Thevery first shot of leon in the city right as the film begins is a close up of him holding the camera. On the DVD I just paused it and could see it said Leitz M4. I'll get a screen grab of it tomorrow and post it here. Crazy how a Leica user follows a crazed killer on a wild journey. So nuts. I had to wait for my family to go our so I could watch the film alone. No one else would watch with me.
Actually, I could not wait. here are the shouts from the film off my screen. I guess it is a M4P. I am not familiar with the older models so I just saw the M4 and figured that was it. Still, very cool.
Could start an interesting thread on the incidence of Leicas appearing in movies. My contribution would be 'Eurotrip', where one of the characters has an interesting outcome when getting his M7 serviced in Amsterdam....
The following additional variations of the M4-2 are documented: 1) earliest cameras, some 90-95 or so, all with the SN 1468xxx, have the red Leitz metal circle ("red dot") on the front vulcanite; 2) small details including the lens lock release button and a condenser lens in the rangefinder mechanism were changed from early to later production; 3) there was g gold plated M4-2 (Barnack commemorative) issued with matching gold 50/1.4 Summilux in 1979; and 4) there were small numbers of chrome M4-2s issued (but never catalogued), which turn up for sale from time to time. These were made on special request. Undoubtedly there are other variations of the M4-2 out there.
Something that strikes me as interesting is how Bradley Cooper handles the M4-P in this movie. He removes the baseplate and taps the camera a couple of times to dislodge the film canister. He shoots with both eyes open most of the time, a habit that many rangefinder users have. And in one scene, he is clearly using a Leicavit to rapidly wind from one shot to the next. There's a little continuity gaffe at that point, as he goes from thumbing the wind lever to flicking the Leicavit and then back in the same sequence, but he is competently using a Leicavit.
This suggests that Bradley Cooper is either quite familiar with how a Leica handles, or that he practiced with it for a while with someone who was able to show him how it was used. Also interesting is the choice of model. They could have been using a M7, MP or other modern version for the sake of product placement, but they went with a slightly lesser known model with an even more obscure method of winding. I'd love to be able to ask someone in this production why the M4-P was chosen and where it came from.
Actually the choice of M4 was pretty obvious in the movie, as the character did not exactly languish in luxury with the hobby of keeping up a Leica gear collection, rather used an affordable and tough second hand first rate camera which suited him.
Dirk, what you say about the choice of camera makes sense, given Bradley Cooper's character. And the movie is as much about his predestined descent into that world as the events on the Meat Train, which would explain his creepiness.
Funny, but I handled a M4-2 in a shop and nearly bought it because of its light weight and even smaller build than the M7. Man, it felt really nice! But I didn't because it wasn't a M4-P, and lacked the 28mm framelines that I've come to depend upon.
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