Thompson Submachine Gun - In The Movies

the Thompson submachine gun one of the  most prolific weapons in movie history   used by the king of pop himself Michael Jackson  in Moonwalker all the way to James Cameron's   Aliens the Thompson is one of the most  recognizable weapons on earth and in space hold up there's virtually no american world war  II movie without a thompson just as there is no   gangster film without a model 1921 with a  drum magazine the Thompson is so prolific   that even Tom Hanks himself couldn't use  the weapon in just one genre so let's take   a look at the history of the thompson and  some of the movies it has been featured in   the way you run i don't think so the thompson  was first developed in the 1910s by general John   T Thompson imagined at first as an automatic rifle  but the design worked best with the .45 acp pistol   round so it would become a submachine gun imagined  as a trench broom in world war one but it wasn't   refined in time for use during the war okay folks  hold your paws and drop your drawers the first   prolific version of the thompson would be the 1921  manufactured by colt which was one of the highest   quality versions of the thompson sharing more  characteristics with a high-grade sporting weapon   than a mass-produced army submachine gun did you  check it already yes i did it then leave it alone   some of the first users of the m1921 were the  police and even the Irish republican army as   accurately seen in the film Michael Collins though  there is no doubt this weapon gets the most screen   time in the hands of gangsters i'm gonna give  you to the count of ten to get your ugly yellow   no good keister off my property before i pump  your guts full of lead all right johnny i'm sorry   the m1921 was actually a poor selling firearm on  release it sold for the equivalent of around three   thousand dollars and came with a 20 round stick  magazine at first the firearm actually received   complaints about not having enough stopping power  or penetration and lacking accuracy at distance   as the submachine gun was still a new concept  to many of course the .45 acp cartridge would   be considered a heavier round by the time it was  compared to other world war II submachine guns okay in the 1920s the gun became a status symbol  for gangsters who utilized its rapid fire   and portability but most importantly the  intimidation factor that came with the weapon   having a cool nickname likely  added to its popularity   in an age of flashy gangsters the  gun was called the Chicago typewriter   as it supposedly sounded like a typewriter in the  distance throughout south side Chicago listen you   say that's nice material it ought to be it cost  a bundle get out of them hey i said just a minute   the m1928 thompson would be the first  thompson widely used by the us military   which is very similar looking to the m1921 but  had a slower and more controllable rate of fire   dropping down to around 700 rounds per minute from  900 the m1928a1 would add provisions for a sling   and finally replace the distinctive pistol  foregrip with a horizontal one some great news   tell them there's gonna be a huge international  shipment coming through i got the time   the place and the whole shebang commonly m 1921s  and 28s are shown with drum magazines on film   the drum magazine is an interesting feature as  militarily it's actually quite bad but in the   1920s it was popular in part because civilians  didn't field test magazines in the same way the   army did and also because gangsters didn't want  to worry about carrying extra magazines on them   and intimidation is sometimes a tactic within  itself key in the ignition turn the ignition on   and nothing happened these drum magazines holding  50 or 100 rounds were excessively heavy rattled   while you moved and were terribly slow to  change out and made clearing a stoppage a pain   again maybe not things all too important to a  gangster versus a soldier hear me that chopper hey   what line of work you in george  thompson m1928s m1s and m1a1s   are primarily what you find in world war II  movies and they were used by the US for the   entirety of the war as well as by the British  and commonwealth nations easiest way to spot   an m1 is by the charging handle on the  side of the receiver and not on the top it will also never have a drum attached the m1a1  has a distinct rear sight guard and is the version   you'll most commonly see in Band of Brothers  Saving Private Ryan or The Pacific shooting I love that stuff you know with the  killing a lot of killing a lot of killing   The Pacific Band of Brothers and Saving Private  Ryan have some of the best examples of how to   properly use the Thompson submachine gun which  is through controlled aimed bursts watch Robert   Leckie ambush a Japanese patrol here he  gives each enemy soldier an aimed burst   with his Thompson snug against his body he  takes a split second to regain between bursts   he even does what appears to be a tactical  reload while running back to his squad now to showcase what poor automatic fire  looks like here is a clip from kelly's heroes   a great movie by the way and  I apologize for picking on it   watch this spray and pray untrained use of  the weapon sometimes with both eyes closed   funny enough in reality this sort of fire did  certainly take place amongst poorly trained gis how realistically the Thompson is used in gangster  films is less important as they were likely not   professionally trained also shooting from the  hip with a heavy drum makes sense especially   if you're unloading a magazine into a car it was  common to excessively shoot up these older cars   as their thicker metal doors could actually stop  around from a submachine gun good luck ladies one interesting historical detail regarding  the Thompson in Saving Private Ryan   is the use of Plio film you can see it  being used here on Captain Miller's Thompson   to protect it from water and sand soldiers  would also use condoms to protect their weapons   during beach landings I never could score them  how about you Johnson not me probably the oddest   Thompson scene in saving private Ryan is Captain  Miller shooting through a tiger one's vision port   these are protected with armored glass and can  also be fully closed but maybe he got lucky   and the driver was changing the glass in the  middle of the battle maybe you should shut up here's an interesting scene from  the bridge on the river kwai   it shows a Japanese soldier guarding  pows using a Thompson submachine gun   this may actually be historically accurate  because POW guards were considered less important   and given used weapons such as what might have  been captured from the British in Singapore so was the Thompson a good submachine gun  it had some good features particularly the   double-column staggered feedbox magazine which  contributed to the gun's overall good reliability   it did have to be cleaned regularly and was  heavy at 4.5 kilograms or 10 pounds empty it was   considered accurate had an effective firing range  of 150 meters the rounds had decent stopping power   though there is debate about the  worth of this for the extra weight   compared to smaller rounds used  in the British STEN or german mp40 ultimately the Thompson was a good submachine  gun for the allies especially filling gaps   in production early in the war however it was  expensive for most militaries during world war ii   and cheaper stamped metal submachine guns  were favored from a production standpoint after the war, the Thompson saw  significant use around the world   but the American army would end up favoring  their cheaper m3 grease guns over the Thompson all right I'm johnny and that was  my quick movie brief on the Thompson   one of the most highly collectible  and iconic firearms ever created   thanks for watching and we'll see  you in the next video you miserable damn we're in a tight spot

Channel: Johnny Johnson

Views: 691,957

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Id: WTBg4kre9XU

Length: 9min 31sec (571 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 10 2021