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