Every Gun in "Dr. No" is Wrong (Ad-free)
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Today Caleb Daniels, author of "Licensed Troubleshooter", joins me to talk about the guns shown in Dr. No, the very first James Bond film. Somehow, the film magazines to get every single gun detail wrong - sometimes with nested errors within errors. Even Bond's iconic Walther PPK never actually appears in the film! And yet, it remains a great film...so what were all the gun nerd quibbles with it?
Comments
It's been years since I've watched that Dr No. Always knew something was off in the "...you've had your six..." scene. That one was blatantly obvious. Didn't realize that all the guns in Dr No were wrong!
Jason
2024-09-17 18:44:53 +0000 UTCItβs a movie, not canon. In the book, he shoots at the dragon with a .38 revolver.
Terry
2024-09-17 16:52:34 +0000 UTCWhile we enjoy the glaring errors of the Bond movie guns, let us all sit around and savor the fact that even by the advent of _Dr. No_, the literary Bond was already starting to be quite dated, and by the time _Moonraker_ came out, they had to change the villian's base from the Yurp firing some old V2 rocket he'd found lying around w/ a nuclear tip to a space station and biowarfare. Still, they did a great job injecting FUN into them! Most of all, we should enjoy the original goodness of Ian Fleming's masterwork which has never been brought to screen in its unmolested form [& likely never will be, since I believe the Rat still owns film rights to it?], _Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang_. Now *there's* a car to do Q Branch proud!
Bruce Brodnax
2024-09-17 16:36:22 +0000 UTCLet's face it, Bond's firearms are plebian compared with the man from U.N.C.L.E.'s, with the sole possible exception of the AR-7. I mean, a take-down rifle that fits in a briefcase [let alone its own floating stock] that'll make helicopters explode isn't to be sniffed at... π
Bruce Brodnax
2024-09-17 16:20:39 +0000 UTCFantastic, fun video! Thanks.
Glenn Miller
2024-09-17 16:13:28 +0000 UTC1. "This damned Beretta again..." Don't know if it's an M1934 or M1935, but the SA Beretta shows up in British films and TV for well over a decade--Dr. No, Danger Man, The Saint, &c. Alec Guiness as George Smiley has one in hand as he awaits the mole in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Don't know how many times I've seen that model pointed at the hero, in the hero's hand, knocked out of someone's hand just before the obligatory fistfight. I'd like to think it's the same damned Beretta. That would be a grail gun! In terms of actual use, the M1934 just--sucks. Can't imagine it residing even in a lady's handbag, much less the shoulder rig of a licensed troubleshooter. 2. I've read somewhere that one of the PPs in Dr. No was a WWII bringback owned by the actor who plays "M"--Bernard Lee. That may mean 3 PPs involved in the production, or it took a Jamaica vacation, or it never happened at all. 3. The irony can't be lost on you--the gun that "jammed" at your BUG match was another "damned Beretta." Nice work, both of you, getting it up and running again ASAP.
ViejoLobo
2024-09-17 15:16:01 +0000 UTCMy father was serving with the Royal Hampshire Regiment (British Army) in Jamaica at the time they were filming Dr No, and he and a whole bunch of his colleagues were taken on as extras for the film - mainly playing the goons in the boiler suits. He did not, however, mention anything about the guns in the movie...
Mark West
2024-09-17 15:07:48 +0000 UTCYeah, a Walther LP-53. Used because someone forgot to bring the PPK to the photo shoot. What's funny is that apparently everyone liked it enough that they did the same thing for three later movies as well.
Forgotten Weapons
2024-09-17 15:05:11 +0000 UTCAn early Bond poster has him posing with an early Walther air pistol, so all gun errors should be based on fantasy thinking rather than reality.
Daniel Standridge
2024-09-17 15:00:12 +0000 UTCnow I love westerns and many if not most would be by far worser still. espeacially the time a movie plays in and the introduction of models tend to be SO off...
Guido Schriewer
2024-09-17 14:45:17 +0000 UTC
