No one has listed my favorite movie "Never So Few" staring Steve McQueen. His choice of a Luger carried in a shoulder holster is on display for most of the movie. Another great movie is "The Old Gun" its a French subtitled movie in which the main star exacts revenge on a group of Nazi's with an old double barrel shotgun and his knowledge of his surroundings. thanks Bob

Watched "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" today. Great '40s movie about Dolittles (spelling?) B-24 flyers who bombed Tokyo about 6 months into WWII. Wow, what daring guys. I first saw this movie about 50 years ago, don't miss it you young guys if you ever get a chance to watch it. The Chinese guys who rescue the hero (Van Johnson) are armed with a bunch of junk guns and a couple of mint Lugers.

Sorry, B-25s--I used to draw these planes back in school. I should be able to keep them straight, but eventually the memory goes (along with everything else).

Just watched "All Quiet on the Western Front" for the first time in many years. Still left me numb at the end.

If any Lugers were showing, I missed them; as I was all wrapped up in the plot and the characters.

We had a dear, now-departed, friend, Mr. Roy Everett, who served in the infantry in that war. He was machine-gunned in the lower abdomen and upper legs, almost lost both legs, but went on to lead a productive life, finally serving in WW-II in an administrative position. He was reluctant to talk much about his time in the WW-I trenches, but when he did it brought home the horrors of trench warfare, especially the gas attacks.

Luke

Actually in "Thirty Seconds Over Tokoyo" they fly B-25s. The main visual difference, B-24 4 engines, B-25 2 engines...

If you ever get a chance, take a look at "Hitler's Madmen". It is sort of a true story of the killing of an SS leader and the retaliation the Germans use, by wiping out a town as revenge. I saw it recently for the first time on TCM. Reviews say it doesn't do justice to the story, but it is a bit shocking that it could happen. There are all sorts of old guns in the movie. The funny thing are the officers have what look like miniature versions of Luger holsters. Look like they might hold a pocket pistol. It is worth seeing. John Carradine is the bad guy, but he looks so different...

A great image of a Luger in a movie is "The Great Escape", with Steve McQueen taking aim with one. Good picture, you can even see the aluminum based magazine. Steve McQueen always looks good in a movie when he is using or operating a gun. You actually can see that he knows something about them and how to use them. "The Sand Peebles" gives you that feeling when you see him with that rifle adjusting the sights. I really miss him...

Yeah, I miss Steve McQueen too. An interesting sidenote on The Great Escape. McQueen would only agree to do that movie if he was given a long part of the film to do an extented motorcycle chase. And that there would be absolutely no stuntman to do it for him. I still love watching that movie. Steve was a good one.

They have proven that a stunt man jumped the fence. The guy who did it, a Steve McQueen riding buddy, has picture of him jumping the fence taken by Steve McQueen. The insurance people wouldn't allow Steve McQueen to do it. Kind of shattered a myth when I saw that. At least he did the rest of the riding...

Thanks Thor!!!

For pointing me to E-Bay to get a copy of "The Battle of the Bulge". The History Channel really has butchered this movie. The stick it in a 120 minute time slot and show about 40 minutes of advertising and talk about the movie. The movie came out orginally at the theater as 167 minutes. That means nearly half is gone!!! The DVD is only 156 minutes, so there are 11 more minutes to recover someday, but I'm happy I got this much!!!

The Battle of the Bulge DVD I got was not the best quality, but at least it is a DVD!! BTW Johnny, my sister lives in Bowie just north of Dallas, small world!

I'll let you know if mine is any better. I watched a minute or two, and it was good and clear at that point. If the whole movie looks that good, I'll be very happy. I've been to Bowie, but it is more North of Fort Worth. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> Growing up in Fort Worth, meant learning that Dallas was an alien world, that practically didn't exist, and was to be avoided at all cost... I buy beef jerky at the gun shows here that come from Bowie, and it is the best commercially available I've found, not to mention, a pepper cheese with a wonderful smokey flavor...

