History Main / DramaticGuncock

The dramatic gun cock may be accompanied by a PistolWhipping. Subtrope of KineticClicking. Can sometimes lead to GunsDoNotWorkThatWay when a (semi)automatic gun that has already been shown to be actioned recently is cycled again for emphasis, without a round being ejected. Also compare with NoisyGuns which includes many more mechanical noises from guns too, for no reason. Compare HighAltitudeInterrogation, which also relies on getting information through death threats. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with]] a particularly dramatic PhallicWeapon, but it can overlap.

* ''Anime/Metropolis2001'' has Atlas do this while he's responding to Pero's final question [[spoiler: before he kills him and begins his revolution]].
* Taken to the extreme in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', where the mere fact of rising a gun makes an audible, intimidating sound.

* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': It becomes the trademark sound for Yoko as her rifle has a crazy electronic whine when she cocks it after firing off either impossible shot, or a hail of blue bolts of death.

* Mocked in Creator/KevinSmith's ''ComicBook/TheGreenHornet'':

* In ''ComicBook/SecretWarriors'', ComicBook/NickFury has just told his men that they are going after their former comrades-in-arms. Dum Dum objects: 'But Nick, what will you feel when you shoot a friend!?' Fury answers with cocking his gun and a single word: 'Recoil'.

* ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'': Around 100 rifles, assault rifles, and other firearms are pointed at the brothers in the climactic scene, and we get to hear a lot of them being cocked. Interestingly, [[spoiler:the first click-click is the brothers getting handcuffed. Were the officers and soldiers going to shoot them while in custody?]]

* Done briefly in ''Film/{{District 9}}'', as one of Koobus' mercenaries is pointing out that [[spoiler:they were ordered not to use live ammunition in bringing Wikus down after Koobus himself announces that's exactly what they're going to do.]] And how does our good Colonel respond? While staring blankly and apathetically at his visibly concerned subordinate, no less, with the pistol being held off-camera at the time. He was actually in the process of loading his pistol as the merc spoke, so it's a matter of timing, and on that note it's hardly noticeable.

->''"[loud gun cock] Now doesn't that just torque your jaws? I love that. You know like in the movies, just as the good guy is about to kill the bad guy, he cocks his gun. Now why didn't he have it cocked? Because that sound is '''scary'''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiI91igl180 It's cool, isn't it?"]]''
-->-- '''The Caller''', ''Film/PhoneBooth''

** In "What if they saved Jake's family?", Tom's Yeerk pulls a Dracon beam out of his pocket when Jake reveals that he knows about the Yeerks, but Marco (in gorilla morph) takes it off him and threatens to shoot Tom if his parents don't get in the car right now.

* One reason the [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter noble shotgun]] is an attractive choice for home defense is the loud, terrifying, and instantly recognizable sound of the pump action at work. Only an extremely stupid home invader (or maybe a cold-blooded one on lots of cocaine) would stick around after hearing the distinctive [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tz0UYno7BA K-CHK CHK sound,]] meaning the owner of the shotgun likely won't have to actually fire the thing in the first place.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'': The [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Biff Tannen]] of [[BadFuture 1985-A]] chases Marty onto the roof of his casino-hotel and has him at gunpoint.

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* From ''What It's Like Being Alone'':

* Often accompanies the themes of Wrestling/{{Konnan}}, Wrestling/NewJack, [[Wrestling/NelsonErazo Homicide]], Nanae Takahashi, The Briscoes, Wrestling/BlackRose, Wrestling/IvelisseVelez and Wrestling/BulletClub, for a sample.[[/folder]]

** The 20th Anniversary Edition of ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' even includes a Rote that allows you to draw on the resonance of a cocked gun (or a drawn sword) and channel it into attacking more targets with
* DeconstructedTrope in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'': if a round is already chambered in your gun, it's now on the ground, leaving you one round short for any fight that would ensue. {{Reconstruction}}, as it might give you a +1 bonus to Intimidation against poorly disciplined foes, which may prevent a fight altogether.

