Parker and Longbaugh: The best trained drifters in the world?

I've always wondered that same thing. It's funny, because you notice huge differences in the gun handling between them and the old timers that Sarno brings in. Sarno's crew shoots like they came right out of the 70's. All revolvers (that are shot with one hand, sometimes from the hip), and 4+1 pump action shotguns. Jeffers and Obecks seem to come from the same school as Parker and Longbaugh. I don't know if it's supposed to be a new school/old school visual contrast thing, or if it's supposed to be saying something about the characters (like they're old badass guys who came up in the 60's-70's when people used to shoot like they saw in westerns, and didn't have any real training).

I'm not a gun aficionado, quite the opposite. But that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the finely tuned weapons handling P & L display. It's been a while since I listened to this film's commentary, but I believe there was some discussion about the history of these two. Did they meet in prison? Did they seek out the training? Or was perhaps Longbaugh trained and then trained Parker? All questions raised but not answered.


"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."

Been awhile since I've seen it, but I thought it was implied they're ex-military.

For me its simply the fact that they are from another generation, the movie depicts three generations of criminals in three stages. Parker being the earliest, then Longbaugh and finally Sarno. It fair to assume someone like Sarno would have had at sometime taught someone like Longbaugh the ropes and he in turn is tutoring Parker in the world of crime. The weaponry, training and knowledge of how to handle yourself and your equipment is something that is easier to learn without going through official avenues today as opposed to 30 or 40 years ago. I could go on the internet and learn how to build a bomb or best handle an automatic weapon or even where to purchase bullet proof vests. This sort of thing 30 or 40 years ago would be impossible to attain without going through offical or underground avenues. So it's not surprising to me that Longbaugh and Parker equip well and perform efficiently to the point they look like they had training. They're modern day professional criminals, not street hoods. Even if you watched a few seasons of CSi on tv or extras on DVD with actors learning to handle guns and perform like cops or soldiers for their parts, you'd know more about covering your tracks than most criminals from yesteryear and how to cover each other in a gun fight! Doesn't need Navy seal training to learn a bit from your collective visual and physical experiences as well as others.

A lot of people praise the movie for realism in its shootouts, but you bring up a valid point... How would they be that well trained?

I'm thinking back to Heat, and if I recall a Marine tattoo is briefly seen on DeNiro's arm. We can deduce he, and likely his colleagues, are all ex-military. Probably served together.

While I don't think anything like that is explicitly shown in TWotG, I'd assume that either Phillippe and Del Toro are both ex-military (then drifters like Rambo), or only Del Toro is and personally trained Phillippe.

If I had to guess, I'd say their both ex-military. Del Toro could train Phillippe all he wants, but when stuff goes down there's no guarantee Phillippe won't freak out and hide in a corner. He obviously doesn't, so my guess is that they're both ex-military. Speculation, yes, but an educated guess.

(Phillippe was 26 when TWotG came out, that would give his character enough time to have been in the military and lead a life of crime for several years)

I can promise you a day of reckoning that you will not live long enough to never forget.