The Western Shootout

A shootout is to a Western what visual effects are to modern Hollywood: not always necessary but when done well can elevate the story tenfold. Westerns are composed of the basic ideas of cowboys, railways, gold, bandits, sheriffs, dust ridden towns and the hardness of frontier life. What can bring all these essential ideas together is a bloody good shootout. Kids (used to) play cowboys and Indians and cap guns were sold in a similar way as the lightsabre. Western shootouts are, quite bluntly, iconic. Why assemble a brief list on this matter? Well, they're terrific. 

There is a simple criteria to making this list of greats: they have to be Westerns (period set films chronicling life and it's challenges on the western frontier) and they have to be shootouts: duels, standoffs and grouped teams all qualify but the focus is on the firefight so namely there has to be firearms on both conflicting sides. Battles are not included and neither are train robberies, horseback chases, fistfights or any other imaginable Western action set piece. TV shows and Neo-Westerns have been excluded; as slick as William's little massacres are in Westworld and as tense as Javier Bardem's relentless pursuit of Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men is, they are (for the purposes of not opening can of worms after can of worms) disallowed. Some choices are done on behalf of being different, some on their effective storytelling and character work and some because they are simply fantastic. 

Gunfight at the O.K Corral- Tombstone (1993)

Details: the West's most immortal story sees Kurt Russell's Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday get into a brief but intense firefight which sees the opposing gang all but wiped out.

One of the most reworked standoffs in movie history, the ballad of bullets at the O.K. Corral has had many interpretations. John Ford had his Doc Holliday killed, John Sturges set his shootout in a rather large corral and staged it more in terms of positioning and strategy. But for Tombstone, director George P. Cosmatos (with apparently a lot of behind the scenes help from Kurt Russell) followed the fact. The gunfight is said to have lasted between 30-40 seconds which saw nearly one bullet fired per second at close range. The result is quick jab of adrenaline; Holliday's casual shrug out of his jacket, a quick stare down which features a delightful wink from Val Kilmer and Russell's "oh my god" split seconds before guns are drawn. Virgil and Morgan Earp are wounded and Holliday gets a crafty shotgun kill. It is intense and sprawling despite its confinement. Even though it is followed by a bunch of shootouts after, this is the one that sticks. Kilmer's playfulness was snubbed of an Oscar nomination and here it is on full display. A shootout that could have been averted becomes an unfortunate example of unnecessary Old West violence and draws that line between murder and self defence. 

'One tough son of a bitch'- 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Details: this successful remake sees Christian Bale's stoic rancher transport outlaw Russell Crowe across country to get him on the titular train to jail. Upon finally reaching the train, Bale is shot by Ben Foster's second in command outlaw, seeking to get his boss back. Crowe turns on his own men in fierce retaliation. 

By and large, remaking a Western has been largely successful in the 21st century. This entry is one of two remakes on the list and both are solid films. Directed by James Mangold (who would honour the Western in 2017 with Logan), 3:10 to Yuma is evident that everyone on board knew what they wanted to achieve in this entertaining reimagining. Stories about two men on opposite sides who earn a grudging respect for one another are among my favourite. Christian Bale's Dan Evans is looking for money to help his draught stricken ranch and also a way to regain his honour and win his sons back over. This leads to him volunteering to escort outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) to get him to prison. The two bond right at the end of the journey and just as Evans succeeds and gets a willing Wade on the train, Wade's second in command (Ben Foster) brutally shoots Evans in the back, thinking he is rescuing his boss. Wade is given his pistol back, with Crowe giving one heck of an intense stare that is riddled with calm and composed anger. As Foster's character then realises what is about to happen, Wade draws and executes his gang in moments. He walks up to the swaying Foster and shoots him again point blank. It is an act of redemption that is utterly fitting for the film, as he hops back on his train, allowing Evans' job to be complete. He may not be converted from being an outlaw, but Wade is now a changed man after having seen a man striving for acceptance gunned down in the back. The creaking noise of the train provides a taut score for the original stare off, one that is reminiscent of the windmill at the start of Once Upon a Time in the West. Directing like this is one of the reasons the proposed Boba Fett spinoff movie with Mangold at the helm would have worked, tremendously. 

Munny's Revenge- Unforgiven (1992)

Details: old bounty hunter William Munny (Clint Eastwood) falls back into his dark past after the death and display of his friend Ned outside a saloon. Entering the saloon, Munny confronts Gene Hackman's Little Bill and a small posse of law men, and guns them down with no mercy.

