History Main / ItWorksBetterWithBullets

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

-->'''Gun owner:''' You Hooligan! Who the hell steals another man's pistol!?\\

* John Woo's ''Film/TheKiller'' has the title character doing this to his handler Fung Sei in an awesome scene in which he demands the money he was promised in order to have Jenny's eyes fixed and the name of the guy who had him ambushed at the beach following the job he did to raise that money. Fung Sei has been persuaded by Wong Hoi to kill him rather than give him the money, and the briefcase that was supposed to hold the money has nothing but worthless paper inside. When he puts his weapon down to open it, Fung Sei grabs the gun and points it at him, at which point Ah Jong starts laughing. Fung Sei pulls the trigger, only to have it click on an empty chamber, and Ah Jong reveals that he unloaded it when he shows Fung Sei the bullets, just before pulling his ''other'' gun, fully loaded, on him.

** Heckler & Koch used to market a variant of their P7 pistol that had a manual safety catch operated by a small key, but it wasn't a great success.

* Billy the Kid does this to a bounty hunter in the first ''Film/YoungGuns'' movie. Pretending to be awestruck by the bounty hunter's boasts, he asks if he can touch the gun with which the hunter plans to kill Billy the Kid. The bounty hunter hands it to him, and Billy secretly unloads it before handing it back. Billy then reveals his true identity. The bounty hunter tries firing several times with the empty gun before Billy shoots him down.

* In ''Film/{{Vice}}'', Detective Roy Tedeschi arrests a rapist at the resort as he sexually assaults one of the androids. The rapists points a gun at Tedeschi and pulls the trigger only for nothing to happen. Tedeschi then tells that the gun only works on 'residents' and knocks the rapist to the floor and cuffs him.

* ''Film/TheAbyss''. The medic reveals he removed Coffey's ammo clip when Coffey is about to shoot Brigman. Justified because Coffey was suffering from a severe case of [[ShownTheirWork High Pressure Nervous Syndrome]] and most likely would not have noticed.
* ''Film/TheArtOfWar'' (2000). After holding an FBI agent at gunpoint, Shaw calmly hands him back his Glock buttfirst, but presses down the magazine release catch as he does so, so the magazine falls out and bounces under the car. As he drives off, Shaw holds up the chamber round as well.

* ''Film/AssaultOnPrecinct131976''. When Wells turns his gun on the others in a bid to escape, Leigh stands in front of him and gives an impassioned speech on why he will fail. She bravely reaches out to take his weapon, then facepalms when she realizes, "I go through all that, and his gun isn't even loaded." Thanks to the gun's HollywoodSilencer, Wells himself didn't know he'd run out of bullets, and had been pulling the trigger on an empty gun in the middle of a shootout.

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' [[spoiler:has Tony doing this to Thanos wearing the Infinity Gauntlet with all of the Stones. After flinging Tony away, Thanos does the Snap again, trying to destroy the whole universe, only for nothing to happen. He looks at the gauntlet, emptied of all the Stones. Turns out Tony had used his suit's nanotech to swipe them during the grapple.]]

* ''{{Film/Blade}}'' has a "works better with your hand" variant. Blade's katana has a mechanism in the handle that horribly mangles the hand if its timer isn't disabled. It's only used to comedic effect by a vampire mook (who'll regenerate his hand anyway), however.

* ''Film/{{Commando}}'': Cooke got John Matrix on a gunpoint after losing a fist brawl, and...
-->'''Cooke''': Fuck you, asshole! (attempts to shoot, but the gun has no ammo)
-->'''Matrix''': Fuck '''you''', asshole! (punches Cooke)
* In ''Film/{{The Count of Monte Cristo|2002}}'', after Villefort, one of the villains, accidentally confesses to murder, the policeman loads him into the wagon with [[LeaveBehindAPistol a single shot pistol as "a courtesy for a gentleman".]] The disgraced villain, facing a lifetime of slow torment in prison, puts it in his mouth and... click. Cue the protagonist's final taunt:

* ''Fanfic/SolaereSsiunHnaifvdaenn'': In an {{homage}} to a scene in the ''Series/BabylonFive'' episode "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS03E03ADayInTheStrife A Day in the Strife]]", Tovan tr'Khev quells an incipient riot by handing a gun to the instigator, who had accused him of hiding behind his weapons, and daring him to use it on him. The tough is too scared to try it and things calm down. Only afterward, when his second-in-command asks him if he's lost his mind, does he reveal he removed the gun's power cell before giving it to the other guy.

