Monday, August 28, 2017

Naked City, The

I had caught bits and pieces of this movie over the years, but now I have finally watched it end to end, soup to nuts.

It stars Barry Fitzgerald of The Quiet Man patty-fingers fame.

The Naked City.

His young partner is a young Don Taylor, and the character is capable if inexperienced at detective work.  Also a veteran of the war, two years past.  He carries his revolver in a WWII style shoulder rig, and it's a handsome set up.

See?


I thought it was a S&W M1917, mainly because I seem to have a problem seeing the proper scale of a gun in a movie.  A 1917 would make some sense for a recent veteran.  But it's a Colt.  Police Positive Special.  More sense.

But...  Is that trigger guard uncovered?!

Another thing.  Inexperienced detective guy here goes after the bad guy without backup and gets that pistol taken away from him.  When he comes to, woozy from a blow to the head, he meets up with his older partner and is IMMEDIATELY given a replacement from the glove compartment.  Then points the muzzle at everyone's crotch.


No, "you lost your gun?  that's a whole lot of problem and you will probably be suspended, go back to the precinct house." No, "go to the hospital and get that head wound looked at." It's rub some dirt on it and get back in the game, matter of Hollywood routine. 

Well, Hollywood filmed on location in the city. 

Hey don't shoot a co-worker in the junk, Joe Concussion!


2 comments:

Old 1811 said...

"The Naked City" was turned into a TV series in the 50s. I remember it from when I was a young whippersnapper.
Revolver holsters commonly had uncovered trigger guards until about the 80s, because you have to really work to accidentally move a 10-pound trigger far enough to discharge it in the holster, plus, most revolver holsters had thumb breaks or "safety straps" over the hammer, so the hammer couldn't move anyway. (Look at the old Jordan Special.) As long as you didn't stick your finger in there during the draw, everything was fine. I carried a 4-inch Smith for many years in a holster with an uncovered trigger guard, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it now. It's only been in the past few years (decades?) that covering the trigger guard of a DA revolver became a thing.

ASM826 said...

+1 on what Old 1811 said.

I bought a revolver holster, new, about 5 years ago that had a strap and snap and an open trigger. I didn't realize it when I selected it on the website, but they are still being made that way by some vendors.