why so many 9mm guns in movies/tv

[Krel]

At least you have more of a variety now. In the fifties and sixties all you saw were Lugers and P38s. In the thirties and forties, until after WWII all you saw were Lugers. In the seventies you started to see S&W autos, H&K P9S's and VP70s. The big 9mm of the 80s and early to mid 90s was the H&K P7, but I haven't seen of of those in a while.

What I find curious is that you rarely saw Browning Hi-Powers, and when you did it was almost always a background actor with one. The only 60s show I can remember with a Hi-Power as the hero's weapon was "Man In A Suitcase". Wasn't that a British show? I wonder why they didn't get featured in U.S. shows. The movie, "The Usual Suspects" made up for that though. Even pistols that were not Hi-Powers turned into them after the main actors got them!

David.

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Krel

At least you have more of a variety now. In the fifties and sixties all you saw were Lugers and P38s. In the thirties and forties, until after WWII all you saw were Lugers. In the seventies you started to see S&W autos, H&K P9S's and VP70s. The big 9mm of the 80s and early to mid 90s was the H&K P7, but I haven't seen of of those in a while.

What I find curious is that you rarely saw Browning Hi-Powers, and when you did it was almost always a background actor with one. The only 60s show I can remember with a Hi-Power as the hero's weapon was "Man In A Suitcase". Wasn't that a British show? I wonder why they didn't get featured in U.S. shows. The movie, "The Usual Suspects" made up for that though. Even pistols that were not Hi-Powers turned into them after the main actors got them!

David.

Hmmm, I've definitely seen the Browning HP in plenty of 70s movies - "McQ", "Serpico", "The French Connection II", etc. Don't think I've ever seen the VP70 in anything made before the 80s, though...

Also, what do you mean that the P7 was the "big 9mm" of the 80s and early to mid 90s? Wouldn't that title be much more appropriate if given to the Beretta 92F?

[Krel]

Originally Posted by MT2008

Hmmm, I've definitely seen the Browning HP in plenty of 70s movies - "McQ", "Serpico", "The French Connection II", etc. Don't think I've ever seen the VP70 in anything made before the 80s, though...

Also, what do you mean that the P7 was the "big 9mm" of the 80s and early to mid 90s? Wouldn't that title be much more appropriate if given to the Beretta 92F?

I remember it in "McQ", the Duke bought it in the gunshop where he borrowed the Ingram. You would have thought he would have gone for a Colt Government model. I unfortunately haven't seen "Serpico", or any of the French Connection movies.

In the 80's the P7 was the flavor of the day, and so was in a lot of tv shows and movies usually used by the villain, but there were a few shows that didn't make it where the hero used one. I saw the VP70s in shows during the late 70s, like "A Man Called Sloane", but the P9S was more popular. It really stood out to me in "Endangered Species".

I really don't remember the Beretta being as prominent as the P7. But that could be that, as a south paw the P7 interested me very much. I could just never afford one.

I read an article in the 90s that said that most of the Berettas that you saw in movies and tv show were actually Taurus PT92s. Robert Urich's Beretta in Spenser: For Hire was a Taurus with Beretta grips on it.

David.

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Krel

In the 80's the P7 was the flavor of the day, and so was in a lot of tv shows and movies usually used by the villain, but there were a few shows that didn't make it where the hero used one. I saw the VP70s in shows during the late 70s, like "A Man Called Sloane", but the P9S was more popular. It really stood out to me in "Endangered Species".

Hmmm, yeah, I guess I haven't seen enough movies and shows from the 80s. I have seen the P9S in lots of stuff from that era, though...

Originally Posted by Krel

I read an article in the 90s that said that most of the Berettas that you saw in movies and tv show were actually Taurus PT92s. Robert Urich's Beretta in Spenser: For Hire was a Taurus with Beretta grips on it.

Yes, this is correct. I don't know if the majority were, but a very large percentage of guns mistaken for the Beretta 92F in cinema/TV are actually Taurus PT92s. Many IMFDB editors didn't even know how to tell the difference between the two guns before I joined this site (and the main reason I know the difference is because I used to own a PT92).

[Gunmaster45]

Some times I'm either TOO into my work or too busy to pay attention so I've made that error more than once, notabley when working on The Boondock Saints, but MT2008 was there to save the day.

[Phoenixent]

Originally Posted by MT2008

Hmmm, yeah, I guess I haven't seen enough movies and shows from the 80s. I have seen the P9S in lots of stuff from that era, though...



Yes, this is correct. I don't know if the majority were, but a very large percentage of guns mistaken for the Beretta 92F in cinema/TV are actually Taurus PT92s. Many IMFDB editors didn't even know how to tell the difference between the two guns before I joined this site (and the main reason I know the difference is because I used to own a PT92).

It's the safety position on the Taurus that gives it away. The one that will confuses most is the 92SB with it's round triggerguard

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Phoenixent

It's the safety position on the Taurus that gives it away. The one that will confuses most is the 92SB with it's round triggerguard

Exactly. Even from a distance, I usually find it easy to tell because with the 92F, the slide-mounted safety tends to interrupt the smooth, flowing lines of the slide and stands out like a pair of "ears". On a PT92, the top of the slide is perfectly smooth and un-interrupted.

Then there's also the fact that the shape of the PT92's trigger guard is a little bit different than that of the 92F (it's more "flared" rather than squared, like on the 92F), but that's a difference that won't be as obvious from far away.

[Clutch]

Originally Posted by MT2008

Yes, this is correct. I don't know if the majority were, but a very large percentage of guns mistaken for the Beretta 92F in cinema/TV are actually Taurus PT92s. Many IMFDB editors didn't even know how to tell the difference between the two guns before I joined this site (and the main reason I know the difference is because I used to own a PT92).

Guilty.

I've done this several times, either through simple inattention or just being unable to tell clearly. Same with the Beretta 92FS/92SB deal. To my credit though, I did get it right with Quantum of Solace, and try to with Wanted (imagine my surprise when I saw that it was a 92S...)

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Clutch

Guilty.

I've done this several times, either through simple inattention or just being unable to tell clearly. Same with the Beretta 92FS/92SB deal. To my credit though, I did get it right with Quantum of Solace, and try to with Wanted (imagine my surprise when I saw that it was a 92S...)

No worries, it's a very common mistake. More often than not, it's a mistake that the armorers want you to make; sometimes the PT92 is used because the Beretta simply wasn't available for a particular scene. In "The Boondock Saints", for instance, it looks like they couldn't get Berettas for the poker game shooting scene, so the Taurus was used instead.

Also, I just added screencaps this weekend to my page for the 90s TV show "Viper". There's an episode in that show where the bad guys, who are supposed to be rogue U.S. Army intelligence officers, are all armed with Taurus PT92s even though they should have Berettas (they also use Diemaco C7s, standing in for the M16A2).

[Gunmaster45]

It's actually pretty obvious that they want you to think they are Berettas, they put Beretta grips on them, like in The Boondock Saints and The Matrix.