History Main / TenPacesAndTurn

* In ''Film{{Ridicule}}'', the protagonist Gregoire Ponceludon kills one of King Louis XVI's officers in a pistol duel.

* In ''Literature/{{Demons}}'' by Creator/FyodorDostoyevsky, Nikolay Stavrogin duels Gaganov over a family insult. During the duel, Stavrogin intentionally fires into the air, which infuriates Gaganov.

* In ''Literature/{{Flashman}} by George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman is forced into fighting a duel after a brief affair with a fellow officer's lover. Flashman gains a free shot after promising a large sum of money to the pistol loader to give his opponent blanks in his gun, but rather than attempt to kill his opponent, instead delopes and [[AccidentalAimingSkills accidentally shoots the top off a bottle thirty yards away]], an action that gives him instant fame and the respect of Duke of Wellington.

* In the Loguetown arc of ''Manga/OnePiece'', there's an episode in the anime where Usopp gets into one with a bounty hunter named Daddy Masterson. [[note]]The same plot was at one point planned to be used in the manga, but was dropped due to not having enough time before reaching the Grand Line in chapter 100.[[/note]]
* Non-lethal variant: In ''Manga/NewGame'', when Umiko challenges Kou to an airsoft pistol duel, they take the expected ten paces, but neither allows themselves to actually get hit after shooting.
* Tohru and Elma do this in the fourth Blue Ray special of ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid''. Being a Chaos Dragon, Tohru turns around after a single step and shoots Elma InTheBack.

* [[http://www.comicvine.com/zorros-lady-rawhide-other-peoples-blood-1/4000-168977/ The cover of this comic]] shows ComicBook/LadyRawhide about to throw down with her [[ArchEnemy hated enemy]] Scarlet Fever. ([[CoversAlwaysLie This didn't actually happen in the comic]]; Scarlet Fever tended to fight ''dirty''.)
* Anybody stupid enough to challenge ComicBook/{{Deadshot}} to one of these will get shot in the back at around three.

* The ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey'' strip seen [[http://beetlebailey.com/comics/may-9-2017/ here]] combines it with PieInTheFace, where Lt. Fuzz's choice of weapon is "custard pies at ten paces".

* Parodied in ''Ratataa!'' from 1956. The hero's sidekick tries to help him by strewing banana peels in front of his opponent's feet while he's walking the obligatory ten steps.

* Both types of duel feature in Kubrick's ''Film/BarryLyndon.'' There's also a twist in the "stand at your mark" version: the duelists ''take it in turns'' to fire, based on a coin toss. There's a memorable scene where one duelist, having missed his shot, throws up in terror realizing that his opponent now has the ''legal right to shoot him in cold blood.''[[note]]Actually more of an "illegal right": duels were technically against the law, but prosecutions were rare and convictions unheard of; whereas a man who ran away from a duel would be ostracized by the whole of high society.[[/note]] This is actually how most duels of that period worked. Pistols were horribly inaccurate and many duelists deloped anyway; it was also considered very bad form to aim carefully. The point was more to test whether both parties cared enough about the issue to take the risk.
* Creator/WoodyAllen's ''Film/LoveAndDeath'' featured Woody in a duel. Ten paces, turn, and laugh.
* The ship's captain played by Gregory Peck and one of the braggarts who frequently [[TheSoCalledCoward calls him a coward]] end up in one of these near the climax of ''Film/TheBigCountry''. Guess which one honours the terms of the deal and which one cravenly tries to shoot early. Hint: it's ''not'' [[TheSoCalledCoward the one played by Gregory Peck]].

* To save face in front of the Emperor in ''Film/MessageFromSpace'', Garuda picks a fight with a nearby warrior, and Rockseia agrees they may duel. The Gavanas warrior panics, firing before he has taken the required 10 steps. Garuda nevertheless continues his ten paces, and turns. The warrior quakes in fear as Garuda aims at the defenseless warrior, but Garuda declines to shoot.
* Played straight in Creator/SergioCorbucci's SpaghettiWestern ''Film/IlMercenario'' (aka "The Professional Gun"): the duellists stood in the opposite sides of the arena with their backs turned on each other -- then, once (actually, thrice) the bell struck, they had to turn and shoot. To be sure, the duel was supervised by an armed badass, so nobody could cheat.
* Parodied in 1959 SurrealHumor short ''Film/TheRunningJumpingAndStandingStillFilm'', in which one duellist has a banana--and they both shoot the judge.

