[post number 9]
The position of James Dean's hand in the poster is not quite a standard position for "the straight shooter sign" because the thumb is pointing in the same direction as the palm. If the hand in the picture were to be turned a quarter of a rotation, to the standard handshake position, then the thumb would be in the "hammer down" position. It is easiest to think of a revolver when thinking of the thumb as the hammer of a gun, which causes the firing pin to hit the bullet when the trigger is pulled. The "hammer down" position of the thumb when a person is doing the shooter sign, can be to the side of the index finger, forming a flat "v" when looked at from above [except that the line of the index finger is longer], or, when the hand is allowed to relax at the wrist, such as when resting an elbow on something, the thumb is held against the knuckle of the index finger and the person bends the end of the thumb back as far as it will go. With this hand position where the wrist is relaxed, the index finger is not straight but instead held in a slight curve, to disguise the hand sign a bit. But it still noticeably resembles the barrel of a gun, to a person who knows of the sign. In Southern Europe the thumb and index finger sign makes more of a reference to a compass, so the thumb down position is down further, pointing diagonally at the ground, and is closer to being in the position of the thumb down position from the Colosseum in Rome.
The shooter sign ,"hammer down", and the sign of the compass with the thumb down both appear overwhelmingly in the various media rather than in daily life. They both appear in photography, television programs, movies and other media, but they have different meanings. The sign of the compass with the thumb down can either indicate a negative judgment being passed, or that the person doing the sign requires a higher than normal degree of operational cover in their situation.The shooter sign, "hammer down", when pointed at someone, has meant that the person being pointed at, has been bonded to the Masons like the person doing the sign. The image that is suggested is of a revolver with the hammer not cocked back. When the hammer of a revolver is cocked back, it sets the gun ready to fire with a slight pull of the trigger. The appearance of a revolver in television "cop shows", as well as in movies, where the process of cocking back the hammer is shown, has often been used to send a general Masonic "mafia" sign through these media, providing psychological reinforcement to those who are bonded to the Masons.)