So last night the Space Channel ran They Live, a higly under-rated sci-fi satire. About a third of the way through is a major roundhouse-punch multiple-knees-to-the-groin fistfight between the stars, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Keith David, lasting 5.5 minutes(!). I checked through my copy of Movie Facts and Feats (A Guiness Record Book) (1980) by Patrick Robertson, and learned the longest swordfight on film was the 22-minute climax to Beach of the War Gods (Hong Kong, 1972) while the longest Hollywood version was 6.5 minutes in Scaramouche (1953).
Considering that all the ooohs and aaahhs I heard from the audience during Phantom Menace was for the lightsaber duels and not the CG effects, I figure a good fight scene will always work, even if the rest of the movie is crap (i.e. the recent Musketeer crap-fest).
I’m with you on They Live, this is an excellent movie AND it stars Rowdy Roddy Piper. Whats great about it is they get into a fight over wearing sunglasses…pure genius.
Some of my favorite fight scenes:
Fight Club - Ed Norton vs. himself
Braveheart - Excellent battle scenes
Hi Opal
Enter the Dragon - anything with Bruce Lee for that matter
The Spoilers (the '30s version) it used to be the longest and in my mind one of the most believable around.
John Ford’s The Quiet Man with John Wayne. The last quarter of the film was basically the fight scene.
What about The Princess Bride’s two fight scenes at the beginning, between ‘Dred Pirate Roberts’, played by Elwes, and both Mandy Patinkin’s Montoya and Andre the Giant’s Fezzik? It was more style and show, but they managed to slip in more psychology and gamesmanship than all other movie fights this side of Raging Bull put together.
In Fong Sai Yuk 2, Jet Li as the title character fought the brothers who betrayted him blindfolded, so that he would not see their blood shed.
Before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Chow Yun Fat the gun king of Hong Kong never picked up a sword. So his in-movie fight scenes were relatively short and consisted of trancendental leaping, posing, and teasing Zhang Ziyi on the bamboo trees (I almost typed with ), when compared to those of Michelle Yeung. Her fights with Ziyi, especially the relatively wireless second one, were the highlights of the film, showing that she is still the Queen of Action.
The Matrix, of course. The One was more or less one continuous fight scene. Has anyone considered the viability of a movie that was simply one 90-minute fight? Would you pay to see such a thing?
I have to give a big “Me too” to Drunken Master . Also, Bruce Lee Vs. Chuck Norris in Return of the Dragon, Jackie Vs. the Amazons in Armour of God, and Jackie Vs. Benny “The Jet” Urquidez in Wheels on Meals.
And, though it’s not particularly spectacular, Indiana Jones Vs. the big bald Nazi in Raiders will always have a special place in my heart.
I have always thought that Jackie Chan’s swan song should consist of the following script:
Nameless Extra: Jackie! You’ve got 90 minutes to get through the prop warehouse! Watch out for the ninjas!
Jackie: OK! <dives in through a window, dropping several stories before commencing insane acrobatics down through scaffolding. Ninety relentless minutes later, he staggers out the exit, grins at the camera and pants> That’s it. I’m done.
<cue blooper reel that’s just about half the length of the film>
Best swordfight ever was Errol Flynn {noble pirate hero} vs Basil Rathbone {sneering French pirate villain} on the beach in Captain Blood: “And that ends a partnership that should never have begun!” Lightsabre duels? I speet on your lightsabre duels!
It seems odd to me that so many people are agreeing with the OP…I remember that fight scene from “They Live”, and I thought it was terrible…pointless and stupid, and it went on forever. Give me Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in Empire Srikes Back, or Rocky and Clubber Lang in Rocky III, any day. Or for comic relief, Rocky and Hulk Hogan in that same movie.
One of the longest and worst fight scenes I have ever seen is Mel Gibson and Danny Glover vs. Jet Li at the end of Lethal Weapon 4. After a while it made me cringe more than anything and it wish it was over. The beating the people involved took was way too over the top even for a popcorn action flick.
FWIW, the only part of that movie I liked was the beginning with the flamethrower guy and anytime Chris Rock and Joe Pesci were going at each other.
