Burt Gummer
Encyclopedia
Burt Gummer is a fictional character, played by actor Michael Gross
, from the Tremors
film series and the short lived SciFi Channel TV program of the same name. Appearing in Tremors
, Tremors 2: Aftershocks
, Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
, and most episodes of the TV series, Burt Gummer is a firearms enthusiast and a paranoid
, survivalist, right-wing, anti-government, gun nut. He and his former wife, Heather Gummer (played by Reba McEntire
), were the first persons in the film series to directly kill a Graboid. He has an "overkill" approach to trouble and takes himself deadly seriously. Although he is only the central character in Tremors 3 and the TV series, his eccentric personality has made him a favorite among Tremors fans and the de facto star of the franchise, along with the vicious Graboid
s who oppose him. His ancestor, Hiram Gummer (also played by Gross), appears in Tremors 4: The Legend Begins
.
Burt settled in the town of Perfection with his wife, Heather (Reba McEntire), sometime before Tremors 1, a site they chose tactically due to its geographic isolation. It was later revealed in Tremors 4, however, that his ancestor Hiram Gummer (again played by Gross) inherited a silver mine in the town (which was named "Rejection" at the time), and went on to marry the local town-mistress. Stampede Entertainment's official website states that Hiram and his wife left in 1902 for San Francisco after a disagreement with Nevada bureaucrats over the date of the town's founding, and never returned (which may hint at the origins of Burt's anti-government sentiments).
Whether there is any direct connection between these events and Burt's choice to move to Perfection is unknown, but prior to the events of Tremors 3, Burt did possess an inheritance of silver bars from Hiram's ownership of the mine (as referenced in Tremors the Series). This massive inheritance also explains Burt's extensive weaponry and supplies, though some of the weapons may have been inherited as well, as Hiram developed a fondness for firearms over the course of Tremors 4.
In the first film, Burt was shown to be paranoid about surviving World-War III, and his main cause as a survivalist. He had spent all of his years preparing for the possibility, building a stock of several years worth of food and provisions in his home's bomb shelter. After the graboid attacks of Tremors 1, Burt instead begins to worry less about World War III (possibly owing to the collapse of Soviet Russia, after which he sank into a deep depression as seen in Tremors 2), and becomes obsessed instead with Graboids, growing more obsessed with each new installment of the series, even having a massive underground concrete wall built to protect his compound.
His regard to the final surviving albino Graboid from the end of Tremors 3 and the subsequent TV series, El Blanco, who is protected by his endangered species status (and inability to spawn the far more dangerous Shriekers, making him the only stable Graboid specimen ever found), is as something of a nemesis, as Burt must balance his survival tactics with efforts to intentionally avoid harming the Graboid.
One controversy is how he gets his weapons and ammo, despite all of his guns being legal (except a SMG
he is seen to own, though it may be a National Firearms Act
registered weapon, and therefore lawful), the bullets for the Grizzly Big Boar
and Barrett M82 .50 caliber BMG
sniper rifle
he wields are a topic that could be debated. How he obtained a minigun
legally is also questionable. While it is possible he obtained them illegally, his repeated interactions with Department of the Interior official W.D. Twitchell in Tremors the Series made implications that Twitchell kept a close eye on all activity in Perfection valley, making it less likely that Burt accomplished illegal imports unnoticed. It is also possible that he undertook a special NFA
process to purchase completely legal transferable title II weapons, which would include any of an array of sub-machine guns or even his minigun.
Burt has had many firsts and unique experiences with graboids, having been the first to directly kill one via weaponry (the first was killed when it accidentally collided with a concrete wall at high speed), as well as being the only person to ever survive being eaten by a graboid, having been eaten while inside a barrel; the graboid was subsequently killed and cut open, allowing Burt to escape and survive. Burt has also probably killed more graboids and their offspring than any other person, having taken out one in the first film, many of them with explosives in Tremors 2, having defeated an entire group of shriekers by himself during Tremors 2, another group of Shriekers in the start of Tremors 3, a number of the assblasters in Tremors 3, and a number of Shriekers in Tremors the Series. Recognized for his skill and expertise in the matter, W.D. Twitchell of the Department of the Interior often enlists Burt to deal with graboid hatchings in various populated areas of the United States when they occur.
Many fans enjoy the character's over-the-top paranoia of the government, and his seriousness virtually always being used as humor in context of the plot. Some fans also take note that the character is seen wearing assorted Atlanta Hawks baseball caps in almost every appearance. His consistent behavior and portrayal throughout the series is regarded as one of the greatest strengths of the entire series.
Additionally, while Burt's role in the first film was as a side character and his role in the second was still secondary, many find him to be the star of the franchise thanks in part to his "mucho gusto" appearance in Tremors 2, escalating the situation greatly upon his arrival in the film, and his subsequent starring roles in later appearances were received very well by most fans of the franchise.