* Leon Kennedy does this in the first chapter of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil 6'', while holding his custom handgun on his zombified friend. In an interesting bit of Showing Their Work, Leon's handgun doesn't actually have a hammer, but the [=VP70Z=] (one of the guns it's modeled on) has a notoriously stiff trigger pull, and Leon is actually setting the trigger (his finger can be seen tensing) as the last step he needs to take before firing.
-->'''Helena backs away from her zombified boss slowly, shaking her head in disbelief.'''\\
'''Leon, pointing his handgun at Adam, visibly horrified''': "Stay where you are." '''His finger tenses on the trigger, producing an audible click.'''\\
'''Adam lunges at Helena.'''\\
'''Leon''': ADAM!
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** Miranda Keyes gets [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YUyLyfGWcc a great one]] in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}''
-->'''Soldier:''' Ma'am, squad leaders are requesting a rally point. Where should they go?\\
'''Keyes:''' ''*Ka-Click*'' To war.
** Averted in ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' and subsequent games. Only the first time you draw your weapon, be it a pistol, an assault rifle, or anything in between, does your character cock it. Every subsequent time, or until you drop the weapon and pick it up again, you'll simply heft it to its ready position; the most action you'll take is flipping the safety off if necessary.
** The [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter M90 Close Assault Weapon System]] is usually nicknamed the Universal Translator. Why?
-->''"I believe that the sound of racking the pump of a shotgun is universally recognized as 'kiss your ass goodbye'."''

* From the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' video "Meet the Spy", the Soldier dramatically cocks his shotgun, while claiming that the BLU Spy was the RED Spy all along. Notably, he cocks the gun ''after'' shooting the Spy, meaning he doesn't waste a round, and is also ready with his next shot, which is rare enough in fiction that it's actually ''worth mentioning''.
** Incidentally, the only time this trope is played straight in-game is with the Pyro, who pumps its shotgun every time you pull it out (other classes with the same weapon simply ready it). This gets a bit absurd if you combine the Reserve Shooter and Degreaser, which makes it so Pyro can put away his flamethrower, pull out his shotgun, pump it, and ready it in less than ''0.2 seconds''.
* At the end of the introductory highway stage in ''VideoGame/MegaManX'', the sound of Zero's blaster charging up replaces the click.
* The title screen clip for ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog''. And then the introductory {{cutscene}} has Shadow [[GunsDoNotWorkThatWay cocking a submachine gun like it's a shotgun]]. Even stranger, there are no shotgun-type weapons in the game at all.
* In the beginning of ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'', this is present in Alicia's introductory scene, where she thought Welkin (who was on his way to help his sister, Isara, move to the capital, and stopped to sketch a trio of fish) to be an imperial spy.
-->'''Alicia''': Freeze. Put your hands in the air. Slowly.
* With the new [[GunsAkimbo Dual Pistols]] powerset in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', you cock your guns whenever you draw them, or switch ammo.
* You can cock your gun in battle in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' whenever you want (to elaborate, the character actually smacks a button on the side or bottom of the gun to eject a heat sink). This also happens frequently in cutscenes.
** In-universe, most of the weapons Shepard's crew carries are carried in a collapsed state (presumably to make carrying four different weapons considerably less of a pain in the ass then it would otherwise be). Whenever a weapon is brought out, it automatically telescopes to its full length with an appropriate sound effect.

* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' uses this in its opening cutscene:
-->'''Coach:''' Barricade your homes...Avoid all contact with infected individuals...Wait for official instructions...*Laugh* Wait, my ass.\\
'''Eilis:''' Kill all sons-of-bitches. *Racks shotgun* That's my 'ficial instructions.
** In gameplay, switching to the pistol[[GunsAkimbo (s)]] in [[VideoGame/Left4Dead the first game]] causes the character to pull back the hammer(s). In the sequel, switching to ''any'' non-scoped firearm causes the character to pull back the slide or charging handle on the weapon in question.
* In ''VideoGame/DungeonFighterOnline'', the Gunner character class cocks his gun every 5 seconds when in town. There are usually at least ten of them.
* In ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 7'', Guo Huai cocks his [[{{BFG}} hand cannon]] before he is about to kill Xiahou Ba.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Receiver}}'', where you have a different button for every part of your gun, including cocking the hammer and the slide. Pulling the slide with a bullet in the chamber makes your precious ammo fall to the ground.
* Parodied in ''[[VideoGame/LEGOAdaptationGame Lego Lord of the Rings]]'' where Gimli cocks his ''axe'', which causes a shotgun cocking sound effect to play.
* There's a moment in ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'' when Bently does this, the problem? [[GunsDoNotWorkThatWay He does it to an]] AutomaticCrossbow.

* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'': The Commissar's Execute ability (which kills a squad member to increase firing speed and instantly restore morale to it and surrounding squads) is heralded by a loud metallic clank before the actual gunshot.

* The beginning of ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' famously times its heavy metal music to end with the Doom Slayer pumping his combat shotgun.
** In ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'', the Doom Slayer tends to pump his shotgun in placement of a verbal threat. When confronted by Hell Priests who lambast him for getting in their way, he simply turns to face them and pumps his shotty, which is enough to scare them away.

* In the first "Armadeaddon" strip from ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'', Frank the game store clerk does one just before marching out into the zombie horde.
-->'''Frank:''' It's been a long time, [[ICallItVera Mabel]]. ''*ka-clik*'' [[https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/08/09/armadeaddon-dark-genesis What do you say we go dancin'.]]

* Justified in ''Literature/VoidDogs'', with Cicada's [[BigFreakingGun GSMR]]. The gun fires self-propelled rocket rounds so there's no reason for it to cock, but it has a button that makes ominous, attention-grabbing noises so she can do this and ClickHello.

* After Bill, the pathetic neighbor on ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', fails to kill himself, Dale, Hank, and Boomhaur start a suicide watch. Dale's turn involves him sitting on a chair with a shotgun watching Bill all day.
-->'''Bill:''' But I have to tinkle.\\
'''Dale:''' Not on my watch. ''(cocks shotgun)''
* Happens several times in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. In "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE46AlmostGotIm Almost Got 'Im]]", Batman [[spoiler: disguised as Killer Croc]] signals the ambush and a bar full of police officers all cock their guns and point them at the villains. What follows is a ten-second-long pan shot of officers cocking everything from automatics and revolvers to shotguns and Thompson [=SMGs=].
* WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck in ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Aqua Duck]]'' as he forces the mouse to give back his gold nugget with his revolver.

* Taken to the extreme in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', where the mere fact of rising a gun makes an audible, intimidating sound.

* ''SWORD'': The conflict between dramatic necessity and the practicalities of technology is beautifully lampshaded in the Comicbook/XMen spin-off.
-->'''Abigail Brand:''' Okay, this is a ludicrously high-tech gun so it doesn't have anything which makes a handily intimidating noise. So imagine a '''cllllick''' at this point.
* Mocked in Creator/KevinSmith's ''ComicBook/TheGreenHornet'':
-->'''Green Hornet''': I mean, I like drama as much as the next guy, obviously, but who the hell points an ''un''-cocked gun at somebody?
* In ''ComicBook/SecretWarriors'', ComicBook/NickFury has just told his men that they are going after their former comrades-in-arms. Dum Dum objects: 'But Nick, what will you feel when you shoot a friend!?' Fury answers with cocking his gun and a single word: 'Recoil'.

* ComicBook/SecretWars2015: Frank Castle crashes a Villainous End of the World party.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Mutant}}'', The shotgun click gets an entire line to itself.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', when Kronk's [[GoodAngelBadAngel Shoulder Devil]] does this with his ''trident''.
* This happens to Batman in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'' when Bullock and his SWAT team corner him on a roof.

* ''[[ComicBook/DylanDog Dylan Dog: Dead of Night]]'': Played with ClickHello and deconstructed. For Dylan's introduction, an angry husband puts a gun in his face and cocks the hammer...while Dylan is asleep. Waking up, Dylan comments that he cocked it too early, stating that the gun itself ought to be scary enough, and to save cocking for later to escalate the tension.
-->'''Dylan:''' What are you gonna do now? Shake it at me?\\
'''Gunman:''' ''[screams and shakes the gun]''\\
'''Dylan:''' ''[unimpressed]'' See? Not as effective.

* ''Film/JamesBond''
** Bond gets one of these in ''Film/GoldenEye'' after fighting off Xenia. '*click* Take me to Janus.' Possible since this was in a bathhouse or bathroom, where one may not always carry a ready to fire a pistol. This most likely (InUniverse) was done for emphasis by Bond, since the Walther PPK is a double-action semi-automatic, meaning that if a round is in the chamber, it is ready to fire just by pulling the trigger. The only reason to cock it is to ensure an accurate first shot and/or to intimidate the target, both justifiable reasons.
** ''Film/DieAnotherDay'': Bond is interrogating Gustav Graves with his Walther P99. Miranda Frost walks up and draws her own Walther P99, which, despite being a hammerless pistol-like Glocks are, makes the hammer-cocking sound.

