Switchblades in movies

Bladeswitch · Sep 10, 2014

The Knife in the Eye of The Needle has been discussed over and over and what the switchblade collecting community has determined after contacting many European makers that this knife was a movie fantasy but I do know one maker that tried to reproduce it. It was a valiant effort probably worked very well but it was not to exact specs of the movie version. If I win the lottery I will have it built.

Bladeswitch · Sep 10, 2014

ssdesigner hey did you get my PM?

ssdesigner · Sep 11, 2014

Sorry for not replying yet, Blade. I'm still on the fence with this one. It's not that I don't want it, but I like the hunt enough to maybe see if I can find one a bit cheaper. It really doesn't even need to work in fact. As long as I could prop it up in the open position I would be happy.

-Ss

Bladeswitch · Sep 11, 2014

No problem It works perfectly, I understand about the hunt collectors are all cut from the same cloth.

ed-209 · Sep 13, 2014

Here's what I had in my files on "the Needle" I know some are replicas and not all the info is correct but it all fits in with the look of the prop.
Ed

Doppelganger01 · Sep 13, 2014

Thank you, Ed! That is an interesting piece.

Rick

Bladeswitch · Sep 14, 2014

This knife was not in production it was a prop The automatic knife newsletter was a resource for switchblade collectors when there was none but it had many inaccuracies, here say and rumors more than facts If some one could contact Mr. Sutherland and ask him if he really does have the knife in his personal collection and if he does not I would love to know any information he has on the knife or the name of the prop master at the time. The replica was made by one of my forum friends (a knife forum) its more of a tribute then an exact replica just for it massive size. I would love any new information.

CB2001 · Sep 15, 2014

I don't know if this counts as a switchblade or not (since it comes out of the front), but Geraldine, used by Mr. Roat, from Wait Until Dark comes to my mind.

ed-209 · Sep 15, 2014

Bladeswitch said:
This knife was not in production it was a prop The automatic knife newsletter was a resource for switchblade collectors when there was none but it had many inaccuracies, here say and rumors more than facts If some one could contact Mr. Sutherland and ask him if he really does have the knife in his personal collection and if he does not I would love to know any information he has on the knife or the name of the prop master at the time. The replica was made by one of my forum friends (a knife forum) its more of a tribute then an exact replica just for it massive size. I would love any new information.

Exactly...that's why I said " I know some are replicas and not all the info is correct but it all fits in with the look of the prop " It's just an interesting set of collected info.
I don't think, after all these years, that we'll ever find out any info or uncover the real prop ( I Highly doubt they would have allowed Sutherland to keep the prop as it stated )
Kudos to your friend making the replica. He did a great job!!!!

Bladeswitch · Sep 15, 2014

Its a gravity knife but to me if you push a button to release a blade Its pretty! There were a lot of gravity knives used for military purposes mostly paratroopers for safety reasons a lot were cheap and guys would modify these very easily, this was a well thought out well made prop.

morlar · Sep 15, 2014

Great thread Sir!!

Always remembered the impact of first seeing the blades when i was young in the scene in "The Terminator" where a naked Arnie meets the gang
"Your clothes... give them to me.. now" ..
Well you know the answer and the blades appearence only inforces their response

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-TmQ1ktaLU

VonMagnum · Jul 17, 2020

An old thread, but perhaps there's still interest around here? I just watched North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock 1959) and it appeared the real "Townsend" diplomat guy got a switchblade thrown into his back. Does anyone know which one was used in the film?

The style has at least a passing resemblance to the switchblade Mutt had in IJ & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull except in black instead of buffalo horn, but you can't really see the blade in that photo (can't snapshot iTunes stream as it just blacks out, but even where the blade is shown it's a distant shot (oddly no blood for him supposedly pulling it out of the man's back).

My replica of Mutt's Switchblade for comparison (Frank Beltrame Stiletto 9" in Buffalo Horn):