4. Death Wish 3 Was A Life-Saver
In Death Wish 3, the weapon of choice for vigilante Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) was the Wildey Magnum, a powerful semi-automatic pistol. Wildey J. Moore, the inventor of the pistol and founder of the Wildey company,has admitted that, just before the film was released, his business was dangerously close to bankruptcy. But then along came Bronson, bringing him back from the brink. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the movie single-handedly rescued the company. Not only did the film lead to record sales of the Magnum but Moore claims that he can tell when the film has been repeated on TV as sales begin to spike again. A similar effect occurred upon the release of Dirty Harry. Given the weight of a certain speech, sales of the Smith & Wesson Model 29 (on which the legendary .44 Magnum was based) suddenly, er, shot through the roof.