Lock Picking in Film
We see it on TV every now and then. The protagonist breaks into an office to rummage through files to uncover some mystery. How close to the real thing is it? Some pieces of cinema have done a decent job. Some not so much. Let’s see who did it best, and who failed miserably. Warning, stop reading here if you haven’t seen these, there will be spoilers!
Lock Picking in Cinema. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.
The Ugly
Tenant. Oh lawd this is bad. Just. Just horrible. So there is a scene where John David Washington and Robert Pattison are breaking into a high security building. They supposedly need to break in super fast, and practice this lock picking thing to break in like mega ninjas. Yeah. Yeah, no. For one, it’s not a high security lock, it’s some knock off electronic deadbolt with what appears to be a Yale keyway. About as far as it gets from high security. Secondly, John’s character is raking, which on pretty much any real high security keyway would just never work. Most high security keyways utilize side bars, or specialized pins that make raking pretty near impossible. To understand raking check out out YouTube video on it. Lastly… and this is the kicker… he has no tension wrench and the the rake is buried in the lock. So all he is doing is tickling the back pins. Without tension applied to the lock it’s never going to turn.
0/10 Christopher Nolan. You spent all the money blowing up a plane and then failed miserably at the close up scene.
The Bad
The Collector. Okay. This one isn’t AS bad. It’s still pretty bad though, talk about trying but missing the mark. The character is using two lock picks, which technically you could use the second pick as a tension wrench, but far from ideal. However the pick used on the top of the keyway is being used upside down. While it could technically be possible to pick some basic locks with flat bitting this way, we can also see two major flaws. The pick being used to manipulate the pins isn’t moving when suddenly the lock turns. The big one here though, the entire face of the knob is falling out, which means it’s obviously not real. Now to most viewers this is probably unnoticed, but you can fake lock picking even with some basic flat bitting to make it look real.
3/10 Technically plausible, but still lacks attention to detail.
Honorable Mention - Absolutely Dumb
No Country For Old Men. Great overall movie. Love the tone. Love the ambience. This scene makes no sense. Not even a little bit. It’s so dumb, but it looks so cool that you don’t even realize how dumb it is. It looks to be a Schlage B560, and that lock is made of steel. That’s not the issue though. There is a bolt, and a thumb turn, where did they go? You really think that the little bottle of compressed air housed enough force to shoot a steel deadbolt through the bolt, through the thumb turn, and then across a room to indent the wall. C’mon man that defies the laws of physics. In reality you would make one hell of a dent in the face of the lock, and it would take several attempts just to break the bolt inside the door. Even then, you would need to shear the entire bolt in order for this to work. It would take about 65,000 to 120,000 psi to break this lock. Not even close to reality. Boo. Boo-urns.
Now. Guns to open doors. It’s a thing, but not with most if any revolvers. A shotgun can work, but not on every door. Now to be very, very clear. We do not recommend this method. Only a trained individual with proper licensing should ever consider this method. However… here it is:
The Good
Gotham Season 1 Episode 14. Bingo. This one makes sense. Tension wrench? Check. Rake? Check. A lock that can actually be raked? Boom. This is what it actually looks like.
10/10 Nailed it.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed our little bit about lock picking in film. Lock picking is a talent, and while we can understand some films may not want to show how to actually pick a lock for legal reasons. We thought it best to debunk and clarify how lock picking actually works. It’s not as easy as it seems. Some locks are easy to pick, some are near impossible. If you’re interested in lock picking and want to pick up your own set of picks, check out our lock shop for our Reaper Picks.
If you’re locked out, or looking to upgrade your security, check out our homepage for more info.
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