Good fencing movies?

[Black Jeebus]

What are some good contemporary fencing movies? By contemporary I mean made within the last thirty or so years. And remember you old farts (I know you're lurking out there) thirty years ago it was 1974. I know you slip up and forget sometimes how long ago your youth was but hey thats what happens when senility sets in.

[Inquartata]

Do you mean sport fencing, or general swordplay

[Black Jeebus]

Not necessarily sport fencing, but realistic fencing of a sort. Where it looks like the director and/or actors appear to know more about swordplay than what they learned when they walked on set that morning.

[FlamingDeth]

"The Princess Bride" has pretty good fencing in it, but I'm fairly certain that everyone is tired of hearing about that. Also, while I've not seen it myself, I've been informed that "The Duelists" is a beautiful movie.

[Black Jeebus]

just a note: you can never mention the princess bride too much

[acidiccherry]

besides "The Princess Bride" and "The Duelists", anyone know any of those nice fencing swordplays movies?the ancient and popular ones. i would like to watch them if i have a chance to.

[Tireur]

And remember you old farts (I know you're lurking out there) thirty years ago it was 1974. I know you slip up and forget sometimes how long ago your youth was but hey thats what happens when senility sets in.

I'll dance on your grave, you litte whippersnapper........

[kalivor]

There's also Rob Roy ... not really a fencing movie, but it's got the great fight where the bad guy uses a lighter (fencing-like) sword against Rob Roy's broadsword.

By The Sword, too. OK, not the greatest movie of all time, but the footwork/dance sequence is priceless.

[Tireur]

anyone know any of those nice fencing swordplays movies?the ancient and popular ones.

"Scaramouche has one of the longest and best fencing scenes. But, it is over thirty years old and in black and white, so the little kiddies probably won't enjoy it.

[Duelatdusk]

The Duelists is a very good movie. I have it on DVD and 2 of the scenes in paticular the saber and small sword duels are done quite well. Plus from the behind the scenes feature they trained for about 5 months for those scenes.

[D'Artagnan1673]

I could be wrong but I thought that Scaramouche was in color.

I recently watched a favorite of mine, the Three Musketeers from 1948. Yes, its older than 1974 but its a fun movie.

[Tireur]

I could be wrong but I thought that Scaramouche was in color.

You're right. It's that senility thing. I was thinking of another movie.

[FlamingDeth]

Hey, if we start talking about things more than thirty years old, we can always look to Douglas Fairbanks, the ultimate adventure movie actor!

[pkt]

this is an email I sent out to my friends in 2002:
So to this list I'll add
"Kill Bill, Vol. 1"
"The Last Samurai" too bad some of the sword fighting moves became repetitive...Great costumes. Love the female lead - She reminds me of my Grade 9 teacher...
Blade series.

Then there are the movies with battle scenes as opposed to simple serious sword-fighting scenes:
LotR series,
Master & Commander...


PK

==)-----------

All,

I'm trying to compile a list of favourite, best fencing movies.
Would you like to contribute?

NO 'Princess Bride' please.

PK


MY Favourite Movies with Excellent Fencing

Scaramouche (****) 1952, 118m. DIR. George Sidney. CAST: Stewart Granger, Eleanor Parker, Mel Ferrer, Janet Leigh.
Adapted from the Rafael Sabatini story. Proper fencing shown. Best line in the movie was about how hard one should hold the weapon, “… Should treat it like a little bird: too hard, you’ll squeeze it to death; too lightly, it’ll fly away.” A full 7 minutes of proper fencing with 1-2s, doublés, up and down the banisters, down the stair, etc. Great stuff.

The Three Musketeers, (*****) 1973, 105m. DIR. Richard Lester. CAST: Michael York, Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch. DO NOT, I repeat, do NOT miss the opening sequence. I guess this is what real sword fighting is all about: to kill the other guy.
Rob Roy. This is the latest version of this story. The duel in the castle at the end is excellent. It’s is unbelievable that the bad guy uses one of the more modern parries – behind his back – in that time. Does not look staged.


Samurai movies [Lots of]

Anything directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune is good.
http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~adk/kuro...o/AKfilmo.html
Official Toshiro Mifune website:
http://www.mifuneproductions.co.jp/ [This is in Japanese]
http://www.sprout.org/toshiro/

The Seven Samurais (Hollywood: The Magnificent Seven)
http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~adk/kuro...o/samurai.html

Yojimbo (The Bodyguard), 4.5 stars (A Fistful of Dollars – Clint Eastwood)
http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~adk/kuro...o/yojinbo.html

Sanjuro (The 30 year-old), 4.5 stars, (For a Few Dollars More – Clint Eastwood).
http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~adk/kuro...o/sanjuro.html

Hidden Fortress
http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~adk/kuro...mo/toride.html
It has an excellent fight scent with katana [Mifune] against a spear.

