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Old western movies - things that never made sense


Warden Callaway

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Because, you know, when a bunch of people are shooting at a few people, the few are always the good guys. Could not be a posse surrounding Frank and Jesse. Nope. Bandits attacking a pair of travelers. :blink:

 

I do recall one movie where the two good guys ride up on a cow camp, riding the grub line. While eating a bunch ride in a'shootin', and our two heroes fall right in with their hosts in defending the cow camp. And when the posse wins, and arrests all the rustlers with the stolen cows, our two heroes get arrested also.

 

Oops.

Hahahahahahahahahaha

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(snip)

Everything about the sidekick is somewhat diminished from that of the hero's. He rides a shorter horse with some kind of disposition disorder, a common saddle, scruffy cloths, has somewhat uneducated speach and always has to settle for the less attractive woman.

(snip)

Pat Butram to Gene Autry (on his radio show sponsored by Wrigley's Speermint Gum): "Kin ah have anuther stick o' gum, Mr. Artery?"

 

Just saw the movie "Montana", starring Errol Flynn (I think...wasn't watching too closely). Last scene in the movie, the redhead who is opposed to Flynn's character's bringing in sheep to cattle country, shoots him in the shoulder (of course). He falls down, blood running down his shirt, only to be embrased in a passionate kiss by the girl. Now, everyone "knows" a shoulder shot is no big deal, right? WRONG! The tops of the lungs come up high into the shoulder area. There are a lot of bones interconnected up there. The subclavean (sp?) arteries run up in the shoulders (see the first scene in "Saving Private Ryan"). While the guy and gal are making out, he could be bleeding to death! But that's Hollyweird!

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Oh yeah, pull a bandanna up over your face and nobody can recognize you. I've read real life accounts of the old west and everyone was always keenly interested in horse flesh. It was one way of sizing up a character and often used to clarify who they were talking about.

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Why after a gun fight, no one reloads? The gun usually goes right back in the holster. Guess they didn't worry that someone from the other side of the disagreement might show up late.

Shawnee

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Why after a gun fight, no one reloads? The gun usually goes right back in the holster. Guess they didn't worry that someone from the other side of the disagreement might show up late.

Shawnee

Heck, why reload? Hollywood revolvers hold 20-30 rounds. ;)

JHC

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Did we already mention "Lets head off at the pass!"?

Whateverthehell that means. :D

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How about in the movie "Outlaw" with Jane Russell :wub: Billy the Kid, who is being nursed back to health by Jane and her mom, winds up killing his "best friend" Doc Holiday at the end of the movie!!! Yes, DOC HOLIDAY!!!!

 

:wacko::blink: Rye

Yup. He gave him TB. One of the earliest cases of biological warfare.

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They travel on horseback with bedroll and saddlebags but at camp that evening they have coffee pot, plates, tin cup, dutch oven, bacon, bean and so on.

 

 

 

Thats what I always think about at the campfire scenes, they gather rock to circle fire(picture perfect) and they have a great big coffee pot and plates for their baked beans but when shown actually travelling they have bare minimum.

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The campsites were already set up in the old west. You just pulled up and relaxed. Kinda like a deluxe KOA.

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Pat Butram to Gene Autry (on his radio show sponsored by Wrigley's Speermint Gum): "Kin ah have anuther stick o' gum, Mr. Artery?"

 

Just saw the movie "Montana", starring Errol Flynn (I think...wasn't watching too closely). Last scene in the movie, the redhead who is opposed to Flynn's character's bringing in sheep to cattle country, shoots him in the shoulder (of course). He falls down, blood running down his shirt, only to be embrased in a passionate kiss by the girl. Now, everyone "knows" a shoulder shot is no big deal, right? WRONG! The tops of the lungs come up high into the shoulder area. There are a lot of bones interconnected up there. The subclavean (sp?) arteries run up in the shoulders (see the first scene in "Saving Private Ryan"). While the guy and gal are making out, he could be bleeding to death! But that's Hollyweird!

Ahhhh, the shoulder shot. "through and through" or "just a scratch"... lets see, if you got hit high and left enough to miss the lungs, you have a major bundle of nerves, the big three, and an arterio-venous bundle... back then, that meant you lost the use of the arm and maybe bled to death. A bit higher and that "clean through and through" shatters the scapula and does major muscle damage... a bit higher left and you've shattered the shoulder joint... best to hope for was high left that goes through skin and deltoid,, and maybe you don't die from the infection that sets in a couple of days later...

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"It's only a flesh wound"

 

Well if it didn't hit flesh, it wouldn't be a wound would it? :D

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How about all the Henrys with a kings gate?

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Howdy,

Jumping over the comments, one question is the guns being used before they were made.

Please remember that all movies made before the $500 VCR were expected to be watched

once or twice and that's it. I can prove John Wayne won the Civil war with a 1892 Winchester

cause its in the MOVIES.

These were all entertainment NOT documentaries. They threw in some facts.

They probably thought getting the right generals in the right battle was all they needed.

I did hear that Clint Eastwood was very upset about the '3030 shells' comment in Unforgiven.

At least he tried to get things right.

Hopefully the movie goofs will get kids more interested in researching history.

Could be good.

Best

CR

ps, I have never figured out how the heck to shoot a cut off Winchester.....

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Whateverthehell that means. :D

I meant "head em off at the pass"! Dang auto correct on an Iphone makes life miserable sometimes! But yeah, it seems theres always a shortcut to a pass that the bad guys never can figure out. Wonder what they do out on the flat plains?

