I recently rented the movie “Cocaine Bear” from Redbox. It’s supposed to be loosely based on an actual incident back in the 1980s. Well…very loosely.
A dope transporter dumps multiple kilos of coke from an airplane and then, being stoned on his own supply, knocks himself out when trying to parachute out and falls to his doom…and the supply ends up in the woods. Where it is found by a big black bear…
I see it as a comedy and laughed my butt off while the Evil Princess rolled her eyes…a sure sign of “guy humor alert.”
All fiction – on the page, on the screen, or on the stage – is said to require “a willing suspension of disbelief.” You’ll need a dollop of that to enjoy this movie. I didn’t know that bears could decapitate or amputate, throwing the body parts which appear to have been cut surgically. Live and learn. And if you can just squint a bit, the CGI bear looks almost real.
This movie is just damn funny.
What does any of this have to do with firearms? Well, it will remind you that if someone is shooting at a bear, you shouldn’t jump in the way…and it will sell more .44 Magnums than the Dirty Harry movie. Or perhaps, 16-shot 10mm autoloaders which seem to have become the sidearm of choice of those who wander in Bear Country.
Catch the flick and enjoy, and feel free to get back to us here with your impressions.
And please, don’t accuse me of spoiling the movie for you. I like to think I gave you incentives, not spoilers.
Ha… Think I’ll pass. But thanks for an excellent critique and review.
If you watch the movie on Peacock, after the movie ends, there is another story which describes the actual events as well as interviews with the actual cops and detectives involved.
It was quite an interesting story. The pilot/dope peddler was a dirty cop that quit before he could be arrested and decided to go into the drug business full time. He came from a very prominent Kentucky race horse family, was bored with the family business, joined the Army where he became a Ranger, hence the skydiving experience, was a private pilot then decided he wanted to be a cop. Him and his partner were the first cops to create a “narcotics division” where they commenced ripping off drug dealers and selling it on their own.
The story was quite fascinating. The bear, in reality did ingest some cocaine but according to the necropsy that was done, most likely died within minutes of ingesting said cocaine but your right, the movie was funny and entertaining.
I’d give it a thumbs up and a half for entertainment value.
“joined the Army where he became a Ranger, hence the skydiving experience,”
Movie Nitpick: “Skydiving experience” comes from Airborne School, not Ranger School, although there are soldiers with both qualifications.
I have a friend that was a Ranger. Skydiving was part of his Ranger training.
SEALS also jump out of planes.
A lot of bush-dwelling people who have been plagued with dependably destructive bear have tried innumerable solutions to protecting cabins from bear while away. In my experience, bear will try to eat anything edible, and then some. Looks like a cocaine possession permit might be a popular answer to the growing bear problem? Part of the popularity of capacious 10mm semiauto pistols for “predator control” may extend to dealing with camp robbers other than bear and those little brown birds, too.
Except raccoons will also eat anything edible. You wouldn’t want to hurt the cute little raccoons, would you? 😉
Better to shoot the gib ones. More meat. Friend of mine grew up “down south” and he claims “possum and coon? They’s SUNDAY eats”.
The trailers look funny. I have it on my list. These days I think I would opt for a Glock 10mm with a full magazine. Aim for the nose and keep pulling the trigger like a madman. You might have time for only about two shots with a .44 mag and any misses would be disastrous. I would rather rely on a 10mm with more chances for hits. YMMV.
One hit may be all that you get on a bear no matter what you use. Give me a hand cannon. John Linebaugh may be the top expert of our day. He says that an accurate .45 Colt with heavy loads is adequate for stopping bear. He also developed the .475 and .500 Linebaughs for insured performance, where even just one shot is amazing.
Dean Weingarten has an ongoing series carefully analising firearms in defensive use against bear. There are outliers, such as the one guy dropped a decent sized brown with one .22 WRF from a handgun. Seems he was good, and desparate. But he won. Then there are accounts of10mm and .357 magnum not being effective enough. Fascinating reading. And good information for those contemplating going into bear country.
And I’d guess that many of those16-shot 10mm autoloaders are loaded with Buffalo Bore Outdoorsman rounds. I know mine is.
Agree. This movie was good clean fun.
I don’t remember the name of the movie but you don’t want to see it anyway. There was a gigantic grizzly bear hunting and killing people. Three professional hunters went after it, knowing that it was the biggest grizzly bear that ever lived. They shot it with high powered rifles, which seems like a reasonable strategy, but the bear was only angered by this and attacked them. When they ran out of rifle ammo, one guy emptied his magnum revolver into it which predictably, had no effect. With no functional firearms available to the men, the bear started killing them. When it had the last living man, on the ground, crushed under the bear’s weight, he pulled his heirloom hunting knife out and stabbed the bear through the jaw and into the brain, killing it instantly. They could have saved a lot of ammo if they just tried that first. Yes. I watched the whole movie. I got a lot of laughs out it.
Grizzly Maze. Billy Bob Thornton was one of the hunters.
Think I’ll pass Mas. Not much of a fantasy genre buff myself. 🙂
I tend to avoid movies that have a ludicrous premise, but since this at least has a root in the truth, I might give it a try.
As far as a 16-shot 10mm is ludicrous, just like all of the other movies where reloading is never an issue unless used for dramatic effect.
I do recall a story, which I cannot verify, about an elk hunter in bear country went out and shot a few rabbits for camp meat. A bear was attracted by the smell and approached the hunter as he was dressing out the rabbits. The hunter had nothing but his .22 pistol on him, and fired at the bear just to scare the beast long enough to get away and leave the rabbits. Apparently the round went into the bear’s mouth, through the soft pallet, and into the skull where it bounced around and scrambled the bear’s brain enough to kill it. Said hunter had the bear made into a rug.
Again, I can’t verify this so it’s somewhere between “Once Upon a Time…” or (military version) “This is a No-$#!^ Story….”
“The hunter had nothing but his .22 pistol on him….”
True is stranger than fiction. The World Record Grizzly Bear was killed with the .22 Long (not even Long Rifle!) cartridge. See this link:
https://www.ammoland.com/2017/06/bella-twin-the-22-used-to-take-the-1953-world-record-grizzly-and-more/#axzz83Vr2HAbP
TN_MAN,
Wow! What a story! Bella Twin knew bear anatomy very well. She knew just where to aim. That knowledge enabled her to triumph with an under-powered gun.
A trapper from Yukon once told me that the .22 Long could be more lethal than a .22 Long Rifle because of less expansion, which could give better penetration. Yes, and you can eat chicken soup with a fork if that is your choice. Give me the very precise whammy of the first shot from a single-action, plow-handled hand cannon. Or a Bisley. I can find time from the effectiveness of the first shot to usefully maneuver from a different angle during cocking for following shots, or just fan the hammer, which gives a burst almost like a Thompson SMG. Furthermore, the following shots from a single action can actually beat the time it takes to recover from the jarring effect of a heavy double action.
@ Strategic Steve – “… the .22 Long could be more lethal than a .22 Long Rifle because of less expansion, which could give better penetration.”
That may be true for hollow-point ammo. I doubt that it would be true for plated or plain lead round-nose (solid) ammo. In theory, the Long Rifle solids should penetrate best because of the superior sectional density of the 40-grain bullet compared to the 29-grain bullet used in Long solids.
It is likely that Bella Twin used the 22 Long cartridge because of a combination of cost and accuracy, IMHO.
Because of volume production, the 22 LR cartridge is less expensive today. If you look at the price of CCI brand solids, on the Midway USA site, current prices are:
1) CCI 22 Long Rifle Plated Solids (100 round box) = $10.99
2) CCI 22 Short Plated Solids (100 round box) = $11.99
3) CCI 22 Long Plated Solids (100 round box) = $12.99
So, the Long cartridge is actually most expensive while the Long Rifle is least expensive. All due to the huge production and sales figures for the Long Rifle round. However, back in 1953, I would expect that the Long would be a few cents cheaper, per box, than the Long Rifle while the Short would have been cheaper still.
So, why did Bella Twin not use Shorts if they were cheapest? I expect that it was because accuracy is often poor when short ammo is used in a rifle chambered for the Long Rifle cartridge.
I have a bolt action 22 that will feed and shoot all three rounds (Short, Long and Long Rifle). However, it will only produce saucer size groups with Shorts (at best). With the Long Rifle rounds, it is a tack driver. I attribute the lack of accuracy, with Short ammo, to the long jump that the bullet must make before it engages the rifling. However, with Long or Long Rifle ammo, there is no such long jump to make. Therefore, I expect such rifles to shoot more accurately with Long or Long Rifle ammo than with Shorts (typically, but there are always exceptions with firearms).
I expect Bella Twin tried 22 Short ammo and found it lacking for accuracy. She tried Longs and Long Rifle ammo and found they worked great. Since the Long ammo was a few cents cheaper, back in 1953, she used Longs for hunting since, in the hands of a good shot, they would have been just as effective on small game as Long Rifle rounds.
Anyway, just my theory as to why she was “Loaded for Bear” with 22 Long ammo! 🙂
LOL the wife and I have been debating this movie on Peacock for a few weeks now. She says she’s as interested in this as she was at watching Sharknado. (Hint: She refused to watch it, too.) Hoping this is as “good” or better than our DFI movie assignment. LOL.
I may give it a shot, just for a laugh.
Hope you’re well, my friend.
Your interview with Lieut. Bob Stasch is still my favorite interview and is what prompted me to buy a 4″ S&W 629! I will be watching the movie recommendation sir!
Thank you
The character who keeps talking about his wife Joni, absolutely makes the movie!
Thanks, Mas.
It’s been one of those weeks where a movie that allows me to unplug the upper part of my brain and enjoy some reptilian brain stem humor is just what the doctor ordered.
Otherwise, “I’m not addicted to cocaine. I just like the way it smells.” – Richard Pryor.
More movie reviews, please!
Being as I’m in the process of relocating to The Last Frontier I looked at my S&W Models 57 and 58 and opted for a Glock Gen 5 with a red dot 6 MOA, tungsten guide rod, 20 pound recoil spring, TLR1, and all the Buffalo Bore 220 hardcast I could afford.
I have no doubt the 57 and 58, as well as the Ruger Super Blackhawk could dispatch an angry bear. I like the faster reloads of the plastic pistol and ammunition capacity. I kept looking at the six guns saying, “Six rounds.” Then I’d look at the Glock and say, “Fifteen plus one.” Only had to do this thrice before putting the six shooters in the safe.
While you may only need one round it would really suck to need more ammo than you have in the gun because your bowels have voided themselves and urine is leaking out of your shoes because the adrenaline dump you just received has you shaking like an alcoholic going through DT’s.
I don’t plan on coming back to the lower 48 until I’m grizzly bear scat. Best always to you and the Evil Princess.
Suggestion: If you’re ever in Alaska, look up the transport pilot whose handle is Bear Bait. Sorry, don’t remember his given name. But the true story is dramatic enough, it probably won’t be too difficult to chase him down.
Sounds a little bit like Cheech and Chong “graduated” to coke and went airborne. In bear country instead of coyote and sheep country.
I killed my TeeVee set in 1972 so can’t watch it at home but might mention it as a possibility if I’m vising friends who might enjoy it.
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