History Main / QuickDraw

* Both [[Film/DjangoUnchained Django]] and [[TheMentor Dr Schultz]] can shoot very quickly and accurately (though Django's better).

** Hickok: "Who do you reckon got him?" Bullock: "My money'd be on you."

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has a perk that's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin actually called this]]. However, its usefulness is debatable and given that it appears as a level 8 perk instead of level 2, most players usually consider it a [[CoolButInefficient waste of a perk]].

* One justification for the quick draw duel (conceived of retroactiveley as historically they occured rarely, if at all) was the goal of manipulating your opponent to reach for their pistol first while ultimately hitting your opponent before they hit you. This would allow the victor to claim self-defence rather than becoming an outlaw. This is essentially what happened in the Hicock-Tutt duel although Hicock's acquittal was an act of jury nullification. Of course, it makes no sense for either a wanted man nor an officer of the law confronting a wanted man to engage in this behaviour (unless the latter, for whatever reason, was looking to kill rather than apprehend the fugitive).

* ''Anime/{{Trigun}}'' has an episode called "Quick Draw", in which Vash and Nicholas enter a quick draw competition to give the reward to a family in need. Vash being [[ThouShaltNotKill Vash]] and Nicholas being a priest, both are opposed to killing, but [[TechnicalPacifist they can manage]] [[JustAFleshWound nonlethal shots]]. One gunman uses a particularly novel trick; he wears his clothes backwards and uses a LatexPerfection mask to pretend he's walking backwards before the draw when he actually never faces away from his opponent, so he doesn't have to turn around to shoot.

* In the 1990's cop show ''Hunter'', Hunter kills a Central American diplomat who raped his partner [=Dee Dee McCall=]. A later episode has the man's brother turning up for revenge. He's a fan of Westerns so he kidnaps Hunter and says he will duel him for his life. Hunter shoots the gun out of his hand, then repeatedly shoots the pistol as the man keeps grabbing for it. This was despite a previous episode where Hunter ridiculed the idea of BlastingItOutOfTheirHands.

* In ''Series/TheWildWildWest'', one of Loveless' plans in "The Night of the Surreal McCoy" is to get Jim West to face deadly gunman Lightnin' [=McCoy=] in a quick draw sitution. [[spoiler: Jim is faster.]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quick-draw_653.png]]

* The late Edward Woodward had quite a quick draw demonstrated in both ''Series/TheEqualizer'' and ''{{Callan}}''.

* Wild Bill Hickock and Davis Tutt got into an argument over gambling issues. When they met in the street, Hickock warned Tutt not to approach him. Both made threatening gestures towards their guns, until both drew and fired. Tutt missed, Hickock did not.

The sword analog of this trope is the [[{{Samurai}} katana]]-[[{{Ninja}} wielding]] [[IaijutsuPractitioner Iaijutsu Practice]] in a SingleStrokeBattle.

The one-on-one gunfight is a derivation of the more ancient practice of duelling. Thus, a key characteristic of many [[TheGunslinger gunfighters]] is their ability to field their weapon of choice with lightning speed. This is critical to their ability to deliver the InstantDeathBullet rather than receive it, although they may choose [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands to blast the gun out of their adversary's hand]]. TheWestern ShowdownAtHighNoon is the classic setting for this trope, although it appears in pretty much every genre with guns.

Also see SingleStrokeBattle, FastestGunInTheWest, TheGunslinger. See IaijutsuPractitioner for a related sword technique.

* Van Augur from Manga/{{One Piece}} was able to do this to Ace (with no effect, of course). Furthermore, he uses a rather large sniper rifle, not a pistol.

* The eponymous ''Quickdraw'' Battlemech in ''VideoGame/MechWarrior Online'' is not necessarily quicker to ''prepare'' its weapons, but it has a bonus of an aim speed boost to its arm mounted weapons. This means it can get off the first shot or a reaction shot much faster than, say, a lumbering ''Dragon''.

* Quick Draw also appears as a minigame in ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure''. A similar one, [[RecycledInSpace but with]] {{Iajutsu|Practicioner}} appears ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar''.

* Juan Gimenez' comic ''8 y ½'' (part of the ''Cuestión de Tiempo'' series) has an interesting variation. Rock Murphy is a cowboy who is a downright supernaturally QuickDraw; his gun seems to literally teleport to his hand each time he duels. It turns out that a time traveller who idolizes Murphy [[TimeStandsStill stops time]] during each duel (with an appropriate device) and puts the gun in Rock's hand to give him a flawless victory. Once the time traveller is taken away by TimePolice, Rock dies without the support.

* On ''AliasSmithAndJones'', this is Kid Curry's claim to fame. Generally he doesn't even have to shoot; people tend to back down in a hurry when they suddenly find themselves staring down the barrel of the Kid's gun.
* In TheWildWildWest, one of Loveless' plans in "The Night of the Surreal McCoy" is to get Jim West to face deadly gunman Lightnin' McCoy in a quick draw sitution. [[spoiler: Jim is faster.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' has the Fast-Draw skill for this. For a heavy penalty characters can draw in less time than it takes a normal person can pull the trigger on a gun. It is also possible to buy a holsters designed to make a QuickDraw easier, see the Bridgeport Rig below.

* ''{{Rifts}}'' has a sci-fi wild west setting, with a system for determining who wins in a quick-draw.

