Best Sword Duels (2 Viewers)

Cornwallis said:
Against Lord Cunningham if I recall, superbly played by Tim Roth, great fight scene at the end. :)
Click to expand...
Many good duels have been mentioned but I thought I would comment on some more of my favorites, which you can review here to refresh your memory if you like:

Three Musketeers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9xmMtH-2PM&feature=related
Rob Roy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVaslN1NiT0
Scaramouche
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFp0jpk_o_I
Captain Blood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHUnceDtttw

The 73 Three Musketeers films are my favorite of that series and contained some of the most gritty dueling ever filmed. The actual sword play is pretty good as well but not classical. The Scaramouche duel is indeed another classic and, in parts, displays some of the more realistic sword play in cinema. The Rob Roy duel is also quite realistic, especially for a movie and shows rather well the problem with fighting a rapier with a claymore; Roth clearly should have finished Liam when he had the chance. The Flynn - Rathbone duel in Captain Blood is also excellent, to me a close second to the Rathbone - Power duel in the 1940 Mask of Zorro (clip link at the beginning of thread). Rathbone was actually a fencing champion and in the Blood duel, is shown mostly fighting with his fencing coach. You can really tell the different in the quality of Captain Blood's technique in those scenes where you see a Flynn facial close-up and those where you don't.;) Despite his image, Flynn was no swordsman.
 
I have to give another vote to The Princess Bride.

Inigo: "You seem a decent fellow... I hate to kill you"

Man in Black: "You seem a decent fellow... I hate to die"

Beau
 
Beau said:
I have to give another vote to The Princess Bride.

Inigo: "You seem a decent fellow... I hate to kill you"

Man in Black: "You seem a decent fellow... I hate to die"

Beau
Click to expand...


"Hello! My name is Indigo Montoya, you killed my father. . .prepare to die!":D

Vick
 
There's a French comedy called Fanfan La Tulip from the 50s that I just saw which you can get from Netflix. (English dubbed) The sword fighting circa 7 Years War is all sabers rather than foils with a lot of stunts and comedy.

Gina Lollobrigida is fun to watch as well. The French aren't afraid of women "High beaming" though their chemises.
 
A quickie. Antonio Banderas vs. Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Legend Of Zorro.
 
Without a doubt: Flynn vs Rathbone in Robin Hood!!. It was and still is, the greatest duel in film history. The director used many special film techniques, such as shadowing, fire, close-ups etc to catch the action. According to Flynn's biorgraphy, Rathbone was by far the better swordsman, he had actually taken lessons. Flynn, on the other hand, did many scenes with little training, but he was such an athlete, that it just looked great and believable. He also took out Rathbone in his first film--Capt Blood. I also liked his efforts in Don Juan, but he was getting older then, but still could swing a mighty sword. When you examine the scenes, the old english broadsword used in Robin Hood, was considerably bigger and mightier, than the rapier he used in Don Juan.......................Stryker
 
Stryker II said:
Without a doubt: Flynn vs Rathbone in Robin Hood!!. It was and still is, the greatest duel in film history. The director used many special film techniques, such as shadowing, fire, close-ups etc to catch the action. According to Flynn's biorgraphy, Rathbone was by far the better swordsman, he had actually taken lessons. Flynn, on the other hand, did many scenes with little training, but he was such an athlete, that it just looked great and believable. He also took out Rathbone in his first film--Capt Blood. I also liked his efforts in Don Juan, but he was getting older then, but still could swing a mighty sword. When you examine the scenes, the old english broadsword used in Robin Hood, was considerably bigger and mightier, than the rapier he used in Don Juan.......................Stryker
Click to expand...
That is certainly one of my favorites but still not the best duel to me. For the reasons I noted before, I think that goes to Rathbone and Power in Mark of Zorro. Both were actually very good fencers in their own right. I guess you missed it in my last post but Rathbone had not just "taken lessons", he was a fencing champion and a life long practitioner of the art. As I noted, all but the facial close-ups in Captain Blood were shot between Rathbone and his fencing coach. Flynn certainly was charismatic and athletic but some of his sword fighting was somewhat flawed. He was at his best in Robin Hood; probably because it requires less finesse to use a broad sword than a rapier, which in modern fencing is a cross between a foil and a saber.
 
