Nov 06 2008
The 10 Best Movie Gunfights of All Time
There are some moments in cinema that you never forget, and a lot of my favorite ones involve an unruly amount of firepower. These ten bullet-laden scenes have been selected for their status as iconic moments, but also there’s also a few that earn a place on pure style points alone. The carnage begins after the jump.
10) Tombstone – The OK Corral
One of the most famous gunfights in real world history, the onscreen adaptation in Tombstone made the legend come to life. Val Kilmer is a dead-eye as Doc Holiday and poor Thomas Hayden Church never had a chance. Tension breaks 4 minutes in.
9) Terminator 2 – Do No Harm
The only shootout on the list where no one gets hurt, Arnold’s Terminator is under direct orders from John Connor not to hurt humans. But that doesn’t include their cars. Whipping out his trusty minigun (why do they call it that anyways?) he shreds the police cruisers until they all run away terrified. Human casualties: zero.
8 ) Shoot Em Up – Roll in the Hay
I really did hate Shoot Em Up, but I have to hand them the innovation prize to orchestrate a gunfight where the participant, Clive Owen, is literally inside Monica Bellucci for the whole thing. The video is a bit NSFW as you might imagine, but there’s no outright boobie action.
7) Heat – Run and Gun
This is possibly the most unnecessary and over the top gunfight in movie history. What started as a bank robbery turns into a city-wide firefight with automatic weapons. The bodies pile up and you start to think that they really probably could have gone about this whole thing another way.
6) Desperado – Bar Crawl
Before Robert Rodriguez was adapting graphic novels and banging Rose McGowan, he was making low budget action flicks like Desperado. If you don’t think this deserves a spot on the list, take a look.
5) Equilibrium – Puppy Guardian
There were a few clips from the often overlooked sci-fi thriller Equilibrium that could have gone here, but nothing tops Christian Bale and his gun-karate acrobatics in this scene. And there’s also a puppy! Aww. Shooting starts at the 3:30 mark.
4) Boondock Saints – Through the Ceiling
It’s probably the most clumsily executed gunfight ever, but also one of the most effective. The poor Russian mobsters never knew what hit them. Good thing they brought that rope eh?
3) Scarface – Go Down Swinging
Sure it’s not remotely based in reality, as any one man probably can’t take on an entire drug cartel for more than five seconds, but it’s still one of the most iconic gunfights in cinema 25 years later. And of course it’s paired with one of the most memorable movie lines to date, “Say ‘ello to my little friend!”
2) Wanted – Storm the Gates
I had mixed feelings about Wanted as a whole, but my jaw was on the floor during this minute and a half that can only be compared in terms of awesomeness to the final scene on our list. It’s more a ballet than it is a gunfight. Check it out at the 7 minute maker.
1) The Matrix – Lobby Scene
Often copied but never duplicated, the lobby scene opened our eyes to action sequences we never envisioned to be possible. I’m not sure how many times I watched this clip, but it never gets any less cool. And nothing will ever beat the metal detector intro.
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Total B.S. I can see this was done by someone under 30. Rent “The Wild Bunch” and maybe a few other movies made before 1998.
FAIL.
Try the gunfight at the end of Open Range. It has the most badass start to a gunfight I’ve seen in years, and certainly tops the freakin’ Matrix for classic appeal.
No John Woo?
EPIC fail.
Often downloaded but never duplicated?
You have missed out on a lot…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhGrA0KwkVg
Another excellent one is the finale of True Romance.
I mean, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Is FAIL the new PWNED? Schadenfreude is so typical of the geeky Internet culture. It’s pathetic and yet amusing.
What?! No Pulp Fiction? No, “say What again!”?
Thank you I was going to scream that there was no John Woo, Watch Hardboiled or The Killer.
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@Hari Seldon
I wouldn’t call that a gunfight, more of a one sided massacre if anything. Thou you could consider some of the gunfights in “the Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and “Once upon a time in the west”, real one sided fights.
Face/Off, the final shootout between Archer and Troy.
Or The Killer, the final shootout in the church.
How about “The Way of the Gun” Probably the baddest and the most realistic gun fight ever!
Personally, I thought the opening gun fight from Equilibrium was a lot cooler than the puppy scene.. but that one was pretty freaking awesome too.
