History Main / ShootTheRope

* Colette of ''TalesOfSymphonia'' does this with a [[RingsOfDeath chakram]].
** At least ''chakram'' is supposed to be wide cutting weapon, not stabbing, so it amounts to one good slash with cleaver... That doesn't explain how the victim flails around and survives after having their neck snapped.
*** [[JustifyingEdit Botched hanging that didn't break the neck, or possibly the victim was intended to suffer from strangulation instead of getting a quick neck-breaking, as was common for early hangings.]]

* Doc saves Marty like this in ''BackToTheFuture III'' using a gun of his own construction, with a big scope. He claims it can shoot the fleas off a dog's back at 200 paces or something.

The hero's been [[PublicExecution led to the gallows[[ and is about to do the metaphorical 'hemp fandango'. He looks pretty much boned, right? Nope, the BigDamnHeroes are on the way! They'll save him by [[ImprobableAimingSkills splitting the rope]] on the noose with a well-timed arrow (or a blade, or a bullet, if the time period's a bit later), just as he's about to take a long drop on a short rope.

The hero's been led to the gallows and is about to do the metaphorical 'hemp fandango'. He looks pretty much boned, right? Nope, the BigDamnHeroes are on the way! They'll save him by [[ImprobableAimingSkills splitting the rope]] on the noose with a well-timed arrow (or a blade, or a bullet, if the time period's a bit later), just as he's about to take a long drop on a short rope.

->'''Ahchoo''': To tell you the truth, I was aiming for the Hangman.

* Averted in the 2010 ''TrueGrit'', where the heroes opt to climb a tree and cut the rope on a man hanged high. This troper wondered why they didn't shoot, until he remembered the inaccuracy of this trope.

* This troper has seen this happen in real life, in jr high school. On a field trip to a gun range (the kind with targets hung from rope/pulley systems) a fellow student shot the rope.

Oh, and bonus points if this dramatically superaccurate shot comes directly after a firefight in which both sides clearly graduated from the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy.

* In ''Quigley Down Under'', Quigley sets off a deadfall trap on one of his pursuers by shooting a rope.

* The {{Western}} WideOpenSandbox game ''{{GUN}}'' uses this in one mission, where you have to save a safecracker you met earlier in the game.
** ''RedDeadRedemption'', Rockstar's spirtual successor to ''RedDeadRevolver'', uses this often in side missions and at least once in a story mission.

* This occurs to Murdock in {{TheATeam}}. Some mooks are trying to get information out of B.A., though he has said all that he knows already, so they try to hang Murdock to get him to talk more. As soon as the car Murdock was stood on reverses away to leave him dangling, Hannibal and Face drive in and Hannibal shoots the rope.

* An episode of {{Smallville}} has a variation, not with a bullet but with [[{{Smallville}} Clark's]] heat-vision in an attempt to save his girlfriend Alicia. [[spoiler:[[TearJerker It didn't work.]]]]

* Turned UpToEleven and then [[ZigzaggingTrope quadruple-subverted]] in ''OrderOfTheStick''. Roy [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throws his sword]]--which is ''broken''--at his assembled, about-to-be-hanged teammates, and ends up freeing ''all'' of them...except Belkar, whose rope he misses. However, it ''does'' hit the hangman...who falls over and pulls the switch as he dies. Fortunately, Belkar is too light to be affected (the non-human Belkar notes the absurdity of assuming the same execution methods will work on all species), so he just ends up hanging upside down for a while.

** Guess he hadn't developed super aim yet.

* Doc saves Marty like this in ''BackToTheFuture III''.
** Using a gun of his own construction, with a big scope. He claims it can shoot the fleas off a dog's back at 200 paces or something.
* Not exactly a hangman's noose, but Mal does shoot the rope that connects a harpoon in Jayne's leg to a Reaver vehicle in ''{{Serenity}}''.
** It was only on the third try, though.
** In the same spirit, not exactly a rope, but Han does shoot the tentacle trying to drag Lando into the Sarlacc's mouth (''{{Return Of The Jedi}}'').
*** On the first try AND he was nearly blind too.