In an attempt to save some money on gas and wear and tear on my car, I've been renting movies lately instead of taking my usual trips to the big cities.

One old favorite I recently watched was 'Witness', with Harrison Ford. Not that I've ever been into a real gunfight myself, but I never realized until now that the gunfight in the underground garage scene between Danny Glover's and Ford's characters seemed pretty realistic as far as movies go. There was no long drawn out sensationalism or other nonsense, and Ford's character, not realizing he had been hit until later and taking days to recover is the type of thing that can, and indeed has happened in real life. Even the sounds of the gunshots in the film didn't sound like the typical "hollywood" gunshots most of us are all accustomed to. The best part is that this was before most LEO's switched to semi-autos so we didn't have to deal with the typical 'semi-auto' cliches that most of today's filmmakers can't seem to resist (If I'm not mistaken, wasn't Ford's gun a Model 19 2&1/2" Combat Mag???).

Another movie that probably has one of the best gun battles ever filmed is the bank robbery scene in 'Heat', with Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, etc. I watched this several times and came away quite impressed and feeling that this would be as close to the real deal if that had actually happened as yet captured on film that I'm aware of.

Of course, those of you in LEO and the Military who were in actual gun fights may laugh at this thread, but it is not too often when Hollywood even comes close to portraying any kind of realism in gun battles.

Feel free to post your favorite examples of realistic gun battles on film. I need some more movies to watch!

.. This could be a very fun thread*

----> Low Down Yankee Lier - YouTube

~ Joe

Can't offhand think of a good movie scene, but the scene in the detective novel, "Spiral" by David Lindsey, where Sgt. Stuart Haydon shoots the guy who just used a machine pistol to kill his partner is the most realistic gunfight in literature that leaps to mind. He sprayed the bush where the bad guy was with his 9mm Beretta and killed the opponent, then sat with his dead partner as he waited for the approaching sirens to reach them. He was in a state of near shock, which I found pretty authentic.

Oh: in, "Treasure Isand", when Jim Hawkins shoots the guy with the dirk from atop a mast, that seemed real, too. I believe it was in the movie version, also.

Maybe we need a separate topic about gunfights in books. ?? I don't want to interfere with this movie gun thread.

The movie gun fight that immediately comes to my mind is the one in Open Range with Kevin Costner, and Robert Duvall. I think that it has to be my favorite. From the planning laying behind the water trough. Costner walking up to the bad guy, and giving him a blast in the head, through to the town folks chasing the last bad guy out behind the buildings.

Best Wishes,
Tom

Then gunfight between four professional gunmen in Appaloosa.

Took about ten seconds. Everybody took a hit. Best quote Ed Harris character "That was over quick." Viggo Mortensen character reply "Everybody could shoot."

I like Open Range, however they perpetuate the Hollywood myth that a shogun can blow somebody through the side of a building.

In Witness Ford used a 2" Mod 10 with the round half moon front sight.

Glover had a 4" Mod 28

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

This gunfight in the rain from "The Quick and The Dead"
Shot in The Balls (The Quick and The Dead movie).wmv - YouTube

I know a lot of people think the North Hollywood bank robbers influenced the shoot-out scene in "Heat", but it was actually the other way around. I remember reading somewhere that the movie producers hired ex-SAS troopers as advisors and they demonstrated the "shock and awe" tactics used to break an ambush. I know a lot of people didn't really understand the concept of "violence of action" until they saw that particular scene in the movie. Also, in the movie "Collateral" with Tom Cruise, they also used an ex-SAS trooper to teach Cruise how to handle a handgun like a pro.

Regards,

Dave

I liked the movie, and have seen it probably a dozen times, but I sure wish I could find one of those fifteen shooters that Costner has when he fans it into the bad guys at the opening of the ball.

My all time favorite movie gun fight:

Water Hole #3:

Bad guy calls good guy out. Bad guy standing in the street, typical gun fighter. Good guy comes out of the bar, walks around his horse, pulls out a rifle, lies it over the saddle and shoots bad guy before bad guy even starts to go for his gun.

Classic.

