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Ricochet Movie Fight Club: Question 20
Two-time champion, Brian Watt, learned exactly how hard it is to win three in a row. Teaching that lesson (with a little help from a blind Audrey Hepburn) was J D Fitzpatrick, who earned the right to ask: What movie has the best duel? All movies should be pre-CGI. For this question, a duel is defined as a single moment of combat between two characters, with a clear resolution. Duels can be short or long, but they should display unity of time, place, and action, meaning that the contest is restricted to a particular moment in the film, not drawn out over its course.
The Rules:
- Post your answer as a comment. Make it clear that this is your official answer, one per member.
- Defend your answer in the comments and fight it out with other Ricochet member answers for the rest of the week.
- Whoever gets the most likes on their official answer comment (and only that comment) by Friday night wins the fight.
- The winner gets the honor of posting the next question on Saturday.
- In the case of a tie, the member who posted the question will decide the winner.
Notes:
- Only movies will qualify (no TV shows) however films that air on television (BBC films, a stand-alone mini-series) will qualify.
- Your answer can be as off-the-wall or controversial as you’d like. It will be up to you to defend it and win people to your side.
- Fight it out.
Movie Fight Club Questions by Week:
- What is the best film portrayal of a book character? Winner: Charlotte with 18 likes for Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies.
- What is the best motion picture comedy of the 21st century? Winner: split decision. In an exemplary display of genuine sportsmanship, Randy Webster conceded the fight to Marjorie Reynolds’ pick Team America: World Police.
- What film provides the most evocative use of location? Winner: Taras with 21 likes for Lawrence of Arabia. Wasn’t even close.
- What is the best film that utilizes or is inspired by a work of William Shakespeare? Winner: Dr. Bastiat with five likes for The Lion King, a film inspired by Hamlet.
- Which movie has the best surprise ending, or unexpected plot twist? Winner: Repmodad with 18 likes for The Sixth Sense.
- What pre-1970s black-and-white movie would be most enjoyed by a modern 18- to 25-year-old audience? Winner: E J Hill with 9 likes for a Casablanca. (He didn’t exactly designate it his official answer, and most of the likes may have been for the modern Casablanca trailer rather than for it as an answer to the question, but nobody seemed to dispute it on those grounds, so that’s how the cookie crumbles.)
- What movie did you go to based on the trailer, only to have felt cheated? (i.e., the trailer was 10x better than the movie?) Winner: Back to back wins by E J Hill with 9 likes for Something to Talk About.
- Name the worst movie portrayal of your profession (where applicable.) Winner: LC with 8 likes for Denise Richards’ Dr. Christmas Jones in The World is Not Enough.
- What is the worst movie that claims to be based or inspired by a true story? Winner: Tex929rr with 16 likes for the, “…terrible acting, and countless deviations from history,” in Pearl Harbor.
- What is your favorite little known movie? Winner: A last-minute rally for Tremors made the difference as Songwriter took the week 10 win!
- What is the best movie that you never want to watch again? Winner:
HitlerCharlotte with 15 likes for Schindler’s List. Sorry, Richard Oshea but Jesus won the real fight.
Week 11.5 Exhibition Match (as a make-up of sorts, since Songwriter didn’t get the week 11 question submitted in time) Name the best movie theme song ever? No winner declared but I’m pretty sure it was I.M. Fine with “Moon River.” - Name the best animated feature-length movie of all time. Winner: I.M. Fine with 10 likes for Pinocchio, and justice for I.M. Fine prevailed.
- What is the worst acting performance in an otherwise good film? Winner: In one of the most brutal fights we’ve seen yet Repmodad fended off a furious 12th-round onslaught by Gary McVey to give Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves the win with 20 likes.
- What is the quintessential American movie? Winner: Miffed White Male pulled off the comeback with 20 likes for The Right Stuff. There was a two-way tie at 19 for second place as well.
- What’s the most entertaining movie set during WWII? Winner: Arahant clearly won with Casablanca’s walloping 30 likes despite the withering onslaught by Sisyphus on the final day.
- What is the best movie love story? Winner: Songwriter with 20 likes for The Princess Bride with 20 likes. Up managed to make a strong showing and Dr. Bastiat is still conducting recounts trying to “find” some uncounted votes.
- What’s the best’ buddy’ movie? Winner: Brian Watt wins with 12 likes for The Man Who Would be King.
- What is the worst movie (not a made-for-TV movie) ever made? Brian Watt joins E.J. Hill as the only other back-to-back winner with 16 likes for Barbarella. Brian will get another crack at it by choosing the week 19 question. Can he make it three?
- What is the most frightening non-bloody film you’ve ever seen? The winner: J D Fitzpatrick with Wait Until Dark, starring the lovely Audrey Hepburn getting terrorized over a doll, sort of.
The final duel, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, official answer.
For this one it might be fun to post a video too for those who’ve never seen your picks.
I want to add that I didn’t mean for the “two person” requirement to be overly restrictive. I just wanted to distinguish a duel from a larger fight.
Which is why I’m going to nominate the three-way duel from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly as my official answer.
