Hollywood Voodoo or True Blue?

[Kentucky Colonel]

The Game: 
Old movie situations with shooting themes will be offered. 

You must make the call... Is it Hollywood Voodoo BS? 
Or, the True Blue truth?

There is a (mostly) right and (mostly) wrong answer. 
Sometimes the right answer will become clear due to 
the responses.

The winner may not be just the 'correct' answer. 

A really clever answer may win the prize. So, the first 
answer has priority, but if you make the judges laugh? 
You just may win the quiz, anyway. When it stops being 
fun, the games will end.

Three 'wins' will earn you a T-Shirt. :king:

Please, stand by for the first question.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

The 1941 black and white movie, Sgt. York, stars Gary Cooper. 

Alvin York is a Tennessee hillbilly-gone-wrong-sharpshooter turned pacifist 
who is caught up in the draft and sent to war against the Germans. 

His shooting skill is so great that he wins a turkey shoot, becomes an Army 
shooting instructor, and enables him to single handedly pick off Germans until 
he killed 20 and forced an additional 132 others to surrender to him. The real 
Sgt. York won the Congressional Medal of Honor.

In the movie, Alvin York famously stops at key moments to wet his sights. 
He licks his thumb and touches the front sight on his rifle. When asked why, 
he claims that it helps him shoot better by 'cutting down the glare.'

Does this work? Is it Hollywood Voodoo or is it True Blue? :?:

Gary Cooper as Sgt. York

 

[Muley Hunter]

Superstition to the max. Hollywood picked up on it.

Wetting the front sight wouldn't stop glare. It would make it worse. Smoking it black would be better.

When the smoked sight wasn't working as in low light. They would lick their finger to remove the smoke from the sight. So, it that situation it's true.

 

[exMember]

hollywood voodoo.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Dang, Pete. Way to nail it all down. You win the first round.:king:
I'll put a little more spin on the next one.

The 1959 movie, Rio Bravo, stars John Wayne, Dean Martin, and Angie Dickinson. I love this movie, but it is a little silly.
 
John T. Chance is a Texas Sheriff who fights bad guys in the town of Rio Bravo with his best friend, Dude. (Hey! It’s a Western. What did you think would happen?) Dude is played by Dean Martin. (Yes. There is singing.) Angie Dickinson plays a very sultry love interest named Feathers who always seems to be present in the Saloon for no declared purpose.
 
In the movie, Sheriff Chance randomly discovers dynamite near the site of the final gun battle. He tells his men to throw the dynamite toward the bad guys so he can shoot it. He hits the dynamite in mid-flight! The impact of his bullets turns the dynamite sticks into improvised hand grenades.
 
Does this work? Is it Hollywood Voodoo or is it True Blue?

Walter Brennan as Stumpy throws dynamite for Sheriff Chance

 

[Muley Hunter]

Watched that movie 3 times.

My answer is it depends how old the dynamite is. I had looked this up years ago, because me and my buddy found a stick of it once, and wanted to blow it up. Ours was old, and did blow up. A bigger boom than we expected. New dynamite probably won't. The nitroglcerin hasn't weeped out of it yet.

Without that experience. I would have had no clue.

 

[Standing Bear]

It HAD to work pretty quick.  Walter Brennan was running out of arm.

 

[patocazador]

"I love this movie, but it is a little silly."


A LITTLE silly? Isn't that the one with Ricky Nelson standing around doing nothing?

Except for The Shootist, the later John Wayne westerns were pretty darned corny. McLintock is so bad that I can't watch it anymore.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

It HAD to work pretty quick.  Walter Brennan was running out of arm.

Ha! You are not wrong! Watch the movie. Stumpy gets AIR on his throws!:cheers:

YES! Ricky Nelson wanders around as Colorado and pitches in with Dean Martin for a 
nice song in the middle of all the brouhaha.

Yes, those old John Wayne movies are often silly. But, I grew up on them and 
love 'em still the same. If McClintock interested you, watch The Quiet Man. 
It is the MUCH better version of the same kind of story set in Ireland. Since we just lost 
Maureen O'Hara, it would be a nice way to remember her. 

I am gonna hold for more answers on this one. It is a little tricky and some folks 
may not have seen the question. Plus, I need time to write the next one. :tongue:

 

[patocazador]

I'm so old that I saw these movies in a theater when they were released. The Quiet Man IS good. McLintock sucks as does War Wagon, but the absolute worst ones are a tie, Hatari and Donovan's Reef. The best are The Shootist, The Searchers, The Quiet Man, Hondo, and Stagecoach.

 

[Muley Hunter]

You mean I was wrong? It can't be. I tested it.

More details would be the nitroglycerin seeps from it, and that is ignited by the impact. A bullet is definitely impact. So, it has to be older for the seepage to happen. New dynamite probably wouldn't ignite.

That's how it was explained to me when I wanted to know a couple of decades ago.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

I'm so old that I saw these movies in a theater when they were released. The Quiet Man IS good. McLintock sucks as does War Wagon, but the absolute worst ones are a tie, Hatari and Donovan's Reef.

Hatari is SO bad I actually love it! 

Pete, I confess, you threw me for a loop. I know the answer because of direct experience. 
Give me a moment and I will explain.

