History Main / DangerouslyCloseShave

* Likewise in ''Series/{{Westworld}}'', the [[EvilWearsBlack Man in Black]] has [[ThreeLawsCompliant android host Dolores]] shave him with his own Bowie knife.

* ''Film/TheGodfather'': Subverted during the baptism assassination montage. It certainly looks like this is about to happen to a man getting a shave, but it turns out that the man is actually a Corleone assassin who is making time before ambushing the target.

* Inverted in ''Film/TheResistanceBanker''. Walraven actually gets saved by one. When he's about to walk into a house where the Nazis are waiting for him, the barber neighbor drags him into his shop and starts shaving him. This makes him seem like an innocent passerby just wanting a shave instead of a resistance leader walking into a trap.

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* In an [[http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/picture/upload/image/books/Sherlock_Holmes.pdf early draft]] of ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'', Dredger (who wound up a silly French thug) was a razor-wielding psychopath who [[HoistByHisOwnPetard impaled himself on his own razor]] near the end. Holmes and Watson agree to never touch a razor again.
* ''Film/TheBigRedOne''. A woman working for LaResistance kills several German soldiers billeted in the madhouse by pretending to be one of the inmates, dancing among them in a red dress cutting their throats.
* A humorous scene early in ''Film/{{Scaramouche|1952}}'', where Andre sends out his lawyer's barber and proceeds to interrogate the lawyer as to the identity of the man who pays his stipend. By shaving him.

* In ''Film/MurderByContract'' (1958) Vince Edwards is a hired killer. He ambushes one victim by pretending to be a barber. The victim sits in the chair as Edwards strops the razor, then pulls down the shades and advances on the victim. The camera homes in on a rotating display with the message "You are next".
* Explicitly invoked, but averted (with tragic consequences for the scrupulous barber), in ''[[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3qf2z_le-barbier-ticky-holgado_shortfilms Le Barbier]]''.

* ''Film/GrimPrairieTales'': Martin insists on shaving before going to finalize the contracts with Horn, much to Blue's annoyance. While shaving, he nicks himself and then seems to lose control of his arm. When Martin looks in the mirror, he sees the ghost of Colochez holding his arm trying to force the razor across his throat. He ultimately loses the struggle and [[SlashedThroat slashes his own throat]]. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane But was it Colochez's ghost, or did Martin go made and kill himself?]]
* Inverted in Film/TheResistanceBanker. Walraven actually gets saved by one. When he's about to walk into a house where the Nazis are waiting for him, the barber neighbor drags him into his shop and starts shaving him. This makes him seem like an innocent passerby just wanting a shave instead of a resistance leader walking into a trap.

* This is the focus of [[http://homepages.nyu.edu/~bjc235/lather.html "Lather and Nothing Else"]] by Hernando Tellez--the client is an army captain in a tyrannical regime, and the barber is secretly a rebel. The barber knows that if he kills the captain, he'll be arrested and executed, but he's uncertain whether it would be worth it. [[spoiler:He decides to simply shave the captain and send him on his way. The captain tells him he's known to be a rebel, and this was an experiment to see if he was really willing to kill. "It's not easy to kill a man. Believe me, I know."]]
* The ballad ''Der rechte Barbier'' (The Right Barber) by Franco-German poet and naturalist Adelbert von Chamisso (1781-1838): A man calls for a barber, offering a high price for taking off his beard and shaving him, only if the barber nicks him and spills one drop of blood, he'll kill him. The master barber is too scared, tells the journeyman to do it; the journeyman is too scared, sends for the apprentice. The apprentice does it and does a fine job.
-->''"Well done, and you didn't tremble, even though I'd have killed you if you had spilled one drop of blood."\\
"Sir, that wasn't a problem. [[OhCrap I had you by the throat--if you had flinched and my knife had gone awry, I'd have cut your throat immediately]]."''

* This is in the backstory of Garrett (formerly "George the Fiend") from ''Literature/BetsyTheVampireQueen''--he was an actor who was supposed to play Tarzan, but when the movie was canceled (in favor of ''Film/GoneWithTheWind''), the producer took him to the barber for a haircut and shave. The producer was the vampire Nostro, and he had the barber slit Garrett's throat so he could drink.
* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's novel ''Literature/GloryRoad'', Rufus is an accomplished barber with a straight razor but he can only do it while his "customer" is lying down. This is because he learned the skill while working as a mortician--that is, shaving corpses. This phrase subsequently becomes a RunningGag between him and the protagonist, Oscar, as a DeadlyEuphemism for killing.