I don't really remember the details of it but there's a shootout in the movie "Heist" between Gene Hackman and his guys, and Danny DeVito and his guys. They're all pretty much career criminals, but that doesn't necessarily translate into firearms proficiency or tactical smarts. I remember them all being very uncoordinated and uncomfortable with shooting the guns, stumbling around, not at all happy about being in a gunfight and scared - the way you'd expect guys to really be when being shot at.

At the end of it, Danny Devito is lying wounded and Gene Hackman is standing over him with a shotgun (a reversal of positions for Hackman compared to his role in Unforgiven). DeVito says, "Don't you want to hear my last words?" Hackman replies, "I just did."
Blam!

This is the second time I've thought of that movie in response to a thread here in the past couple of weeks - I need to find it and watch it again.

From what I have read/heard, the director, Michael Mann, sends all of his actors in his action movies to a shooting school so that they might learn the basics of proper use of firearms. In the case of "Heat" I read that it was Gunsite for this movie. However it was done, the cast looked as if they knew what they were doing, and that flick probably tops the list of "realistic" gunfights, at least IMO.

That's not a myth! It's true! I saw it happen once on the Internet!

Well Boys,

Y'all can say what ya want....But, gettin caught in a water trough with a
neck'd blond headed woman could lead to a lit'l fight of sorts in the picture shows, as well as in real life.


Steve McQueen & Linda Evans - Tom Horn ( 1980) - YouTube



A fight don't always end up in a shootin' spree

The Grey Fox - YouTube






Dis-claimed:

The few dust ups I've un-willingly participated in...Weren't no fun a tall.

Movies are sometimes entertaining, but not very long on the real world kind of social conflicts.

I've been to the big city and I've saw the elephant...Been throw'd into a couple of stand offs and what-knots,
(up close and personal, where you could smell the peanuts) one of which was aliken to sumbody was gonna get
hurt real back in the next breath er two. It ain't no fun...I don't care what Hollywood sez.

Su Amigo,
Dave

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

In the "extra features" on the Heat DVD it shows the actors training with live ammo. I think it shows Deniro and Kilmer shooting. That shootout in Heat was scary as...well, it was really intense. The best I can think of.
Sane is my favorite movie, but I'm pretty burnt out on it right now. In later years i have a little problem with Shanes's buckskin outfit in 1889. In the big shootout that was posted earlier shane draws a Colt SAA and shoots "Wilson". Wilson fires his gun as he falls and it's a double action revolver. Shane spins around and shoots the other guy but now he has a Colt double action Model 1878 and just fans his left hand over the top as he shoots. Here it is here.

The last 10-15 minutes of "Thief" with James Caan.

The last time I heard, he was an anti-gunner, but somebody obviously taught him how to handle an M1911 in a very professional way.

I thought the last shoot out in the film "L.A. Confidential"
was pretty good.

Anybody see the latest James Bond movie? One of the bad guys at the beginning has a Glock 18 with a beta mag and just goes around spraying 9mm like it's nobodys business and somehow manages not to hit anything important (but one shot to Bond in the shoulder) after clearing the beta mag (100 rounds?) and 3 or 4 30 round stick mags...

I've never been in a gunfight or a war, but I was in a more than a few burning buildings in my career. I suspect that most Hollywood depictions of combat or LEO gunfights are about as accurate as Hollywood depictions of firefighting...which is to say not very. (For the record: Backdraft was laughable and Ladder 49 was actually pretty realistic.)

Now then, having said that...

One of my favorite Hollywood gunfight scenarios is the climax of High Noon. Gary Cooper, on his own, abandoned by his friends and neighbors, standing up to the bad guys...

High Noon Shootout - YouTube

My CCW instructor used a clip of the "briefcase" scene from that movie to illustrate how quickly a gun fight unfolds. He also reviewed it step by step, and cited it as an example of pretty much perfect technique.

