Mexican Standoff: Difference between revisions

[[File:Scratcher-Mexican-Stand-Off.jpg|thumb|400px|Fun for... well really no one, because of the chances you might [[Captain Obvious|end up dead]].]]

 

 

A '''Mexican Standoff''' is a stalemate where everyone has a weapon pointed at someone else. All the threats are equally balanced to ensure a [[Mutual Disadvantage]]; no one is walking away from this standoff with what they came for — or walking away at all, since everyone realizes that if you get to shelter, you can fire on them without suffering in return.

** Simon Pegg has said in interviews that if ''[[Spaced]]'' was ever to get another series it would end on a Mexican Standoff [[Cliff Hanger]] ala ''[[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven]]''.

* A commercial for AT&T U-Verse uses this trope, but the people in question are a typical nuclear family and the "guns" are remotes.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Done in ''[[Mysterious Girlfriend X]]'', but instead of guns, [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mysterious_girlfriend_x/v06/c037/25.html we get scissors and legs].

* In ''[[Maiden Rose]]'', Klaus and Berkut have a brief standoff when Berkut's sword is at Klaus' neck while Klaus' gun is pointed at Berkut's head. Unfortunately for Klaus, Berkut notices immediately that the gun is jammed. Azusa begins shooting from behind him before Berkut can do anything about it though.

* ''[[Zettai Karen Children]]'' features a very prolonged metaphysical standoff between [[Big Bad]] Kyosuke and [[Badass Normal]] Minamotot; they both possess the means to kill each other (Kyosuke has [[Reality Warper]] psychic powers, Minamoto has a gun specifically engineered to kill high-level Espers like him), but neither one will actually pull the trigger because {{spoiler|if they do, [[Living MacGuffin]] Kaoru is all but certain to side with the martyr and bring about the future the killer doesn't want.}}

* ''[[FLCL]]'' episode "Brittle Bullet". Haruko and Commander Amarao end up in one when she reveals herself as the woman cutting his hair. They each have a gun pointed at the other's head.

 

== Comic Books ==

''Fray shoots him in the face''

'''Fray:''' ''I'' don't have a standoff. }}

* Happens multiple times in ''[[Lucky Luke]]'', always in the ring-around-the-rosie configuration.

 

* In ''[[Undocumented Features]]'', a three-way standoff is described as a "Carggian standoff." Another character replies, "Well, we moved from Mexico when you showed up."

* There's a crossover fanfiction wherein [[Doctor Who|the Doctor]], [[Blade]], [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy]], [[The X-Files|Mulder and Scully]] find themselves in one of these. When a swarm of vampires suddenly show up, the Doctor—the only one involved without a weapon—remarks that things are starting to get a bit ludicrous...

 

== Film ==

* Parodied by ''[[Date Night]]'': "Oh my God everyone is pointing guns at everyone!"

* ''[[D.E.B.S.]]''. Lucy and Amy end up pointing their guns at each other the first time they meet and have a debate about who's going to put their gun down first.

* Referenced (perhaps) in [[The Court Jester]] in a joke Hawkins tells the king:

{{quote|'''Hawkins'''': The Duchess dove at the Duke just when the Duke dove at the Doge. Now the Duke ducked, the Doge dodged, and the Duchess didn't. So the Duke got the Duchess, the Duchess got the Doge, and the Doge got the Duke!}}

* Happens and even referenced by name in ''[[Transformers Film Series|Transformers Dark Of The Moon]]''. During the scene where they believe the Decepticons are targeting Sentinel Prime, The Autobots protect him as they get him to NEST headquarters where the Pillars are located. When two of the Dreads show up with their guns, [[Badass Grandpa|Iron]][[The Big Guy|hide]] and [[Heroic Sociopath|Sideswipe]] counter with their own. After Sideswipe Lampshades it, he and Ironhide offer to let the Dreads 'put down their guns and leave with their dignity still intact'. The Dreads do as they say, and so do the Autobots, then [[What an Idiot!|The Dreads try to use their hidden weapons.]] Sides' and 'Hide proceed to kick the metal shit out of them ''without'' their guns.

