James Bond and Hasselblad in the Late 80s

Click on the gun to view the original article from eutouring.com

by Skip Cohen

​I know I shared parts of this throwback many years ago, but not much of the backstory. It's such a classic.

I was president of Hasselblad USA from 1987 - 1999, and early in 1988, we got a call from Cubby Broccoli's studio. They were looking for gear that "Q" could use to build a unique gun for James Bond in License to Kill.
 
With help from Carl Claesson, then Hasselblad USA's Service Manager, and Don Snyder, Camera Repair Supervisor, we donated a beyond-repair camera body, magazine, and prism finder. "Q" had what he needed, adding other photographic gear to create the gun. If I remember correctly, the barrel or stock was a carbon-fiber Gitzo tripod leg.

But my favorite part of this throwback story came just after the film had been released. At a Hasselblad press conference in NYC, introducing whatever was the newest camera at the time, we chose to kick off the event and showed the gun, then on loan to us.

It took every ounce of control I had not to laugh as I seriously announced Hasselblad's entrance into military weapons and being awarded a government contract. Taking the A-12 magazine off the camera, I showed it was loaded with six large caliber high-velocity rounds.

I was doing great until I made eye contact with my good buddy, Bob Panarella. Sitting right in front of him was one of the journalists furiously taking notes. That was it - I cracked, along with Bob and most of the audience. 

You can find anything on YouTube. With almost no effort, I found the clip from the film where "Q" shows Bond the new weapon. (The Hasselblad gun comes out around 1:30.)

​Happy Throwback Thursday!

---