Thinking of movie scenes where the hero does something that makes the bad guys pause, look at each other, then turn and scarper - couple of examples:
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The Matrix - right near the end - Neo defeats Smith, then his gaze slowly comes up to the two other agents present - they glance at each other, then depart rapidly in opposite directions.
Chronicles Of Riddick - big bad guy jokingly asks if Riddick is going to kill him with his cup, then attacks him - Riddick kills bad guy with the cup, then stoops to pick up the key from a can of sardines - he places this carefully on a rock ledge, looks at it, then looks up at the remaining bad guys, who lose their nerve and run away.
What are some other examples of this device?
The Princess Bride - Inigo confronts the Count in the corridor. The count sends four guards to attack him, who are quickly dispatched. Inigo looks the Count in the face, settles into a duelling stance, and the Count stares at him, turns and runs.
How’s about Mad Max, when Max is ambushed by the Toecutter, Bubba and Johnny the Boy (great names BTW!) Bubba takes too long to finish off Max (who’s been shot and run over) and Max blasts him off his bike. The Toecutter snarls at him and rides off, Johnny the Boy picks up his bike and rides off in the opposite direction.
The first Star Trek film starts with Klingons of all people turning and fleeing when confronted by the V’Ger being, the moment when the Klingons realise their weapons are ineffective and give each other an “oh shit” look is priceless. As a bonus, we even learn the Klingon for evasive “jun-taH”
The Michael Keaton Batman: in the alley fight, after Batman KOs a sword-wielding thug with a kick to the head, Bob the henchman pops up with some sort of knife. Batman gives him the “c’mere” finger wag, and Bob drops the knife and runs.
Dammit, I am trying to think of what movie it is, where the bad guys turn and run away, not because the hero is so tough or frightening, but because of what is coming up behind the hero! It’s probably been used a bunch of times, but I can’t come up with one yet…
In “The Great Race” the evil guy dueling with Tony Curtis, runs away proclaiming - “He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day”…
It’s a funny scene.
In a similar nod, from "The Super Mario Brothers Super Show:
“He who Koops and runs away, lives to Koop another day!”
And King Koopa then used a warp potion to get out of there. Which always confused me because warp potions were strictly confined to Super Mario Brothers 2, which, just being an adaptation of Doki Doki Panic, and THEN also being just Mario’s dream, means Koopa shouldn’t have warp potions.
Actually he (the delightful actor Ross Martin) doesn’t “run away” he dives out the tower window to be rescued by a boat waiting in the moat below – well…he dives into the boat waiting below smashing it completely - an incredible stunt. It is indeed a hilarious moment in a very, very funny movie. (should I have put a spoiler box on this? Mods feel free to do so if you think it should be)
Another example of bad guys running away might be the initial small band of baddies in Three Amigos.
How about when Han Solo charges the stormtroopers who’d been chasing Luke and Leia during the first Star Wars movie and they start running away until they realize there’s only one of him.
Willow. A huge two-headed dragon rises up behind Madmartigan (Val Kilmer) and he smiles as he sees the soldiers run, then realizes he’s not *that *scary, turns around, then he runs…and ends up standing amongst the bad guys.
I knew Jerry and Kramer were bad guys. I mean you gotta have something wrong with you to hang out with George Costanza, frcrissakes. making me watch an oddly fascinating show about nothing, grumble grumble
Might you be thinking of Street Fighter, with Jean-Claude Van Damme? He’s just finished beating up some bad guys, turns around, and sees a truckload more bad guys after him.
All he has left is a small Gerber combat knife (3 1/2 to 4 inches long) He pulls the knife, and all the bad guys start backing away from him in preperation to run.
He gets this huge smirk on his face, and you just know he is thinking that he is so tough that they are afraid to face him, even when all he has is a knife.
Then he turns around and sees the calvary is standing right behind him with enough weapons to take out about half the planet. A silly, but amusing scene.
