Safes & Vaults versus Hollywood

[oldlock]

1969 was much better, although there was no safe opening in it as far as I can recall ...

[Parautoptic]

Just watched this, there is a good view (briefly) of a wall mounted safe with a nice brass plate saying....

Prize Medal London 1852
G Price and Co
Patent
Fire-proof Safe
+ Lock Manufacturers
Wolverhampton
Regd. Trademark R370?

There is an escutcheon plate that says...

??????
Patent Lock

and a nice hexagonal knob for the boltwork.

The safe plays no part in the plot, our hero just checks it to ensure it has not been opened.

[wylk]

A recent movie "Public Enemies" (2009, Johnny Depp, Christian Bale) includes a few scenes of large vaults as the movie portrays some of John Dillinger's bank robberies. It was broadcast recently and I used the DVR to get a good look.

The first vault is poorly filmed from a vaultophile's viewpoint except for one exceptionally large door hinge. The second may be a Mosler door but the time lock is missing. The third is also nicely displayed and may be a Remington and Sherman. I think it was the middle bank's scene that also panned past the emergency door. One of these banks (I don't know which one) was filmed in the Milwaukee County Historical Society which is a former bank.

They do seem to be real vaults as opposed to Hollywood mockups.

Aside from this and a couple of steam locomotives I didn't see much else to recommend.

[Ant]

Ok Its a long time since I posted but I am in the process of watching A TV serial "Inside Men" where the acting is really good. But of course. Opening the Tann 650 Strongroom is not! I have to sit there and both my Son and Wife looking at me and now wait to hear me say to the TV You have got that wrong!! When the character on the screen is turning the Dial check lock after he has opened another "ticking" S & G K/C/L 4 wheel. and both locks turned to one number once to open!

I suppose it has to be so or else how would save time for the rest of the sex and violence.
I find it the same with so many other programmes, steam locos (running on the wrong lines Out of era aeroplanes in the wrong places and in wrong colour schemes.
Perhaps I have become grumpy?

[Dean Nickel]

Oh come on! Locksmiths set 3 and 4 wheel locks to a single number all the time! mostly because the safes are for sale on the show room floor and we set the combo to the customers numbers at the time of sale/install. But yes it is hokey when it is done on the screen.

We have had a few safe rentals to stars or film sets over the years and almost all of them were to single numbers and/or electronic keypad. A famous rock star (No I will not tell you who) had a safe from us for 4 days and it was set to a single number to make it quick to get into. So it isn't totally out of line it just looks dumb and it is if there is anything in the safe.

[wylk]

A recent episode of "Elementary" (yet another update of Sherlock Holmes, this time set in the US with Lucy Liu as Doctor Watson) began with an obvious grab of the basic facts behind the Anwerp Diamond Heist as told to a reporter for Wired Magazine. See http://www.wired.com/politics/law/magazine/17-04/ff_diamonds for example, though parts of the story were debunked in a recent book "Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History” by Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell.

On TV, Sherlock cannot figure out how the thieves got past the electronic challenge-response keypad lock and to eliminate a possibility he attacks the keypad with a fire axe. The door does not open but in the end he figures out how it was done and who did it (as well as a couple of related murders).

[Adrian Weber]

There you go:

The vault door with a S&G Model 0 as far as I can tell it.

[Adrian Weber]

You guys should watch the second trailer...
I think it is shown in the trailer that Superman gets thrown against that vault door by something and I believe that THE man of steel can cause damage like that :D

[ruffus]

I don't remember just what movie it was, but the premise has the thief/bad guy/good guy? inside the safe by way of a ceiling vent (far fetched enough) and the authorities are on the outside trying to get in and catch him. Of course the tech can't remember the combo (it is an S$G 6120 electronic lock) so the US Marshall pulls out his holster cannon and shoots the keypad! And magically the door swings open! I have been missing out on a lot of fun all these years using a drill rig!

[wylk]

I don't remember just what movie it was, but the premise has the thief/bad guy/good guy? inside the safe by way of a ceiling vent (far fetched enough) ...

The ceiling vent scenario actually was used in Denver in 1982 at a private safe-deposit company. The vent was improperly installed and the thieves simply unscrewed four large bolts on the roof causing the vent assembly to fall into the vault. In this case they were never apprehended; the alarm system was not hooked up because the owner never successfully negotiated a contract with the alarm company. It sounded VERY much like an inside job, or at least inside information. The bad guys were stopped when they opened a box booby-trapped with tear gas.