Movie Props -II

F

fed168

New member
Shouldn't the machine gun in The Wild Bunch have a water can? Always wondered, seems that the barrel would overheat during all of the firing in the final scene.
 
They also had WWII style grenades, the old "pineapples".

Yes there should have been a water can and lots of steam after a belt the size they had fired. A 250 round belt in one burst will make steam.

The water cooled Browning is the M-1917. The air cooled Browning is the M-1919.
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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"

[This message has been edited by Jim V (edited May 26, 2000).]
 
A little off topic but-----------------------Was the water-cooled Browning sometimes referred to as a coffee maker?
I remember something about the hot water used to make coffee.
 
The Wild Bunch was set around 1912 or 1913.1911s were still a brand new innovation. Outlaw leader Pike (William Holden), and his gang watch an automobile and discuss that that they heard something about a flying vehicle being used in the next war. There is absolutely no mention of actual conflict in Europe, though Peckinpah is reputed to have intended the carnage throughout The Wild Bunch to be an indication of what awaited a few years later in The Great War.

Did the US military have access to pre-WW I machineguns and grenades?
Jeff
 
Colt "potato-digger" would have been more likely in such backwaters as Mexico.

BTW, has anyone noticed that the tape covre for "Lethal Weapon 3" is reversed left to right?
 
In The Wild Bunch, I imagine that the machinegun was supposed to be German, as the Mexican general/bandito had two German military advisors, who BTW were very interested in the 1911s that Pike carried.
 
Perhaps the MG was supposed to be a Maxim? It sure as heck wasn't a "potato digger".

I think Germany had an interest in Mexico at that time. May have even attempted to stir up tension between the states and Mexico during the Great War to give us something to worry about beside the growing conflict.

Peckinpah was notorious for attempting to "get it right", regarding period detail (and especially firearms). I once heard that he wanted his actors in one movie or another (perhaps even The Wild Bunch) to wear undergarments designed in the style authentic to that era.

The Wild Bunch remains one of the most impressive movies I have ever seen. There is a whole book of criticism and essays, some of it dating back to the film's release date, available out there. Several Peckinpah bios dedicate generous pagecounts to The Bunch and reviewer Stephen Hunter (author of Point of Impact and a number of other thrillers) offered an interesting essay on the movie in a book about violent cinema.
Jeff


[This message has been edited by Jffal (edited May 29, 2000).]
 
If I remember, the water cooled Browning machine gun came of the US troop train that the Boys hijacked for the Springfields and the ammo to give to General Mapachi(sp).

Either the Colt 1895 or the Benet-Mercie machine gun should have been used instead of the 1917 Browning. However, it was/is a lot easier for prop departments to find watercooled Brownings than Colts or Benet-Mercies. Besides, only gun people would know the difference.

During the time of the Mexican Revolution and up through WWI, there was a good amount of German interest in Mexico. The US military was quite concerned that the Mexicans would join the Germans during the war and launch a military offensive along the border.

The German "observers" in the film made at least one misstatement when they questioned Pike about the pistols, they said something in the order of, "How did you get those pistols? They have not been released by your government yet." Colt was churning out the M-1911 for both the military and civilian market from the time the pistol was adopted.

------------------
Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
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