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The Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day ain’t so tough!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s Behind the Scenes pic!
When you hear stories about old Hollywood you usually think to yourself “How did more people not die making movies back then?” Sometimes it’s watching crazy horse stunts in the silent and just post-silent westerns, sometimes it’s hearing they hired real archers to shoot real arrows at real people in The Adventures of Robin Hood, hitting a square (and small) piece of wood under their clothes.
Sometimes it’s hearing about how they didn’t use squibs in the early gangster pictures. Why would they when they could hire sharpshooters using real guns?
In case you doubt this piece of Hollywood legend, let’s have a look at a scene from the iconic James Cagney flick THE PUBLIC ENEMY. You should know the scene, Cagney rounding a corner only to be met with the bricks next to him exploding with bullet hits. This is how they did it. Notice Cagney on the right and the sharp shooter (with a real gun) lining up where he’s going to shoot once the cameras are rolling and the crew is out of the way.
They didn’t fuck around back then, did they?
If you have a pic you think should be included email me. I’m looking for the iconic, the rare or the just plain cool behind the scenes shots to feature here.
Tomorrow’s pic returns to Ceti Alpha Five.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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Previous Behind the Scenes pics:
- Alien
- Big Trouble In Little China
- Clash of the Titans
- Dr. Strangelove
- Sesame Street
- The Birds
- The Dark Knight
- Batman (1989)
- Batman: The TV Series
- Stephen King’s IT
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Superman
- The French Connection
- Tron
- The Road Warrior
- Ghostbusters
- King Kong (’33)
- The Empire Strikes Back (Luke with Slate)
- Rebel Without A Cause
- Taxi Driver
- Metropolis
- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
- Tommy Chong Meets The Blues Brothers
- The Empire Strikes Back (Filming the Crawl)
- John Carpenter’s The Thing
- Jaws
- Die Hard
- Aliens
- Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man
- The Howling
- Revenge of the Creature
- The Empire Strikes Back (Vader & Luke Duel)
- The Godfather
- Rambo III
- Vertigo
- Planet of the Apes
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- Labyrinth
- RoboCop
- The Adventures of Robin Hood
- Marathon Man
- Young Frankenstein
- Viva Las Vegas
- The Empire Strikes Back (Han driving a snow cat)
- Rio Bravo
- Giant
- Back to the Future
- The Time Machine
- War of the Worlds (1953)
- Alien (Chestburster)
- On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
- Dr. No
- The Twilight Zone
- Once Upon A Time In The West
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Star Trek: The Original Series
- The Empire Strikes Back (Luke in Wampa Cave)
- Edward Scissorhands
- The Warriors
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Requiem for a Dream
- The Princess Bride
- Hard Boiled
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- They Live
- The Empire Strikes Back (Tippet with Wampa)
- Dirty Harry
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Blade Runner
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (Periscope Ride)
- 1941
- The Godfather (Coppola & Brando)
- The Lady Eve
- 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
- Godzilla
- The Empire Strikes Back (Bald Vader)
- Mary Poppins
- Alien 3
- Total Recall
- The Pink Panther
- Fawlty Towers
- The Trouble With Harry
- Beetlejuice
- The Shining
- Thriller
- An American Werewolf In London
- The Gate
- The Fly (1958)
- Halloween
- Army of Darkness
- Frankenstein
- Seed of Chucky
- Psycho
- John Carpenter’s The Thing (Bottin)
- Creature From the Black Lagoon
- Friday the 13th (1980)
- A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
- Creepshow
- Night of the Living Dead (’68)
- Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man
- Silence of the Lambs- The Exorcist
- Alien (crouching alien)
- Alfred Hitchcock being awesome
- Son of Frankenstein
- The Mummy (1932)
- Re-Animator
- Nosferatu (1979)
- Nosferatu (1922)
- War of the Worlds
- Vincent (Tim Burton)
- Evil Dead II
- The Evil Dead
- The Shining (Kubrick Self Portrait)
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
- Casablanca
- Sahara (1943)
- Pumpkinhead
- Back to the Future
- Inception
- MacBeth (1948)
- Twilight Zone (Nightmare at 20,000 Feet)
Readers Talkback
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Dirty Coppa!
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Christian Bale would not be pleased. <P> How long did it take them to figure out to use squibs? Oops I just killed the lead.
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everyone else on that writes for this site should be more like you
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They try to make harmless bullets look real, Brandon Lee dies. Somebody fires a real gun at Jimmy Cagney's head, he's fine. The hell?
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to "shooting a scene", do'nit?
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is on the extras of On Her Majestry's Secret Service. To get the arial photography of mountains and such, they literally hung a cameraman in a sling like device from a helicopter, and flew around while he filmed. The air temperature had to be God-knows-what, and one loose strap, and its goodbye cameraman. What an insane method to get some footage. And this is the late sixties. They couldn't come up with a rig to do the same? <p>And yes its amazing that a lot of actors weren't seriously injured while filming gunfioghts and the like.
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James Cagney giving his craft a heightened sense of realism. Too awesome for words. They did not fuck around back then at all.
