Coolest "epic fight scene" in a movie?

[PTjvs]

The real nominees are......

Newscaster Gangfight (Anchorman)
Wesley vs. Indigo Montoya (The Princess Bride)
Derek Zoolander vs. Hansel in the Walkoff (Zoolander)

jvs

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What I mean by "epic fight scene" is a one on one fight scene between the hero and the villain that is usually the cilmax of the movie. It's also probably long.

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For those who have lost their way in this thread, the fight scene is long, one-on-one and climaxes the movie (heh, he said climaxes).

I like Harrison Ford v. Rutger Hauer (the android Roy Batty) in Bladerunner.

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Most of that was running and blabbing, though. If it was epic, there would at least have been significant blows exchanged, but of course that would have killed Harrison Ford almost instantly, so we didn't see that.

It was a great confrontation, but not an epic battle.

Your other points are well-taken, though, except I don't think the fight necessarily has to come at the end. That's not what makes a fight epic.

I see lots of entries here that are one against many. That may be stretching things a bit, but I'm willing to go with that. But many against many doesn't work. That's why scenes like the rumbles in Warriors and Rumblefish don't count. Otherwise, we'd have to let in whole wars, and the flavor of the thing completely changes.

Maybe we should include epic battles to win the girl, too, though, in which case, I submit the battle to bag Mary in There's Something About Mary.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

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Or, for that matter, the final scene of Yojimbo.

Will

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I love Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune, but a great deal of Kurosawa's scenes are shot so that you can't really make heads or tails of the movements. Very exciting, but I definitely get the feeling you don't need to know the first thing about swords to be a swordsman in a Kurosawa flick.

The last quick one on one iaido-type swordfight in Yojimbo was very cool, though. You got to really see it more, and it was very tense.

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The commentary track on the Criterion Collection of Seven Samurai is outstanding - The best commentary track I have ever had the pleasure of listening to...I forget the name of the man doing the commentary but he points out certain swordfighting techniques that are very subtle but are in play during Seven Samurai. An example is that the aristocratic Samurai (I forgot their names) leads with his arms the first time he tries to test somebody. The second time, however, he plants his body more firmly, but still leads with his arms a little. The best example of good swordsplay I think is in the dual in the fields with everybody looking on. Again, I forget the name of the samurai who does it, but the scene starts with the dual with bamboo shafts. The arrogant samurai thinks it is a tie as they both struck at the same time into the shoulder. However, the samurai who laters joins the Seven planted his body and struck with more force and landed a killing blow whereas the other man would have landed a glancing blow.

When they actually bring swords into play, you can slow down the scene and watch how gracefully he kills the other man. He plants, swings, and moves aside to dodge his enemy's blow. It's rather interesting...

Whether Toshiro Mifune knew what he was doing with a sword, I don't know...but how badass is that thing...

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Yeah, that was a fun scene. That guy is the expert who goes out of the village to spy on the bandits and kills a couple, which prompts Mifune to go show his stuff by trying to duplicate it. That was the role James Coburn played in The Magnificent Seven, where he reprised the same fight scene that turns from a friendly contest to a real death, and similarly is sent out to check on the bandits and kills a couple. Different kinds of cool; subdued and modest in the Japanese version, and subdued but arrogant and happier to prove his worth in the American version.

I have both those flicks, and the commentary is great on both of them.

[cadillac1234]

Dirty Harry

They tore down the railroad bridge last year in Larkspur and the old quarry has been a shopping mall/apartment complex for the last 25 years.

[teamdonkey]

big trouble in little china



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two girls with green eyes? what can it mean?!?

[West]

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[DDC67]

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Every Which Way But Loose. No, wait, it was Any Which Way Can, the highly anticipated sequel that had the climactic 1/2 hour bout at the end.

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I haven't read all the replies to this thread but this movie immediately came to mind. I like when Clint and the other guy take a break and drink a beer before they finish. And if this has already been mentioned, well frankly, it's worth repeating.

[cadillac1234]

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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

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Your right...

Shooting Lee Van Cleef's hat into his grave trumps throwing a SFPD badge into the quarry...

[Blarg]

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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

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Your right...

Shooting Lee Van Cleef's hat into his grave trumps throwing a SFPD badge into the quarry...

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Not to mention Dirty Harry was 10x tougher than the psycho, and Lee Van Cleef was 10x tougher than that.