Watching an old John Wayne movie "The Searchers" and...

notlogical

...at the beginning of the movie he whips out a leather bag and says it's filled with "double eagles, fresh from the Mint".(or something like that) My eyes got real big just imagining what that would be like. It's funny how you start hearing things and noticing things in movies, books and stuff that you didn't notice before you started collecting coins.

kevinstang

There was one of his movies on the other night as well, they were inside and he found some payola on a guy he was roughing up- as he called it a "fresh $50 gold piece" . I missed part of the scene, but another guy apparently had tossed a silver dollar into a spit-toon that he made him reach into and grab. Think old Deano was in this movie with him, what a pair, would have been nice to have seen what they used for that $50.

dbldie55

<< <i>There was one of his movies on the other night as well, they were inside and he found some payola on a guy he was roughing up- as he called it a "fresh $50 gold piece" . I missed part of the scene, but another guy apparently had tossed a silver dollar into a spit-toon that he made him reach into and grab. Think old Deano was in this movie with him, what a pair, would have been nice to have seen what they used for that $50. >>



That was Rio Bravo, and it was Dean Martin. I am still trying to figure out what "fresh $50 gold piece" they would be using.

notlogical

<< <i>
That was Rio Bravo, and it was Dean Martin. I am still trying to figure out what "fresh $50 gold piece" they would be using. >>




Maybe there was a writer's strike that year too?

crispy

<< <i>

That was Rio Bravo, and it was Dean Martin. I am still trying to figure out what "fresh $50 gold piece" they would be using. >>



I love that movie - just got it not too long ago on DVD.

"Sorry don't get it done Dude".

66RB

<< <i>

<< <i>
That was Rio Bravo, and it was Dean Martin. I am still trying to figure out what "fresh $50 gold piece" they would be using. >>




Maybe there was a writer's strike that year too? >>

Overdate

That was Rio Bravo, and it was Dean Martin. I am still trying to figure out what "fresh $50 gold piece" they would be using.


A Pan-Pacific "early release"?

LanLord

<< <i>That was Rio Bravo, and it was Dean Martin. I am still trying to figure out what "fresh $50 gold piece" they would be using. A Pan-Pacific "early release"? >>

Weren't there private mint releases of $50 gold?

ElKevvo

The Searchers is a great movie, one of John Fords best! I need to watch it again this weekend...

K

MrHalfDime

Very often in the old westerns, when John Wayne or any other actor would walk into a saloon, ask for a whiskey, and throw a silver dollar on the bar, the movie studio's props department would use 'movie money', or replica coins made to look, at a distance, and to the general public, like the real thing. The problem then became for the sound man to actually make the coin sound like a silver dollar, with the familiar 'ring' we all know for 90% silver coins. The 'movie money' coins made a rather unconvincing 'thud' when they hit the bar. Of course, today they would simply dub in the required sound effect, but in the 30s, 40s and 50s, when many of these old westerns were made, sound recording practices were not as advanced as they are today, and sound effects were recorded 'as they happened'. Many of the better movie sound studios had small supplies of actual silver dollars on hand just for the convincing sound they made when thrown on the bar.

CoinHusker

<< <i>
I love that movie - just got it not too long ago on DVD.

"Sorry don't get it done Dude". >>




Walter Brennan is classic as "Stumpy" too.

Michigan

<< <i>

<< <i>
I love that movie - just got it not too long ago on DVD.

"Sorry don't get it done Dude". >>




Walter Brennan is classic as "Stumpy" too. >>




The movie was remade in 1966 as "El Dorado" again starring John Wayne. In the remake his sidekick was nicknamed "Mississippi" and in the 1958 original the name was "Colorado". The plot was basically the same and I like both the original and the remake.

rich

Check out this one link

Mesquite

Yes, Rio Bravo. A great movie.

Ward Bond, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickenson, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan, John Wayne, Claude Atkins, John Savage and others whose names escape me at the moment. Good stuff!

ahooka454

great flick. in an episode of Las Vegas (with tom selick) he won a 1895 Morgan in a card game. i was laughing when i saw that. he jammed it in his album and it was all filled. i wonder what the finger print looked like.

