History Main / TheGunfighterWannabe

Actually, there are three common outcomes to the Gunfighter Wannabe plotline, with a couple of rarer variants.

* ''TheQuickAndTheDead''

* ''{{Unforgiven}}'' has a hanger-on called the Schofield Kid. In a dark version of variant 1 he realizes he doesn't really have it in him to be a killer only after he murders an unarmed man on the toilet.

* You fight a number 1 in ''RedDeadRedemption'' as part of a sidequest. It serves as a TakeThat against 50s-style movie cowboys.

----

* Marston in ''QuigleyDownUnder'' is a Big Fish in a Small Pond. He ''thinks'' he's a fast gun, on his cattle station in the Australian Outback, but at the time the movie starts he has never met an actual gunslinger.

Other variations include the Wannabe being a hanger-on in an Outlaw band, only to learn that this isn't what he wants -- usually when his supposed TrueCompanions abandons him (with a broken leg or something), and then the hero rescues him.

Other variations include the Wannabe being a hanger-on in an Outlaw band, only to learn that this isn't what he wants -- usually when his supposed {{Nakama}} abandons him (with a broken leg or something), and then the hero rescues him.

This character has the IJustWantToBeSpecial attitude, but the kind of "special" he wants to be is a gunfighter. What distinguishes the Wannabe from the YoungGun is that the latter usually just needs some training/experience/maturity to get up to speed, whereas the Wannabe lacks the talent or temperament to succeed as TheGunslinger.

He may have plinked cans in the backyard, and practiced his fancy draw in the mirror, but the Wannabe doesn't have the speed and accuracy he thinks he does. And he's going to challenge a real gunfighter just as soon as he gets up the nerve. This will not end well.

Actually, there are three common outcomes to the Gunfighter Wannabe plotline, with a couple of rarer variants.

In a rarer scenario, TheGunfighterWannabe challenges someone who he thinks is TheGunslinger but isn't. So the Wannabe ends up killing some {{Cowboy}} or CitySlicker, and is promptly branded an {{Outlaw}} -- but discovers he lacks the cojones for banditry -- usually ends with the other bandits killing or abandoning him. Occasionally this results in a HeelFaceTurn, but since RedemptionEqualsDeath, it usually doesn't end well.

Other variations include the Wannabe being a hanger-on in an Outlaw band, only to learn that this isn't what he wants -- usually when his supposed {{Nakama}} abandons him (with a broken leg or something), and then the hero rescues him.

* ''{{The Quick and the Dead}}''
* Jim AKA The Waco Kid, (a RetiredBadass from ''BlazingSaddles'') recalls encountering a lot of these types back when he was the FastestGunInTheWest and how "it got so that every piss-ass prairie punk who thought he could shoot a gun would ride into town to try out The Waco Kid", including the one that sent him into his HeroicBSOD: a six year old kid with a revolver. ([[CrossesTheLineTwice Who promptly shot Jim in the ass]] [[SatireParodyPastiche when he threw down his guns and walked away]]).

* ''Sackett'' by [[LouisLAmour Louis L'Amour]] has one of the hanger-on type of gunfighter wannabe.

<<|WesternCharacters|>>

* ''Irving: The 142nd Fastest Gun in the West'' of DoctorDemento fame.

A common variant of this is the BigFishInASmallPond: sometimes the Wannabe ''is'' the fastest gun around, among the rather small group of people that he knows, and thinks he's really hot stuff, until a ''real'' gunfighter comes along.

* Deconstructed rather unpleasantly in the short story "The Conqueror" by RichardMatheson.

[[AC:{{Literature}}

!!Examples
* Ron Howard's character in ''The Shootist'' is type 1.
* Dealing with Wannabes is a major theme of ''The Gunfighter''. [[spoiler:It starts with scenario 2, then has scenario 1, and finishes with number 3.]]
* ''Sackett'' by [[LouisLAmour Louis L'Amour]] has one of the hanger-on type of gunfighter wannabe.
* ''{{Unforgiven}}'' has a hanger-on called the Schofield Kid. In a dark version of variant 1 he realizes he doesn't really have it in him to be a killer only after he murders an unarmed man on the toilet.
** The original script says he drowned himself out of guilt.
* ''{{The Quick and the Dead}}''

->'''Hilario:'''''Very young... and very proud.''
->'''Vin:''' ''Yeah...the graveyards are full of boys who are very young...and very proud.''
-->-'''TheMagnificentSeven''', after Chico fails Vin's fastdraw test and leaves indignantly

->'''Hilario:'''''Very young... and very proud.'''

-->-'''TheMagnificentSeven''' after Chico fails Vin's fastdraw test and leaves indignantly

->'''Hilario:'''''Very young... and very proud.'''\\
'''Vin:''' ''Yeah...the graveyards are full of boys who are very young...and very proud.''

->'''Vin:''' ''Yeah...the graveyards are full of boys who are very young...and very proud.''

->'''Hilario:'''(after Chico fails Vin's fast draw test and leaves indignantly)\\
''Very young... and very proud.'''

-->-'''TheMagnificentSeven'''

* Jim AKA The Waco Kid, (a RetiredBadass from ''BlazingSaddles'') recalls encountering a lot of these types back when he was the FastestGunInTheWest and how "it got so that every piss-ass prairie punk who thought he could shoot a gun would ride into town to try out The Waco Kid", including the one that sent him into his HeroicBSOD: a six year old kid with a revolver. ([[CrossesTheLineTwice Who promptly shot Jim in the ass]] [[SatireParodyPastiche when he threw done his guns and walked away]]).

* Marston in ''QuigleyDownUnder'' is a type 4. He ''thinks'' he's a fast gun, on his cattle station in the Australian Outback, but at the time the movie starts he has never met an actual gunslinger.

# The BigFishInASmallPond variant: The Wannabe ''is'' the fastest gun around, among the rather small group of people that he knows, and thinks he's really hot stuff, until a ''real'' gunfighter comes along.