The finale in Drunken Master 2 (The Legend of Drunken Master) is 13 minutes. It is the greatest fight scene recorded on film. This movie has two other great scenes: Jackie vs. a group of thugs in the town courtyard, and Jackie and another master vs. about a hundred hatchet weilding assassins in a cafe. Drunken Master 2 is one of the two greatest martial arts films.
For another long, great fight scene, Jet Li vs. Michelle Reis near the beginning of Fong Sai Yuk. Reis is the wife of the Richest man in town, who has pledged his dughter’s hand in marriage to the first man who can defeat his wife in kung fu. Li and Reis battle it out starting on a tower, then proceed to jumping around on the heads and shoulders of on-lookers. It’s wire-fu all the way, but a hell of ride. Six minutes, four of them on heads and shoulders. “Fong Sai Yuk” also conatains the strangest meet cute I know of. Li meets the girl of his dreams when he needs a fourth for his relay team at a track meet.
“Fist of Legend” contains three great Jet Li vs. someone one-on-one fight scenes. FOL is a remake of Bruce Lee’s “Fist of Fury” (The Chinese Connection in the US) and is superior in every respect. The final fight scene, a brutal one-on-one hand-to-hand fight is the best of its kind ever recorded. This is the other greatest marial arts movie.
“Hard-Boiled” ends with a 20 minute long running gun fight through a burning hospital during which a nursery full of babies must be evacuated.
For a real kick, watch “Hard Boiled” with the aforementioned 20 minute action-packed gun-battle finale. Then watch “Casablanca”. After “Hard Boiled”, it comes as quite a shock to watch somebody just get shot down in under 5 seconds…
…then, remember to return the tapes to the video store (oops )
I say BAH to everyone hitting all these Jackie Chan for best fight scenes (though I would never diss Jackie…his work with Benny the Jet in Meals on wheels was unbelieavble)
Try Millionare’s Express with 20 of the top martial artists demolishing a Western Town. Hell seeing Cynthia Rothrock beat the crap outta Sammo Hung is worth trying to find this gem. And this one just roles with what if’s…what if a chines fighter went against a samurai, a gunfighter against kung fu, etc. etc. And for once, its hilarious. The movie itself has some great comedy scenes
Fist of Legend was probably the first introduction ppl have had to Jet Li, which is why this film became a underground legend. The fights within are outrageuously good, especially the final confrontation between the general and Li and with good reason (Woo-Ping Yuen directed the fight layouts). Using minimal wires, the fights themselves laud classic athleticism and are beautiful to behold.
No way!! I got dragged to that movie thinking Anything Part IV has to suck. By the end of the movie, I had forgotten Mel and Danny were even in it. “Who is that guy?”
Jet Li totally stole the show and had me running to the video store for more. An obsession was born.
Any of the fights in the “Blind Swordsman” series in which Zatoichi takes out a whole room full of yakuza with his lightning-fast blind-guy techniques.
The climactic fight in Scaramouch between Stewart Granger and Mel Ferrer, going all over a theater. Both men were graceful, athletic and knew how to handle a sword.
It’s hard to forget the fight between Jake LaMotta and Sugar Ray Robinson in Raging Bull, where Sugar Ray beats Jake up so badly that people in the front row are getting blood on them, but Jake stays on his feet and taunts him, “You didn’t put me down, Ray!”
Ridley Scott’s first movie, The Duellists, has some of the most realistic swordfighting I’ve seen on film, between Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel as Napoleonic officers. They have, if I recall, six duels during the course of the movie, using sabers, rapiers, sabers, pistols, sabers on horseback, and pistols.
The duel to decide the ownership of the city of Callahara in El Cid with Charleton Heston is one of my favorites. The two men look like they’re seriously trying to kill one another; it’s very well filmed, and ends with Big Chuck impaling his opponent to the ground with a two-handed sword.
Of course, there’s the recent movie Brotherhood of the Wolf.
A short-lived tv show of a couple of years ago, called “Spy Games”, had some of the best fight scenes I’ve ever seen to tv.
), when compared to those of Michelle Yeung. Her fights with Ziyi, especially the relatively wireless second one, were the highlights of the film, showing that she is still the Queen of Action.
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