The big fight scene in Hot Fuzz. Sure it’s a parody, but it’s awesome in its own right.
yes, you are right on sir, I can’t believe I forgot that one, I love that movie
I must reiterate, John Woo was the inspiration for at least half of these gun fights. Hard Boiled’s factory scene or one of the hospital scenes must be on this list. If you don’t want to open the flood gate of asian awesomeness, at least put faceoff there. The mirror is scene is pretty epic.
The “mini” in minigun references the design. It’s based on previous models like the Vulcan or the Avenger; all of these were multiple-barreled cannons, firing 20mm or 40mm shells. The minigun fires a 7.62×51mm NATO round, just like out of an assault rifle.
hAHAHhAhAhAhhAHahahahahAH@ silentsanta’s indian matrix
I can’t BELIEVE the gunfight scene in Open Range did NOT make this list!! That HAS to be one of the best in ANY movie ever filmed!
What about the train station staircase scene in The Untouchables?! Far better than any modern shootout scenes!
I liked this list. I think that if Equilibrium made it, then one of the scenes from UltraViolet should have made it as well. Same director, and same fight choreographer.
[…] ten best movie gunfight scenes of all time There were a few clips from the often overlooked sci-fi thriller Equilibrium that could […]
You forgot this gem from Raiders of the Lost Ark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DzcOCyHDqc
No one says that there has to be more than one shot to make GREAT scene.
Yea, seriously. No John Woo?
Hard Boiled has some great scenes, not to mention the hospital long shot.
A Better Tomorrow II has the brilliant mansion shootout near the end.
Bullet in the Head has a bunch of good ones.
Also, Wild Bunch?!?!@ Come on.
What about main characters trying to survive gunfights they don’t want to be involved in? Children of Men, storming the refugee camp long shot, sublime. The Pianist, the jewish revolt. etc.
Unforgiven perhaps?
Also, I don’t remember these well, but what about Snatch, Lock Stock and two smoking barrels, etc, brit crime pics.. maybe they are more style than blow-em-up substance but..
Sidenote: Would you count war movies? D-day in Saving Private Ryan could be considered a pretty nasty gunfight…
Good list, keep em coming
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Very good… but this is my ranking
http://blogs.elcorreodigital.com/culocortos/2008/12/5/culoranking
It’s hard to call some of these “fights” when the whole movie is one huge “fight”. I agree with Desperado, Matrix, and Scarface; however the other one’s are all just big action hard-ons people like Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay fantasize about. Now Children of Men, that is an awesome scene. I was blown away by the continous shot sequence and if you haven’t seen it…do. Also, its not really a gunfight, but the bridge scene from “Duck You Sucker” is really fun to watch. Oh and John Woo films.
I cannot believe that anyone has not referenced the gunbattle in HEAT, after the bank robbery coming out, one of the best automatic gunfights
got to agree as mentioned previously..the wild bunch should go down as a true pinnacle. pure brutality.
ok nobody remembers true romance? cops vs. mob vs.drug dealers/movie directors vs.christian slater and elvis
Is the stair case at the start of scarface the smae one as in the second matrix film the scene where they meet the frenchman and the Twins
The Minigun is the smallest gun that can be mounted on an attack helicopter, and when compared to OTHER guns mounted on aircraft, is pretty small. However, even compared to a guy built like Arnold, it seems pretty huge.
Director Sam Peckinpah’s Gun battle finale in “The Wild Bunch” and the final gun battle in “The Magnificent Seven” Along with a newer western movie’s gun battle in “3:10 To Yuma”
It’s pretty crazy that The Wild Bunch isn’t on this list. Also, the final showdown in Good Bad & Ugly.
I’m going to scold you for John Woo like everyone else … and add the finale of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Because sometimes tension is the best part of the fight.
And actually, the gunfight in the International is pretty sick. It’s the best thing about the film.
You should just do a “10 more greatest gunfights” list.
Anyway, two words: Wild Bunch
Of all the gunfights that you find unnecessary and unreal is from the one movie that went to extreme lengths be realistic?
Take this chance to watch the behind-the-scene footage of “Heat;” not only because it shows how realistic that shootout really was, but because it will also open your eyes to events that have actually happened (IE: the LA shootout back at that Bank of America).
