.The Ninth Configuration Stacey Keach vs a bar full of bikers.
About a minute long and utterly brutal
Oooh, that reminds me of my favorite bar fight scene: Steven Seagal (I know, I know. he does suck, but he’s had a few shining moments) vs. the bar in Out For Justice. 
Hooray! I get to be the first to mention the duel between Zorro and Capitan Esteban (otherwise known as Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone) in The Mark of Zorro. This is truly the most wonderful display of western fencing I have ever seen, bar none.
Also, a great fight sequence yet to be mentioned in an absolutely dreadful movie was with Chuck Norris and a wholl lotta his students dressed as ninjas in “The Octagon”.
We haven’t really gotten into gunfights, but if they’re allowed, then I’ll nominate Jimmy Stewart and Stephen McNally in the great western Winchester '73.
My favorite combat choreography is definitely from the 1936 version of Romeo and Juliet. The street fight between Tybalt (Basil Rathbone) and Mercutio (John Barrymore) is just about the best example of real fencing technique that I have ever seen in a movie. The fight is good, clean, French rapier & dagger. Though both Rathbone and Barrymore are a little advanced in years to be playing Tybalt and Mercutio, they both move spectacularly well.
The fight is fairly short, but oh my, is it sweet.
I concur with the Mark of Zorro; it is definitely on the level. But I still prefer Romeo & Juliet. 
Thenk you, thenk you…
But what about Richard lester’s versions of The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers ? Wonderfully entertaining movies with great fight scenes that were showed the kind of no holds-barred nastiness that you might expect in a fight with bits of sharp metal.
Which of course brings us to one of the best lines in a movie fight…
“Ok, first let’s set the rules.”
“Rules!? In a knife fight?”
Finally, my nomination for the single greatest duel is at the end of Akira Kurosawa’s Sanjuro. It only takes about .5 seconds, (not including the staredown) but that’s gotta be one of the best, “oh my god, what happened?” moments in film.
My dad, a fightin’ man himself, LOVES that scene.
In one of Stanley Kubrick’s early films, Killer’s Kiss, there is a relatively long, very scary axe fight which takes place in a mannequin storage room. The principal actors do the scene, and it is really disturbing because Frank Silvera looks scared shitless. The axe looks real enough, too. At one point, Silvera is starting his backswing at Jamie Smith, who obiviously isn’t going to get out of the way in time, and Silvera checks himself with a look that practically cries out, “sweet mother of Jesus, I coulda killed that guy!”
Sammo Hung is purported to encourage his actors to get very physical. One of his finest films is known in the U.S. as Dragons Forever. There are several comic scenes in the film where Chinese Opera veterans Yuen Biao, Sammo, and Jackie beat the crap out of one another three-stooges style, but the best is the climactic fight scene between Jackie and champion kickboxer Benny “The Jet” Urquidez. Supposedly, the two taunted one another on the set, things got pretty physical, and they least jokingly considered fighting each other for real in the ring. Well worth a look.
I cannot believe that no one has listed the pie fight in The Great Race. That makes all other fight scenes, whether with swords, guns, or other baked goods, pale in comparison. Plus, you get to see Natalie Wood in a corset with her tits nearly exploding out like two very ripe melons.
Jacky Chan - Supercop
Legend of Iron Monkey- holy smokes- at least 4 superb fights. And the plot, direction and overall feel of the movie were great.
They Live- ahh the closet favorite. I must have posted this movie in 10 threads by now. Thank God someone else liked this bit of kitschy fun. The “pro-wrestling” style fight in the alley was so over the top.
No making fun of the Octogon- jeese I must have watched that a million times. . . .
Still, original Bruce Lee tops them all- no goofy wire-work, speeded up film or special effects just one seriously bad-ass martial artist.
-me
Jacky Chan - Supercop
Legend of Iron Monkey- holy smokes- at least 4 superb fights. And the plot, direction and overall feel of the movie were great.
They Live- ahh the closet favorite. I must have posted this movie in 10 threads by now. Thank God someone else liked this bit of kitschy fun. The “pro-wrestling” style fight in the alley was so over the top.
No making fun of the Octogon- jeese I must have watched that a million times. . . .
Still, original Bruce Lee tops them all- no goofy wire-work, speeded up film or special effects just one seriously bad-ass martial artist.