Guess I did miss your note on Rathbone. I always liked Rathbone, and I still feel that his Holme's was my favorite along with the bumbling Nigel Bruce as Watson. I guess I will always be in Flynn's corner, as he was a boy-hood screen idol of mine, and they certainly don't make movies anymore like the old Warners Brother's titles. I have never seen his movie called The Warriors or something like that that he filmed later on in his life--post Warner Brothers. Also, it was a shame that his movie William Tell or something like that was never finished? I have most of his titles on dvd, except one that I thought he was extremely good in, but you didn't hear alot about EDGE OF DARKNESS. I liked how they used the premise of Beau Geste for the Norwegian town, and told the story backwards................Stryker
 
Stryker II said:
Guess I did miss your note on Rathbone. I always liked Rathbone, and I still feel that his Holme's was my favorite along with the bumbling Nigel Bruce as Watson. I guess I will always be in Flynn's corner, as he was a boy-hood screen idol of mine, and they certainly don't make movies anymore like the old Warners Brother's titles. I have never seen his movie called The Warriors or something like that that he filmed later on in his life--post Warner Brothers. Also, it was a shame that his movie William Tell or something like that was never finished? I have most of his titles on dvd, except one that I thought he was extremely good in, but you didn't hear alot about EDGE OF DARKNESS. I liked how they used the premise of Beau Geste for the Norwegian town, and told the story backwards................Stryker
Click to expand...
Well don't get me wrong, I love Flynn as well and his Robin Hood has always been one of my favorites; it is fantastically restored and presented in Blu-ray BTW. I also have many of his swashbucklers.:cool:
 
I would vote for the Duelists also. It sparked my interest in the period. The camera work and lighting was great. Gladiator should get a mention as well. (At least for the final one.)
 
Not to change the thread but Flynn reported to the SPCA about all the horses hurt and killed in Charge of the Light Brigade which lead to regulations protecting animals in movies.As a animal lover I commend him for this and he was a darn fine actor too.
Mark
 
marco55 said:
Not to change the thread but Flynn reported to the SPCA about all the horses hurt and killed in Charge of the Light Brigade which lead to regulations protecting animals in movies.As a animal lover I commend him for this and he was a darn fine actor too.
Mark
Click to expand...
I would strongly commend him for that as well Mark. Thanks for reminding me of that.
 
Back to the main theme, while I generally prefer rapiers and sabers, there are some very nicely done broad sword duels in King Arthur. Despite Clive Owen's rather neurotic protrayal of "Artorious", I actually like that movie quite a bit. The main actors did a fair amount of their own stunt work and riding, which is impressive in these times. For duels, I especially liked Tristan vs. Cerdic, Arthur vs. Cerdic, and Lancelot vs. Cynric. It also had a great international cast with good performances by Ioan Gruffudd, Stellan Skarsgård, Mads Mikkelsen, Joel Edgerton and Til Schweiger.
 
Spitfrnd said:
It also had a great international cast with good performances by Ioan Gruffudd, Stellan Skarsgård, Mads Mikkelsen, Joel Edgerton and Til Schweiger.
Click to expand...

Without wishing to detract from the thread too much (that would be a first :rolleyes:), I believe you're forgetting one rather spectacular actress from the casting list. ;)
 
Wraith said:
Without wishing to detract from the thread too much (that would be a first :rolleyes:), I believe you're forgetting one rather spectacular actress from the casting list. ;)
Click to expand...
Not really, I figured someone would bring up the lovely Ms Knightly soon enough.:D In fact, I rather like her tussle with Cedric's lieutenant.;)
 
Spitfrnd said:
Not really, I figured someone would bring up the lovely Ms Knightly soon enough.:D In fact, I rather like her tussle with Cedric's lieutenant.;)
Click to expand...

I'm glad my somewhat predictable mind was on hand to live up to your expectations. :D And yes, I agree, very nice tussle.
 
Wraith said:
I'm glad my somewhat predictable mind was on hand to live up to your expectations. :D And yes, I agree, very nice tussle.
Click to expand...
Interestly enough, the original script called for the "Woads" to fight in the nude; now that would have added a touch to that tussle.;):D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 3 (members: 0, guests: 3)
Community platform by XenForo® © 2010-2024 XenForo Ltd.
Back
Top