Ok, watching a movie. Bad guy is behind good guy. Good guy uses some sort of snub revolver in a shoulder holster to shoot him through his jacket.

Would the flash / concussion / heat around the cylinder burn the hell out of your side? Gun may be in a leather holster but you would have to pull it out some to access the trigger. Being that close to your body, only the shirt would really be your only protection from any hot gasses.

I suppose it's maybe better than being killed by the bad guy but I would think you would receive a decent injury

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Would the flash / concussion / heat around the cylinder burn the hell out of your side?

No. The revolver / cylinder don't get that hot from one shot. Maybe some powder burn, but I don't think it would be too bad.

Maybe not exactly applicable, but I've shot a snub revolver from a close retention position, and other than some unburned powder on my shirt I didn't notice anything.

I've never fired a shot to my rear out of a shoulder holster, but I've fired from inside a pocket and burned my hand. Extending fingers or the hand in line with the cylinder gap can be painful, too. Firing from in a holster gets blowback against the hand, as well.

If you have a revolver, take a piece of chicken with the skin on to the range and place it next to the cylinder gap. Be sure to video as you fire...I wanna see!

This had me curious, so I did a "dry run" using my thumb and forefinger as the gun while watching in a mirror. I was able to hold my "finger gun" angled away from my body, also accompanied by turning my body slightly in the opposite direction. This would have been well away from any gap blast. I am pretty slightly built, however. A large, burly (or fat) man would probably have more difficulty and might scorch or even put a hole in a suit coat.

A revolver's cylinder gap blast can be pretty substantial. In the 1990s I read a magazine article whose author tested firing revolvers from the inside of coat pockets. (This is sometimes touted by gun rag and Internet scribblers as an advantage of concealed-hammer revolvers.) He and his wife (who assisted and was in several of the photos) went through and destroyed a number of thrift store coats. In every case, the revolvers made three holes in the pockets. One was obviously in the front where the bullet exited, but there were also long rips and tears with scorched edges on either side of the cylinder. Also interesting was that exposed- and even shrouded-hammer revolvers got bits of cloth between the frame and hammer, cushioning the hammer blow or even tying up the mechanism. Only a concealed hammer allowed all five shots to be fired.

A long time ago in a life time far away I was showing off for a young lady and decided to shoot at a bottle in the back yard while standing at the back door... she was standing beside me with out a top on and when the 38 went off she was not happy with the cylinder blast...

Movies are fantasies for lack of a better word.

Not just the movies.
Chick Gaylord made a shoulder holster he specifically recommended for the purpose of shooting a mugger trying for a chokehold.

Depends on the revolver/caliber. Most “normal” calibers sting/powder burn and some may cause some superficial skin damage.

The ones that launch cruise missiles at meteor velocities can SERIOUSLY hurt you from cylinder gap gases.

Now in a leather holster with a shirt behind it. I doubt you’d get more then a bit of a push from the pressure and feel some heat from the muzzle blast as most would be channeled outward. The cylinder gap gas energy would largely be contained by the leather and clothing in all but the most egregious situations.

So what I am saying is if you need to shoot a mugger with your .357 Maggie go for it. If, however, a grizzly bear taps you on the shoulder and tells you he’s gonna rape you, you may experience some issues from lighting off your .460 magnum......but certainly less so then having a Barry White moment with Yogi Bear.

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she was standing beside me with out a top on and when the 38 went off she was not happy with the cylinder blast...

Interesting - hadn't thought about cylinder gap. Rewatched a Daniel Craig Bond movie recently on TV where Bond did exactly that - presumably with a Walther PPK or P99 - and figured the slide didn't cycle, which (in theory) should've prevented a burn. I would've thought that muzzle blast would've still lit the man's suit jacket on fire, though.

I always recall a shot of Elmer Keith shooting a revolver in what they called (IIRC) the creedmore position. Shooter on their back, strong side leg pulled up close and the revolver alongside your strong side knee/calf. I DO recall the caption; "Accurate LR shooting position, but really smokes up the trousers". LOL.

Quite a few handgun shooters in Metallic Silhouette shoots used that position with a leather blast shield on their leg.

I generally pay no mind to how Hollywood depicts a lot of things. They are often grossly erroneous. For example; truly SILENT "silencers". 9mm pistols that can shoot through thick steel, setting off propane tanks each and every time. To name a few.

Sightly off topic but the question I would have is would a revolver (assuming it is a double action) even have the necessary cylinder clearance in a well fitted holster to allow the cylinder to rotate and fire? I'm also assuming that the revolver wasn't placed in the holster cocked.

I once owned a bandolier type leather rig for a revolver used in wilderness carry and while the trigger/ trigger guard were completely exposed there was a hammer thong and the cylinder was touching on both leather sides...but I never thought to pull the trigger (unloaded) while the gun was in the holster.

It depends on what you consider "well-fitted". Barring the flutes (which may not be contact surfaces), a cylinder is a smooth, round object and the turning mechanism is internal.

Wait a minute, the guy in the OP shot from inside the holster? I assumed he drew from it before shooting. Like "shoot-through" wallet holsters, there is no way this can be live-fire practiced.

Any shoulder holster I've seen has a trigger guard on it.
So the shooter would have had to least draw the gun out of the holster enough to get a finger on the trigger.

As far as cylinder gap flash, took these pics shooting 357mag and 44 mag as few years ago.

Mythbusters did an episode sort of on this:

Mythbusters

My dad shot a 357 mag with a full house previous generation JHP, and a bunch of copper shards and powder burn tore up his thumb. I felt bad for not showing to keep his thumb out of line with the cylinder gap. I've done the same thing to myself.