More criticism of western movies

[Jeepnik]

Interesting. My friends who were firefighters at the time told me that it was very accurate. YMMV.

I'm not sure what that second sentence means.

Recently one station has been airing Emergency again. From time to time I'll watch one for giggles.

Since I grew up about five minutes from the station used in filming (station 51 is actually station 127). I always get a kick out of how they go from one part of, what is now Carson California to local across the county. But TV has never respected geography. Though it is funny when they leave the station on a run and turn the wrong way.

At the time it was filmed I had two sisters that were RN's at Harbor General Hospital (used for exterior shots of Rampart General). Their take was that the filming always created problems for the staff.

Oh, by the way, the Rampart area of L A is almost due north of HGH about 15 miles away. Want to see part of Rampart? Watch Adam 12, the Rampart division police station is used for its exterior shots.

I could go on and on about all of the mistakes (one of the biggest is the use of the defunct Marineland of the Pacific as a still active Aquarium and a party spot in my youth) but while we laughed and hooted at all the errors, we all understood "it's just TV".

 

[caryc]

I also have OTA "Outlaw" and "Grit" (still hoping for a martial arts channel) and I take them with a grain of salt.

From far too many shoot from the hip at very long distance and full gallop handgun kills, to never needing to reload, smokeless gunpowder and wounds that do not get infected it's far and away from reality enough to ignore. One positive thing I found, most of the spaghetti western ricochet sounds seem to have faded into an obscure footnote in western cinematography

Remember "Leave it to Beaver"? Wally walks into the boys bedroom and Beaver was behind the bed with his toy gun and going "Pow, Boing" "Pow, Boing". Wally asks Beaver what he was doing and Beaver says, "I'm shootin' bullets and they're ricocheting"

 

[Colonialgirl]

Want fun; Watch some old Lone Ranger reruns; He wears TIGHT stretch pants, no pockets, no seams, never dirty even when fighting, ever seen him shave ? Finally even after wearing the mask full time there is NEVER any skin color difference when he goes "civilian" between the top and bottom of his face----

HI YO SILVER !!!!!

 

[caryc]

Want fun; Watch some old Lone Ranger reruns; He wears TIGHT stretch pants, no pockets, no seams, never dirty even when fighting, ever seen him shave ? Finally even after wearing the mask full time there is NEVER any skin color difference when he goes "civilian" between the top and bottom of his face----

HI YO SILVER !!!!!

I think every time I've seen him go civilian, he was wearing a full beard. What's even funnier is that those stretch pants he wore were robins egg blue.

 

[sfhogman]

You can see Clayton Moore sans mask, beard and baby blue pants in any number of old Republic serials. Check it out. Much fun!
My favorite is "The Crimson Ghost" starring Clayton Moore and the delectable Linda Stirling. Ms. Stirling was an actress, model, athlete and stunt woman. In later life she taught college level English...must have been weird being a student and thinking, didn't I see you in The Mark of Zorro...?
Okay, so I digress...

 

[contender]

You can pick on any TV show,, movies or even the local news & see many mistakes. Some may be innocent as in how a person views something,, but obvious errors are everywhere. 99% of what you see will NOT be 100% factual.

But I also enjoy it more when they at least TRY & get stuff correct.

Heck,, in my work,, just this past week,, I got asked if "I was like the Turtleman?" I politely said; "No, I'm a REAL professional not a circus act!"

 

[steveodtw]

It was a really big 45.

Maybe a 45mm.

 

[steveodtw]

I always got a kick out of the Indians wearing breech cloths over pants. and stirrups sticking out of blankets on horses.

 

[Huntfish918]

Probably the only TV shows to have few technical/procedural errors were Dragnet, Adam-12, and Emergency.

If you watch them and pay attention to details, you see the equipment changing from season to season as the police or fire department changed their equipment.

I once read that for Adam-12, the hot sheet that they had clipped to the dash changed every shift. Not every episode, if a show covered three work days, there were three different hot sheets.

Randolph Mantooth said that there was a LA county firefighter/paramedic on set and if he said, "We wouldn't do that .. ." it didn't happen.

For the record, it irks me that Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter was always addressed as "Sergeant" and not "Gunny."

Goolleee Sergeant Carter... probably would have been too confusing for Gomer.

 

[Chief]

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

Carried in buy European swallows…

 

[Chief]

When a show or movie is portrayed as fiction and is for entertainment, then I am not too upset about errors and inaccuracies. When you bill it as "the true story of…" or "the most accurate portrayal of …" , then I expect a certain level of accuracy. When you are telling the story of a real event, with real people and you bill it as such, I think you obligate yourself to make is factual.

 

[Yaworski]

When a show or movie is portrayed as fiction and is for entertainment, then I am not too upset about errors and inaccuracies.