* Used in reverse [[spoiler:as part of a ''suicide pact'' no less]] in ''Film/MurderByNumbers''. [[spoiler:Richie's gun doesn't have any bullets -- but Justin's does. He realises the betrayal and... is not happy.]]

* In the 1998 scifi B-Movie ''Legion'', the protagonist--a soldier awaiting execution--overpowers his guards and bursts into a room waving a pistol, only to find his former commanding officer waiting for him. Unsurprisingly the gun is empty. "Good! I had to see if you still had the edge. Two years hard time can break any man's spirit." The soldier lunges at him only to be disarmed and pistolwhipped by his aide, a female officer played by Creator/TerryFarrell.

* In the 1998 scifi B-Movie ''Legion'', the protagonist--a soldier awaiting execution--overpowers his guards and bursts into a room waving a pistol, only to find his former commanding officer waiting for him. Unsurprisingly the gun is empty. "Good! I had to see if you still had the edge. Two years hard time can break any man's spirit." The soldier lunges at him only to be disarmed and PistolWhipped by his aide, a female officer played by Creator/TerryFarrell.

* In the 1998 scifi B-Movie ''Film/{{Legion}}'', the protagonist--a soldier awaiting execution--overpowers his guards and bursts into a room waving a pistol, only to find his former commanding officer waiting for him. Unsurprisingly the gun is empty. "Good! I had to see if you still had the edge. Two years hard time can break any man's spirit." The soldier lunges at him only to be disarmed and PistolWhipped by his aide, a female officer played by Creator/TerryFarrell.

* In the climax of ''Series/FiveDaysToMidnight'', [[WhoDunnitToMe JT's would-be murderer]] says [[YouWouldntShootMe JT doesn't have the balls to shoot him]], but when he's InstantlyProvedWrong he adds, "Or the bullets, in case you do have the balls." However there's a bullet in the crime scene evidence [[WriteBackToTheFuture inside the suitcase sent to JT from the future]], so he loads it into the gun. After a couple of pulls of the trigger, the fifty-year old bullet fires.

* ''Film/{{SWAT}}'': When the hero, Street and the big bad [[spoiler:Gamble]] are fighting over a gun, the magazine falls out. Street gets control and aims it at the villain, who taunts him holding the magazine, and Street remarks "one in the chamber" before racking it to get rid of the bullet and [[ThrowAwayGuns throws it away]] so he and the BigBad can continue beating the crap out of each other. While it might count as a subversion for the viewer because the audience would be expecting more typical Hollywood gun rules, its pretty doubtful that the villain would think the gun is empty given that the pair are both former Special Forces and SWAT. It is likely that the villain was trying to throw off his opponent by convincing him it was empty.

** In Season 4, Dina Araz agrees to work with CTU to bring down [[Film/TheMummyTrilogy Imho Terrorist [[BigBad Habib Marwan]] by pretending to hold Jack Bauer prisoner so that Marwan will bring her (and Jack) to him. Marwan gives Dina Araz a gun to [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten shoot Jack Bauer with]]. Dina turns the gun on Marwan and--click, click. [[spoiler:One of Marwan's men shoots her offscreen.]]

