Adding to the mess, Lucas insisted that the lightsaber fights in the prequels be choreographed like two-handed broadsword duels (much to the disappointment of Hamill and his trainer) because… light-based blades are heavy I guess?
Then he totally changed his mind when it was time to make the prequels, and decided that lightsaber fights should be all about brightly-colored spectacle instead of a device for emotionally fraught character-arc-building confrontations.
(broadswords are single handed with a basket hilt. Big long two handed swords are great swords)
I can’t find a good clip of it, but the swordfight scene near the end of The Lion In Winter is one of the most… historically accurate encounters I’ve seen in cinema. Two men in chain shirts and helmets with early 12th-century swords - basically slightly edged metal bats - go at each other, until one falls over. Then, the coup de grace…
And then there’s this: Danny Kaye and Basil Rathbone in The Court Jester
YES! First post nails it. End of discussion. Wrap up the thread.
Don’t forget The Court Jester with Danny Kaye and Basil Rathbone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt6Po87L0z8
Might be one of the very best.
Beat me to it.
There is no excuse for leaving this one out.
I need to watch that. It seems to keep coming up when historical cinema is mentioned. Especially by historians.
Or this.
Hell, just watch the whole movie. Trust me.
Basil Rathbone was so good he actually trained Errol Flynn and choreographed their fight:
There def. needs to be more classic samurai on this list!
Its got Peter O’Toole, Katherine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton. You just can’t go wrong with a cast like that,
These are all good fights. I’ve always enjoyed the sword fights in Conan the Barbarian, as they seem a lot more visceral, like it’s actually people trying to kill each other instead of just clanging swords together acrobatically. The fight choreography was done by Tate-do (Japanese stage combat) instructor Kiyoshi Yamasaki, who also has a brief cameo as the sword instructor near the beginning of the film. He also did the fight choreography for Conan the Destroyer, Red Sonja (hah!), Dune, and Dragonheart. He also choreographed the pilot 2-part episode of the short-lived 1997 Conan TV series.
I would also like to add my favorite, the duel at the end of Sanjuro, the sequel to Yojimbo:
There are also plenty of really good ones from Lone Wolf and Cub, though I can’t think of one that sticks out above the rest.
Another one I keep forgetting to track down.
Its a who’s who of Brits who give no fucks.
Ok. There’s this:
My daughter and I spent a good chunk of last winter tossing snowballs to eachother and doing quick-draw-from-the-hip slices like these with sticks from the park. Good times.
Because if left such a lasting impression on me I’m throwing the sword fight from Jason and the Argonauts.
Yes, but can they fight a duel in rhyme?
(I can’t attest to the quality of the fencing, but it’s done with style. And I highly recommend watching the whole clip-- the insult scene that precedes this is epic. The entire movie is awesome, and freely available on YouTube.)
I love how old Japanese movies, you had one slash and done.
Modern Japaneses Movies:
Giant Explosion
Man pushes up sunglasses and smiles.
“Finally a worthy opponent. Looks like I can use my full power.”
