The Myth of the Quick Draw

September 7, 2010 8:05 AM

I read an article a couple of years ago, I think it was written by Larry McMurtry, about the myth of the quick draw. Essentially the writer said that no one in their right mind would approach an enemy with their weapon holstered and the quick draw is a myth of Western fiction. I've done some searching of databases and online and I can't find the dang thing.

This article could have appeared in the NY Times or the New York Review of Books and may not necessarily have been written by McMurtry.

posted by zzazazz to education (13 answers total)

I don't have the article but I want to comment anyway. If you are hunting for an enemy in order to kill him or her, of course you would do so with gun drawn. (This scenario is depicted in a vast number of action movies.) If, however, you have arranged a formal duel, then the rules of the duel require that the guns be holstered until the formal beginning of the duel. (Although you might cheat.) And then, you might find yourself unexpectedly under attack, in which case your ability to draw your gun quickly could be relevant. Still on the whole, good aim is more important than a quick draw. To fire quickly and miss won't help matters.
posted by grizzled at 8:17 AM on September 7, 2010

Not quite what you're looking for, but here is a piece by Bob Munden along those lines. He was highlighted for his quick draw skills previously on Metafilter.
posted by Jugwine at 8:22 AM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

here you go... i think.... http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/ucla/lubet48.htm
posted by fozzie33 at 8:32 AM on September 7, 2010

the rules of the duel require that the guns be holstered until the formal beginning of the duel

Pistols were normally held; there were no quick-draw "holsters" until around the time of the Civil War.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:33 AM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

I feel like I read a rather long article debunking myths about the quick draw, but I'm not having much luck finding it here at work. However, I did find this article about the release of the last Lonesome Dove series a couple years ago, which includes a bit of an interview with McMurtry where he scoffs at the idea of the Hollywood invention of the quick draw duel.
posted by The Man from Lardfork at 8:33 AM on September 7, 2010

David Milch has mentioned numerous falsities that have been created by the Hollywood Western, though I can't recall if the quick draw is one of them. If you're interested in the topic as a whole, you might want to check out his work (he created Deadwood).

Pretty sure he's responsible for me knowing that the Cowboy Hat was not what cowboys actually wore. Some non-locals came to the gold rush wearing that style of hat, which the locals (the cowboys) thought ridiculous. Because photography was in its infancy, photos were taken of these men to show how silly they looked. The photos became wide-spread and others participating in the gold rush thought that was the proper attire and bought them. Rinse, repeat.
posted by dobbs at 8:42 AM on September 7, 2010

If, however, you have arranged a formal duel, then the rules of the duel require that the guns be holstered until the formal beginning of the duel.

Interesting opinion, grizzled. I suppose you have a copy of The Rules for Dueling by Hoyle, to back up this claim?
posted by IAmBroom at 10:40 AM on September 7, 2010

IAmBroom: I do not have a copy of The Rules For Dueling by Hoyle to back up my claim, and neither did the duelists of the Wild West, simple country folk that they were...
I do believe that the formalized dueling society of the west as depicted in numerous movies and TV series is highly fictionalized. I also believe that duels did occur. It is a well known historical fact, for example, that Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel by Aaron Burr. I haven't researched the matter in any detail, however. My initial comment was not intended to defend any romanticised version of the Wild West. I just think that if you are going to have a duel with guns, there has to be some formal arrangement of how it is done, so that duelists will refrain from shooting before the duel officially begins. Otherwise it is just an assassination, not a duel. Of course, assassination is safer, at least for the assassin.
posted by grizzled at 11:14 AM on September 7, 2010

The Gunfighter: Man or Myth? is a pretty good read if you're interested in gunfighting in general, and it specifically addresses the quick draw. A few things stand out after you read it:

1. The most important gift one could bring to a gun fight was nerve. Speed wasn't quite as important.

2. A lot of fast, skilled gunmen lost fights because of freak circumstance: One account in the book mentions that a combatant was killed because his opponent's first shot blew off the tip of his thumb. He tried to shift his pistol over to his other hand to cock the hammer, but his opponent took steadier aim and shot him before he could manage that.

3. A number of narratives end on notes like "but one of his shots went wild and struck a nearby child, so even though he won the fight he was promptly strung up after a hasty trial."

The book also provides one of my favorite quotes: Upon being shot, a gunfighter yells "You big son of a bitch, you murdered me!"
posted by mph at 11:18 AM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

There definitely were gunfights in which both parties started with guns holstered and then drew and fired quickly. In fact, the first recorded one happened in my hometown between Wild Bill Hickok and Dave Tutt.

However, this was a gunfight. That is, two people were angry, and had guns, and one of them went for the their pistol as the other responded. It wasn't a formally-declared/challenged/accepted duel of the swordfighting/flintlock variety.

This is not the same as the Hollywood idea of people squaring off and calmly waiting for the clock to strike noon before drawing and firing simultaneously.
posted by Netzapper at 11:37 AM on September 7, 2010

In a recent article I read (can't find it now, of course), the author took, the position that most folks in the "wild west" used shotguns when they were serious about killing. Pistols weren't cheap, nor was the ammunition. Take into consideration that you might miss with a handgun, one would be better off using a shotgun.
posted by Man with Lantern at 12:09 PM on September 7, 2010

The Straight Dope did an article on this a few years back. As other have said above, it didn't happen in real life.

I've heard, although I don't know if it's true, that the idea of the two cowboys facing off in the street comes from samurai movies by way of spaghetti westerns. In the movie "High Noon", which is usually cited as a classic gunfight, everyone has guns drawn for the final battle. When Sergio Leone started making westerns based on Kurosawa samurai, he added quick draw gun fights that resembled one on one samurai battles.
posted by chrisulonic at 2:02 PM on September 7, 2010

I searched again and I think it may be this article. Someone buy it and let me know.
posted by zzazazz at 7:23 AM on September 8, 2010