History Main / ShootTheRope

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "The Death of the Small Coppers", a halfblind old woman with a shotgun shoots through the rope holding Winter in a DeathTrap just in time for him to free himself before the crossbow trigger.

* ''Film/TheMasterGunfighter''. Paulo has his brother-in-law Finley tied up and hanging from a tree. When Finley turns down an offer to walk away, Paulo draws his gun...and shoots the rope, dumping Finley on the ground. He then tells his men to [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim weigh Finley down and throw him in the sea]].

Well, you know what they say. [[JustForPun No noose is good noose!]]

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6196423_orig.png]]]]

The hero's been [[PublicExecution led to the gallows]] and is about to do the metaphorical [[HangingAround "hemp fandango"]]. He looks pretty much boned, right? Nope, TheCavalry! They'll save him by [[ImprobableAimingSkills splitting the rope]] on the noose with a well-timed arrow (or a blade, or a bullet, if the time period's a bit later), just as he's about to take a long drop on a short rope. Oh, and bonus points if this dramatically super accurate shot comes directly after a firefight in which ATeamFiring was in full effect. Also, even if the hanged person manages to survive without any life-threatening complications from being hung, they're likely to injure themselves from the fall, and in any case will probably be too weak to stand up and fight.

In RealLife, this is much less likely to happen than in fiction. First of all, in the nineteenth century, we figured out that hanging from a higher altitude can kill instantly by breaking the neck, and since then the majority of hangings are done in this way, with only particularly sadistic or incompetent executioners using short drops. Second, even if the victim survives the initial drop, they may struggle or convulse while suffocating, causing the rope to twitch and bounce around and making the already thin target even harder to hit. Despite all this, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5_f5NGpMq4 cutting a rope with a bullet is not completely impossible]]... so long as you manage to hit the rope in the first place. [[CuttingTheKnot A better solution is just to shoot the hangman.]]

Well, you know what they say. [[JustForPun No noose is good noose.]]

The hero's been [[PublicExecution led to the gallows]] and is about to do the metaphorical [[HangingAround "hemp fandango"]]. He looks pretty much boned, right? Nope, TheCavalry! They'll save him by [[ImprobableAimingSkills splitting the rope]] on the noose with a well-timed arrow (or a blade, or a bullet, if the time period's a bit later), just as he's about to take a long drop on a short rope. Oh, and bonus points if this dramatically super accurate shot comes directly after a firefight in which ATeamFiring was in full effect. A subtrope of ImprobableAimingSkills.

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* Done in an Australian TV ad for ''fencing wire'' from the early 80s (the ad being a homage to the 'Man With No Name' movies).

* In ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'', [[spoiler:Celestia]] is saved from being hanged by the orders of the fic's [[EvilIsPetty petty]], [[TheSoctiopath sociopathic]] BigBad when [[spoiler:Luna]] severs the noose with a magic blast.

* In ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'', [[spoiler:Celestia]] is saved from hanging when [[spoiler:Luna]] severs the noose with a magic blast.

* Pictured above: ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', Rockstar's spiritual successor to ''VideoGame/RedDeadRevolver'' as well as its [[VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2 prequel]], uses this often in some side missions and at least once in the story campaigns.
* One of the many possible opportunities to [[KarmaMeter increase your Good Karma]] in ''Videogame/InFAMOUS2'' is freeing civilians from being hanged by [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic the Militia]] by blasting the rope with your electric powers. Walking away gives you Evil Karma instead.

* In ''LightNovel/TrinityBlood'', Father Tres once frees Abel this way when the latter is tied to a chair.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5_f5NGpMq4 Jerry Miculek]] actually tested this trope and found that a rifle bullet could cleanly sever the rope but a handgun bullet would deflect off.

* UpToEleven in the final episode of ''Series/CowboyBebop2021'', when Faye Valentine does a BigDamnGunship to free Spike and Jet who are tied to the pillars of a derelict church, shooting them free with the machine guns on her Red Tail. Thanks to PlotArmor they aren't killed by ricochets.

* Turned UpToEleven and then [[ZigzaggingTrope quadruple-subverted]] in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. Roy [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throws his sword]] -- which is ''broken'' -- at his assembled, about-to-be-hanged teammates, and ends up freeing ''all'' of them... except Belkar, whose rope he misses. However, it ''does'' hit the hangman... [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0164.html who falls over and pulls the switch as he dies.]] Fortunately, Belkar is too light for the fall to break his neck or even strangle him (the non-human Belkar notes the absurdity of assuming the same execution methods will work on all species), so he just ends up hanging upside down for a while.

* Colette of ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' does this with a [[RingsOfDeath chakram]], which makes a little more sense.