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

[bembel]

Lockpicking in movies is just like knife-throwing in movies. (Mr. James-Bond-Hollywood-Hero can do it from any angle or situation, opponent will drop dead instantly)
However, most people will accept it because they don't know better. Same for lockpicking.

[In.Xanadu]

Lockpicking in movies is just like knife-throwing in movies. (Mr. James-Bond-Hollywood-Hero can do it from any angle or situation, opponent will drop dead instantly)

I just watched a couple of James Bond movies, and he does pick a lot of locks, and in ways that don't really seem to make sense. I think it was Die Another Day, when he had opened a door with what looked like a handcuff key embedded in his cell phone (on a different note, a handcuff key/cell phone case might not be the worst idea), and Tomorrow Never Dies, where he has some snazzy thing built into a credit card, that magically opened doors without the need for a tension wrench.

Of course, if I go on for too much longer, I risk complaining about James Bond not being realistic, which seems like a bad idea.

[GWiens2001]

Are you insinuating that James Bond is not real?!? Say it ain't so! At least I can still count on the Easter Bunny.

Gordon

[bembel]

James Bond and other Hollywood heros can kill by throwing a knive. Even unprepared, from any distance. (See Octopussy, for example)
Try throwing a knife by yourself...
However, viewers are willing to accept it because they don't know better. Same with lockpicking.

[GWiens2001]

Threw knives recreationally for years, though that stopped a decade or so ago. I was quite good at it. If you are consistant with your technique, you can be surprisingly accurate. You know what your range is for each full rotation of the knife.

That said, I would never throw away a weapon, when it could be better used in my hands, rather than in an opponent's hands. And yes, I believe that movies are very inaccurate.

But back to the reason for the thread, I do like Squelchtone's idea about a side view with a cutaway, even if for only a few seconds, showing the pins moving under the action of the pick entering the keyway.

Gordon

[MrWizard]

When I was a kid one of my favorite TV shows was It Takes A Thief with Robert Wagner, a convicted thief that went to work for a covert gov agency. They would show him take out the pick case select the tools and open the locks is secs some times he had a tension wrench sometimes not was a great show. Mission Impossible was another show that never used a tension wrench. Comments I used to get from customers a lot was it doesn't take Rockford this long to pick a lock. I would tell them I'm not getting paid as much as Rockford!

Richard

[In.Xanadu]

But back to the reason for the thread, I do like Squelchtone's idea about a side view with a cutaway, even if for only a few seconds, showing the pins moving under the action of the pick entering the keyway.

Gordon

Actually, that could work really well in one of the new Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock movies; he already has this tendency to narrate what he's doing in his head, just so the audience can really understand how clever he really is. Think about that fight scene at the start of the first movie, only with a lock.

[anarchy_punk]

If anyone seen Enemy of the State with Will Smith, want do you call that card decoder that one Guy use to hack the hotel room door?

[Squelchtone]

If anyone seen Enemy of the State with Will Smith, want do you call that card decoder that one Guy use to hack the hotel room door?

we call that a movie prop.



Squelchtone

[Teddy Picker]

But back to the reason for the thread, I do like Squelchtone's idea about a side view with a cutaway, even if for only a few seconds, showing the pins moving under the action of the pick entering the keyway.

Gordon

Actually, that could work really well in one of the new Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock movies; he already has this tendency to narrate what he's doing in his head, just so the audience can really understand how clever he really is. Think about that fight scene at the start of the first movie, only with a lock.

That annoyed me. It didn't annoy me that he narrated the fight scenes at the beginning; I actually liked that; what annoyed me was that he didn't narrate the fight scene at the end. I was waiting for it and it didn't happen!

[anarchy_punk]

Oh that sucks

[ice_man]

i was watching the collector the other night and they had a close up of the main character picking a lock he just put to picks in and turned it hahah oh and hes meant to be a master thief

[zeepia]

Tower heist (Murphy, Stiller): Jeff Sitar was consulting there about opening a safe, there is a article about him and he says he was needed on the scene if something went wrong. Other movies he has consulted on the phone.

Stolen (Cage): He opens store´s front door with pick and tw, takes about 15 sec. Pulsating tension. And safe opens with another cool method, including borescope and close-up shots at locking systems. Worth looking!

Hamilton 2 (Persbrandt): At London he opens a rim cylinder with pick and tw. They have removed lock´s brand label. They show his shiny tw but not the pick´s tip. But it opens so quickly that it must have been bogota!

[Jedilocksmith]

Its not a movie, but there is some pretty cool lock picking in the new Assassins Creed video game. You actually have to rotate the tension wrench and rake the pins....it actually said "rake" and "tension". Thought that was pretty cool.

[RivenV]

Its not a movie, but there is some pretty cool lock picking in the new Assassins Creed video game. You actually have to rotate the tension wrench and rake the pins....it actually said "rake" and "tension". Thought that was pretty cool.

I really appreciated that touch in the game, too! Just a delightful addition, in general. I was surprised that this mechanic wasn't introduced sooner. You'd think it would go hand in hand with the Brotherhood.

Also! I was watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles the other day, and there was some accurately presented lockpicking in that show, as well. Some of it wasn't accurate (Sarah opened a door with a single pick once, I guess), but other parts were exceedingly accurate. (LIke when they set up shop outside someone's front door for five or ten minutes to pick their front door knob.) Pretty neat, I think!