Cape Gun in Opening Sequence of Jeremiah Johnson

07 January 2015, 10:09

A7Dave

Jeremiah Johnson is playing on Turner Classic Movies tonight. Redford's character is starving and trying to catch, by hand, a couple of trout in an icy mountain stream. As he tries to grab an miss the trout, he looks up and sees and Indian on horseback - with a full stringer of fish.

Never noticed this before, but watching in HD on my nice big flat screen, the Indian is carrying a muzzle loading "Cape Gun". It has a ramrod on the bottom and the top two barrels appear to be a shotgun on one side, and a rifle barrel (looks to be a .32 or something fairly small.

I'm assuming they didn't make the gun out of thin air. So has anyone ever seen an antique "Cape Gun"?

07 January 2015, 15:47

9.3 X 75R

Combination guns date to at least Revolutionary Era America and probably before that on the Continent. I've watched that movie probably 500 times and never noticed that. Probably thinking how cold Redford must be in that water. My oldest son and I literally wore out two VHS tape of it, (I believe he can quote the movie in its entirety). Next time I see it on TV I will definitely be looking for that.

08 January 2015, 10:37

A7Dave

I keep looking for a Blue Ray with commentary about the making of the movie. An all time favorite.

08 January 2015, 21:37

Antlers

One of my favorite movies and first noticed the muzzleloading combination gun about 15yrs ago - first time I have seen this in a thread here, tho.

10 January 2015, 17:31

Zephyr

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Main_Page
A fun website detailing guns used in most of the movies and tv shows we watch...
'unfortunately they had little on
Jeremiah Johnson

13 January 2015, 07:42

Jefffive

An fan of the movie should get a copy of "Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson". He was a FAR bigger bad-ass than they could put across in the movie. We're talking captured by Blackfeet who were going to sell him to the Crow, he killed the guy guarding him and took a leg off at the hip and headed unarmed into a Wyoming winter. The leg froze, which was useful when he used it to chase a bear out of a cave he wanted to use. The Crows sent their 20 best warriors, the fastest, the best tracker, the best fighter, etc. after him with instructions not to come back while he lived. He killed the last one 8 years later. I just missed getting hold of his badge from when he was a town marshall in Montana after trapping petered out. He actually died in L.A. of all places.

18 January 2015, 21:49

Antlers

quote:
Originally posted by Jefffive:
An fan of the movie should get a copy of "Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson". He was a FAR bigger bad-ass than they could put across in the movie. We're talking captured by Blackfeet who were going to sell him to the Crow, he killed the guy guarding him and took a leg off at the hip and headed unarmed into a Wyoming winter. The leg froze, which was useful when he used it to chase a bear out of a cave he wanted to use. The Crows sent their 20 best warriors, the fastest, the best tracker, the best fighter, etc. after him with instructions not to come back while he lived. He killed the last one 8 years later. I just missed getting hold of his badge from when he was a town marshall in Montana after trapping petered out. He actually died in L.A. of all places.

Read that one about once a year. What Montana town was that?

19 January 2015, 15:51

Jefffive

quote:
Originally posted by Antlers:
quote:
Originally posted by Jefffive:
An fan of the movie should get a copy of "Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson". He was a FAR bigger bad-ass than they could put across in the movie. We're talking captured by Blackfeet who were going to sell him to the Crow, he killed the guy guarding him and took a leg off at the hip and headed unarmed into a Wyoming winter. The leg froze, which was useful when he used it to chase a bear out of a cave he wanted to use. The Crows sent their 20 best warriors, the fastest, the best tracker, the best fighter, etc. after him with instructions not to come back while he lived. He killed the last one 8 years later. I just missed getting hold of his badge from when he was a town marshall in Montana after trapping petered out. He actually died in L.A. of all places.

Read that one about once a year. What Montana town was that?

I'll have to dig out my copy when I get back to Tennessee. The badge was originally lotted in the Harrisburg Western auction but got pulled after the sale started, so I bought Annie Oakley's folding rocking chair instead

20 January 2015, 06:33

Sean Russell

He was Town Marshal in Red Lodge Mt-if memory serves.

20 January 2015, 16:43

9.3 X 75R

I'm pretty sure he is now buried in Cody, Wyoming at Old Trail Town. He was some he was!