"The Samurai Trilogy" 5 stars. 1954, 303 m. This is a 3-movie series DIR. Hiroshi Inagaki, starring Mifune This is about Musashi Miyamoto, the ‘sword saint’ of Japan. The highlight in the 1st part was how he single-handedly killed scores of people. Then the second one, “Duel at Ichijoji”. Don’t miss the climax of the 3rd with the duel at sunrise on the beach. This is a good study of how to survive using brawn, strategy, techniques at the correct moment. Musashi did not deign to not show up at a duel because he might lose. He’s the only one who survived 75 duels…
宮本武蔵
続・武蔵・一乗寺の決闘
宮本武蔵・決闘巌流島

In one of these movies, I forgot which, Musashi was having dinner when a band of bandits was about to mug him. Knowing the bandits presence and being annoyed by a fly buzzing around his bowl of noodles and wanting to show-off to the bandits, he casually plucked the fly out of mid-flight with his chopsticks. Seeing this, the would-be bandits beat a hasty retreat.

Try this and you’ll see why the bandits knew better than to attack him.

I think there’s another Mifune movie [but not directed by Kurosawa] called “Samurai Rebellion - Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu” …It ends with the changing tide when rifles changes the life the samurai forever. [Same premise as "The Last Samurai".]
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0061847/

Then there is the Zatoichi (The Blind Swordsman) series. I don’t quite like them, but they were popular. They even made one with Yojimbo vs Zatoichi. Two good guys. It was of course all because of some misunderstanding…

[pkt]

Originally posted by FlamingDeth
"The Princess Bride" has pretty good fencing in it, but I'm fairly certain that everyone is tired of hearing about that. Also, while I've not seen it myself, I've been informed that "The Duelists" is a beautiful movie.

Absolutely.
This is a beautifully shot movie and the fencing's not too bad either.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0075968/

Of course Ridley Scott is, IMHO, a great action director together with his brother, Tony. Both of them produced some very watchable movies. His quotation:
[On why his movies don't have sex scenes]
"Sex is boring unless you're doing it."


Best resource for looking up movies:
http://us.imdb.com/

PK

[D'Artagnan1673]

Originally posted by FlamingDeth
Hey, if we start talking about things more than thirty years old, we can always look to Douglas Fairbanks, the ultimate adventure movie actor!

Love his 1921 silent version of the Three Musketeers!

[Inquartata]

Anything with Basil Rathbone, John Derek or Cornel Wilde in it. These three were Olympic-calibre fencers off screen; Wilde was even on track to go to the Olympics at one point, I believe. Rathbone could have dispatched anyone he was ever matched against with ease, but his looks condemned him to play the villain and thus required him to lose in the end.

However, even with these you are unlikely to see much in the way of modern fencing shining through. Their movie fights were movie fights, staged to obey the exigencies of stage combat, ie much flash and little heat...this is a flaw in most older films.

I prefer the older Cyrano with Ferrer. He fenced in college, though he was still doubled for the fight in the streets by...I think it was William Hobbs.

[Thomas]

Crud I dont know if anyone has said this yet. But that James Bond movie "Die Another Day" has some badass fencing scenes. And they are sponsored by non other than Leon Paul! I think thats so cool. And that new peter pan movie appears to have a ton of fencing in it. I think pan has an epee and hook has a saber. And the old peter pan movie "Hook" with Robin Williams has good fencing in it. Again pan has an epee and Hook has a saber. So dont forget not all fencing movies are rapiers and broadswords. Civil war movies with sabers count as fencing scenes too. That new movie "Cold Mountain" has a bunch of people killed with sabers in it.

just a note: you can never mention the princess bride too much

And the princess bride has alot of cool fencing in it to. And sometimes when I want to see good fencing I watch the princess bride. Hmm im not sure if it was 30 years ago but theres this movie called the princess bride with fencing in it.

[labouche]

the flick!!!

[pkt]

Princess Bride's fencing was toooooo staged.

Oh, don't forget the light sabre fights in the "Star Wars" trilogy choreographed by a genuine fencing master, Bob Anderson who was the National coach for the UK, then he came to work in Canada...then Hollywood.

PK