Lockpicking in Movies

[GWiens2001]

Just saw it on last episode of Limitless, and it's less than half sec.

limitless.109.hdtv-lol[ettv].mp4_snapshot_23.29_[2015.11.18_22.40.36].jpg

I like how he is using pin tumbler picks in a lever lock. At least he is using a tension wrench. (snicker snicker)

Gordon

[Scrince]

https://vid.me/6C9k check this out.

[bitbuster]

pretty small keyway

[nine4t4]

It's sad. The cartoon has as much accuracy as most TV shows, or vice versa. There is a youtube play list with various bits of picking in media. Some are funny, Rosharch looks picks a lock with such flourish is looks like he was trying to destroy it. The collector has a clip with 2 picks being used and no tensioner (extra comedy points for choosing a "city rake" and a half-ball)

Some are sad. Et tu MacGyver? Et TU?!!!

De Niro in Midnight Run. Tensioner and homebrew snap gun. Unfortunately, the snap gun "tip" looks more like a Falle-Safe Deep curve pick. And then he proceeds to snap the picks individually. And he's done in typical movie time. Maybe it's an unspoken rule that you can't show accurate picking in movies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUcZEX5RkzU (I can't get youtube to window in a post).

I occasionally get the "Why are you taking so long? It should only take a few seconds. My response is similar to when I'm solving a Rubik's cube, "The only people that talk about how quickly it can be done are the ones that CAN'T do it at all and are talking out of their ass. Picking a good lock in seconds ONLY happens in movies, and it's sad that you can't separate reality from the time compressed fiction you watch." Of course, murphy's law kicks in immediately, and the lock pops in record time just to spite me.

[GWiens2001]

"The only people that talk about how quickly it can be done are the ones that CAN'T do it at all and are talking out of their ass. Picking a good lock in seconds ONLY happens in movies, and it's sad that you can't separate reality from the time compressed fiction you watch." Of course, murphy's law kicks in immediately, and the lock pops in record time just to spite me.

It does happen in reality, but not too often. And yes, Mr. Murphy just loves to take the low shots, doesn't he?

Gordon

[norwoodgolf]

Screen Shot 2016-08-24 at 00.39.30 AM.jpg

This is from the final episode of the Cinemax series "Banshee." Picking what looks to be a Master 230? The picker, Lucas Hood, is talking about how he's scrubbing but the pick never moves once it's inside the keyway. Only takes ten seconds to get an open. "Click!"

[keyway_grooves]

Maybe it's an unspoken rule that you can't show accurate picking in movies

Maybe not as fun to poke fun at the movies if you know that they're gimping themselves on purpose, but hollywood has at least historically had a long-lived private rule about films not being used to corrupt the audiences, one of the rules being to refrain from revealing information on how to do criminal activity successfully. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Pi ... ction_Code

It's catholic, not christian (Acts 10:34-35), so there's nothing in there about making other races look categorically bad or evil or just unlucky and the ethics of hating and excluding them without regard to moral character or a higher Law.

[madsamurai]

"The only people that talk about how quickly it can be done are the ones that CAN'T do it at all and are talking out of their ass. Picking a good lock in seconds ONLY happens in movies, and it's sad that you can't separate reality from the time compressed fiction you watch." Of course, murphy's law kicks in immediately, and the lock pops in record time just to spite me.

So, I just moved into a new apartment with Kwikset deadbolt and knobset, and thought I'd take a shot at it so see... Quite literally, less than 2 seconds for each with a triple peak rake. I think it might actually be faster to just use that instead of the key from now on. Made me think (just for a second) maybe the movies weren't so far off. Landlord already said I can't change the lock, but maybe if I demonstrate...

Anyway... None of you guys know where I live, right?

[bitbuster]

I don't know where you reside but I think Mastersmith would tell if he were waterboarded

[madsamurai]

I don't know where you reside but I think Mastersmith would tell if he were waterboarded

lol... would that be actual waterboarding or movie waterboarding?

[bitbuster]

I don't know where you reside but I think Mastersmith would tell if he were waterboarded

lol... would that be actual waterboarding or movie waterboarding?

Either......as long as Dick Cheney is in charge.

[MartinHewitt]

If you'd change some of the pins to serrated pins, spools, etc. of the same length I am sure your landlord won't notice.

[madsamurai]

If you'd change some of the pins to serrated pins, spools, etc. of the same length I am sure your landlord won't notice.

Yes, I was thinking about doing exactly that... just need to get my workbench unpacked.

[ghost_os]

One of the most enjoyable threads I've found so far!

In defense of movies / TV, if for no other reason, they're under time constraints. So unless they need to fill some space, or add to the tension (pun unintended) of a scene, having it take a while to pick the lock just doesn't make sense. I do snicker when I see the wrong kind of picks for the lock type working though.

That being said, every door in my girlfriend's apartment could be picked open in about 5 seconds the first and every time I tried it, and that included the time it took to insert the tools. She got security pins in a hurry. Her parents house is the same way, and I would have done the same for them, but they never, ever, EVER lock their doors, so really, what's the point?

One of the places I used to live, you could actually stick the flathead screwdriver blade from a cheap multitool (the "screwdriver" was just a flat strip of metal), wiggle a little while turning, and in around 10 seconds it would open. EZ Set indeed. So, sometimes the absurd things can happen.

Someone posted about the wrong end of a tension wrench being used. I have to say, there have been a couple times when I did that, because the lock was so close to the frame that it made picking it to the unlocked position impossible as there was no room to tension from the necessary side, and I dislike bending or cutting tension tools. BUT I only inserted the tip of the "wrong" end and used the usual working end to apply the turning force. It was fiddly, but it got the job done. Inspired me to make an ultra short tension wrench after the second time though. I know the whole point of the thread is having a laugh at the nonsense depictions, and giving the proper depictions a nod, I'm just a stickler for "sometimes".

One of the only proper depictions I remember seeing was on an episode of The X-Files. I've tried searching for the episode, but was unable to turn it back. Maybe someone else knows? Agent Doggett used both a pick and a tension wrench to pick open a front door knob. As far as how fast it happened, it was probably a Kwikset =P

[keyway_grooves]

"The only people that talk about how quickly it can be done are the ones that CAN'T do it at all and are talking out of their ass. Picking a good lock in seconds ONLY happens in movies, and it's sad that you can't separate reality from the time compressed fiction you watch." Of course, murphy's law kicks in immediately, and the lock pops in record time just to spite me.

So, I just moved into a new apartment with Kwikset deadbolt and knobset, and thought I'd take a shot at it so see... Quite literally, less than 2 seconds for each with a triple peak rake. I think it might actually be faster to just use that instead of the key from now on. Made me think (just for a second) maybe the movies weren't so far off. Landlord already said I can't change the lock, but maybe if I demonstrate...

I've seen raking happen about that speed, although I haven't gotten the hang of bumping yet to have rapid access that way.

I don't know where you reside but I think Mastersmith would tell if he were waterboarded

lol... would that be actual waterboarding or movie waterboarding?

Either......as long as Dick Cheney is in charge.

The integrity of the admin tested by brutality? Why? Would bringing an old vice president in to now risk the penalty of the law for unwarranted spying and abuse of data gathering procedure be good? Even inviting Ronald Reagan to approve changes to your ToS and do big data and make some heatmap analysis of your user hovering, clicks, and keystrokes for housekeeping purposes might be more than you would like. If you start calling up Yeltsin to help you out, it's all over. Drowning by syringe helps no one.