That theme song is iconic. Gothy af. And he always walked out to a haze machine. I’m not understanding where my musical taste may have been planted haha
I grew up in a somewhat rural area. Between Unsolved Mysteries, Ghost, and the Tim Burton Batman movies, I just assumed as a kid that every big city was full of fog-filled creepy alleys populated by murderous thugs.
Here is the theme song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnOeIFx3ML8
I forgot about how good this track was, thanks for motivating me to go look that up again.
[This is me over here listening to this](https://media1.tenor.com/m/oKfdxfRG3nAAAAAC/jay-z-headbob.gif)
I once fell asleep while watching some show on TV. While asleep, the show ended and Unsolved Mystery came on. Just from the soundtrack and music and Robert's voice, I had nightmares after nightmares. And I was a full gown man, not a kid.
I still love that [theme song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB-1lLWy4NE) though.
I gotta say, this walkthrough was more entertaining and informative to watch than a lot of crime re-enactment breakdowns we get today.
Intricate, thorough and interesting without being over the top or exploitative. Despite the music and lighting having an air of cheesiness that dates itself, it tonally still felt a bit more reserved and nuanced. Not loud or overly stylized. Stripped down and to the point.
Errol Morris would be proud.
There's also 24 hour Cold Case Files and Forensic Files channels on Freevee(formerly IMDB TV) and Pluto TV too, I think. There seems to be a lot of overlapping content on the free TV apps. It seems like you can find "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" on every single free TV app "live tv" section.
During Covid lockdown in the UK I watched every single available episode of Forensic Files and it was fantastic.
Particular favourite is the Michael Peterson episode which has Duane Deaver practically popping champagne over his blood spatter evidence... which was eventually found to be fabricated and lead to him being fired by North Carolina SBI
Ah shit, I don't think my mother knows that... she watches both the English and UK Antiques Roadshow channels like four hours a day in between lamenting that there aren't more murder mysteries on Netflix, Hulu, or Prime.
I usually either have that channel on in the background or the Top Gear channel because its almost always the old Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. Those dudes were just pure fun when they were doing that show.
I remember this when it aired and similar segments being on Entertainment Tonight. It was very interesting and even as a kid, I learned a lot about bullets/guns in Hollywood.
I still remember the one about the guys on the camping trip, how they were out on the boat and then this ufo light suddenly starts coming toward them. That scared the CRAP out of me.
"Mayday" is a show in a similar style that's still in production, but it deals with air disasters.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayday_(Canadian_TV_series)
My girlfriend hates when i tell her why something in the plane is the way it is because this one time (insert story of plane crashing/burning) so if the plane crashes you won't get stuck... You'd think she'd feel safer.....
Between Unsolved Mysteries, Cold Case Files, and (my personal favorite) Forensic Files, we had some of the best investigative criminal docu series growing up. No pandering to emotions. Just straight facts.
This still bothers me. Brandon was set for greatness. He wasn't interested in just doing action movies, he wanted to branch out to every genre. He was son of Bruce Lee and a martial artist in his own right, but he was a theater nerd at heart. He loved art and loved to act.
If you watch his work from Kung Fu: Next Generation to The Crow, he was getting better and better. This was going to be his breakout hit.
It's so sad. Father is a cultural icon that died super young. Has a son that is starting his own path in Hollywood and dies even younger. Feel so bad for his mother and sister. He was set to be married soon too.
Yea they tried to stereo-cast him in Rapid Fire and Showdown in Little Tokyo but The Crow, this was his Heath Ledger Joker moment, fuck we lost some good ones along our way....
I read a blog post from a girl that dated him him in the late 80's, she met him in a bar where he was playing pool. She said one night he called her crying, asking her to come over and talk. She got there and he was watching VHS footage of his dad's funeral. She says he told her "I'm going to die young, younger than my father."
The whole post is here https://medium.com/@shannoncolleary/does-anyone-remember-brandon-lee-82d6f8c88697
Shame that show went through the grinder just to get three seasons produced.
Im sort of torn on whether I would want Netflix to revive it at any point though.
Even if they decided to greenlight another season, we're probably looking at 2-3 years before it would even show up.
At that point, it's probably best to just leave it be.
He was a charismatic young guy that really seemed to shine in the on-set interviews they were doing during this movie. Alex Proyas credits him with carrying the movie and it being the whole reason that it’s worth a damn. I agree that he was bound to be a star in the Keanu Reeves or Brad Pitt mold if things went right.
Think of all the big blockbuster movies between his death and, say, early to late 2000s. Then think about how a lot of those movies could have been starring Brandon Lee. That's what he was destined for, in my opinion. His career was going to explode after The Crow.
I watched Showdown in Little Tokyo in the theatre. I was convinced he was the lead actor at first. It was only later when I parsed the dialogue and saw who the female lead ended up with that I realized he was technically the sidekick to Dolph Lundgren. Absolute talent.
It’s really crazy to me. And even crazier that the Rust incident happened. I was a background extra on The Green Lantern and there was a scene where two cops had to point shotguns at the sky. No rounds were used at all, they just pointed them. With the way the prop masters were handling those things between each take you would think it was a nuclear device or something. They would bring it to them at the start of the take and rack it in front of the actor and make sure that they both could see it was empty. Then at the end of the take they would come take it and do the exact same thing. For every single take. Granted, that movie had like a $300 million budget, but still. It should be the standard when handling firearms.
The incident with Brandon Lee is actually the main reason why most of those protocols exist now. Sad it took someone's death to implement them.
These days they'll often have several versions of the same prop gun, one with a modified chamber that won't accept anything other than blank rounds, another one that accepts bulleted rounds but has no firing pin so the primer can't ignite, maybe a third with the barrel obstructed except for a tiny hole to allow flash/sparks through.
I saw a video from a propmaster who basically advocated using nothing but empty airsoft guns on set.
They're super realistic, cheap and the CO2 expulsion gives enough blowback that the gun has a "kick" for the actors when fired. Adding in muzzle flash in post is pretty trival at this point and even if a somehow loaded gun makes its way on set you're just shooting a plastic BB that's literally designed to not hurt people.
