# Best one-sided masochistic beatdowns on film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 6, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473 "2004-04-06T01:31:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/1 "2004-04-06T01:31:43Z")
In some movies, there are fair, honourable fights. In some movies, one character singlehandedly reams a single or multiple opponents with such dazzling style and ease that you can’t help but grin. This thread is dedicated to the latter. So, what are your favorites? A recent great was Jen Yu vs. the tavern and it’s inhabitants in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/2 "2004-04-06T01:36:03Z")
I’m not sure how a beat-down would be “masochistic” except on the part of the person being beaten, but my favorite one-side beat-down is Sonny Corleone kicking the crap out of Carlo in _The Godfather_. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/3 "2004-04-06T01:38:57Z")
Pretty much the second half of Robocop. Probably shooting the rapist through the skirt or when he blasts the ED-209. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/4 "2004-04-06T01:43:10Z")
It’s very brief for a beatdown, but it’s stuck with me for some reason. In _12 Monkeys_, Bruce Willis picks up a telephone and begins viciously bashing in a pimp’s face with it. When Madeline Stowe yells at him to stop, he looks up at her with this dumb, dazed expression on his face, but meanwhile his fist is still pumping up and down into the guy’s head, completely independent from the rest of him. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/5 "2004-04-06T01:57:01Z")
Any of the fights Temura Morrison gets into in _Once Were Warriors_. They’re all eye-blink quick and breath-takingly brutal. And, of course, there’s always _The Passion of the Christ._ ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/6 "2004-04-06T02:06:04Z")
The title (but not the OP itself) made me think of a certain scene in **Fight Club**. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/7 "2004-04-06T02:08:40Z")
When Jack beat the hell out of Pretty Boy (I think that was his name) because he was jealous that Tyler seemed to like him more? Yeah… that was exactly the scene I was going to mention. Isn’t Neo kicking everyone’s ass pretty much the whole plot of all the Matrix movies? ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/8 "2004-04-06T02:39:09Z")
Pretty much all of _Iron Monkey_ consists of gloriously one-sided routs; my particular favorite is when Iron Monkey not only handily whips the Scarred Swordsman and the Virgin Assassin, but mocks them while he’s at it (“This is what passes for excellence now?!”). ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Stan\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/9 "2004-04-06T02:55:14Z")
I’ll vote for the scene in _Ghost Dog_ where neo-Samurai Forrest Whitaker dispenses Mr. Vargo and his mobster heavies in upstate N.Y. The final scene between Ghost Dog and Louie, however, epitomizes “Masochistic”. If you haven’t seen this classic movie, it is worth a trip to the video store, even if only for the excellent dialogue (featuring Henry Silva). ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/10 "2004-04-06T02:57:36Z")
**A Clockwork Orange** Well all of the fights really. The biggest beatdown would have to be after he was rendered unable to fight back though and got his ass kicked by his former gang members-cum-policemen. **X2** When Logan kills off several of those army guys. It’s about time he unleashed his claws. **Plup Fiction** when he whips out the sword on those rednecks. And I can only imagine the beat down the survivor got after the Gangster called his ‘hard pipe hitting niggers’ in (I think that was the term he used) **Batman** when he punches the Joker’s lights out in the end. **The Crow** any the Crow vs mere mortals. Of course the best scene was when he kills everyone sitting at the table just to get to one guy. **LA Confidential** Russell Crowe vs Guy Pearce…need I say more? **Vampire Hunter D:Bloodlust** Groove vs the mutants. **The Shawshank Redemption** The ‘screws’ vs the guy who was raping Andy. Can anyone else tell I have an eclectic taste in movies? ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/11 "2004-04-06T02:59:19Z")
> [@Lisa-go-Blind](#): > > The title (but not the OP itself) made me think of a certain scene in **Fight Club**. Well, as far as masochism in Fight Club, there’s the obvious (and hilarious) scene. However, I think the real masterpiece is the penultimate battle between Tyler Durden and the main character. Tyler Durden, from the moment he shrugs off his coat in this scene, is menacing, brutal, and virtually invincible. ---
**Author:** ![jweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@jweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jweb)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/12 "2004-04-06T03:11:22Z")
Walter vs. The Nihilists at the end of The Big Lebowski ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/13 "2004-04-06T03:35:59Z")
Jweb, that was probably the best answer this thread could give. Lemme suggest a couple close seconds and/or thirds: -The fight between Tavon and Shane in episode 4, season 3 of _The Shield_\* (yeah, it’s a TV show, technically, but they film in 16mm and frankly the quality surpasses most movies… and besides, it was a _really_ brutal fight). -Lacking that… hmm… I’d say the fight 'tween the Predator and Arnold in _Predator_. 'Course, Arnie won (both the battle, _and_ office! Yuk yuk!), so maybe that doesn’t count… ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/14 "2004-04-06T04:00:31Z")
Shannon Hamilton vs Brodie Bruce, _Mallrats_ of course, Shannon does get his…in the end. :eek: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/15 "2004-04-06T04:15:30Z")
Christian Bale against pretty much anyone else in _Equilibrium_. ---
**Author:** ![angelicate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@angelicate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/angelicate)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/16 "2004-04-06T04:41:34Z")
I always liked the fight between Mallory Knox and the redneck in **Natural Born Killers**. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/17 "2004-04-06T05:02:14Z")
Bruce Lee vs. the school of Japanese students in _The Chinese Connection_ (U.S. title). He left the lesser pupils and their master moaning on the mats, while the two top students were choking on the paper he crammed down their throats. All this and he barely broke a sweat. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/18 "2004-04-06T05:29:23Z")
[QUOTE=Aesiron] When Jack beat the hell out of Pretty Boy (I think that was his name) because he was jealous that Tyler seemed to like him more? Yeah… that was exactly the scene I was going to mention. QUOTE] Actually, I was thinking of the fight in his Bosses office, though I’m not sure if that counts. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/19 "2004-04-06T05:57:52Z")
From _Fist of Legend_, Jet Li’s superior remake of Bruce Lee’s _The Chinese Connection_ (which was _Fist of Fury_ in Hong Kong): Jet Li vs. a school of Japanes warriors in his classroom. Jet Li vs. an entire Japanese dojo in China (a remake of the scene listed above). Jet Li vs. a class of martial arts students armed with batons in _Kiss of the Dragon_. Clark Kent vs. the bully at the end of _Superman II_. (“Been working out.”) Charles Bronson vs. every opponent he fights in _Hard Times_ (I love this movie for this very reason–_every_ fight is remarkably one-sided). Bambi vs. Godzilla in _Bambi vs. Godzilla_. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473/20 "2004-04-06T06:09:34Z")
George Clooney’s Character vs. his Ex-wife’s new finace in \*Oh Brother, Where art thou? \* in the woolworths. Brenden Frasier vs. the bully in the nightclub in _Blast from the past_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-one-sided-masochistic-beatdowns-on-film/238473.md?page=2)