50 Best Movie Shoot-Outs
Guns. Lots of guns
The Boondock Saints (1999)
The Shoot-Out: FBI agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe) pieces together a firefight between Il Duce (Billy Connolly) and the McManus brothers Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus).
The Weapons: Well, Il Duce is strapped up with six different types of handgun. It’s that kind of film.
Coolest Kill: “One of our shooters dropped to his knees,” Smecker explains - and then we flashback to the outcome.
Desperado (1995)
The Shoot-Out: El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) is caught with a guitar case full of guns by a bar full of enemies.
The Weapons: To be fair, he’s spoilt for choice, but his preference is a pair of Ruger KP90s.
Coolest Kill: El Mariachi initiates the killing by revealing two guns hidden up his sleeves.
Children Of Men (2006)
The Shoot-Out: A riot gets out of hand at Bexhill-on-Sea refugee camp. Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is caught in the crossfire between military and rebels.
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The Weapons: Tanks, RPGs and all kinds of craziness to push the definition of "shoot-out" towards the boundary with "full-scale combat."
Coolest Kill: Nasty grebo Patric (Charlien Hunnam) is picked off by a sniper, at the back of the frame. He doesn't deserve a close-up.
The Way of the Gun (2000)
The Shoot-Out: Career crims Parker (Ryan Phillippe) and Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro) are ambushed in a building with very thin walls.
The Weapons: Parker and Longbaugh are both fans of the Colt Series 70 handgun, although they diverge on rifles, using a Remington 870 and a Galil Model 332, respectively.
Coolest Kill: Longbaugh spots a telltale toe poking around the corner. One to the foot, one to the heart.
The Killer (1989)
The Shoot-Out: Hitman Ah Jong (Chow Yun-fat) and cop Li Ying (Danny Lee) form an unlikely alliance to see off a Triad attack on the church they’re holed up in.
The Weapons: Various, although Ah Jong favours the Beretta 92F.
Coolest Kill: Ah Jong slides backwards along the floor, a gun in each hand, blasting a gangster.
Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
The Shoot-Out: Three gunmen (Woody Strode, Jack Elam, Al Mulock) wait at a train station to kill Harmonica (Charles Bronson).
The Weapons: Most are using Single Action Army revolvers, but Strode’s gunman uses a sawed-down Winchester 1892.
Coolest Kill: “Looks like we’re shy one horse,” the killers reckon. Harmonica gets mathematical: “You brought two too many.” Bang, bang, bang.
The Terminator (1984)
The Shoot-Out: “I’ll be back,” Arnie promises. And he is, to massacre an entire police station.
The Weapons: The Terminator only needs a SPAS-12 shotgun and an AR-18 assault rifle.
Coolest Kill: We see a cop dodge behind a wall in Terminator-vision. Arnie tracks the movement and blasts through the wall.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
The Shoot-Out: Mexican stand-off, as Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) arrives to finger traitor Mr Orange (Tim Roth) only to find that Mr White (Harvey Keitel) is having none of it.
The Weapons: Smith & Wessons seem to be standard issue amongst Cabot’s crew.
Coolest Kill: Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn) – but who shot him?
Django (1966)
The Shoot-Out: Faced with a wall of masked killers, Django (Franco Nero) reveals what’s inside the coffin he’s been dragging around...
The Weapons: ...Namely a massive machine gun. Apparently it's a fictional model, although it’s based on the real-life Mitrailleuse belt-feeding model.
Coolest Kill: The killing is pretty indiscriminate. Coolest moment is Django shooting arch-villain Major Jackson (Eduardo Fajardo) off his horse with a pistol just to prove a point.
Leon (1994)
The Shoot-Out: Corrupt cop Stansfield (Gary Oldman) sends in a SWAT team to get Leon (Jean Reno). Big mistake.
The Weapons: Leon's weapon of choice, a Beretta 92FS, is all he needs against a variety of assault rifles.
Coolest Kill: A hand appears from above the apartment door and closes it behind the SWATs.