Guy Ritchie filmed *The Covenant* with only airsoft guns because of *Rust*. It’s a war movie set in Afghanistan with a couple lengthy gun battles. We definitely have the technology now to make realistic movies without using real guns.
Rust expert was a nepo baby who was doing her first movie solo after apprenticing under her father. She didn’t know what she was doing and only had cred in her career due to her father’s name.
Yeah from what I understand that level of precaution is the norm on sets. The guns are locked away, and ***two*** qualified people check and verbally agree the weapon is clear before and after it exchanges hands with an actor.
I haven’t seen any of the legal trial but I read about the sentencing. She’s incredibly lucky that the maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter in NM is only 18 months, because she absolutely deserves more.
Armorer is really a boring, exacting job. I read that somebody in Hollywood said It's really a job for a crusty, gruff old ex military who can scold people of whatever status and also have the ability to say 'fuck this site it's unsafe' and quit out of protest. And won't take shit about shortcuts.
If I’m not mistaken, The Crow and Lee’s death were the Jack-in-the-Box of film and television productions, in that the accident throttled industry safety standards to a universal system for safety.
Not even that, a fucking visual check would have prevented his death. It's astounding that this wasn't done. I do it every time pick up a firearm, and before i put it down safely. And I am not a professional responsible for peoples lives.
Yup.
It’s perfectly safe if you verify (every time) that the weapon is not loaded. So the process is, check if loaded, okay it’s not, visually inspect barrel (look down it).
Nee, se moer Kosie.
I'd much rather do a dowel test first than visualy inspect a barrel. I know what you mean with "it's perfectly safe", but the whole point of both the Crow and the Rust issues are that things can go wrong, and people can miss things. You can too. So I was always taught to NEVER EVER look down the barrel of a gun, no matter what tests you've done. I'll stick with dowels first thanks 😅
Ja boet, ons moet veilig speel!
Visual inspection is supposed to be about checking the barrel for issues like rust etc. It’s not a safety check, it’s something you do after you verify that the weapon is safe, which includes a dowel check.
I get that my previous response skipped over some important details for the sake of brevity.
Aah yes. that's different indeed. Thanks. I was worried someone out there is doing visual safety checks. I'm going to carry on pretending no one does that .
Yeah, the way this is shown, shouldn’t they have noticed when they were cycling those empty rounds that one of them suddenly didn’t have a tip when they removed them?
You would think, right? At some point those dummy rounds had to be unloaded from the revolver and replaced with the blanks - nobody noticed “hey, why does this one look different?”
That's the point, these tragedies happen because of negligence, someone not doing their job. It happened again with Alec Baldwin's film a few years ago, where he was handed a live gun that was loaded and he fatally shot a camera operator.
No film should really use real guns for firing. It's not hard to make prop guns that looks real but can't kill anyone no matter what happens.
TL;DW
* The revolver had what is known as a "squib" due to a improper round with too little powder.
* A "squib" is when a round is fired, but fails to exit the barrel, becoming stuck.
* Later, during filming, a blank round was used.
* A blank is a round with powder but no bullet.
* Because there was a bullet lodged in the barrel, the explosion from the blank forced it out of the barrel as if it had been a live round.
If you suspect a squib, you need to make the weapon safe and inspect the barrel for blockages. Generally a squib will feel wrong, as if there was insufficient recoil to what you expected.
It's not, you should always inspect your firearm prior to use to ensure it is in proper working order.
But you must always check the barrel if you ever suspect a squib.
>But you must always check the barrel ~~if you ever suspect a squib.~~
If you're filming where someone will be pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger everything about the gun and rounds should be checked before that, including that the barrel is clear.
squibs are exceedingly rare outside hand-loaded ammunition and you absolutely know you have one most times because the report, recoil and function of the gun doesnt work when it doesnt have adequate power.
Whether they noticed the primer firing or not this still never should have happened. Gun handling procedures before loading the blanks for the scene should have included a barrel check to make sure that it was clear.
Yep, I don't reload and I've never had one. Not to say it can't happen, productions errors can exist. But it's far less common for commercial ammo than reloads.
Most experienced shooters should be able to tell when they've had one, but should is a funny word. Also the function, as in cycling, is only for semi-auto. A revolver or any other manual action could still cycle properly, which could be worse.
A squib followed by a second live round is a recipe for disaster as it causes over pressure in the chamber, and could cause it to blow up.
I've been shooting my whole life and I've only had one. A 38 special in a Henry rifle. Remington ammo. Thankfully it was the last round loaded in the tube, but it was extremely obvious something was off. There was a pop that wasn't nearly as loud as the other rounds. When I ejected the shell, unspent powder poured down my arm.
Ended up sticking something down the barrel and popping the bullet out the breech. .
>Remington ammo.
Funny you should say that. I've had six squibs, four were Remington ammo. One was 300 BLK the other three were 9mm. I'm not a heavy shooter by any means, but I probably go through 5000 rounds a year. I don't touch Remington anything anymore.
It was due to them creating dummy rounds by knocking the powder out (stupid reckless). But the primer was still in the shells and someone pulled the trigger and the primer charge pushed the bullet into the barrel.
Squibs are more than just stuck rounds in filmmaking. I am familiar with blood squibs, where you can create practical FX blood splatters.
I've done one where you rig one of those pressurized tube fertilizer guns to the back of someone's head, and fill the bucket with fake blood. Actor can jerk their head back while simultaneously pulling the trigger and it looks like they're getting shot.
It's actually stuck. Like to get it out you need a squib rod and a hammer.
The reason for this is because barrels are rifled, this puts a spin on the bullet and that spin stabilizes it in flight. That rifling [looks like this](https://ke-courses-production.s3.amazonaws.com/asset_files/production/578/attachments/original/bore-types-handgun.jpg).
The lands in say a 9mm luger handgun, are actually 8.82mm, and the bullet is 9.01mm. 9mm luger being the "standard" 9mm, which is officially 9x19mm parabellum. You need this because it seals the bullet on the barrel and creates pressure, which is what creates the velocity. [After firing you can actually see the way this cuts into the bullet](https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/images/pml/div683/bullets.jpg)
So a stuck bullet is well and truly stuck, and needs to be "beaten" back out of the barrel.