Unforgiven is the full stop on the classical Western, and indeed a full stop on the classical film as a whole. It is Eastwood's tale of the waning of the Old West, combining the Revisionist theory of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance with the stone edged hardness of Clint's earlier Westerns. William Munny (Eastwood) starts the film wrestling with his pigs in the mud. He stays sober and has lost his appetite for killing. If a character starts like that you can bet he won't end like that. Munny is coaxed back into one last bounty hunting mission with his friend Ned (Morgan Freeman). By the end, Ned is dead and displayed outside the front of the town's saloon, which is currently hosting Gene Hackman's cruel Little Bill and his posse of men who want to hunt down bounty hunters and killers. It is the loss of his friend Ned that drives Munny back into his old ways. He has had his drink, he just needs his killing. The rain pours down. Munny walks into the saloon, and the chatter of the men inside stops. Munny asks for the owner of the saloon and then blows him to bits with a shotgun blast. Little Bill labels him for a coward for shooting an unarmed man, to which Munny replies "He should've armed himself if he's going to decorate his saloon with my friend". Eastwood then takes aim at Little Bill. A click, but no blast or blood. "Misfire!" Snarls Hackman and the shootout begins. Munny pulls out his revolver and easily dispatches his assailants. This is a man to which killing and surviving are second nature. With Little Bill left on the floor, Eastwood approaches and pumps him with metal before leaving the town. It is an outstanding scene of tension and subversion, and Eastwood is clearly relishing his final opportunity to direct a shootout. Peppered with great lines just waiting to be impersonated and providing Clint's last truly iconic performance (?), this shootout ensures Unforgiven will not so easily be forgotten. 

The Final Shootout- The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Details: the Magnificent Seven (and the townspeople they are defending) fend off a small army belonging to gold mine tycoon Bartholomew Bogue. Carnage follows.

Sometimes Westerns do not have to be elegiac stories on masculinity, brotherhood, honour and redemption. Sometimes they can just have fun. Antoine Fuqua's 2016 re-remake of Seven Samurai is the latter. It's the Western for the Red Dead Redemption market. This choice is an odd one because it does blur the line between being a shootout or a full blown battle. Numerically, both sides involved are in the double figures and it is staged like a grand battle. It is long and drawn out with numerous beats and pieces to it. But there are guns on both sides, it's a defence of a hard done by people in true Western fashion, and it is not a historically inspired set piece. It is a shootout, just massive. Whilst Fuqua does a reasonable execution of a standoff earlier in the story, it's the titanic clash between the Seven, the villagers and the large force of hired goons that is most memorable. Denzel Washington slides down the side of his galloping horse to exchange bullets, Chris Pratt channels Steve McQueen and Vincent D'Onofrio is crazy as the hunter cutting his opponents down. There is the predictable machine gun reveal but there is also some fun dynamite explosions, a bit of trench warfare, trapped horse riders and some stylish knife and bow skills on display. But again I must reiterate: this is still a shootout not a battle. There is a lot of fun to be had counting up each of the Seven's kill streaks, and they do get very stacked up- actually even if this is sounding more like a battle it is still staying on this list. A massacre can be 10 people or 500 so why can't a shootout? And this is the most entertaining Western showdown on the list. It's awesome.

'Low down Yankee liar'- Shane (1953) 

Details: Alan Ladd is Shane, a gunfighter helping a village. His involvement leads to a confrontation in a bar with hired gun Jack Wilson (Jack Palance), who is beaten to the draw. Two others are caught in the gunfight and Shane walks out, wounded.

Shane and Wilson have already eyed each other up at this point. Two lethal gun fighters on either side of a land feud that, when it comes round to this scene, just seems like an excuse for these two titans to clash. Shane is at the bar and Wilson (a menacing and sinister Jack Palance as one of the great Western villains) by a table. The black dog slowly slinks out, unwittingly acting his/her way into the Western legends. To the dog, this is just another duel. The two gunslingers chat with Alan Ladd beautifully laying down the 'Low down Yankee liar'. Little Joey is watching from underneath the swing doors, the dog next to him. The duel is over in a flash with Wilson sent flying backwards and an assailant to the left also getting shot as Shane spins his Colt Single Action Army revolver back into its holster. But a quick warning from Joey alerts Shane to a gun above, dispatching the killer but taken a bullet. It grounds the scene instantly with Shane no longer that perfect hero Joey imagines but rather a skilled gunman who would've died if not for the young boy. Of course Shane riding off at the end gives him his mythic status but taking a bullet and being wounded by it humanises the character and is a reminder of life and death on the western frontier. Quotable, stylish and also blunt, it is a fantastic standoff.

Open Range (2002)

Details: Free grazers Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall are brought into conflict with Michael Gambon's land owner. As their feud escalates, it culminates in a fierce shootout in and around the local town between Costner, Duvall and a small band of hired guns. The townspeople watch on, some getting involved.

