In addition to gunfights, Hollywood has done some very good swordfights over the years. To start: The scene in "Braveheart" after William (Mel Gibson) Wallace's wife is summarily executed by a drunken crew of English guards.
To me, it's Robin Hood with Basil Rathbone and Errol Flynn in their prime. The movie is one sword fight after another. As a runner up, it's Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas in the final death battle in "The Vikings". Both these were done without the CGI effects like the movie "Gladiator" which makes them incredibly impressive. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Princess Bride, Dread Pirate Roberts v. Inigo Montoya. Okay, so that's a bit corny, but highly entertaining.
LOL! I knew that was coming when I saw the title of the thread!! I thought the Darth Maul duel was pretty cool.........kinda of a sword, right? Image Unavailable, Please Login
The fight on the stair case in Matrix:Reloaded I always thought was pretty awesome! But for a non-CGI, they actually did it fight, the duel between the Man in the Mask and Inigo Montoya. Look at it closely, it must have taken two weeks to film and a month of practice!
A relevant quote...name the movie: "Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?" I've never seen the old Robin Hood movie. "Vikings" is definitely on the list...saw it first in 1959, watched it again a few weeks ago. That final sword fight is incredible indeed. Contemporaneous with "Vikings" is "El Cid", around 1962. Great death-challenge fight between Charlton Heston and a "Black Knight", same sense of unreal realism as this ultra-badass hacks away with a 2-handed claymore and Heston wards off his blows with only a saddle from a fallen horse.
Again PrivateRyan...the mano a' mano hand to hand thing in the attic ending w/a knife[bayonet,that's a sword,rite?]...the Wermacht guy,who had been captured and released[why didn't they shoot him in the hand,his trigger hand then release him?anyway...] cussing the Airborne guy who had the upper hand for a moment then the fight turned the other way...memorable knife/fight scene. Have wondered what the translation of the German would be,exactly....
Airplane I have to say that the Princess Bride fight was very impressive but my favorite was Kill Bill.
Bingo! I saw Princess Bride yrs ago but don't remember the swordfight. Kill Bill I and II are unquestioned masterpieces. On Tarantino...Pulp Fiction, when Bruce Willis takes out pawnshop dirtbags with the samurai sword. Not a "swordfight" per se, but still a great scene.
According to imdb.com: As the German soldier stabs Mellish to death, he says: "Gib' auf, du hast keine Chance! Lass' es uns beenden! Es ist einfacher für dich, viel einfacher. Du wirst sehen, es ist gleich vorbei." This translates: "Give up, you don't stand a chance! Let's end this here! It will be easier for you, much easier. You'll see it will be over quickly." The words are spoken in accent-free German. As for good sword fight scenes.. I think the one in Rob Roy is considered the best ever. Great movie as well.
Some great scenes in Jet Li's "Hero" - which is incidentally a phenomenal movie in it's own right. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv3u8-Mq08Q
harvey keitel and keith caradine in "the duelists" most realistic. no dancing, no jumping, no bs just the cut
Been a long time, but I do rembember Tim Roth as one of the duelists...worth another rental. Agree...both swordfights and gunfights have to strongly carry realism and drama. The flying ninjas "don't cut it" for me. Speaking of H Keitel, he was pure, unadulterated nasty in "Reservoir Dogs".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR45hbTSUIQ let's see uma take this guy on....the prototype of all samauri duels.
....and you call yourself car guys? The Great Race! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azBCRu3Y8JI&feature=PlayList&p=645EC215B4E41063&index=39
