50 Best Movie Shoot-Outs

Young Guns (1988)

The Shoot-Out: The Young’uns, trapped in a house by Murphy’s (Jack Palance) men, decide to shoot their way out.

The Weapons: Period-specific Colts rule the day, with Billy The Kid (Emilio Estevez) favouring the Colt Lightning.

Coolest Kill: A suitcase is thrown out of the window, only for Billy to emerge firing.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The Shoot-Out: A bar full of Nazis realise they’ve been infiltrated by British offer Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender).

The Weapons: The scene is pretty much a love letter to the Walther brand.

Coolest Kill: “Say auf wiedersehen to your Nazi balls!”

Witness (1985)

The Shoot-Out: Bent policemen stalk good cop John Book (Harrison Ford) in an Amish barn on their hunt for witness Samuel (Lukas Haas).

The Weapons: The baddies bring shotguns to the party, but Book has a better idea.

Coolest Kill: Who needs guns when you can unload a corn silo onto a gunman’s head?

The Kingdom (2007)

The Shoot-Out: Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) and Janet Mayes (Jennifer Garner) lead an assault on a building occupied by terrorists.

The Weapons: The goodies – mostly Heckler & Koch. The baddies – whatever they can get, including RPGs.

Coolest Kill: Fleury tosses a grenade into the room where the guy firing the rockets is hiding.

Smokin' Aces (2006)

The Shoot-Out: The Neo-Nazi Tremor Brothers destroy a security team in a hotel, only to realise they’ve left Sir Ivy (Common) unharmed. Oops.

The Weapons: Mostly M3s and SIGs.

Coolest Kill: Sir Ivy shoots one of the Tremor brothers until he falls on his own chainsaw. Ouch.

Barry Lyndon (1975)

The Shoot-Out: Brattish Lord Bullingdon (Leon Vitali) challenges his step-father Barry Lyndon (Ryan O’Neal) to a duel.

The Weapons: Flintlock duelling pistols.

Coolest Kill: Nobody dies – this is a botch job. Having misfired first time, Bullingdon’s second shot only wounds Barry in the leg.

Miami Vice (2006)

The Shoot-Out: Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) instigate a firefight about drug lords and Aryan supremacists at the Port of Miami.

The Weapons: Tubbs has a Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun while Crockett wields a SIG SG 552 rifle.

Coolest Kill: Classic roll ‘n’ shoot stuff from Tubbs.

Equilibrium (2002)

The Shoot-Out: John Preston (Christian Bale) goes on the rampage against his old pals in the thought police.

The Weapons: When not using swords, Preston rocks a futuristic update of the Beretta 92FS.

Coolest Kill: Preston shoots two guards while upside-down during a reverse somersault.

Shane (1953)

The Shoot-Out: Shane (Alan Ladd) confronts crooked Jack Wilson (Jack Palance) in a bar.

The Weapons: These guys are cowboys, so they use a cowboy's gun - the Colt Single Action Army.

Coolest Kill: “I’ve heard you’re a low-down Yankee liar,” Shane tells Wilson. “Prove it.” He does.

Straw Dogs (1971)

The Shoot-Out: David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) defends his home against an invasion of drunken, sadistic Cornishmen.

The Weapons: Plenty of guns, but David also improvises with boiling cooking oil and a man trap.

Coolest Kill: The man trap over the head treatment for rapist Charlie (Del Henney).