Strange Deaths

[Nosmo King]

Was there not some weapon created that was capable of firing a million rounds per minute, but was banned? It apparently could disintegrate virtually anything and reduce a human body to the consistency of smoke.

Here's some info

https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-fastest-gun-2016-2?r=US&IR=T

 

[GNC]

Article here on deaths on film sets, rare, but it does happen. Injuries are more common.
Article

Doesn't mention the stuntwoman who lost an arm making a Resident Evil movie (she's still struggling to get compensation years later) or the stuntman who died making Deadpool 2, among others. Even big budget movies like Marvel make are cutting corners and forcing their crews into exhaustion, and therefore mistakes. This is why the union wants to strike, the huge demand for content shouldn't mean lives are at risk.

Also, if the professionals refuse to do it, you'll find an amateur who wants to work in the movies for cheaper. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

 

[Trevp666]

But how many monkeys have been killed making films? Think of the monkeys FGS.

 

[Lb8535]

Are the rules in the US likely to be different?

The wished for activities won't be different, but there are small items that tell you that this isn't the US. It looks as though in Australia armorers are licensed - this is not universally true in the US.

 

[RaM]

The Warthog A10 gun can fire 4000 rpm on fast fire but only carries 1150 rounds so your looking at about 17 sec of fire
A RAF Tornado carried 150 RPG some had 2 some 1 gun fast fire was about 1700 so about 5 sec of fire.
Don't know if you have heard the saying "Give them the whole 9 yards" but that comes from the length
of machine gun belts

 

[ramonmercado]

Yeah: James Bond, Simon Templar…bunch of pansies.



maximus otter

No! Both are true English Roses!

The next Bond should be Gay!

 

[PeteS]

One of my favourite films was Flight of the Phoenix in '65. What I hadn't realised until recently was that the plane that was cobbled together crashed killing the pilot. Kind of put me off watching it now.

 

[RaM]

If you watch the credits at the end there's a little dedication to him.

 

[GNC]

But how many monkeys have been killed making films? Think of the monkeys FGS.

Clyde the Orang-Utan from Any Which Way You Can, sequel to Every Which Way But Loose, was "trained" throughout by hitting the animal with a metal pipe wrapped in a newspaper. One day, near the end of the filming, the ape stole a box of doughnuts. His trainer beat him with an axe handle for twenty minutes until he was dead to teach him a lesson.

OK, not technically a monkey, but will that do?

 

[escargot]

Clyde the Orang-Utan from Any Which Way You Can, sequel to Every Which Way But Loose, was "trained" throughout by hitting the animal with a metal pipe wrapped in a newspaper. One day, near the end of the filming, the ape stole a box of doughnuts. His trainer beat him with an axe handle for twenty minutes until he was dead to teach him a lesson.

OK, not technically a monkey, but will that do?

Fucking bastard.

 

[GNC]

Fucking bastard.

To put it mildly.

 

[escargot]

One of my favourite films was Flight of the Phoenix in '65. What I hadn't realised until recently was that the plane that was cobbled together crashed killing the pilot. Kind of put me off watching it now.

I saw both that and another, on similar lines but where the crew are ghosts, around the same time and mixed them up.

 

[GNC]

I saw both that and another, on similar lines but where the crew are ghosts, around the same time and mixed them up.

You're thinking of the 1970 TV movie Sole Survivor, starring William Shatner. Based on a true story (not the ghost part, though).

 

[Mythopoeika]

Clyde the Orang-Utan from Any Which Way You Can, sequel to Every Which Way But Loose, was "trained" throughout by hitting the animal with a metal pipe wrapped in a newspaper. One day, near the end of the filming, the ape stole a box of doughnuts. His trainer beat him with an axe handle for twenty minutes until he was dead to teach him a lesson.

OK, not technically a monkey, but will that do?

Manis, the orangutan that played Clyde in the first film, was replaced by two younger orangutans, C.J. and Buddha. Generally, primates are not used as animal actors past the age of 8 because their strength is fully developed and they are often less docile. According to a book by Jane Goodall and Dale Peterson entitled Visions of Caliban, Buddha was badly mistreated and beaten by his trainers, and C.J. was just brought in after filming was completed in order to do the publicity after Buddha's death, possibly from injuries inflicted by the trainers. Doubt has been cast on these claims, however, by makeup effects artist William Munns.

