For three decades, the GLOCK semi-automatic pistol has outshined any other firearm depicted in Hollywood. This year is no exception, as the trend continues with GLOCKs appearing in a plethora of the most watched movies and television programs of the year.
Action Stars
Plot twists and GLOCKs abound in Taken 3, which marks the end of the box office smash trilogy Taken. Liam Neeson returns as the former CIA operative Bryan Mills. LAPD police officers and detectives armed with GLOCK 17s pursue Mills after he is framed for the ruthless murder of his ex-wife. Mills evades the police as he searches for the true killer using his particular set of skills and the G17 he takes from the cops. The killer is finally revealed after a ferocious gun battle and a brutal fight.
- RELATED STORY: Competition Glocks: Team Glock’s Match Masters
GLOCKs also starred in another Liam Neeson hit this past year: A Walk Among the Tombstones. When the wife of drug kingpin Kenny Kristo, (Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens) is kidnapped and murdered, former NYPD Detective Matthew Scudder’s (Neeson) addict brother convinces him to take the case. Scudder reluctantly agrees to track down the kidnapper, but he shows no reluctance with his choice of sidearm—his GLOCK 17. Kristo and DEA agents also wade into the fray armed with G17s.
Jake Gyllenhaal—no stranger to GLOCKs from his roles in Prisoners and End of Watch—starred in 2014’s Nightcrawler. As Lou Bloom, Gyllenhaal is a driven man desperate for work. Bloom becomes a videographer, capturing the LAPD during a shootout with their GLOCK 17s blazing. In an all-out effort to achieve fame and fortune, Bloom gets in trouble when he blurs the lines of L.A. crime journalism. The story may be pure fiction, but the GLOCKs are pure action!
The Gunman, with Sean Penn as former mercenary sniper Martin Terrier, finds his past catching up with him when he becomes the target of a hit squad. Thank goodness he’s armed with his polymer “wonder gun,” a GLOCK 17.
In the action thriller John Wick, Keanu Reeves stars as the eponymous hero, a hit man who comes out of retirement after thugs kill his dog, a gift from his deceased wife. The fighting really heats up with some interesting “Gun Fu” techniques as both sides brandish their GLOCKs. Of course, the win goes to Wick and his GLOCK 26. John Wick is the directorial debut of Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. As veteran stunt and action coordinators, Stahelski and Leitch know that having a GLOCK on the set is one less weapon to worry about.
High-Power Blockbusters
The Austrian autopistol prized for its reliability and readiness is the best choice to be featured in a franchise based on unstoppable global exploits and speed. Furious 7 continued the GLOCK action with one of the highest-grossing premieres of the franchise. Furious 7 resumes where Fast & Furious 6 leaves off, with the team being targeted by a rogue ex-black-ops assassin out for revenge. Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) keeps the GLOCK 17 in his holster ready for action. Fans can look forward to more unstoppable GLOCK action when the eighth installment of this franchise is released in 2017.
Many GLOCK fans are familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Avengers: Age of Ultron continues the GLOCK action with Black Widow’s (Scarlett Johansson) famous pair of thigh-holstered GLOCK 26s. Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) also gets in on the act with her own GLOCK 17. Stay tuned for the continuation of the Marvel dynasty and more GLOCK action with two more films scheduled for release in 2018 and 2019.
GLOCKs can also do comedy, as seen in the spy action comedy Kingsman: The Secret Service. As a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius, Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), the Kingsmen recruit an unrefined but promising street kid into the spy agency’s ultra-competitive training program. Valentine’s henchman Gazelle (Sofia Boutella) uses a GLOCK 26 during the hilarious, action-packed climax.
The critically acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road is the fourth film in the Mad Max film series and the first to star Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky. In previous films, weapons were in short supply, possibly because of the post-apocalyptic setting and stark desert landscape. Fortunately for GLOCK fans, the sequel features the polymer “wonder gun.” It may be the future, but it’s one where GLOCK reliability is life sustaining. Max and Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) do battle while armed with a GLOCK 17 throughout the film.
From action to comedy to science-fiction, the GLOCK autopistol knows no limits. In the science-fiction film Chappie, the future may be patrolled by a mechanized police force, but former soldier turned engineer Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman) still keeps a GLOCK 17 in his holster.
