What...Fisticuffs?

Dennis Lim's "Let's Step Outside" tries to give an overview of the evolution of cinematic fight scenes. He does a decent job of explaining one of my major pet peeves -- mainly attempts to take a more "realistic" approach to staging cinematic donnybrooks that end up being SO over-choreographed that they lose all credibility and so over-editted that they're hard to follow.

The Bourne series is the worst offender in my opinion. The tone of most, if not all, of the major Bourne battles is self-congratulatory (as in, look how cool we are). In the interests of full disclosure, I don't buy Matt Damon as a tough guy anymore than I think he's the "sexiest man alive."

My main issue with Lim's piece is that he leaves out some of the most notable cinematic fight scenes. Including, John Wayne's battle at the end of The Quiet Man, and ALL of the James Bond movies.

Whatever Happened to Great Fight Scenes?, by Glenn Erickson (hat tip: Drake), does a better job and includes more details. Yet, his list isn't exactly what I would have chosen either.

Well, if you want something done right... So, here's a rundown of my favorite fight scenes.

The Lady from Shanghai: I wanted to include the courthouse battle from The Lady From Shanghai, but couldn't find a clip. It's a great, early example of the use of editing and staging by Orson Welles to enhance the action.

The Quiet Man: Certainly an "old-school" Hollywood approach to setting up a fight scene and, perhaps, a bit dated by today's standards. But, it's still a lot of fun.



From Russia With Love: The train scene between Bond and Grant still holds up and is the gold standard by which all other fights scenes are judged (by me, anyway). Unlike Bourne, the meticulous choreography doesn't show. While these combatants clearly have "skills," they are deployed in a seemingly extemporaneous manner as the action unfolds.

There's a similar fight in 1947's The Narrow Margin, which, I suspect, influenced FRWL (I couldn't find that on YouTube either, dammit).



Thunderball: This is Bond just on the cusp of becoming campy and cartoonish. Yet, it's worth watching as a great exercise in staging AND editing. The fact that 007's fighting a guy in drag just adds another interesting nuance to the sequence.



Hard Times: The finale to Bronson's depression era flick. Just as we only watched Fred Astaire films for the dancing, the storyline in Hard Times is forgettable. But, the bare-fisted brawls make up for what the narrative lacks.



Grosse Pointe Blank: Who'd have thought John Cusak could be tough? This is another great instance where the combatants skills are deployed in a seemingly spontaneous and credible manner. Also, the background music ("Mirror in the Bathroom") adds the perfect touch.