* Played with in ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'': In the depths of the flying city the young hero Pazu is facing down the villain Muska (one of the slimiest villains in film, right up there with Mother Iselin). Pazu has his big grenade launcher, had been given two shells, which we know he has already used. So Pazu's bluffing. Muska has his handgun leveled at Pazu, however, he lowers it, apparently falling for the bluff. But why? A real close look will show Miyazaki's attention to the details. The shot is looking over Muska's shoulder and we see his handgun with the hammer pulled down ... and it's obvious there's NO bullets in the chamber -- having run out of bullets too!

* ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'': Fouquet steals the Staff of Destruction, a legendary artifact, from the WizardingSchool. But she can't figure out how it works. So she arranges for it to be recovered by the main characters and attacks them with a golem. It goes according to her plan: Saito destroys the golem with it, showing her how to use it, then she steals it back and points it at him. He's not especially worried, since [[spoiler:the "Staff of Destruction" is really just a LAW -- a single-use, disposable rocket launcher -- and he had just used its only rocket on the golem]].

* ''Manga/GhostInTheShell''. In ''Human Error Processor'', Section 9 have removed MoreDakka from a suitcase as they're expecting an imminent attack, only to be startled by their former colleague Motoko walking in on them. After they reflexively point their guns at her, Motoko points out that the weapons wouldn't be transported with a round in the chamber.

* ''Manga/TriGun'' involves this in the beginning of episode 5 "Hard Puncher". A bunch of bandits burst into a cafe and unload on Vash the Stampede. It's only later we learn that the whole scenario turned out to be ATeamFiring and the only thing that got hit was his bottle of [[ABloodyMess tomato juice]]. He then demonstrates he's very much in control when he headshots all of them...with a suction cup gun. One of the bandits gets ticked and decides to go shooting again. Vash basically says, "Go nuts." He does. *''click''*
--> '''Vash:''' I'm afraid you've used up all your bullets already.\\
(The bandits leave town in their skivvies.)
** Vash himself falls victim to this in the first episode, as he pulls out his gun with a DramaticGunCock to try warning off some thugs - only to pull the trigger and realize he hadn't reloaded.
* This happens so often in the manga version of ''{{Manga/Akira}}'', it borders on being a RunningGag.
* ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'': In the very first episode, Noa gets into the stolen Ingram's cockpit, and Asuma directs her via radio in order to retrieve it. When she's surrounded, Asuma suggests that she pulls out the revolver to intimidate the criminals, but they don't fall for it since they know the gun wasn't loaded.

* In ''Comicbook/BatmanNoMansLand'', in an interlude called "The punk and the nomad", a punk threatens to shoot a guy for batteries. But the nomad points out that there's no way the gun's loaded, not because he knows, but because if the punk had a bullet, it would be worth more than the batteries. The nomad walks away unharmed.
* There's a ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' story where [[ImprobableWeaponUser Bullseye]], who can kill you with anything, is hired to kill someone and decides to take no chances whatsoever by using a gun. After he's fired it (and killed his target), Daredevil is so pissed that he gets the gun and turns it on his foe. The problem? [[MeaningfulName Bullseye]] only needed one bullet. And only brought one bullet. Happened again with Bullseye in "Guardian Devil," where Karen Page picks up a revolver he had tossed aside and tries to shoot him in the head. "First rule of the 'cleaning' business: Never discard a ''loaded'' weapon." However, he does admit he's impressed she had the guts to [[YouWouldntShootMe pull the trigger]].
* In an early ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'' comic, expert mercenary Kwinn disarms all of the Joes with his ImprobableAimingSkills except for Snake Eyes. Kwinn isn't scared when Snake Eyes then menaces him with his Uzi, noting that the position of the bolt on the weapon indicates a dry mag.

