What's your favorite movie sword fight?

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Kill Bill, definitely. The Bride is a fierce sword fighter.



Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
I'd say mostly any of the fights from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon should be included, but specifically the one in the courtyard where Michelle Yoeh's character uses pretty much every type of weapon they had...
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Not surprisingly, there are already at least two existing threads on this topic. Check it out HERE and HERE. Transferring my list over...
  • The Man in Black (Cary Elwes) vs. Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) atop the Cliffs of Insanity in The Princess Bride (1987)
    "I'm not left-handed either."
  • Arthur, King of the Brittons (Graham Chapman) vs. The Black Knight (John Cleese) in Monty Python & the Holy Grail (1974)
    "Look, you stupid bastard, you've got no arms left!"
  • Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) vs. Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) in the center of Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    "Search your feelings, you know it to be true."
  • Tanaka Ken (Ken Takakura) vs. a dozen other swordsmen in the last big battle of The Yakuza (1975)
  • D'Artagnan (Michael York) vs. Athos, Porthos & Aramis (Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay & Richard Chamberlin) then vs. Cardinal Richelieu's gaurds in The Three Musketeers (1973)
    "But I am to duel him too."
  • D'Artagnan (Gene Kelly) vs. Athos, Porthos & Aramis (Van Heflin, Gig Young & Robert Coote) vs. Richelieu's guards in The Three Musketeers (1948)
    "Leave him for me!"
  • Captain Vallo (Burt Lancaster) vs. Baron Gruda (Leslie Bradley) in The Crimson Pirate (1952)
  • Robin of Locksley (Errol Flynn) vs. Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone) on the steps in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
    "You've come to Nottingham once too often."
  • Armand D'Hubert (Keith Carradine) vs. Gabriel Feraud (Harvey Keitel) in
    (1977)
    "We came here to kill each other. Any ground is suitable for that."
  • Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) vs. young Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) at the blacksmith's in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
    WILL: You cheated!
    SPARROW: Pirate.
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My favorite swordfight is any that had Basil Rathbone on one side and Errol Flynn on the other. The athletic Rathbone enjoyed swordfighting so much that he actually trained and became an accomplished swordsman. But his only onscreen swordfight was with Flynn who, Rathbone said, scared him to death, not "because he was careless but because he didn't know how to protect himself."

I've heard Cornell Wilde was once on the US Olympic fencing team and was brought to Hollywood specifically to star in swordfighting epics. However, fencing involves rather confined and controlled moves that didn't match the broad sabre swings preferred by Hollywood. As a result, Wilde had to be retrained in the "Hollywood method" and never got to use on screen the fencing skills for which he was hired.



A climatic swordfight in another Errol Flynn film, The Adventures of Don Juan (1949), led to an acting career for Jock Mahoney who later starred in the TV series Range Rider and was the 13 person to play Tarzan in another series.

The swordfight scene that jump-started his career called for Don Juan, armed with a dagger, to leap down a long flight of stairs to land on and kill his sword-welding opponent. According to the story I heard, the stuntman who had been doing Flynn's stunts refused the job as too dangerous and virtually impossible to do. So Mahoney, also a stuntman, said he would do it. The result is a spectacular leap in a brief scene at the end of the film. According to one online memorial to the late Mahoney, he could stand flat-footed and leap over the back of a "regular-size" horse.



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for me I still go for the classic fight like the highlander (There can only be one)....




Not surprisingly, there are already at least two existing threads on this topic. Check it out HERE and HERE. Transferring my list over...

I knew there was another list... and did a search... but apparently did something wrong because I couldn't find it... so thanks Holden...
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One of the best swordfights ever filmed was between Ross Martin as Baron Rolfe Von Stuppe and Tony Curtis as the Great Leslie in the comedy The Great Race. They fight first with light rapiers and then with heavy sabres; both are athletic and polished, and the swordplay is done in the grand tradition of Hollywood epics. But the real payoff is when the outclassed Von Stuppe escapes by gracefully diving from a tower window into the water below where a boat is waiting to pick him up. You've got to watch the full scene to enjoy its impact.



my favorite sword fights not mentioned so far would be : the fight at the end of Blade, pretty much any fight in Gladiator, andthe final fight at the end of Ladyhawke
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Well, only one man had a sword, but for my favorite sword fighting cheese, it would be Mr. Rutger Hauer in Blind Fury (1990)



This video clip is rated "Ouchy!"




Prior to Roy dragging his sword across the floor you see him trying to hold up his sword with both hands.
He is clearly getting tired at that point.

I grew up around several sword buffs so the first time I watched, I really didn't think too much of him using two hands because the Scots during Rob Roy's era used two handed claymores...

Anyway, I can't believe I forgot to even mention my other favorite sword fight....





Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Mask of Zorro.



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Interesting to notice that all the people who have mentioned Highlander so far haven't mentioned a specific sword fight from the movie...
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I would have to say one of my favorites that probably isnt thought of much would be the first fight in Hero, between Nameless and Sky.

I've always loved the way that was done, but thats just me.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
I certainly enjoy all the answers so far, but I want to remind film buffs who haven't seen older movies to check out my post, #8 on the first page here. Two VERY entertaining classic answers. You should enjoy them. And, oh yeah, as I said, check out the great Liam Neeson/Tim Roth duel in Rob Roy, in post #3, but be sure to watch all of them. The Black Knight against King Arthur is classic.
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300 had some amazing sword scenes...ahhh-mazing.
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