# Your favourite melee/swordfighting scenes in movies and tv?



## Idealect (Feb 28, 2016)

What are some good movies or tv programs with decent or melee combat, particularly swordfighting? Good Hand to hand and Animation scenes are very welcome, but they're not quite the rarity that good live action melee weapon scenes are, so I'm roughly looking for decent-to-good weapon melee scenes, and great-to-"the bestest" animation or hand to hand scenes (or both). Non duels are even better as I've found the best scenes tend to be duels. (I'm guessing it's easier to focus on the swordplay in a less chaotic environment)


Here are three I thought had excellent to amazing, to mind blowing, melee-weapon scenes, two are animated:

Die another day

Sword of the stranger

FMA: brotherhood  (really long, if you don't feel like wading through it you can always look for highlights on youtube)


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## Cathbad (Feb 28, 2016)

*Willow* - believe it or not!


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## Droflet (Feb 28, 2016)

Easy. The Princess Bride. The fight between Wesley and Montoya. A classic that put Errol Flynn to shame.


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## Vince W (Feb 28, 2016)

Many of the fights in Conan the Barbarian (Arnie's) were pretty good.

Since @Droflet mentioned Errol Flynn, the fight between Robin and Friar Tuck in The Adventures of Robin Hood. Silly fun that one.


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## Verity (Mar 15, 2016)

Errol Flynn was, of course, a master of the screen sword fight, but my favourite from that era is actually Stewart Grainger in Scaramouche, bounding around a theatre.  And also the Douglas Fairbanks Jr vs. Ronald Coleman swordfight in the original and best Prisoner of Zenda, for the banter.  "Where did you learn such roller-skating?"  "Coldstream Guards, old boy."


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## Rodders (Mar 16, 2016)

Would the Hammer scene in Old Boy count? 

Also, I still rate the Maul/Qui-Gonn/Kenobi lightsaber duel at the end of The Phantom Menace very highly.


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## aThenian (Mar 16, 2016)

There are some great fights in The Musketeers series.  

Or - how about that scene in Seven Samurai with the top samurai vs the bandits?


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## WaylanderToo (Mar 16, 2016)

Rodders said:


> Would the Hammer scene in Old Boy count?
> 
> Also, I still rate the Maul/Qui-Gonn/Kenobi lightsaber duel at the end of The Phantom Menace very highly.




or indeed "baseball boy" and "hammer girl" scenes in The Raid: 2 - be warned though if you do watch it is pretty brutal


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## SilentRoamer (Mar 16, 2016)

This is close to my heart as I LOVE a good fight scene.

The Hektor-Achilles battle between David Bana and Brad Pitt in *Troy* is very good - in fact some of the choreography is great.

I love almost all of the *300* battles - the stylistic filming and voice overs just tick the right boxes for me.

For a single battle I think the *Rob Roy* swordfight is great. When Neeson grabs the sword and you can see the other guy who had been untouchable thinking "oh damn im in trouble".


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## thaddeus6th (Mar 16, 2016)

Not my genre generally, but I really like the fights in Fist of Legend.


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## WaylanderToo (Mar 16, 2016)

Into the Badlands also has some well choreographed scenes


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## Mirannan (Mar 16, 2016)

I have a couple of contenders - both completely unrealistic but fun.

The fight between the Bride and Crazy 88 in Kill Bill, and the fight between the Musketeers and the Cardinal's Guard in The Three Musketeers (original version).


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## Jaxx (Mar 16, 2016)

Droflet said:


> Easy. The Princess Bride. The fight between Wesley and Montoya. A classic that put Errol Flynn to shame.



First thing that popped in my head Droflet. Great minds n all that.

Excalibur - the weariness of a wounded Lancelot and muddy tired Knights in the final battle were awesome.


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## Walled Cities (Mar 17, 2016)

Monty python, the black knight scene. 

In all seriousness, Gladiator (2000) film, the duel at the end between Maximus and Commodus was entertaining, not to mention the battle with the Gauls at the beginning, but that's more general combat with weapons, the aesthetics of that movie were beautiful, all though mostly fabricated. 

I don't really watch that many movies come to think of it, sorry.


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## Verity (Mar 17, 2016)

Gene Kelly was great in the Three Musketeers, Mirannan!  Another of my favourites.  And then there's the Tyrone Power/Basil Rathbone duel in Zorro, with the slashing the candle thing.  
Basil Rathbone really was a good swordsman, and Errol Flynn was a good stage swordsman, so it really was those two fighting it out in Robin Hood rather than stunt doubles, for the most part.


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## River Boy (Mar 17, 2016)

Most of the best sword fights in cinema history have the late legend Bob Anderson behind them: Errol Flynn, Star Wars, Zorro, Lord of the Rings. (Incidentally he claimed that Viggo Mortensen is the best swordsman he ever trained - and his swordplay at the end of Fellowship of the Ring is pretty impressive.)

