Question about the Garden Scene

Is it not possible for the gun to have been loaded, but not completely?

My guess is that Brando only put 4 rounds into the gun...and Nicholson's character being smarter than the average bear...figures that Brando, being the wily man-hunter that he is, isn't going to give him a gun with ammo in the chamber...so he just fires at the ground...and voila...nothing happens. A very good scene of two rivals feeling each other out.

The pistol apparently is a single-action Colt .45. It has six chambers. However, the problem with such guns was that if something struck the hammer, while still in the holster, the hammer would contact the cap, thus igniting the charge and round, leading to a discharge that could wound the person. Thus, anyone carrying around such a pistol (rather than, say, going out on the range for target practice) would have the hammer over an empty chamber. Anyone with a six-gun strapped to his side for the long-haul would thus have only five rounds in the gun.

Thus, he fires off four, which would leave one round in the chamber, something that a gunfighter/rustler would know (that there was five rather than six in the gun). Thus, he is testing him doubly.

Your question highlights a part of the film's appeal, and that is while you're watching it, it seems as if you're in a time bottle, watching a piece of what really was.......and the number of bullets is just another example of that.

The answer to your question is this: anyone who carried an American-made single-action revolver in those days learned very quickly it's tendency to discharge accidentally when it was subjected to a sudden tremour or impact, i.e. riding your horse, jumping off the horse, etc. If you were lucky enough not to shoot one of your toes off or lose the whole foot, you quickly developed the habit of keeping 5 rounds in the cylinder instead of six. It was referred to as "keepin' five beans in the wheel". It took decades before improved manufacturing standards made it safe enough for active gun-carriers to max up their pieces to a full six rounds.

Brando was known for his subtleties, i.e. using little things to make a huge impact. It makes sense that "Lee Clayton" would remove a round before approaching Nicholson's "Logan" because that was the whole idea: CLAYTON HAD NO INTENTION OF GIVING LOGAN A LOADED GUN, HE WAS A DRY-GULCHER WHO INTENDED TO KILL LOGAN FROM THE START. So, he simply fires four rounds, tosses the gun to Logan who is supposed to think that there is a round left in the cylinder (the ususal 5th and last round for a regular gun carrier).

But Logan is more than a gunman, he also thinks on his feet: he carefully cocks the gun away from Clayton, points the gun to the ground below, mutters "I doubt it" and pulls the trigger on an emptry chamber. Click.

Clayton acknowledges Logan winning the first round of their battle of wits, saying "You're smart". But, he leaves, showing the sadistic, predatory side of Clayton by saying" I don't know what it is you do, but you'd better go back to doing it...because you can't farm worth spit".

A great film in any era.