out back" and trys it out.
Civil war era with the first Richards convirsions from black powder to cartridge.
Virgil B.
Richards conversions didn't come out until several years after the war was over. The same mistake can be seen in Josey Wales as well. It's curious that Wales uses a more modern gun dug out of the smoking remains of his cabin ostensibly before the actual war began than his pistols he later carries after the war.
Always liked the scene from the Good Bad and the Ugly, where Tuco takes parts from several revolvers and assembles the best into one gun, then goes "out back" and trys it out.
Civil war era with the first Richards convirsions from black powder to cartridge.
Virgil B.
Richards conversions didn't come out until several years after the war was over. The same mistake can be seen in Josey Wales as well. It's curious that Wales uses a more modern gun dug out of the smoking remains of his cabin ostensibly before the actual war began than his pistols he later carries after the war.
In Distant Drums, set during the 1840's, Gary Cooper is carrying a Colt single action, and the army troops are using trap door rifles. WTH!!! I'm sure it happens a lot, and not many notice.
I was thinking that the conversions didn't come out untill after the war, but this was still a great scene with a handgun, even if not historicaly correct.
In a slightly different vein, in the movie "Zulu" there are a few anachronisms as well. The officers are carrying break open revolvers, but of a period later than 1876. Plus, in the scene where the flying squad is advancing by sections from within the compound to repel the Zulus that had broken through the barricade, they are using bolt action French Lebels.
Robert Duvall has a couple of good scenes in Lonesome Dove. Loved it when he raised the ladder sight on his 1873 and drilled the Comanchero ala Billy Dixon.
Though I am no fan of Tom Cruise, Collateral has to have some of the finest handgun skills I have seen in a movie. The movie Shooter has some fair handgun skills as well. As far as single action revolvers go, Silverado has some pretty good footage in it.
Sort of a "handgun" was in the John Wayne movie El Dorado where James Cann couldn't hit anything he shot at and John wayne fixed him up with a double barreled shotgun (12" barrels) and a holster to carry it on his hip. Sort of neat.
Both of those were great movies. I though Ronin was under rated. I thought it was one of his better movies.
I loved Nitty's hand-written business card from the Mayor allowing him to carry...and the cop was prefectly fine with it. The operation at the border with the Canadian mounties, that might be the train station scene you're talking about, was also great.
I appreciate a movie/ tv program which portrays the main character as being as comfortable carrying their firearm as they are with their cell phones. A tool that is carried daily.
The actors on the "CSI" type shows etc. are not firearms folks....and it shows.
Thumbs up for Tom Selleck and his characters.... very easy to see he is a "natural" with a 1911. I understand the 1911 he carries in the Jesse Stone series is one of his own.
Another nod to Last Man Standing...Lots of 1911 mags are a good thing!
I appreciate a movie/ tv program which portrays the main character as being as comfortable carrying their firearm as they are with their cell phones. A tool that is carried daily.
The actors on the "CSI" type shows etc. are not firearms folks....and it shows.
Agreed. I can't stand seeing when they unholster a weapon and then keep their arm stiff as a board as if they are trying to keep a wild animal from attacking them.
The Getaway (1972 version) by Peckinpah, with McQueen. The move by McQueen with the left hand, to shield himself from back splatter as he's deciding whether to put a bullet from his 1911 into Al Lettieri's head from about 8 inches away, is classic Peckinpah.
I need to go back and check , now that it's out on DVD.. but it bugged me for the whole movie in the theater.. Public Enemy one of the first scenes is the prison break set in ? Late 20's or very early 30's And it has the guard in the tower armed with an M1 Garand.
The rest of the guns seemed correct. But that one mistake bugged me ( Civilian Service rifle competitor and Garand fan )
Loved that scene in Collateral where Tom Cruise draws from holster at close range to grease two dudes. TC may be a weirdo, but unless what they displayed was fast motion (could be), he had a practiced draw and presentation. Same could be said for Sly Stallones' scene on the boat in the last Rambo flick.
Nothing surpasses Clinton Taratino's "Deperado" with Antonio Banderas. This is the baseline by which all flying pistol shooting movies are based.
John Wayne in "True Grit". When he is on the hill overlooking the cabin, waiting for Lucky Ned Pepper to come into his trap, he pulls out his colt SAA and puts one more round in the cylinder. Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), asks him why he always keeps the one chamber empty, and he says "so I won't shoot myself".
This is a safe carry only an accomplished gun person would know, I assume John Wayne had that part put into the film.
John Wayne also showed more gun handling knowledge in "The Shootist" when he was giving shooting lessons to Ron Howard. These nuances are rarely seen in film making.
John Wayne was, however involved with a bunch of post Civil War films that had the characters using model 92 Winchesters....oops.
Loved that scene in Collateral where Tom Cruise draws from holster at close range to grease two dudes. TC may be a weirdo, but unless what they displayed was fast motion (could be), he had a practiced draw and presentation. Same could be said for Sly Stallones' scene on the boat in the last Rambo flick.
Expat
I don't know who did the shooting work in Collateral, but it was the very best I've ever seen on the silver screen. There's only a small pool of guys that fast, and I keep hoping somebody will tell me who it was. I happen to like Tom's acting, but that's not something he could just train a couple months for.
The best actor I've ever seen was Steven Segal in Hard to Kill. He did his own work there and he was pretty good.
Everything else, with few exceptions, has been doo-doo.
I don't know who did the shooting work in Collateral, but it was the very best I've ever seen on the silver screen. There's only a small pool of guys that fast, and I keep hoping somebody will tell me who it was. I happen to like Tom's acting, but that's not something he could just train a couple months for.
You do realize it was a movie and not real 'life and death', Cruise was firing blanks, didn't really hit anything, and the blood was fake?
It was Cruise doing the acting. He was trained for the movie by Mick Gould, a former SAS soldier.
