Harris Publications has had the pleasure of putting together and publishing GLOCK Autopistols magazine since 1995. In 2005, gun writer and Hollywood jack of all trades John Fasano proposed writing an article examining the wide use of GLOCK handguns in TV shows and movies. John, a prominent producer, director and screenwriter, certainly knew the subject matter, as the resulting article, “Lights, Camera, GLOCKs,” showed. Thorough, detailed and, most of all, fun, John’s piece, like a lot of his screen work, was a hit; and like a hit film it had its sequels—in every issue since we’ve gladly published John’s Hollywood roundups, to the delight of handgun and screen buffs alike.
RELATED: Remembering John Fasano
John Fasano died in his sleep Saturday evening, July 19. He was 52. John contributed ably to a number of Harris titles, not just GLOCK Autopistols; but probably no piece of his is as beloved as his work on Hollywood GLOCKs. In honor of John, we present here all 10, as well as his fascinating piece, published in the 2014 issue, on the Hollywood armorers who provide GLOCK pistols for the big and small screen. Luckily (if that’s the word to use on so sad an occasion), what you’re about to read isn’t, or won’t be, the sum total of John’s GLOCK work. Sitting in the Harris vaults is his contribution to the upcoming 2015 issue, which hits newsstands in January. We’ve read it, and we can tell you: It’s good.
1. The Good, Bad & Ugly (2005)
Hollywood has a love/hate relationship with firearms. Movie people love what guns can do: look good on posters next to the star’s face, blow up cars with one well-placed shot, and clean up messy plot holes with big climactic shootout scenes. At the same time, with a few notable exceptions like John Milius, Michael Mann and the guys who make South Park, most of the people who make these action movies hate guns. Never shot one. Don’t want to. Wish they’d “all go away” so there wouldn’t be any more crime or killing.
We have to keep that conflict in mind when we go to the picture show to see the latest Hollywood shoot ’em up. While many on the cast and crew are gun people, the higher ups aren’t, and the kind of firearms mistakes movies get slammed for come from the top. In future issues we’ll look at some of these gun misfires and examine where they came from.
Read the full article: “The Good, Bad & Ugly” via Tactical-Life.com
2. TV Superstar (2006)
I love Law & Order. Oh, I love a land with law and order, but I was talking about the television drama that has been on for 16 seasons now. The Dick Wolf-produced show, which in its current incarnation stars real-life ex-Chicago cop turned actor Dennis Farina (replacing the late Jerry Orbach), and the ever cantankerous Sam Waterston as the “law” and the “order” respectively, is one of the many cop shows that takes place in, and is actually shot in New York City.
CSI New York, NYPD Blue and a host of other shows whose action takes place in the Big Apple highlight one of the city’s police forces most famous attributes: the GLOCK Pistol. Standard issue to the NYPD for more than a decade now, the GLOCK autopistol figures prominently in every cop show that is set in and around Manhattan.
We’re talking about dozens of shows, and many hundreds of GLOCKs and their stand-ins working every day, 22 shooting weeks a year.
Read the full article: “TV Superstar” via PersonalDefenseWorld.com
3. GLOCK: The Superstar (2007)
Sometimes a product is so outstanding and has such an effect on society and the world, that it becomes an icon — the symbol for an entire class of products.
You never hear someone ask for facial tissue anymore, do you? Kleenex, so dominated the facial-tissue market that all tissues became known as “Kleenex.” Same applies to Xerox when someone needs a copy of something.
It’s the same with guns. At various times in history the word “gun” was synonymous with the most popular firearm of the period. At the end of the 19th century, a “gun” was a Cowboy Single-Action Colt. Through most of the early 20th Century, when people thought of a “gun,” the image of a .38 police revolver came into their heads.
Now, at the dawn of the 21st Century, one firearm has so captured the hearts and minds of gun owners, movie stars and celebrities over the last decade that to them, there is only one “gun” out there: The GLOCK.
Read the full article: “GLOCK: The Superstar” via PersonalDefenseWorld.com
4. Hollywood Glocks (2008)
They get their own dressing rooms, their own food. Someone picks through the bag and makes sure they only get red M&Ms if that’s what they like. On location they get their own trailers, stocked with water and sodas of their choice and a bed for … resting between scenes.
But one of the most-seen and prolific television stars these days, appearing regularly on shows and flicks, is definitely low maintenance! GLOCK’s workhorse, the 9×19 service pistol and all its variants, can be seen regularly on such television shows as Law & Order, Without a Trace, The Unit and The Closer.
Read the full article: “Hollywood GLOCKs” via PersonalDefenseWorld.com
5. Cameo GLOCKS (2010)
Whether hitting the multiplex theater near you or gracing the screen of the television in your home, this was another banner year for GLOCK pistols on the screen. Seen in movies and on television, several major Hollywood productions elevated the GLOCK to featured-player status.
