# Best Fight Scene? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 6, 2000, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751 "2000-05-06T13:09:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cblackhand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@cblackhand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cblackhand)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/1 "2000-05-06T13:09:46Z")
What was everyones favorite fight scene from a movie? Gunfights, martial arts, whatever you fancy. POersonally I love the scene in The Crow where Brandon Lee takes out all of the city scum bags in one short fight. It is well shot, the choreography of the fighting is excellent, and the music matches so well. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/2 "2000-05-06T14:34:25Z")
Not from a movie, but from a TV Show: Star Trek episode “Shore Leave”, when Kirk fights the recreation of his Academy nemesis Finnegan. ---
**Author:** ![Steve-o](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@Steve-o](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve-o)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/3 "2000-05-06T14:42:58Z")
Braveheart… Just after William Wallace’s wife was murdered, he rides up on a horse with his hands behind his head acting as if he were going to surrender himself… That scene. I wouldn’t say the action is the best (it is very good, I just wouldn’t say “best”), but it is the most satisfying fight scene I’ve ever seen. It’s just so f#$%ing personal. ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/4 "2000-05-06T14:45:35Z")
Say what you want about the quality of the rest of his movies, but Jackie Chan’s fight scenes are usually pretty breathtaking. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/5 "2000-05-06T15:05:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Say what you want about the quality of the rest of his movies, but Jackie Chan’s fight scenes are usually pretty breathtaking. > \*\* Agreed. Jackie Chan does kick much ass. But right now I have to say the best fight scene I can think of off the top of my head is Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris in Return of the Dragon. Actually, I love every single fight sequence in that movie. They’re all spectacular, but the one against Chuck Norris really stands out. Maybe just because it was Norris. ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/6 "2000-05-06T15:08:34Z")
Brandon Lee’s fight scenes in Rapid Fire are pretty cool. His dad has some of the best martial art fight scenes on film. BloodSport has some pretty good stuff, too. It’s a shame that Van Damme couldn’t follow up his performance in this movie. Braveheart and Last Of The Mohicans has some of the best army hand-to-hand fight scenes, although I’m thinking Gladiator might top them both. The lightsaber fight in Phantom Menance was one of the few high points of that movie. Saving Private Ryan has the best modern army fight scene. ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/7 "2000-05-06T15:10:38Z")
Oh yeah! fight club gets a nod for Best Fight Scenes That Really Look Painful. The scene where Norton punches that other guy in the face until it’s a bloody mess…Whew! ---
**Author:** ![gold1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gold1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gold1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/8 "2000-05-06T15:14:21Z")
I’d have to say Robert D. fighting in Raging Bull. Not only for the way the shots were filmed, but the expression R.D. puts into it, so much anger and repressed pain. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/9 "2000-05-06T16:09:43Z")
My vote goes to John Wayne and Victor McLaglen in “The Quiet Man.” They have a terrific bare-knuckle brawl for what seems like the last quarter of the movie. They even take a break partway through the fight to chug a couple of Guinnesses at a pub. Deliver some funny lines, too. McLaglen: “I’m as fresh as a daisy!” Wayne: “You look more like a black-eyed Susan.” Ahhh, John Ford. They broke the mold. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/10 "2000-05-06T16:18:22Z")
I’m with gold1 Raging Bull was stunning . ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/11 "2000-05-06T16:45:03Z")
**Milo:** Gotta second you on the Jackie Chan thing. Often the movies around the fights are pretty crummy (ever sit through _Gorgeous_ or _Thunderbolt_?), but Jackie can usually be counted on to deliver something amazing. For my money, the best things I’ve ever seen Jackie do (and yes, I’ve seen 'em all, all the way back through _Master with Cracked Fingers_ and the other ripoff re-edits) are as follows: 1. The final fight in _Drunken Master 2._ For pure speed, intensity, and inventiveness, this is hard to beat. Actually, almost every fight in the movie is incredible. 2. The “handcuffed together” fight in _Project A Part 2._ Not exactly what you’d think of as a fight (i.e. Steven Seagal style), but truly amazing nonetheless. 3. The climactic rooftop fight in _Who Am I._ I have a real thing about heights, and no matter how many times I see this, I still squirm off the couch. 