anyone else notice this Hollywood trend from back in the day?
The trend back in the day is the same trend today, scriptwriters seldom know much about guns, and usually care less. SOMETIMES what they say is correct, sometimes its not, and sometimes they actually do know what's right, but the character being portrayed doesn't...
.32s have been with us for a long time, if I recall correctly, Colt's first revolver was a .31 caliber.
.32s feature heavily in crime gun statistics even today, either as being used, being stolen, or being present.
Most .32s are small guns, and many are the cheapest around. Been that way for over a century. And remember that a poor person seldom can afford a high end (expensive) gun. Today's technology is producing ".32 size" guns in .380 and even 9mm, so the .32s popularity is waning somewhat. and then there is the gangsta culture where certain guns & calibers by name are popularized and are status symbols. SO, where 40 years ago, the stylish thug might have been proud of his .32, today he "gots to have a 9!" (or a GLock, or what ever their favorite media star is using...)
Another factor is rather uniquely American. Good guys use large caliber guns, bad guys use small caliber guns. Might be something from the Wild West era, but its a common theme in fiction, if not reality.
In Europe, its almost exactly the opposite, the "good guys" (police, and other forces of law and order) usually used small caliber pistols, very often .32s. and "bad guys" (subversives and revolutionaries) used large caliber guns, often 10-11mm revolvers, which were former govt arms, now obsolete, or stolen, etc)
So, ok in the 70s Tv shows all the bad guys had .32s..take another slice in time and all the bad guys have Uzis. Take another and they're all mentally disturbed VietNam vets, etc. or nearly all...