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Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: Difference between revisions
Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight (view source)
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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{{trope}}
Both a [[Stock Phrase]] and a staple of the [[Action Adventure Tropes|action genre]]. A character comes into the scene armed with what he thinks is sufficient, only to find out he is severely outclassed weapon-wise, because he brought the entirely wrong ''type'' of weapon (usually the superior weapon is revealed after the first person has committed to a fight). Could lead to a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] (which would make it a [[Pre
A popular subversion is [[Never Bring a Knife To A Fist Fight]]. Subtrope to [[Combat Pragmatist]].
Elmer Keith is the [[Trope Namer]]... he was a gunwriter and Idaho cowpuncher, and the phrase is sometimes called "Keith's First Law".
{{examples
== Advertising ==
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* ''[[War Horse]]'' has a scene in [[World War One]] where the British cavalry appears to have caught the German encampment flatfooted, only to find that the Germans were prepared with a hidden defensive line of machine guns to mow them down. As a German officer says afterward, "Did you think we'd have a camp on open ground without it being defended?"
* In the BBC adaptation of ''[[Tom Jones (Literature)|Tom Jones]]'', when Lord Fellamar's attempted rape of Sophia is interrupted by her father, he turns his sword on the older man, assuring him that his class and education have well prepared him for anything the squire can dish out. Squire Western pulls out a pistol and promptly shoots out one of Fellamar's knees.
* Routinely inverted by the [[Star Wars|Jedi Order]] throughout the franchise. In the words of the prequels' stunt coordinator, they've chosen to use swords against [[Frickin' Laser Beams]], "so they'd better be damn good at it."
== [[Literature]] ==
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** [[Resident Evil 4|Leon Kennedy]] doesn't use his in tandem with his pistols, but he also points out the utility of a knife in close quarters when he gets the drop on Ada.
* ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'': [[Deadpan Snarker|Garrus]] mentions this trope by name when fighting Phantoms, finding the whole concept silly. As Garrus is a sniper, the amusement is justifiable.
** But God help you if [[One
* Both played straight and [[Subverted]] in the [[Assassin's Creed]] series. The firearms of the [[Mooks]] of the early Renaissance period are slow-reloading and only moderately-damaging, and a knife-weilding Ezio can dispatch them in short order. Subverted when it comes to Ezio's hidden gun, where pulling an Indiana Jones is one of the fastest ways to end a fight.
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