# Documentarists really need to do their research **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** documentary-bio\ **Created:** [June 28, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007 "2022-06-28T01:25:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/1 "2022-06-28T01:25:35Z")
Mysteries At The Museum is a fun show. But egads, the production company needs to do some research. In a segment about WWI, I saw M1 Carbines and M1 Garands from WWII, an M-14 from Korea and later, and in one shot of soldiers in a trench… a flintlock rifle. It’s as if the filmmakers are like, ‘It’s a gun, and it has wood on it.’ OK, MatM is shown with woo shows; so the audience probably doesn’t know the difference. But it’s really not that hard to find the right props. They should hire me as the propmaster/technical adviser. I’d get paid, and they’d have more accurate depictions. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/2 "2022-06-28T01:35:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > But it’s really not that hard to find the right props. They should hire me as the propmaster/technical adviser. I’d get paid, and they’d have more accurate depictions. Or they could go way overboard and hire Ian McCollum. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/3 "2022-06-28T02:44:45Z")
Most often it’s uniforms that are completely wrong. “Oh, hell, just take some Army surplus stuff and stick insignia on it, who’s gonna know the difference?” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/4 "2022-06-28T02:47:26Z")
Actually, I don’t find uniform discrepancies that bad because uniforms can be rather fiddly. But firearms? Those are really obvious. Aside: The uniform errors that strike me are the ones for law enforcement in very-low budget films. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/5 "2022-06-28T02:49:56Z")
To you, errors in firearms are obvious but to someone familiar with uniforms, errors there may be obvious. And to a doctor or other medical professional, errors in a medical drama are obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/6 "2022-06-28T02:52:48Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Or they could go way overboard and hire Ian McCollum. They could have ‘Gun Jesus’ just break into the middle of the scene and explain why a weapon is anachronistic, when it was originally produced, where it would have been used, and then tear it down and explain the working mechanisms, and then explain what would have been a better choice for the movie and scene. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/7 "2022-06-28T02:57:47Z")
Both bug me. I’ve seen reenactments in documentaries where it looked like the rifles came from Mattel instead of Springfield. And the stars on a US general’s blouse go on his epaulets, not his lapels How hard is it to get details like these right? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/8 "2022-06-28T02:57:48Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > They could have ‘Gun Jesus’ just break into the middle of the scene and explain why a weapon is anachronistic, when it was originally produced, where it would have been used, and then tear it down and explain the working mechanisms, and then explain what would have been a better choice for the movie and scene. So, you’re saying Gun Jesus is the late, great, [R. Lee Ermey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Lee_Ermey)? ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/9 "2022-06-28T03:46:31Z")
Using historical stock footage to illustrate a point but they pick the wrong battle/war/equipment is what really gets me, mainly because it means the production company didn’t put any effort into looking through more than the very basic stock footage already out there. A very common thing is aircraft combat footage over the Pacific being used for Europe and vice-versa. Now suddenly F4U Corsairs are engaging Japanese aircraft with suspiciously bent wings and flying over green neatly squared off fields with roads perfectly lined with trees. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/10 "2022-06-28T03:58:34Z")
… While American dive bombers (SBDs) attack Pearl Harbor. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/11 "2022-06-28T04:14:27Z")
Yeah, but we won’t hear “Over to Mae.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/12 "2022-06-28T13:21:44Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Aside: The uniform errors that strike me are the ones for law enforcement in very-low budget films. Eh, every police force is going to have different uniforms, and if a show is set in Generic Anytown, USA, who’s to say that’s not what the local police uniforms look like? @Dewey_Finn , I don’t know much about firearms, but I think that even I would recognize that a flintlock was out of place in WWI. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/13 "2022-06-28T13:27:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > @Dewey_Finn , I don’t know much about firearms, but I think that even I would recognize that a flintlock was out of place in WWI. - You underestimate how deep ignorance can go. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/14 "2022-06-28T13:30:17Z")
Not a documentary, but I laughed at the scene in _ **The Four Musketeers** _ where Faye Dunaway pulled a 19th century derringer on Raquel Welch. Not even a flintlock; it had a nipple (_tee-hee!_🤭) for a percussion cap! ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/15 "2022-06-28T13:42:27Z")
Things can get really weird though, [![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1042/1*L6gJIiHxt9s5vL2BOIxJJg.png) ](https://miro.medium.com/max/1042/1*L6gJIiHxt9s5vL2BOIxJJg.png) John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/16 "2022-06-28T13:43:03Z")
[The Internet Movie Firearms Database](http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Main_Page) is a nifty place to look up this stuff. Thorough but not too nit-pickery, unlike the critics who just _have to_ remind everyone that the Marines shouldn’t have had Krags in _The Wind in the Lion_ Mysteries at the Museum’s anachronisms are downright charming, like your kids putting on a history pageant in the garage with you in lawn chairs in the driveway. IIRC they did a story about how you could send children through the mail in the early 1900s, and one little girl had a 1960s Samsonite hard-sided suitcase. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/17 "2022-06-28T14:03:16Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Mysteries at the Museum’s anachronisms are downright charming, like your kids putting on a history pageant in the garage with you in lawn chairs in the driveway. IIRC they did a story about how you could send children through the mail in the early 1900s, and one little girl had a 1960s Samsonite hard-sided suitcase. As documentaries go, “Mysteries at the Museum” is pretty fluffy – to my mind, it’s entertainment that’s built around nuggets of true historical stories, but I don’t view it with the same lens as, say, a Ken Burns documentary. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/18 "2022-06-28T14:04:33Z")
And some of the “museums” are of the two-headed calf tourist trap variety. 😊 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/19 "2022-06-28T14:21:47Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > So, you’re saying Gun Jesus is the late, great, [R. Lee Ermey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Lee_Ermey)? John Browning forbid. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007/20 "2022-06-28T14:23:34Z")
I would totally accept that as part of the founding Gun Trinity, John Browning the Father, R. Lee Ermey the Son, so who should be the Holy Ghost? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documentarists-really-need-to-do-their-research/967007.md?page=2)