Duke-Outs for the Ages
Slate's Dennis Lim has put together an excellent video slide show on the evolution of Hollywood fight scenes. He explores how we got to the current vogue for jumpy, heavily-edited scenes, with stops along the way to look at The Big Country, Raging Bull, Natural Born Killers, The Matrix, The Bourne Ultimatum, etc.
My two favorites among Lim's selections are the final Jake vs. Sugar Ray fight from Raging Bull, and the Big Country fist fight between Charlton Heston and Gregory Peck.
Old-fashioned as this may sound, I like my duke-out scenes cut so I can (gasp!) understand what's going on. I've always loved the Bruce Willis vs. Alexander Gudonov tussle in Die Hard and yet I was totally fine with The Bourne Ultimatum. Where's the fight scene from The Yards, which is one of the best ever by any standard?
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 28, 2008 at 4:32 PM
comment #1
mutinyco says ...
No Spielberg?
F.
Posted by mutinyco at July 28, 2008 5:03 PM
comment #2
JB Moore says ...
The editing in that final bout between LaMotta and Ray Robinson is the fight-scene equivalent to Janet Leigh's demise in the shower. Hands down my favorite. I remember buying Raging Bull on VHS back in High School and just rewinding that one scene over and over.
Also, where's the love for the back alley brawl that pits Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Keith David in Carpenter's They Live? That shit was epic.
Posted by JB Moore at July 28, 2008 5:41 PM
comment #3
Chase Kahn says ...
I love that Raging Bull fight, as well. The icing on the cake is the shot of the blood dripping off of the ropes in the final scene...
Posted by Chase Kahn at July 28, 2008 6:18 PM
comment #4
Joe Leydon says ...
What about Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man?
Posted by Joe Leydon at July 28, 2008 6:38 PM
comment #5
mutinyco says ...
What about Ed Norton vs. himself?...
Posted by mutinyco at July 28, 2008 6:43 PM
comment #6
Griff says ...
One of the things that helped make Harrison Ford, IMHO, was that he sold the reality of getting the worst of a fight. Especially in Raiders...he was tired, scared, angry, and battered.
Posted by Griff at July 28, 2008 6:45 PM
comment #7
C-PhreekII says ...
Guessing this was "swiped" from Movie City News.
Underneath was one of the better snarky headlines I've seen in some time:
Terry Gilliam to Make Sequel to ‘Lost in La Mancha’
Posted by C-PhreekII at July 28, 2008 6:52 PM
comment #8
btwnproductions says ...
The Rod Taylor films DARK OF THE SUN and DARKER THAN AMBER have outstanding smackdowns.
Posted by btwnproductions at July 28, 2008 7:52 PM
comment #9
Jeremy Smith says ...
Pretty good list. Shame he couldn't find room for Sean Connery and Robert Shaw in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.
Posted by Jeremy Smith at July 28, 2008 7:57 PM
comment #10
Breedlove says ...
sorry to be off-topic but i was just getting caught up on the past couple days and have a really good pair of actor lookalikes - naomi watts and josee marie cruz, the french chick who played the assassin in 'munich' and was also in 'the barbarian invasion,' 'diving bell and the butterfly' and 'tell no one.' frickin' identical.
Posted by Breedlove at July 28, 2008 9:10 PM
comment #11
mutinyco says ...
Marie-Josee Croze too...
Posted by mutinyco at July 28, 2008 9:31 PM
comment #12
btwnproductions says ...
To wax pedantic: Marie Josee-Cruze.
Posted by btwnproductions at July 28, 2008 9:31 PM
comment #13
Scott Feinberg says ...
I'm shocked nobody has said the best of ALL: Marlene Dietrich and Una Merkel kicking the shit out of each other in "Destry Rides Again" (1939), after which Dietrich turns her aggression towards Jimmy Stewart. Take a look at the following clip and you'll realize that this EPIC brawl could not have been fully choreographed and that Dietrich is genuinely demonic by the end of it. Simply awesome!