Great list. But I can’t believe you left off the Hospital Fight from Hard-Boiled. How can you have a list of the best gunfights in movies and not have a single John Woo film mentioned. For shame, sir. For shame.
End of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly tops all these.
I would add Gunfight scenes from Devil may cry 3 and mybe 4 too. yeah, its no movie but it IS cool and it is MoCap, so it is somehow real. never forget how dante and Vergil fight on that rainy tower roof.
Yeah nice selection. I have another scene - it is out of the movie “Four Brothers”. One of the very few movies where some people actually run out of ammo and DON’T have another 100 ammunition clips stored away in the tight pockets of their jeans and have to use what is lying around as weapons. Only downer is a used knife which has the lotus effect - no blood on it after repeated use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz2sblKMsI0
Why are so many people into John Woo movies anyway? Okay we have all the right to our own taste but for me John Woo’s movies are unbelievably cheap. The cutting, the five million bullets one gun can have, the indestructible hero. In comparison to the hero of a John Woo movie Die Hard & John McClane are placed in reality.
In my it is no action but a scifi movie like Matrix.
I’m sorry, I know this isn’t a real gunfight, but it’s just as good as anything out there….
Presenting “Spaced” and it’s take on male telepathy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P7dileY9sY
I would nominate the Equilibrium end fight above the puppy fight. It’s more dynamic and fluid, and also more of a “fight”.
In the same vein as the Heat shootout scene, you forgot a similar scene in terms of semi-realistic style, namely the showdown scene from Way of the Gun. Not only is it better shot and stylized, it is also a gazillion times more realistic. There are lots of awesome small details they got spot on. And you gotta love the little nod to style-over-substance-Woo-inspired movies when Philippe’s character takes a heroic dive into the fountain, which ends a little different than expected.
Also of course, the usual Woo suspects: ABT2 mansion scene, The Killer church scene, Hard Boiled endless hospital showdown (including the unedited long shot where they clear 2 floors of the hospital)
New school HKBO is pretty good as well. Johnny To does an amazing job at shootouts, sometimes even surpassing Woo. I love the Fulltime Killer apartment building shootout, but his best is in one of his latest movies, Exiled. Can’t really choose the best gunfight there! The restaurant scene is amazing, the doctor’s apartment building + escape is genious, and of course the end scene. And honorable mention goes to the scene with the money truck, where the protagonists decide to help the cop protecting his truck whilst smoking a cigarette.
Another newschool HKBO: Time and Tide. Anyone who has seen this movie knows which scene i mean. The apartment building scene. Guys shooting eachother whilst rapelling from a building, and the cameramen jumping out of the same windows as the combatants. Epic.
I’m with asdf withand skeej regard to “A Better Tomorrow II”:
Fantastic shootout at the end: the white painted baddie’s mansion house is a blood spattered bomb site after the “Resevoir Dog” looking heroes storm in for the finale.
(I am sure this is the film QT nicked the dark-suit-and-shades-look from…)
[…] The 10 Best Movie Gunfights of All Time […]
NICE! hehehe…
Great blog
The gunfight at the end of Open Range beats all of these like a big drum.
Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq3zjTmVLbM
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3agDSq2DJA&feature=related
Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00RfIVn8Yp8
you are missing the gunfight from lucky number slevin fuckin awesomee
No John Woo? This list sucks major league dick!
Unforgiven ??
Just a thought.
What about John Woo’s Face of chapel sequence? X-D
no John Woo is an immediate fail
and even though everyone already said it, I have to protest the exclusion of Open Range
one of my favorite moments in a film, Western or otherwise:
“You the man that shot our friend?”
“That’s right. I shot the boy too, and I enjoyed it.”
*BANG!*
no tense musical build-up
no one-liners
just… bang
also, am I the only person who didn’t hate Shoot ‘Em Up?
I’ve seen all the moview on your list but I only vaguely remember the gunfights in all but Heat. Well done I’m sure, but generic.
So how about the Professional? “Bring E V E R Y O N E!”
P.S. Boondock Fucking Saints!? Have you not seen Overnight?
http://www.ruthlessreviews.com/1668/overnight/
This list is bullshit. Where’s “The Wild Bunch”? Where’s “The Killer”?
Not on this list. Why don’t you make your own?
