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Favorite Movie Shootouts

6433 Views 33 Replies 20 Participants Last post by  goo
In the vein of the Oh come on!! movie moment thread, I wanted to start a discussion on your favorite shootout scenes.

I'm not talking about realistic per se, just adrenaline-pumping and all-around action that makes you want to hit the range. Yeah, I know that the Die Hard movies and the Lethal Weapon movies are some of the best action flicks, but their attraction to me comes from nostalgia and great plots...not so much from the shootouts.

Off the top of my head, the best shootout scenes in terms of pure craziness is Bad Boys II. I know it's a mindless, stupid movie, but the quantity of heart-pounding shootouts and car chases is nearly unbeatable.

Shooter has a couple of good outdoor scenes, but the rest is too hokey.

Heat is a staple for exciting, realistic shootouts. Heck, pretty much anything Michael Mann directs has impressive gunplay. Miami Vice has one or two decent scenes, but the gun reports are too subdued. The club scene in Collateral is pretty sweet.

Most recently, I've discovered The Way of the Gun, which is intense because it's believable without getting into the buzzkill territory (like how badly your ears would ring). Incredibly fun to watch when there isn't an Xbox 360 controller nearby...
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The Wild Bunch simply because it started it all when speaking of realistic gunfights, Sam Peckinpah brought this genre to the screen, still used today. Great to see early 1911's, Winchester 1897 pumps and pre-WWI bolt action rifles.


For more recent movie thrills I'll go with Tears of the Sun.

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Heat. By far the best scene. There's no music or special effects. Just an awesome movie.
I, too, think Heat is the absolute best shoot-out scene ever. The first 20 or so minutes of Saving Pvt Ryan wasn't too shabby either. John Scull
I think one of my older favorite shootout scence is in Deperado with Antonio Banderes ( or how ever you spell his name ) i think its the part in the bar when he runs his hand thru his hair and grabs the double barrel on his back, been a long time since I have seen it, I might think is sucks now but I use to like it a lot.
briscoetab said:
I think one of my older favorite shootout scence is in Desperado with Antonio Banderes ( or how ever you spell his name ) i think its the part in the bar when he runs his hand thru his hair and grabs the double barrel on his back, been a long time since I have seen it, I might think is sucks now but I use to like it a lot.
how about the entire movie of Blackhawk Down?
The .50 ambush and the final shootout in Michael Mann's version of Miami Vice, the lodge shootout in Public Enemies (also by Mann), the scene when Tom Cruise airs out the two goons who try to steal his briefcase in Collateral (Mann again). Both of the ambushes in The Last of the Mohicans, and of course the exfil from the bank robbery from Heat that people already mentioned. ALL of those are directed by Michael Mann--he's the best gunfight director in the business right now--maybe ever.
Oh, I almost forgot: the confrontation in Tombstone between Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo. "You're no daisy--you're no daisy at all."
I like The Way of the Gun too. Very inventive, it looks really good and has some cool one-handed reloads and stuff. Like was said before, it pushes right up to the edge of "Oh Come On" territory without actually going there.
I second the motion for Heat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7hTvLfifb4

Also although while not exactly classifying as "shoot-outs" per se, the following films that immediately come to mind definitely deserve honorable mention for specific combat scenes.

Saving Private Ryan: The Omaha Beach Landing. Just brutal and horrific.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZgKo46X8CI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKpn0Hbb_Jg&feature=related

Rambo (2008): A handful of Burmese pirates catches Rambo ferrying missionaries upriver, and Rambo unleashes the full fury of his concealed 1911 on the would-be rapists/murderers in a blazingly quick barrage of lead-slinging prowess. A very gratifying resolution to the predicament.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dK1TpZq3mM
Rambo making Burmeseburger with the M2 at the end of his last flick is good too.

I actually like the climactic battle in Saving Private Ryan better than the beach landing. When Sgt. Horvath empties his 1911 at that Gerry then throws it at him--classic.

And while it isn't a gunfight per se either, that gay elf guy in those Lord of the Rings movies raises hell with a bow.
If we can stretch it to "battle scenes", then hell yes, Lord of the Rings trilogy is chock full of them.

Mel Gibson movies are some of my favorites including the Patriot, Apocalypto, and Braveheart, which are all full of heart pounding scenes of battle. I'm sure I'll catch hell for this, but to me, it seems like Mel Gibson just "gets it." He makes movies for people with patriotic hearts.

Here's a couple clips from one of my absolute favorite movies, Master and Commander. "The Far Side Of The World" Battle scenes 1 and 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E794rTPa4nA&NR=1
That kid in Master and Commander is a hardass.
I haven't seen The Patriot but I've heard good stuff.
The scene in The Siege when the counter-terrorist team comes in on those bomb-maker guys is cool. Ronin has some good-looking shooting in it too. Although why DeNiro doesn't bust open all the cars in the ambush with that grenade launcher instead of tossing it back in the car and pulling out that minimi is beyond me. He's a hell of a shot with that HEAT launcher though.
The scenes in Generation Kill when they're driving through those hostile towns are intense--lots of the "shaky cam" stuff as popularized by SPR and Band of Brothers for that "you're in the shit" feel.
For pure tension, the sniper standoffs Enemy at the Gates are great.
And, again loosening the parameters to include hand-to-hand combat, Beatrix Kiddo lays into the Crazy 88's with extreme prejudice in Kill Bill.
Uh Oh. Don't get started with hand to hand because I will have to go old school on you and name drop Rowdy Roddy Piper in ............wait for it............."THEY LIVE"!!!!!!!!!!
They Live--I've seen better film on teeth!
But they did have a nasty fight, in an alley wasn't it?
The only good thing about that movie was that it inspired the "Cripple Fight" in South Park.
Check out "Zombieland" with Woody Harrelson. Right up your alley guys :wink:
I'm DYING to see that!! (no pun intended)--"Waddaya think? Zombie Kill of the Week?"
Oh, yeah 3000 Miles to Graceland!! Ice T ziplining upside down with Uzis akimbo!! Priceless.
I'm not implying They Live is a good film, but that fight did go on forever. It does remind me that we need an entire thread about the futuristic technologies in Escape From New York though. :lol:
Like scopes mounted on suppressors that are, in turn, mounted on full-size Uzi's.
+1 for Heat.
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