Michael Gross (actor)
Michael Gross is an American television, movie, and stage actor who plays both comedic and dramatic roles. His most notable roles are as the father Steven Keaton from Family Ties and the Graboid hunter Burt Gummer from the Tremors franchise.-Early life:Gross was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son...
, from the Tremors
Tremors (film)
Tremors is a 1990 American science fiction horror comedy film directed by Ron Underwood, based on a screenplay by Brent Maddock and S. S. Wilson, and starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire...
film series and the short lived SciFi Channel TV program of the same name. Appearing in Tremors
Tremors (film)
Tremors is a 1990 American science fiction horror comedy film directed by Ron Underwood, based on a screenplay by Brent Maddock and S. S. Wilson, and starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire...
, Tremors 2: Aftershocks
Tremors 2: Aftershocks
Tremors 2: Aftershocks is a 1996 action-horror-sequel to Tremors, in which the character of Earl Bassett, returning from the first movie, is hired to deal with a subterranean "Graboid" infestation at a Mexican oilfield. It was directed by S.S. Wilson, and stars Fred Ward, Christopher Gartin,...
, Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
Tremors 3: Back to Perfection is a direct-to-video 2001 comedic monster movie, the third in the Tremors series featuring the subterranean worm-creatures dubbed "Graboids". It was directed by Brent Maddock and stars Michael Gross...
, and most episodes of the TV series, Burt Gummer is a firearms enthusiast and a paranoid
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
, survivalist, right-wing, anti-government, gun nut. He and his former wife, Heather Gummer (played by Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
), were the first persons in the film series to directly kill a Graboid. He has an "overkill" approach to trouble and takes himself deadly seriously. Although he is only the central character in Tremors 3 and the TV series, his eccentric personality has made him a favorite among Tremors fans and the de facto star of the franchise, along with the vicious Graboid
Graboid
The graboid is a fictional species that acts as the primary antagonist of the Tremors film series. As Suzanne Ferriss and Mallory Young explain, the "destruction of 'graboids', as they are quickly dubbed, becomes the central tension of the film." The creature made its debut in the 1990 film...
s who oppose him. His ancestor, Hiram Gummer (also played by Gross), appears in Tremors 4: The Legend Begins
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins is a 2004 straight to video movie, that premiered January 2, 2004 on the Sci-Fi channel. It is the fourth film in the Tremors series of monster films. It is a prequel to the earlier movies.-Plot:...
.
Development
In an interview, when asked, "Did you ever think that Burt would become part of a franchise?" Gross replied, "I knew it was an intriguing character." The actor goes on to assert, "Well, I love Burt. You know, there's a little scene in the third movie that is quintessential Burt. Burt is so fear-driven that he's a paranoid, ultimately, but a comic paranoid. And there's a scene in which he goes up to his house to punch in his keycode on his pad. But before he does, he takes a good look around and stands in front of the pad - there's nobody there for miles! - but he blocks the keypad with his body. Because Burt would rightly assume that there's somebody in the hills with a high-powered telescope who wants his keypad information, wants the code. Now that's the level of paranoia. Does it get funny? Yeah, because it's just so over the top. I love that. I love that about him. It's inherent in the fact that he has no sense of humor. It's because he doesn't consider life funny that we find him funny and his extremes which are so marvelous in human behavior....And one of the great things I love about Burt and what the writers do with him is he will prepare himself in certain ways and then we find out that, once again, he's not prepared because the animals have mutated in such a way that they've found a way to get around his best defenses. He couldn't possibly plan for every contingency and he thinks he has."Background
Although very little is known about Burt's past, it has been hinted that he might've been involved in the military, and at the very least possesses extensive knowledge of military history, tactics, and protocol. Burt has also had an affection towards guns since middle-school, evidenced by his telling Desert Jack that he "converted [his] BB gun to automatic by the eight-grade." While he is very fond of his firearms, he is also strict about personal safety and care in the handling of firearms.Burt settled in the town of Perfection with his wife, Heather (Reba McEntire), sometime before Tremors 1, a site they chose tactically due to its geographic isolation. It was later revealed in Tremors 4, however, that his ancestor Hiram Gummer (again played by Gross) inherited a silver mine in the town (which was named "Rejection" at the time), and went on to marry the local town-mistress. Stampede Entertainment's official website states that Hiram and his wife left in 1902 for San Francisco after a disagreement with Nevada bureaucrats over the date of the town's founding, and never returned (which may hint at the origins of Burt's anti-government sentiments).
Whether there is any direct connection between these events and Burt's choice to move to Perfection is unknown, but prior to the events of Tremors 3, Burt did possess an inheritance of silver bars from Hiram's ownership of the mine (as referenced in Tremors the Series). This massive inheritance also explains Burt's extensive weaponry and supplies, though some of the weapons may have been inherited as well, as Hiram developed a fondness for firearms over the course of Tremors 4.