How the hell isn’t the scene at the end of Way of the Gun NOT on here??? Maybe the most realistic shoot out ever.
@ DJ
Not to be a dick, but have you been in a gunfight? I ask only because you claim how realistic the one at the end of Way of the Gun is. Or maybe you just watch a lot of COPS, I dunno.
[…] 4 – Innuendo There’s something about the way Angelina holds the hard steel shaft of a shotgun and cocks it with a firm passionate grip before spraying a fully loaded round all over her chest at incoming spies in that last scene of Mr. And Mrs. Smith (also one of my favourite cinematic gun battles). […]
[…] wrote a post that now sits on the right side of the site in our hall of fame. It’s called The 10 Best Movies Gunfights of All Time. As time went on, it was pointed out to me that somehow I managed to not include a single John Woo […]
Boondock Saints is a piece of shit movie. Tries be like Tarantino, horribly written and full of stupid moments
Way of the Gun…nice gun fights…the rest of the movie…ehhh…
[…] The 10 Best Movie Gunfights of All Time […]
Does the final major scene from Bugsy Malone count? Splurge guns are guns, right?
I agree with people on the epic fail of not including John Woo.
I also can’t help but express my feeling of nausea after reading Michael Man’s epic and realistically inspired shootout referred to as not only “over the top” and “unecessary” but also somehow THE MOST of BOTH in movie HISTORY! Umm… No. Especially not after listing The Matrix in spot number one or Wanted in spot two. How exactly does this work anyway?
Props for Desperado… Another example of a shootout that is WAAAAY more over the top.
You know also, if you think the shootout in Heat is unecessary. The guards in the lobby shootout in Matrix were probably plugged in. Why don’t they just run around the world shooting everybody they come across if they’re afraid they’ll turn into agents? They usually do anyway.
“are all just big action hard-ons people like Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay fantasize about”
Okay “Dirty” I’m certain you’ve never seen Heat. And if you have you’ve got your facts mixed up - Matrix actually kind of fits the above description *throws up hands* I’m just sayin’!
Yes Children of Men. Agreed, completely, but the main character never uses a gun, so it’s hardly any kind of fight from a subjective standpoint.
End of “Grosse Point Blank” and “Long Riders”
Wow this has to be the worst list I’ve ever seen.
The fact that Heat is not even in the top 2 and the fact that Equilibrium (one of the stupidest movies with the corniest fight scenes ever made) is even on this list, let alone AHEAD of Heat (are you serious?) says it all.
The fact that Open Range (which should be at the top of this list with Heat) is not even on this list is just astonishing.
Worst list ever.
i’m going to chime in on Open Range. Maybe it got points deducted for the interminable, outright painful “ending” that followed… when the gunfight ended, I would have thought the movie a classic; thirty or so minutes later, I wanted one of the bad guys to just shoot Costner and get it over with… just kiss the girl and fade out, Kevin!!!
How about Aliens (2)????????? When the marines first land and they take on the hordes? Definite gun battle, although one side had guns and the other acid and claws!
[…] Greatest gunfights in movie history <Unreality> […]
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@Boondock saints
Alrite get your stupid fucking rope LOL
Collateral; The alley shoot out and the club shootout are the standard for awesome.
Blood Diamond; Fall of Freetown, Air assault on the diamond field
The Kingdom; Ambush scene
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John Woo fans should watch “Hard Target” with Van Damme. Its like watching Seinfeld after someone points out the laugh- track.
yeah, I can’t believe The Matrix is on this list. horrible, horrible stuff. you know, even Terminator 2 borrowed from John Woo’s ‘Hard Boiled’ and that made it on here… but at least Cameron has the decency to acknowledge what he’s borrowing from. The Wachowski’s are hacks.
‘Hard Boiled’ and ‘The Killer’ are *THE* definitive gunfights. and don’t even even bother adding ‘of all time’ unless you’ve done your homework and are really passionate about films. ‘The Good, The Bad and The Weird’ is another film which deserves to be on this list, even though it’s newer. I can think of at least 2 scenes in that movie that should be on here… albeit they’re truncated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKAcpi-kbLk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLHlZ23TAlo
9 out of 10 of these are from the 90’s and on… bah. as far as newer films go for out and out gun slaughter–i’d think Rambo and Punisher: War Zone would be considered.