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It took 3 months for Marston's advertisement to get from Australia to the United States. Quigley read it, decided to apply for the job by shooting holes in it, then mailed it back to Australia which took another 3 months to get back to Marston. Marston must have sent Quigley a letter because Quigley said he was promised gold on arrival, so add another 3 months for Marston's letter of hire to get to Quigley back in the US. Then a couple of weeks for Quigley to get to the coast, and another 3 months boat trip from California to Australia.

 

So the total time elapsed in the hiring process was at least a year, with ideal sailing conditions. I wonder what Quigley was doing for the 9 months he was not on the boat.

 

No wonder Quigley was pissed.

 

Don't forget Cora said they were in Comanche territory where she smothered her son, but they rode hard for 70 hours straight to get to Galveston. That is one FAST horse, with incredible stamina!

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I like to count shots. Even if Curly Bill loaded his guns to the hilt with 6 shots each in Tombstone, count the shots he takes when he comes out of the opium den before he kills the sheriff

 

chuckle

 

Look closely at the scene where Wyatt runs out covered in blood after Morgan is killed, it's raining - at least on the spot he is standing in. Up the street (about 10 feet) it's still dry on both sides of him

 

chuckle

 

In the gunfight where curly bill's Cowboys catch Wyatt and company in a crossfire, there are too many rounds, unless a couple of them boys are FAST reloaders.

 

Never understood why cowboys in movies shoot all the bullets in their gun, then look at it confusingly when it "clicks" on that 6th (or 7th) trigger pull, then throw that expensive piece of iron in the dirt. Why not just re holster it?

 

Heck, Curly Bill throws it in the river! Guess guns were cheap back then

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When the lines broke during the civil war and troops routed into full panic they shed themselves of anything and everything that might hinder their retreat. If you're out of ammo you might get lucky and bean your opponent...whats to lose cause you can most always get another. But yeah, throwing it in the river or don't make a lot of sense unless its helping to pull you under.

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Look closely at the scene where Wyatt runs out covered in blood after Morgan is killed, it's raining - at least on the spot he is standing in. Up the street (about 10 feet) it's still dry on both sides of him

 

 

Probably convenient for the film crew, but I have worked in Tucson and experienced just such a situation (rain, not brother killed). I was splicing cable at a pedestal on one side of the street. A downpoor began. I was drenched. I walked across the street, maybe 50', and it was completely dry.

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Hats that almost never come of - even when fighting or tumbling off a horse. Anyone count how many times John Wayns' hat changed from white to black and back in "Angle and the Badman"? An extra shirt, pants, socks could be rolled up in a bedroll or put in saddle bags. But how do you travel around the country with an extra hat?

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I never understood why townspeople ran across the street when trouble loomed. Why not just duck into the nearest building or take any alley?

That behavior always puzzled me also. I figured there must have been a guild of standins that were qualified to run across the street in panic. Godzilla movies must of had a special guild of standins that ran into and down the street in panic yelling "Godzilla!". None of them yell, "Feet don't fail me now!".

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Look closely at the scene where Wyatt runs out covered in blood after Morgan is killed, it's raining - at least on the spot he is standing in. Up the street (about 10 feet) it's still dry on both sides of him

 

.

 

 

 

 

And even though he's in the pouring rain, the blood doesn't run off his hands, OR wipe off on his shirt.

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How about the good guy wearing a two gun belt with only one holster? I don't know if it started with Gene Autry or not but it was common in B-westerns. I heard some where that Gene was to wear two guns but he just removed one gun and holster because it was just two heavy and bulky.

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One I saw today that never registered before, is one group chasing another group at full gallop. It would be difficult to hit someone in front of you firing a pistol one-handed like that, but only today did it dawn on me how futile it would be to turn and fire at someone behind you.

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In the Costner Wyatt Earp movie, he called out to the guy riding shotgun to shoot the lead horse of the bandits chasing them. Makes far more sense and probably happened in such situations.

 

I could never figure out why the stagecoach bandits would wait for the stagecoach to pass and then take off after it. Sport of the chase, I guess.

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How about the good guy wearing a two gun belt with only one holster? I don't know if it started with Gene Autry or not but it was common in B-westerns. I heard some where that Gene was to wear two guns but he just removed one gun and holster because it was just two heavy and bulky.

Althought Autry belt comes up in discussions, (yes, originally he was conceived to wear 2 guns when costumers designed the new flashier outfit, and gunbelt), it was actually Tim McCoy that started the double buscadero rig with only one holster, there are several others that followed this practice, Whip Wilson used the double buscadero rig with one holster, but had a snap bullwhip holder to fill the slot. MT

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Yes, it comes up often - like white hats = good guy, and black hats = bad guy. One gun = good guy, two guns = bad guy, usually a gunfighter.

 

Old family story:

 

My granddad was I kid in late 1880s in southern Missouri. There was still a lot of leftover Civil War "irregulars" around - many still on the shady side of the law or hiding out so not to be prosecuted for their war activities. There was one such man, as I remember by the family name of West, that still wore a heavy gunbelt with two guns when it became the norm for men to not wear guns. It was known not to cross this man. The story goes that granddad was at a dance and wanted to dance with a girl but she had a boyfriend that objected. I guess a fight broke out or was about to when the two-gun man stepped up and announced, "By gowd! If this boy can't dance, nobody will.". It's implied that granddad got to dance.

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"By gowd! If this boy can't dance, nobody will.". It's implied that granddad got to dance.

 

Hah! Sometimes it's helpful to have friends in low places.

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