AMexican standoff is a confrontation where no strategy exists that allows any party to achieve victory.[1][2] Anyone initiating aggression might trigger their own demise. At the same time, the parties are unable to extract themselves from the situation without either negotiating a truce or suffering a loss, maintaining strategic tension until one of those three potential organic outcomes occurs or some outside force intervenes.
The termMexican standoff was originally used in the context of using firearms and it still commonly implies a situation in which the parties face some form of threat from one another; the standoffs can span from someone holding a phone threatening to call the police being held in check by ablackmailer, to global confrontations.
The Mexican standoff as an armed stalemate is a recurringcinematic trope.
Sources claim the reference is to theMexican–American War or post-war Mexicanbandits in the 19th century.[3]
The earliest known use of the phrase in print was on 19 March 1876, in a short story about Mexico, featuring the line:[4]
"Go-!" said he sternly then. "We will call it a stand-off, a Mexican stand-off, you lose your money, but you save your life!"
— F. Harvey Smith,Sunday Mercury, New York, 1876[5]
In popular culture, the termMexican standoff references confrontations in which neither opponent appears to have a measurable advantage. Historically, commentators have used the term to reference theSoviet Union –United States nuclear confrontation during theCold War, specifically theCuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The key element that makes such situationsMexican standoffs is the perceived equality of power exercised amongst the involved parties.[3][unreliable source?] The inability of any particular party to advance its position safely is a condition common amongst all standoffs; in a "Mexican standoff", however, there is an additional disadvantage: no party has a safe way towithdraw from its position, thus making the standoff effectively permanent.
Thecliché of a Mexican standoff where each party is threatening another with a gun is now considered a movietrope, stemming from its frequent use as aplot device in cinema. A notable example is inSergio Leone's 1966 WesternThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly, where the characters representing each played byClint Eastwood,Lee Van Cleef andEli Wallach, face each other in a showdown.[6][7]
DirectorJohn Woo, considered a major influence on theaction film genre, is known for his use of Mexican standoffs.[8] DirectorQuentin Tarantino (who has cited Woo as an influence) has featured Mexican standoff scenes in films includingInglourious Basterds (the tavern scene features multiple Mexican standoffs including meta-discussion) and bothReservoir Dogs andPulp Fiction, which depicts a standoff among four characters in the climactic scene.[9]
Writer/DirectorFrancis Galluppi's 2023 movieThe Last Stop in Yuma County features a mexican standoff scene in the diner.
The dictionary definition ofMexican standoff at Wiktionary