* In both the novel and movie of ''Literature/TheColorPurple'', Celie is required to shave Mister. Before she does it the first time, he threatens to hurt her if she ever "accidentally" cut him. Given the way he treats her, she certainly had reason to consider performing this trope on him--in the movie, fed up after years of abuse, she is ''this'' close to slashing his throat before Shug stops her.
* In a ''Literature/DonCamillo'' story by Guareschi, Don Camillo provokes the murderer by getting shaved by him, essentially bringing over the message "You can kill me but you won't escape divine nemesis!".
* In ''Literature/{{Dodger}}'', Dodger goes to get a shave from ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd.'' Although he survives the experience (and becomes a hero in the process), the peelers find a cellar full of the corpses of earlier customers who were not so lucky.

* Spoofed in ''Series/{{Danger 5}}'' with an assassin trying to murder someone with an electric razor.
* ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'': Jimmy kills one of the D'Alessio brothers by slicing his throat while he's having a shave at the barber's.

* Music/{{Mamamoo}}'s Moonbyul and her shaky hands result in the barbershop customer getting cut with a straight razor in "Ahh Oop!".

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Happens in [[http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF197-Automatic_Business.jpg this]] ''ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship'' comic involving an automatic barber.
* [[http://nedroid.com/2011/04/beartato-and-reginald-in-a-close-shave/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{Nedroid}}'' comic has Reginald doing it to himself.

* Bart and Lisa plan a script for ''[[ShowWithinAshow Itchy & Scratchy]]'' from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' involving Itchy decapitating Scratchy with a straight razor although the idea gets scrapped as too cliché.

* UsefulNotes/AlCapone in ''Film/TheUntouchables1987'' moves his head while being shaved. Everyone in the room freezes as they see that the barber has cut him. [[PetTheDog Capone dismisses the unintentional injury.]]
* In ''Film/MississippiBurning'', the FBIAgent played by Creator/GeneHackman intimidates a KKK member who was getting a shave by replacing the barber.

* Narrowly averted in the movie ''Film/ResurrectionMan'', where the cold-blooded psycho protagonist--who we've already seen viciously kill several people and beat countless others to a pulp--gives his disabled father a shave. From the looks on their faces and the building-up of dramatic tension, it ''really'' seems as though he's about to kill him. But he doesn't. It's still a massively eerie scene though.

* In Francis Ford Coppola's interpretation of ''Film/BramStokersDracula'', the trope is invoked for menace--but not carried through to its conclusion--when Dracula [[spoiler: shaves Jonathan Harker with a cut-throat razor, though he does take pains to give Harker a small shaving cut on a pretext and then ''lick the blade''.]]
* Played for a gag in a scene from ''Film/SosYourOldMan'' where Sam cringes while watching a man try to shave himself on a shaking, bouncing train, with a giant straight razor.
* ''Film/TheSignOfFourSherlockHolmesGreatestCase'': The Tattooed Man is giving Small a shave when he nicks him with the razor. He then claims that it is the fault of the safety razor and that Small should let him have a go with a straight razor. Small is having none of it.

* ''Series/PrincessAgents'': Yuwen Yue tells Chu Qiao to shave him. She cuts his throat with the razor instead. Luckily for him, it was a very shallow cut.

* Likewise in ''Series/{{Westworld}}'', the [[EvilWearsBlack Man in Black]] has [[ThreeLawsCompliant android host Dolores]] shave him with his own Bowie knife.

* In ''Series/{{Flash Gordon|2007}}'', Ming was nicked when being shaved mainly because he couldn't sit still. As punishment for the nick, he cuts off the guilty barber's finger. They don't call this guy "The Merciless" for nothing.
* In the ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}'' episode "Cal Sweeney", the prison barber accidentally cuts Tiller while Tiller is demanding a cut of Sweeney's racket. The barber's reaction shows he expects some retribution from Tiller, but Tiller uses the cut as an opportunity to deliver a veiled threat to Sweeney about what happens if you shave against the grain.
* On ''Series/DirtyJobs'' Mike was once freaked out when cameraman Troy wanted him to shave his neck with a straight razor, even citing it as being "too Sweeney Todd" and even the professional barber caused Troy to bleed a little.

* WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck almost gets a lethal shave from an automated barber's chair in the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} ''Modern Inventions''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ACloseShave'', the villainous dog Preston ends up in an automatic sheep-shearing machine, where he is given the titular "close shave". [[spoiler:It only serves to rip off his fur [[RoboticReveal and reveal him to be a robot]].]]