The clip can be seen by searching for 'Collateral "Briefcase" Scene - Tom Cruise (HD)' on youtube

I've got one for you: Saturday I flipped through a movie on sci-fi channel where this desert area was overrun by giant 'camel spiders'. When the army shows up (with requisite b-grade 'hot chick') their super-duper M-4's have unlimited ammo of some new variety of which I was unaware. Turns out that, this new ammo does NOT eject spent casings when fired! Wow! I am headed over to that 'series of tubes' known as 'the internet' to attempt a purchase of a large quantity of this 'caseless' ammo!

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But then, what do I know?

I like the one where Ralphie uses his Red Rider to fight off the robbers in "A Christmas Story".

It's more entertaining than most for sure. I seem to be alone in this but I thought that scene in "Heat" was so over choreographed I laughed most of the way thru it. So I guess it was entertaining too!

Thief with James Caan. The end scene was pretty good.
The gunfight in History Of Violence in the diner was close also.

tom horn starring steve mcqueen .he shows raw nerve as badguys are hastily firing a hail of bullets in his direction ,he calmly grabs his 45-60 rifle aims and fires. also the shotgun fight was pretty good, bad guy's head was "displaced" much like a milk jug does when shot with 3" ssg ...or a coyote at twenty feet with same (takes more than one trip to clean up debris)

Excellent movie. Probably James Caan's best movie outside of his role in the first Godfather movie and the Killer Elite. Excellent Soundtrack by tangerine dream, and one of Director Michael Mann's (Miami Vice) first movies. Also one of the first on-screen roles from a very underrated actor Dennis Farina. Also Tuesday Weld

That gunfight scene at the end seemed to me to be one of the more believable ones in film. Having had zero exposure to a real gunfight.

Raiders of the Lost Ark had a most realistic gun fight. When Indy drew and used his S&W hand ejector to defend himself against an Arabian sword guy.

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Halfway and one more step

I kind of like the basement shootout in Inglourious Basterds. The talky and self-conscious lead-in was all Hollywood, but with the first two shots the slow scene turned into a fast and uncontrolled explosion of barely comprehensible action. I would imagine that any gunfight involving a bunch of trained and well-armed people in a confined space would be something like that, particularly when half of those involved didn't know a fight was coming and had to figure out in about a second which side they should be on.

Yeah, Thief. Haven't seen that in years. I need to watch it again.

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David Wilson

i like this one from Boogie Nights. warning, contains strong language.

Boogie Nights Jessie's Girl - YouTube

Haven't seen it for awhile but I recall James Caan's character in Way of the Gun being pretty realistic.

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Pray for Gridlock

I always thought the opening scene in
"The Shootist" was realistic. A highwayman tries to rob J.B. Books. Books responds by gut shooting him with a hideout gun that was inside a wallet holster.

"You need to find another line of work..." or something like that in
dialogue.

I like Clint Eastwood in the "Unforgiven" No out in the midle of the street you draw first at high noon stuff, just down and dirty and deadly with a shotgun in the saloon, and handgun earlier in an outhouse. For pure Hollyweird B.S. I like Bruce Willis in "The Last Man Standing" I mean who can't take two .45's and just plow through the bad guys like knock em' down pins?

One of the great movie lines...........



Su Amigo,
Dave

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Like someone else said I too have seen the elephant, gunfight w/three armed robbers early in my LEO career. I was armed w/a Colt Det. Spl. and emptied it twice to save my hide. While I do recall seeing muzzle flash, the fight was in a parking lot after dark, but I never heard a thing.

All of the movies mentioned are good ones but none come close to the real deal, no way they could or maybe should.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

I've never seen this movie. Thanks for the heads up!

Very good! You must be a real S&W guy!

I knew they were Smiths but wasn't sure which models.

I remember a scene in the awful movie 'Stick' with Burt Reynolds where the albino bad guy pulls out has big revolver and blows this guy clear 20' into a swimming pool. And this was just a revolver mind you.

It was on of the most ridiculous examples of the Hollywood "blow away" I've ever seen!

My DI said, you get into a knife fight, figure you gonna get cut! The climax of Taxi Driver=everybody got shot.

I saw a pretty good one in Boardwalk Empire last night. If you don't follow the series, it takes too long to explain!

If you hadn't named it, I would have!

