Comments on: Now that’s a gunfight

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:05:29 +0000

Hey, found this post late--a friend recommended I read the Heat action lines for my current sp.

I second Collateral, it reminds you how powerful a handgun actually is.

I'm surprised that no one mentioned the gun battle at the end of 3:10 to Yuma (the remake). They do a pretty good job of moving the battle across the town.

By: Stephan Vladimir Bugaj

Stephan Vladimir Bugaj — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:12:54 +0000

That scene from Heat is actually just as exciting to read as it is to watch. Now that's great action writing, even if some folks might claim it violates format.

I also use a similar style to what @brains uses for integrated shot and action. I like that style better for certain scene cadences, though sometimes also use the Mann-style stand-alone line if I want to emphasize the shot change more strongly (the broken cadence makes it read more staccatto, which is why, I suspect, Mann uses it in that scene from Heat).

By: Dan Calvisi- 2-Minute Screenwriting School Guy

Dan Calvisi- 2-Minute Screenwriting School Guy — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:37:37 +0000

Are those muzzle flashes in Public Enemies digitally enhanced? Because I've never seen them so big.

Another Mann film: Collateral. The shootout in the nightclub and then in the office building and on the train as Vincent hunts Jamie Foxx. It's such a great moment when Jamie Foxx finally takes him out.

In the script, Stuart Beattie calls Vincent's gun his PARA-ORDNANCE, which is quite a clumsy model name, but it's also BAD-ASS and you get used to it as a Reader and your eye just skims over it.

He also had a phrase from the office building scene: "Vincent is clearing rooms..." which I thought was effective.

And I have to give a shout-out to the final battle scene in the recent "Rambo," which is ridiculously violent but probably accurate in terms of carnage from the sniper rifle and the .50.

By: Marty

Marty — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:34:21 +0000

Public Enemies was great, esp the second time when I’d gotten used to the photography. The shootouts were beautiful and exciting!

By: Kevan R. Craft

Kevan R. Craft — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:24:01 +0000

David Webb Peoples' The William Money Killings: aka UNFORGIVEN has a great shoot out at the end and he pulls no punches as to how he depicts the ruthless act of killing with a gun.

I have a scanned PDF of the original screenplay to THE WILD BUNCH by Walon Green and Sam Peckinpah is you fancy a copy, John..

Get my email from my post, let me know and I'll send it to you if you'd like to check it out...

Kevan...

By: andrew

andrew — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:12:57 +0000

The clip from Public Enemies is what I came here to post after reading your headline. The editing, sound design, and use of mobile camera in that scene is fresher than anything I’ve seen in I don’t know how long. I love the absence of music, and the odd, vacant silences around the gunfire when you can hear the guys grunting and running around. Just awesome to see in the theater.

By: Michael James

Michael James — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:52:40 +0000

The Way of the Gun.

How that movie didn't become more popular than it was... is beyond me.

By: Blaise Hesselgren

Blaise Hesselgren — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:39:29 +0000

The Untouchables staircase shootout – it’s got moral dilemmas (baby in the pram), hesitation – underline the stakes of the fight, and the great build-up, racking up the tension as they wait for the banker…

By: John Paul Van Johnson

John Paul Van Johnson — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:27:00 +0000

Just wanted to point out that if the viewer has no knowledge of whats happening in the action scenes, than all that action first rate money is going down the drain – A.K.A the last poorly action conceived James Bond (is it me or did Daniel Craig killed half of the bad guys by giving them the ‘Magnum’ look from Zoolander?).

By: Max

Max — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:16:48 +0000

There are some great gunfights in The Wire. My favorites were always the ones where they’d all shoot at each other, and they’d all miss, because none of them have really practiced much. It’s almost comical… until a stray bullet goes through a window and kills a kid.

By: Tom Manning

Tom Manning — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:30:25 +0000

The gun fight at the end of Hot Fuzz was great! I think that would be a great one to look at too, considering their spoofing a lot of action movies, I would think it would be a good way to see a lot of the basic principles that go into a lot of the gun fights.