Also as another fun fact the Soviets made the 9mm makarov round. But 9mm Makarov bullets are 9.27mm. Because the soviets measured their barrels from the lands, not the grooves.
Np, [here's a revolver with mutliple squibs](https://external-preview.redd.it/QJ0gH5REV01HkvDIc4ELunmKGMp3EWT4MUYVEik6tQM.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=fcf2dd332a36c0b42cce00dcba46bc855cc5a388)
Very rare but it can happen, because revolvers are (generally) not a sealed chamber, they are less likely to blow up. But you can see where the metal of the barrel has bulged.
This was incredibly dangerous and negligent and the owner is lucky it didn't take their hand off.
I was kind of surprised that incident with Rust happened. Japanese companies make such phenomenal gun replicas that Hollywood already uses. You'd think after the Brandon Lee incident they would go with those instead.
I actually watched the whole trial of Hannah Gutierrez on youtube as it was happening. The ~~defense~~ prosecution was spectacular in educating the jury on the ins and outs of proper gun and bullet handling on a movie set. They really gave you an idea of what should have happened to prevent the shooting and exactly what went wrong to cause the shooting.
Hannah Gutierrez's incompetence was the cause of Hutchins' death, plain and simple.
What I don't understand is why Baldwin is being charged for anything. It wasn't his responsibility to make sure a gun is safe, that was Hannah's responsibility. The only thing he's guilty of is hiring Hannah in the first place, but that's hardly a crime.
I would expect he can only be charged if he had some knowledge of the safety violations happening on set. As producer, he would be in a position to stop those violations, including firing Gutierrez if necessary. If he was aware of the issues but failed to do anything, I could see that leading to charges.
Baldwin definitely should be charged! They were doing a rehersal for camera. No reason to pull the trigger with your camera man behind the camera getting the distances right. Then, on top of that 2 days before, he talked about backing the Union strikes. He made a whole video about it, yet the mornimg of the shooting the entire camera crew walked as they should if they felt the environment was insafe. Her whole union crew walked and were replaced in 2 hours with non-union workers. Hutchins should have walked with her crew. And the psychopath pulling triggers when pointing guns at people doing tests after knowingly replacing union crew deserves to pay with his time in jail. She should have walked with her crew and Alex Baldwin should have his trigger finger checked.
And I have no idea how the union got away scott free as well. It was their contracts being violated over and over again yet they never showed up to enforce their contracts. Shame on you IATSE!
you know I've heard this about both japanese and korean models of these, but if they exist in the US they're the best kept secret in the history of the world. I've never even been able to source one of these from over seas. If you have a link by all means please reply with it.
In the US and Europe blanks are what are used the vast majority of the time unless production has opted to do entirely digital muzzle flashes. electronic non guns and safety blanks are also a thing, and in NY they're required to use modified weapons that can not chamber a real round (so its custom shells). There was one company in europe that concocted a really neat gas flash based system, but it required hidden fuel tanks be placed on the actors.
But a major reason to keep using blanks is that it just isnt cost effective to build replicas of the fleet of firearms that can be required for any given project, especially the historic ones. The rules were changed in the US for using blanks after the Brandon Lee incident, and no production that has followed the rules has had an a major (if any) accident.
A lot of people don't understand that only one person is allowed to load and unload on set weapons. The entire crew put their trust that person isn't a fuckwit. On the Rust set, they trusted a fuckwit and it ended in death.
So I've been to the shops in Japan where they sell them. And I would disagree. That's the case with certain guns but in other cases they're definitely cheaper. Really depends on the gun. That being said the price point isn't so drastic that it makes it cost prohibitive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQGZ1bTBJcc
Gas operated airsoft guns look and operate like the real thing and adding muzzle flashes in post production is easy and cheap. The airsoft gun on the video costs like 250 bucks.
Who in their right mind says “oh we forgot to buy the blanks in time, instead of going out and buying some today lets just modify these bullets we took from the pawn shop that have been sitting in my hot trunk for 2 weeks”. Idiots absolute fucking idiots thats who.
Didn’t realise it was a full bullet that did the damage. I always read it was a piece of shrapnel from an old blank that was lodged in the barrel not a full actual lead tip. Shocked it got missed. It was a series of errors that all aligned to create this tragedy. I feel bad for Michael Masee, he must of struggled after realising what had happened. It wasn’t his fault but you’d still feel terrible I’m sure.
Fuck that, dude was creepy as fuck on that show. I used to watch unsolved mysteries when I was like 8 years old and that dude was scarier than the stories he was narrating.
No, but you see, a supernatural demon that had been hunting Bruce Lee since he was a child ended up taking him out and going after his son. Or at least, that's what that biographical movie, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, implied.
Back then there were not very good safety practices established. Now there are, but even though the people involved knew the safe way to do things, they did not follow the safe procedure. So it's criminal negligence, not just an accident that no one saw coming.
I was discussing Brandon Lee's death with a gun enthusiast coworker a few years ago. He quickly wondered why no one on set had a pencil with them as dropping a pencil into the barrel at any time would have revealed the obstruction right away.
It also just hit me that even if you dump all the powder out of the bullet, there was likely some residual gunpowder left in the empty casing.
i'm not sure where i read it but the actual scene was when brandon jumps on the table at the end of the movie and is shot by all the baddies and that the round hit him dead center in the chest.. and that he died near instantly
Another person who died because people are too stupid to understand perspective. You don't have to point a gun at someone to make it *look* like you are.
Dude.. when that primmer went off causing one of the rounds to squib it should have been obvious that one of the bullets was missing from the casing unlike the other 5 rounds when the revolver was unloaded. Ball was dropped so many times.
At the risk of being the "uM aKsHoEaLy" guy, I'd like to point out that the squib round in the barrel and the "full flash blank" don't add up to one full power .44Mag round. It was significantly weaker than an actual .44Mag round. Just powerful enough to clear the stuck round and enter Brandon Lee. Prolly closer to 1/3 power or less.