There is very little point in naming this firefight as it is the only one in Open Range. It takes a very long time for a gun to be fired in Kevin Costner's film, and even then it is a shotgun to a shelf of alcohol. It's effective direction and storytelling from Costner as it forces the audience to wait and be patient, teasing them for a showdown that comes at the end. Costner plays Charley, a man troubled by a violent past, and Robert Duvall is Boss Spearmen, the leader of a four man group of free grazers. Their two friends are knocked out of the story (one killed, one incapacitated) during the bitter struggle against land owner Michael Gambon and his men. The only way to settle the quarrel is bullets. It's Charley and Boss against five men, and then a few more late joiners. There are no drawn out stares or fingers itching to holsters here: Charley walks straight up, asks one of them he killed their friend, gets the answer he wants and blows the murderer's head to bits, kick starting a vicious frenzy. The shootout takes place in and around the town as the bystanders watch on. Worthy of note is Duvall blasting a man to the wind through a wall, Charley's incredibly aggressive and near-scary saviour of Annette Benning and the amount of damage Michael Gambon takes. It still maintains its sense of character and story, with Charley's desire for revenge nearly getting the better of him, but the technicalities are extraordinary. This feels like the Old West adaptation of the famous and breathless street shootout in Heat; the sound design is ear popping and realistic. There is no music, just gunfire making its own rhythm. Immersive and well sustained.

The Opening- The Wild Bunch (1969)

Details: Pike Bishop (William Holden) leads his ageing band of outlaws for one final bank robbery. His former partner Deke Thornton, however, has tracked him and with a small force of deputised bounty hunters, engages in a fierce shootout that leads to civilians being caught in the vicious crossfire.

The finale of The Wild Bunch is one of the most famous in film history, with director Sam Peckinpah pulling out all the stops with breakthrough rapid fire editing, a devastating body count, enough blood for a lift at the Overlook Hotel and the killing of the remaining 'protagonists'. But as visceral as it is, for the purpose of this list I am choosing the opening shootout. If you were an audience member in 1969 and the first ten minutes showed you a stalemate shootout in which more civilians are killed than actual gunmen, you would be horrified. As such, in terms of offering a new look at the shootout, Peckinpah does it here first. The editing is fast paced, with the shot duration just long enough to tell you who is who and what is what but the cutting done at a speed to equal the intensity of the carnage. The interruption of a temperance march and the women involved getting caught in the crossfire would be frowned upon in today's standards, let alone 1969 when only Peckinpah (who lived his life with the bottle) had the steel balls to do it. Quite simply, without this approach to directing violence we may not have Scorsese or John Woo or Tarantino. This one opening scene alone fuels a hundred future action movies but none have ever orchestrated this ballet of bullets with such blunt velocity as Mr Peckinpah. The Wild Bunch's timely thematics of change and the dying of the old already would have pushed it into greatness, but bookended by two earthshaking shootouts it becomes an action classic. 

The Mexican Standoff- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Details: in the middle of a cemetery, Clint Eastwood's Blondie, Lee Van Cleef's Angel Eyes and Eli Wallach's Tuco engage in a triangular standoff, vying for $200,000 buried in one of the graves. 

Many directors are capable of delivering knockout duels and tense standoffs but there is one Italian chap who towers above everyone else when it comes to it: Sergio Leone. In wanting to keep this list to one shootout per director meant crossing off many, many, MANY of Leone's best moments. In A Fistful of Dollars there's Clint's iconic 'get three coffins ready' scene and the bullet proof chest plate finale; in For  Few Dollars More there's (again) Clint's entrance into a saloon, Lee Van Cleef and Eastwood teaming up against a gang of bandits and that film's finale which pits Van Cleef against nemesis El Indio; in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly there's another team up with Eastwood's Blondie helping Eli Wallach's Tuco dispatch five guns in a bombed out town; and in Once Upon a Time in the West there's Charles Bronson's 'you brought two too many' train arrival and the epic showdown against Henry Fonda's villainous Frank. All of them are worthy but for the simple essence of Leone then it just has to be that oh-so-famous Mexican Standoff in the epicentre of a cemetery, of which one of the graves contains $200,000 up for grabs. The showdown truly is a pinnacle of filmmaking. Leone's iconic and intense close ups ratchet up the tension as Ennio Morricone's 'The Trio' soars for a pulsing five minutes. It is a scene that is a struggle to describe; the editing shears gradually increase, chopping away until the camera is blinking from one pair of eyes to another pair of eyes to fingers itching to get out a gun to another pair of eyes to another gun at the hip... an amazing buildup which has yet to be matched. But it is all over in one shot, courtesy, of course, by The Man With No Name. Lee Van Cleef's Angel Eyes collapses as Clint walks towards the stunned Tuco who is dismayed to find out he has no bullets in his gun and was therefore never a threat. Clint fires again, finishing Angel Eyes and knocking him into a dug grave. One more shot knocks his gun into the grave and a fourth shot knocks his hat into the grave. It's the type of black humour that defines Leone's Spaghetti Westerns and seriously gives it an edge. "There are two types of people in this world, those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig," chimes Blondie to Tuco. Another smooth detail in the shootout is that Clint does alternate between staring at Tuco and Angel Eyes despite having emptied Tuco's bullets and knowing that Angel Eyes is his only threat. It is a smart and deceptive move by Blondie, ensuring that Tuco does not sense a bluff. Not only is the most taut, well scored and edited/shot standoff, it is firmly in my top five of greatest ever movie scenes. Watch it, then watch it again.