Movie/TV show(s) where robbery is foiled by member of the public?

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joffe

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Hey guys,

Can you think of a scene in a movie or a TV show where a convenience store robbery is foiled by a member of the public?

I think I've seen it before, but I just can't recall anything specific. :banghead:
 
watch worlds dumbest criminals, there is normally a few stories of some dumbass trying to rob a convenience store and getting a beating from a clerk or bystanders


or do you want only fictional examples, those i cant recall at the moment
 
It would be totally against everything hollywood believes to show an ordinary citizen using a firearm to legaly stop a crime.
 
The worst thing you can possibly do is to "take the law into your own hands".

SUBMIT OBEY CONFORM
 
History of Violence - ordinary diner owner foils robbery (but he had a secret past as an expert killer for the Mob)

Hostage Flight - fairly good for a made for TV movie (1985) about a highjacking that's foiled by passengers. Has two endings, both fairly shocking for TV.

Generally in the world of TV and film this sort of thing is as rare as hen's teeth. I watch a lot of "Law and Order" vicarously (my clients have it on the telly while I fix their computers), and on occasion I overhear dialog in which they mention a victim trying, and failing to use a firearm in self defense, and implying it was a bad idea to even try.
 
It's not like random members of the public foil robberies right and left as it is.

I'm not sure why TV or movies would have a member of the public foiling a robbery except as a plot device. If the show is depicting a robbery, it's usually for a plot reason. It would be kind of anticlimatic to have the protoganist be in the middle of the robbery and some random CCWer get the drop on the robber. That might pander to the gun crowd, but would make for a pretty lame movie. Most movies are 90 minutes long, isn't it easier to just have a cop, security guard, or passing by former Navy SEAL turned pizza delivery guy stop the robbery rather than doing 5 minutes exposition on why random guy buying Huggies and beer stopped the robbery? If the robbery didn't involve either setting something up (a successful robbery hardening the police's resolve to catch this brazen gang of hoodlums) or allowing a main character to thwart it, it would likely end up on the cutting room floor.

It's kind of like horror movies that would be over in 30 seconds if someone just shot the bad guy; romantic comedies if the guy would just move on and ask out that pretty and well-adjusted girl from the library; or hostage movies if they just sent in SWAT instead of allowing the lone former Navy SEAL turned mild mannered hair stylist to dispatch the terrorists one by one with witty quips.
 
CSI NY, recent episode. 2/3 perps start towards the door at the sound of sirens. Diamond dealer (with CHL) shoots one perp, gets shot himself, remaining perp freezes with money in bag. Police arrive and Danny Walberg talks the remaining perp out.

Money remains in situ, escaped shot perp dies in a restaurant bathroom around the corner.

Of course the Diamond Dealer was probably charged with murder as it was in NYC.
 
Yes, episode of Law and Order a year or so ago, New York shopkeeper defended his store with a legally registered handgun. The storekeeper was portrayed as dirty, annoying and rude, (must have been local talent), and the cops were visibly disgusted that someone ELSE could legally have a gun besides them. Despite all that, the story, (the part I remember seeing), did state the storekeeper was inside the law, a righteous shoot, as it were.
 
Alex23 said:
CSI NY, recent episode. 2/3 perps start towards the door at the sound of sirens. Diamond dealer (with CHL) shoots one perp, gets shot himself, remaining perp freezes with money in bag. Police arrive and Danny Walberg talks the remaining perp out.

Money remains in situ, escaped shot perp dies in a restaurant bathroom around the corner.

Of course the Diamond Dealer was probably charged with murder as it was in NYC.
Click to expand...
That wasn't CSI NY, it was Blue Bloods
 
I know it was awhile ago, but Hill Street Blues had such a scene where Belker was undercover and a store owner shot up the robbers and captured them.
 
In real life a Harlem, NYC restaurant supply store owner brought to bear a long-hidden shotgun against a group of armed robbers who it appeared were going to start executing his employees. He was, according to one media account I read, "deadly accurate" despite his lack of practice with the weapon, killing two out of four.
The only charges considered against him were for not having had a "premises permit" for the longarm, a relatively minor misdemeanor compared with having an "unlicensed handgun." I think it was dropped altogether because it was so clearly a case of self-defense and he saved the lives of quite a few people.
New York doesn't seem to be all that unreasonable with cases of self-defense, but they do make it harder to obtain a weapon.
 
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CSI NY, recent episode. 2/3 perps start towards the door at the sound of sirens. Diamond dealer (with CHL) shoots one perp, gets shot himself, remaining perp freezes with money in bag. Police arrive and Danny Walberg
Click to expand...

Beat me to it, but it was Blue Bloods, not CSI NY and a bank not a convenience store.
 
Speaking of "Blue Bloods"...
Season 1 Episode 2, featured a takeover robbery of a subway car that was interupted by a bystander shooting some of the suspects. Being that it's NYC, the bystander obtained the handgun he used illegally and the family is divided over what should happen to the bystander. At the end of the show, the bystander is not charged with a crime (shocking since it's NYC).

Me thinks Tom Sellect on the show has some influence on it not being 100% anti-gun, like other crime shows (Law & Order series, CSI series, Prime Suspect).
 
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That anti gun movie recently with the anti gun actress, what was it, "The Strong One?"

Of course that only kinda sorta counts since she was all "death wish" on them.
 
Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Clerk throws hot coffee on the perp and then grabs his gun. Spicoli walks out of the bathroom and says "Awesome! Totally awesome!"
 
Nope. As said - Hollywood in general is very anti-gun. There's actually a scene in the movie Boogie Nights that is laid out so ridiculously it's insulting - during a robbery a customer pulls out a gun to try and stop it and the criminal, the citizen, and the owner all end up shot dead.

The contrived layout of events in which they ALL get shot is so over the top (basically beating you over the head with the false message that if you if you ever stand up to a criminal people are gonna die) that it detracts from the whole movie.

Kayak-man Re: Pulp Fiction

That one is a bit different. Wasn't really a law-abiding citizen stopping the robbery - just another criminal (a hit man) that did. Still a great scene though, and one of my absolute favorite movies :).
 
The Brave One.

It was a convenience store or small grocery, either way a spunky lady with a pistol terminated the perp with extreme prejudice.
 
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