* In the "Palomar" series within ''ComicBook/LoveAndRockets'' (the ''Duck Feet'' collection, by Gilbert), the trope is doubled: Chelo, the town sheriff, gives Tonantzín a pistol so she can sheriff while Chelo is sick. Tonantzín realizes Chelo wouldn't trust her with a loaded gun and takes the town's other pistol from Chelo's desk instead. In a later standoff, Chelo reveals she knew this would happen, and had left the pistol in her desk unloaded too.
* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': During the GrandFinale of ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade'', Lena aims her Arm Cannon at Supergirl, pulls the trigger… and discovers that the ammo has been magically turned into flowers by Mr. Mxyzptlk.
* In ''ComicBook/XWingRogueSquadron'', this happens twice in one arc. [[http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/6130/blz19cx4.jpg Here,]] the Sullustan pilot tells the student that it's no use threatening anyone with an empty blaster - see the diode flashing? [[http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/6171/blz13cb8.jpg Here,]] the Sullustan pilot and the students are on the same side and pull the trick on someone else. Perfectly legitimate in the first case, not so much in the second. Gade may not have been a soldier or anything, but he was a bit more familiar with weapons. But hey, RuleOfFunny.
* ''ComicBook/{{Whiteout}}''. The British spy taunts a killer using a HumanShield into pulling the trigger because she knows the extreme cold will prevent the pistol from firing. At least, she hopes it will.

-->'''Almond:''' "Because you're standing over there with your bloody fancy knives and your bloody fancy karate gimmicks...and I've got a gun." ''*click*''
* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}''
** In ''The Blue Lotus'', drug baron Mitsuhirato tries to shoot Tintin with an unloaded gun, and then stab him with a tinfoil knife. Before that, he tried to poison him, only the poison had been switched out too.
** In ''The Black Island'', two goons only remember that the gun that Tintin has turned on them isn't loaded after he ties them up. They start calling for help, thinking that he can no longer threaten them with an empty gun. He simply [[PistolWhipping clubs them silent with the butt]].
* Happens to Comicbook/ThePunisher while attempting to infiltrate a drug cartel. The boss hands him a rifle and orders him to execute a captured DEA agent. The Punisher turns the gun on the boss only to discover that the gun is unloaded. It was a test of Frank's loyalty.
* The ''Comicbook/SinCity'' story, ''Hell And Back'' shows the main character sneaking into the house of a corrupt cop. When he reveals himself to the cop, the guy grabs the gun under his chair and squeezes the trigger. The main character then shows him the handful of bullets he had previously removed.
* Expecting a double-cross, Robidoux does this to Sasha in ''[[ComicBook/WynonnaEarp Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars]]''. It ends badly for her.
* ''Franchise/TheFlash'' does a variation in ''ComicBook/BatmanGothamAdventures'' 25 which opens with a mugger demanding money from his victim and she asks "Weren't you holding a gun just a second ago?" while looking at his empty hand positioned as if he had a gun in his hand. [[spoiler:Batman appears and chastizes Flash for interrupting a police sting.]]
* ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'': In "Interstellar Overdrive 2", Fluke pulls a raygun on one of his bandmates, only to find that the Doctor had removed the power pack from the gun after detecting a psychosis-inducing agent in the band's curry.
* The Lawgiver pistol from ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd'' will not fire for anyone but its assigned user. [[StuffBlowingUp Anyone unfortunate enough to try this...]]
* In one ''Hombre'' story, the hero is asked to prove himself to a young and rather bratty warlord, who gives him a gun and tells him to shoot anyone in the camp. He momentarily points it at the warlord before trying to fire it at some old people (obviously with no effect), and the warlord says a guy with his priorities can be useful. The hero thinks to himself that he can tell perfectly well when a gun's not loaded.
* A ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'' comic had a FemmeFatale manipulating a wimpy guy into doing her bidding, but just in case he had any funny ideas she decides to replace the bullets in his revolver with blanks. This backfires badly when she's dragged off by TheMorlocks and he tries to act the hero for once and save her. "[[ImmuneToBullets It was hopeless]]--it was like I was shooting blanks!"

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'': Joker pulls the trigger on a scared mook and a [[BangFlagGun bang flag]] pops out of the gun. Joker says he was only kidding and the mook relaxes. [[spoiler: Then he pulls the trigger again, which shoots the bang flag into the mook's chest. "Oops, no I wasn't."]]