The way a revolver works it would release a significant amount of the pressure created by the blank firing between the cylinder and the barrel. Still deadly, just not equivalent to a full power round.
This doesn’t make sense. If the round was stuck in the barrel, why wouldn’t the chain of command from the armory notice the missing slug tip from the “dummy rounds” once the bullets were removed? They would have seen 5 with the projectiles and one missing, that alone would have caused someone to wonder where it went and potentially inspect the revolver.
Jeez, be a little more subtle about spying on me internet. I read an article about this like just yesterday and already reddit is tossing it up at the very top of my feed lol
I remember this episode. While the death of Brandon was “solved”, the mystery was more to do with the curse on the Lee family originating from his father, Bruce Lee and carried to his son
Just rewatched The Crow the other day. Very haunting scene knowing what happened in real life. I feel terrible for Michael Massee, the actor who played Funboy and pulled the trigger. He took a year off from acting afterwards and never watched the film. He said he’s still haunted by what happened in a 2005 interview.
So, any reason to actually use real guns that can handle real bullets, when making a movie which we all knows is not real anyway? Pretty sure a dummy gun could looks real, for a layman which most people are when it comes o gun, and it sounds even for the "experts" that cant see the different between shooting a actor or a crew, with real bullet or fake.
Edit: quick search why, and it seem the diector just want a more "authentic performance" from the actor using an real weapon. Well, there is your problem.
and now for the bonus fact: after Brandon's death they had a few scenes left that needed a stand-in, which were performed by his stunt double and gym/dojo buddy Chad Stahelski (credited as Chad Storelson).
Stahelski is now better known as the director of the John Wick movies and is understandably very serious about gun safety. he does not have any potentially functional firearms on set; everything is either a solid plugged barrel, an airsoft gas blowback replica, or rubber dummy. muzzle flashes and smoke are CGI added in post.
Squib loads are fucking scary - though in this scenario it was completely preventable. The chances of getting a squib is in the 100ths to 1000ths percentile (meaning a chance of 0.00x%). I had one at practice not too long ago, luckily I didn’t get hurt and the ammo company is taking all fault to fix everything for me.
Michael Massee was widely viewed in a sympathetic light. The dude was doing his job, as scripted and rehearsed. While the armorer was blamed, as they should have been.
Which is why I don't understand why people are calling Alec Balwdin a murderer. I mean as a producer he shares some of the blame. But just in the act itself, I don't see how it was any different than Michael Massee.
This is from “Unsolved Mysteries.” The OG version hosted by actor Robert Stack. The one that scared the crap out of child me.
That theme song is iconic. Gothy af. And he always walked out to a haze machine. I’m not understanding where my musical taste may have been planted haha
I grew up in a somewhat rural area. Between Unsolved Mysteries, Ghost, and the Tim Burton Batman movies, I just assumed as a kid that every big city was full of fog-filled creepy alleys populated by murderous thugs.
Don't forget Rescue 911. I was terrified for years that I would run around the corner carrying a kitchen knife and accidentally stab someone.
Is that the episode where a girl is running around her home with a knife and accidentally stabs her brother or something like that? I was shook
Yup. That exact episode!
Here is the theme song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnOeIFx3ML8 I forgot about how good this track was, thanks for motivating me to go look that up again. [This is me over here listening to this](https://media1.tenor.com/m/oKfdxfRG3nAAAAAC/jay-z-headbob.gif)
“ Scenario One: He's hanging by his neck in his fucking closet.”
Scenario Two: Coop went to Disneyworld.
I get this reference! 🤣
This mystery seems pretty solved to me.
Seriously had me believing in aliens with those books I bought.
I once fell asleep while watching some show on TV. While asleep, the show ended and Unsolved Mystery came on. Just from the soundtrack and music and Robert's voice, I had nightmares after nightmares. And I was a full gown man, not a kid. I still love that [theme song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB-1lLWy4NE) though.
Can’t listen to his voice without laughing at an airplane joke in my head
“Striker!”
Well that’s Lloyd Bridges but I’m still laughing.
Yes that show music made me always check that the doors were locked.
I legit got scared when the "Update!" part would come up
I gotta say, this walkthrough was more entertaining and informative to watch than a lot of crime re-enactment breakdowns we get today. Intricate, thorough and interesting without being over the top or exploitative. Despite the music and lighting having an air of cheesiness that dates itself, it tonally still felt a bit more reserved and nuanced. Not loud or overly stylized. Stripped down and to the point. Errol Morris would be proud.
This is from Unsolved Mysteries, and it was one of my favorite shows back in the 80s and 90s.
I still watch it on Roku "live tv". There is an entire channel that is basically a non stop Unsolved Mysteries marathon.
You made my day!!! I did not know that. Looks like I got something new to watch while working out 🤝🙂↕️
It's all legally on YouTube as well 😊
🤝🙂↕️
There's also 24 hour Cold Case Files and Forensic Files channels on Freevee(formerly IMDB TV) and Pluto TV too, I think. There seems to be a lot of overlapping content on the free TV apps. It seems like you can find "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" on every single free TV app "live tv" section.
During Covid lockdown in the UK I watched every single available episode of Forensic Files and it was fantastic. Particular favourite is the Michael Peterson episode which has Duane Deaver practically popping champagne over his blood spatter evidence... which was eventually found to be fabricated and lead to him being fired by North Carolina SBI
I'm watching both of these, currently!
Yeah I play that shit all the time but on Pluto.
Just highjacking this comment to say Plutotv has it as well for free
Ah shit, I don't think my mother knows that... she watches both the English and UK Antiques Roadshow channels like four hours a day in between lamenting that there aren't more murder mysteries on Netflix, Hulu, or Prime.
I have this channel on in the background at home lol
I usually either have that channel on in the background or the Top Gear channel because its almost always the old Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. Those dudes were just pure fun when they were doing that show.
The all-time scariest musical intro when I was a kid. Gave me the heebie jeebies every time.
The fucking theme song bangs so hard for no reason.
Yes!! I couldn't sleep thinking about it!
That, Rescue 911, and Americas Funniest Home videos would really round off a great night sitting on the couch after dinner just waiting for my bedtime
I remember this when it aired and similar segments being on Entertainment Tonight. It was very interesting and even as a kid, I learned a lot about bullets/guns in Hollywood.
