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Showdown At High Noon: Difference between revisions
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A [[Dead Horse Trope]] (no pun intended) right up there with [[Chained to a Railway]], but many works that featured it before it became cliche are still around. Its familiarity, of course, makes it a favorite [[The Parody|parody]]. In said parody, one character is required to say, "This town ain't big enough for the two of us." Quite rarely will it occur to them that some urban expansion could solve all their problems.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Vash the Stampede found himself pulled into a couple of these in ''[[Trigun]]''. They never ended as planned.
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** ''[[Once Upon a Time in the West]]'' has variety B between {{spoiler|the hero, supporting his noose-hanging brother with his shoulders. The eerie harmonica music accompanied by this scene overlapping with the showdown is the harmonica being pushed into the hero's mouth at the time of the execution. It comes together perfectly as the hero guns the bad guy down.}}
** In the unauthorized [[Spaghetti Western]] remake of ''Yojimbo'', ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]'' (1964), the [[No Name Given|man with no name]] faces down the baddest tough-guy in town. As in the original, the bad guy has the most sophisticated weapon in town, this time a repeating rifle.
* Most films about the gunfight at the OK Corral usually turn this bloody ambush into a
* ''[[Howard the Duck (film)|Howard the Duck]]'' had one of those, complete with cuts between the faces and bad guy throwing the side of his [[Badass Longcoat]] back to reach for his gun more easily... Except that there was no gun - the bad guy was an [[Cosmic Horror|interdimensional demon]] inhabiting the body of an innocent scientist, versus an anthropomorphic duck armed with a [[BFG]] strapped to a golf-cart.
* ''[[The Matrix]]'', in the subway station. It even had newspaper tumbleweed. Of course, given the fact that both combatants could dodge bullets like crazy, it quickly turned into a [[My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours|kung fu showdown]] rather than a gunfight.
* ''[[Yojimbo]]'' (1961), the [[No Name Given|ronin with no name]] prepares for a [[Jidai Geki]] version of the
* ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' spoofed this with {{spoiler|Angel and most of the villains at once}} in an idyllic English village. {{spoiler|It quickly turned into a action move shoot-out.}}
* ''[[Tombstone]]'': The duel between Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo. They stand an arm's length from one another, circle slowly, and draw.
* Played with in Sam Peckinpah's ''[[Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid]]''. Billy, finding one of his friends had been badged by Garrett, ends up doing the [[Ten Paces and Turn]] version. Once his opponent starts counting off steps, Billy simply turns and waits, gun drawn for his opponent to turn. [[Rash Equilibrium|Of course, Elam's character didn't exactly wait until ten to turn around]].
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* ''[[The Guns of Navarone]]''. While in a firefight in some ruins, Spyros Pappadimos and a German officer find themselves facing off, each armed with a machine gun. They advance slowly toward each other and eventually start firing. {{spoiler|Both are killed in the gun battle}}.
* The film ''[[Posse (film)|Posse]]'' had a scene where the two combatants advanced slowly, attacking with [[Throw-Away Guns]].
* ''[[Three O'Clock High]]'' transports the trope into a high school, replacing the gunfight with a fistfight scheduled for after school at 3:00. The name of the film is a riff on "high noon" and "high school."
* Inverted in ''[[
* ''[[Once Upon a Texas Train]]'' climaxes with a showdown between Cotton's gang of [[Young Gun
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* Panther of [[The Protomen]] made such a song to promote the member Turbo Lover's band [[Cheer Up, Charlie Daniels|Cheer Up Charlie Daniels]], about the band competing with a similarly-named group for rights to the band name. The song was called ''The Duel''. The song's also getting a sequel, ''The Duel: Part 2'', about the band's showdown at The Road to Bonnaroo.
* ''Big Iron'' is this trope in spirit, when the Arizona Ranger and Texas Red have their showdown.
{{quote|
''It was twenty past eleven when they walked out in the street.'' }}
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* When ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' parody this, the urban expansion solution actually ''does'' occur to them.
