Greatest Movie Shootouts

Absolutely one of the most suspenseful parts of any good action flick has to be the shootout and whether you're a traditionalist and love the John Wayne cowboy film shootouts or if you're part of the "new breed" and prefer The Matrix shootouts the one thing we all have in common is we love the shootout.

This raises an interesting question, what are the absolute best movie shootouts. So I've compiled a list based on years of movie watching and discussing the issue with friends and acquaintances on Facebook & Myspace and that's not even mentioning twitter.

10) The Wild Bunch: Final shootout.-- The Wild Bunch is a great movie to be sure and the shootout is no slouch and as this is a pretty exclusive list, this movie belongs here and it comes in at number ten.

9) The Boondock Saints: The Ambush-- I've never actually seen this movie but most of the people I talked to said that this was an awesome shootout. Now it may belong higher on the list than number nine but as I haven't seen it I can't, in good conscience, place it any higher.

8) The Untouchables: Shootout at the Train Station-- If you haven't seen this movie, along with the shootout, then you are really missing out. I recommend that you go out and rent it ASAP or download it from NetFlix or any other means you use to acquire movies.

7) The Three Amigos : Climactic Final Shootout.-- Now I know that this is a comedy and some purists might not consider this film a true shootout worthy pick. However, I thought the ending was very clever when the whole town use their sewing skills to create identical outfits to the hero's in order to defeat the villain. It was funny, it was a western and it had a great shootout at the end. If you don't like this pick then make your own Top 10 list.

6) The Beast of the City (1932): Final Shootout. For those of you that think that black and white movies were tame, by today's standards, I encourage you to check out "The Beast of the City" as it has one of the most violent shootouts by any standard.

5) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) Final Shootout-- Possibly one of the greatest shootouts in movie history. The whole movie is great but the shootout is fantastic. It is heavily implied that Butch and Sundance end up dying in the shootout but it is never conclusively depicted in the film.

4) The Matrix: Lobby shootout-- This movie was so innovative and creative that it left audiences practically speechless. A big part of the movies appeal came from an amazing shootout where Neo & Trinity take on the Matrix's G-men in a stunningly beautiful shootout that featured acrobatics and slow motion action.

3) Terminator 2: Shootout with police at Cyberdyne Building-- Come on, how could this list be complete without without Arnold Schwarzenegger using a mini-gun to take out a whole army of Police cars and machinery. It's true that there were very few kills in this shootout but it was absolutely thrilling to watch and has to be listed here.

2) Scarface: Siege at Tony's mansion-- I'm probably one of the few people who didn't fall in love with this movie but it really didn't do much for me, however the finale of the film was absolutely tremendous. I will admit that it was the most testosterone inducing battles I've ever seen on celluloid, and that's a fact.

1) Unforgiven: Confronting Little Bill in the bar-- First place goes to "Unforgiven" which was Clint Eastwood's "western film genre" swan song. It was dark and brooding and set an incredible atmosphere. Then again, Eastwood is one of those rare people who can create the mood or feel of a scene just with a facial expression. Very few actors can do that and frankly I wish I could list every Eastwood western flick here. Anyway, the shootout with Little Bill at the bar just brought out a certain feeling that brought the fight scene to life. So, Unforgiven gets the top spot for greatest film shootout.