* A huge one occurs in the B-movie The Immortals. Two men direct about a dozen people each on who they should be covering, every one with guns akimbo. It hits the fan when a bystanding kitchen worker drops some plates. Most of the good guys make it out alive, if wounded, somehow, even though they were only a few feet away from each other

* Late in ''[[Repo Man]]'', there's one in a convenience store involving 1) Otto's friends who've come in to rob the store, 2) the brothers also trying to chase down the Malibu and 3) the store's security guard. All three keep moving their guns back and forth at the other two.

 

== Literature ==

** Played straight in an earlier book, as well, between Eddie and Roland in The Drawing of the Three. Notable in that Eddie actually refers to the standoff by name as a Mexican standoff.

* The novel ''[[Dance Of The Voodoo Handbag]]'' by Robert Rankin uses a Mexican Standoff in which an increasing number of characters arrive pointing guns at each other in an argument over the titular [[McGuffin]]. However, the main character realises noone's threatening him, so steals the handbag and escapes in the confusion.

* Subverted in ''[[Popcorn]]'', one of Ben Elton's earlier books, when a very film-savvy criminal gets caught in a one-on-one standoff and remarks "I never got why people didn't just stop yakking and shoot the other guy" before shooting the woman he's facing in the chest.

* In the novel ''[[Something Rotten]]'' of the [[Thursday Next]] series by Jasper Fforde, Thursday find herself in one of these: for the better part of the book, Thurs has been trying to find a way to gently break it to her friend and colleague Spike that his [[Little Miss Badass|cute, perky]] wife Cindy is [[Secret Identity|secretly]] a [[Career Killers|contract killer]] with a contract out on Thursday. When she finally confronts Cindy in Spike's presence, Thurs draws her gun on Cindy (who she believes has a concealed weapon) only to have Spike - who refuses to believe her - draw his gun on her. The standoff ends when {{spoiler|a [[Anvil on Head|random grand piano]] falls out of a window above them, and the piano bench lands on Cindy; she collapses, revealing said concealed weapon. The author has said that he had no idea how to end that scene, so he [[Take a Third Option|Took A Third Option]]. Astonishingly, by the end of the book he actually [[Justified Trope|Justifies]] it}}.

** One happened in Boba Fett's story in ''Tales of the Bounty Hunters'', with a twist. Neither Solo nor Fett really wants to fight anymore. But neither of them trusts the other enough to be the first to put his gun down. The story ends with both still trying to figure out how to end the fight without killing each other. {{spoiler|Since both of them show up in stories that take place later on in the EU, they must have come up with something.}}

* Played with in Trevanian's ''[[The Eiger Sanction]]''. {{spoiler|The hero is only holding up his hand in a gun shape while he's under a sleeping bag.}}

{{quote|'''Vimes''': "And now it appears that we have reached what Sergeant Colon persists in referring to as an ''imp arse''."}}

** Harry and Murphy against Binder and the Gray Men. Harry and Murphy are protected from Binder's men by the empowered circle, but Binder could break it. Murphy points a gun at him to prevent that. Defused by Molly completing a ''second'' circle around Binder, banishing the Gray Men.

* Happens often enough in ''[[Blood Meridian]]'', one memorable one being after Glanton's horse bites the ear off an Apache chief's during a meeting, and moments later everyone on both sides is fixed in a web of gunsights.

* Done in the ''[[Redwall]]'' novel ''The Bellmaker'', where Mariel is threatening to kill the commander of a troop of rats. One rat has an arrow pointed at her head. This goes on for at least a few hours before the good guys are finally rescued.

* One of the major storylines in the ''[[Liavek]]'' anthologies concluded with one of these in the office of the Levar's Regent. The Regent has a gun, his top enforcer Dashif has two, and a crossbow-wielding assassin has just showed up too. Also present are Dashif's daughter and one of the Regent's political rivals. {{spoiler|The Regent makes the mistake of aiming at Dashif's daughter, so he dies along with Dashif and the assassin.}}

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* [[Joss Whedon]] seems to like subverting this a lot:

** In the [[Buffy Verse]] comic book miniseries ''[[Fray]]'', Melaka and one of the two random goons after the same prize end up pointing laser pistols at each other, causing the goon to state "It appears we have a standoff." Melaka's response? "What standoff?" BLAM.

