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KC
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« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2003, 07:35:13 AM » |
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And did he fire six shots or only five?  You'll find a discussion of Clint's guns in many of his films in this thread. (The lnk goes to Page Three, where Harry's gun was discussed.) Here it is said that the model was manufactured by S&W in "several lengths ... from 4" to 8-3/8"." One poster states that Harry's gun had the 6 and 1/2" barrel; however, on the last page of the thread, we have this message ... I believe for the model 29, Smith and Wesson produced a 4in., 6in. and 8 in. models. All available in the blue steel that we recognize with Harry's gun. Unfortunately they're not made anymore in that color. If you watch carefully you can tell that the barrel size does change like in the stadium when Harry yells: "Stop!" And you get that long side view, it's most likely an 8in. and then for other scenes it may revert back to the 6. I've read elsewhere, as well, that several different guns with differing barrel lengths were used.
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KC
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« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2003, 10:51:49 AM » |
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Today I was reading that thread over a little more carefully and found this post by one of our experts, John Omohundro ... I read several years ago that there were several substitutions for the .44 Magnum co-star made during the filming of DIRTY HARRY.
The standard gun was a Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum, with blued finish, checkered Goncalo Alves ( a tropical American hardwood known also as "Kingwood" or "Zebrawood") hardwood grips, a rear sight that was adjustable for windage (side-to-side movement) and elevation (up-and-down movement), and a 6.5" barrel.
However, because there was a shortage of that model at the time (possibly in CA state gun shops, and not a production shortage at Smith & Wesson, as some have hinted here, although I am not certain), some Smith & Wesson Model 57s were used--this pistol is virtually IDENTICAL to the Model 29 except for caliber (the Model 57 is a .41 Magnum rather than a .44).
Also, possibly to make the weapon look more intimidating physically from some camera angles, several revolvers of both models with 8.375" (8 and 3/8ths-inch) barrels were used, most notably in the scene at the football stadium where Harry shouts "STOP!"[/i], and we (the viewers) are treated to a three-quarter view of the .44's right side (all the way to the muzzle--SHUDDER![/i]), just before Harry blows Scorpio's leg out from under him.
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gwb
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« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2003, 03:45:50 PM » |
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It'd be nice to have a definitive answer on this. I don't know, maybe it's not even possible.LOL!
You know like how many Magnum guns total were used in filming. How many .41's and .44's if any were used. Number of 6.5" and 8 3/8" barrel versions etc.
Maybe the Inspector had two different barrel length versions of his trusty 'ole .44 Magnum? We find out later in Magnum Force that he likes to carry around a special "light" load in his gun for certain situations. I don't think it would be to hard to imagine Dirty Harry also having two different barrel length .44 Magnum's at his disposal either.
Use the 8 3/8" length Magnum for long range conditions like blasting down Scorpio at Kezar. Or, maybe use the 6.5" version for close range conditions like in the city.
The pistol, again, was a 6 1/2" barrel, up until Sudden Impact, when it became a 6" barrel - why ? Smith & Wesson had chgd the barrel length to 6" by then. A 4" barrel and the 8 3/8" barrel were NEVER used, nor was a .41 magnum - this is probably an urban legend. There is a distinct difference in the barrel from the .41 to the .44 - enough for me to see, and I didn't see it. In the interview portion of the special features in the Dirty Harry DVD, Joh Milius is says that there were two .44's used for Dirty Harry and Magnum Force. Perhaps there were others used for The Enforcer, but the barrel in the first three movies were 6 1/2".
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El Gringo
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« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2004, 02:53:16 AM » |
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The pistol, again, was a 6 1/2" barrel, up until Sudden Impact, when it became a 6" barrel - why ? Smith & Wesson had chgd the barrel length to 6" by then. A 4" barrel and the 8 3/8" barrel were NEVER used, nor was a .41 magnum - this is probably an urban legend. There is a distinct difference in the barrel from the .41 to the .44 - enough for me to see, and I didn't see it.
In the interview portion of the special features in the Dirty Harry DVD, Joh Milius is says that there were two .44's used for Dirty Harry and Magnum Force. Perhaps there were others used for The Enforcer, but the barrel in the first three movies were 6 1/2".
So, they used actual .44 magnums instead of the .44/.41 hybrid that people have speculated about. That's good to know. Many have said the guns used for the first DH were pieced together prototypes from several other magnum guns because the .44 was rather hard to find at CA gun dealers at the time of filming. Where did this story come from? Does anyone have a screen shot capture of the Kezar stadium scene with that longshot of Harry holding the gun yelling "Stop.." while ready to shoot down Scorpio? Boy, that sure looked like the 8 3/8" barrel version to me. Maybe it's just the camera angles or something, but that 6 1/2" .44 magnum sure looked huge in that scene. They should've given Clint the 8 3/8" barrel version of the .44 magnum for the Dirty Harry films. Just imagine, that would look like an absolute unyeilding monster of a pistol with him holding that on film.
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KC
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« Reply #17 on: January 20, 2004, 12:51:45 AM » |
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Here are two views of Harry's gun in Sudden Impact ... the first one, of course, occurs just before he utters his most famous line ... and the second one is a detail from the shot ar15 refers to. In both cases, you can see that the underbarrel lug is abbreviated, as it is in the picture of the "6 inch Model 629" that D'Amb posted, and does not extend the full length of the barrel, as it does in the "629 classic."  However, to me, this gun more closely resembles Harry's original Model 29 (because of the blue color and the wooden grip) than it does the stainleess steel Model 629 with the rubber grip ... 
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