{{quote|
** His mom didn't let them play with guns.
== Real Life ==▼
* Ironically, in matter of historical fact gun duels have been more common among upper-class "gentlemen" who put great value on personal honor, rather than the lower-class characters who dominate Westerns. Perhaps the most famous example of such a duel is the 1804 duel in which American Vice President Aaron Burr killed Treasury Secretary [[Alexander Hamilton]]. The difference here is that dueling pistols were not at all accurate nor meant to be accurate -- the point of the duel was to prove you cared enough about the grievance to risk your life. That Aaron Burr actually ''hit'' and ''killed'' Hamilton was a freak occurrence.▼
** According to the book ''Founding Brothers'', the two witnesses they had brought along agreed in writing that Hamilton fired first and missed, then Burr fired two or three seconds later, fatally wounding Hamilton. Whether Hamilton missed deliberately or Burr intended to miss but hit by accident is a matter for speculation.▼
** Also, the showdowns happened at high noon (yes, they really did) so that neither participant would have more of the sun in their eyes than the other, and it'd be a fair draw.▼
** In an episode covering duelling, the documentary series "Tales of the Gun" indicated that high quality duelling pistols were in fact made to be extremely accurate (or at least as accurate as unrifled flintlocks and percussion cap pistols could be).▼
* James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok gunned down a man by the name of Davis Tutt in 1865 in Springfield, Missouri, in a rare example of a bona fide Wild West "quickdraw" showdown. After winning about $200 in a poker game against Tutt's compatriots—who were playing with Tutt's money—Tutt alleged that Hickok owed him $35 from a previous game; Hickok claimed the debt was only $25. Tutt seized Hickok's prized golden pocket watch as collateral. Humiliated but outnumbered, Hickok warned Tutt not to wear the watch in public. Tutt brazenly assured Hickok that he would be wearing it first thing in the morning. Hickok then calmly told Tutt that he would shoot him if he saw him wearing the watch, then pocketed his winnings and left. True to his promise, Tutt openly wore the watch in the town square the following day. Word quickly reached Hickok's ears and, after a final round of negotiations failed to settle the debt, Hickok walked into the square just before 6 p.m., pistol drawn, sending everyone except Tutt running for cover. Wild Bill cocked his pistol, holstered it and called out to Tutt, "Don't you come across here with that watch." Tutt said nothing, but stood with his hand on his pistol. At a distance of about 75 yards, both men "stared down" the other for a brief moment. Tutt drew first, Hickok raising his Colt Navy in response. Each man fired one shot at almost exactly the same moment. Tutt missed. Hickok was luckier: his shot struck Tutt in his left side between his fifth and seventh ribs. Hickok was charged with manslaughter. However, in his trial, the judge informed the jury that, while Wild Bill was technically guilty of the crime he was charged with, they may decide to apply the "unwritten" law of a "fair fight." The jury took no more than a couple of hours to bring back a not guilty verdict.▼
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
* Spoofed in the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoon ''Drip-Along Daffy'': Daffy and Nasty Canasta do version A, but before a single shot is fired, Porky defeats Canasta with a wind-up toy soldier... with a ridiculously powerful musket. The crowd already has Porky up on their shoulders when Daffy, still walking towards the showdown, realizes what happened.
* [[Bugs Bunny]] ''literally'' expands the town for Yosemite Sam in the cartoon ''Bugs Bunny Rides Again''. Sam doesn't care.
* Featured in a ''[[
* ''[[An American Tail]]: Fievel Goes West'' had one, though it was at sunset and not at noon.
* One episode of ''[[
* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'': The year: [[Present Day]]. The place: a forest in [[Trapped in TV Land|TV-land]]. The time: right now. A water ski and life jacket-wearing [[Batman|Robin]] squares off with the [[Space Western|Off-World Outlaw]]. On the sidelines a grizzly and a [[Crocodile Hunter|Steve Irwin]] [[Expy]] hold their breath in rapt attention. The trope collapses like a starcruiser from [[Reverse Polarity]]-induced temporal feedback when Robin socks his opponent in the face while he's distracted by the cheering bear.
* Played nasty and played straight in the ''[[Adventures of the
* ''[[The Backyardigans]]'', being the kid-friendly show it is, played this relatively straight, replacing the shootout with a ping-pong match.