However, my favourite sword fighting is in Tristan and Isolde, especially the scene where they're competing in the tournament. Not sure who was behind that but it is intense stuff without being overdone.


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## Ajid (Mar 17, 2016)

Not a star wars fan but the one scene I do like is when Darth says "Sister, so you have a twin sister!" etc and luke looses it, realises he's loosing it and stops. An amazing scene with a great score. Interestingly it seems that Rey in the new star wars lost it in the same way but I'm pretty sure that wasn't a secret deep message about her being border line darkside like the ROJ scene because if abrahams had that skill he might have understood star trek and not done the horrofic things he has. Oh wait that reminds me, again the sound track makes it, Spock V Kirk in Amok time is the uktimate. It's all about the emotion for me not the coreographed scene.


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## Verity (Mar 18, 2016)

Considering they only had a very limited rehearsal time, it being TV, Kirk and Spock in Amok Time were very good indeed - like you say, Ajid, the emotion makes it great.
And River Boy is right - Bob Anderson was a great fight arranger - and I'll have to look out for Tristan and Isolde now.


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## SilentRoamer (Mar 18, 2016)

River Boy said:


> (Incidentally he claimed that Viggo Mortensen is the best swordsman he ever trained - and his swordplay at the end of Fellowship of the Ring is pretty impressive.)



In the scene where Lurtz throws a dagger at Aragorn he actually threw the dagger incorrectly so the scene where Aragorn bats it away with the sword is a live scene and Viggo just carried on with the scene. The knife embedded itself into a tree so the danger was very real.


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## River Boy (Mar 18, 2016)

Oh yes, I'd forgotten that. They nearly drowned Viggo as well at one point so I think he earned his wage.


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## BAYLOR (Mar 20, 2016)

*Conan The Barbarian *1982 the battle in the graveyard.


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## Guttersnipe (Sep 2, 2021)

Troy: Hector vs. Achilles
Gladiator: Maximus vs. Commodus
300: the fight with the Uber Immortal 
The Count of Monte Cristo: Edmond beating Fernand


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## Mon0Zer0 (Sep 2, 2021)

Jackie Chan vs Benny the Jet - the best fight scene ever committed to celluloid. Just incredible work from two martial artists at the top of their game. The bit when Jackie Chan says "pretty good" was a genuine reaction to an accidental hit that Benny landed on him. at the time Benny was the number one martial arts champion in the world.






Old boy (original) - corridor fight scene - pure visceral fight scene. Won't share this here as it's a bit too violent.


Harakiri - one of the most beautiful sword fight scenes in cinema history. Highly influential on anime (along with the accidental high pressure blood spurt from Sanjuro). 






Yojimbo - not the best sword play, but possibly more realistic. I love the way it's not glamorous, but almost kind of pathetic with one of the henchmen cowering and crying for his mommy. "Children shouldn't play with swords". Still Kurosawa works his magic.


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## Valtharius (Sep 3, 2021)

WARNING: I'm about to say something nice about the _Star Wars_ prequels. If such heretical thoughts offend you, look away now.
The final act of Episode III features what I consider a masterpiece of cinema. The duel between Yoda and the Emperor, interspersed with the duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan. The emotional tension of the whole series is encapsulated in those moments. The death of liberty, personal duty vs desire, friendship, struggling against hopeless odds, and betrayal. It's all there.


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## thaddeus6th (Sep 3, 2021)

I only saw Revenge of the Sith very recently and was pleasantly surprised by how good the Anakin/Vader versus Obi-wan fight was. Probably the best duel in Star Wars (Vader/Luke has more emotional weight due to the context and aftermath, I would say).


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## Foxbat (Sep 3, 2021)

My favourite is the fight in the chess house in Hero. I probably like it more for the way it‘s composed on screen than the actual fight.


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## Toby Frost (Sep 4, 2021)

I think it depends what you want. There are the very balletic, almost magical fights you get in martial arts films (I particularly enjoyed _Once Upon A Time In China_), which have influenced the literally magical fights in the more recent Star Wars films. Then there are more feasible-looking fights in films like _Excalibur _or shows like _A Game of Thrones_, where people look clumsy and worn-out. Then you get more modern fights, where real-life people are supposed to be trying to kill each other. These often end up ridiculously, with some tough-guy being able to function after being kicked in the head fifty times, but the Bourne films do this style very well, as does the old film _Marathon Man_.

But I have a soft spot for this utterly wacky fight from David Lynch's _Dune_. I still have no idea how, pre-CGI, it was done:






Oh, and _The Duellists_, of course.


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## The Big Peat (Sep 4, 2021)

How was the Duelists only mentioned at the end of this thread?!

Fan of these two


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## HareBrain (Sep 4, 2021)

Toby Frost said:


> Then there are more feasible-looking fights in films like _Excalibur _or shows like _A Game of Thrones_, where people look clumsy and worn-out.