Posted by Scott Feinberg at July 28, 2008 9:43 PM
comment #14
Scott Feinberg says ...
I'm shocked nobody has said the best of ALL: Marlene Dietrich and Una Merkel kicking the shit out of each other in "Destry Rides Again" (1939), after which Dietrich turns her aggression towards Jimmy Stewart. Take a look at the following clip of it and you'll realize that this EPIC brawl could not have been fully choreographed and that Dietrich is genuinely demonic by the end of it. Simply awesome!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wnvJ0GMjnzU
Posted by Scott Feinberg at July 28, 2008 9:43 PM
comment #15
Marty Melville says ...
As far as guys punching each other out in the movies, I've always been partial to the Bogart/Holt takedown of Barton MacLane in Sierra Madre...
It feels like how an geniune bar fight would go, with hilariously unheroic moves, like one of the guys (Bogart?) weakly grabbing one of MacLane's ankles to bring him down while the bullish MacLane drags the poor schlub a few feet across the floor.
Posted by Marty Melville at July 28, 2008 11:36 PM
comment #16
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Posted by williamkairon at July 29, 2008 2:06 AM
comment #17
Breedlove says ...
Marie-Josee Croze, thanks. My bad. Best fight scene recently has to be Viggo butt-naked in the sauna in Eastern Promises. Turns out if you're not careful you really WILL poke someone's eye out with that thing...
Posted by Breedlove at July 29, 2008 6:33 AM
comment #18
bluefugue says ...
Not limiting just to fisticuffs, I'd put the Torn Curtain fight, the spear fight in Hidden Fortress, the swordfight at the end of Sanjuro, and the German Mechanic fight in Raiders all pretty high on the list. Also the fencing bouts in Adventures of Robin Hood and the Princess Bride for old-fashioned fight choreography.
Best thing about the German Mechanic fight is the way Indy pulls out ever "cheap" move in the book -- biting, kicking his opponent in the crotch, playing dead, throwing sand in his face.
Posted by bluefugue at July 29, 2008 7:36 AM
comment #19
the king says ...
TWO WORDS:
THEY LIVE!
Posted by the king at July 29, 2008 8:10 AM
comment #20
Mgmax says ...
1) Beating the commie to death in the house in Torn Curtain. Harrowingly real, because he just won't die.
2) The two Aliens turning on the third in order to use his blood to eat through the floor in Alien Resurrection.
Posted by Mgmax at July 29, 2008 8:28 AM
comment #21
JoshNY says ...
What about the fight scene at the end of Saving Private Ryan between Goldberg and the German? It's not fun by any means, but it's pretty incredible (rolling over soldier who has been shot in the neck, Upham's staircase meltdown).
Posted by JoshNY at July 29, 2008 8:38 AM
comment #22
rr3333 says ...
What about Mo Vs. Larry and Curly Vs. Mo?
Posted by rr3333 at July 29, 2008 9:19 AM
comment #23
StoneFan1 says ...
"They Live" - Awsome!
"From Russia With Love" - Bond Vs. Grant on the train!
"Raging Bull" all of the fight scenes!
"Big Country" - Heston Vs. Peck!
Posted by StoneFan1 at July 29, 2008 9:24 AM
comment #24
televisiontears says ...
I feel urged to nominate both of the Plainview vs. Sunday bouts.
Posted by televisiontears at July 29, 2008 11:43 AM
comment #25
moviemaniac2002 says ...
Spencer Tracy delivering a one-armed karate
smackdown on Ernest Borgnine in "Bad Day At
Black Rock"
Connery and Joe Robinson in the apartment house elevator in "Diamonds Are Forever"
Rod Taylor and Peter Carsten in "Dark Of The
Sun" (culminating in Taylor's sticking Carsten's head under the wheel of a train, while yelling
at the engineer to move it forward)
I don't know if we're counting swordfights here, but I'd include the amazing ten minute acrobatic
fencing duel between Stuart Granger and
Mel Ferrer in "Scaramouche"
Posted by moviemaniac2002 at July 29, 2008 11:53 AM