It’s tough to determine the golden age of action movies. Arguably the era of John Wick ranks pretty high since it saved us from the mid-2000s shaky cam fights. However, there was a period in the later 1980s and early 1990s when the action comedy film ruled. These were often adult-oriented action films. Movies like Lethal Weapon, Kuffs, and of course, Die Hard epitomize this era. Die Hard, in particular, is often credited as the film that really started the trend.
Die Hard saw the transition from the big muscled hero, like Arnold and Stallone, to a more laid-back, more average persona. Their wit was often as deadly as their bullets. Die Hard gave us a cop from New York who comes to California to reconnect with his estranged wife over the holidays. What starts as an office Christmas party devolves into a hostage situation with European terrorists.
John McClane avoids the initial siege and then becomes a pain in the ass to the terrorists as he attempts to get reinforcements from the outside and gives the terrorists hell as he sneaks through the unfinished Nakatomi Plaza. The film’s ensign is quite famous for Hans Gruber, the main villain, falling to his death after a standoff with McClane.
The McClane Carry Method
The standoff has McClane seemingly at the mercy of Hans. He holds John’s wife hostage and seemingly has the drop on McClane. John’s hands are up and behind his head. Han is pointing his famed HK P7 at John. What Han doesn’t know is that McClane prepared for the encounter. He taped his famed Beretta to his back with some Christmas wrapping tape.
With his hands over his head, he has easy access to his gun. It remains unseen by Hans and his henchman. As Gruber turns to finish John, John signals for his wife to duck, and he draws his pistol from behind his back and shoots Hans and his accomplice with a single round each. His gun is finally empty, and like the cowboy he is, he blows the smoke from his barrel.
I’ve always loved this scene. Brains triumph over Brawn, and the element of surprise allows John to get the jump on two men. It’s fun to watch and lets you know just how clever the character is. With that in mind, I wanted to break down the scene and try it out for myself. From the moment John yells at Holly to his final shot, the clock says it’s about 2.8 seconds or so.
I wanted to reproduce this as close as possible and as safely as possible and see if John’s tactics are functional and useful. If you were in a situation where you had to surrender, could you hide a gun on your back and draw it quick enough to hit two targets before they hit you?
Happy Trails Hans
Having a real gun taped to my back without the trigger covered just seemed unsafe. Having to pull the gun by my head just made me uncomfortable. I ditched the real gun, and in its place, I used a SIG P365 BB gun from SIG Sauer. I chose this particular model because it replicates a real gun, and it turns out tape doesn’t hold heavy metal guns to skin or fabric very well. I feel bad for whoever had to unwrap presents that used that tape.
A BB gun of the P365 proved to be light enough to be supported by tape. I don’t know where to get that industrial Season Greetings tape that John had. In fact, tape even sucked for securing the P365. The amount needed to secure the gun to my back made drawing almost impossible.
A good alternative turned out to be those velcro picture hangers. Two of them stuck to the gun were enough to stick to my shirt and allowed the gun to remain accessible. I could shoot the drill over and over, and when one side of the stick ran out, it was easily replaced.
I used a standard T-shirt instead of a wife’s beater. Again, I needed extra support for the gun, and sticky stuff doesn’t stick well to sweaty skin. I set up two targets and grabbed a shot timer. It turns out that even with the sensitivity maxed out, the shot timer couldn’t pick up the noise of the air gun from my belt. It works only if I attach it to the neck of my shirt.
Yippe Ky Yay
With everything finally set up, I hit the range and started shooting. My par time was 2.8 seconds, and the ‘beep’ of the shot timer represented John yelling for his wife to duck. I started with my hands on my head. The gun stuck to my back and was invisible from a front angle. At the beep, I drew and fired one round into each target from seven yards away.
Bonus points if you remember to blow the smoke from your gun barrel and wish Hans happy trails. It turns out that 2.8 seconds is pretty generous. Even if I just took my time, I could accomplish it. I watched the scene a few times and realized John’s second target was almost 90 degrees away from his first. I reset my targets to better represent the scene, and while it took longer, it was easy to hit both targets within 2.8 seconds.
The only difficulty I had was the safety of the BB gun catching on the tap of the picture hanger. I couldn’t get the safety off, and the tab actually pressed it partially upward. A little work with a knife made that problem disappear.
Even going with a single hand proved plenty easy within that time standard. However, the fastest I could go was about two seconds, sometimes a hair below that.
The McClane Method
It’s fairly fun, but I also wouldn’t want to do it with a live gun. It’s a little too close to my head and out of my vision to fully trust for a day at the range. However, in a pinch, it’s a tactic that could work. I certainly wouldn’t advise anyway to make it a primary carry method.
If you were in an impossible situation and you used this tactic, you’d have to rely on the bad guy, not just let loose at the first sign of movement. I’d say you’d need a subsecond draw from your back to be even close to successful. To achieve such success, you’d need to get a lot of practice in prior to facing your bad guy. Even after a few tries, I couldn’t break 1.5 seconds, but I’m certainly no fast draw.
I set out to figure out if this was a valid tactic. Within the realm of movie magic, it most certainly works. But in real life, you’d have to be a whole lot faster (and precise with your draw) to be safe and successful.
