Robert Shaw versus Peter Boyle in Swashbuckler. It starts off as a genteel duel with rapiers, then gradually degenerates into a brawl with cutlasses.
Errol Flynn was the tops. As further evidence, I submit his battle with Basil Rathbone in Captain Blood.
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.
Speaking of Basil Rathbone, he and Tyrone Power had a good one in The Mark of Zorro.
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 was pretty badass.
The Mark of Zorro, 1940. Tyrone Power vs. Basil Rathbone. The Mark of Zorro (1940) Tyrone Power vs Basil Rathbone - YouTube
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.)
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.
: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:
The Alan Bates v Oliver Reed scene from Women in Love on YouTube. 
Curses. Foiled again!
Foiled! Ha! See what I did there? ::clears throat:: Sorry. Carry on.
Absolutely true!
This one? 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.
Fighting in the light of the rose window was a nice touch there.
Flesh wounds don’t count.
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 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. 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!
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.
The Robert Taylor Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe and Cedric are each fighting a guy. Ivanhoe reaches over and stabs Cedric’s opponent in the back.
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.