History Main / ThePrecariousLedge

* Subverted in ''Film/TheMatrix''. Neo is instructed by Morpheus to crawl along a tiny ledge between windows to escape {{the men in black}}. He chokes and gets captured instead.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/TweetyAndSylvester'': Happens in “A Bird in a Bonnet”.

* In ''Film/TheDayOfTheBeast'' the main characters, to avoid the police and [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane possibly from Satan]] banging at the door after their summoning, choose to escape by claiming out a window and they dangerously hang from the Edificio Carrión's Schweppes sign.

* The Serpent's Pass in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is a long, narrow ledge across the body of water separating the main land from the city of Ba Sing Se. Because the Gaang and a pair of newlyweds had problems getting tickets for the ferry, they went there instead. Not only is navigating it already hard, the pass apparently got its name from the giant water serpent that lives there, trying to knock people off the ledge.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ACatInParis'', Nico makes a career of walking along incredibly thin ledges. At some point, he even saves a potted plant from falling off a window sill without so much as a stumble.

* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' episode "The Devil's Tower". During their escape the Quest team must ease their way along a narrow trail in a cliff with the mad war criminal Von Duffel bombing them with grenades from the air.

* ''WesternAnimation/PinkPanther'': “Pinkfinger” does this at one point… and suffers a BananaPeel hit in the process. Also, when he falls off the ledge and into a garbage can, the peel lands square on top of him.

%%* Happens in [[WesternAnimation/TweetyAndSylvester “A Bird in a Bonnet”]].

* ''Film/TheCouchTrip'': In the opening scene has mental patient John Burns Creator/DanAykroyd out on the ledge of a mental institution, but he's not jumping just admiring the scenery. But when his therapist shows up to try to talk him down, he acts like he really is going to jump.

* ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati'': When Les is MistakenForGay he decides to jump off the ledge of the building. Herb climbs out the window to talk him down, and when Les gets a call from the person who had mistaken him for gay apologizing Les now wants to live but is too petrified to move. They manage to bring him in, but Herb falls off and gets injured even though he falls into a FiremansSafetyNet (offscreen).

* In one episode of ''Series/Adam12'' Reed and Malloy encounter a jumper on one of these. Malloy goes out on the ledge to pull him back in. The sergeant gives him a massive chewing-out for this.
* In ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Frasier's devious agent, Bébé, fakes a suicide attempt from a high publicly visible ledge to force Frasier to get out there with her and "talk her out of it". As this plays out in front of a crowd and TV newscrews, it secures the radio shrink greater publicity and a massive pay rise. He does not appreciate the risk factor involved.
* A gag in ''Series/RutlandWeekendTelevision'' involved a tough no-nonsense New York cop terrifying a would-be suicide off the ledge and back into the building by threatening to arrest them for waste of police time and possible littering. The cop draws his pistol and points it at the sucide, meaningfully, scaring them off the ledge.
** Did this inspire the makers of ''Series/SledgeHammer'' to go one better - the scene where Sledge loses patience and fires five shots at the would-be jumper's feet, the bullets from the Amigo knocking large pieces off the ledge and scaring the suicide into giving up the attempt?
* ''Series/TwoPointFourChildren'' had an episode where Bill and Rona visit Bill's aunt at her seventeenth-floor apartment, only to discover that she has become stuck on a ledge after climbing out to feed the pigeons. She threatens to jump if they call the fire brigade (believing that the authorities would have her sent to a retirement home), so Bill and Rona go out to rescue her - then the ledge nearest the window crumbles, leaving them stranded. Thankfully, the whole building is so poorly constructed that Bill breaks through the wall when she stumbles backwards.

-->'''Ricky:''' Lucy, of all the crazy things you done in the fifteen years we been married this is --
-->'''Superman:''' Wait a minute, Ricardo! Do you mean to say that you've been married to her for fifteen years?
-->'''Ricky:''' Yeah, fifteen years.
-->'''Superman:''' And they call ''me'' Superman!

[[quoteright:300:[[Film/ManOnALedge https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/manonledge_6355.jpg]]]][[caption-width-right:300: I wouldn't look down if I were you.]]

Another way this trope is frequently used is [[TalkingDowntheSuicidal when a character is about to potentially commit suicide by jumping.]] A character will threaten to jump of the ledge of a building, bridge, or other high structure.

* The ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' [[SlasherMovie slasher]] episode "[[Recap/BoyMeetsWorldS5E17AndThenThereWasShawn And Then There Was Shawn]]" has the second-floor library window, which is used for the final two victims, Angela and Jack. When Eric and Feffy are killed, Jack tries to [[DrivenToSuicide kill himself]] by jumping out of said window when he thinks he won't be able to afford his rent for their apartment and could face the prospect of being evicted. [[TalkingDownTheSuicidal Angela stops him in time and reminds him Shawn is still his roommate and they could still afford the rent]]. However, before Jack and Angela can go back inside, the killer shoves them out the window and both are sent falling to their deaths, just before Cory, Topanga and Shawn confront him.

%% PLEASE do not change this image to a TPP reference. (In fact, don't change *any* page image without taking it to ImagePickin'. Ever.)

* In one episode of ''Series/AdamTwelve'' Reed and Malloy encounter a jumper on one of these. Malloy goes out on the ledge to pull him back in. The sergeant gives him a massive chewing-out for this.

* The climax of ''Anime/DoraemonGreatAdventureInTheAntarcticKachiKochi'' sees DOraemon stuck on one such ledge, in the middle of a ruined city currently being destroyed by the eldritch monster Blizarga. Luckily the gang arrived in the nick of time to grab him just as the whole ledge breaks apart.

* The ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' [[SlasherMovie slasher]] episode "[[Recap/BoyMeetsWorldS5E17AndThenThereWasShawn And Then There Was Shawn]]" has the second-floor library window, which is used for the final two victims, Angela and Jack. When Eric and Feffy are killed, Jack tries to [[DrivenToSuicide kill himself]] by jumping out of said window when he thinks he won't be able to afford his rent and could face the prospect of being evicted. [[TalkingDownTheSuicidal Angela stops him in time and reminds him Shawn is still his roommate and they could still afford the rent]]. However, before Jack and Angela can go back inside, the killer shoves them out the window and both are sent falling to their deaths, just before Cory, Topanga and Shawn confront him.

* The ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' [[SlasherMovie slasher]] episode "[[Recap/BoyMeetsWorldS5E17AndThenThereWasShawn And Then There Was Shawn]]" has the second-floor library window, which is used for the final two victims, Angela and Jack. When Eric and Feffy are killed, Jack tries to [[DrivenToSuicide kill himself]] by jumping out of said window when he thinks he won't be able to afford his rent and could face the prospect of being evicted. Angela stops him in time and [[TalkingDownTheSuicidal reminds him Shawn is still his roommate and they could still afford the rent]]. However, before Jack and Angela can go back inside, the killer shoves them out the window and both are sent falling to their deaths, just before Cory, Topanga and Shawn confront him.

* The ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' episode "[[Recap/BoyMeetsWorldS5E17AndThenThereWasShawn And Then There Was Shawn]]" has the second-floor library window. When Eric and Feffy are killed, Jack tries to [[DrivenToSuicide kill himself]] by jumping out of said window when he thinks he won't be able to afford his rent and could face the prospect of being evicted. Angela stops him in time and [[TalkingDownTheSuicidal reminds him Shawn is still his roommate and they could still afford the rent]]. However, before Jack and Angela can go back inside, the killer shoves them out the window and both are sent falling to their deaths, just before Cory, Topanga and Shawn confront him.