** Also subverted rather beautifully in the original opening two-parter of ''[[Firefly]]'', where River is taken hostage by the Alliance mole, who has a gun to her head, and Mal is walking back up from their latest illegal dealing. Considering he, Jayne and Zoe just came back from an outing during which they were all heavily armed, and considering the fed had allegedly called for backup, this could easily have led to a Mexican standoff, especially given that Jayne is prone to betrayal at the drop of a hat if given enough money. Instead, Mal and the others almost completely ignore the man's threats, with Mal simply shooting him in the face as soon as he catches sight of him without even slowing his pace or being fazed one bit.

* ''[[Life On Mars]]'': Gene's superior officer and mentor, recently [[Broken Pedestal|found out to be corrupt]], is cornered by Sam and Gene in a corridor. All three produce guns. The mentor begins to challenge the two to break the stalemate, remarking that none of them are getting out of this unharmed - but doesn't get to finish, because Gene bluntly shoots him in the leg while he's still talking. Gene, of course, was a bit pissed about the whole 'corrupt' thing.

* One ''[[X-Files]]'' season finale contained enough plot twists to briefly lead to a three-way stand-off between ''the good guys''—it's resolved without bloodshed and with a slight degree of embarrassment on all parts.

* In the ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' episode "Landslide", HRG and Mohinder get into one. However, HRG isn't pointing his gun at Mohinder, {{spoiler|he's pointing it at Molly Walker, a little girl whose power happens to be The Company's new "Walker" tracking system, and the biggest threat to the heroes' security.}}

** Sure this isn't from the Movie ''Broken Arrow''?

* In ''[[Get Smart]]'', Max and 99, attempting to protect a KAOS defector, comes up upon one of these in a hotel. The KAOS agent at the desk threatens them with a pistol, but he's covered by a maid, who's covered by the janitor, who's covered by another guest, who's covered by the hotel chef. As soon as Max, 99 and the defector leave the room, everyone fires and Max laments "All it takes is ''one'' wiseguy...".

** The episode "Who Mourns for Morn" has one with four armed parties, and an unarmed Quark, in a Mexican Standoff over a cargo container of money.

* ''[[The Office]]'''s epic Mexican Standoff? "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120405082645/http://dft.ba/-3H0]"

* A ''[[Cougar Town]]'' episode ends with the whole cast involved in a Mexican standoff with finger guns, leading to a pretend bloodbath (one of the examples above even gets namechecked: Travis's dying words are "I love ''[[Spaced]]''!")

* In ''[[Community]]'' episode [[Community/Recap/S1 E23 Modern Warfare|Modern Warfare]] the ambush in the men's room turns into this.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

 

* Actually [[Older Than They Think]]: Quoth Scott Higgins' article in Cinema Journal 47, No. 2: "Brewster and Jacobs invoke Sheridan’s parody of this warhorse of situations in his 1779 play ''[[The Critic]]''. Sheridan mocks melodramatic convention by having a fictional playwright concoct a scene in which two women hold the man they both love at dagger’s point; the man, in turn, draws two daggers and holds them on the women, at which point their two uncles enter and draw their swords against the lover. The standoff is resolved when, unexpectedly, a Beefeater enters and orders "In the Queen’s Name, I charge you all to drop your swords and Daggers."

* There is a short comedic play called ''The Tarantino Variation'' which is three men, each holding a gun to another's head. Then they realize they need to kill the person holding them at gunpoint, and switch, all the while bantering- it's quite funny. The play ends with them each having one gun on each of the other men, walking off to lunch together.

* The end (and perhaps other parts as well) of the one-act play "The Inspector Answers".

 

* Subverted in the second chapter of the video game ''[[Killer 7]]'': a group of diplomats are playing mah-jongg when one is accused of cheating. All four men stand up, pull their guns...and then shoot each other without a second's pause.

