Shocking Flubs!

[golfmobile]

This is probably not a MAJOR flub, but I think I found one tonight while watching the second part of "Memories Are Forever." Near the end when Michelle runs out of the chapel and runs through an alley, she drops a scarf -- in such an OBVIOUS manner that it looks like this should be a hint for something or other. Then when Colonel Ki runs down the alley, assumingly following her, there's no scarf on the ground, but then when General Hue runs down the same alley, the scarf is back on the ground where Michelle dropped it and he looks at it, where Colonel Ki, who needed the "hint," didn't look at it (well, duh! because it wasn't there when he ran through the alley).

Did anyone else notice this? Check your DVDs. Maybe it was supposed to be two different alleys?

golf

[N1095A]

From season 2 ep. 5 (Memories are forever part 1)

At the very beginning. He's taking pictures of the couple dancing, then decides to take the film out and throw it in the harbor. Almost immediately he picks up the camera and starts snapping pictures of Michelle on the yacht as it passes.

Actually, if you watch again you will see him open the plastic can of a new film container, and clearly hear it pop open. Although the camera doesn't stay on the film can, I assume he reloads the canera at that point.

[N1095A]

Hey James...

somebody may have already mentioned it... but Army and Navy did move their game west one year... in 1983, and played in the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena.

Navy won.

not only that, Higgins got the score right too 42-13.

[N1095A]

Everyone on MPI at one time or other points their gun in the air. When in the ready position you always point your weapon at an imaginary sopt on the ground 10 feet in front of you. Never put your finger inside the trigger guard until you are ready to fire.
MPI isn't the only show to ignore these basic rules of firearms safety. You'd expect to see the bad guys mishandle firearms, but on shows where the good guys are supposed to know how to handle weapons, it's a little disheartening.

[J.J. Walters]

You mean like this?





No wonder T.C. is always so edgy when he flys T.M. around!

[N1095A]

Eggggzactly!

[golfmobile]

N,

But he's LOADING the gun. Do military and law enforcement personnel point a gun at the ground when they are loading a clip into it?

(Of course, in a helicopter, I think it wouldn't make any difference if one pointed it up or down -- a "mistake" in either position would have an undesirable effect!)

golf

[N1095A]

N,

But he's LOADING the gun. Do military and law enforcement personnel point a gun at the ground when they are loading a clip into it?

(Of course, in a helicopter, I think it wouldn't make any difference if one pointed it up or down -- a "mistake" in either position would have an undesirable effect!)

golf

The direction he's pointing the gun, and the position of his finger are both bad and extremely dangerous practices. Sure, if there isn't a round in the chamber, and the action isn't locked back, the gun won't fire when he slams the magazine in, but this is still (I can't tell you how bad) bad handling of a firearm. The ONLY time your finger should be inside the trigger guard is when you're pulling the trigger.

[IslandHopper]

As an infantryman, I rode in helicopters many times and we always pointed our weapons downward with the barrels on the floor of the helicopter, so that if a round happend to fire accidentally, it would fire through the bottom where there are no important mechanical components. If the weapon fired while pointed upward as Magnum was doing in the photo, it could critically damage the rotor blades and/or other vital components and bring the helicopter down. Weapons are never pointed with the barrels facing upward (or never should be) in a helicopter.

[golfmobile]

Then I agree that almost all gun-handling on MPI should be counted as a "Shocking flub"! (But there HAD to be some ex-military people around the filming of this show, the crew or someone, and surely the helicopter pilots. Did they not TELL the directors/producers, etc., how it should be -- or were they ignored? This is not something that would affect the quality of the show or that needed to be done for any special effect so therefore "artistic license." I agree that this is something that should have been corrected early on and not be allowed to continue for eight years.)

golf

[IslandHopper]

I agree with you Golf, but I think much of this was intentional as it conveys a sense of bravado and gets the point across of what is going to happen next. So, I think in many of the instances the director wanted to display the weapon/prop in as obvious a manner as possible, even though it may have been incorrect.

Another weapon flub is in "The Last Page" (Season 2) where, in the opening scene, you see a helicopter (Huey) transporting Taylor, Lt. Ed Kanfer and others to the LZ. In this scene, the only M-16 Rifle you see is Ed's, and it is pointed upward, which is a No-No.

This scene also has another interesting flub. TC is flying the Huey in the right seat and Rick is the door gunner. We know TC and Rick are Marines, and Taylor and Ed are presumably Marines since they are flying in a Huey flown by a Marine pilot, and neither Taylor or Ed's uniforms display any U.S. Army insignia, i.e., unit patches such as 101 ABN., 1st Inf. Div., etc. However, Taylor, does say to Magnum that he was a "Medic" in Castle Team. The term Medic is typically an Army term. Marine and Navy medics are called "Corpsman", not medics. Anyway, we will presume Taylor and Ed are Marines based on the other information. So, it appears that everone on the Huey is a Marine, however, the Huey TC is flying appears to be a U.S. Army Huey. You can see the cross swords toward the front of the Huey on the pilot's door. This is an insignia for U.S. Army Air Cavalry (Air Cav). You can see it clearly after the Huey lands at the LZ and as it takes off again. Additionally, toward the rear of the Huey you will see the words "United States" painted on the helicopter. It appears that it once read "United States Army" (as is standard on all U.S. Army helicopters), but where the word "ARMY" should be is covered over in black paint, so it just reads "United States." It appears that the word "ARMY" was painted over intentionally because it would look funny that Marines were flying a U.S. Army Huey? Seems like somebody had pretty good foresight to head off a potential flub since they knew TC and Rick were Marines.

[N1095A]

Usually movies and TV producers hire consultants. I guess they figured the general public wouldn't know the difference. Remember this was before DVDs and the internet. Water cooler discussions Friday mornings probably had little to do with proper weapons handling. More than likely they were about the car, or the chopper, or the girls, or... well, you get it.

[magnumpi357]

Now of course I can't remember the exact episode, but I think it might be the finale when they go out for Rick's bachelor party. Anyway, when the fight breaks out in the strip club there are several shots of topless ladies in the background. The first time I saw it I didn't believe it, but I've seen it at least two other times since and they really are topless. Has anyone else caught this??

[eeyore]

This is Forty, when they take Magnum out for his fortyith birthday. It sure looks like the girls are topless, but they were probably wearing pasties.

[golfmobile]

Okay, I got one. Just watching "Almost Home" -- the scene where Magnum and TC sneak into the warehouse and the bad guys coming chasing them in the red jeep, and TM and TC are running for TC's helicopter to escape. TM and TC jump in the chopper and immediately take off.

NOT!!! It takes a heli from 5-7 minutes (minimum 3-4 minutes) to warm up and get the rotors spinning enough to be able to lift off. There's no way they could have jumped in the chopper, started the engine, and taken off, the way you can in a car. Helicopters just don't work that way.

This fact was used accurately in a movie I saw recently -- "Avalanche" (the 1999 movie; see www.imdb.com for description -- it actually was a fairly decent movie, if you're desperate for entertainment) -- where the avalanche was starting down the mountain and the pilot and an environmentalist were in a helicopter and needed to lift off but had to wait till the engine had revved up and the rotors were spinning fast enough.

So perhaps general knowledge of helicopters and helicopter flight might not be aware of this, but it is an egregious error, if 'Nam era vets were watching the show, and I bet a lot did.

golf