A hallmark of good fiction is that it is believable, especially drama, comedy gets more leeway.

I couldn't watch the reboot of Hawaii Five Oh because none of it was believable. I tried for about half a season and then gave up.

 

[Chief]

A hallmark of good fiction is that it is believable, especially drama, comedy gets more leeway.

I couldn't watch the reboot of Hawaii Five Oh because none of it was believable. I tried for about half a season and then gave up.

I'm with you here. If that show is to be believed, Hawaii has the highest crime rate in the world and everyone has a full auto weapon of some sort!

 

[vito]

Its clear to me that the unrealistic expectation of shooting ability by those who have never fired a gun or likely even held one in their hands is related to the Western movies and TV shows. When a cowboy can shoot the gun out of the hand of a bad guy, while both are galloping at full speed and 50 yards apart, the ignorant public wonders why a cop can't do the same while standing still and only 20 feet from a perp. People need to watch "Pulp Fiction" and see the scene where the young man empties a 6 shot revolver at the two thugs (John Travolta and Samuel Jackson) at close range and hits nothing. That situation is more real than many would imagine. (I took a relative to the range and started with a target hanging about 10 feet from the shooting position, and this relative who had never fired a gun, only put 6 of the 10 rounds fired into the paper target, and was astonished that it wasn't as easy as it appears on TV).

 

[Mike J]

All movies have their flaws. I recently watched the first Die Hard movie again. It is a Christmas movie after all. Bruce Willis's character crawls through a duct line. The duct has no dust at all in it & there aren't any screws run into it (yes sometimes things are hung off unistrut or angle but that is more expensive than hanger strap & usually only used when things are larger & heavier. Then there was the scene when he used a stool (I think) to bust out a window. High rise buildings use tempered glass. You can hit it in the middle with a hammer & it will not bust. If you bump the edge of it the whole piece will shatter & break into little pieces.
Then there is the thing that grates on me the worst about all action movies & westerns. It is on, the gunfight is going to happen & you know it is going to happen. Someone stops & holds a conversation. I'm not really a fan of spaghetti westerns but this was addressed in The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. "When it is time to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."

 

[BIgMuddy]

The movie Tombstone was, IMO, one of the best westerns made, but....the one scene that really bothers me, is when they are having the gunfight at the OK Corral. Doc Holidays fires one shot from his "stree howitzer" into the air, and then fires two more shots. Same scene he "fans" his Colt and manages to fire at least 8 shots if I remember correctly.

True that on the gunfight. Also the scene when Morgan is killed and Wyatt is in the street in the rain, notice it's only raining where he is standing. It's dry in the street beyond his location. Watch too when Ike runs from the gunfight. When in the alley you can hear a director say "cut". These are little things in the film, but the one that irks me most is Virgil and Morgan both get shot the same night. It actually happened 4 months apart. Morgan gets so mad and upset over Virgil's ambush that he storms out of the house….. and goes to play pool.

I will say that Tombstone is the BEST western I have ever seen with regards to guns, clothing, and tack. I have a book on it and the detail that went into "getting it right" is amazing. Now the Wyatt Earp movie, which was released in the same time frame… not so much!

Dan

 

[jav]

I like old western one eye jack was one of my favorites. I don't care too much for the newer ones with country singers in them they suck . But do like the newer ones like tombstone and Wyatt Earp even young guns was good

 

[KIR]

If one wants accuracy in films , watch documentaries... or NOT!

 

[WendyZXZ]

All movies have their flaws. I recently watched the first Die Hard movie again. It is a Christmas movie after all. Bruce Willis's character crawls through a duct line. The duct has no dust at all in it & there aren't any screws run into it (yes sometimes things are hung off unistrut or angle but that is more expensive than hanger strap & usually only used when things are larger & heavier. Then there was the scene when he used a stool (I think) to bust out a window. High rise buildings use tempered glass. You can hit it in the middle with a hammer & it will not bust. If you bump the edge of it the whole piece will shatter & break into little pieces.
Then there is the thing that grates on me the worst about all action movies & westerns. It is on, the gunfight is going to happen & you know it is going to happen. Someone stops & holds a conversation. I'm not really a fan of spaghetti westerns but this was addressed in The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. "When it is time to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."

Die Hard is THE Christmas movie, along with Gremlins, Lethal Weapon and The Night Of The Hunter, but I admit to being a little bit weird!

 

[freakindawgen]

Die Hard is THE Christmas movie, along with Gremlins, Lethal Weapon and The Night Of The Hunter, but I admit to being a little bit weird!

Rambo, First Blood was a Christmas story also.

I remember Rawhide, all the cowboys had modern Levi's some with did cans in back pocket showing the wear mark. Wrist watches, wedding rings.