He has a still from YOJIMBO to illustrate THE SEVEN SAMURAI, and a still of the Douglas Fairbanks ZORRO to illustrate Tyrone Power's. And there's no room on his list for SCARAMOUCHE!
Scaramouche is very good. As is Ronald Colman and Douglas Fairbanks in “The Prisoner of Zenda.”
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), swords and archery; and The Three Musketeers (1948) - two of my favorite action films I can watch anytime.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - King Arthur vs. The Black Knight.
Yoda VS Count Dooku fight (Star Wars: The Attack of the Clones.
The Zatoichi series had some good sword work.
The Musketeer (2001) high octane action scenes.
I like the IJ scene(liked Parker's take on it when a guy Spenser went to talk to had his thug work a heavy bag with martial arts moves to intimidate Spenser, Spenser pulled out his roscoe and plugged the bag and left) but it don't belong at #1. Scene at the end of the trailer of Five Fingers of Death which was the first Kung Fu film released for American audiences (I saw it at the drive in in the early '70s)- sword against empty hand scene sticks in my mind to this day.
He loses all credibility with me when he calls the swords in Seven Samurai "sabers." A Katana, sir, is no more a saber than a blunderbus is an AK-47. And Raiders of the Lost Ark in first place? Sacrilege.
However satisfying the scene, ROTLA certainly didn't belong on the list, let alone in first. Though maybe it shouldn't be their either, I would have put Zorro/Captain Love from The Mask of Zorro for action instead. Or maybe the Zorro/Elena strip sequence for the lust factor.
Huh. Strange that the spectacular duel between Rick Moranis and Bill Pullman in SPACEBALLS didn't make the list. "I see your schwartz is as big as mine!"
Bah, humbug. The list was compiled by someone who doesn't like swordfights -- why else put at #1 a swordfight that wasn't a swordfight? Why else include the light-saber duel? Why else include hokey Hong Kong Fu?
For years, when people have asked me if I've seen a given film, I've asked "Does it have any swordfights?" If the answer is "No," I ask why I would want to see it. Only sword-fight movies are worthy of Oscars, if you ask me.
In addition to the incorrect stills already mentioned, his "Princess Bride" entry shows the duel on the cliff between Inigo and Westley (played by Cary Elwes), not the fight he describes between Inigo and Rugen. (And in fact, the duel on the cliffs is a better swordfight than the duel with Rugen, anyway.)
No Robin Hood or Captain Blood? The Flynn-Rathbone duels were surely among the best of all time.
No Mask of Zorro? Banderas (Zorro II) vs. Letscher (Capt Love) while at the same time Hopkins (Zorro I) is dueling Wilson (Montero) was one of the most satisfying cinematic experiences of the past 20 years.
No Three/Four Musketeers? The Richard Lester films, of course, none better. Brawling swordfights that surely were closer to the actual norm.
No Scaramouche? The duel between Granger and Ferrer just *might* be the best ever, though all in all I'm a Flynn/Rathbone man.
It seems to me that all these lists (cf. the list of 25 greatest guitar riffs you recently linked to) are made up by young people with no real knowledge of the Good Ol' Stuff.
10 comments:
He has a still from YOJIMBO to illustrate THE SEVEN SAMURAI, and a still of the Douglas Fairbanks ZORRO to illustrate Tyrone Power's. And there's no room on his list for SCARAMOUCHE!
I love SCARAMOUCHE. I guess someone should let him know that his stills are wrong.
Horrible list. No Flynn/Rathbone? No Scaramouche? Not the opening from the Fraser/Lester Three Musketeers? Really, that thing from Raiders? Bah.
And, yes, the stills are wrong.
sas
Scaramouche is very good. As is Ronald Colman and Douglas Fairbanks in “The Prisoner of Zenda.”
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), swords and archery; and The Three Musketeers (1948) - two of my favorite action films I can watch anytime.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - King Arthur vs. The Black Knight.
Yoda VS Count Dooku fight (Star Wars: The Attack of the Clones.
The Zatoichi series had some good sword work.
The Musketeer (2001) high octane action scenes.
I like the IJ scene(liked Parker's take on it when a guy Spenser went to talk to had his thug work a heavy bag with martial arts moves to intimidate Spenser, Spenser pulled out his roscoe and plugged the bag and left) but it don't belong at #1. Scene at the end of the trailer of Five Fingers of Death which was the first Kung Fu film released for American audiences (I saw it at the drive in in the early '70s)- sword against empty hand scene sticks in my mind to this day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDsijqqQBcg
He loses all credibility with me when he calls the swords in Seven Samurai "sabers." A Katana, sir, is no more a saber than a blunderbus is an AK-47. And Raiders of the Lost Ark in first place? Sacrilege.
However satisfying the scene, ROTLA certainly didn't belong on the list, let alone in first. Though maybe it shouldn't be their either, I would have put Zorro/Captain Love from The Mask of Zorro for action instead. Or maybe the Zorro/Elena strip sequence for the lust factor.
Huh. Strange that the spectacular duel between Rick Moranis and Bill Pullman in SPACEBALLS didn't make the list. "I see your schwartz is as big as mine!"
Bah, humbug. The list was compiled by someone who doesn't like swordfights -- why else put at #1 a swordfight that wasn't a swordfight? Why else include the light-saber duel? Why else include hokey Hong Kong Fu?
For years, when people have asked me if I've seen a given film, I've asked "Does it have any swordfights?" If the answer is "No," I ask why I would want to see it. Only sword-fight movies are worthy of Oscars, if you ask me.
In addition to the incorrect stills already mentioned, his "Princess Bride" entry shows the duel on the cliff between Inigo and Westley (played by Cary Elwes), not the fight he describes between Inigo and Rugen. (And in fact, the duel on the cliffs is a better swordfight than the duel with Rugen, anyway.)
No Robin Hood or Captain Blood? The Flynn-Rathbone duels were surely among the best of all time.
No Mask of Zorro? Banderas (Zorro II) vs. Letscher (Capt Love) while at the same time Hopkins (Zorro I) is dueling Wilson (Montero) was one of the most satisfying cinematic experiences of the past 20 years.
No Three/Four Musketeers? The Richard Lester films, of course, none better. Brawling swordfights that surely were closer to the actual norm.
No Scaramouche? The duel between Granger and Ferrer just *might* be the best ever, though all in all I'm a Flynn/Rathbone man.
It seems to me that all these lists (cf. the list of 25 greatest guitar riffs you recently linked to) are made up by young people with no real knowledge of the Good Ol' Stuff.
Rusty
Little did I realize what a knowledgeable bunch of swordfight fans read this blog. I should have known, though.
The other guys covered the sinful omissions perfectly, and I'd add The Flame and the Arrow, Cyrano de Bergerac, and The Vikings.
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