Total Recall: The 20 Greatest Fights Scenes Ever
RT picks the 20 greatest fist fights of all time.
This week, The Forbidden Kingdom, the long-awaited pairing of Jackie Chan and Jet Li, hits theaters. These two action legends have participated in many a fight over the years, so we figured it was a good time to count down some of the greatest movie brawls of all time.
With so many noteworthy celluloid scuffles to choose from, we felt we had to lay down some ground rules: no weapons allowed, and we're looking for relatively even matches; we'll cover the greatest beatdowns another time. These clips are often not for the squeamish, and some contain a good deal of profanity, so we've tagged those as NSFW (or not safe for work, for those of you not up on the latest techno-speak). Without further ado, here are 20 of the greatest fight scenes of all time!
With so many noteworthy celluloid scuffles to choose from, we felt we had to lay down some ground rules: no weapons allowed, and we're looking for relatively even matches; we'll cover the greatest beatdowns another time. These clips are often not for the squeamish, and some contain a good deal of profanity, so we've tagged those as NSFW (or not safe for work, for those of you not up on the latest techno-speak). Without further ado, here are 20 of the greatest fight scenes of all time!
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20. Road House Patrick Swayze vs. Ben Gazzara's thugs One of the most surreal entertainments ever cast out for mainstream consumption, Road House stars Patrick Swayze plays an NYU philosophy grad (!) who becomes a nationally-recognized bouncer (!!).This delirious camp classic features several over-the-top fight scenes; in this one, Swayze is joined by Sam Elliot (who's sort of a Scottie Pippen to Swayze's Michael Jordan in the bouncer game), and together, they tangle with the goons of the town's evil plutocrat (Ben Gazzara) while the late, great Jeff Healy rocks out. Video |
(1-20 of 267 posts) | Reply
 on Apr 16 2008 05:35 PM Great list, much better than the punching one. Isn't the "unnamed" assassin in Bourne called Desh? (Reply to this) |
 on Apr 16 2008 05:37 PM this beat the swayze? (Reply to this) |
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on Apr 16 2008 05:38 PM What about Mel Gibson and Gary Busey from Lethal Weapon? I think the fight scenes from the Bourne Identity were the best of the series. And the prison fight scene in Batman Begins rocks too. (Reply to this) |
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on Apr 16 2008 05:41 PM that star trek scene should have been in the list!! lmao!! (Reply to this) |
 on Apr 16 2008 05:44 PM I click on 20 greatest fight scenes and have to go thru this?! Get someone that know's fight scenes and redo this list pronto. (Reply to this) |
 on Apr 16 2008 05:44 PM In reply to this comment (#1689947) Yeah carneys, we argued about both Lethal Weapon and Batman Begins; they were both hard cuts. But we did put Lethal Weapon on the Honorable Mention list. (Reply to this) |
 on Apr 16 2008 05:50 PM YESSSS. I love the BRUCE vs The hand fight, "WHO'S LAUGHING NOW!"... LOL! (Reply to this) |
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on Apr 16 2008 05:55 PM AHHH. Wheres the fight in FIGHT CLUB where EDWARD NORTON beat himself up, also what about KUNG FU HUSTLE where CHOW fought all those dudes at the end, I also didnt see any RAGING BULL fights. Most of these are really good fights though, hey Matchity you guys should make a part 2 of best fights (that would be cool). (Reply to this) |
 on Apr 16 2008 06:02 PM jokerboy1991 - Although I wasn't involved in this article, I know that we determined the Fight Club fight you mention was sort of a spoiler for the movie, so we left that out, and I know we also talked about the Kung Fu Hustle fight. Not quite sure about Raging Bull, however. (Reply to this) |
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on Apr 16 2008 06:03 PM Hi Jokerboy, We did consider that scene from Fight Club, but we thought Evil Dead 2 was a better example of that. We might do part 2 in a few months though. (Reply to this) |
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on Apr 16 2008 06:04 PM And yeah, what Matchity said... (Reply to this) |
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on Apr 16 2008 06:09 PM What about Oldboy? Oh Dae-Su vs. the hallway (and elevator) full of thugs... (Reply to this) |
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on Apr 16 2008 06:18 PM The lack of The Bride Vs. Elle Driver on this list is disturbing. (Reply to this) |
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on Apr 16 2008 06:21 PM sorry, but Fist of Legend beats the **** out of The Matrix and Rocky (Reply to this) |
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on Apr 16 2008 06:21 PM Hm... interesting choices. Could have used less catfights and more martial arts though... what about that scene from The Matrix Reloaded in the mansion where Neo fights with the swords and axes? That movie as a whole sucked but a few of the fights were great. And if you were going for brutality, Fight Club tops Snatch in that category. The scene where Edward Norton beats Jared Leto into the next galaxy is absolutely painful to watch. I've seen that movie countless times and still cringe at every punch. I don't disagree with the top #3, but I would have put The Matrix at 1. Just my two cents. (Reply to this) |
 on Apr 16 2008 06:21 PM How about Superman 2? I always liked the fight between those Kryptonians... (Reply to this) |
 on Apr 16 2008 06:22 PM Oh man. That Star Trek fight is the Worst. Fight. Ever! But I'm still partial to the legenday Spock-Kirk fight...Duh duh duuuh duuuh duuuh...! (Reply to this) |
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on Apr 16 2008 06:25 PM I really think coolfight scenes are the one thing Hollywood has done right throughout the years. Sure there are some bad ones, but if I go into a movie looking to see someone get pummeled it usually works out. Oh yeah, no "Never Back Down" ? That newbie was a classic. (Reply to this) |
 on Apr 16 2008 06:29 PM The fight scenes in Rocky III and Rocky IV are a lot more intense then the first Rocky, even though the first Rocky would be more of an iconic fight just my two cents (Reply to this) |
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on Apr 16 2008 06:29 PM I'd have to agree that any one of the Raging Bull fights deserves a spot on this list. I would say round 13 in the final fight between Jake LaMotta and Sugar Ray, although to be fair it was sort of one-sided. (Reply to this) |
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