A couple of nights ago, TCM aired Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point, a 1970 film loved by radicals and hated by film critics (except for the radical ones.)

The film is about a college radical and a pretty girl who end up in Death Valley together, naked. It's better for you to see it than for me to try to explain it, so you'll find the complete film at the bottom of this post. The film opens in Los Angeles. I've seen this film three times before but I never noticed that the gun shop actor Mark Frechette goes into is Martin B. Retting, opened in 1928 and still going strong today. Retting and company moved into their present location at 11029 Washington Blvd in Culver City in 1958 and that's the location which appears in the film.

Frechette leaving the store



Something else I hadn't noticed in previous viewings is that the store owner is portrayed by Bill Hickman. You may not recognize the name, but you've certainly seen him in films such as The French Connection, The Seven Ups and as the driver of the black Dodge Charger in Bullitt being chased by Steve McQueen in his green Ford Mustang. Hickman was James Dean's driving instructor and was following Dean on the highway when Dean was killed in an auto accident in 1955.

As the radical and his friend are leaving the store, Hickman calls them over and gives him that ancient and really bad advice of "If you shoot them in your back yard, drag them inside."

That's Hickman on the left





Another real gun store appears in the 1973 film Serpico starring Al Pacino. John Jovino's store was located in lower Manhattan at 5 Centre Market Place. It opened in 1911 and closed in 2020.

Here's Pacino (or a double, but based upon the walk, it does appear to be Pacino) going into Jovino's.




Preparing for real trouble since he's been branded by the NYPD as a "rat", he purchases a Browning High Power.

Clerk: That takes a 14 shot clip. You expectin' an army?

Serpico: No, just a division.





Another Los Angles area gun store appears in Irving Lerner's 1958 film Murder by Contract starring Vince Edwards. Clearly, this is a real store but I have been unable to identify it. The store had a cannon on the sidewalk, which is remarkable when viewed from today, although I'm fairly certain that the piece was not functional.



There are other stores, of course. Off the top of my head, the gun shop Steve McQueen goes into to buy a High Standard shotgun in Sam Peckinpah's 1972 film The Getaway appears to be a real store and not a set. The gun store in Michael Ritchie's 1983 film The Survivors starring Robin Williams and Walter Matthau must have been real, and a very well-stocked store at that. I imagine there are many authentic gun stores which have appeared in film over the years. Maybe I'll start keeping track.



Complete films, because why the Hell not:

Zabriskie Point





Murder by Contract

Martin Scorsese has said that certain elements of this film influenced his film Taxi Driver

Wow i missed the movie with MB Retting.

I have bought from them a WHOLE bunch over the years.

I have a 1963 vintage S&W Model 39 I purchased from Martin Retting years ago on Auction Arms.

I didn’t realize John Jovino store was in Serpico. Down a side street in Little Italy. Small shop- not much inventory.

I know a guy with an original Jovino effector cut down N frame. It’s a serious beast in 45 colt. I was visiting Manhattan years ago and happened past their shop in little Italy and it was just a sad sorry shell of its former glory. I think their are totally out of business for. Along time now.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
...actor Mark Frechette goes into is Martin B. Retting, opened in 1928 and still going strong today. Retting and company moved into their present location at 11029 Washington Blvd in Culver City in 1958 and that's the location which appears in the film.

Mildly related....if someone could post this photo -
during 2020, as US cities were deteriorating into 'protesting' & thievery, there's a somewhat 'iconic' photograph of a long line of people waiting outside a LA-area gun shop, the building is painted all-white, red lettering with a giant GUNS painted on its high wall, that shop is Martin B. Retting.

I've bought several from Retting too, my favorite is a Walther PP in 7.65 German built in 1965. Doesn't have a mark on it and doesn't appear to be fired. Had no idea they were a shop in business that long ago.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
Mildly related....if someone could post this photo -
during 2020, as US cities were deteriorating into 'protesting' & thievery, there's a somewhat 'iconic' photograph of a long line of people waiting outside a LA-area gun shop, the building is painted all-white, red lettering with a giant GUNS painted on its high wall, that shop is Martin B. Retting.

I watched Zabriskie Point out of curiosity. I thought it was hopelessly dated. Surprised to see Rod Taylor and Paul Fix in it.
YMMV.

I'm a dedicated, serious film buff. I watch films I don't like and I watch films I know are crap so that I can speak knowledgeably about them.

I've seen Zabriskie Point four times now, and it's no better viewing now than it was when I first saw it, but it's an Antonioni film and I'll seek out anything by him. Antonioni is best remembered for his 1966 film Blow Up which was ripped off by Brian De Palma in his 1981 film Blow Out.

Zabriskie Point was released in 1970 but it was filmed in 1968 and in the first part of the film, you see LA locations, some of which are now long gone. Tarantino's film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood showcases Tarantino's love and nostalgia for late 1960s LA and in Antonioni's film, you see that world as it actually was.