That's my preference (and I was thinking of _Excalibur_ when I read the question). I much prefer fights to be realistic and, ideally, short. The more spectacular and lengthy a fight, the less I care, because the lack of realism means I don't feel it.


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## alexvss (Sep 4, 2021)

Mon0Zer0 said:


> (along with the accidental high pressure blood spurt from Sanjuro).


Was it accidental?

I'll name my two favorite fight scenes: a realistic one, and a fantasy one.

The best "realistic" (without magic) fight scene is from the Chinese movie *Flashpoint (2007)*, starring Donnie Yen. You can clearly see that they keep switching martial arts. From Brazilian Jiu-jitsu armbars to Muay Thai knees and clinches to Judo throws to Wresling takedowns. As a martial artist, I liked that scene back in the day. It's a horrible movie overall though  .

And honorable mentions to the video-game-like fight scene from *OldBoy (2003)*, and the first-person opening scene of *The Villainess (2017)*.






Now, for the fantasy fight scene, I'll name *The Witch Part 1: The Subversion (2018*). Teenagers who have been experimented on to develop superpowers get their revenge:





And I just realized I've been watching too many Asian movies.


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## Mon0Zer0 (Sep 4, 2021)

alexvss said:


> Was it accidental?



A coupling on the blood hose broke and the spray came out at a much higher pressure than intended.  The look of shock on Nadakai's face was genuine.


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## alexvss (Sep 4, 2021)

Mon0Zer0 said:


> A coupling on the blood hose broke and the spray came out at a much higher pressure than intended.  The look of shock on Nadakai's face was genuine.


I didn't know that. I really thought the blood spurt was intended.

And I've watched the movie, posting the scene here just spoiled it for everyone else


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## Foxbat (Sep 4, 2021)

Toby Frost said:


> But I have a soft spot for this utterly wacky fight from David Lynch's _Dune_. I still have no idea how, pre-CGI, it was done:


It’s my understanding it was done with rotoscope animation..ie. tracing  frame by frame over images. Very painstaking and labour intensive work.


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## paranoid marvin (Sep 5, 2021)

Not a film but a game; Monkey Island came up with a brilliant alternative to the usual sword fighting.


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## svalbard (Sep 7, 2021)

Ubbe v King Frodo in Vikings.


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## CupofJoe (Sep 7, 2021)

Sir Robin of Locksley [Errol Flynn]  vs Guy of Gisbourne [Basil Rathbone] in the Adventures of Robin Hood




Bent swords and all...


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## Rodders (Sep 7, 2021)

With the exception of the Kenobi/Qui-Gon/Maul lightsabre duel in TPM i really struggled with the lightsabre combat in the PT as there was too much nonsense showboating. I have soft spot for ESB as it was a key set up for the big reveal. 

I remember watching a movie called Drive a few years ago (with the late Brittany Murphy and Marc Dacascos). It was quite funny actually, but there was a really well choreographed fight scene where our hero has to face off with several combatants all armed with cattle prods. 

The fight scene with between Kirk and Spock in Amok Time comes to mind when thinking of melee weapons.


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## paranoid marvin (Sep 7, 2021)

Rodders said:


> With the exception of the Kenobi/Qui-Gon/Maul lightsabre duel in TPM i really struggled with the lightsabre combat in the PT as there was too much nonsense showboating. I have soft spot for ESB as it was a key set up for the big reveal.
> 
> I remember watching a movie called Drive a few years ago (with the late Brittany Murphy and Marc Dacascos). It was quite funny actually, but there was a really well choreographed fight scene where our hero has to face off with several combatants all armed with cattle prods.
> 
> The fight scene with between Kirk and Spock in Amok Time comes to mind when thinking of melee weapons.


Tbh I disliked the 3 way  fight in TPM, mainly because I didn't like the idea of 2 good guys taking down one bad guy. It didn't seem very honourable or Jedi-like.


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## Rodders (Sep 7, 2021)

To be fair, Maul whittled it down to one pretty quickly.


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## paranoid marvin (Sep 9, 2021)

Rodders said:


> To be fair, Maul whittled it down to one pretty quickly.




He seemed a great character to be used for only one movie. He could have been a great antagonist pursuing the good guys through the first couple of movies. Probably the best thing to come out of the first 3 and (to a large extent) thrown away too easily.


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## Rodders (Sep 9, 2021)

Legend has it that Lucas deliberately killed Maul off in TPM because he didn't want the character overshadowing Vader. It's a fair point, I think.


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## CupofJoe (Sep 9, 2021)

How could I have forgotten *The Princess Bride* [Inconceivable!]


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## Droflet (Sep 9, 2021)

Great clip. I did mention it back in the day but am delighted that someone finally posted the clip. Good going, Joe. I'll have to learn how to do that ... one day.


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