In another sci-fi/action favorite, GLOCK fan Arnold Schwarzenegger returned this year in Terminator Genisys, the fifth installment in the Terminator series. This sequel sends Kyle Reese (now portrayed by Jai Courtney) back in time to save Sarah Connor (now portrayed by Emilia Clarke) from a Terminator sent to eliminate her, but finds that the past is vastly different from what he expected and what was seen in the first Terminator film. Reese is armed with a GLOCK 17 as he teams up with Sarah and an aging Terminator to stop “Judgment Day.”
On The Small Screen
GLOCK pistols dominate the airwaves as the standard-issued weapon for law enforcement agencies of the small screen. With the rise in shows like the long-running documentary/reality series Cops now airing on Spike TV, the emphasis is on realistic and authentic crime dramas, and the Austrian autopistol is a perfect fit.
Many of the GLOCK fan favorites from previous years have been renewed, so whether your passion turns towards science-fiction, the supernatural, post-apocalyptic scenarios or action-packed crime dramas, there is a TV series and a GLOCK for you.
GLOCKs can be seen each week in the various CSI shows and every cop show aired on TV. The GLOCK 19 is carried by the majority of NYPD detectives, including Detective Sergeant Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Detective Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) and Detective Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) in season 16 of the Law & Order spinoff Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
GLOCK has been a part of the American crime procedural NCIS since it first premiered on CBS in 2003. Now in its 12th season, NCIS has spawned two spinoff series: first in 2009 with NCIS: Los Angeles and then in 2014 with NCIS: New Orleans. Agents throughout the series hit the streets with G17s or G19s in their holsters.
Hawaii Five-O, the updated version of the classic CBS television series, is now in its fifth season and features the G19 and the G17 as the sidearm carried by officers of the Honolulu Police Department. This is due to an actual directive from the HPD that requires the GLOCK 17 to be the department’s on-duty sidearm.
Beauty, “Cat” Chandler (Kristin Kreuk), carries her GLOCK 26 as her main sidearm in the third season in The CW’s supernatural love story Beauty and the Beast. G17s and G19s are carried and used by other characters in the series as well.
One post-apocalyptic world we can’t forget is AMC’s hit The Walking Dead, now entering its sixth season, where the GLOCK 19 makes regular appearances for some zombie head popping.
John Reese (Jim Caviezel), an ex-assassin and wealthy programmer, carries a GLOCK 17 in his cover identity as an NYPD detective in Person of Interest, which is in its fourth season. Detective Lionel Fusco (Kevin Chapman) also carries a G17 and a G19. The majority of the NYPD officers in the series hit the streets with G19s in their holsters.
The third season of the Fox crime series The Following stars Kevin Bacon as Ryan Hardy, a former FBI agent who comes out of retirement to help the Bureau recapture a brilliant and charismatic yet psychotic serial killer, Joe Carroll (James Purefoy). FBI Agent Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore) has used a GLOCK 17 as his chief sidearm since the first season. FBI Agent Max Hardy (Jessica Stroup) also carries a GLOCK.
When the show is about an elite team of FBI profilers in the Bureau’s Behavior Analysis Unit (BAU), you know there must be GLOCKs involved! The 10th season of CBS’ Criminal Minds features the G17, the G19 and the G26. The G17 Gen3 is the duty sidearm carried by Chief Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), and the G19 is carried by Detective Mark Reyas (Maurice Compte). The G26 pistol is the duty weapon of SSA Jennifer “J.J.” Jareau (A.J. Cook), and the backup weapon carried in ankle holsters by both SSA Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) and SSA Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore). Other FBI agents and some police officers are also armed with GLOCK 17 pistols.
Another GLOCK favorite, the show Justified on FX just ended after six seasons with Timothy Olyphant starring as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, who was quick to use his GLOCK 21 in .45 AUTO as well as his subcompact G26 in 9×19.
New for 2015, Quantico, a mystery series on ABC, chronicles the training of a group of young FBI recruits who all have their own reasons for leaving their old lives behind. Numerous FBI agents can be seen wielding GLOCK 17s in the show, including training versions.
- RELATED STORY: Global Glock Report: Glock Pistols Goes To War
GLOCK autopistols continue to make major contributions on the big and small screens. GLOCK fans can rest assured that Hollywood will continue to take notice of the Austrian autopistol and choose GLOCK above all others in showcasing the lives of both friend and foe in the movies and on television!
For more information, please visit US.Glock.com.
This article was published in the GLOCK AUTOPISTOLS 2016 magazine. To see the rest of the issue, please visit Personaldefenseworld.com.