At the film’s close, the outlaw played by Justus D. Barnes turns to face the camera and fires repeatedly, creating the shock that the gun is aimed directly at the audience. Placed either at the beginning or the end in early screenings of The Great Train Robbery, contemporary accounts describe viewers recoiling, ducking, or shouting, momentarily believing the shots were being fired at them. The scene became part of the film’s legend, demonstrating the startling immediacy early cinema could achieve.