On Fri, 23 Jun 1995, James Bozian wrote: > In a previous article, [log in to unmask] () says: > > >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- > > > >The classic example of film influencing reality was the decline of sales of > Hey, how about the way disco took off after "Saturday Night Fever?" That > was unbelievable and real. J.B. - L.A. > When the first Dirty Harry movie came out, the producers wanted him to carry a really *big* gun. At the time, the Smith & Wesson Model 29 in .44 Magnum was languishing on shelves. The shooting fraternity didn't know what it was good for (it was heavy and big, it had a fearsome recoil, etc etc...) The producers gave Harry Callahan a Mod 29, and the gun went down in history as "the most powerful handgun in the world". And suddenly, everybody wanted one. Smith & Wesson's production totally lagged behind the demand, and it was probably the only time ever that a gun which was still in current production fetched prices substantially higher that the RRP. A few years later, along came the Automag, a .44 Autoloader which was even bigger, heavier and more powerful. Sales were slow, since the gun was virtually hand-built and thus very expensive. The manufacturers convinced the producers of the next Harry Callahan movie (I forget the title, but Tyne Daly co-starred?) to have harry use one of their guns, with the hope of boosting sales. It didn't work, and the gun is now a collector's piece, out of production. When the first Lethal Weapon movie came out, there was a rush for Beretta pistols again. Then, a few years later, came the Glock autopistol. Its frame (only the lower part) was made of polymer plastic, to save weight and size, but somehow the rumour started that the gun would defeat airport security. This was totally untrue, but in Die Hard II, the bad guys all run around with Glocks, which at some stage is described as being a "porcelain" gun, capable of defeating X-ray and metal detectors. To this day, when people see my Glock, they say, "Ah, that's the gun that will pass through security." Just FWIW Tobie Openshaw South Africa ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]