PerryHall

<< <i>Very often in the old westerns, when John Wayne or any other actor would walk into a saloon, ask for a whiskey, and throw a silver dollar on the bar, the movie studio's props department would use 'movie money', or replica coins made to look, at a distance, and to the general public, like the real thing. The problem then became for the sound man to actually make the coin sound like a silver dollar, with the familiar 'ring' we all know for 90% silver coins. The 'movie money' coins made a rather unconvincing 'thud' when they hit the bar. Of course, today they would simply dub in the required sound effect, but in the 30s, 40s and 50s, when many of these old westerns were made, sound recording practices were not as advanced as they are today, and sound effects were recorded 'as they happened'. Many of the better movie sound studios had small supplies of actual silver dollars on hand just for the convincing sound they made when thrown on the bar. >>



This post makes no sense. The movie industry could get all the silver dollars they wanted for face value at most banks until the mid 1960's. Even now, common date circ dollars are cheap enough to buy. Prop dollars would make no sense.

MrHalfDime

"Prop dollars would make no sense."

Well, it may not make sense to you, but it is well documented that the movie industry used their own replica "prop money" when filming movies. These are collectible today. Having worked in the audio recording industry all my life, I can attest to the fact that many of the great recording engineers kept their own genuine silver dollars just for the authenticity of the sound they made. Perhaps you should check your facts before indicting someone else's post.

Veep

Duke's movies are full numismatic viewing: In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, Liberty Valence (Lee Marvin) drops a handful of silver dollars on the floor to pay for a steak for Tom Donafin (John Wayne). Later, the Duke throws a handful of silver dollars at a table full of poker playing locals. The coins had "good ring" to them. In the Comancheros, Duke wins a pile of dough off of Lee Marvin in a poker game. As the Duke (Ed McBain) is gathering up his silver, Marvin objects to him quitting which a few seconds later results in Marvin being dispatched to the great beyond. And for you bullion lovers: in The War Wagon, The Duke and Kirk Douglas steal a load of gold dust from a wagon guarded by 40 riders and a Gattling gun. Unfortunately most of the gold is lost in the mayhem, but you see Duke pour enough of the glittering dust into a sack that it gets your blood stirring.

seanthornton

The "Fifty Dollar Gold" piece was the price paid to a hired killer. More than likely minted in a private mint.

OKbustchaser

<< <i>The "Fifty Dollar Gold" piece was the price paid to a hired killer. More than likely minted in a private mint. >>




Imagine "seanthornton" replying to a John Wayne thread. Probably my favorite movie from the Duke.

Michigan

"The War Wagon" is a lesser known but very good John Wayne western.

Another good one for you bullion lovers (but not a John Wayne movie) is "Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). A classic that is for sure.
Love the scene at the end with the gold blowing away in the wind (very symbolic of course).

LanLord

Anyone familiar with J. Wayne movies ever notice the story similarities between Rio Bravo and El Dorado?

Same story, with just a few different faces.

Michigan

<< <i>Anyone familiar with J. Wayne movies ever notice the story similarities between Rio Bravo and El Dorado?

Same story, with just a few different faces. >>




Yes, it is very obvious. While I like both movies in some ways I think El Dorado was the better one. Ricky Nelson was not exactly a great actor in Rio Bravo, he seemed ackward.

tahoe98

<< <i>...at the beginning of the movie he whips out a leather bag and says it's filled with "double eagles, fresh from the Mint".(or something like that) My eyes got real big just imagining what that would be like. It's funny how you start hearing things and noticing things in movies, books and stuff that you didn't notice before you started collecting coins. >>




i do the same thing! the wife thinks i'm nuts! she brings up a date of an event or something and boom! out comes a reference of a coin that was around the same time of the 'event' she says i'm hopeless.

mrcommem

In the movie "True Grit" the girls father had two fifty dollar gold pieces on him when he was killed. They are stolen by the killer and found later in his possesion. The girl (Wayne refers to her as "little sister" says they are worth $37 1/2 dollars. I think she says they are California pieces, an undervalued California piece.

PerryHall

<< <i>In the movie "True Grit" the girls father had two fifty dollar gold pieces on him when he was killed. They are stolen by the killer and found later in his possesion. The girl (Wayne refers to her as "little sister" says they are worth $37 1/2 dollars. I think she says they are California pieces, an undervalued California piece. >>



While some of the smaller California gold coins were undervalued as far as gold content, all the $50 slugs had full weight of gold.