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holy shit. Really?
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...But did they use real ammo? I remember an interview with an old time Stuntman, If they were doing a Western or Gangster movie, they had guys who handled all the weaponry to make half-load cartages that used a chalk/salt like material at the tip, that could hold it's shape and leave visible ricochet marks when it strikes a surface, It wouldn’t break the skin if fired at a person, but hurt like hell. Otherwise they had guys of screen with slingshots firing chalk balls at the actors... Cool pic none the less... ^_^
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I thought Sean Connery ducking overpasses in The Great Train Robbery was nuts. Also - thanks for highlighting yet another classic film I haven't seen! This column is so badass.
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In the Frontierland shooting gallery when Disneyland first opened? I guess even Walt didn't fuck around back then.
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That's brilliant. One of the best pictures yet.
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cagney laughs at ur puny skyscraper stunt.
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JACKIE CHAN's 80s stunts are more dangerous than staying still while a gun experts shoots a few bullets on the wall next to you.<br />
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about practical effects.i remember that was the reason that the guns in the old wester/gangster movies were throwing a lot of white smoke while shooting.
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Handbags!
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Cagney is awesome.
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No way in hell. Those baby's were full automatic, and the recoil would pull, rising to the right.<p>There is no way someone could fire accurately, close enough to Cagney to appear as near misses...without putting the actor in mortal danger
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What I wouldn't give to be a marksman with a tommy gun!
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one of these BtSotD that I've commented on, although I've been reading just about every column the day it's published. This pic is AWESOME and definitely the best one of the series, especially if you read Quint's little explainer behind it first. Nice one.
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Its true they used real weapons and real bullets in the early days and even had armories at the studios. there's even an old film on youtube showing Fox Studios back in the 30's and some footage of their gunroom.
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It is simply amazing that nobody (at least no actors I heard of) were ever killed.
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OLD BLACK AND WHITE OUTDATED GARBAGE ASS PHOTOS OF MOVIES FROM A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. GEEZ. caps lock off.
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Great fuckin' movie.
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If you watch the film - Cagney is not in the scene or in the line of fire when the bullets strike - he and another actor run around that corner and then the bullets hit a moment later. And it sure as hell seems like real bullets. But no one is aiming at Cagney's head and he is not in the scene when the bullets hit.
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"Although the Model 1927 was semi-automatic only, it was easily converted to fully automatic by installing a full-auto Model 1921 fire control group (internal parts)."
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Big smile..great lead-in Quint, this is the shit!
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Nov. 10, 2010, 8:57 p.m. CST
A Tommy gun? Seriously, how big of ball did they have?
by Ben_Richards_Bomb_Collar
Maybe we should use a very accurate single shot weapon? Nahhh, let's just use something that's basically a bullet hose.
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[holds up gun "Empty."<BR><BR>"Emptier than yer thick skull, flatfoot!"
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Admiral? ...admiral...
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Fuck you, I dont to see behind the scenes picutures from some POS movie made in the last 20 years. Keep the old school real movie making coming.
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thats probably why old actors were so much m anlier than the shit we have now
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What makes you think he's dressed as a gangster?
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... from two days ago has been excised from the list of previous photos?
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Now I know! Cagney in his prime could mop the floor with today's male stars. There's never been anyone with such blistering intensity and yet a huge heart underneath it like him in film history.
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I applaud to the ballsyness of era long gone. These days that would be CGI.
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it's true, and this is proof
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I think he's just dressed the way dudes dressed back then. Fedora =/= gangster.
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We need to bring hats back before Mad Men's popularity peaks. Just some guy in a hat, shootin' a tommy gun for a living...
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I'm going to suggest at my next office meeting that we use a sharp shooter at work to "enhance" productivity.<p>Someone at the coffee machine too long? BAM-BAM-BAM! Tuck and roll your ass outta there and back to your workstation!<p>Great behind the scenes pic BTW...
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Back when movies were movies, and directors weren't Brett Ratner.
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YIKES!!!!!!!!!
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So say we all.
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Cagney, this just proves what we all know. YOU SIR, WERE THE SHIT. R.I.P., you wonderful badass mothafucker.
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Cagney was definitely a shitheel pencil stabbing bastard!
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You would want "the constriction of a jacket" if you are shooting a small target. The less movement the better. Accuracy depends on bone support NOT muscle tension. My marksman instructor in the Marine Corps was on the National Rifle Shooting team and he wore a constricting jacket (with adjustable straps) that helped him maintain shooting position.
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the horse stunts in the Silent Era that you mention were not really stunts at all; very often they would deliberately trip up the galloping horses with invisible wire; hobbling/maiming/killing many an equine in the name of art.
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Great pic. Love it. but I can't watch old time westerns because of those horses being hurt for real.
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All your points are valid, but what I meant was that given the option of either wearing a jacket or just a shirt, I would pick wearing the jacket. It will help keep you stable in your shooting position (minimize movement) and provide some cushioning for elbow placement. Looking at the picture though, I agree that this guy was probably an actor and not the actual marksman. A real marksman would be in the prone which is the most stable shooting position.
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