UPDATE: I’ve made my case for choosing this one at the top of Page 9 of the comments.
Official answer. Indiana Jones’s whip to revolver switch in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Ford:
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/22xh4j/i_am_harrison_harrison_ford_ama/cgrc21n/
Oh man. That’s hard. So many great sword duels! I almost went with Dumbledore vs Voldemort, but CGI rules that out.
No matter. The foot work and choreography of swordplay or martial arts make for some of my favorite things in cinema.
I think I am leaning to the swordplay in Mask of Zorro as official answer. The classic footwork, the dance, the emotional tension, and the stocatto score that complemented each clash of swords… wonderful romance of the era…
And c’mon, Zorro totally needs to be a contender on dueling, right?
I think it has to be the Richard Lester version of “The Three Musketeers.” Call it both the “Three Musketeers” and the “Four Musketeers,” because the two movies were filmed together, but split into two when it ran too long. This is the one George MacDonald Fraser (of Flashman fame) wrote the screenplay for.
It has so many good dueling scenes. My favorite is the one where one of the musketeers (I think Athos) backs into a waterwheel and gets carried aloft.
One of the scenes:
Official answer.
Really only one answer for those who have seen the film Rob Roy – the final duel between Rob Roy (Liam Neeson) and Cunningham (Tim Roth). Official answer.
Just watch the linked duel and give me your vote.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERmM5l2ceoY
Major SPOILER WARNING! If you haven’t seen the movie, see the movie and rendezvous back here.
The Liberty Valance duel:
Part 1:
From there it cuts to a scene where the Jimmy Stewart character has succeeded and celebrations are in progress.
Part 2:
And now here is the rest of the story:
True Grit (John Wayne version): Rooster vs Lucky Ned Pepper (“Fill your hand you . . . “). Official answer.
Completely agree.
Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. Official answer.
Duel, the TV movie by Steven Spielberg, is the only contender that makes the duel the centerpiece of the entire movie. It is a one-on-one battle of man and machine that is drawn out over many scenes. A duel so good, they named the movie for it.
Add to that the opportunity to see young Spielberg’s genius even at the very start of his career, and I think it’s a great choice.
Without a doubt, the duel between Ross Martin and Tony Curtis in The Great Race. Both men were skilled fencers; Curtis was widely considered the best in Hollywood.
If dueling with muscle cars is allowed, I’ll nominate Bullett. That jazzy score is great. The pacing is more like a sex scene than a fight scene.
The Princess Bride….best duel
in three actsin which Westley battles (and bests) three of the four faces of evil*** through a single running contest in the highlands atop the Cliffs of Insanity only to lose (temporarily) to the fourth. Official answer.“As you wish.”
“Because I know something you don’t know. … I am not left-handed!”
“Drop… your… sword.”
*** The three: skill, strength, and wits. The fourth: power.
[EDITS: Read the full post instead of just the bold question. This is what I was thinking at the time but I believe a better case could be made for duel between Inigo and the six fingered man at the end. “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. … I want my father back, you son of a bitch!” May yet change my answer…]
I don’t know what all the fussing about: Gary Cooper in High Noon. The whole movie is focused on the final shootout.
youtube.com/watch?v=qZil728hUy0
So far, the thread is giving me everything I was hoping for. Keep the nominees coming!
And if anyone can explain to me how to embed YouTube videos, I’d appreciate it.
Love the idea. I meant for the choice of weapons to be open to interpretation.
Philo picked the obvious winner here. There are at least five duels in that movie alone which could qualify for the win.
Since @philo got Princess Bride, I should put this in for another fun fight:
Official answer: Will Turner vs Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean. It includes fancy swordplay, props, use of the environment, and humor.
I might think of a better answer, but it’s probably best to secure something early.
Holy moly, that Rob Roy scene is tremendous. I haven’t seen it in years. I especially loved that there was no music/score during the actual fighting. The drama spoke for itself.
Easy… Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
It’s only a flesh wound!
Final answer.
Swashbuckling is just about my favorite movie genre (or aspect, or quality, or whatever). I love imaginatively-staged fights and chases of all kinds.
My official nomination is this fight from The Bourne Supremacy. Great use of household objects, terrific fight choreography, doesn’t go on so long that it stops being believable. And the gas-toaster-magazine trick at the end is just badass.
By the stipulations in the post, I don’t believe I can claim them all. In fact, my actual nominee is probably going to get flagged on the play. See my edits above.
Oh, c’mon: It’s not even serious!
High Noon, on the other hand, is totally serious. And Coopers being denied help by the community is evocative to me of Portland, Oregon.
This has to be the hardest question for me. I grew up watching westerns, Chinese martial arts films, and samurai films. So there are so many great duels to pick from. I would even have a hard time picking the best Jet Li movie duel.
Official Answer: Harakiri. As much as I love super kinetic fight scenes in Chinese wuxia movies, this scene is so cinematic. I love everything about it.
Official Answer: Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine in Emperor of the North
You doubt the seriousness of true love? Shame.
P.S. Where exactly is the requirement for seriousness stated?
So I thought about this movie, but eliminated it since Sanjuro fights the entire gang.