[Outsider]

Alright, there have been a lot of good gun fights and a lot of bad gun fights in the movies. What is your favorite and your worst (most hated) gun fight scene that you've seen on the Big Screen?

Favorite
Personally I've always been a fan of John Woo and his movie "Face/Off" with John Travolta and Nicholas Cage. The gun fight in the hanger, at the gang's pent house and in the church are fabulous in my opinion. I personally want Cage's two golden 1911s (at least that is what they look like) and his small of back holster as seen here:

I really do love that movie.

Worst
Over all Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" that end scene was terrible. Okay, yeah, they are the best at what they do, but come on!!! Yeah, I loved it but at the same time hated it.

Funniest
"Shoot 'Em Up" is probably the funniest gun movie I've ever seen. It is a modern Bugs Bunny (Clive Owen) verses Elmer Fudd (Paul Giamatti) and I loved it! It was an overall terrible movie, but it was funny as heck. Giamatti's line always cracks me up, "My god! Do we really suck or this guy really that good?" Yeah, loved it overall, but terrible movie.

 

[GeneticsDave]

Probably the funniest is the gas station scene in the first few moments of Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo & Juliet". You gotta love the colors, the engraving on the 1911s and John Leguizamo as Tybalt:

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And the gun play scene later on Verona Beach:

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[Outsider]

Probably the funniest is the gas station scene in the first few moments of Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo & Juliet". You gotta love the colors, the engraving on the 1911s and John Leguizamo as Tybalt:

Pic 1

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And the gun play scene later on Verona Beach:

Pic 4

I hear you there. R&J was a good movie, I liked the adaptation to modern day, very well done.

 

[Jeff Johnson]

I still think that the best gunfight movie scene ever was the lobby scene in The Matrix. Very cool!

 

[Outsider]

I still think that the best gunfight movie scene ever was the lobby scene in The Matrix. Very cool!

Yes, very good indeed.

What about "realistic" gun battle, if there is such a thing in Hollywood?

 

[Guest]

For a few dollars more. Near the end of the movie where Lee Van Cleef and Clint Eastwood are cleaning up the bad guys and the pocket watch.

Once upon a time in the west. When Harmonica (Charles Bronson) finally fights Frank (Henry Fonda); also my favorite movie.

 

[Jeff Johnson]

I don't know what movie I would characterize as the worst gun fight movie, but what really irks me is all the stupid Hollywood mistakes they make when actors are handling guns. When an actor brings a gun up to aim it, why does the gun always make a metallic sound? It's always the same canned sound, too. Are we supposed to believe that all the guns they use (including revolvers) have safeties that the operator clicks off when bring them up ... and that they all sound alike?

And why do actors have to rack the slide time and again through the same scene? For dramatic effect? Sometimes they do that with pump shotguns too.

And why, when an autoloader runs out of ammo, does the actor keep pulling the trigger, click click click?

There's one particular scene in the move Heck Boy (sorry, had to account for the automatic word censor), where the young FBI agent is firing his autoloader. The gun is so obviously a fake movie prop, that it was worse than usual. Not only did it have absolutely no muzzle rise, it actually looked like a prop or a toy.

 

[GeneticsDave]

Saw a clip from Street Kings where Keanu (actually held the gun correctly with his index finger along the slide), but his partner friend Detective Paul Diskant (Chris Evans) walked around the whole time with his booger picker on the bang switch - drove me CRAZY!!!! :nilly:

 

[divegeek]

I don't know what movie I would characterize as the worst gun fight movie, but what really irks me is all the stupid Hollywood mistakes they make when actors are handling guns.

Hollywood does a lot of stuff for dramatic effect. For example, when someone hangs up on you, you don't instantly hear a dial tone, but that's how it happens on-screen because the audience needs a clue. Likewise, racking the slide indicates "getting ready for a gunfight", and it actually makes sense to always use the same "click" noise when a gun is brought up, because it gives a consistent message to the viewers.

It often makes sense to stray from realism a bit, in the interest of dramatic clarity.

However, in the same vein as your post, my favorite bad Hollywood gun-handling technique is the "face ready" position. Cops and others in movies and on TV often hold their handgun up next to their face, pointing upward, while preparing to enter a door, etc., even though that's a really bad "ready" position. Not only does it mean that your gun is far out of position in case you have to use it, an AD in that position will certainly deafen you and the muzzle blast will probably tear up your face and may blind you. With a revolver, leakage from the front of the cylinder can act like a knife blade -- not what you want across your face.

I know why they do it, of course. They want dramatic closeups of the actor's face, but they also want the gun in the frame. If the gun is held at a more realistic low ready, Sul, etc., they have to pull way back to get the gun and face in the frame together, and then you can't make out subtle expressions.

In spite of knowing why they do it, it really bugs me every time I see a gun held an inch from an eyeball, with the finger on the trigger (another error, obviously -- but I wouldn't hold a gun there even with the finger alongside).

 

[rdoggsilva]

My best shoot out is to last one in Open Range. The worst to me is the shootout in the new Stagecoach.

 

[Mazellan]

I like the one in Indiana Jones when he is faced with a sward wielding opponent and he just laughed and puled out his revolver and shot the guy.

 

[xmirage2kx]

There is always Pulp Fiction... When Jules shoots Brett, his gun becomes empty and the action retracts. When viewed again, the action does not retract.

 

[ian husford]

I like the one in Indiana Jones when he is faced with a sward wielding opponent and he just laughed and puled out his revolver and shot the guy.

Does anyone know the story behind that scene or does anyone care?

I like the gunfight in M.A.S.H. after they watch My Darling Clementine where there are no guns, no bullet, and yet everyone dies but comes back to life when the ambulance shows up.

ian

 

[xmirage2kx]

I like the one in Indiana Jones when he is faced with a sward wielding opponent and he just laughed and puled out his revolver and shot the guy.

Does anyone know the story behind that scene or does anyone care?

I like the gunfight in M.A.S.H. after they watch My Darling Clementine where there are no guns, no bullet, and yet everyone dies but comes back to life when the ambulance shows up.

ian

Wasn't he sick, and did it as a joke because he didn't want to be there that day.

 

[Jeff Johnson]

Wasn't he sick, and did it as a joke because he didn't want to be there that day.

That's close to the story I heard in a "Making of" special. Yes, he was ill that day and didn't want to do the strenuous scene, so he discussed this alternative with the director. The director accepted the idea and the rest is history.

 

[apollosmith]

I watched a bit of Tremors the other day. While it's not particularly accurate gun wise, I love the scene where the worm creature breaks into the gun nut Burt Gummer's bunker and he promptly dispatches it with an elephant gun. He then gives perhaps the best gun line ever: "Broke into the wrong *$%*^@ rec room, didn't you!"

Oh, and Reba provides a little full-auto help.

 

[Jeff Johnson]

:lol2: Tremors is a great movie! I can't resist watching it whenever it comes on T.V.
It's so entertaining ... and who can resist a little red-headed lady with a big gun?

 

[GeneticsDave]

and who can resist a little red-headed lady with a big gun?

Wowzers! Someone have a red-head fetish? :ROFL:

I want that Elephant Gun! :gun5:

 

[xmirage2kx]

I want that Elephant Gun! :gun5:

Yeah... but could you imagine the price of ammo :jawdrop:

 

[Outsider]

:lol2: Tremors is a great movie! I can't resist watching it whenever it comes on T.V.
It's so entertaining ... and who can resist a little red-headed lady with a big gun?

That is how my dad is with Jaws. Take a look at the two movie cases, they are basically the same.