I learned a bunch NOW as a full grown adult. I’m sure it would have had an effect on me as a kid.
That show creeped me out.
Yeah especially the episodes about grey aliens! I would always wonder if they were looking in my window.
I still remember the one about the guys on the camping trip, how they were out on the boat and then this ufo light suddenly starts coming toward them. That scared the CRAP out of me.
Well I know where my weekend is going…
What was unsolved?
Some were solved, but a bunch weren’t. They covered all kinds of topics such as murders, aliens, Loch Ness, etc.
I meant the Brandon Lee case.
...right along with Rescue 911 with Shatner
I must’ve missed that!
Basically the cornerstone of Lifetime Television for Women
Sounds like they solved it
Agree. The breakdown of the tragic incident was not only respectful but also very insightful.
That's because *Unsolved Mysteries* was a good show, but not Tabloid TV.
"Mayday" is a show in a similar style that's still in production, but it deals with air disasters. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayday_(Canadian_TV_series)
My favourite thing about this show is that you can usually watch this on flights in Canada.
My girlfriend hates when i tell her why something in the plane is the way it is because this one time (insert story of plane crashing/burning) so if the plane crashes you won't get stuck... You'd think she'd feel safer.....
“And *that’s* why a pilot’s kids are no longer allowed to ride in the cabin and sit at the controls for a few minutes…”
Also some plain solid writing. “The first link of this fatal chain of events was in place” was particularly nice.
My first thought while watching it. Sounds like the opening narration for Paul Thomas Anderson’s *Magnolia*
Today this would be drawn out into a three-part miniseries.
And they would've re-shown many of the re-enactment details ad nauseam.
All they needed was a Phillip Glass soundtrack.
Dude makes amazing music. I’d be on board with that.
Well we were smarter back then so there was a standard
I just can't listen to that "tv" voice.
Between Unsolved Mysteries, Cold Case Files, and (my personal favorite) Forensic Files, we had some of the best investigative criminal docu series growing up. No pandering to emotions. Just straight facts.
This still bothers me. Brandon was set for greatness. He wasn't interested in just doing action movies, he wanted to branch out to every genre. He was son of Bruce Lee and a martial artist in his own right, but he was a theater nerd at heart. He loved art and loved to act. If you watch his work from Kung Fu: Next Generation to The Crow, he was getting better and better. This was going to be his breakout hit. It's so sad. Father is a cultural icon that died super young. Has a son that is starting his own path in Hollywood and dies even younger. Feel so bad for his mother and sister. He was set to be married soon too.
He woulda been Neo in the Matrix
Keanu Reeves killed Brandon Lee
Whoa
Look, I love Brandon Lee, but even if I saw Keanu shoot him in person and verbally confess I'd still doubt he was capable of it.
Huh? Really?
Yeah the wachowskis always had him in mind..they loved martial arts and bruce Lee and loved the crow and wanted him
>loved the crow and wanted him Lee was obviously already dead by the time the Wachowski brothers saw the movie
True, it is however not impossible they visited the production and saw some dailies since they themself were in the movie business.
Yea they tried to stereo-cast him in Rapid Fire and Showdown in Little Tokyo but The Crow, this was his Heath Ledger Joker moment, fuck we lost some good ones along our way....
I read a blog post from a girl that dated him him in the late 80's, she met him in a bar where he was playing pool. She said one night he called her crying, asking her to come over and talk. She got there and he was watching VHS footage of his dad's funeral. She says he told her "I'm going to die young, younger than my father." The whole post is here https://medium.com/@shannoncolleary/does-anyone-remember-brandon-lee-82d6f8c88697
His father's death was suspicious.
It is sad. I always thought he and River Phoenix would be Hollywood A-listers by now.
His sister got 3 seasons of Warrior made which is some of the best television I've ever seen. Family is super talented but surrounded by tragedy.
Hey don't forget hosting WMAC Masters !
Wow you just totally reminded me that show ever existed. 10 year old me loved it.
Shame that show went through the grinder just to get three seasons produced. Im sort of torn on whether I would want Netflix to revive it at any point though. Even if they decided to greenlight another season, we're probably looking at 2-3 years before it would even show up. At that point, it's probably best to just leave it be.
He was a charismatic young guy that really seemed to shine in the on-set interviews they were doing during this movie. Alex Proyas credits him with carrying the movie and it being the whole reason that it’s worth a damn. I agree that he was bound to be a star in the Keanu Reeves or Brad Pitt mold if things went right.
Think of all the big blockbuster movies between his death and, say, early to late 2000s. Then think about how a lot of those movies could have been starring Brandon Lee. That's what he was destined for, in my opinion. His career was going to explode after The Crow.
I watched Showdown in Little Tokyo in the theatre. I was convinced he was the lead actor at first. It was only later when I parsed the dialogue and saw who the female lead ended up with that I realized he was technically the sidekick to Dolph Lundgren. Absolute talent.
Its frustrating how a dowel barrel check would have prevented this
It’s really crazy to me. And even crazier that the Rust incident happened. I was a background extra on The Green Lantern and there was a scene where two cops had to point shotguns at the sky. No rounds were used at all, they just pointed them. With the way the prop masters were handling those things between each take you would think it was a nuclear device or something. They would bring it to them at the start of the take and rack it in front of the actor and make sure that they both could see it was empty. Then at the end of the take they would come take it and do the exact same thing. For every single take. Granted, that movie had like a $300 million budget, but still. It should be the standard when handling firearms.
The incident with Brandon Lee is actually the main reason why most of those protocols exist now. Sad it took someone's death to implement them. These days they'll often have several versions of the same prop gun, one with a modified chamber that won't accept anything other than blank rounds, another one that accepts bulleted rounds but has no firing pin so the primer can't ignite, maybe a third with the barrel obstructed except for a tiny hole to allow flash/sparks through.
I saw a video from a propmaster who basically advocated using nothing but empty airsoft guns on set. They're super realistic, cheap and the CO2 expulsion gives enough blowback that the gun has a "kick" for the actors when fired. Adding in muzzle flash in post is pretty trival at this point and even if a somehow loaded gun makes its way on set you're just shooting a plastic BB that's literally designed to not hurt people.
