Seven Samurai seemed to have realistic fight scenes. I’ve never lived in feudal Japan though. Never studied samurai fighting techniques either.
Yep, it was Riggs (Mel Gibson) vs. Mr. Joshua (Gary Busey) at the end of the first movie. Right before the triangle, Riggs also tries for an armbar and doesn’t get it, which is pretty cool.
Ranchoth beat me to mentioning The Duellists. I’ve never witnessed a real swordfight, but the ones in that film seem fairly realistic. Some are over very quickly, and one drags on so long that both combatants are exhausted. The cinematography, incidentally, is beautiful. It’s slow-paced but very well made.
That Lethal Weapon clip was indeed pretty cool. I’ve seen UFC fights that were very similar to that.
I’ve seen a few real life (non-professional) fights and they varied a lot. I’ve seen a one punch knock-out once, I’ve seen very long fights and very short ones and examples of both that ended up in wrestling matches and examples that didn’t. In my experience knock-outs of any kind are rare but otherwise so much can happen depending on the parties involved that it’s difficult to generalize.
The Glass Key (1942). Alan Ladd vs. three or four guys twice his size (I know, everyone was twice his size). Riveting and believable.
In its day, this fight in Shane was touted as being as realistic as any that had come before. But when viewed these days, it’s obvious that the trend just started there and has been improved on a lot. (The music is an added element that wasn’t in the movie.)
I was thinking the opposite. The idea of somebody winning a swordfight with one or two well-aimed blows through his opponent’s heart (while tossing off a witty quip) seems more like something out of the movies to me. In a real fight, I expect two swordsmen hacked away at each other, cutting at arms and legs, until one of them was bleeding too much to continue fighting and the winner was in only marginally better shape.
Although I suppose there were plenty of one blow “fights” - I imagine in a real battle, plenty of sword fighters were looking for an opponent who was facing in another direction, who they could easily stab in the back.
I’ve been told The Way of the Gun has realistic gun fights, as I’ve never been in one before I’ll have to take their word for it. Just don’t watch it for the acting or the plot.
Got another vote for Roddy Piper and Kieth David alley fight in They Live. More wrestling than actually punching and pretty brief before they give up panting.
I don’t know about absolute realism but one of my favorite “fights” is in the movie The Principal. Louis Gossett, Jr is running down a hall in order to help James Belushi in the final confrontation with the school’s gang leader. A junior member of the gang leaps out to intercept him. Barely breaking stride Louis G. punches twice, leaves the unconscious punk halfway out the window he just slammed him through and keeps going.
Not sure it’s the kind of fighting Arnold is looking for but what comes to mind for me is Gladiator - the one with Russell Crowe in it.
Not especially realistic gun fights, either. If you want to see what an unadorned gun fight looks like, see the boat quay scene from David Mamet’s underappriciated Heist.
Stranger
How about the first fight scene in “Kick Ass”?
The wannabe superhero picks a fight and gets in a few hits before getting stabbed and then Bristol-stomped into the asphalt.
As noted in a previous thread, the village attack at the start of Predator was an actual attack.
While filming in the jungle they came across the village and the main cast decided to take it out.
The director just left the cameras rolling.
Wha?
Ah, here is the thread.
For gunfights, a lot of gunfights in the TV series “The Wire” are highly realistic depictions of typical street gang gunplay - guys who really don’t know what they’re doing spraying bullets at each other and maybe hitting something they’re aiming at and maybe not.
Even the part where Arnold throws a knife through a guy and then says “Stick around?”
To me, this sounds like an example of how unrealistic a fight scene can be.
Arnold got tired of the Teamsters going on breaks whenver they wanted to and stopping scene changes, so he decided to impale one pour encourager les autres. After that, the Teamsters were much less interested in quoting their contract and just tried to get the filming done as quickly as possible.
Stranger
The fight between Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham at the end of Robin And Marion.
How about the duel between Wesley and Montoya in The Princess Bride? Real moves, real styles, but (in-character) they’re not really trying to kill each other.