In the first film, Burt was shown to be paranoid about surviving World-War III, and his main cause as a survivalist. He had spent all of his years preparing for the possibility, building a stock of several years worth of food and provisions in his home's bomb shelter. After the graboid attacks of Tremors 1, Burt instead begins to worry less about World War III (possibly owing to the collapse of Soviet Russia, after which he sank into a deep depression as seen in Tremors 2), and becomes obsessed instead with Graboids, growing more obsessed with each new installment of the series, even having a massive underground concrete wall built to protect his compound.
His regard to the final surviving albino Graboid from the end of Tremors 3 and the subsequent TV series, El Blanco, who is protected by his endangered species status (and inability to spawn the far more dangerous Shriekers, making him the only stable Graboid specimen ever found), is as something of a nemesis, as Burt must balance his survival tactics with efforts to intentionally avoid harming the Graboid.
One controversy is how he gets his weapons and ammo, despite all of his guns being legal (except a SMG
SMG
The initials SMG may refer to:* Submachine gun* Boston University School of Management* Senior Management Group* Sequential manual gearbox, BMW's name for its version of an electrohydraulic manual transmission...
he is seen to own, though it may be a National Firearms Act
National Firearms Act
The National Firearms Act , 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, , enacted on June 26, 1934, currently codified as amended as , is an Act of Congress that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms and mandates the registration of those firearms. The...
registered weapon, and therefore lawful), the bullets for the Grizzly Big Boar
Grizzly Big Boar
The Grizzly Big Boar is a .50 BMG sniper rifle developed by L.A.R. Manufacturing Inc., a gunsmithing firm headquartered in West Jordan, Utah. It comes in a variety of finishes, from Standard Blue to Stainless Steel. Aside from these finish options, the rifle is a Bullpup single-shot gun, also...
and Barrett M82 .50 caliber BMG
.50 BMG
The .50 Browning Machine Gun or 12.7×99mm NATO is a cartridge developed for the Browning .50 caliber machine gun in the late 1910s. Entering service officially in 1921, the round is based on a greatly scaled-up .30-06 cartridge...
sniper rifle
Sniper rifle
In military and law enforcement terminology, a sniper rifle is a precision-rifle used to ensure more accurate placement of bullets at longer ranges than other small arms. A typical sniper rifle is built for optimal levels of accuracy, fitted with a telescopic sight and chambered for a military...
he wields are a topic that could be debated. How he obtained a minigun
Minigun
The Minigun is a 7.62 mm, multi-barrel heavy machine gun with a high rate of fire , employing Gatling-style rotating barrels with an external power source...
legally is also questionable. While it is possible he obtained them illegally, his repeated interactions with Department of the Interior official W.D. Twitchell in Tremors the Series made implications that Twitchell kept a close eye on all activity in Perfection valley, making it less likely that Burt accomplished illegal imports unnoticed. It is also possible that he undertook a special NFA
National Firearms Act
The National Firearms Act , 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, , enacted on June 26, 1934, currently codified as amended as , is an Act of Congress that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms and mandates the registration of those firearms. The...
process to purchase completely legal transferable title II weapons, which would include any of an array of sub-machine guns or even his minigun.
Burt has had many firsts and unique experiences with graboids, having been the first to directly kill one via weaponry (the first was killed when it accidentally collided with a concrete wall at high speed), as well as being the only person to ever survive being eaten by a graboid, having been eaten while inside a barrel; the graboid was subsequently killed and cut open, allowing Burt to escape and survive. Burt has also probably killed more graboids and their offspring than any other person, having taken out one in the first film, many of them with explosives in Tremors 2, having defeated an entire group of shriekers by himself during Tremors 2, another group of Shriekers in the start of Tremors 3, a number of the assblasters in Tremors 3, and a number of Shriekers in Tremors the Series. Recognized for his skill and expertise in the matter, W.D. Twitchell of the Department of the Interior often enlists Burt to deal with graboid hatchings in various populated areas of the United States when they occur.
Reception among Tremors fans
Burt was a popular character after the first Tremors movie, garnering enough popularity to be one of the only two original cast-characters to make a return in the second movie, and the only character to make an appearance in every Tremors movie, as well as the TV-Series, and the only character to retain the same actor throughout all appearances. (Although Burt himself didn't appear in Tremors 4, his grandfather Hiram did, a character with a similar but initially toned-down personality that plays off of Burt's nature, and thus is often regarded among fans as if it were another appearance of Burt.)Many fans enjoy the character's over-the-top paranoia of the government, and his seriousness virtually always being used as humor in context of the plot. Some fans also take note that the character is seen wearing assorted Atlanta Hawks baseball caps in almost every appearance. His consistent behavior and portrayal throughout the series is regarded as one of the greatest strengths of the entire series.
Additionally, while Burt's role in the first film was as a side character and his role in the second was still secondary, many find him to be the star of the franchise thanks in part to his "mucho gusto" appearance in Tremors 2, escalating the situation greatly upon his arrival in the film, and his subsequent starring roles in later appearances were received very well by most fans of the franchise.