History Film / KillingThemSoftly

* CoolGuns: Russell shows up for the poker-game heist with a sawed-off shotgun that's ''so'' sawed-off, the shells are poking out the ends of the barrels.

* SawedOffShotgun: Frankie's shotgun has had its barrels sawed down to the point [[http://www.imfdb.org/images/a/a6/KTS-Sawnoff-2.jpg they're shorter than the shells it's loaded with]]. He compares using it to a hand grenade going off.

* SawedOffShotgun: Taken UpToEleven by Frankie, whose shotgun has had its barrels sawed down to the point [[http://www.imfdb.org/images/a/a6/KTS-Sawnoff-2.jpg they're shorter than the shells it's loaded with]]. He compares using it to a hand grenade going off.

* ArtisticLicense–GunSafety: When Jackie checks his gun's ammo, he closes the revolver's cylinder by turning his wrist. With rotary cylinder revolvers, this can bend the cylinder arm, misaligning the cylinder and leading to a misfire, potentially exploding the weapon.

* Artistic License – Gun Safety : When Jackie checks his gun's ammo, he closes the revolver's cylinder by turning his wrist. With rotary cylinder revolvers, this can bend the cylinder arm, misaligning the cylinder and leading to a misfire, potentially exploding the weapon.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1477f4f9e2e35596b7ef5361903812d7.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Don't rip off poker games. It's bad for business.]]

''Killing Them Softly'' is a 2012 crime film starring Creator/BradPitt, Creator/RayLiotta, Creator/RichardJenkins, and Creator/JamesGandolfini, and written & directed by Creator/AndrewDominik (who'd worked with Pitt on ''Film/TheAssassinationOfJesseJamesByTheCowardRobertFord'').

* CrapsackWorld: The life of crime has rarely looked less appealing than in this film, from low-level thieves and enforcers who only do it because they can't find legitimate work to hitmen whose best days are long behind them to bosses who now come across more as frustrated middle-managers dealing with other bosses, bad employees and a changing world than Al Capone.
* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: Averted. The film goes out of its way to show that gangsters, once the embodiment of free living, are now just businessmen, complete with budget restrictions and public relations. Hitmen are not mythic badasses and it's clear that the mob has fallen very far from the days when they reigned supreme.

* NiceGuy: Markie Trattman...well, out of all of this film's assortment of characters, anyway. Even the gangsters he robbed don't seem upset about it when they learn the truth.

* ContinuityCameo: Music/SamShepard's character Dillon, played a much larger role in George V. Higgins' first novel, ''Literature/TheFriendsOfEddieCoyle'', and was played in that book's [[TheFilmOfTheBook film adaptation]] by Peter Boyle.

%%* BoomHeadshot

%%* CrapsackWorld

* NiceGuy: Markie Trattman...well, out of all of this film's assortment of characters, anyway.

* CoolGun: Averted. Russell shows up for the poker-game heist with a sawed-off shotgun that's SO sawed-off, the shells are poking out the ends of the barrels.

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: The movie takes place during the last days of the 2008 [=Obama=]/[=McCain=] presidential campaigns, as well as the USA's financial meltdown. The last scene appears to coincide with Obama's victory.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Two [[{{Mook}} mooks]] deliver one to Trattman. Later, Jackie and Driver admit they may have been a ''bit'' excessive.

* SawedOffShotgun: Taken UpToEleven by one character. The gun in question ''is shorter'' than the shells it's loaded with.

* TitleDrop: Jackie prefers to "kill 'em softly" (i.e. from a distance), rather than up close, so as not to deal with the panicked victim begging for his life; Director Andrew Dominik reportedly kept secret that he was to be changing the film's title from ''Cogan's Trade'' to ''Killing Them Softly'', so Brad Pitt was unaware that he was invoking this trope.

* WhenItRainsItPours

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/killingthemsoftly_7522.jpg]]

* NotSoDifferent: The most frightening part of Mickey's emotional breakdown is the implication that just a couple years ago, he was quite similar to Jackie himself.

* ContinuityCameo: Music/SamShepard's character Dillon, played a much larger role in George V. Higgins' first novel, ''Literature/TheFriendsOfEddieCoyle'', and was played in that book's [[FilmOfTheBook film adaptation]] by Peter Boyle.