I’ve thought about this in the past, but I saw something a few days ago that reminded me about it… Why is it that in virtually every movie ever made which has a good guy with a gun chasing a bad guy, the good guy runs after the baddie?
I mean at some point it’s a straight line run, so why doesn’t our hero stop, drop to one knee, take careful aim and shoot the dude? I’m fairly certain the bullet will be able to catch the guy who is running.
Now the funny thing is, the movie that sparked me to this was Day of the Dead, the zombie film by George Romero. This is probably the first film where I’ve seen the guy holding the gun not bothering to chase the other guy, but to just point and shoot.
So what’s so funny about it you ask?
The character that had the brains, intelligence and foresight to do this was a zombie.
Heh.
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6 Comments
Bullets are usually faster than people, unless it’s The Matrix or Transporter 2.
Remember that scene in Star Wars when Han Solo is running after all those Stormtroopers? At least in that movie, George Lucas was smart enough to indicate in the script that such behavior was not wise.
Brian
I have pondered this as well, and I have concluded that the purpose of the good guy with the fully loaded firearm chasing the bad guy is for one purpose only: to build up suspense. I mean, how exhilirating would it be if we had someone just stop and take aim, shoot the guy down and say some cliche line like “well that was easy.” besides, the audience has to know that the good guy is fit and he can run a long time, even if he has to be cool and smoke in other scenes. have you seen run lola run? i don’t smoke, and that chick smokes like a stack and could totally whoop my behind in a 5 k. make that a 1/2 a k. barely.
Two sceens come to mind to buck the rule (though one not a “running scene”)…
Indiana Jones vs. the Cairo Swordsman in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’
Malone (Sean Connery) in ‘The Untouchables’: “Alright, enough of this running s#%@.”
Vic
Vic,
The Untouchables is a very good movie, with unusually good work from Kevin Costner and Brian DePalma. You should check it out.
Brian
speaking of fast bullets: http://www.runningscaredthemovie.com
the first unedited 6 minutes from the new Paul Walker movie. So twisted.
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