I was just looking for a compendium, if you will, of some of the most amazing fights between two people to happen in the history of cinema. I mean the type of fight that would win Torque movie of the year awards. The type of fight that would have had the most macho man leaving Titanic in tears. The type of fight that would make me want to watch Bob Dole and Leslie Nielsen mud wrestle… well, maybe not that last one.
But seriously… seen any good fights?
The fight between John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara’s brother (well, her character’s brother) in The Quiet Man is the first that comes to mind.
Probably not the type of answer you were expecting, but the fight scene at the end of The Quiet Man between John Wayne and Victor McLaglen is a classic.
Unbelievable!
Inigo and Westly!
Someone had to say it!
Zev Steinhardt
Jackie Chan vs. Ken Lo, Drunken Master II. Best. Fight scene. Ever.
Rocky vs Ivan Drago (the Russian)
“and ROCKY BALBOA PICKS HIM UP!!!”
Yoda (Frank Oz) vs. Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) in Attack of the Clones! About the only great thing to come out of the Star Wars prequels so far. (Who knew Oz could fight so well?)
Jerry Mitchell (Casey Siemaszko) vs. Buddy Revell (John Mellencamp look-alike Richard Tyson) in Three O’Clock High (1987). Anybody else remember that film? And that fight?
Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) vs. Virgil (James Gandolfini) in True Romance. One of the most brutal beatings I’ve ever seen anyone, man or woman, take. (And, no, I’m not a misogynist. I just enjoy a good, bloody film fight where the participants don’t come out of it just dusting off their clothes.)
Geez, I’m a total blank tonight…
Liam Neeson v. Tim Roth in Rob Roy
Roddy Piper v. Keith David in They Live
Rufus Sewell v. the head evil guy in Dark City
Edward Norton v. himself in Fight Club
Chen Zen vs. Gen. Fujita in Fist of Legend
James Bond vs. Red Grant in From Russia With Love
Yu Shu Lien vs. Jen Yu in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed in Rocky
Tommy Lee Jones vs. Benicio del Toro in The Hunted
T-800 vs. T-1000 in Terminator 2
Ripley vs. the Queen in Aliens
Neo vs. Agent Smith in The Matrix
I dunno that it’s epic, but I always get a kick out of the sledgehammer fight between Michael Paré and Willem Dafoe in Streets of Fire. That shit’s gotta hurt.
My intial thought was also the eleven minute (or something like that) knock down drag out from They Live.
Bruce Lee, against first Oharra and then Han, in Enter the Dragon.
What, nobody’s mentioned any of the Original Trilogy Star Wars fights? Obi-wan vs. Vader? Either of the Luke vs. Vader fights?
But I am glad to see that Inigo vs. Wesley and Ripley vs. the Queen have already been nominated.
And on a slightly different note, there’s always Indiana Jones vs. the guy with the two swords. Classic. Or Arthur vs. the Black Knight, in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Arnie vs The Predator
Conner Macleod vs The Kurgan in Highlander
The fight between Jet Li as Wong Fei Hong and…er, whatshisname…at the end of Once Upon a Time in China, with the ladders and the bales and general wire-fu goodness.
The final clash in Versus for sheer goofy fun of sword fighting like mad, to spectacularly badly-aimed point-blank gun-fu, back to swords again.
They Live firmly supported.
The final psychic duel in Scanners. Brothers should be close, don’t you think?
mmm, first thing I thought of was Keith David and Roddy Piper in They LIve . Its also the best fight over a pair of sunglasses ever commited to celluloid too. 
I’d peg Obi Wan vs Darth Maul in Ep I as the best of the one on one Star Wars battles.
Idle Hands when the kid fights his own hand. Yeah, he cuts it off, but I give extra credit points to the hand for grabbing Jessica Alba’s fine young posterior.
I thought that wasn’t very good. I always thought that Yoda was one of those beings that was so powerful he didn’t need to fight – he’s 900 years old in ESB so in the prequels he’s 880, he didn’t learn all his “wars not make one great” stuff in the last 20 years of his really long life.
I thought the 3 jedi saber fight in episode 1 was the only good thing to come out of the prequels.
Actually, 1 on 1? Legolas versus the Mumluk. The cinema I was in cheered when he slid down the trunk: the only time I’ve ever seen a cinema crowd do that!
James Bond (Sean Connery) vs. ‘Oddjob’ (Harold Sakata) in Goldfinger.
Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) vs. Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) in On the Waterfront.