Lockpicking in Motion Pictures? ( Picking in Movies & Film )

[Drpez5]

I know this really isn't a "motion picture" but in the tv show "Elementary," lock picking is quite prevalent. In many episodes it is shown that Sherlock Holmes has a wall of padlocks and when he is captured, he picks his way out of a pair of handcuffs. The show is fantastic and from what I saw, he is picking it like someone actually would. I wonder if anyone on the production team is a locksmith or into locksport?

[Squelchtone]

I know this really isn't a "motion picture" but in the tv show "Elementary," lock picking is quite prevalent. In many episodes it is shown that Sherlock Holmes has a wall of padlocks and when he is captured, he picks his way out of a pair of handcuffs. The show is fantastic and from what I saw, he is picking it like someone actually would. I wonder if anyone on the production team is a locksmith or into locksport?

wall of padlocks FTW!
http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=55850&p=405576#p405576

[Dukerdog]

I know this is not a motion picture does anybody watch Dexter on Showtime he picks Locks in like two seconds every time. No tension wrench. Drive mr crazy.

[Drpez5]

Oh darn Squelchtone! I thought I was bringing something new to the table here xD It really makes me want to start my own wall of padlocks!

[EmCee]

Far from complaining about unrealistic picking in movies/tv progs I'm all for it. Why would we want the proper technique to be shown clearly?

That said, I had to smile last night during an episode of Silent Witness (UK tv prog based on forensic pathologists) when a police DI, faced with a locked door, used a credit card to open it...with a movement that looked like the movement of swiping a smart card down through a reader. Just a quick swipe of the edge of the card down the 90deg angle formed by the door and the door stop...open sesame.

[GWiens2001]

Maybe it was a toll door, and he used his credit card to pay.

Gordon

[Solomon]

I started watching Archer recently, it's hilarious... just finished watching episode 4 of season 1; near the end of the episode Lana opens a door using what looks like a dimple bump gun. Thought that was pretty cool. Can view screenshot here.

Also, I went to see the new die hard film a few nights ago and at one point Jack was trying to pick a car lock with what looked like a southord pick. And no wrench, of course.

[dll932]

the remake of The Italian Job had pretty realistic lock and safe techniques...but I never met a lady 'smith that looked like Charlize Theron..)

[phrygianradar]

Maybe it was a toll door, and he used his credit card to pay.

Gordon

Sorry Gordon, but that made me laugh really hard! A toll door...classic!

[ARF-GEF]

The new episode of Elementary (Snow Angels) shows Sherlock Holmes looking for picking marks and eventually picking the lock.
The thing which they show as pick marks looks really brutal, but well it's TV..
Anyway nice to see the hobby represented.

[PinPopper1]

its funny but since I'd begun picking I now pay special attention every time I see this in a movie. Just the other night I was watching a movie called The Collector where the main character was a locksmith or safecracker or something of the sort and he had to break into a house so in this scene he inserts an L rake into the mortise cylinder and some kind of other straight bar in below it which looks like it could have been a short hook minus the hook, not a tension wrench and what do you know the lock opened right up. its always entertaining the fact that they don't show I have a lock is actually picked as if they couldn't just watch you tube and learn in an hour how it's done lol.

[mattc]

I've not long finished watching "The Incredible Mr Goodwin", a program in which Jonathan Goodwin shows us, amongst other things, his technique for picking locks under stress (put a scorpion in your mouth, tape it shut and have someone slap you)

A link to the trailer

[DonR]

I actually read this thread. I feel like I need some eye drops for lubrication now.

"Midnight Run" had a couple awesome scenes as a few have pointed out and Raimundo's commentary on snap picks is golden. In early 80s HPC Catalogs, they had Snap Picks for sale. They work very well once you are used to them and it seems as though every one of them will have its own personality. I still have the first one I ever made back in 1988 out of a coat hanger and hand filed. I can't believe I have been able to keep it this many years come to think of it!

Back when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, I couldn't wait to catch a replay of Bronson in, "The Mechanic." Flash forward three decades later and I was finally able to see the uncut version and the Director, Michael Winner (Just died January of this year, Rest Easy...) had picking in the original, uncut version. I cannot remember ever seeing it on mainstream TV as a kid. Both tools. No one did gritty like Winner with the possible exception of Sam Peckinpah.

Another 1970s gem, but it is tedious, is "The Conversation" with Gene Hackman with Francis Ford Coppola Directing.

[YouLuckyFox]

Recently watched Alice in Wonderland where the main character bypasses a lock by drinking, eating, crying, and drinking again; in that order .

[GWiens2001]

Sounds like a new challenge for that lock picking game another member is working on!

Gordon