I was watching a western last night (The Long Riders, made in 1980) in which a strange knife fight was staged. Two men are in a bar, one of them is supposed to be half Indian if that matters. They agree to hand-to-hand combat and both have large ‘bowie’ knifes. Before they go at it the female lead hands them a long narrow piece of cloth, about 6-8 feet long, and each of them puts an end in their mouths. They begin to fight, but they continue to hold the cloth in their mouths throughout the fight sequence. At one point one of them is hit so hard the cloth comes flying out of their mouth, but they soon put it back in and continue fighting. At the end of the fight one of them is stabbed in the leg and it’s over.
So what’s the deal with the long piece of cloth being held in clenched teeth during a knife fight? What is its propose? Why haven’t I seen this before, or is it probably complete fiction?
MODS: This thread may wander off into CS or IMHO territory, but I figured I would start here since they should be a factual answer.