History Main / MexicanStandoff

* There's a crossover fanfiction wherein [[Series/DoctorWho the Eighth Doctor]], {{Blade}}, [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]], [[Series/TheXFiles Mulder, and Scully]] find themselves in one of these. When a swarm of vampires suddenly show up, the Doctor -- the only one involved without a weapon -- remarks that things are starting to get a bit ludicrous...

* In one issue of ''Marvel Team-Up'', ThePunisher and {{Blade}} (the comicbook version), have a gun and katana to each other's heads, respectively. Blade suggests they both stand down, and lowers his weapon. Punisher doesn't move. Blade: "..." He then turns away, and Punisher shoots him in the back.

* Gloriously averted in an issue of {{Fray}} when Fray and a mook are pointing guns into each other's faces:

* In the third episode of ''{{Berserk}}'', Guts and Griffith have their first fight, which ends with Guts and Griffith presumably in a standoff, neither able to move without putting themselves at a disadvantage. However, [[spoiler:Griffith manages to pull an ingenious move and win the day, which is very {{Badass}}]].

* The UsefulNotes/ColdWar was one of these, with two superpowers and their allies [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction pointing enough nuclear weapons at each other to end human civilization if either one fired first]]. The notable exceptions being the UsefulNotes/KoreanWar, UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, and the SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan--and bear in mind that while the US directly fought in Korea and Vietnam, and the USSR in Afghanistan, the other side did not officially commit troops to any of these (although in practice they did provide clandestine support to their allies).
** The CubanMissileCrisis was the most intense period of the Cold War; a standoff within a standoff.

* Late in ''RepoMan'', there's one in a convenience store involving 1) Otto's friends who've come in to rob the store, 2) the brothers also trying to chase down the Malibu, and 3) the store's security guard. All three keep moving their guns back and forth at the other two.

* Discussed in ''NickOfTime'' by Ms. Jones when Gene pulls a gun on her, unaware that she has a gun pointed at his daughter.

* Happens in ''EnemyOfTheState'' on a grand scale. Apparently played for laughs, too, since you know both parties are unsympathetic and are being [[OneDialogueTwoConversations suckered big time.]]

* ''Film/{{Divergent}}'' has one between [[spoiler: Tris, Four, Eric, and at least one other Dauntless in the second half of the film]]

* The two-person point-blank variant of this is used in JohnWoo's ''Film/ABetterTomorrow II'', ''TheKiller'', ''Film/BrokenArrow1996'', and HardBoiled. As a result, it's sometimes called the "John Woo Standoff."
** John Woo is fond of these kinds of standoffs. There's the standoffs between Chow Yun-Fat and Danny Lee from ''TheKiller'', between Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai in ''{{Hard-Boiled}}'', and between most of the main cast in ''Film/RedCliff Part II'' - albeit with swords, of course, since that was set in Three Kingdoms period China. There's also the moment in ''Film/FaceOff'' where Sean Archer and Castor Troy end up in a standoff at a church, with Archer's FBI agents and family on one side, and Castor's family and crew on the other, which is made very dramatic by the fact that Archer and Castor are wearing each other's face and both sides are trying to convince the other which is which. When the stalemate is finally broken, the shootout that commences is the most memorable of the entire movie.

* ''Film/{{Retroactive}}'': In one of the temporal loops, Karen takes Frank's accomplice hostage at the gas station, only for the Sheriff to walk in at that moment. This results in an armed standoff between herself, the Sherrif, and Frank, which ends with Frank killing the Sheriff.

* ''Film/{{Retroactive}}'': In one of the temporal loops, Karen takes Frank's accomplice hostage at the gas station, only for the Sheriff to walk in. This results in an armed standoff between herself, the Sherrif, and Frank, which ends with Frank killing the Sheriff.

* Divergent has one between [[spoiler: Tris, Four, Eric, and at least one other Dauntless in the second half of the film]]
* In Film/{{Munich}}, one occurs when Louis (the Israeli assassination team's source of intelligence) double-books their Athens safe house and a group of assorted revolutionaries stumbles in at the dead of night.

->''"You got guns on us. You decide to shoot, we're dead. Up top, they got grenades. They drop them down here, you're dead. [[DiscussedTrope That's a Mexican Standoff]], and that was not the deal. No trust, no deal."''

* This happens once in ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'' version one, between David Jackson, Jacob Starr, and Peri Barclay. By this point, Jacob's mind has become dangerously unstable due to the guilt and trauma he's experienced over the game's course clashing with the morals his police officer father taught him his whole
life, so the situation devolves into a BlastOut when he suddenly turns on Peri and attacks him.

* Another Hong Kong film, RingoLam's ''City on Fire'', features a Mexican standoff near the end of the film, similar to the one later seen in ''ReservoirDogs'' (see below).

* During the climax of the remake of ''Film/TheBlob'' [[spoiler: [[TheHero Brian]] pulls a military rifle on [[BigBad Dr. Meddows]], getting into a stand off between the two, the army, and the local police. Meddows tries to convince everyone to shoot Brian, and Brian reveals to everyone that Meddows is the mastermind behind whats happening. Meddows snaps and pulls a gun himself only to get dragged into the sewers by the titular monster]].