20 January 2015, 17:49

Grenadier

"Bronze statue of Liver-Eating Johnson erected over his grave at Old Trail Town in Cody, Wyoming." --

21 January 2015, 00:58

Jefffive

quote:
Originally posted by 9.3 X 75R:
I'm pretty sure he is now buried in Cody, Wyoming at Old Trail Town. He was some he was!

He was buried in L.A. on Sepulveda, and Robert Redford got him moved. Where the kettle with the bones of his wife and child rests nobody knows.

03 February 2015, 01:34

Idaho Sharpshooter

the rifles are interesting. There are two makers today active in building them. One is a swivel breech that David Price builds, as kits or complete rifles.
It has a side lever on the left side that pushed down to rotate the barrels. Complete separate locks, etc using a common trigger. About $2600. Each with its own ramrod.

The other one is a true O/U updated from a mid-18th century percussion DR. The information is in the Jan-Feb 2015 Muzzle Loader Magazine review section. About the same price.

Imagine the surprise if you were attacked by two hostiles. Bang! flip, Bang!

03 February 2015, 09:29

npd345

Are there any books about his life and times?
shane

03 February 2015, 19:54

Jefffive

quote:
Originally posted by npd345:
Are there any books about his life and times?
shane

This is the best non-fiction. Vardis Fisher's Mountain Man is a novelized version and was the inspiration for the movie.

03 February 2015, 22:45

9.3 X 75R

Crow Killer, Dixie Gun Works used to carry it but I don't know how accurate it is. It is a good read at any rate.

05 February 2015, 04:19

npd345

thanks I will see if I can find it at one of the stores or online
shane

08 February 2015, 15:57

A7Dave

Google has a lot:

http://articles.latimes.com/20...g/21/local/me-then21

http://www.johnlivereatingjohnston.com

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...0633-_-2681388617004

28 February 2015, 08:06

MacD37

quote:
Originally posted by Antlers:
One of my favorite movies and first noticed the muzzleloading combination gun about 15yrs ago - first time I have seen this in a thread here, tho.

One of my favorites as well, and the cape gun is one of my favorite firearms too. I too noticed the cape gun the Indian had as well.

I still have a VHS copy of that movie as well, but there was something in the movie at the theater that is missing about the Indian in my copy! In the theater the Indian dropped a few of the trout for Johnson and rode away. That is not in the VHS film I have.

........................................................................

28 February 2015, 09:12

Antlers

quote:
Originally posted by MacD37:
quote:
Originally posted by Antlers:
One of my favorite movies and first noticed the muzzleloading combination gun about 15yrs ago - first time I have seen this in a thread here, tho.

One of my favorites as well, and the cape gun is one of my favorite firearms too. I too noticed the cape gun the Indian had as well.

I still have a VHS copy of that movie as well, but there was something in the movie at the theater that is missing about the Indian in my copy! In the theater the Indian dropped a few of the trout for Johnson and rode away. That is not in the VHS film I have.

Get out! I've never heard that. I've got a VHS tape, two DVDs, and a copy on my iPad that I purchased from iTunes - none of them have that...it would add something to the story. I'll have to do some research on that, Mac!

01 March 2015, 09:10

Akshooter

I remember that the chief gave Jeremiah a stringer of fish. For what it's worth I remember noticing the buchsflinte the first time I saw the movie about 1976 I would say.

01 March 2015, 20:50

MacD37

quote:
Originally posted by Antlers:
quote:
Originally posted by MacD37:
quote:
Originally posted by Antlers:
One of my favorite movies and first noticed the muzzleloading combination gun about 15yrs ago - first time I have seen this in a thread here, tho.

One of my favorites as well, and the cape gun is one of my favorite firearms too. I too noticed the cape gun the Indian had as well.

I still have a VHS copy of that movie as well, but there was something in the movie at the theater that is missing about the Indian in my copy! In the theater the Indian dropped a few of the trout for Johnson and rode away. That is not in the VHS film I have.

Get out! I've never heard that. I've got a VHS tape, two DVDs, and a copy on my iPad that I purchased from iTunes - none of them have that...it would add something to the story. I'll have to do some research on that, Mac!

Then later in my VHS film and in theater film that same Indian stated, before Grizz asked if the Indian and Johnson knew each other,that Johnson "fished poorly"! That little omission disturbed me when I bought the film years later.

Another favorite was "Mountain Men" with Charlton Heston, and Brian Keith.