Manis was a trained orangutan that played Clyde as Clint Eastwood's sidekick in the 1978 box office hit Every Which Way But Loose. Its 1980 sequel, Any Which Way You Can (1980), did not feature Manis, as the "child actor" had grown too much between productions. In the sequel, two orangutans, C.J. and Buddha, shared the role.

In a documentary produced by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), it was alleged that Manis was beaten on the set by his trainer to keep him docile. The trainer would spray mace in his face and then beat him with an iron pipe wrapped in newspaper. The source for this information was a book by Dale Peterson and Jane Goodall entitled Visions of Caliban, but Peterson and Goodall actually refer not to Manis but to Buddha, the orangutan used in the second film (which the book mistakenly calls Every Which Way You Can, rather than Any Which Way You Can). The book claims that Buddha was badly beaten by his trainer, who clubbed him with an axe handle, and that an autopsy after his death suggested cerebral hemorrhage. Buddha's crime was stealing doughnuts from the craft service table. The book claims that the second orangutan referred to as being in the movie, Clyde Junior or C.J., was really just brought in for publicity during the marketing of the movie, as a result of Buddha's death. Doubt has been cast on these claims, however, by makeup effects artist William Munns.

Manis returned to working with his trainers' act in Las Vegas.

 

[GingerTabby]

On the tv-show Dexter, a man almost got stabbed when Jimmy Smits grabbed the wrong knife from a table. Having real knives and prop knives mixed on a table did strike me as a bad idea at the time.

A similar incident took place in the early 1980s at the Stratford (Ontario) Festival during a dress rehearsal of Julius Caesar. Jack Medley, the actor playing the title role, was stabbed with a real knife but fortunately survived. Police investigated the incident but no charges were laid. Google tells me Medley died in 2015.

 

[Kondoru]

I wouldn't hit any sort of ape because he might decide to hit back.

And apes are infamously strong.

 

[GNC]

@Mythopoeika - looks like we'll have to ask the ape!

 

[Mythopoeika]

@Mythopoeika - looks like we'll have to ask the ape!

Sure, you get a ouija board that works with dead orangutans.

 

[GNC]

Sure, you get a ouija board that works with dead orangutans.

It's not a unique case, and PETA are not necessarily cranks. On the movie Going Ape! around the same time, there were three performing orang-utans used who were later proved to have been abused by their trainer in their Las Vegas show by PETA's secret filming of them backstage.

 

[PeteS]

It's not a unique case, and PETA are not necessarily cranks. On the movie Going Ape! around the same time, there were three performing orang-utans used who were later proved to have been abused by their trainer in their Las Vegas show by PETA's secret filming of them backstage.

Pity the three of them didn't tear the creep to pieces and eat the evidence.

 

[maximus otter]

It's not a unique case, and PETA are not necessarily cranks. On the movie Going Ape! around the same time, there were three performing orang-utans used who were later proved to have been abused by their trainer in their Las Vegas show by PETA's secret filming of them backstage.

If only “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals” were less concerned about big bucks publicity, and more about the - er - ethical treatment of animals in their care:

“…approximately 2,000 animals pass through PETA's front door every year and very few make it out alive. The vast majority -- 96 percent in 2011 -- exit the facility out the back door after they have been killed…”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/peta-kills-puppies-kittens_b_2979220

Note: Images at the link may distress some.

maximus otter

 

[PeteS]

If only “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals” were less concerned about big bucks publicity, and more about the - er - ethical treatment of animals in their care:

“…approximately 2,000 animals pass through PETA's front door every year and very few make it out alive. The vast majority -- 96 percent in 2011 -- exit the facility out the back door after they have been killed…”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/peta-kills-puppies-kittens_b_2979220

Note: Images at the link may distress some.

maximus otter

Yep - I've never been a fan of PETA. Nor in fact the RSPCA, who seem to be so far up themselves so as to be coming out their ears. This despite their attempt at guilt inducing endless TV adverts. They frequently have stands at shows and without fail I seem to get the "Are you an animal lover sir?". My response is always "sorry mate I don't give to charities who pay their ceo £150k a year." Silence usually ensues.

 

[escargot]

You're thinking of the 1970 TV movie Sole Survivor, starring William Shatner. Based on a true story (not the ghost part, though).