The 'most correct' answer is that this is Hollywood Voodoo. The full answer will take a bit longer than normal 
since Pete surprised me by bringing up the age of the dynamite.

I have traveled quite a bit.
 
I have been at the bottom of a tin mine in Potosi where I gave a stick of dynamite, cigarettes, coca leaves, and a large bottle of local liquor called Singani to a miner I later learned was already drunk. These are traditional gifts to bring to the mine because the deepest point held the shrines I had come to see. One was to the earth goddess, Pachamama, who was the mountain. But, once underground, we were said to have entered the underworld, ruled by Tio (Uncle). The gifts served to support the poor miners (the dynamite) and appease Tio as we trespassed in his realm. Potosi is in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia.

I took this picture at the mouth of the mine in Bolivia
 
This mine was the most dangerous place I have ever seen. I got separated underground in a low, treacherous, narrow, death-fall ridden tunnel supported by rotting timbers. My helmet light had gone out. Pitch black. Fortunately, I did not panic. I was found by my new-found miner friend. He spoke no Spanish or English; only Quechua. Quechua is one of the many ‘official’ languages of Bolivia. He grinned at me through cracked teeth when he saw me and took a looong pull at the Singani. I realized this had not been his first drink of the day. He stoperd the bottle and BROKE the stick of dynamite I had given him in half. Dynamite is quite safe unless combined with a blasting cap. I had also, separately, given him a blasting cap. He jammed this into the half-stick and set the charge in a cleft in the wall. I was a foot and a half away. I was happy to see the shines. I was much happier to see daylight again.

I know my dynamite was fresh. I know it was safe from any impact. A bullet could hit that stuff and not blow. I know the blasting cap was more dangerous. But, I do not know two things... 

I. Does dynamite become unstable with age? It could be. I have heard of this, but only in old movies. 
II. It MAY be that earlier dynamite manufacturing created a less stable final product than today that became unstable as it aged. So, age is not a problem anymore. I just do not know.

In any case, Pete gets the win! :king::king:

And, if anyone KNOWS for certain? I would be very curious to know about old dynamite!:bom:

 

[Muley Hunter]

Here's your answer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADhBAeWU1jg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUpTcn_iPus

 

[exMember]

i'd rather not play with it in the first place LOL.

 

[Muley Hunter]

True.

We found it in an old mine when I was living in Big Bear Ca. Tons of mines there.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Interesting, but inconclusive. It does not tell us anything about the state/age, or preparation of the dynamite. :cry:

They do refer to a 'fuse.' So, it was primed in some fashion. :cherry:

I know I witnessed dynamite handled, broken in two, and banged around- hard- and was told by the experts that what we were handling was impossible to detonate via ANY impact... Unless! You added a detonator. Then a .22 could VERY EASILY make it go BOOM! :shock:

I took GREAT care to keep the blasting cap detonator separate from the dynamite. 

However, I would not care to risk my life over it. So, maybe we just leave it at... 'Don't 
try this at home!"

And, I am glad you told me how you got your mitts on an old stick of dynamite! I was wondering!

 

[patocazador]

I have one question: What kind of fool would go into a South American mine? :scratch:  Maybe they should have called you to go down in that tube in Chile to bring those guys out.  :say whhhhhat:

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

I have one question: What kind of fool would go into a South American mine? :scratch:  Maybe they should have called you to go down in that tube in Chile to bring those guys out.  :say whhhhhat:

Me, apparently. It sounded like a good idea at the time. I was there as a Fulbright Scholar and invited to go for the cultural value of a visit to those shrines at the bottom of the mine. As there were fliers that announced tourist tours there, I thought it would be safe and secure. NOT SAFE AT ALL. I do not recommend it.

I am a big fella. I do not fit well in enclosed spaces.

 

[exMember]

It was bad enough when my nephew and I went into an OLD abandoned mine. It was pretty awesome but after seeing the cave in at the end, it kind of started to freak you out.

 

[RonRC]

Colorado School of Mines, the engineering university, has an explosives club that also serves to instruct in safety and use of explosives. And, the club is housed in the....you guessed it...the Mining Engineering Department.
What we learned there was:


Nobel's original recipe for dynamite was nitroglycerin, diatomaceous earth, and sodium carbonate. The diatomaceous earth was used to stabilize the nitroglycerin which, by itself was unstable. The more modern dynamite uses nitrocellulose as a stabilizer instead of diatomaceous earth.

Almost all explosives are shock sensitive to a degree. A rifle shot on Nobel’s original dynamite composition might very well set it off. Some of the newer, more modern formulations that are less sensitive to shock (made to be safer to handle) might go off with a rifle shot under just the right circumstances. It simply wouldn’t be a reliable way of detonating it.

Now, pure liquid nitroglycerine can be set off by letting just a drop of it to fall 10 or more feet.
The dramatic shooting of the dynamite in the movie might work, but I wouldn’t count on it.

As for going into mines: I took 14 Colorado School of Mines students into what was the deepest mine in the world back in 2004. We went down to 11,400 ft below the surface in one of the Western Deeps mines just west of Johannesburg, South Africa. Since we had to go more than 2 miles down, the cage (lift, elevator) moved at 30-35 mph!

Anyone want to guess the temperature down at 11,400 ft?

I would go 12,000 ft below the surface in a gold mine in South Africa before I would go 700 ft into a coal mine in China!
Ron