Realistic Gun Fight

[PJ Hardtack]

Happened to catch "The Far Country" on TV recently ......

Great scenery (filmed in Jasper National Park) and with an added Canadian flavour for good measure; one token NWMP member who advises the miners to appoint someone who is good with a gun to be local Sheriff until the Mounties arrive in force.

The final gun play takes place on a darkened street, the adversaries shooting at each other in the dark with with the predictable wild shots.
James Stewart and the boss bad guy actually do reloads during the fight! Jack Elam gets shot early in the fight.

The final shots are fired with the protagonists lying in the dirt, shooting at each other under the wooden sidewalk!

I don't think I've seen that in any other movie. A refreshing change from the gun fight at high noon in the open street.

[Drydock]

I always thought the fight at the end of "Stagecoach" was surprisingly realistic.  Both protagonists use rifles, its at night, and the Duke goes prone with his first shot.

[nagantino]

Both good bits of Gunplay.  John McIntyre was a good villain, if you know what I mean, and that reloading sequence was unusual and compelling also. Another pleasing movie was Winchester 73 when jimmy Stewart outguns Dan Durgea, Waco Johnny Dean, who staggers into the street. I believe that movie marked a high point in westerns, it totally believed in itself. Let's not forget that shoot out at the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It had a stuccato rythme that built and built untill the both fell through the door...." Is thatwhat you call cover...."

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[PJ Hardtack]

The final shootout in BC & TSK was comic book compared to the previously mentioned gun fights, and highly unlikely to have happened that way.
Rolling in the dirt under a sidewalk in the dark may be melodramatic, but I can see it happening that way.

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

I liked parts of the final gunfight in Open Range (notice, I said parts of). The firing of too many bullets out of one gun before reloading for example , wasn't one of them.  When interviewed, Costner said that he was filmed drawing the second gun but, it got lost in the editing. The rifle part of the shootout was good.

Just as an aside: The glacier shown in the opening credits and later in the movie, The Far Country, is a lot smaller now than when the movie was made. 

Also, a real life movie spoiler, The NWMP police were in full force in the Yukon before the onslaught of the miners, with the famous Sam Steele in charge of the Mounties and James M. Walsh (former NWMP of Sitting Bull and the Sioux escaping to Canada fame) was Commissioner of the Yukon at the time.  There were 96 NWMP members in the district in 1997 and by 1998 there were 288 NWMP in the area.  The Yukon Field Force, taken from the Permanent Canadian Militia, consisting of 203 officers and men served in the Yukon from 1898 to 1900 to assist the NWMP.  The reason for such a huge military and police presence was the fear that the U.S. might attempt to seize the region.  When those fears subsided, the Field Force was reduced in size and were totally withdrawn in June of 1900.

[PJ Hardtack]

Yeah, I saw the Columbia Glacier last summer. First time I saw it in the '70s, you could walk to the ice from the parking lot. Now you take a snow machine as it's quite a hike for the masses of tourists in flip flops and shorts.

Things are definitely warming up .....

[PJ Hardtack]

The reason for such a huge military and police presence was the fear that the U.S. might attempt to seize the region.  When those fears subsided, the Field Force was reduced in size and were totally withdrawn in June of 1900.

Same reason the Royal Engineers were sent to British Columbia in 1858. Governor Douglas requested Infantry, but Whitehall thought that too provocative to the Americans, so they sent the Engineers to build the infrastructure within the Colony. Besides, there were always Royal Marines onboard the RN warships at Esquimalt on the Island.

Almost the first duty of the RE was to respond to the Ned McGowan incident at Hope, BC. A party of RE and RM accompanied Colonel Moody on a paddlewheel steamer to deal with the insurrection. Moody left the troops outside town and walked in alone with an HBC Factor.

The American miners fired their revolvers over his head and Moody had the aplomb to thank them for the salute to the Queen! He then suggested that they repair to a hotel for tea and discuss the matter.

In the meantime, the miners had discovered that Moody was not alone and had a body of troops waiting to come to the aid of their Colonel and they decided to play 'nice'.

The presence of the RE undoubtedly kept the Colony from being annexed by the Americans.

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

"The Far Country", just happened to be on TV yesterday.  We were in Skagway during September of 2015 (via cruise ship) and took the train up to the summit via the White Pass where there was a replica of the NWMP cabin on the Canadian side of the border.  Part of the original trail split off from the rail trail to go over the Chilkoot Pass as it was shorter then met the rail trail again. On the way up they pointed out some of the original trail and it looked more like a cow path, as most of the trail was single file.

John McIntyre's role was obviously the Soapy Smith character.  They told us one of Soapy's scams was that he had a telegraph key and a couple hundred feet of line, which he laid out into the ocean beyond low tide, and told the miners that he had a telegraph line all the way to Seattle, and for a fee he would sent a message back to the miners folks, saying that they had arrived safely in Skagway.  Then later, he would tell the same miners that he got a return telegraph from their family and that they requested the miner to send some money home. Soapy told the miners that if they gave him the money, he would wire the it back to the States for them, plus a sending fee of course.

Even today Skagway is pretty isolated. There is no hospital and only a para medic and a nurse.  You have to be flown out to a hospital in Juneau.

[PJ Hardtack]

A para medic and an RN could provide far better care than a Dr. from the era. I'd be OK living there.

We have a hospital here, but a woman has to go to Prince George nearly 2 hours away to deliver her baby. I'm 65 kms out of town and it would take an hour to get a para medic here for any emergency.

A couple years back I nicked my thigh with a chainsaw above the Kevlar pad and it required 10 stitches to close up. Fortunately I missed the femoral artery or I would have had to use my belt for a tourniquet.

The emerg nurses gave me hell for being stupid. When they finally got to me I was told - "Go behind the screen and drop your drawers. And don't get any weird ideas .... ".

I said "Yes ma'am" and was a gentleman.

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

A para medic and an RN could provide far better care than a Dr. from the era. I'd be OK living there.

We have a hospital here, but a woman has to go to Prince George nearly 2 hours away to deliver her baby. I'm 65 kms out of town and it would take an hour to get a para medic here for any emergency.

A couple years back I nicked my thigh with a chainsaw above the Kevlar pad and it required 10 stitches to close up. Fortunately I missed the femoral artery or I would have had to use my belt for a tourniquet.

The emerg nurses gave me hell for being stupid. When they finally got to me I was told - "Go behind the screen and drop your drawers. And don't get any weird ideas .... ".

I said "Yes ma'am" and was a gentleman.

You are right, in that a para medic and a nurse would be a lot better than a doctor of the period.  Mind you, I'm not sure what they had for medical services in Skagway at that time period, if any.

[nagantino]

Believe it or not, I've only just watches Apollosa. I don't know how I missed it. It's a fine movie, well made and tells a good story but it brought to mind this Thread about what a Realistic Gunfight might look like.  The ending of the movie depicts a shoot out between Everett and Randall Bragg but it was kinda dull. I have no doubt that this was what a Shoot out would look like, but it was an anti climax. I believe Ed Harris loves the Western but he missed the chance to inject excitement which is the job of the Director. Print the Legend......