Spot-on. Saw that one first and then Phoenix and was wondering when the ghostly bit would start.
Thought it must be a different cut.

 

[escargot]

Pity the three of them didn't tear the creep to pieces and eat the evidence.

I'd be prepared to step in myself.

Last week one of our local news websites reported that a long serving police dog trainer was retiring.
There was no mention of the force's previous exposure and prosecution by the RSPCA for cruel training methods.

One example I remember was making a dog stand on its back legs by tying its lead above its head to a fence to intimidate it and show it who's boss. Twats.

All that when most dogs will do anything for a bloke with a scrap of bacon in his pocket.

 

[maximus otter]

Why the **** was there even a live round present?

Baldwin film crew had been target shooting with "prop gun" before incident​

"Sources associated with the production report that members of the crew had been taking the weapon out for “target practice” in the desert when they weren’t filming. Tell me again how you take a “prop gun” out for target practice, please.

The source went on to state that following the target practice sessions, the police found live ammo alongside blank rounds stored in the same area. Like so many other failures by the crew, that should have been a violation of the most basic safety rules and could have contributed to how Baldwin wound up with a hot gun in his hands.

As [a blogger] pointed out yesterday, one expert armorer once shut down an entire set because someone brought live rounds in for a scene where an actor just had to pick up those rounds off the ground. Simply having live rounds in the vicinity was considered too great of a risk, but these guys had both types stored together."

https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2021/1...hooting-with-prop-gun-before-incident-n424430

maximus otter

 

[escargot]

I think the main reason is to get a convincing recoil, it's very hard to act a proper recoil

Yup, it's like the effects of a bomb or explosion blast on characters: you can tell they're faking.
Makes me think 'What's the point then?' when the story could be told without the unconvincing stuntmen and the harmless pyrotechnics.

There's a scene in The Sopranos where a building is bombed and you can see people walking near it brace their knees and throw themselves forward as if from the blast.
While I bet David Chase wasn't happy with the overall effect it wasn't the sort of scene he could rerun to get it right.

 

[ChasFink]

I thought I knew nothing about guns, but I'm starting to get annoyed with the constant references in the media to guns "misfiring" in connection to the Baldwin/Hutchins shooting - and in one case in reference to the death of Brandon Lee. When talking about guns, a misfire (noun or verb) means the gun didn't fire, or at least not correctly. In Lee's case, had the gun misfired he would have lived. In reference to the guns on the set of Baldwin's movie - and possibly the gun in question - I don't know what's meant when reports say the gun(s) "misfired" several times. Do they mean the gun wasn't working (click, click) or that it went off when it shouldn't have? The latter isn't misfiring, it's unintended discharge.

"Sources associated with the production report that members of the crew had been taking the weapon out for “target practice” in the desert when they weren’t filming....
The source went on to state that following the target practice sessions, the police found live ammo alongside blank rounds stored in the same area...."

I haven't seen this reported elsewhere. Could it be someone messing with this reporter? I notice "sources" changes to "The source" pretty quickly.

 

[Tempest63]

I thought I knew nothing about guns, but I'm starting to get annoyed with the constant references in the media to guns "misfiring" in connection to the Baldwin/Hutchins shooting - and in one case in reference to the death of Brandon Lee. When talking about guns, a misfire (noun or verb) means the gun didn't fire, or at least not correctly. In Lee's case, had the gun misfired he would have lived. In reference to the guns on the set of Baldwin's movie - and possibly the gun in question - I don't know what's meant when reports say the gun(s) "misfired" several times. Do they mean the gun wasn't working (click, click) or that it went off when it shouldn't have? The latter isn't misfiring, it's unintended discharge.


I haven't seen this reported elsewhere. Could it be someone messing with this reporter? I notice "sources" changes to "The source" pretty quickly.

Didn’t I read somewhere that some guys had walked off the set as some sort of industrial action just prior to this incident?
I immediately wondered if some miscreant had interfered with the gun to bring the production into disrepute with unintended horrendous results.

 

[ChasFink]

Didn’t I read somewhere that some guys had walked off the set as some sort of industrial action just prior to this incident?
I immediately wondered if some miscreant had interfered with the gun to bring the production into disrepute with unintended horrendous results.

A lot of people I talk to have been speculating along those lines.

 

[Kondoru]

Thats a horrible idea and entirely possible.