* Invoked in ''13 Tzameti'' (and the American remake ''13''). Players in a DeadlyGame of RussianRoulette stand in a circle with their guns pointed at the man in front of them. They cock the gun on command, then fire on another signal.

* Lampshaded in one of the ''Track'' novels by Jerry Ahern (a gun writer and action-adventure novelist). Track's ActionGirlfriend takes out her pistol, and Track thinks to himself that in the movies she'd pull back the slide dramatically. Of course she doesn't do this as a round is already chambered.

* Parodied in ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', when Ponder Stibbons rolls up his sleeves at a dramatically appropriate moment, which is explicitly described as the magical equivalent of checking the action on a pump-barrel shotgun.
* Backfires on the antagonist in Patricia Cornwell's ''Hornet's Nest'', when he [[spoiler:cocks his AR-15 twice, jamming the bolt open and preventing it from firing. This mistake costs him his life.]]
* A character in Tim Powers' ''Expiration Date'' is taught to rack a pistol every time she draws it, partly to ensure that there's a round chambered and partly for exploiting this trope. Every time she does this, she ejects a round onto the floor and has to retrieve it after the situation defuses.
* Played with in Rudyard Kipling's "The Ballad of East and West," when Mohammed Khan warns the Colonel's son that in Kamal's territory, "ye may hear a breech-bolt snick where never a man is seen." The Colonel's son then proves how badass he is by riding onward despite hearing unseen rifles cocked ''three times.'' This proves not to be a HarbingerOfAsskicking, because Kamal chivalrously refrains from signaling his men to shoot.

* In ''[[Literature/TheExpanse Caliban's War]]'', Prax tries performing a dramatic gun cock in the middle of a tense standoff because that's what heroes in action films always do -- and inadvertently turns the MexicanStandoff into a BlastOut.
* Discussed in the Literature/JackReacher novel ''The Affair,'' when Reacher, sneaking up on someone, does this to hopefully avoid a gunfight. He mentally compares the advantage (hopefully avoiding violence) with the disadvantage (if it does come to a shoot out, he'll have ejected a perfectly good shell he might end up needing).

* ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'': The first time Scottish soldiers confront future Americans with modern-day shotguns, they see them cock their guns dramatically. Though the Scots are unfamiliar with such weapons and the cocking motion, they immediately realize that these menacing-looking guns are now primed and ready to fire.
* In ''Literature/AgathaHAndTheVoiceOfTheCastle'', it's mentioned that the guns issued to the troops of Baron Wulfenbach have been deliberately designed to make this sound as intimidating as possible.
* Lampshaded in ''Literature/ForgingHephaestus'', where a robber [[MuggingTheMonster tries to theater Ivan]] by pulling back the hammer on his gun. Ivan wonders about the pointless gesture, as the weapon is automatic. He then reasons it's probably supposed to be dramatic. Not that he feels threatened in any way, being a RetiredBadass. The only reason he doesn't kill them all on the spot is because it's his day job and he'd rather like to keep it.

** At one point Schlock discovers that the manufacturer has phased out his preferred model for a new one that eliminates the lengthy charging time, [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-09-01 he rejects it]].

** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E5Homecoming Homecoming]]", Buffy cocks a pump-action rifle for dramatic effect repeatedly. [[RealityEnsues This bites her in the ass when she quickly runs out of ammo]]. It also makes sense, given that she's almost certainly never used a gun before.

* ''Film/MenInBlack'' has Edgar replying to the Bug who asked him to put down his shotgun with "You can have my gun *chk chk* when you pry it from my cold dead fingers." The response is "Your proposal is acceptable" and [[DoNotTauntCthulhu a painful death for Edgar.]]

[[caption-width-right:306:Something fun I bet.]]

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' pulls one off, beautifully.

->''"[loud gun cock] Now doesn't that just torque your jaws? I love that. You know like in the movies, just as the good guy is about to kill the bad guy, he cocks his gun. Now why didn't he have it cocked? Because that sound is '''scary'''. It's cool, isn't it?"''