That's my favorite movie gunfight scene. I'd be willing to bet that it happened a lot!

I have to second the nod to last night's Boardwalk Empire finale. That was the best cathouse cleanout since Tommy Lee Jones and William Devane teamed up in Rolling Thunder.

Richard Harrow, a WWI vet who wears a tin mask to cover his gruesome facial wound, used his entire gun collection working his way through a crowd of over-their-heads gangsters to rescue a little boy.

Not a clip, but this gives you an idea:

'Boardwalk Empire' Season Finale Recap: 'Margate Sands'

Attached Images

richard-blood-650x364.jpg (42.8 KB, 42 views)

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Rule of law, not a man.

No, not at all realistic, but it's got some great lines. Here's the best:

"Looks like you'll have to kill me. -It'll hurt if I do."

I remember seeing the film with some Army buddies when it first came out in 1981. Most of the people in the audience, myself included, laughed when we saw Caan clearing the house using, at the time, unknown techniques such as "down and scan", and "pie-ing a corner". I do know that once I got home, I tried "pie-ing a corner" an was amazed at how practical that technique was. I believe I read somewhere that Caan had gone to Gunsite to learn his gun handling skills.

Regards,

Dave

"Heat" as they leave the bank and Val Kilmer is yelling "move!"

I just remembered that the remake of, "The Getaway" with Kim Basinger and (I think) one of the Baldwins was pretty good. I saw the original with McQueen, too, but don't recall it well enough to comment.

The shootout in the hotel was quite good.

Hollywood, of course, goes in for drama and a lot of shots fired. Real gunfights are usually over rather quickly, I suspect. I wrote one in a book that I'm authoring, and I think it reads well. One of the two punks holding up a gas station/convenience store had a nickled Chinese Tokarev in 9mm and the other had a bright Taurus 9mm. The hero detective used his S&W M-66, one of the few revolvers still on the job, although he isn't an old guy. One thug turned to run and caught a 145 grain .357 Silvetip in the neck.

If I ever sell movie rights, I hope they don't change that scene much. I thought about it quite a bit. Got another gunfight coming up, at longer range. It'll be "real", too.

I liked the scene n, "A Bridge Too Far", where the general played by Connery shot the German through a window with his .45 auto.

"Heat" was released in 1995, while the North Hollywood shoot out took place in early 1997. One of the most realistic firearms film scenes I can recall.

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I'm with the banned ...

He was a sniper during WW! who had gotten gassed and is horribly disfigured. When the mob ran him out of the "house", he just smiled, nodded and walked out. I just thought "Oh, ****!"

I knew it was going to be bloody when it showed him getting ready (after being chased out of the cathouse), he opened up a US Property box, took out a Colt Model M, what looked like a Remington and, I think, a 1907 Savage. Then a 1917 Colt and a 1917 S & W. A VERY sawed of pump and a scoped 1917 Enfield. I'm pretty sure there was a 1911 in there also.

I like westerns and shooutouts and action stuff as much as the rest--but-- without any commentary---folks---no one yet has explained the absolute emptiness, stress, anger, fear and disdain left after it is done with.
It is not washed out with a bottle.
It lingers.
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

How about Judge Roy Bean with Paul Newman? There were several shootout scenes but I liked the one where Bad Bob the Albino comes into town (played by Stacey Keach) looking to kill Roy and he's standing in the street calling the judge out. Back behind Bad Bob you see a door in a steeple open up and the Judge puts a hole you can look through right through Bad Bob. One of the other characters says to the Judge that it didn't seem as though Bad Bob had a stand up chance. The Judge answers back "Stand up hell I was laying down steady my aim." Great line!
Len

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Endeavor to persevere

I love Christopher Walken and his Thompson and the little guy with his Colt Dragoon? at the end of the movie when he takes out a bad guy.

"The Way of the Gun" contains -at the end - what amounts to an extended lesson in using a Colt Series 70 1911 in action. It even features one handed reloads do to injuries. Everyone went to Gunsite if I recall.

The Wild Bunch: The Making Of The Final Shootout. - YouTube

~ Joe