* ''Series/DarkMatter'': Three (who has GunsAkimbo) and Four are in a MexicanStandoff with the rest of the crew, but Five says that Three's guns are both empty because she slipped into his room and stole all his bullets (it's made even funnier by Three's non-verbal realization that he really should've noticed the difference in weight). Everyone just points their weapons at Four [[KnowWhenToFoldThem who then surrenders]].

---> '''Agent Cho''': Hey. How you doin'? You're under arrest for the attempted murder of- ''[Gestures around at the terrified guests]'' -everybody.

** A variant in "Mr. Monk Goes to the Asylum". Dr. Lancaster, who Monk has just determined had killed the asylum's director to get the job six years ago, has recovered the murder weapon (which he threw down a chimney so the cops couldn't find it) and is preparing to shoot Monk with it, but it doesn't fire. Monk tells him that the firing pin and the metal components in the weapon have been completely oxidized over the years that have passed since the murder, rendering the weapon useless.
** In "Mr. Monk is the Best Man," Monk, Stottlemeyer, and Stottlemeyer's fiancee held at gunpoint by TK's bridesmaid, who turns out to be an ecoterrorist hiding out under an assumed name. Stottlemeyer tricks her into firing a shot into the air, then reveals he took the bullet magazine. The shot she fired was the one in the chamber.
** In one episode when Monk was working at a wal-mart like store, Monk needs to get a gun to stop the bad guy from leaving. The two idiots working the gun section give him a gun, but not the bullets. Monk then points the (unloaded!) gun at them and orders them to give him the bullets. Fearing getting shot (again, what idiots!), they give him the bullets.

* In one episode of Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine, a bad guy kidnaps Major Kira, taking her along with him by threatening her with a disruptor. Once she's had enough of playing along, she points out that he can't actually shoot her with it because the disruptor's power cell is cracked, and proceeds to beat him up.

* In the ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' episode "What's Cookin'", [[spoiler: Gaston tries to eliminate Fred and Erma with the gun he filched from Erma's purse, only to find out Erma doesn't keep it loaded because Fred won't let her.]]

* ''Manga/{{Patlabor}}'': In the very first episode, Noa gets into the stolen Ingram's cockpit, and Asuma directs her via radio in order to retrieve it. When she's surrounded, Asuma suggests that she pulls out the revolver to intimidate the criminals, but they don't fall for it since they know the gun wasn't loaded.

* Happened at least once in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', on an asteroid with a bone-eating girl and a mushroom-covered biologist. Also on the episode where John returns to Moya to find pirates have taken over and Scorpius is the only one who can help him save the day. So, John sets up an ambush on one of the pirates with Scorpius and gives him a huge rifle to do so. Not surprisingly, Scorpius discovers the rifle isn't loaded. His reaction is priceless: [[SarcasmMode "Thank you, John."]]

* ''Film/TheCrimsonRivers'' : Max Kerkerian, cop, dramatically puts down his gun and badge to goad an aggressive skinhead into a fistfight. "There, no more cop." As the fight starts going badly for him, the skinhead tries to threaten Max with his own gun, only to get his face thoroughly broken. Max then shows him the magazine, which was in his pocket the whole time.

* During the long cat-and-mouse battle that makes up much of ''Film/CrackerJack'', the hero's gun is wrestled from him by one of the bad guys, who predictably taunts him with "Any last words?" The hero's response: "Only eight bullets per clip, son." ''Click.''

* Gloriously defied in the Taiwanese drama, ''The Kid from Heaven''. Da-Gui, the friend of protagonist Xing-he, decide to confront the loan shark who's making their lives hell with a BriefcaseFullOfMoney. The loan shark agrees to meet Da-Gui alone in his penthouse, but had a gun with him; when the villain puts down his gun to open the case, Da-Gui then snatches it and point it at the loan shark, only for the latter to take out a magazine and gloat to Da-Gui that the gun is empty. After a moment of disbelief, Da-Gui instead pulls out a switchblade and stab the loan shark.