I'm not a fan of Empire Magazine - too much fluff, not enough Kim Newman - but I do like their monthly top tens.

The Top Ten Greatest Shooutouts

First of all (I like their sidebar that explains the criteria) - there's no mexican standoffs, since they're not shooting, they're standing. No duels - too organized. No war battle scenes. No silliness - lightsabers, laserguns etc. Only one gunfight per director. Just unruly gunfighting with characters you're supposed to love/hate.

10. Cop Land
- The final shootout, as we follow along the deafened shotgun-toting sherriff

9. Open Range
- Realistic, dirty gunfighting between the freegrazers and ranchers

8. State Of Grace
- Stylish slo-mo homage to old westerns, as Terry goes to work in the bar while the St. Patrick's Day parade goes by outside

7. Leon (The Professional)
- The climax, where Stansfield attempts to get rid of the thorn inhis side by bringing "Everyone"

6. The Matrix
- The lobby scene, as a regular gunfight is elevated to new coolness by bending the laws of physics

5. The Untouchables
- Another homage, this time to Eisenstein, as the G-men square off on the steps of the train station, innocents - and a baby - in the crossfire

4. Once Upon A Time In The West
- Sloooooooooow buildup with a niiiiiiice payoff, as three gunmen await Harmonica at the train station - only to find they've brought two horses too many

3. Heat
- How do you make a gunfight in LA look realistic? Have De Niro, Kilmer et al get trained by the SAS. Result; bloody magnicent cinema.

2. Hard Boiled
- The hospital gunfight; it's long, it's got a huge body count, and yet no-one runs out of bullets or hits a baby.

1. The Wild Bunch
- The "Battle Of Bloody Porch", which used more firepower than was used in the actual conflict the film was set against...


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So, whatdya think? I think it's a fairly good list, though I'd throw the hotel shootout in True Romance in there somewhere.

The hallway shootout in Equilibrium!

Bad Boys 2 had some excellent shootouts.

Thats actually a pretty good list. Leaving "The Killer" off is unforgivable though.

Out of these 7 that I've seen, the only one I disagree with is The Untouchables. Baby carriage, bah.

It looks like they could only chose one from John Woo.

I still would have chosen several of the shootouts from "The Killer" before any in Hard Boiled. Quality over quantity.

No True Romance? No Good, Bad, & The Ugly? That list sucks hard.

I don't see what is so great about the hotel shootout in True Romance. Its just a bunch of guys pointing guns at each other and a bloodbath ensues. The pillowfeathers add some atmosphere but to consider this one of the best of all time is going overboard.

I'll also add Terminator and Terminator 2 should be on that list.

The warehouse scene in Hardboiled is superior to, albeit shorter than, the hospital scene, I think. Also, one of the best shootouts I've seen comes at the end of an otherwise lame HK movie called Pom Pom and Hot Hot.

The end shoot outs in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Reservoir Dogs, L.A. Confidential, High Noon, Unforgiven.

Or the one chaplin did, don't remeber the name of the film.

Took the words out of my mouth

What about the shootouts in The Way of the Gun? I liked the one where they tried to escape with J. Lewis.

Not a bad list. It's nice to see HARD BOILED at number 2, but the list needs more Woo. Also, the nightclub shootout at the end of Ringo Lam's FULL CONTACT was very innovative at the time, with its "bullet's eye view" type camera work, and still looks great.

One of the best.

I love Reservoir Dogs to death but I still to this day don't understand the facination with the shootout. Its not even really a shootout. Its a great scene, very tense. The guys just shoot each other though. Its not one of the great shootouts. Only 4 shots are fired, for christ sake.

They're not 'shootouts' as far as the list is concerned. One criterion was that there be no mexican standoffs - which is exactly what they are.


As for LA Confidential, I don't the shootout's that great - just a necessary step toward the magnificent end.


As for the hallway scene in Equilibrium... oh yeah, I'd add that. All dark except for gunblasts? Perfect!

I was going to bring that up about GBU..really a standoff. And others are saying why not "The Killer" and "Hard Boiled" or "True Romance" and Resorvoir Dogs"...read the OP..only one movie per director..so you got to pick one or the other.

I did love the shootout in "Grosse Point Blank" with John Cusack and Dan Akroyd that ended up with Dan

Time and Tide by Tsui Hark has some good ones. The train station, the apartment complex and the depository.

during the apartment complex shoot out, does this end in a massive explosion with around a dozen stuntmen engulfed in flames and a slow unedited camera lock on the burning men... the reason I ask is that I saw a Tsui Hark film a number years back that I simply can't remember the name of. This film that you've described sounds vaguely familiar.

In terms of silliness- my fave shootout or battle is the ending of 'Robocop II - let's see how many innocent bystanders can we mow down.

That was my immediate reaction to reading the list....

I would have put HEAT at number one, w/ WILD BUNCH at number two.

Amazingly, I pretty much agree with the whole list. I'd change the order around slightly, but if I had to choose 10, odds are I'd pick the same films (with the exception of Cop Land perhaps).

Miller's Crossing: Danny Boy scene.