# Great Movie Sword Fights **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2017, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535 "2017-10-11T02:45:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/21 "2017-10-11T15:52:34Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiFX5dI8mjk) Robert Shaw versus Peter Boyle in _Swashbuckler._ It starts off as a genteel duel with rapiers, then gradually degenerates into a brawl with cutlasses. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/22 "2017-10-11T15:54:45Z")
Errol Flynn was the tops. As further evidence, I submit his [battle with Basil Rathbone in **Captain Blood**](https://youtu.be/q9rT7hvb6Aw?t=1m16s). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/23 "2017-10-11T16:06:27Z")
I always had the feeling Guy Williams (John Robinson [Lost in Space]) was the last of the classically trained movie swordfighters; they were constantly trying to cram a sword fight into LiS. Often with hilarious results. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/24 "2017-10-11T16:35:07Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Errol Flynn was the tops. As further evidence, I submit his [battle with Basil Rathbone in **Captain Blood**](https://youtu.be/q9rT7hvb6Aw?t=1m16s). Speaking of Basil Rathbone, he and Tyrone Power had a good one in _The Mark of Zorro._ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nB8tiSMCwRE/maxresdefault.jpg "The Mark of Zorro (1940) Tyrone Power vs Basil Rathbone") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB8tiSMCwRE) ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/25 "2017-10-11T16:36:28Z")
I’m counting light sabers as swords, and even though the Star Wars prequels sucked, the [fight between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Darth Maul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WyUpuegcPQ) was pretty badass. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/26 "2017-10-11T16:40:16Z")
_The Mark of Zorro_, 1940. Tyrone Power vs. Basil Rathbone. [The Mark of Zorro (1940) Tyrone Power vs Basil Rathbone - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB8tiSMCwRE) Before this duel, Diego isn’t yet suspected of being Zorro. Afterward… This swordfight got me interested in fencing, so I joined the fencing club in college. A friend in it introduced me to the man I married– **Andy L**. (He wasn’t in the club at the time, but joined soon after.) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/27 "2017-10-11T16:50:16Z")
This may get me some mockery… Robin Hood: Price of Thieves. The final sword fight is very well done. Not that it’s clashing steel and manly poses, no. Rather, it’s ATTACK! Oh crap, he blocked and is attacking me, FLEE! The way it flows back and forth between the two statuses is really well put together. Each of them throwing things to slow the attacker is very much what I imagine a real sword fight would be like. It’s no fun when people shoot back. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/28 "2017-10-11T16:52:28Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Rules for the thread: this is about sword fights. Not axes, not maces, not nunchucks, not pool cues. Swords. Metal blades with a handle. ( **Sorry, the lightsaber duel at the end of Star Wars Episode I is fucking awesome, but it doesn’t count.** ) And not switchblades, bayonets, daggers, chef’s knives, or ice picks. You know what a sword is. > [@control-z](#): > > I’m counting light sabers as swords, and even though the Star Wars prequels sucked, the [fight between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Darth Maul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WyUpuegcPQ) was pretty badass. :mad: Choose your weapon, sir! My second will contact your second to arrange the place.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/29 "2017-10-11T16:57:36Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > :mad: Choose your weapon, sir! My second will contact your second to arrange the place.:mad: I’m a badass Sith who doesn’t read rules, so I pick lightsabers! Sorry dude. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/30 "2017-10-11T17:01:08Z")
The Alan Bates v Oliver Reed scene from Women in Love on YouTube. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/31 "2017-10-11T17:04:26Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I’m a badass Sith who doesn’t read rules, so I pick lightsabers! Curses. Foiled again! Foiled! Ha! See what I did there? ::clears throat:: Sorry. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/32 "2017-10-11T17:32:54Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [D’Artagnan vs Rochefort](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE3TbBwSVe8) - **The Four Musketeers** > > Pretty much all of the sword fights in this movie and it’s other half are excellent to stellar. … Absolutely true! ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/33 "2017-10-11T17:39:51Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > This may get me some mockery… > > Robin Hood: Price of Thieves. > > The final sword fight is very well done. Not that it’s clashing steel and manly poses, no. Rather, it’s ATTACK! Oh crap, he blocked and is attacking me, FLEE! The way it flows back and forth between the two statuses is really well put together. Each of them throwing things to slow the attacker is very much what I imagine a real sword fight would be like. It’s no fun when people shoot back. This one? [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qdeikSfar9o](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qdeikSfar9o) That is pretty good. I also imagine real sword fights must have been marked by a lot of panicked swinging and stumbling over obstacles. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/34 "2017-10-11T17:44:47Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [D’Artagnan vs Rochefort](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE3TbBwSVe8) - **The Four Musketeers** > > Pretty much all of the sword fights in this movie and it’s other half are excellent to stellar. That’s what happens when you use actors who are experienced fencers and have a great fight choreographer. Fighting in the light of the rose window was a nice touch there. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/35 "2017-10-11T17:51:03Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Oh come on, nobody has mentioned the sword fight with the Black Knight in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” yet? Sword fights don’t get much better than that. 😃 Flesh wounds don’t count. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/36 "2017-10-11T17:56:41Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > [D’Artagnan vs Rochefort](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE3TbBwSVe8) - **The Four Musketeers** > > > > Pretty much all of the sword fights in this movie and it’s other half are excellent to stellar. That’s what happens when you use actors who are experienced fencers and have a great fight choreographer. > > Absolutely true! Ninja’d. Thrice. About the only thing I can add is something which **Darren Garrison** alluded to above: that in both movies the fights were exercises in gutting the other person as fast as possible, using every dirty trick available — thereby emerging with all body parts intact — rather than posturing and witty repartee. It was a generally unsatisfactory movie, but I found the final battle between Sean Connery and Robert Shaw in [_Robin and Marian_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_and_Marian) to be memorable — mainly because it was every bit as ugly and brutal as it should have been, given the age of the participants and the period in which it was set. The fact that Richard Lester directed both _R&M_ and the _Musketeer_ movies may have had something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/37 "2017-10-11T18:07:24Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > It was a generally unsatisfactory movie, but I found the final battle between Sean Connery and Robert Shaw in [_Robin and Marian_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_and_Marian) to be memorable — mainly because it was every bit as ugly and brutal as it should have been, given the age of the participants and the period in which it was set. The fact that Richard Lester directed both _R&M_ and the _Musketeer_ movies may have had something to do with it. [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7ubpQE2IrG0](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7ubpQE2IrG0). Good one. My only quibble is that Shaw probably should have kebab’ed Connery in the back when Connery went down that last time. C’mon, he’s right there at your feet struggling to get back up. Finish him! ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/38 "2017-10-11T18:24:20Z")
In addition to the several badass sword-fights mentioned above, I would like to add: Vincent Price vs. Ian Hendry (or at least their stunt doubles) in _Theatre of Blood._ It’s a fun movie all around, and you can tell VP is just having the best time. The sword fight in the gym, with the combatants bouncing off trampolines at each other, is a highlight. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/39 "2017-10-11T19:02:53Z")
The Robert Taylor _Ivanhoe_. Ivanhoe and Cedric are each fighting a guy. Ivanhoe reaches over and stabs Cedric’s opponent in the back. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535/40 "2017-10-11T19:24:34Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > This one? [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qdeikSfar9o](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qdeikSfar9o) > > That is pretty good. I also imagine real sword fights must have been marked by a lot of panicked swinging and stumbling over obstacles. That is surprisingly good actually, especially compared to the sort of over choreographed nonsense you see in those lightsaber duels such as the Phantom Menace, where two people are clearly hitting each others swords instead of trying to hit each other. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-sword-fights/798535.md?page=3)