# Examples of movie/TV gangsters practicing shooting skills? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761 "2016-11-05T22:06:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/1 "2016-11-05T22:06:14Z")
I don’t know why this thought crossed my mind today. The only example I’m remembering at the moment is in The Wire where some of the gang members were in a ravine by a creek shooting bottles. May have been Chris and Snoop training Mike. There was an episode of Sons Of Anarchy where they were shooting machine pistols in the lot of the clubhouse. I think they were just testing them, not so much skill sharpening. Shooting well, especially handguns, takes practice! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/2 "2016-11-05T22:21:50Z")
Well, it’s not so much practicing to keep up his skills as to test out and calibrate his new rifle, but there’s a wonderful sequence showing The Jackal trying out his custom-accessorized assassin’s rifle in Fred Zinneman’s film **The Day of the Jackal** > **[YouTube Day of the Jackal Target Practice - Yahoo Video Search Results](https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=A0LEVzpqWx5Y2GUAKPFXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=YouTube%2BDay%2Bof%2Bthe%2BJackal%2BTarget%2BPractice&fr=yfp-t#id=1&vid=93ddd6219e8b09e2fa18fff700a804f9&action=view)** > > The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/3 "2016-11-05T22:24:10Z")
[_Bonnie And Clyde_](http://images4.static-bluray.com/reviews/2472_1.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/4 "2016-11-05T23:44:52Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Well, it’s not so much practicing to keep up his skills as to test out and calibrate his new rifle, but there’s a wonderful sequence showing The Jackal trying out his custom-accessorized assassin’s rifle in Fred Zinneman’s film **The Day of the Jackal** Which was utterly perverted in the remake. There’s a similar scene of someone dialing in a sniper rifle - I can visualize it but can’t bring the scene or film to mind. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/5 "2016-11-06T01:11:26Z")
_The American_ shows George Clooney building and testing a sniper rifle. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Hamsandwich)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/6 "2016-11-06T01:42:50Z")
First one that popped into my brain-pan: [Marone, my ears!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69IvMs--aKA) ---
**Author:** ![Mavic\_Chen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mavic\_Chen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavic_Chen)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/7 "2016-11-09T15:42:33Z")
Officer Lewis has to help Murphy aim and calibrate his sights / gun towards the end of Robocop before the steelworks finale. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/8 "2016-11-09T15:52:00Z")
There’s a scene in the 1994 remake of “The Getaway” where Baldwin, Basinger, and Madsen are practicing shooting out in the desert. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Which was utterly perverted in the remake. But it’s got Jack Black getting murdered by Bruce Willis’ mustache! What could be better than that? ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/9 "2016-11-09T15:59:48Z")
Would John Wayne showing Ron Howard how to use a gun in “The Shootist” count? Clint Eastwood in “The Unforgiven”, practicing against bottles on fenceposts. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/10 "2016-11-09T16:14:47Z")
In _Knockaround Guys_, the gangsters (one real gangster, one who wants to be, and two idiots along for the ride) wind up in a remote town with a gunfight looming. They go to a gun shop and get a few guns, then go out to a range to practice, mostly for the benefit of the two idiots. It’s a good scene. You can see it dawning on the two non-idiots that things are about to go completely to hell. This is not a bad movie. Vin Diesel is good as the disaffected legbreaker stuck in a life he doesn’t have a way out of. And it has Seth Green. The world needs more Seth Green roles. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/11 "2016-11-09T16:22:49Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Would John Wayne showing Ron Howard how to use a gun in “The Shootist” count? > > Clint Eastwood in “The Unforgiven”, practicing against bottles on fenceposts. Unforgiven is what immediately came to mind. Also El Dorado with John Wayne and James Caan has a pretty good scene where James Caan can’t hit the side of a barn so they go and get a sawed off shotgun pistol from The Swede. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/12 "2016-11-09T16:50:48Z")
I’m pretty sure the movie is “[The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054243/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3)”. The title character does poorly in a shootout, so he finds his former Army D.I., gets private lessons in the effective use of a military style .45 semiautomatic pistol, and practices same. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-movie-tv-gangsters-practicing-shooting-skills/770761/13 "2016-11-14T16:01:50Z")
In the series “Justified,” Boyd evaluates the shooting skills of some of the new recruits for his gang in an episode.