The three greatest....

[Chas]

Film Duels. I liked the one in Gladiator, but....

Shichinin No Samurai

Troy

Rob Roy

 

[ethanedwards]

Most of the duels in "The Duellists". Also the high platform one in "Hero".
Thrilling stuff.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Mark of Zorro (1941, though the 1920 Douglas Fairbanks version is fun too), assorted Kurosawa films, The Princess Bride, several sequences in The Lord of the Rings trilogy...

 

[flat-top]

You simply can't leave this one out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0MNYn1Bzso

 

[Nighthawk]

You simply can't leave this one out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0MNYn1Bzso

That's a fight scene. A duel is between two people.

NH

 

[flat-top]

That's a fight scene. A duel is between two people.

NH

Very true....but cool nonetheless!

 

[Nighthawk]

Yes, amazing for the time!

 

[Paisley]

Cyrano de Bergerac with Jose Ferrer. I enjoyed watching him best that pompous dude at the theatre.

 

[dhermann1]

Could you include the poker games in Cincinatti Kid and Big Hand for the Little Lady?

 

[carter]

I second The Duellists. The entire film is a series of duels between Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine. Uneven acting but plenty of good duels.

Perhaps the best single duel ever filmed was in the 1937 production of Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda(b&w). Here's a blurb from Amazon.

The David O. Selznick-produced 1937 version offers the immortal Ronald Colman in the dual role of Rudolf, European crown prince, and Rudolf Rassendyll, his look-alike British cousin, end product of a brief affair of an ancestor; the radiant Madeleine Carroll is the royal betrothed, who falls in love with the pretender; Raymond Massey portrays Black Michael, Rudolf's scheming half-brother; and, best of all, a youthful Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., son of silent Hollywood's greatest swashbuckler (and a pretty fair swashbuckler, himself), is the definitive Rupert of Hentzau, the suavely villainous ally of Michael.

In the hands of this PERFECT cast (with terrific support by C. Aubrey Smith, a young David Niven, and Mary Astor) "Zenda" becomes a stylish tale of love, intrigue, and derring-do. High points include an astonishingly beautiful Royal Ball, where Colman and Carroll reveal their love; a very funny yet menacing meeting between Colman and Fairbanks, as they discuss the real King's potential fate; and best of all, a MAGNIFICENT climactic swordfight between the pair, as they lunge and parry furiously through the halls of a castle, while exchanging quips and one-liners about a British education!

This film was remade in 1952 by MGM with Stuart Granger as Rudolph Rassendyl and James Mason as Rupert of Hentzau. This version was shot from the same shooting script and nearly every shot in the 1937 version was duplicated but it wasn't nearly the success MGM hoped for. The 1937 version is almost universally accepted as the better of the two.

Third is tough but I am partial to the duel between Westley (Cary Elwes) and Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) above the Cliffs of Insanity in The Princess Bride. It has been described as, "technically brilliant, literate, and extremely entertaining".

 

[cooncatbob]

How about Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in "The Empire Strikes Back".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frX00n3gngU
Or Part 2 "Return of the Jedi"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxvYpfWJn1o&feature=related

 

[Haversack]

A couple of movies with notable dueling scenes I would like to nominate are _Scaramouche_, (1952), and _The Mark of Zorro_, (1940).

_Sacramouche is set during the French Revolution. The final dueling scene between Stewart Granger and Mel Ferrer is set in a crowded Baroque Theatre and is a full seven minutes long.

_The Mark of Zorro_ is rather the opposite. Both Basil Rathbone and Tyronne Power were excellent fencers outside of the movies. Their skill allowed them to ramp up the intensity of their final duel so that when it very suddenly is over, the shock of it is almost palpable. Nothing drawn out here.

Haversack.

 

[reetpleat]

What is the eastwood movie wht hte "mexican standoff" where the three guys are each trying to figure out who they should shoot based on a speculation of who the other guy is going to shoot? Is that a fist full of dollars. In a rodeo bull ring with mariachi type music no less. amazing.

But my favorite duel goes a little something like this:

"My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die!"
"My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die!"
"My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die!"
"My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die!"



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6m7NR6iYjg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQM8V_qszr0

 

[carter]

I believe the Eastwood film is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

The scene in Troy between Pitt and Bana is awesome. It is the one place where that film comes alive and I love that scene. I have watched it maybe a hundred times. It even looks right; what I imagine perhaps the Greeks fought like.

But, Dear Friends, the greatest duel of all time was Bruce Lee against Mr. Han in Enter the Dragon! "You've disgraced my family, and you've disgraced the Shaolin Temple."

Yul Brenner against Mr. Barbara Streisand in "Westworld" has to rate pretty high."

Anyone for Dennis Weaver and the truck?

 

[katiemakeup]

Goodness, I remember seeing 'Duel' when I was very young... Just that image of the truck driver waving him on still creeps me out!

 

[cookie]

Same with me.... a great childhood chiller and thriller!