* Pierre and Dolokhov's duel in ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' goes swimmingly. Someone gets shot, everyone goes home more emotionally mature.

* Variant: Some friends of the participants will see that the guns are loaded with blanks in advance.
** Creator/ElleryQueen's ''There Was an Old Woman'' had the bullets replaced with blanks, and then a killer re-replaced with live ammo.
** Creator/EdwardDHoch's "An Early Morning Madness" is similar.

* Dusty Fog fights a traditional pistol duel (albeit using Colt revolvers rather than duelling pistols) in ''A Matter of Honour'' by Creator/JTEdson. His opponent cheats by having a fully loaded revolver (Dusty's has only one loaded chamber) and firing before the full ten count. Dusty still beats him.
* In the first (by order of events) ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' story, Horatio ends up in a duel with another midshipman. It's actually ''no'' paces and turn; since his opponent is a better shot, Hornblower creates the "[[TitleDrop even chance]]" by having one pistol loaded and the other empty, chosen blindly, and firing at point blank range.[[note]]Hornblower was at the time so miserable that he considered his own death equally as desirable as victory.[[/note]] Neither is wounded. Later on, the captain tells Horatio that he had arranged for both pistols to be unloaded, not wanting to lose either. He then says that while proving you have the courage to fight a duel is good, having the sense to not get into any more is even better, and has Horatio transferred to another ship so that he doesn't butt heads with the other midshipman anymore.

* Played straight in an episode of ''Series/{{CSI}}''... except one of the duelists thought it was a joke, and the one that had set the whole thing up was taking his hobby (American Civil War recreation) a little too seriously.
* In ''Series/TheGoodies'' episode "Bunfight at the O.K. Tearooms", Graeme tricks Tim and Bill into one of these only for them to find that the ''eleven'' paces he has them take causes them to walk face first into a wall.

* James May demonstrated the proper etiquette for duelling in an episode of ''Series/JamesMaysManLab''.
* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzags]] in an episode of ''Series/HoratioHornblower''. The first duel begins with the two men facing each other, taking aim for a count of three, then firing (cue BulletHolesAndRevelations). In the second, the original winner stands back to back with Our Hero, they each take five paces forward before turning, and ''then'' are counted down to firing. Uses the "villain shoots too early" variation, but it's OnlyAFleshWound and Hornblower is permitted to take his shot, but delopes. Then all that's left is for the shamed villain to earn himself a quick KarmicDeath (at the hands of a spectator), and job's a good'un.

* In the ''Series/EnemyAtTheDoor'' episode "The Prussian Officer", Reinicke challenges the Prussian officer von Bulow to a duel after von Bulow humiliates him (and [[spoiler:inadvertantly gets the woman he loved killed]]) and escapes official censure. Von Bulow accepts, despite Major Richter reminding them that duelling is illegal. The duel takes the form of pistols at dawn; the duellists are depicted pacing away from each other, then standing facing in opposite directions until the umpire calls "Fire!" [[spoiler:Reinicke turns and fires first -- and misses, leaving von Bulow the opportunity to return fire at his leisure. After letting Reinicke sweat a bit, von Bulow deliberately and obviously fires wide, makes a sneering comment about Reinicke's aim, and walks away.]]

* The Creator/AchievementHunter team did this for one of their episodes of ''VS'' using Nerf guns. Unfortunately both were hilariously inaccurate and consistently failed to hit one another even after they cut the number of steps in half. [[spoiler:Gavin]] finally won it with a [[BoomHeadshot headshot]] after multiple tries.

* Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' movie ''Beast with a Billion Backs''. Bender, having challenged Calculon to a duel, takes about three of the ten steps then turns and fires his raygun. Of course, since these are incredibly advanced weapons, the shot takes off Calculons arm, cuts a line through a lake, pierces through a skyscraper, and destroys the headquarters of the very club they were dueling over.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' where Peter imagines what the American forefathers would have done without guns. Cut to a duel scene, where both participants take their ten paces, turn around and start slapping each other.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)", Homer takes to slapping people in the face with a glove and challenging them to duels to intimidate them into giving him whatever he wants. However, when he does it to a SouthernGentleman, the gentleman accepts his challenge. After spending most of the episode living on a farm to avoid the duel, Homer returns home and has to fight him. During the customary ten steps the Texan is distracted by a pie Marge cooked. Homer, in a move that was idiotic even for him, reminded the man that the duel was not over. The Texan apologized for his rudeness and promptly shot Homer in the shoulder.
* The titular battle in ''WesternAnimation/AGentlemansDuel'' starts like this. Then the two men dash off into the woods and come back piloting HumongousMecha.
* One of the ''WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies'', "Little Hiawatha", has the title character hunting a rabbit. The rabbit is so frozen with fear that Hiawathan can't bring himself to just shoot it, so he gives the rabbit a bow and arrow, presses backs with him, and steps six paces, then turning and aiming again. The rabbit is still terrified and doesn't budge; Hiawatha ends up just shooing it away, to the delight of the forest creatures nearby. [[AndroclesLion This saves him later.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'': In "Ancient Fistory", Popeye and Bluto face each other in one. Bluto cheats by running over to a cannon and blasting Popeye with it at nine, knocking him out.

* A recurring theme in ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}''. Three separate duels are fought (culminating in the infamous Burr-Hamilton duel that costs Alexander Hamilton his life), each to a distinct ten-count musical motif. ''Ten Duel Commandments'' even lays out the steps of the Code Duello for the audience, from issuing the challenge to picking seconds to "the moment of adrenaline".
-->''Number nine!\\
Look 'em in the eye, aim no higher\\
Summon all the courage you require, then count:\\
One two three four\\
Five six seven eight nine--\\
Number ten paces'' '''''fire!'''''

One two three four, five six seven eight nine--\\
Number ten, paces--\\

-->-- ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', "Ten Duel Commandments"

* ''Series/yancyDerringer'': In "Duel at the Oaks", Yancy agrees to "shoot" Charles [=LeBow=] in a fake duel in order to smoke out the man who's trying to kill [=LeBow=] for real. When, at the "funeral", the body of [=LeBow=]'s partner is discovered in what should have been [=LeBow=]'s empty coffin, the City Administrator doubts Yancy's tale and plans to lock him in prison as a material witness.

* No guns needed, in Disney's ''Disney/TheSwordInTheStone'', Mad Madam Mim cheats by casting an invisibility spell on herself during the ten paces, so that when Merlin turns, he can't see where she is.

** In ''Hare Trimmed'', Bugs delayed the count ("...nine, nine and a half, nine and three-quarters, nine and three-sixteenths, nine and eleven-sixteenths, nine and twelve-sixteenths...") just to make sure Sam was in the right spot at the right time to get run over by a bus. ("Yep, he's right on time.")

** ''Wild Wooly Hare'' had Bugs challenging Yosemite Sam to a ten pace duel. Sam agrees, starts to take ten paces, but turns and fires on "two". Bugs, anticipating the dirty play, took his steps ''backwards'' so Sam's guns were extended past where Bugs was when he fired.

* During the Old West chapter of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', Sunset and his rival Mad Dog step out for a five-pace duel early on. They turn, take five steps, turn again... and both shoot hidden members of the Crazy Bunch gang. They then put their rivalry on hold for the much more pressing issue of an impending gang attack.

* On ''VideoGame/CurseOfMonkeyIsland'', to get a pirate to join your crew you have to engage him in a pistol duel, although only Guybrush moves the ten paces. He'll win every time, so you have to challenge him to a banjo contest instead.

One two three four, five six seven eight nine--

->''"When fighting a duel, fairness requires both combatants to stand at an equal distance from one another..."''
-->-- '''Old serial novel'''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)", Homer takes to slapping people in the face with a glove and challenging them to duels to intimidate them into giving him whatever he wants. However, when he does it to a SouthernGentleman, the gentleman accepts his challenge. After spending most of the episode living on a farm to avoid the duel, Homer returns home and has to fight him. He gets shot in the arm.

* Subverted in Dr. Dre's and Eminem's "Bad Guys Always Die".