Alamo Fast Draw

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Blackbird: My god, my chamber was soiled up in that Winchester 92 and I'm just glad I quit shooting it when I did that day because if I would have kept on, I'd probably have blown the damn thing up. Well, Tom Browning who's designed it was very proud of that design, he had used it previously on the 86 which was again a very strong tight but clean handling action, and the Winchester 92 action was so positive and so smooth, one of the first experimental machine guns was actually made out of a 92 and this will make you think of Chuck Connors and his 92 in The Rifleman because I can't help but think someone was inspired by the actual history of this. Browning took a 92 and you can picture this in your mind. You imagine a lever running to the front of the barrel with a disk with a hole in the middle of the disk, snug against the muzzle of end of the gun barrel and you attach a spring to the lever of the gun and that spring runs from the end of the lever to the butt of the Winchester 92. all you have to do – and this is what Browning actually did to see what it would be like to have full automatic gun is you loaded it, you loaded the magazine, you cocked it, you touched it off the first shot and it had a trigger, that is, like what The Rifleman had. It wasn't a screw, but it was the same idea. The action was closed and it would fire another shot. He pulled the trigger, the gun went off. It pushed that disk, which pushed that lever that sort of like the lever that you would see on a railroad train, that connects the wheels. Jim knows what these are called; I don't. But it pulled the lever forward and that started working the action. Then the spring would catch hold of that lever and pull it back again and that would trip off the trigger again and that would push the disk again, which would open the lever and that was the first machine gun that Browning designed, and it was based on the Winchester 92 and it was the same idea as what The Rifleman was doing only it was a lot faster. It was  real fast.

Gunfighter Jim Martin: If I remember correctly the nickname of that, the Potato Digger.

Alamo Fast Draw: The Potato Digger?

Gunfighter Jim Martin: Yeah, because that lever flopping down around underneath the barrel there.

Blackbird: Yeah.

Gunfighter Jim Martin: And it would flop around underneath there and I believe they nicknamed that The Potato Digger if I'm not mistaken.

Alamo Fast Draw: I remember one of the earlier ones was nicknamed that, but I don't remember which one, so that might be it.

Gunfighter Jim Martin: Yeah.

Alamo Fast Draw: Well how about this I've heard it said two different ways, it’s John Ford made this movie black and white to save money and the other one is that he likes a black and white added to it more drama, more tension.

Blackbird: Which side are you on?

Alamo Fast Draw: I'm on the he did it on purpose not to save money but to add to the film, to add that extra tension or drama or whatever. However, you want to explain it.

Blackbird: Yeah, well, I'm with you. I think he knew most good photographers, when they give awards they call it cinematography. It’s photography and they know that if a black and white picture, moving picture is a lot more difficult to do than a color picture. You have to balance the lights and dark. You have to have a great sense of composition like every painter would have. And with color, the color will kind of equalize itself and spread itself around, especially the new color processes that they've had since the old 4-color where it was all mixed together by a chart. The new color film will pretty much take care of itself, but in black and white photography if you don't have your lights and dark balanced it just looks horrible, it looks like a bad television picture. And if you know how to do it right, I guess, and I'm not saying I know how to do it right, but men like Joe August who wrote about this in One Reel At A Time, for instance, if you knew black and white you could do it, and no one could get the dramatic effect with color that you could get with black and white doing this, and I'm sure if John Ford appreciated this, he did when he made a picture for himself like Wagon Master is one that he made that he thought would be a great western, and it was in black and white and when he did the sunshine bright, that was in black and white. When he did Young Mr. Lincoln, it was black and white. When he was doing one for himself he did it in black and white so I'm just saying that I agree with you.

Alamo Fast Draw: Hey, Jim.

Gunfighter Jim Martin: What?

Alamo Fast Draw: Do you have a movie that just stands out in your memory that you enjoyed?

Gunfighter Jim Martin: Well, you know, I always kind of liked that scene where he tripped over Jimmy Stewart and a steak fell on the floor.

Alamo Fast Draw: Just like slapstick.

Gunfighter Jim Martin: He got to get in there and put his two bits worth in and try to stop the eventual gunfight that he knew was coming, you know, and try to make peace with it. I thought that was a very touching scene the way they did that. And of course Jimmy Stewart was good at almost anything he did, you know.

Alamo Fast Draw: Yeah.

Blackbird: (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance) was pushing it, pushing the I don't know if you call it pushing the envelope I don't know what the term is, but he was trying to push it toward trouble and Duke Wayne was doing the same thing, he was saying, no, you pick it up Liberty, I want you to pick it up and finally, Jimmy Stewart says, oh your guys are going to kill each other, I'll pick it up and then I can't remember what he was trying to do with it.

Alamo Fast Draw: Jim, were you saying something?

Gunfighter Jim Martin: No,

Alamo Fast Draw: OK, we're getting a little bit of echo and I thought you were trying to say something. All right. Wes? Same question to you, is there a special part of this movie?

Gunfighter Wes Flowers: Well, the same with me, I liked the very end of it. Down at the end where he [Unintelligible]

Blackbird: Did John Wayne what?

Gunfighter Wes Flowers: Did John Wayne really shoot Liberty Valence?

Blackbird: Yes, he did. He shoots him with a 92.

Gunfighter Wes Flowers: I know.

Blackbird: He times the shot with you can see it on the screen.

Gunfighter Wes Flowers: Yeah.

Blackbird: He's pointing his rifle at Liberty Valance plus he's narrating, Duke Wayne is narrating the story saying I shot him, so you know it’s got to be true.

Gunfighter Wes Flowers: Yeah, I know.

Alamo Fast Draw: John Wayne wouldn't lie.

Gunfighter Wes Flowers: I'm just asking a question. At the very end I've heard that he // [Unintelligible] stood up to him OK.

Blackbird: Yeah.

Alamo Fast Draw: Well, I don't remember the exact quote you want, but there was a quote towards the end of the movie that I liked about printing the truth, or printing the legend.

Blackbird: Yeah, when the truth becomes legend, print is a legend, that was it basically and what he was saying and I think what John Ford was trying to say is that what you're printing is true of these people and it’s true of the West, it’s not particularly true of this particular incident involving these particular men at this particular moment, but it’s a bigger healthier truth than getting down to who fired what.

Gunfighter Wes Flowers: Oh.

Alamo Fast Draw: Were you saying something (to Wes)

Blackbird: Was I saying something?

Alamo Fast Draw: No, I thought Wes was saying something?

Gunfighter Wes Flowers: No, I was just listening to Blackbird.

Blackbird: Yeah. Well, I thought it was a beautiful picture throughout. The Ford spent a lot of money to put into it, but he had a lot of friends and he had a lot of people who respected him. It was his second picture with Jimmy Stuart, and he put Stewart through a lot. Some of the stories about how he treated Jimmy Stewart were kind of funny.

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