* Done by the three factions' flagships in the ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' mission "A Step Between Stars". After Koren, captain of the Klingon Defense Force flagship IKS ''[=Bortasqu'=]'', claims the Jenolan DysonSphere as property of the Klingon Empire, Captain Va'Kel Shon of the ''Enterprise''-F says, no, we were here first.[[labelnote:*]]It's the same Dyson sphere the ''Enterprise''-D rescued Scotty from in Series/{{TNG}}: "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E4Relics Relics]]".[[/labelnote]] Captain Tiaru Jarok of the RRW ''Lleiset'' tries to claim it for the Romulan Republic as a neutral party, which neither of the other two want since the Rommies already control the gateway to the Solanae Dyson sphere. Things could've gotten bad really fast if Tuvok hadn't talked everyone down.

** ''Film/TrueRomance'' ends with a big standoff between the police, the mafia, and the bodyguards of a Hollywood director.

* ''Film/FaceOff'': In a church near the end of the movie.

*** In-between, they both [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic face mirrors and point their guns at their reflections, knowing the other is behind]].

* This happens once in ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'' version one, between David Jackson, Jacob Starr, and Peri Barclay. By this point, Jacob's mind has become dangerously unstable due to the guilt and trauma he's experienced over the game's course clashing with the morals his police officer father taught him his whole life, so the situation devolves into a BlastOut when he suddenly turns on Peri and attacks him.

* The Hearts Of Yukon by DonRosa ([[http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Rosa/show.php?num=3&loc=D95044&s=date page 3, picture 6]]). If that's not one, I don't know what is.

* ''{{Sealab 2021}}'' took this trope to comedic excess in the episode "Let 'em Eat Corn", which climaxed in a 5-way Mexican Standoff, with each faction armed with a nuclear missile. It then ''anti''-climaxed when they find out the nukes (all bought from the British) are duds.

** ''AtWorldsEnd'' has a particularly interesting one, involving five people (one of whom isn't even directly related to the argument and pulls out his guns because everyone else does), each with two guns pointing at two other people. During the course of a conversation, they constantly switch who they are pointing their guns at. The whole thing becomes moot when [[spoiler:Jack tries to shoot Barbossa, and the shot is a dud. This prompts everyone else to fire at each other, with the same result. Turns out that all the guns were waterlogged.]]

** Also used to interesting effect in the first movie. The cursed Pirates have a sword to Elizabeth's throat, while Will Turner has [[StopOrIShootMyself a gun to his own head]] (If he kills himself there, the pirates can never lift the curse.)
** Also used in the second film, where Norrington, Jack, and Will engage in a Mexican standoff -- but with swords. Norrington points to Will, Will to Jack... and Jack doesn't know who to point to, deciding to point, late, to Norrington.
** Jack, Angelica, and Scrum over the mermaid's tear.

* The two-person point-blank variant of this is used in JohnWoo's ''Film/ABetterTomorrow II'', ''TheKiller'', and HardBoiled. As a result, it's sometimes called the "John Woo Standoff."

When entire nations do this, it's upscaled to MutuallyAssuredDestruction. Also a case of the famous "Prisoner's Dilemma": If everyone takes the gun down, everyone lives. If everyone shoots, everyone will die. But nobody wants to be the first to put the gun down and become vulnerable.

** Repeated in the final episode. [[spoiler:Interestingly, the standoff is a result of each man disarming the other. Spike has Vicious's sword, Vicious has Spike's gun. In a ShoutOut to ''A Better Tomorrow II'', they give them ''back'' and ''then'' both die.]]

* The two-person point-blank variant of this is used in JohnWoo's ''A Better Tomorrow II'', ''TheKiller'', and HardBoiled. As a result, it's sometimes called the "John Woo Standoff."

* The novel ''DanceOfTheVoodooHandbag'' by Robert Rankin uses a Mexican Standoff in which an increasing number of characters arrive pointing guns at each other in an argument over the titular McGuffin. However, the main character realises noone's threatening him, so he steals the handbag and escapes in the confusion.

* A large one in ''GrandTheftAutoV'' occurs between [[spoiler: Michael and Dave Norton, Agent Sanchez and a team of FIB SWAT officers, Steven Haines, a team of IAA agents, and a huge amount of Merryweather mercenaries backed up by a light attack helicopter. It ends when Haines gets shot in the leg, shoots Sanchez in the head, and begins the largest gunfight in GTA history.]]

* Hardly Working: Mexican Standoff has office workers so bored that they are delighted to get into Mexican Standoffs (and die), and points out only two people is just a standoff, not a Mexican Standoff.

* CodeMENT in Episode 14 has this between Shirley, Mao, and Lelouch... except Lelouch is caught in the middle, unarmed. And if he moves, Shirley will shoot him. And if he doesn't, Mao will shoot him. [[ComedicSociopathy And that's why it's funny]].