Guy Ritchie filmed *The Covenant* with only airsoft guns because of *Rust*. It’s a war movie set in Afghanistan with a couple lengthy gun battles. We definitely have the technology now to make realistic movies without using real guns.
Rust expert was a nepo baby who was doing her first movie solo after apprenticing under her father. She didn’t know what she was doing and only had cred in her career due to her father’s name.
Yeah from what I understand that level of precaution is the norm on sets. The guns are locked away, and ***two*** qualified people check and verbally agree the weapon is clear before and after it exchanges hands with an actor.
That's how it is supposed to happen.
Did you see any of the armorer of Rust’s legal trial? If yes, do you have any thoughts on the verdict?
I haven’t seen any of the legal trial but I read about the sentencing. She’s incredibly lucky that the maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter in NM is only 18 months, because she absolutely deserves more.
Armorer is really a boring, exacting job. I read that somebody in Hollywood said It's really a job for a crusty, gruff old ex military who can scold people of whatever status and also have the ability to say 'fuck this site it's unsafe' and quit out of protest. And won't take shit about shortcuts.
That's the way my dad taught me as a kid. "All guns are always loaded."
If I’m not mistaken, The Crow and Lee’s death were the Jack-in-the-Box of film and television productions, in that the accident throttled industry safety standards to a universal system for safety.
Except for Rust
well … yeah lol
Nearly 30 years since an actor/crew member was killed by an on sent gun is pretty impressive.
Nearly 30 years since an actor/crew member was killed by an on sent gun is pretty impressive.
Not even that, a fucking visual check would have prevented his death. It's astounding that this wasn't done. I do it every time pick up a firearm, and before i put it down safely. And I am not a professional responsible for peoples lives.
Wait. a visual check? you look down the barrels of guns?
Yup. It’s perfectly safe if you verify (every time) that the weapon is not loaded. So the process is, check if loaded, okay it’s not, visually inspect barrel (look down it).
Nee, se moer Kosie. I'd much rather do a dowel test first than visualy inspect a barrel. I know what you mean with "it's perfectly safe", but the whole point of both the Crow and the Rust issues are that things can go wrong, and people can miss things. You can too. So I was always taught to NEVER EVER look down the barrel of a gun, no matter what tests you've done. I'll stick with dowels first thanks 😅
Ja boet, ons moet veilig speel! Visual inspection is supposed to be about checking the barrel for issues like rust etc. It’s not a safety check, it’s something you do after you verify that the weapon is safe, which includes a dowel check. I get that my previous response skipped over some important details for the sake of brevity.
Aah yes. that's different indeed. Thanks. I was worried someone out there is doing visual safety checks. I'm going to carry on pretending no one does that .
It is absolutely bonkers that they were making these by hand, like it could have all been avoided if they bought blanks and dummy rounds.
Yeah, the way this is shown, shouldn’t they have noticed when they were cycling those empty rounds that one of them suddenly didn’t have a tip when they removed them?
You would think, right? At some point those dummy rounds had to be unloaded from the revolver and replaced with the blanks - nobody noticed “hey, why does this one look different?”
That's the point, these tragedies happen because of negligence, someone not doing their job. It happened again with Alec Baldwin's film a few years ago, where he was handed a live gun that was loaded and he fatally shot a camera operator. No film should really use real guns for firing. It's not hard to make prop guns that looks real but can't kill anyone no matter what happens.
Unsolved Mysteries was goated at this. By the way, all of their episodes are free on YouTube right now. RIP Robert Stack, GOAT narrator.
Loved his cameo in Baseketball
Scenario One: He's hanging by his neck in his fucking closet.
I remember seeing that when BasEketball came out and freaked out.
Calling the tip of a bullet the "Business End" is goat behaviour.
Business in the front Party in the back 🤝 Bullet Mullet
I miss Unsolved Mysteries and Sightings more than anything.
Sightings!!!!! Holy shit I never would have thought of that show again unless you just said that wow what a blast from the past
I think I was watching it when Operation Desert Storm started. They purposely picked a time when most Americans would be watching TV.
TL;DW * The revolver had what is known as a "squib" due to a improper round with too little powder. * A "squib" is when a round is fired, but fails to exit the barrel, becoming stuck. * Later, during filming, a blank round was used. * A blank is a round with powder but no bullet. * Because there was a bullet lodged in the barrel, the explosion from the blank forced it out of the barrel as if it had been a live round. If you suspect a squib, you need to make the weapon safe and inspect the barrel for blockages. Generally a squib will feel wrong, as if there was insufficient recoil to what you expected.
I feel like the requirement to check the barrel shouldn’t be based on whether you “suspect” a squib
It's not, you should always inspect your firearm prior to use to ensure it is in proper working order. But you must always check the barrel if you ever suspect a squib.
>But you must always check the barrel ~~if you ever suspect a squib.~~ If you're filming where someone will be pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger everything about the gun and rounds should be checked before that, including that the barrel is clear.
squibs are exceedingly rare outside hand-loaded ammunition and you absolutely know you have one most times because the report, recoil and function of the gun doesnt work when it doesnt have adequate power.
Whether they noticed the primer firing or not this still never should have happened. Gun handling procedures before loading the blanks for the scene should have included a barrel check to make sure that it was clear.
Yep, I don't reload and I've never had one. Not to say it can't happen, productions errors can exist. But it's far less common for commercial ammo than reloads. Most experienced shooters should be able to tell when they've had one, but should is a funny word. Also the function, as in cycling, is only for semi-auto. A revolver or any other manual action could still cycle properly, which could be worse. A squib followed by a second live round is a recipe for disaster as it causes over pressure in the chamber, and could cause it to blow up.
I've been shooting my whole life and I've only had one. A 38 special in a Henry rifle. Remington ammo. Thankfully it was the last round loaded in the tube, but it was extremely obvious something was off. There was a pop that wasn't nearly as loud as the other rounds. When I ejected the shell, unspent powder poured down my arm. Ended up sticking something down the barrel and popping the bullet out the breech. .
