Benjamin Martin was a Frontier Partisan. Mel Gibson’s character in The Patriot (2000) was a composite of several historical figures, including South Carolina partisan leader Francis Marion aka The Swamp Fox. His background fighting the Cherokee in the Carolina backcountry in the 1760s is a key element of his character — and his loadout — once he decides to once again take up the rifle in the American Revolution.
And quite a rifle it is. Frank House, a legendary maker of long rifles, made the rifle for Gibson in 1999, and served as a consultant on the set, and as an extra.
Both House and consultant and practical historian Mark A. Baker are credited with the introducing the saying “aim small, miss small” while coaching Gibson in wielding the rifle, an aphorism Gibson liked so much that he incorporated it into his dialogue. My guess is that both men used it — it’s a pretty fundamental concept.
Anyways, Ethan Yazel of I Love Muzzleloading posted a first-hand look at The Patriot Rifle at the recent 30th Anniversary Contemporary Longrifle Association show in Lexington, Kentucky. What a work of practical American art this is…
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From The Patriot to pulpy goodness…
The Guns N’ Movies channel serves up some worthy analysis of Hollywood firearms, with solid technical and historical background. Entertaining stuff, especially when it tugs on the ol’ nostalgia strings.
When daughter Ceili was young, she loved The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. A dad can do a lot worse when it comes to movies that are memorized line-for-line (some of which are still employed). Start any sentence in our household with “I am…” and you are sure to get back “…a librarian.” If you know, you know.
Those movies were a cornucopia of pulpy goodness — and a fine array of early 20th Century firearms. The hero, Rick O’Connell, carries a mobile arsenal in a glorious leather satchel, prominently featuring a brace of French Chamelot-Delvigne Model 1873 revolvers in an iconic shoulder rig. And it turns out that a Winchester 1897 shotgun is the best medicine for blasting animated mummies.
The lovely Evie wields a British Lee-Speed Sporter in Mummy 2, a favorite Frontier Partisans rifle. Bestill my heart…
Fun stuff…
I know that there are mixed feelings about Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005). Lady Marilyn didn’t like it at all — she thought it went on and on and on with Jackson indulging his creature fetish. Can’t disagree.
But I have a soft spot for it anyway — despite its excessive excess of excesses — because it hit so many glorious 1930s adventure tropes. A tramp steamer; an unknown jungle island; salty sailors; a winsome down-on-her-luck vaudevillean…
And a marvelous array of some of the most iconic firearms of the 20th Century…
Guns N’ Movies gets after this in fine fashion.
These are fun videos to watch while, say… cleaning the guns. And, by Crom, I may just have to fire up The Mummy again one of these days, and take a trip down memory lane…
Quixotic Mainer says
My wife, who is not at all a gun person, is a huge Mummy fan. Despite the aversion, when Rick uses an 1887 Winchester in the sequel she recognized it enough to give me a ”isn’t that your shotgun?’
It’s pretty great on upland game and SASS targets, though I haven’t yet fired at the undead
JimC says
The day is young. Well, younger here than there, but still…
deuce says
It’s a shame that the ‘Mummy’ franchise sorta went downhill after the first one. Still, that first one was one of the best movies of its kind in the past 30yrs.
the Black Tyrone says
Rumor… and a rumor is like a leaf in the wind, but a 4th is in the making with Brendan F. I cannot recall the interview but it was telecasted. The film industry cannot pass up remakes and of course $.
JimC says
Only works if Rachel Weisz comes back. That third one with someone else as Evie was a turd.
J.F. Bell says
Briefly off my favorite subject…I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon in certain movies – specifically the King Kong remake up there but also present in a number of others – where the bit players have a better hook than the leads. Not necessarily enough to derail the bigger picture, but sufficient to make one wonder.
Meaning here that, after our intrepid heroes bagged their prize ape and turned for civilization, the better entertainment bang for the buck would have been cutting Denham & Co loose on the pier and sailing on with Captain Englehorn and the Venture to see what other trouble was stirring down in Rio or the South China Sea.
Same for Jock (Raiders of the Lost Ark) or Remington (Ghost in the Darkness) or Doc Holiday in Tombstone.
Of course there’s always the risk of spinning off and serializing a property to death. Even so…one wonders at the routes not taken.
JimC says
I would invest in a Voyages of The Venture serial.
John M. says
That period of time between about the American Civil War and WWII is an absolutely charming time for storytelling IMHO: You have colonialism pushing Western/non-Western interactions all over the globe. You have repeating firearms, but so little gun control that it was entirely plausible to put a Colt under your coat in London, then take a steamer to Cairo or Calcutta to skin it. The clothing for both men and women is a feast for the eyes. It’s just great.
JimC says
Indeed.
Alan Tompkins says
I like the originals from he 1930s; call me Old School.
Joe says
Great video on some of the Patriot weapons. Didn’t know the bit about Gibson weaving in the “aim small, miss small” line to his sons, but like you said, it’s compact, easy-to-understand advice that immediately conveyed the lessons Martin had presumably drilled into his sons in a couple of words.
I recall an article on Frank and Lally’s Native American-inspired quilts and tools. Fantastic artisans.