Antonioni's film suffers from the same problem as the films of other directors who know nothing about the United States. That imbecile Lars von Trier comes to mind. If you want to see a truly horrid, distorted view of American gun ownership, take a gander at von Trier's 2005 film Dear Wendy. That shit really pissed me off and if you see it, you'll feel the same. Disgusting. It wasn't even filmed in the US and I don't think that that addled leftist son of a bitch has ever set foot in this country. All he knows about American culture is the cocktail party talk that he and his pseudo-intellectual Eurotrash cohorts spew at each other.

Been to MBR's a handful of times over the years, not the cheapest place to shop but always well stocked and always busy.

That's it!

Thanks Para

I might be wrong.....

I vaguely remember reading that the store from "Murder by Contract" was the retail outlet for an importer. Maybe the one that did the old Hunters Lodge advertisements.

I could be mistaken, but I've always believed that the Alamo gun store depicted in the Terminator is a real gun store, with an address of 14329 in the movie. A quick internet search shows one Alamo gun shop in Houston and another in Pennellville NY, and an Alamo shooting range in Naples FL, but none with the movie address.



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jxoowglHU2w

Years ago I bought a truck off eBay that was located in California. Due to logistics I had to pick it up within a week of the deal and taking Amtrak's Southwest Chieftain out worked out to be the best way to get there. I took a Greyhound to Raton New Mexico and picked up the train out of a tiny old adobe train station that looked like it had been around since the 1920s or '30s, with an old mechanical Coke glass bottle vending machine against one wall.

There were several stops on the way to LA, and it was late at night when we pulled into the Flagstaff train station.

Traveling by myself, I was feeling a little tired and road weary, when I looked out and in the distance I saw an old neon sign that would light each individual letter one at a time..."G" "U" "N" "S", before flashing the entire word "GUNS".

I don't know why, but that sign sorta cheered me up and, as I already made plans to take my truck on a Southwest road trip and I had already planned on stopping back in Flagstaff on my return leg, I made a vow right then and there on the train that I would stop at that gun store when I came back through town.

A few days later, now in my truck, I reached Flagstaff just as a snow storm was hitting. I spent the first night sleeping in my truck, but decided to spring for a motel room to get a shower and a hot meal.

The next morning, on the way out of town, I found that old gun shop with the old flashing neon light and spent about an hour in there, just looking around and talking to the guys behind the counter.

Truth be told, because I took the train, I didn't bring a gun with me on that trip, and I was feeling mighty naked after several days on the road without one, so I dearly wanted to buy a gun from that shop. But, being from out of state, having it shipped to my FFL wasn't going to do me any good for that road trip. So I settled for buying some IDPA targets from them.

If ever there was an old gun store that belonged in the movies, I've always believed that gun store with the flashing neon light in Flagstaff is the one.

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:
I could be mistaken, but I've always believed that the Alamo gun store depicted in the Terminator is a real gun store, with an address of 14329 in the movie. A quick internet search shows one Alamo gun shop in Houston and another in Pennellville NY, and an Alamo shooting range in Naples FL, but none with the movie address.

Alamo was a gun store in LA in the 80’s, but now it’s a used car dealership.

Check out this video of Terminator Shooting Location. The Alamo gun store is mentioned at the 3:36 mark.

https://youtu.be/C8BC0VuF8Ys

This message has been edited. Last edited by: parabellum,

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:

the Alamo gun store depicted in the Terminator <snip> with an address of 14329

At 2:23 in the clip that you posted, note Sarah's address: 14239.

Cool thread!

I liked the Gun Store that Kevin Costner (playing Frank Hammer) did some shopping in the movie The Highwaymen

Sometime after the year 2000 (I think), Jovino's was sold and moved to 183 Grand Street in Manhattan. I just found out that this location was featured briefly in the 2007 film The Brave One starring Jodie Foster.



Per Wikipedia: "The shop was seen in the television series Serpico, in both season one, episode 13 ("A Death In The Family") and season 2, episode 5 ("Wedded Bliss") of Law & Order, very briefly in Mean Streets as well as The Brave One."

If ever I knew that there was a Serpico TV series, I've forgotten it long ago. I'll have to see if I can track down that episode. Mean Streets- it shouldn't be hard to spot the location. I'll have to look.

Regarding the Law & Order episode "Wedded Bliss", there's a typo on the wiki page. It's season 3, episode 5, not season 2.

OK, here's the gun store scene from Law & Order "Wedded Bliss" aired in October, 1992. The (fictitious) location in the episode is described as "Garden State Police Supply, New Jersey". If this is really Jovino's, it appears to be the Grand Street location, because it seems to have a lot of windows, and it seems to be bigger than the Centre Market Place location, which means my estimate of their move date is way off.


What's this?? Big Pussy!! I thought he went fishin'.





Well, this isn't confusing:

https://www.metacritic.com/tv/...in-the-family-397229

I think this is where the wiki article got "A Death in the Family". This episode is actually "Wedded Bliss".

Adventure Outdoors, an Atlanta area store, is in the TV show Ozark. It’s not necessary to watch the entire clip, after he leaves the store it’s not featured again.

For those of you who have never been there, the guns you see in the clip are probably only 15% of their inventory. It’s an old supermarket they converted to a store and range.



GA Firing Line, another ATL area shop, is in another TV show or movie but I can’t recall which. I know I’ve seen it though.