*Gasp!* a REALISTIC Hollywood sword fight?

[JeremyDillon]

I recently rewatched Ridley Scott's "The Duelists" and was mightily impressed by a scene in which the two main characters duel with smallswords. The scene is, by far, the most realistic depiction of a sword fight I've yet to see in a movie. (The same movie features a saber duel in which one of the fighters receives a cut to the shoulder which shears off a great chunk of muscle, but he continues to fight, which seems very dubious). I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this fight, and what they thought of it?

[Richard Strey]

The movie is my favorite by far when it comes to duels in movies.

[AlexCSmith]

The final duel in The Duelists beat out the climax of The Seven Samurai for the top spot on Black Belt Magazines Top 100 Movie Swordfights.

[Martin_Wilkinson]

The final duel in The Duelists beat out the climax of The Seven Samurai for the top spot on Black Belt Magazines Top 100 Movie Swordfights.

Despite the fact that it's a pistol duel?

[AlexCSmith]

Heh I'll have to assume they were reffering to the last sword duel.

I've never seen the movie. I looked for it for a couple of years after reading that article in Black Belt but never found a copy and I haven't tried to locate it since the advent of netflix and other internet resources.

I just felt like that bit of trivia was significant considering it beat out the 7 Samurai and the duel with the 3 Brothers in Shogun Assassin (and of course 97 other films).

edit: Also the climax of 7 Samurai involves about a hundred villagers with bamboo spears, booby traps, horses, and all kinds of crazyness so Im guessing the definition of "sword fight" they were using was somewhat loose.

[Martin_Wilkinson]

Heh I'll have to assume they were reffering to the last sword duel.

I've never seen the movie. I looked for it for a couple of years after reading that article in Black Belt but never found a copy and I haven't tried to locate it since the advent of netflix and other internet resources.

I just felt like that bit of trivia was significant considering it beat out the 7 Samurai and the duel with the 3 Brothers in Shogun Assassin (and of course 97 other films).

edit: Also the climax of 7 Samurai involves about a hundred villagers with bamboo spears, booby traps, horses, and all kinds of crazyness so Im guessing the definition of "sword fight" they were using was somewhat loose.

It's a great film, i'd recommend checking it out.

[Allen Johnson]

I agree. Good themes of duty and ideals about honor in a changing world as well. Quality film. Rob Roy is another one where the choreography is better than the typical Hollywood bullcrap. They resisted the constant temptation of making a HERO SWORD and just gave everyone, normal looking, servicable weapons.

[Jaron Bernstein]

I recently rewatched Ridley Scott's "The Duelists" and was mightily impressed by a scene in which the two main characters duel with smallswords. The scene is, by far, the most realistic depiction of a sword fight I've yet to see in a movie. (The same movie features a saber duel in which one of the fighters receives a cut to the shoulder which shears off a great chunk of muscle, but he continues to fight, which seems very dubious). I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this fight, and what they thought of it?

I liked the very first opening smallsword fight even better. Yes, Lt. Feroud (Harvey Keitel's character) vastly overmatched the other guy, but look at the psychology at work in that fight. A wonderful show of "if you are fearful do not learn how to fence."

[JeremyDillon]

I liked the very first opening smallsword fight even better. Yes, Lt. Feroud (Harvey Keitel's character) vastly overmatched the other guy, but look at the psychology at work in that fight. A wonderful show of "if you are fearful do not learn how to fence."

I believe that we're talking about the same fight. It's the only smallsword duel, correct? Regardless, I agree about the psychological aspect of the fight. I also love how short and unflashy it is and how most of the scene is spent in a very tense mutual hesitation. It's also interesting (and I suppose perfectly accurate) how Feroud doesn't even realize that he's injured his opponent severely, ("One touch and he's done?") when, in fact, he has neatly punctured a lung.

[Will Adamson]

I also love the fact that they paused for a sneeze!

I thought the saber duel was a good illustration of how someone can keep going when their blood is up...or covering their shirt.

All in all, I found that movie rather tedious. It was some good fights within a greater volume of bad acting.

[Gianluca Zanini]

I've never seen the movie. I looked for it for a couple of years after reading that article in Black Belt but never found a copy and I haven't tried to locate it since the advent of netflix and other internet resources.

http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/ ... 7548&itm=3

this may help.
It worth having.

my best

Gianluca

[Jaron Bernstein]

I also love the fact that they paused for a sneeze!

I thought the saber duel was a good illustration of how someone can keep going when their blood is up...or covering their shirt.

All in all, I found that movie rather tedious. It was some good fights within a greater volume of bad acting.

www.smitheeawards.com has really bad acting In the Duelists there were 2 smallsword fights.

[AlexCSmith]

http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&EAN=097360897548&itm=3

this may help.
It worth having.

my best

Gianluca

My thanks.

[Nathan Dexter]

In kingdom of heaven the sword fights are horrible, but I do give them points for fentioning the "posta de falcone" despite the fact that fiore dei liberei was born about 200 years after the movie takes place.

[Martin_Wilkinson]

In kingdom of heaven the sword fights are horrible, but I do give them points for fentioning the "posta de falcone" despite the fact that fiore dei liberei was born about 200 years after the movie takes place.

posta de falcone is from Vadi, not Fiore. But, it is nice of them to actually use HEMA language.