# "Barroom brawl" scenario: Breaking chairs/barstools over somebody's head? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207 "2006-03-13T18:39:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/21 "2006-03-14T14:52:06Z")
A fist to the temple is quite often fatal, not even considering real life bottles and furniture. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/22 "2006-03-14T15:18:53Z")
> [@Nic2004](#): > > I personally have been in bars when the S\*\*T hit the fan and I’ve seen the effects of chairs, a stool, a beer bottle, a liquor bottle and pool cues used. > > Chairs don’t shatter. This one didn’t even break. The recipient went straight down and stayed there. > > The stool- same thing. > > The beer bottle shattered and required 8 sutures in my friends right wrist. > > The liquor bottle bounced off the victims head and the recipient went down. > > Pool cues varied. Some snapped across a back or a forearm. Some held up well. Once one was used more like a fencing foil to great effect. > > The one you rarely hear about but is very dangerous is one of those old glass ashtrays they used to have in such places. You know, the big square one that weighed about two pounds. > > Mind you, these observations were not in one viewing on one occasion but spread out over many years and many miles. I’m starting to think no establishment should get a liquor license unless its furniture is all nerf and beanbags. And no liquor should be stocked on the shelves except in plastic bottles. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/23 "2006-03-14T16:27:34Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > I have to say that I find the anger & stress management ads at the bottom of this thread to be quite a propos. They are now all ads for stools and chairs. Might be even funnier. I have a great time checking those ads in interesting threads. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/24 "2006-03-14T18:36:07Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > I have to say that I find the anger & stress management ads at the bottom of this thread to be quite a propos. now the ads have changed to “Acrylic furniture”. So, what’s a cowboy gonna do in a saloon full of acrylic furniture? Where’s the macho? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/25 "2006-03-14T19:30:56Z")
> [@Nic2004](#): > > I personally have been in bars when the S\*\*T hit the fan and I’ve seen the effects of chairs, a stool, a beer bottle, a liquor bottle and pool cues used. . . . .Mind you, these observations were not in one viewing on one occasion but spread out over many years and many miles. Soooo, what kind of Harley do you ride? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/26 "2006-03-14T19:53:46Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > A fist to the temple is quite often fatal, not even considering real life bottles and furniture. How about… a boot to the head? ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/27 "2006-03-14T21:27:59Z")
> [@slaphead](#): > > This was in the UK, and there was no video camera, only stills. Sorry. > Did your travels perhaps take you through the delightful English town of Sidcup, where they still practice [The Way of the Ashtray](http://www.ogmac.co.uk/sidcup/ash.htm)? Man, that was funny! And no, haven’t been there myself but I may well have drank a beer next to a recent graduate on more than one occassion. **BrainGlutton** Many of the bars have done pretty much this very thing. The beer comes in a plastic mug, mixed drinks in plastic cups, and the ashtrays are those little tin foil things like found in McDonalds. **CookingWithGas** - 1979 Harley Davidson 80" Shovelhead. How’d ya know? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/28 "2006-03-15T00:05:57Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Don’t want to ruin your furniture? Just take a 1-inch dowel and see what happens when you try to break it across your knee. **CookingWithGas** where do I send the medical bill to? My brother got hit with a bottle, he looked like an extra from a Romero movie for a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/29 "2006-03-15T00:08:17Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I really believe that the stereotypical western Barroom Brawl choreography is the riumph of effects over reality. Breakaway chairs and “candy glass” bottles look impressive as all heck breaking over the heads of stunt cowboys. Real bottles and real chairs (not flimsuily built of pre-sawn for effect) swung onto heads would, I suspect, cause concussions. > Look at it this way – would _you_ hit someone on the head with one of your stools or a glass bottle unless you meant them serious harm? I was witness to a nasty barroom brawl where the bartender got smashed in the face with a beer pitcher (a glass one). He was ALL fucked up. It was very scary. They had to drag him behind the bar for protection. It’s definitely a lot rougher than the movies let on. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/30 "2006-03-15T00:10:01Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > I haven’t ever been hit by a stool in a bar. I usually jump on top of the piano and swing bythe chandelier onto the top of the bar, so they usually miss me. That’s weird. Here in Texas, the chandleier usually gets shot down just as soon as the fight starts. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/31 "2006-03-15T00:11:12Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > How about… a boot to the head? Who disturbs our meditation, as a pebble disturbs the stillness of the pond? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/32 "2006-03-15T01:01:26Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > That’s weird. Here in Texas, the chandleier usually gets shot down just as soon as the fight starts. Hmmmm…maybe I should get to Texas more often! ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/33 "2006-03-15T11:42:27Z")
> [@NoCoolUserName](#): > > They are now all ads for stools and chairs. Might be even funnier. I have a great time checking those ads in interesting threads. 🙂 I’m waiting for them to be all about stool softeners. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/34 "2006-03-15T13:34:06Z")
Early on in the Steadicam Op career, I got hired to shoot a low-budget horror movie in Coney Island. It is a supremely dangerous neighborhood these days. We were in the basement of a tenement- the basement with walk-down steps from the sidewalk used to be used as a changing room for bathers a half block down, at the beach. There was to be some kind of rough scene, and the guy whose mouth was taped over with duct tape ( alarm # 1 rang off in my head ) was to be forced to his knees and his head slammed through a pane of glass. ( alarm # 2 ) Sugar glass was inserted into the french doors. We had no stunt coordinator. We shot a take and his head didn’t really crack the window, and we cut. The actor was fine, they ran in and pulled away the tape and gave him something to drink. We went for another take. They pull him in, yank him to his knees, shove his head through the sugar glass. The bridge of his nose bursts with blood as the fake glass cuts into him. He’s thrashing around wildly, and the actor ( and I use the term loosely ) figures he’s acting up a storm and won’t let him stand. The Director, watching from all of 10 feet away, clearly said " Oh, coooool " and that was that. I cut the camera, docked the rig and helped the guy get his face cleaned up. The Director was screaming at me for cutting on such a great moment. So, I put my cases in my car. And I left. Drove the actor to the subway. Never went back. Fuckers. Even using break-away furniture made of balsa and sugared glass, you can injure people. I wonder how many bar fights and terrible injuries would have been avoided in the last 100 years, if nobody had started faking them in movies? People are so highly imitative… Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/35 "2006-03-15T14:17:46Z")
Related comment: after those Wetern sallon/barroom brawls, there were usually a few corpses on the floor. i assume the local untertaker would gather them up, and plant them 9at public expense). To the records of western towns/counties, in the period ca. 1880-1910 show a large number of people killed in brawls? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207/36 "2006-03-15T14:40:57Z")
A drunk once got mad at me and hit me in the eye with a single blow from his fist. I was temporarily blinded in one eye. He broke three bones, pulverized the orbit (lower eye support) so much that a plastic plate was used to substitute for the missing facial structure, other bones were wired together, and I have had two operations over the years to fix resulting problems. If that much damage can be done with one blow, I can’t imagine how real barroom brawlers can get up, shake hands and walk away without a scratch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barroom-brawl-scenario-breaking-chairs-barstools-over-somebodys-head/348207.md?page=1)