* This is implied in one commercial for Advertising/WilkinsCoffee, in which Wontkins asks Wilkins the frog, who is a barber, to give him a close shave. Wilkins asks Wontkins if he drinks the advertised coffee, and Wontkins says no. Considering how most other Wilkins Coffee commercials end with Wontkins maimed or dead, it's easy to guess what happens next, based on Wilkins' response:

* In ''Radio/TheShadow One-Shot 2014: Agents of the Shadow'', Cliff and Clyde interrogate a gangster by replacing his barber while he is getting a shave. Cliff holds the razor against his throat while commenting how he has never done this before till the gangster tells them what they want to know.

* Inverted in Film/TheResistanceBanker. Walraven actually gets saved by one. When he's about to walk into a house where the Nazis are waiting for him, a barber drags him into his shop and starts shaving him. This makes him seem like an innocent passerby just wanting a shave instead of a resistance leader walking into a trap.

* Inverted in Film/TheResistanceBanker. Walraven actually gets saved by one. When he's about to walk into a house where the Nazis are waiting for him, a barber drags him into his shop and starts shaving him. This makes him seem like an innocent passerby just wanting a shave instead of the resistance leader walking into a trap.

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In the prologue of "Mixed Doubles", a maid enters a hotel room with a broken door chain, and interrupts a notorious terrorist is shaving off his BeardOfDisguise. He cuts her throat and hides her body in the closet.

* On ''VideoGame/DiscworldMUD'', there is an NPC who is a ShoutOut to ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd,'' and even warns you beforehand that he'll slit your throat when you get a shave from him. But hey, dying this way gets you an achievement and a percentage of another achievement ''and'' [[ImAHumanitarian creates pies that]] [[IAteWhat taste like you]].

* ''Series/CowboyBebop2021''. The episode "Blue Crow Waltz" opens with Vicious apparently talking of giving an enemy a SlashedThroat, but he's actually talking of how he likes having a woman shave his balls with a straight razor. He then [[BanteringBaddieBuddies gets into an argument with his friend Fearless]] who doesn't see the need for manscaping, especially if it involves [[FreudianThreat your testicles being menaced by a razor-sharp blade]].

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders]]'': Khan attempts to assassinate Polnareff in this fashion, brandishing Anubis to his throat in the middle of a relaxing shave. Polnareff dodges at the last moment, though, and Khan ends up cutting himself instead.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''Radio/TheShadow One-Shot 2014: Agents of the Shadow'', Cliff and Clyde interrogate a gangster by replacing his barber while he is getting a shave. Cliff holds the razor against his throat while commenting how he has never done this before till the gangster tells them what they want to know.

* Al Capone in ''Film/TheUntouchables'' moved his head. Everyone in the room froze as they saw that the barber had cut him. [[PetTheDog Capone dismisses the unintentional injury.]]
* In ''Film/MississippiBurning'', the FBI agent played by Gene Hackman intimidates a KKK member who was getting a shave by replacing the barber.

[[folder:Theme Parks]]
* The Ride/DisneyThemeParks ABC Soundstage attraction "Sounds Dangerous" simulates Drew Carey getting one of these with audio.
[[/folder]]

* The Creator/TexAvery short "The Car Of Tomorrow" has a gag about a car that shaves the driver, and what happens when the road is not smooth.

* This is implied in one commercial for Advertising/WilkinsCoffee, in which Wontkins asks Wilkins the frog, who is a barber, to give him a close shave. Wilkins asks Wontkins if he drinks the advertised coffee, and Wontkins says no.

* This is the final horror forced on Kurt in Music/{{Nirvana}}'s "Floyd the Barber" from ''Music/{{Bleach}}'', a perverse ShoutOut[=/=]TakeThat to ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow''.

* In ''Murder by Contract'' (1958) Vince Edwards is a hired killer. He ambushes one victim by pretending to be a barber. The victim sits in the chair as Edwards strops the razor, then pulls down the shades and advances on the victim. The camera homes in on a rotating display with the message "You are next".

Until relatively recently, hairy pseudo-apes like you and I had two options when it came to dealing with unkempt hair; either you just hacked it short, or you took an AbsurdlySharpBlade and proceeded to scrape your skin, possibly ''off.'' Thus evolved the barber's art; honing, stropping and wielding those wicked-looking straight razors to dispose of unseemly hair ''without'' getting blood all over a customer's shirt.

* The original ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'' story was ''The String of Pearls'', published in the 1840s. In that version, Todd did in his customers by opening a trapdoor under the chair and only employed this trope if the fall into the cellar didn't kill them outright.

* ''Thunder and Roses'' by Creator/TheodoreSturgeon takes place in a United States devastated by a nuclear attack, with insanity and suicide rampant among the survivors. When two soldiers find themselves becoming obsessed a straight-razor that one of them is using, they quickly decide to melt it down in an electric furnace.