I gotta tell ya, I liked this Aussie Western a lot. I felt it was WAY underrated and unappreciated. Still viewable onPrime Video: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0IZIRW4XB02AVY1QC6FOVJM2L6/ref=atv_dl_rdr?tag=imdbtag_tt_wbr_pvs_piv_ca-20.
I don’t normally promote like this. But I feel this is a worthy project.
Whiskey in the Jar / Krisenka Finley A nice country interpretation.
These are the last of guns I’m going to profile from The Legend of Ben Hall.
There are others, but this particular firearm called the
Tranter Revolving Rifle
This seems to be a very rare gun. In fact, it was hard to find any images of it.
Because is uses a cylinder it looks like a pistol with long barrel and a stock.
Almost a buntline.
In the film we see John Gilbert (Jamie Coffa) mainly using it and, indeed,
when Gilbert was killed it’s said he had one on him.
It’s also claimed that this weapon – or a version of it – was used in the American Civil War.
though I don’t recall ever seeing depicted in any Civil War films?
Callisher and Terry .53 caliber breech loading Percussion Carbine
53 calibre??! Goodness. Look at the bore on that thing!
That’s it for the guns. It’s interesting to me. Hope you enjoyed it
Whisky in the Jar / The Brothers Four Many versions of the great folk song.
This one is good.
Guns
Westerns have guns. Lotsa guns.
In fact, along with horses, it’s questionable whether it’s really a Western
if it doesn’t have guns in it. Or even worth watching.
Yet I don’t often profile Guns in the Westerns anymore. I stopped.
Not for Political, Social or Spiritual reasons. But because most Westerns use the same guns.
Over and over.
It just became redundant. Ben Hall, however, has a few new (old) Guns that I’ve never seen before.
Let’s check ’em out.
Firstly, you might be wondering why Ben and his friends are bristling with a rather large number of firearms.
There was a good reason.
This was the Cap and Ball era. Pre-cartridge.
Re-loading was a timely exercise – very impractical during a fight.
Solution: carry lots of guns.
I’ll cover Cap and Ball loading and Bullet Making in my next post.
Below: One of Ben’s revolvers: 1856 Tranter .38 caliber, double trigger, five shot, percussion revolver. A revolver of this make was found with Ben Hall at the Billabong where he was killed.
Here’s it’s Cap and Ball Gun Kit.
1856 Tranter .38 caliber, double trigger, five shot, percussion revolver gun kit. Unlikely Ben toted a kit around – but he definitely had all these tools.
May I now confess that I am no gun expert?
I cannot identify everything in this kit.
Though I was in the Calgary Highlanders Militia
and did a lot of shooting when I was kid, I don’t even own a gun now – of any kind.
And haven’t shot one in a long – except in computer games (Where I’m an expert).
Those of you out there who can ID the items in the kit please step forward.
There’s no reward, but I’ll be grateful.
Proper cleaning and maintenance of your guns was essential.
Otherwise jamming, misfires, fouling and other evils could occur.
Another of Ben’s revolvers:
Most of the gun images are from:
Ben Hall Gallery
https://www.benhallaustralianbushranger.com/p/placesmaps.html
Every year a fistful of new Westerns try to sneak past me. Some succeed. Some are so bad they outta gallop past me at high speed. Yet there’s others that don’t get a fair hanging. And to Western Fans – like me – I figure they’re worth a watch.
The problem is not that we aren’t in the Golden Age of Westerns anymore – there’s still plenty of talent and good tales to be told. And will be. It’s other things. Mainly Money. Even though Westerns are usually fairly inexpensive to make (as Movie go) they still need to bring in some decent loot. It’s business. Art – as I’ve said – is not at the top of the list. Also, most movies these days are pre-screened (likely to audiences that are not Western fans) And if they figure the movie is not going to make good money (even if a good Movie/Western) they won’t distribute it to the theatres. It will then likely go directly to Video/DVD – or some other place like Netflix (if we’re lucky). But in a lot of instances they can become almost invisible right away – hard to find – and hard to get – even if you do know about them. Whether they deserve such treatment or not (in some instances they do). But in other instances we might well be missing a decent Western that you could rightly enjoy. Because like you, I often don’t agree with the Critics – or the general masses.
Six New Westerns
Which brings to what I’ve been leading up to: Six new Westerns that I’ve discovered which are upcoming or relatively new – that you probably don’t know about. So I’m gonna preview each one individually in next few days.
Here they are:
Yep you’re reading it right:
Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Should be interesting.
This looks pretty good.
We’ll have to see …
Of the Horror Western genre.
Not my thing, but doesn’t appear to take itself too seriously.
That’s it for the guns. It’s interesting to me.