* In the ''[[
* An episode of ''[[
* ''[[
▲== Real Life ==
▲* Ironically, in matter of historical fact gun duels have been more common among upper-class "gentlemen" who put great value on personal honor, rather than the lower-class characters who dominate Westerns. Perhaps the most famous example of such a duel is the 1804 duel in which American Vice President Aaron Burr killed Treasury Secretary [[Alexander Hamilton]]. The difference here is that dueling pistols were not at all accurate nor meant to be
▲** According to the book ''Founding Brothers'', the two witnesses they had brought along agreed in writing that Hamilton fired first and missed, then Burr fired two or three seconds later, fatally wounding Hamilton. Whether Hamilton missed deliberately or Burr intended to miss but hit by accident is a matter for speculation.
▲** Also, the showdowns happened at high noon (yes, they really did) so that neither participant would have more of the sun in their eyes than the other, and it'd be a fair draw.
▲** In an episode covering duelling, the documentary series "Tales of the Gun" indicated that high quality duelling pistols were in fact made to be extremely accurate (or at least as accurate as unrifled flintlocks and percussion cap pistols could be).
▲* James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok gunned down a man by the name of Davis Tutt in 1865 in Springfield, Missouri, in a rare example of a bona fide Wild West "quickdraw" showdown. After winning about $200 in a poker game against Tutt's compatriots—who were playing with Tutt's money—Tutt alleged that Hickok owed him $35 from a previous game; Hickok claimed the debt was only $25. Tutt seized Hickok's prized golden pocket watch as collateral. Humiliated but outnumbered, Hickok warned Tutt not to wear the watch in public. Tutt brazenly assured Hickok that he would be wearing it first thing in the morning. Hickok then calmly told Tutt that he would shoot him if he saw him wearing the watch, then pocketed his winnings and left. True to his promise, Tutt openly wore the watch in the town square the following day. Word quickly reached Hickok's ears and, after a final round of negotiations failed to settle the debt, Hickok walked into the square just before 6 p.m., pistol drawn, sending everyone except Tutt running for cover. Wild Bill cocked his pistol, holstered it and called out to Tutt, "Don't you come across here with that watch." Tutt said nothing, but stood with his hand on his pistol. At a distance of about 75 yards, both men "stared down" the other for a brief moment. Tutt drew first, Hickok raising his Colt Navy in response. Each man fired one shot at almost exactly the same moment. Tutt missed. Hickok was luckier: his shot struck Tutt in his left side between his fifth and seventh ribs. Hickok was charged with manslaughter. However, in his trial, the judge informed the jury that, while Wild Bill was technically guilty of the crime he was charged with, they may decide to apply the "unwritten" law of a "fair fight." The jury took no more than a couple of hours to bring back a not guilty verdict.
*More often averted then played straight. Dueling tended to follow [[Ten Paces and Turn|the same rules]] as the East while random mayhem could be any way to do a man to death. Obviously criminals would not fight like gentlemen and lawmen would not waste their lives fighting mere criminals without backup so occasions for this trope were uncommon. In point of fact the favorite tool of gunslingers was the shotgun.
**The [[Knife Fight|Bowie]] was closer to being the [[National Weapon|regional innovation]] in dueling for the West then the "Highnoon quick draw". Westerners were in general less formal about how they killed each other then Easterners. However the Eastern methods never really lost favor until dueling itself had lost favor. They had a [[Good Old Ways|tradition behind them]] after all. In any case it would be absurd for a lawman to want to give an outlaw a fair chance as if he was a gentleman; for one thing it would be imprudent; more to the point it would imply that the outlaw stands equal in respectability.
**What did often happen was that an angry person would spontaneously reach for his gun forcing would-be target to do so. This does not really qualify as dueling as it is not prearranged according to tradition. It is better called mayhem. The movie version is basically a merging of this kind of street fight, and the real life traditional Western duel which is just the [[Ten Paces and Turn|Eastern duel]] with some of the ceremony streamlined out.
***A rough and ready version was for two people who were ''really mad'' at each other to leave the saloon to avoid causing collateral damage and then shoot at each other until one was hit or they ran out of bullets. Note that there was [[Combat Pragmatism|no question]] of keeping the gun in the holster until the fight began and the contestants started with gun in hand. Making it really a less refined version of [[Ten Paces and Turn]].
{{reflist}}
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