* On ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'', Mac was on the receiving end. A rich guy tazed him, kidnapped him, blindfolded him and drove him to a bad part of town before doing it. He then drove off and left Mac. Naturally, Mac doesn't intimidate that easily.

* In ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'', the Doom Slayer tends to pump his shotgun in placement of a verbal threat. When confronted by Hell Priests who lambast him for getting in their way, he simply turns to face them and pumps his shotty, which is enough to scare them away.

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' has Rocket Raccoon arming his RayGun one-handed after released by Giant-Man's hand.

* In the 1980 film adaptation of ''Literature/TheDogsOfWar'', one of the mercenaries is smuggling automatic weapons across the border sealed up in oil drums. To add tension to the BorderCrossing, he racks back the slide on a pistol when the customs officers appear to be taking too close an interest in the drums. This is despite the fact that the whole point of sealing them in drums was so customs couldn't find any weapons if the van was searched, [[RuleOfDrama so why have an illegal pistol in the first place?]]
* ''Film/MenInBlack'' has Edgar replying to the Bug who asked him to put down his shotgun with "You can have my gun *chk chk* when you pry it from my cold dead fingers." The response is "Your proposal is acceptable" and [[DoNotTauntCthulhu a painful death for Edgar.]]
* The very last shot of ''Film/AQuietPlace'' is Evelyn doing this with a shotgun, as a BringIt moment regarding the aliens about to enter their house.

* ''Anime/Metropolis'' has Atlas do this while he's responding to Pero's final question [[spoiler: before he kills him and begins his revolution]].

* DeconstructedTrope in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'': if a round is already chambered in your gun, it's now on the ground, leaving you one round short for any fight that would ensue. Reconstruction, as it might give you a +1 bonus to Intimidation against poorly disciplined foes, which may prevent a fight altogether.

* DeconstructedTrope in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'': if a round is already chambered in your gun, it's now on the ground, leaving you one round short for any fight that would ensue. ReconstructedTrope, as it might give you a +1 bonus to Intimidation against poorly disciplined foes, which may prevent a fight altogether.

Here comes the dramatic gun cock. The interrogator pulls back the hammer of the revolver or pistol, or racks the slide if the pistol has no hammer, [[ImpliedDeathThreat then resumes pointing the gun to the subject's head]]. Usually, this is enough to thoroughly spook the subject into full disclosure. A pump-action shotgun may also be used for this purpose, sometimes with a OneHandedShotgunPump, albeit it's overall not as popular as doing it with a handgun - even more rare is racking the bolt of a fully automatic weapon. A bolt-action rifle may have a character dramatically work the bolt. Filmmakers who are aiming for dramatic effect over realism may even employ the dramatic gun cock with a gun that [[RayGun doesn't actually fire a projectile]].[[note]]You could perhaps substitute the sound of a capacitor charging for a [[FrickinLaserBeams laser weapon]].[[/note]]

** Handguns have three typical variations: Single-Action, Double-Action, and Double-Action Only. Single-action requires the hammer be pulled down with each shot; simply pulling the trigger will not do anything useful as there's no mechanism for the trigger to pull the hammer back.[[note]]If you've ever watched an old Western and wondered what a shooter's off-hand was doing waving around the back of his gun, this is why; he was "fanning the hammer", which is necessary to get rapid fire out of a single-action revolver.[[/note]] For double-action handguns, while the hammer can be pulled back manually, it doesn't need to be: instead, pulling the trigger will set the hammer into place automatically. Double-action-only works the same as double-action, except the hammer can't be pulled back to act in single-action mode, so there's no dramatic gun cock option available unless you deliberately leave the chamber empty. Revolvers and some older automatic pistols may have single-action triggers[[note]]the automatics are built so the slide pushes the hammer back after every shot in the process of ejecting the fired cartridge[[/note]], but more modern automatic handguns are almost invariably double-action or double-action-only, the latter usually being striker-fired rather than having a visible hammer.

* One reason the [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter noble shotgun]] is an attractive choice for home defense is the loud, terrifying, and instantly recognizable sound of the pump action at work. Only an extremely stupid home invader (or maybe a cold-blooded one on lots of cocaine) would stick around after hearing the distinctive [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tz0UYno7BA K-CHK CHK sound]], meaning the owner of the shotgun likely won't have to actually fire the thing in the first place.