Talk:GoldenEye (1995)

This seems rather odd - if the film's armorers could get their hands on genuine AK-74 rifles (and AKS-74Us), why would they need to use other weapons made to look like AK-74s?-MT2008 02:46, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

The reason why they don't use all AK-74s is economics. As an Armorer, I don't buy 20 or 30 of the newest or latest gun. The economics are not feasible since they will never rent enough to pay for themselves ever. Also the AK-74 lookalikes were real 5.45x39mm build up guns from parts kits and imported 5.45 receivers (and registered as Post-86 dealer samples) but only a few were made (at least in the U.S.). Now that parts kits have all but dried up due to ATF's ban we won't be seeing American Movie armorers getting (or building) any more of the latest Kalashnikov variants any time soon. MoviePropMaster2008 02:27, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

But what I mean is, if you DID have some real AK-74s already, wouldn't you make heavier use of them, and relegate the "fake" AK-74s to background characters only? That's the case in this film - they obviously do have SOME real AK-74s, yet they don't seem to use them very much. Instead, they use the Type 56s for many scenes, including uses of "hero" guns. Also, Bapty supplied the weapons for this film; dunno if that makes a difference. -MT2008 02:46, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

I see your point, but unfortunately, most directors and DPs can't tell the difference (believe me, when I've tried to point out the diff to them on set, they look at me like I'm a martian.) But also sometimes the best shots for editing reaction shots will end up being the guys with the chinese guns. By the time it gets to editing, the editor doesn't give a rat's ass about gusn (we all know about gun continuity errors, most of it is because most editors don't know guns). I know the film was done in England, but I just used the U.S. version as background into the how they would not have all AK74s. And say you spent the money and bought FOUR AK74s, it would simply take too much time to swap them around to be in the foreground. I know why they shot so many of the so called background guns. The reality is that director (not the armorer) didn't care. Hope that explains my point. :) Anyway, I've been on a lot of sets. The filming is fast and furious and if I tried to stop and make them swap the guns around, I'd be yelled at. Only the director (like one like Milius who cares about how a gun looks on camera) could arrange for that. I'm just defending the Bapty's guys, just to make sure that people don't think it's the armorer's fault. Anyway, just so we don't get everyone's panties in bunch ... we WILL move this to the discussion section in a litte bit. :) MoviePropMaster2008 06:44, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Of course, I do take your point that the armorer knows better than the director that Russian soldiers should have authentic AK-74s and not Type 56s made to look like them. I'd be kinda worried about any armorer who didn't. :) -MT2008 23:44, 25 November 2008 (UTC)