** Before they reach for the weapons, one even expresses irritation that they're about to all die.

** Unless {{spoiler|you lower your gun. Then Shetland tries to shoot Sam, only to get a knife in his gut.}}

 

* Subverted in an early arc of ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'': Tagon's Toughs [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-10-15 get into one] with a small army, at which point the narrator describes the trope in detail. Then Tagon notices that his foes have armor while his allies don't, at which point the narrator points out that Tagon isn't even remotely descended from Mexican stock.

** Not to mention he's outnumbered 5-3. Fortunately it's resolved without shots being fired.

* Subverted in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' between [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030108 Klaus and Dr. Beetle]. As Gil points out, Beetle's strategy is flawed because he put all his strength in one large clank, and the Baron had a [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030110 backup fleet].

 

* It doesn't get more dramatic than Pete and Brian's "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBSi8qC0tFA Showdown]". Hilariously done, with some [[Stock Phrases]] to boot.

* This happens once in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' version one, between David Jackson, Jacob Starr, and Peri Barclay. By this point, Jacob's mind has become dangerously unstable due to the guilt and trauma he's experienced over the game's course clashing with the morals his police officer father taught him his whole life, so the situation devolves into a [[Blast Out]] when he suddenly turns on Peri and attacks him.

'''Cortez:''' [[Noisy Guns|* Click*]] "Prepare to die, Dog." }}

* In the first season of ''[[I'm a Marvel And I'm a DC]]'', a bit of a one-sided Standoff occurs in the bar when [[Nick Fury]] holds a gun to the {{spoiler|robotic [[Lex Luthor]] spy}} Lance M Donovan, and every hero in the bar responds by points whatever weapons they have (including [[Wolverine|claws]], [[The Punisher|guns]], [[Iron Man|pulse cannons]], [[Spider-Man|web shooters]], and [[The Incredible Hulk|fists of fury]]) at him.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]'', of all shows, uses a family-friendly version of this trope: instead of threatening each other with weapons, each of the kids threaten to destroy something important to another one of them. If George sharpens one of Brain's pencils for Muffy, Brain will drop a book on George's bubble-gum stegosaurus model, so Sue Ellen will throw Binky's rubber-band ball out the window, Muffy will put Francine's Power Kitten stickers on Brain's desk, so Francine will tear all of the pages out of Buster's [[Captain Ersatz|Bionic Bunny]] comic book, Buster will eat all of Arthur's chocolate chip cookies, Fern will cut up her and Muffy's shared desk ruffle, etc. {{spoiler|Then Brain accidentally knocks the book onto the stegosaurus model and [[Hilarity Ensues|chaos ensues]]}}.

* In the pilot of ''[[Archer]]'', the titular character's mother is taken hostage by [[The Mole]], so he captures Lana and threatens her. Except that [[The Mole]] doesn't even care about Lana, and thus the Mexican Standoff is futile.

 

== Real Life ==

** Most specifically, the French-German border was quiet for seven months while Germany conquered Poland and Norway. The English and French together had a 4-to-1 numerical advantage over the Germans in the area, but the defenses of the Sigfried Line made the situation a stalemate.

* The [[Cold War]] was one of these, with two superpowers and their allies [[Mutually Assured Destruction|pointing enough nuclear weapons at each other to end human civilization if either one fired first]]. The notable exceptions being the [[Korean War]], [[Vietnam War]], and the [[Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan]]—and bear in mind that while the US directly fought in Korea and Vietnam, and the USSR in Afghanistan, the other side did not officially commit troops to any of these (although in practice they did provide clandestine support to their allies).

** The [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] was the most intense period of the Cold War; a standoff within a standoff.

** That's why there's always a sniper attached to the police during hostage situations. Unless the hostage taker isn't standing near a window.

* [[wikipedia:Flash mob bang|"Bang!"]]

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]

[[Category:Useful Notes/Mexico]]

[[Category:This Index Is Not an Example]]

[[Category:Scenes]]