The ending duel
Wasn't Bragg at an advantage since he was on the stairs?
Jesus Christ is God
Never heard of stairs being an advantage in a gunfight; but apparently they aren't much of one, at least in this shoot-out. Any advantage stairs provide is probably offset by one's opponent's skill with a handgun.
shareI believe you are thinking of Jedi lightsabre duel.
shareFunny but no.
Jesus Christ is God
You are right. Having high ground, he def. had the advantage. Reminds me of Shane, when the bad guy shoots down a young challenger.
shareFrom what he said about it, Ed Harris just wanted the drama of the fall down the steps. He was pleased that Jeremy Irons was willing to do it. Not every actor would have.
share[deleted]
At the end of the day, it was all about who was the faster and more precise shooter.
But violence is bad. It said so on TV.
Not violence.. Vio-lins! Violins are bad.
"At the end of the day, it was all about who was the faster and more precise shooter."
Usually, it was more about the latter than the former.
[deleted]
"It's not being fast, or even accurate, it's being willing. Most men, regardless of cause or need, aren't willing. They'll blink an eye or take a breath before they'll pull a trigger. I wont."
J.B. Books, The Shootist
"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae
bwadbwoy had it right. The man on the higher ground has to raise his gun a shorter distance before firing. Whereas the man on the low ground has to raise his gun further before firing. This was definitely an advantage for Bragg, but Viggo was just that much faster.
shareNot to mention, the more skilled pistoleer, probably.
shareI particularly liked the way that they didn't do the clichéd 'standing 20-30 feet apart-hands hovering over their gun butts trying to out draw each other' like in a gazillion other westerns. They were only 10 feet apart, both already had their gun in their hands and Viggo had the taken the classic 'duelling stance', ie. standing side on to his opponent, one foot behind the other in a 'T' position. Never seen that in a western before.
shareVM said he copied the stance from a Frederick Remington drawing. I liked it, too. As did a lot of Western buffs. And it fits with the character, a former career army officer. Dueling (in secret as a rule) hung on in the military, especially in frontier posts, long after the rest of the country had given it up. Except for the lack of seconds, Everett calls Bragg out pretty much in classic fashion. Oh, and the punch instead of a slap. But hey, this was the frontier.
shareVery nice, thanks, I've missed this when I saw the movie: the last duel is a pretty much by-the-book gun duel.
there's a highway that is curling up like smoke above her shoulder
Thanks for sharing this! I didn't know that about Viggo's stance.
I found some interesting 1/6 military figurine images made of Viggo's character and Ed Harris's character in Appaloosa:
Hitch Everette (Viggo Mortensen):
https://ransomechua.wordpress.com/2012/07/15/appaloosa-hitch-everette-viggo-mortensen/
Virgil Cole (Ed Harris):
https://ransomechua.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/appaloosa-virgil-cole-ed-harris/
Aaahhhh.....you caught that too, Hitch's duelist stance was a huge advantage. Makes him a much smaller target. After all, he was a former soldier, apparently was trained well and had been doing this kind of work for quite some time.
Love how Harris depicts the violence. It is over very quickly which is incredibly realistic and none of the draw your Colt from the holster business.
Everett: "That was quick."
Virgil: "Yeah, everybody could shoot."
"Yeah, I'm a loser at the top of my game. I shoulda known to keep an eye on you...."