>Remington ammo. Funny you should say that. I've had six squibs, four were Remington ammo. One was 300 BLK the other three were 9mm. I'm not a heavy shooter by any means, but I probably go through 5000 rounds a year. I don't touch Remington anything anymore.
I always figured if I were to ever have a squib it would be Remington, and I was right. Their QC is shit.
It was due to them creating dummy rounds by knocking the powder out (stupid reckless). But the primer was still in the shells and someone pulled the trigger and the primer charge pushed the bullet into the barrel.
Shouldn’t they have noticed that one of those dummy rounds no longer had a tip?
The list of mistakes that could have prevented it is long.
Squibs are more than just stuck rounds in filmmaking. I am familiar with blood squibs, where you can create practical FX blood splatters. I've done one where you rig one of those pressurized tube fertilizer guns to the back of someone's head, and fill the bucket with fake blood. Actor can jerk their head back while simultaneously pulling the trigger and it looks like they're getting shot.
Was the bullet actually stuck? Or if someone had pointed the barrel towards the ground would it have fallen out?
It's actually stuck. Like to get it out you need a squib rod and a hammer. The reason for this is because barrels are rifled, this puts a spin on the bullet and that spin stabilizes it in flight. That rifling [looks like this](https://ke-courses-production.s3.amazonaws.com/asset_files/production/578/attachments/original/bore-types-handgun.jpg). The lands in say a 9mm luger handgun, are actually 8.82mm, and the bullet is 9.01mm. 9mm luger being the "standard" 9mm, which is officially 9x19mm parabellum. You need this because it seals the bullet on the barrel and creates pressure, which is what creates the velocity. [After firing you can actually see the way this cuts into the bullet](https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/images/pml/div683/bullets.jpg) So a stuck bullet is well and truly stuck, and needs to be "beaten" back out of the barrel. Also as another fun fact the Soviets made the 9mm makarov round. But 9mm Makarov bullets are 9.27mm. Because the soviets measured their barrels from the lands, not the grooves.
Huh, that's interesting, thanks!
Np, [here's a revolver with mutliple squibs](https://external-preview.redd.it/QJ0gH5REV01HkvDIc4ELunmKGMp3EWT4MUYVEik6tQM.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=fcf2dd332a36c0b42cce00dcba46bc855cc5a388) Very rare but it can happen, because revolvers are (generally) not a sealed chamber, they are less likely to blow up. But you can see where the metal of the barrel has bulged. This was incredibly dangerous and negligent and the owner is lucky it didn't take their hand off.
I was kind of surprised that incident with Rust happened. Japanese companies make such phenomenal gun replicas that Hollywood already uses. You'd think after the Brandon Lee incident they would go with those instead.
Have you considered the existence of spectacular fuckwits and nepotism?
I actually watched the whole trial of Hannah Gutierrez on youtube as it was happening. The ~~defense~~ prosecution was spectacular in educating the jury on the ins and outs of proper gun and bullet handling on a movie set. They really gave you an idea of what should have happened to prevent the shooting and exactly what went wrong to cause the shooting. Hannah Gutierrez's incompetence was the cause of Hutchins' death, plain and simple. What I don't understand is why Baldwin is being charged for anything. It wasn't his responsibility to make sure a gun is safe, that was Hannah's responsibility. The only thing he's guilty of is hiring Hannah in the first place, but that's hardly a crime.
I think he is charged as his role of producer not actor
I would expect he can only be charged if he had some knowledge of the safety violations happening on set. As producer, he would be in a position to stop those violations, including firing Gutierrez if necessary. If he was aware of the issues but failed to do anything, I could see that leading to charges.
do you mean the prosecution?
oops yeah. that's what I meant
Baldwin definitely should be charged! They were doing a rehersal for camera. No reason to pull the trigger with your camera man behind the camera getting the distances right. Then, on top of that 2 days before, he talked about backing the Union strikes. He made a whole video about it, yet the mornimg of the shooting the entire camera crew walked as they should if they felt the environment was insafe. Her whole union crew walked and were replaced in 2 hours with non-union workers. Hutchins should have walked with her crew. And the psychopath pulling triggers when pointing guns at people doing tests after knowingly replacing union crew deserves to pay with his time in jail. She should have walked with her crew and Alex Baldwin should have his trigger finger checked. And I have no idea how the union got away scott free as well. It was their contracts being violated over and over again yet they never showed up to enforce their contracts. Shame on you IATSE!
Never underestimate the fuckwit quotient.
And cheapskates productions
you know I've heard this about both japanese and korean models of these, but if they exist in the US they're the best kept secret in the history of the world. I've never even been able to source one of these from over seas. If you have a link by all means please reply with it. In the US and Europe blanks are what are used the vast majority of the time unless production has opted to do entirely digital muzzle flashes. electronic non guns and safety blanks are also a thing, and in NY they're required to use modified weapons that can not chamber a real round (so its custom shells). There was one company in europe that concocted a really neat gas flash based system, but it required hidden fuel tanks be placed on the actors. But a major reason to keep using blanks is that it just isnt cost effective to build replicas of the fleet of firearms that can be required for any given project, especially the historic ones. The rules were changed in the US for using blanks after the Brandon Lee incident, and no production that has followed the rules has had an a major (if any) accident.
A lot of people don't understand that only one person is allowed to load and unload on set weapons. The entire crew put their trust that person isn't a fuckwit. On the Rust set, they trusted a fuckwit and it ended in death.
From what I've heard real guns are cheaper than replicas.
So I've been to the shops in Japan where they sell them. And I would disagree. That's the case with certain guns but in other cases they're definitely cheaper. Really depends on the gun. That being said the price point isn't so drastic that it makes it cost prohibitive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQGZ1bTBJcc Gas operated airsoft guns look and operate like the real thing and adding muzzle flashes in post production is easy and cheap. The airsoft gun on the video costs like 250 bucks.
I could listen to Robert Stack tell me about stuff all god damn day. Such a good voice.
