I think the only reason why he carried 2 magazines was because the director wanted him to run out of bullets quickly so he'll have to resort to his sidearm. A high powered semi-automatic rifle against the shotguns and revolvers carried by the old men would be a hugely unbalanced gun fight. It'll be over in less than 5 minutes and with alot less intensity.
shareWhenever I watch that scene, I wonder wtf is up with his ammo conservation (or lack thereof).
shareWell, some of us are of the school that we'll do whatever it takes to get us out of a situation, regardless of if it puts us in hot water later on. Just handle stuff as it comes.
shareGotta admit that bodyguard running around like a squirrel and shooting at you would freak you out. It takes serious balls to go up against one guy with a automatic .308 rifle and another guy with a shotgun, when the only thing you have is a pistol.
They were kind of surprised with that attack and so Longbaugh just unloads.
Perhaps not ironically that may have been the bodyguard entire purpose, to draw their fire and waste and their ammunition.
If he uses the galil mostly with a scope perhaps its to keep the weight down or for easy storage. This was his first time directing and if your going to name the film 'The Way of the Gun' and the gun fight scenes aren't intense and very short you probably wouldn't get another chance at directing. Oh wait he didn't. Maybe he should have had the galil in every scene and the body count would be into triple figures!
Then again he did write The Usual Suspects.
no one ever remembers that he actually wasted a bunch of .308 ammo in the sniper scene during the night.
he had more than likely 4-6 magazines for the galil which would equate to nearly 150 rounds.
all the rounds of pistol ammo was probably somewhere around there but with 7 round magazines it goes slower.
Good point! (RE the .308 ammo usage)
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Maybe he should have had the galil in every scene and the body count would be into triple figures!McQuarrie wasn't out to make a stupid action movie with a high body count, he was out to make a gritty noir crime flick with some realistic gun fights. Realism = emotional investment.
Agreed, deltajvliet.
"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."
I'm reading this two and a half years later and realize I sound like a pretentious douche. Sorry...
I can promise you a day of reckoning that you will not live long enough to never forget.
The board for this movie is probably going to have conversations that span decades the way it gets traffic.
shareHA! One of my favorite boards for one of my favorite movies. If IMDb didn't delete old messages, one could read some fascinating conversations (and some really boring ones about weaponry.)
"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."
It's just sad to think the people in the top half of the thread have all died of old age by now.
I can promise you a day of reckoning that you will not live long enough to never forget.
You said it.
shareMcQuarrie wasn't out to make a stupid action movie with a high body count, he was out to make a gritty noir crime flick with some realistic gun fights. Realism = emotional investment.
I'm reading this two and a half years later and realize I sound like a pretentious douche. Sorry...
Plus, one of the guys higher up brings up a great point that they used a lot of ammo at the hotel the night before.
But I'd argue they were smart criminals. They knew the trade. They knew about bagmen. They knew how to handle themselves. Their demise came from a calculated risk pitting their skills (admittedly good skills) against superior numbers of less skilled, worse armed gunmen. They nearly pulled it off too.
Good point about stumbling into the kidnapping, however. They probably just had some guns and ammo in the trunk and made do.
I can promise you a day of reckoning that you will not live long enough to never forget.
[deleted]
The both obviously had the skills to go up against Sarno and his crew. They knew that Abner was watching them, Longbaugh mentioned it off hand when they were talking about leaving the girl. They were not in anyway "dumb criminals". They just went up against greater numbers and lost a battle of attrition.
The erratic shooting that they did with the automatic and during the fight in the court yard was suppressive fire.
As for only two magazines for the Galil, They're both drifters and con-men they wouldn't have a large stockpile of ammo.
I have to mention too (almost a year later) that Longbaugh wasn't just any dumb, petty criminal - he was an ex-bagman.
shareIf he had the Galil at the end he could have put it on semi auto and suppressed pretty much everything in site so they could grab the money and get to cover and eventually plan an escape...the fact that he kept the volume of fire so high with a 7 or 8 shot 1911 was detrimental, sure suppressive fire needs to be fast but if he had kept the ROF down he wouldn't have to worry about reloading all the time. You can definitely win a battle with handguns vs any number of guys you just have to be smart but the Galil would have been more useful outside than inside.
shareActually I'm pretty sure he was just doing rapid fire in Semi-auto mode. Of course that just makes the waste of ammo worse.
I also believe the 1911's were in 9mm due to the indentations on the side of the magazines so the mags probably held 10 rounds instead of 8.
I'm so ugly...that's ok 'cause so are you.
I do believe the 1911's fired 9mm blanks because a .45 blank doesnt cycle well, but they were intended to be .45 for the purpose of the movie.
No professional criminal, in wanting a 9mm pistol would select a 1911 converted to 9mm. If they wanted 9mm there are about a billion other, better, higher capacity alternatives.
But they wanted a good ole .45 and the 1911 is the best delivery system for that round.
Plus extra magazines for Galil in .308 were not easy to find especially in the late 90's when the AWB was in full force.
shareFrom what I have read, the AWB did nothing as far as getting guns off the street or reducing gun crime. These guys were outlaws. When you outlaw guns only outlaws have them.
share[deleted]
More than likely they aquired the gun in Mexico, rather than attempt to cross the border with an illegal weapon. If so, they probably aquired what they could which means there might have only been a couple of mags for the Galil. It's not like the internet was in full swing in 1999 or they had the time for ordering or gun shows to roll through town.
Now the Galil as a random buy goes against another theory I have and that is that Del Toro's character is ex Israeli military---hence a familiarity with Galil's and where their shooting skills might come from.
There willing to cross the border with a kidnapped pregnant woman in a windowless rape van that they just shot up two separate locations in a major southwestern U.S. city, but not cross the border with an illegal weapon? I really don't buy that ringneck. I think movie established early while they were on the way to donate sperm that they carried a large, oversize military duffel bag. The Galil with the folding stock especially would fit well in that bag.
They probably thought the full auto rifle to be overkill for any trouble they might get into so going with 2 mags seemed appropriate. The fact that it could be shot in semi and use a scope was probably more fitting for the kind of crimes these criminals participate in.
The original dvd had a section of script where the two were contracted to snipe a dog during a dogfight. It was funny. They decided to kill both. So you could say that the director had the Galil more as a sniper weapon in mind from the scripts inception.
If they were donating sperm to make money, clearly they were quite poor. So their weapons served double duty.
That Galil is 7.62mm, clearly to fill the role of a sniper or designated marksman rifle. But it can also be used indoors in a pinch. Also fits in a duffle bag with it's folding stock. There are actually not many 7.62mm rifles with a folding stock.
Also regarding the 1911 choice. One advantage of the design is that you can easily source parts. Enabling you to change out the parts of the gun that make it treceable (barrel, ejector), so you save quite a bit of money as you don't need to dump the pistol each time you shoot something. A suppressor can also be easily built and attached to a 1911 as it's barrel doesn't go up when firing, it doesn't require that more complicated system needed for browning barrel lockup system, used by glock and most pistols.
Because they are not Marines storming Baghdad. They probably thought they were going heavy as they were. Lets be honest, despite having way better gun handling skills then your average thugs, those two were not sharpest knives in the drawer.
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