Tag Archives: inside film

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Weapons of choice

Pictured is an M60 light machine gun, made famous by the Rambo films.

Think of any action movie character and you’ll more than likely think of their favourite weapon of choice. The guns featured in film are more often than not more iconic than the character itself. Below we list just some of the many iconic film guns and their associated character.

pictured is the Spas-12 12 gauge shotgun, made famous by Robert Muldoon in the film Jurassic Park.

Image via: imgur.com

Franchi SPAS-12
Made famous by: Robert Muldoon in Jurassic Park. (1993)

This shotgun is quite the ‘clever girl’. Most notably featured in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park film, this pump action, 12 gauge shotgun was pretty handy at taking out Velociraptors. First introduced in 1982 by Franchi S.p.A, this shotgun was initially developed to fire low pressure ammunition such as tear gas. The shotgun is still in use by military forces in Australia, Pakistan and Italy.

Pictured is the Desert Eagle semi automatic pistol, made famous by Agent Smith in the Matrix films.

Image via: imgur.com

Desert Eagle Mark XIX
Made Famous by: Agent Smith in the Matrix trilogy. (1999-2003)

There’s no doubt why the main antagonist in the Matrix films chose this as his weapon of choice. Dubbed by many as a ‘hand cannon’, the most recent model of the Desert Eagle semi-automatic pistol fires a .50 AE round, something much bigger in comparison to other pistol rounds.

Pictured is an M60 light machine gun, made famous by the Rambo films.

Image via; imgur.com

M60
Made famous by: John Rambo in First Blood. (1982)

This Light Machine Gun weighs a hefty 10.5 kg and fires a 7.62x51mm NATO round. The M60 is belt fed, and can fire around 500 rounds per minute. The weapon first saw its introduction in the Vietnam war and has since been staple for the U.S army in combat since.

Pictured is the M9 Beretta semi automatic pistol, made famous by John McClane in the Die Hard films

Image via: imgur.com

Beretta 92FS
Made famous by: John McClane in Die Hard. (1988)

This semi-automatic pistol was most notably used by John McClane, the main protagonist in the first Die Hard film. Chambering a typical 9mm round commonly found in semi-automatic pistols, the 92FS was manufactured by Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro. The Beretta 92FS is arguably the most commonly used pistol by military forces worldwide.

Image shows actor Arnold Schwarzenegger flexing his muscles.

Image via: themancave-rayc.blogspot.co.uk/

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s guns
Made famous by: Every film with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

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John Williams, the man behind the music

Image shows composer John Williams conducting one of his many pieces.

Image via: eddieonfilm.blogspot.co.uk

You probably already know by now who John Williams is. The famous composer has written more scores than you shake a musical stick at (or a conductor’s baton if you prefer). Most notable scores include Saving Private Ryan, Superman and my personal favourite, Jurassic Park. How did John Williams achieve such great recognition in the movie industry?

Born on February 8th 1932 in New York, to an already musical family, John Williams was destined for a life of music. Attending the University of California in 1952, John studied with Italian composer, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. His musical career had begun.

After his time at university John Williams worked as a jazz pianist, playing in many clubs in and around New York. He then worked on television production for shows such as Peter Gunn and Days of Wine and Roses. His first credited film score didn’t come until the 1960 film, Because They’re Young, moving away from his television work.

For many years, John was nominated for musical awards in film, but never took home an award. In many ways, it was director Steven Spielberg who introduced John Williams into the limelight. A then new director on the movie scene, Steven asked for John Williams to compose the score for his first film, The Sugarland Express. The film gained critical acclaim, and showcased the power the duo have in the movie industry.

Since then, John Williams has scored all but two of Spielberg’s movies, The Twilight Zone and The Color Purple being the only exceptions. In 1977, John Williams was approached by another up and coming director, George Lucas.

The director pitched the idea of a science fiction space opera titled, Star Wars. John happily accepted and his since provided the score for all subsequent sequels and prequels. The most distinguished score, “Force Theme” can be heard via the YouTube video below.

Surely, it must be a given that John Williams will be composing the score for the newly announced Star Wars trilogy?

John Williams has since composed the soundtrack for another series of George Lucas directed films, starring an archaeologist called Dr Henry Jones. Other notable film scores include the X-Men series, The Adventures of Tintin and the Harry Potter films.

During his career, John Williams has won 40 awards for his musical achievement in film and it doesn’t look like it’s going to end there. John has already started work on his composition for the upcoming Jurassic World and it looks more than likely that he’ll be composing the score for the new Star Wars films. May the score be with you John.