# your favorite hand-to-hand fight scenes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197 "2015-04-21T15:44:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/21 "2015-04-21T18:54:42Z")
Old one: there’s a scene early on in _Gunga Din_ where one of the British soldiers gets into a fight in a local bar. A couple of his friends walk by, see him fighting, and just join in, and the three of them casually clear out the place, with banter. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/22 "2015-04-21T18:57:12Z")
The bathhouse fight with Viggo Mortensen in **Eastern Promises** looked exactly like you would expect tough, trained people fighting for their lives to look. It wasn’t slick or glamorous, it didn’t look choreographed (though of course it was), and it was just absolutely gut-wrenching. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/23 "2015-04-21T18:57:57Z")
_Who Am I_, the fight between Jackie Chan and the two guys on top of the building near the end of the movie ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/24 "2015-04-21T19:14:13Z")
I thought the fight between [Jack Reacher](https://youtu.be/-7pa-krBCT4) and the guys who were sent to beat him up was quite realistic and well done. Pretty much how you would expect a fight between an MP and a bunch of bigger-but-untrained thugs to go down, with no wasted moves or “rules” being followed. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/25 "2015-04-21T19:36:56Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Most of the fight scenes in _Enter The Dragon_. Bruce Lee movies don’t count. But yeah. Seconding the elevator fight in **CA2:WS** and Black Widow’s chair fight in **The Avengers.** Gotta include the Bob Barker brawl from **Happy Gilmore** and Swayze vs the world in **Roadhouse**. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/26 "2015-04-21T19:42:59Z")
Gina Carrano versus Michael Fassbender in Haywire. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/27 "2015-04-21T19:45:18Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > The bathhouse fight with Viggo Mortensen in **Eastern Promises** looked exactly like you would expect tough, trained people fighting for their lives to look. It wasn’t slick or glamorous, it didn’t look choreographed (though of course it was), and it was just absolutely gut-wrenching. Well, that was a little on the gruesome side. I had heard that was a tough movie. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/28 "2015-04-21T19:46:34Z")
Bond and the Soviet assassin on the train in _From Russia With Love_. Kirk and the Klingon bad guy on the Genesis planet in _ST III: The Search for Spock_. “I… have had enough… of _you_!” The President and the Russian terrorist at the end of _Air Force One_. “Get off my plane!” The older woman and the girl battling it out in _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_. Jason Bourne takes out a roomful of Italian policemen; I forget which movie. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/29 "2015-04-21T19:51:12Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Bond and the Soviet assassin on the train in _From Russia With Love_. Nitpick: Grant was working for SPECTRE, not the Soviets. He didn’t even know what SMERSH was. Carry on… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/30 "2015-04-21T19:58:33Z")
Pretty much anything by Jackie Chan ever. Even leaving aside many scenes with props, in his prime his stuff was just jaw-dropping. I saw “Drunken Master 2” during a limited theatrical release (the original subtitled HK film, not the cleaned up and dubbed American version). Each fight set piece kept topping the previous ones until the final showdown in the foundry, the audience reaction was a continuous series of “Oh my god, did you see that? They can’t top that. Holy crap, did you see THAT!?” (rinse, lather, repeat). The end fight with his former bodyguard Ken Lo is pretty amazing. Here’s the whole 8+ minutes (albeit in French). Even without spitting fire and getting kicked into a pit of flaming coals it's amazing stuff. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/31 "2015-04-21T20:03:07Z")
You want a fight scene? \*\*This \*\*is a fight scene: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4YO2wRT0Ppk/hqdefault.jpg "The Wild Wild West - Two badly failed stunts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YO2wRT0Ppk) Put Conrad in the hospital and forced the series to shut down production. They finished shooting the scene at a later date and kept it in the episode anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/32 "2015-04-21T20:32:53Z")
I’ve always liked the fight scenes in any Hitchcock film. They are usually done in close ups and it involves two very untrained fighters grappling each other and each man is terrified and angry. But yeah, that fight scene in They Live is the bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/33 "2015-04-21T20:50:14Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > I’m thinking about great hand-to-hand fight scenes in movies or TV. No guns, no knives, no swords. Just two combatants trying to beat each other’s brains in. [Blunt objects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Rider) are allowed? ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/34 "2015-04-21T21:07:27Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Well, that was a little on the gruesome side. I had heard that was a tough movie. Wow. Cronenberg always seems to bring it with at least one hard-to-watch fight scene per film. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/35 "2015-04-21T21:08:28Z")
The above-mentioned Daredevil hallway fight scene: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/B66feInucFY/maxresdefault.jpg "Marvel's Daredevil | Hallway Fight Scene [HD] | Netflix") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B66feInucFY) ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/36 "2015-04-21T21:11:39Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > [Blunt objects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Rider) are allowed? Hmmm. Gray area. But there’s nothing like a nice piece of hickory. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/37 "2015-04-21T21:20:34Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Hmmm. Gray area. But there’s nothing like a nice piece of hickory. Do fake balsa wood spears count? :dubious: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xJnBwvA8V7w/hqdefault.jpg "Star Trek - Back to the Arena") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJnBwvA8V7w) ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/38 "2015-04-21T21:41:14Z")
> [@Wolf333](#): > > Gina Carrano versus Michael Fassbender in Haywire. That was the first thing that came to mind for me. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/39 "2015-04-21T21:43:40Z")
One more vote for the ‘put on the sunglasses!’ fight in _They Live_. This one has only intermittent grappling, but might qualify anyway: Edgar Kennedy versus Harpo and Chico in _Duck Soup_: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/q9OUIk4Oaq4/maxresdefault.jpg "Duck Soup (4/10) Movie CLIP - The Lemonade Vendor (1933) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9OUIk4Oaq4) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197/40 "2015-04-21T21:52:01Z")
I know it’s not a popular entry in the franchise, but the fight in T3 between Arnold and the TX was pretty kickass. (They Live was already taken) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hand-to-hand-fight-scenes/718197.md?page=3)