Dwight,
in that one gratuitous closeup of a luger in the movie "The Lost Battalion", the Luger not only had VOPO grips but it also had an aluminum bottom magazine.
One of my favorite movies is "Zulu". There is a British actor who played the sargent and everytime he plays a British military man, in any movie, he just dominates the whole movie and "Zulu" was no exception. What a powerful presence he has. Something like John Wayne in his movies and Mel Gibson in his latest Veitnam movie and the guy who played the German tank commander in the "Battle of the Bulge". Some actors just seem the have that certain something that makes them stand out. George Peppard in the "Blue Max" had it and Nicholas Gage could have it if he got the right movie.
Big Norm

Zulu, yes Big Norm, one of my favorites too! Hey, I reformatted my hard drive and lost your e-mail address BN, send me a quick note, :)

Ed,

You should always BACKUP your Outlook postoffice files before you do that... :( It makes restoring your email a little easier...

duhhhhhhhh really John. (slight or even heavy sarcasim evident in ed's voice :D )

I did the ole XP back up settings, did the back up of HER files and mine, made sure I had a complete set of HER pictures, then did a complete backup of our .pst files. Complete except for the little checkmark to the contacts. :D

Trust me John, I heard a word or two asking, "You mean all my saved contacts are gone?"

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

I see that on May 18th a controversial made for TV special on Hitler will be shown. I notice that they show Lugers in the previews. One scene showed a lot of them firing together, but not at what they are firing.

On another note, "The Battle of the Bulge" DVD I recently acquired, says it is 156 minutes. It is 71 minutes side A, and 74 minutes on side B. Darn, maybe someday I can get all 167 minutes of it...

Johnny,

What is your source on the length of the original film... Can you corroborate the time? Maybe the data contains a typo (or two)... I am not very good at touch typing the numeral row on a keyboard and frequently hit the wrong keys... 11 minutes is only one digit off in each position... maybe what you have is all there is?

I checked the history of the movie on the Internet. They list it as 167 minutes. The package of mine says 156 minutes. I know what the contents of one of the deleted scenes is. I also see two other points where the cutting kind of messes up the story. One strange thing on the package, is a picture of Robert Shaw holding a P-38 while kneeling. Something that never shows up in the movie. With only 145 minutes on this DVD, there are 22 minutes out there somewhere, but at least it is better than the TV version...

I watched "Soldier of Orange" yesterday with Rutger Hauer and saw clear presentation of Lugers at least three times. This was more of a spy/The resistance movie and very little combat. The Lugers added enough spice to make it worth it for me. I have the DVD so I can take pictures of the Luger scenes.

From "Soldier of Orange" a couple of Luger shots!
CLICK HERE for Luger shot #1

CLICK HERE for Luger Shot #2

"The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879, Donald R. Morris"

Reviewer: Kenneth Brittian from Louisville, USA:
This book is truly sprawling, interesting chronicle of the history of the Zulu nation. It spans from the rise of warrior king Shaka Zulu to the final destruction of Shaka's empire at the hands of the British army. While the sheer size of the tome may be a daunting prospect for many to tackle, the book will reward those who read it with a knowledge of the most colorful portions of African history. For instance you will be acquainted with the largest defeat ever suffered by the British army at the hands of natives. You'll also learn about the incredible stand at Rourke's Drift of 103 British soldiers against 4,000 Zulus. If you liked the movies, "Zulu", "Shaka Zulu", or "Zulu Dawn", read this book.

Check out the 1949 movie "Battleground" starring Van Johnson, was about the Battle of the Bulge, had a great Luger scene, they didn't know if they were going to be overrun or not, conversation was that anyone caught with a captured pistol would be immediately shot with it, one took out a Luger, asked if anyone wanted it, no reply, he threw it in a snow bank. Very accurate for the time.

http://www.moviefolio.com/movies/Battleground_1949.cfm

Reference "All quiet on the Western Front", this is the original 1929 version, obviously B&W, extremely realistic, filmed in the "Sgt York" style, I think filmed in original battlefield locations using WWI vets.

http://www.bestbuy.com/movies/Produc...10293066&m=270

later Ya'll

rk

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Roadkill:
<strong>"The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879, Donald R. Morris"
</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Can't second this recommendation strongly enough. Its a whopping good epic story, and a whopping good read. I've owned this book for 30 years, read through the whole thing more than once, and still drag it out every so often to read passages--particularly any time "Zulu" or any of the other Zulu wars movies show up on Teevee.

--Dwight

WHERE EAGLES DARE!!!! Just became available for preorder in DVD Widescreen from AMAZON.com I just ordered the very first copy, lol!!!! Ol Thor is a happy camper! This one has great Luger closeups, PPKs, and P.38s as well as MP-40s and some Machine guns too! "Broadsword calling Danny Boy!" "We got company" Ol Clint shooting one MP-40 in each hand is pretty cool! "Go ahead.....Make my SCHLOSS ADLER!!""" <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />