44 Minutes

I really do like movies based on actual events. And when you put yourself in the position of the characters in the movie, and see how dangerous and horrific this could have been, then it all adds to the realism of it all.
I remember when the actual event happened on the news, and I was amazed with the footage.

The plot, about bank robbers held at bay by the Los Angeles Police Department, is based on an actual incident which occurred on February 28, 1997 known as the North Hollywood shootout. It stars Michael Madsen as a homicide detective who is tracking a violent duo of bank robbers, Larry Eugene Phillips, Jr. (played by Andrew Bryniarski) and Emil Matasareanu (played by Oleg Taktarov).

This film is so real, and keeps you glued to the screen, and for that, I give it 4 1/2 stars.

But most importantly for us guys, is to see what guns they are using!

What fascinated me was the use of drum magazines on their AK47s.

And the other thing was that in the "Extras" section, they mention that they used real guns rather than models of some sort.

Hi Oz'

There was a good long thread on the original forum discussing the documentary shown on one of the Discovery Channels based on the actual robbery this film's about.

The documentary had real footage as well as re-enactment scenes. These 2 robbers had a car trunk full of automatic weapons, armour piercing rounds, as well as full home made body armour. The Police were hopelessly outgunned so they commandeered weapons from a local gun store (can you belive that )
Despite all that, the robbers didn't succeed
The plan to get into the bank and out within 8 minutes was to emulate the robbery a shown in "Heat" a DeNiro, Pacino, Val Kilmer movie that features one of the best shoot outs ever filmed (probably )

I didn't realise there has been a topic on this.
A quick search didn't bring anything up. Do you know what the thread was titled?

"Heat" eh? I'll have to check that one out too!

Hey Oz, use the search words - North Hollywood Shootout.

There is even a glass case with memorabilia at the North Hollywood police station about two miles from Victory and Laurel Canyon where the B of A bank was.
The Gun shop they commandeered the AR's from was B & B Guns, long gone now (as are regular AR type rifles in CA), as are many of the gun shops in LA county.

The one thing that is, IMHO, absolutely irrefutable is the heroism on the part of the SWAT (I believe) troopers who drove up to the gunman in the street (one car length away), they were wearing shorts and Tshirts, and basically out shot him at point blank. I cannot imagine the cojones needed for a stunt like this, and my hat is off to those guys.
While he shot through both sides of the vehicle with a full auto with a beta magged AR, one police trooper lay down in the street and shot under the truck.
Balls to the wall old school heroism!

There are lots of documentaries and youtube clips.
There were literally dozens of choppers over head filming, it was outrageous when it happened.
Many news crews in the vicinity.

Easy to pick apart how the criminals did, this or that wrong, now, after the fact.

However, if they hadn't been spotted entering by a particularly observant cop, not on his regular route (as it is he says he had to think twice about reacting), my money is on the fact they would have gotten away with it, as they did the dozen or so other banks they robbed.
That bank is less than a mile from a major freeway, and they would have been gone.

BTW - there is a documentary that uses this event in the US as an anti gun platform - worth noting to those who care, the guns were not bought legally, I believe they were bought and converted in Mexico (where pretty much all guns are illegal) and obtained illegally in the US, so no US gun law would have altered the armament used in the shoot-out, anyway. I don't really care much about this sort of thing, but it's an interesting side note.

Very interesting.
Thanks for your view on this.

I did a search here, but nothing comes up.
I guess I'll have to check it out on the original forum.

You might well be right Oz'

When posts were being copied onto this Rescue site, some of the General Firearms Discussion and News categories were filtered and ommited. We chose 10,000 posts on a Relevance basis as we didn't how long we had till the original site crashed completely.

It's a darn good read if you find it now though, I remember it well

I checked out the original site too, but couldn't find anything with the search.

Um..........I did also see what you wrote there too.
Wonder if someone will reply?

PM for me Cerwyn?

Didn't receive one.

Here you go...

Check Mark's original forum on this link...

http://www.mp40modelguns.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=931

It's entitled "Heat Shootout" ... keep reading and you'll find the Holywood Bank Job

Oz'... yes mate, PM should be there by now