Maybe Nikki isn't so crazy as we thought.

[James Steven Beverly]

As you remember a while back Nikki had a thread that was about shoot the actors with real guns which was her attempt at humor, well I thought that, as any sane person might, the idea was ludicrous but turns out that prior to squibs being utilized, they actually DID used sharpshooters to put rounds of live fire very near the actors! :blink: and when I say very near, I mean VERY near, inches away! :huh: I'm not kidding, they actually shot if not at, then in the very close general vicinity of their stars! No wonder the studio heads had very little trouble getting people to live up to their contractual obligations! :rolleyes:

 

I was watching a documentary on William Wellman and he was talking about The Public Enemy (1931) ant the narrator talked about using live ammunition and sharp shooters after showing a scene where machine gun bullets hit the face of a brick wall in a kinda D pattern at the edge of an alley where a gangster stands with a gun, his head poked out, looking around the corner. The hits are literally less that a foot from his face. The next scene in the doc. shows a still of a man with a tommy gun on a platform (like a low all wooden parallel) on one knee aiming at the wall and the camera and crew off to one side.

 

I ALSO have the book by Robert E. McCarthy called Secrets of Hollywood Special Effects in which he diagrams and describes shooting arrows with a specially constructed crossbow that uses surgical tubing in place of the bow at an actor Martin Mull wearing a heavily padded iron breast and back plate body armor with a regulation 1 and 1/2" hardwood facing and leather and sheep's wool padding. He also mentions spears and knives being shot at actors with the same rig, some wire guided others...a...not. He also mentions that he recommends against actually throwing the knife at the actor unless you are excellent at throwing knives....which I also feel is a fairly important attribute if attempting this effect as well.

 

Well on another subject, I really enjoy reading this book and having it in my collection, can anyone recommend any other good books on floor, live or practical movie special effects (however you want to characterize them) ? B)

Edited December 29, 2007 by James Steven Beverly

[David Mullen ASC]

There's the famous story of Kurosawa using expert archers to fire real arrows at Toshiro Mifune for the climax of "Throne of Blood" -- the terror in Mifune's eyes was pretty real!

[James Steven Beverly]

I would imagine!!! :lol: If it'd been me you'd have also seen a wet spot in my pants!

Edited December 29, 2007 by James Steven Beverly

[Guest]

Yeah it's crazy some of the things those guys did back then.

 

Remember the scene in JAWS where the shark eats Robert Shaw aka Quint. Apparently Spielberg had run out of money by this stage of the production so they had to use a real great white and Robert Shaw had to really be eaten alive. No wonder that scene looks so real, and what an amazing actor Robert Shaw was! I mean that is commitment to a part, agreeing to be killed on set and eaten by a real great white. Amazing.

 

R,

[Niki Mundo]

Yeah it's crazy some of the things those guys did back then.

 

Remember the scene in JAWS where the shark eats Robert Shaw aka Quint. Apparently Spielberg had run out of money by this stage of the production so they had to use a real great white and Robert Shaw had to really be eaten alive. No wonder that scene looks so real, and what an amazing actor Robert Shaw was! I mean that is commitment to a part, agreeing to be killed on set and eaten by a real great white. Amazing.

 

R,

That was almost funny Richard.

[James Steven Beverly]

Yeah it's crazy some of the things those guys did back then.

 

Remember the scene in JAWS where the shark eats Robert Shaw aka Quint. Apparently Spielberg had run out of money by this stage of the production so they had to use a real great white and Robert Shaw had to really be eaten alive. No wonder that scene looks so real, and what an amazing actor Robert Shaw was! I mean that is commitment to a part, agreeing to be killed on set and eaten by a real great white. Amazing.

 

R,

 

Ahhh....ok. I can only conclude that you think I'm full of poop or this is YOUR attempt at humor.....such as it is. :P BUT I'm not full of poop....most of the time.....AND to PROVE it, HERE'S a quote from:

 

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/gangsters...iews.html#enemy

 

It's n the last paragraph on the page, and I quote:

 

"Proving his toughness many times over in THE PUBLIC ENEMY, Cagney actually stood only a foot away from the wall of a building while a WW I veteran machine gunner hired by the studio sprayed the wall with live ammunition."

 

And as for some of the crazy things those guys did back then, dig this:

 

"In one scene, Cook, called upon to hit Cagney in the face, did not pull the punch, but landed the blow squarely on Cagney's jaw, breaking a tooth in the process."

 

I'd like to see what would happen if someone did that to Al Pachino or Joe Pesci today! I'm guessing lawsuit.

Edited December 30, 2007 by James Steven Beverly

[Guest]

attempt at humor.....

 

That's all.

 

R,