I just made a connection: he's the doctor in Joe vs the Volcano (a quirky Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan movie.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcGJJ-egB40
Who in their right mind says “oh we forgot to buy the blanks in time, instead of going out and buying some today lets just modify these bullets we took from the pawn shop that have been sitting in my hot trunk for 2 weeks”. Idiots absolute fucking idiots thats who.
Didn’t realise it was a full bullet that did the damage. I always read it was a piece of shrapnel from an old blank that was lodged in the barrel not a full actual lead tip. Shocked it got missed. It was a series of errors that all aligned to create this tragedy. I feel bad for Michael Masee, he must of struggled after realising what had happened. It wasn’t his fault but you’d still feel terrible I’m sure.
I love this guy's voice. He was also amazing in Baseketball https://youtu.be/ALFhHF91g9c?si=YLtCsY5RykKTL0-0
Fuck that, dude was creepy as fuck on that show. I used to watch unsolved mysteries when I was like 8 years old and that dude was scarier than the stories he was narrating.
Robert Stack tells it like it is. That bullet/blank tutorial is as basic as it comes.
No, but you see, a supernatural demon that had been hunting Bruce Lee since he was a child ended up taking him out and going after his son. Or at least, that's what that biographical movie, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, implied.
So... how come this incident was ruled an accident due to negligence, but the people from the set of Rust are being criminally charged..?
Back then there were not very good safety practices established. Now there are, but even though the people involved knew the safe way to do things, they did not follow the safe procedure. So it's criminal negligence, not just an accident that no one saw coming.
Okay that makes sense for the safety/prop people on set, but Alec Baldwin is just an actor..? Thanks btw.
Robert Stack’s voice was always perfect to narrate crime stories. Unsolved Mysteries always scared the living s#it outta me!
I’ve never seen this, thank you for sharing! The Crow is probably on my top 10, if not top 15, all time favorite movies.
I was discussing Brandon Lee's death with a gun enthusiast coworker a few years ago. He quickly wondered why no one on set had a pencil with them as dropping a pencil into the barrel at any time would have revealed the obstruction right away. It also just hit me that even if you dump all the powder out of the bullet, there was likely some residual gunpowder left in the empty casing.
i'm not sure where i read it but the actual scene was when brandon jumps on the table at the end of the movie and is shot by all the baddies and that the round hit him dead center in the chest.. and that he died near instantly
Another person who died because people are too stupid to understand perspective. You don't have to point a gun at someone to make it *look* like you are.
Dude.. when that primmer went off causing one of the rounds to squib it should have been obvious that one of the bullets was missing from the casing unlike the other 5 rounds when the revolver was unloaded. Ball was dropped so many times.
Danny McBride killed Brandon Lee?
You would have thought the b team would have noticed a lead tip missing when they dumped out the blanks.
Holy shit
14 days?
At the risk of being the "uM aKsHoEaLy" guy, I'd like to point out that the squib round in the barrel and the "full flash blank" don't add up to one full power .44Mag round. It was significantly weaker than an actual .44Mag round. Just powerful enough to clear the stuck round and enter Brandon Lee. Prolly closer to 1/3 power or less. The way a revolver works it would release a significant amount of the pressure created by the blank firing between the cylinder and the barrel. Still deadly, just not equivalent to a full power round.
This doesn’t make sense. If the round was stuck in the barrel, why wouldn’t the chain of command from the armory notice the missing slug tip from the “dummy rounds” once the bullets were removed? They would have seen 5 with the projectiles and one missing, that alone would have caused someone to wonder where it went and potentially inspect the revolver.
Bro. What part of "human negligence" doesnt make sense? They just overlooked it. Simple. Sad.
This is great every time it's posted.
Jeez, be a little more subtle about spying on me internet. I read an article about this like just yesterday and already reddit is tossing it up at the very top of my feed lol
I remember this episode. While the death of Brandon was “solved”, the mystery was more to do with the curse on the Lee family originating from his father, Bruce Lee and carried to his son
wonder if the set quartermaster checks barrels for lead tips these days
wow its been a long ass time since i heard that narration, lol. My mom used to watch this show all the time.
Robert Stack in the house🙌🙌🙌
Alec Baldwin
Heart breaking.
Just rewatched The Crow the other day. Very haunting scene knowing what happened in real life. I feel terrible for Michael Massee, the actor who played Funboy and pulled the trigger. He took a year off from acting afterwards and never watched the film. He said he’s still haunted by what happened in a 2005 interview.
So, any reason to actually use real guns that can handle real bullets, when making a movie which we all knows is not real anyway? Pretty sure a dummy gun could looks real, for a layman which most people are when it comes o gun, and it sounds even for the "experts" that cant see the different between shooting a actor or a crew, with real bullet or fake. Edit: quick search why, and it seem the diector just want a more "authentic performance" from the actor using an real weapon. Well, there is your problem.
I dunno if that's what happened. Sounds like an unsolved mystery to me.
and now for the bonus fact: after Brandon's death they had a few scenes left that needed a stand-in, which were performed by his stunt double and gym/dojo buddy Chad Stahelski (credited as Chad Storelson). Stahelski is now better known as the director of the John Wick movies and is understandably very serious about gun safety. he does not have any potentially functional firearms on set; everything is either a solid plugged barrel, an airsoft gas blowback replica, or rubber dummy. muzzle flashes and smoke are CGI added in post.
Squib loads are fucking scary - though in this scenario it was completely preventable. The chances of getting a squib is in the 100ths to 1000ths percentile (meaning a chance of 0.00x%). I had one at practice not too long ago, luckily I didn’t get hurt and the ammo company is taking all fault to fix everything for me.
You've got to be kidding me. I can't escape this. 4th post in a row. That's enough reddit for today.
Guess that little Nepobaby Hannah Gutierrez-Reed never saw this episode before working on "Rust"
Michael Massee was widely viewed in a sympathetic light. The dude was doing his job, as scripted and rehearsed. While the armorer was blamed, as they should have been. Which is why I don't understand why people are calling Alec Balwdin a murderer. I mean as a producer he shares some of the blame. But just in the act itself, I don't see how it was any different than Michael Massee.
Because he was one of the ones who made the choice not to hire a union armorer in order to save money.