* Used, naturally enough, in ''{{Deadlands}}''. In fact, Quick Draw is a skill available for everyone to purchase, and lengthy portions of the game's guns-and-gunplay {{splat}}book was devoted to tricks and weapon modifications to improve one's simulated quick-draw skills.

* The last part of ''MetalGearSolid3'', with Naked Snake and Ocelot doing a strange quickdraw slash RussianRoulette thing.

* QuickDraw also appears as a minigame in ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure''. A similar one, [[RecycledInSpace but with]] {{Iajutsu|Practicioner}} appears ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar''.
* The BossBattle between Dan Smith and Curtis Blackburn is fought like this in ''{{killer7}}''

* As with a lot of things in the ''StarTrekNewFrontier'' series, subverted by Mackenzie Calhoun. He blasts a prisoner with a phaser just before the prisoner could shoot his captain, and all the witnesses claimed Calhoun must be a lightning-fast quick draw. Turns out Calhoun had ''already'' decided to execute the prisoner (to spare his captain's tortured soul), and didn't even realize the guy had a weapon until a split-second before pressing the trigger.

* The late Edward Woodward had quite a quick draw demonstrated in both ''TheEqualizer'' and ''{{Callan}}''.

* From "Calderone's Return" on ''MiamiVice''. A hitman, posing as a limo driver, decides that ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill and empties a shotgun into the limo. One of the dead man's bodyguards appears out of nowhere and makes him drop the shotgun. Holding the hitman at gunpoint, the bodyguard makes the mistake of shifting his gaze to the destroyed limo...

* The BossBattle between Travis and Dr.Peace in ''NoMoreHeroes''.
* Both JakAndDaxter are walking examples of this, being able to grab the {{BFG}} and fire off a shot in the same second.
* Being a gun/sword slinger, the Kusagari-with-no-name from ''RedSteel 2'' is a great example. Switching from sword to gun is instant, and the bullet lands in the target before the swap animation can even start. It's in first person, so there's no visual clue to see how he actually pulls it off. He can even quickdraw the ''rifle''.

* Boss battles in the ''CallOfJuarez'' games are usually these, except for [[spoiler:Colonel Barnsby and Juarez himself]], who are content to stay on the other side of an impassable barrier, summon {{mook}}s, and shoot at you.

-->--'''Sheriff Root''' from ''{{Preacher}}'', on the Saint of Killers

* ''{{Golgo 13}}'' has a notoriously quick draw speed. In one episode, a hitman measured it at 0.16 seconds.

* The Saint of Killers from ''{{Preacher}}'' is explicitly described as having a draw so fast the policemen attacking him only saw blurs.

* LuckyLuke: his signature move is ''[[UpToEleven outdrawing his own shadow]]''.

* SergioLeone's Spaghetti Westerns are also famous for this. ClintEastwood's Man With No Name has been known to take out four men in one draw, and the climactic showdowns are something to watch. Especially the final showdown in ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'', which had all three principal characters facing off in a graveyard clearing.
* ''{{Desperado}}'' is an neo-Western, featuring a gunfighter who often produces two pistols [[NothingUpMySleeve from his sleeves]].

* Demonstrated in the film of ''AngelsAndDemons'' where TheDragon holds up a pilfered police badge to distract a pair of policemen, then brings up his pistol and guns them both down before they can react.

* ''ThreeTenToYuma'' had Ben Wade one of the two main characters in the film show that his reputation as a formidable gun fighter is well earned. In the ending he shoots all 6 bullets out of his revolver before any of his [[spoiler: gang members]] can even so much as breath in his direction let alone react to him. What makes it even more amazing is that he doesn't fan the hammer of his revolver with his other hand, this quick draw is done with just one hand.

* The Rangers in ''RangersApprentice'' do this with bows.

* Western novels, such as the works of Zane Grey and LouisLAmour, are rife with detailed multi-page descriptions of the execution of the quick draw. Noir detectives also are adept at it, which is probably not surprising given their Western heritage.

* Jack Holloway in ''LittleFuzzy''. Someone cried a warning, he turned, going for his pistol, and saw a {{Mook}} pointing a gun at him. As two different people commented afterward, pulling a gun on Jack Holloway is simply a way of committing suicide.

* In the StarWarsExpandedUniverse, Han Solo is shown to be a very fast draw. All three of Brian Daley's Solo novels feature Han in quick draw situations. In HanSoloAtStarsEnd and HanSolosRevenge, [[spoiler: Han uses trickery and avoids a true fight against, respectively, Uul Rha Shan and Gallandro.]] In HanSoloAndTheLostLegacy, [[spoiler: Han actually does draw against Gallandro, and loses, getting wounded. Shortly thereafter, Gallandro is outdrawn...by automated FrickinLaserBeams.]]

* Occurs in the first episode (but in no other) of ''{{Deadwood}}''. Wild Will Hickok and Seth Bullock are interrogating a man. When he suddenly goes for his gun, Bullock and Hickok beat him to the draw and gun him down. Bullock earns some bad ass cred by being ''almost'' as fast as Hickok.

* Roland from ''TheDarkTower'' novels. According to his teammate, Eddie Dean, he is so fast, that "he could almost have eaten a hamburger and drunk a milkshake before beginning his draw".

* Despite his reluctance to use guns, Comicbook/{{Batman}}.