4. The warehouse battle in _Rumble in the Bronx_, starting on the pool table and going all the way to the invitation to tea. Maybe not his best all-time fight, but it was amazing seeing an American audience, who didn’t know what they were in for, get their asses kicked. That counts for something. 5. Other greatest hits: the wind tunnel in _Armour of God 2_, the final fight with Pirate Lo in _Project A_, the whole factory battle leading to the confrontation with Bennie the Jet in _Dragons Forever_, the bit with the ladder in _First Strike_, the playground battle in _Police Story 2_, the automotive testing facility in _Twin Dragons_, the rope factory in _Mr. Canton and Lady Rose_… I could go on. That being said, what Jackie does in his American films (from _Big Brawl_ to _Protector_ to, yes, _Rush Hour_) isn’t as impressive, because the Hollywood producers feel the need to slow him down so American eyes can follow what he’s doing. I’m hoping _Shanghai Noon_ starts to break this pattern, but I’m not counting on it. Also, given my tastes, I actually prefer Jackie’s fights to Bruce Lee. Heresy, I know, but Bruce’s style is to be completely dominant; there’s never any doubt that he’s the best fighter there, and that he will win. From a perspective of pure testosterone, that’s okay, but I think Jackie’s fights are more interesting, in that he’s just barely hanging on by his fingertips, and he has to do whatever he can, he has to grab whatever comes into reach, just to make it out alive. Oh, by the way, Jet Li is pretty cool, too. Swinging his son around on the end of a rope in _My Father is a Hero_… Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/12 "2000-05-06T17:00:33Z")
The fight between James Bond and Red Grant aboard the Orient Express in “From Russia With Love.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/13 "2000-05-06T17:01:17Z")
Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Inidana Jones shoots the big guy with the sword. When I saw The Big Sleep at the arts center, everyone clapped when Bogart shot Canino six yimes in the tummy. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/14 "2000-05-06T17:24:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Milo: Gotta second you on the Jackie Chan thing\*\* I have to add one to your Jackie list. The Jackie-Urquidez fight at the end of Wheels on Meals has some incredible sequences. It is really too bad that Benny Urquidez is so damn ugly, he might have been able to make some great movies. Most Americans probably know him best as the guy John Cusack killed with a pen in Grosse Pointe Blank ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/15 "2000-05-06T18:02:08Z")
Support Your Local Sheriff, when the standard western movie type fight breaks out and James Garner, who was just passing through on his way to Australia, and more importantly, had just bought his lunch, made them hold off fighting until he and his lunch could get to safety. Hilarious. Police Squad: The Naked Gun - the baseball brawl scene when one of the players breaks a chair across the head of an opponent just like in the westerns. ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/16 "2000-05-06T18:41:50Z")
I kinda liked the fight scene between Mel Gibson & Gary Busey at the end of the first _Lethal Weapon._ Want a funny fight scene? Miss Piggy vs. Chris O’Donnell in \* Muppets from Space.\* Good one! ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/17 "2000-05-06T19:04:26Z")
I second Pugluvr with “The Quiet Man” nomination…that fight scene is a hoot. I also love the gun battle between Harry Callahan and the bank robbers early on in “Dirty Harry.” Harry walking out of the diner firing his .44 Magnum…and he never stops eating the hot dog. ---
**Author:** ![Iguana\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@Iguana\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iguana_Boy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/18 "2000-05-06T19:17:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > It is really too bad that Benny Urquidez is so damn ugly, he might have been able to make some great movies. > > Most Americans probably know him best as the guy John Cusack killed with a pen in Grosse Pointe Blank > \*\* That fight with John Cusack is one of my favourite fight scenes - reasonably realistic, not overdrawn, and John Cusack actually looks like he’s been in a fight afterwards. Steven Seagal’s stuff is pretty good too, although it’s not usually worth sitting through his acting to see one of his fight scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/19 "2000-05-06T19:21:59Z")
Oh please, surely the gunfight scene in the hospital in John Woo’s _Hard Boiled_ has to take the biscuit. ---
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751/20 "2000-05-06T20:58:13Z")
**Legend of Fong Sai Yuk** - Great scene near the end where they stack benches and keep fighting on top of them **The Matrix** - Most of the fight scenes were great. I really didn’t like the Phantom Menace fight scenes at all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fight-scene/18751.md?page=2)