Why So Serious?
The Dark Knight, the latest big screen adventure of the comic book hero Batman, was the most successful action film of all time, grossing over one billion dollars! While many credit the film’s success to the posthumously awarded Oscar-winning performance of actor Heath Ledger, I personally believe no small part was played by the GLOCK autopistol. The Dark Knight’s Joker starts his Gotham City crime spree with a select-fire 9×19 GLOCK 18 pistol in his hand, and stays with various-sized GLOCK pistols throughout the film.
Read the full article: “Cameo GLOCKs” via Tactical-Life.com
6. Hollywood Firepower (2011)
For the 28th year since its creation, the GLOCK semi-automatic pistol continues to be the most popular firearm depicted in Hollywood. The personal choice of movie superstars and behind-the-scenes crew, GLOCK continues its dominance with appearances in the most watched projects of the year.
GLOCK was an integral part of the joke in last year’s Cop Out, a police comedy directed by Kevin Clerks Smith, starring Die Hard star and real life GLOCK owner Bruce Willis and comedian Tracy Morgan as a pair of crazy New York Police Department detectives. The wild action comedy featured some insanely terrible gun safety by the detective played by Morgan, including an interrogation scene with a suspect while holding a GLOCK 19 at the man’s throat and points it at Seann William Scott while the man is detained in the back of their unmarked car. Egregious gun handling aside (this is Hollywood, what do we expect?) the GLOCK 19 was so integral to the character that the gun and brand even made it onto the poster and commercials for the film, where the advertising tag line was, “Rock out with your GLOCK out.”
Read the full article: “Hollywood Firepower” via PersonalDefenseWorld.com
7. Box Office GLOCKS (2012)
A trend that doesn’t seem to be ending soon is movies directly remade from earlier movies and television shows. One of my all time favorites, The A-Team, got remade as a big budget extravaganza starring Liam Taken Neeson as Hannibal Smith. Bradley The Hangover Cooper takes on the role of “Faceman” (played on the original series by Dirk Benedict) with a GLOCK 17 in his handsome hands. The movie made nearly $200 million around the world.
They also remade the Charles Bronson classic The Mechanic with Transporter star Jason Statham and 3:10 to Yuma’s Ben Foster. This tale of two of the most inept “zero footprint” assassins I’ve ever seen on film (every shot they try to make ends up in a huge gun battle) brought in only $50 million here and abroad, but was filled with lots of GLOCK action.
Another remake that scored just as well was the reboot of George Night of the Living Dead Romero’s The Crazies. Sheriff Dutten, played by Justified’s Timothy Olyphant finds himself and his GLOCK 30 facing a town gone, well, crazy, after the release of a poison gas.
Read the full article: “Box Office Glocks” via PersonalDefenseWorld.com
8. GLOCK’s Hollywood Superheroes (2013)
Superheroes were big business at your local theater this summer, and they couldn’t have saved the world without the help of the world’s leading polymer-framed pistol! I have to start with the biggest thing to hit the screen in tights ever—this summer’s mega-hit The Avengers. Written and directed by Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, The Avengers is a comic book fan’s dreams come true, assembling “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” in one truly epic tale.
Separately, these Marvel heroes had already shared screen time with GLOCKs in their origin films. Chris (star of the upcoming Red Dawn remake) Hemsworth’s Thor fought GLOCK 17-wielding SHIELD agents when he tried to retrieve his hammer. In Iron Man, SHIELD agents led by Clark Gregg’s Coulson used their GLOCK 17s to try to take out the giant Iron Monger. New York cops in Harlem grabbed their GLOCK 17s when The Abomination faced off with the Green Goliath in The Incredible Hulk in 2008.
Read the full article: “GLOCK’s Hollywood Superheroes” via PersonalDefenseWorld.com
9. Armed For Entertainment with GLOCK (2014)
The GLOCK autopistol is everywhere. Turn on the television and you’ll see it in the hands of the law enforcement heroes of Law & Order and CSI. Go to the theater for a calming night watching the sci-fi prison-break movie Lockout, and you find out the future includes the GLOCK 26 9×19. But have you ever thought about how your favorite Austrian super gun got on your favorite TV show or movie?
I sat down with Gary Tuers, a third-generation Hollywood prop master/armorer, and The Specialists Ltd.’s Rick Washburn, founder of the East Coast’s top gun-rental house, to get the inside scoop on how GLOCKs make it onto the silver screen.
Whether on the East Coast or the West Coast, the process begins with the script. The property masters—the men and women responsible for providing everything the actor touches that isn’t costume—read through the script for a TV show, movie or commercial and “break it down,” detailing which scenes require weapons or specific props, like holsters and special chest rigging, and make a list of the props they feel can fit those needs.
Read the full article: “Armed For Entertainment with GLOCK” via PersonalDefenseWorld.com