-me
Apparantly someone has, because I saw this DVD for sale earlier today at Future Shop. Roddy Piper’s fistfight in They Live isn’t listed specifically, but the rear cover art includes a picture of him in a still clearly selected from that film. The bias seems to favour martial-arts conflicts, but the DVD might be worth picking up for the extras, including “Staging Your Own Movie Fight”.
[slight hijack]
Some of my online compatriots agree that this scene is probably one of, if not the, best pie fights ever filmed. (Although, really, it needed more women). We also say that Natalie Wood was probably the most beautiful woman to ever take multiple pies. What a sight she was, wearing a skimpy corset, stockings, and a liberal covering of pies.
[/slight hijack]
The swordfight in the The Great Race is definitely worthy of mention. There’s a fairly good swordfight in Theatre of Blood, where Vincent Price and Ian Hendry start out fencing in a gym, then Price reveals he is there to kill Hendry. They duel on trampolines, balance beams, all across the gym. Pretty amazing.
The Warriors’ two major fight scenes are classics. The fight in the park with the Baseball Furies (a gang in NY Yankee uniforms and two-toned face paint) alone is worth the price of admission.
It should be noted that this fight was an homeage to the climactic fight in The Prisoner of Zenda, filmed twice (good both times), first in black and white with Ronald Colman and a Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (as a villain!) and remade in color with Stewart Granger and James Mason. It’s one of those fights where the men don’t just want to kill each other, they want to do something or prevent it from being done (in this case, lower the drawbridge so that the cavalry can come to the rescue). Down-and-dirty fighting by expert fencers.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the fight between Frank Sinatra and Henry Silva in The Manchurian Candidate. I think it was the first karate fight in an American movie, and (once you accept Henry Silva as a Korean) it was brutal and realistic, with a lot of damage to the furniture and both opponents. Sinatra had a look that said, “No matter how much pain I have to take, I WILL kick your ass, Buddy Boy.”
Revenge of the Pink Panther has this great sequence where the bad guy (Robert Webber) is trying to have Inspector Clouseau killed, so his assistant brings in these five guys, all of whom have worked for Webber’s character in the past.
“These guys are going to kill Clouseau?” Webber asks doubtfully.
“No, they are going to kill Mr. Chong.” Into the room steps this big, silverhaired dude (I believe this is Ed Parker, “the father of American Kempo”). “Mr. Chong came recommended to us from Hong Kong. Gentlemen, fulfill your contract.”
The five guys converge on Mr. Chong, who proceeds to kick the living crap out of them without even breaking a sweat. He catapults one guy right through the drywall, works the other four over, and for a bonus tears apart Webber’s desk with a few powerful chops.
Naturally, as soon as Mr. Chong sneaks into Clouseau’s apartment, Our Hero, thinking this is his houseboy Kato acting on his standing instructions to attack him, blindsides him with a shinai and knocks him off the balcony.
Just goes to show you…it’s the ones who don’t know what they’re doing that are really dangerous…
my favorites: Timmy and Jimmy-- Cripple Fight!
Blazing Saddles, and Slapshot- “Too much, Too soon”
That’s because someone did…a few posts before yours.
I did neglect to mention Natalie’s titties, because the OP was about fights.
Oh, and CaptMurdock, I mentioned the sword duel between Tony Curtis and Ross Martin in that picture, too.
Sheesh! Some of you just aren’t paying attention. :rolleyes:
Wasn’t there Western bar room brawl including Larry Storch and Dorothy Provine in that movie as well? Or was that in another picture? That was a real humdinger as I recall…and funny.
It is unbelievable, but it looks like we have forgot to mention the greatest swordfight scene in all filmdom, Rob Roy vs. his evil enemy Archibald Cunningham (?).
I’ve never seen a better swordfight than that in a film. I would love to say one of the Star Wars fights because they are quite cool, but those aren’t done that well, whereas you can really appreciate the weight, speed, and impact of the swords in Rob Roy and the exhaustion that must take place after using them for a while.
Yeah, Rob Roy’s end fight is a classic.
I can’t believe nobody has mentioned the Battle of the Mounds in Conan the Barbarian where Conan and Subotai take on Thulsa Doom, his lieutennants Rexor and Thorgrim and dozens of their henchmen. This movie starts with a great fight scene as little Conan’s village is destroyed by these same folks, but it’s eclipsed by the climactic battle among the burial mounds.
And then there’s the epic battle between King Arthur and the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
How about the hilariously inept fistfight in Bridget Jones’ Diary?