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Dax's Top 47 Movie Fight Sequences | Land of the GIFS | We have a winner!

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#45

Gordon Liu vs Lieh Lo

Fists and Guts (1979)

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Hong Kong (Cantonese & Mandarin)

 

Directed by: Chia Yung Liu

Fight Choreography: Chia Yung Liu, Chia-Liang Liu

Starring: Lieh Lo, Gordon Liu

Box office - N/A, I'd say under The Avengers would a good estimate :redcapes:

Synopsis: Gordon Liu stars in this Kung Fu comedy as an undercover Shaolin Monk. While searching for a fugitive who has wronged the order, the Master (Liu) uncovers a scheme to steal the priceless Jade Buddha. But in order for him to stop the theft, he must fight his way through a labyrinth of booby traps and powerful opponents first!

 

My rating for this movie: ★★★

My rating for this specific fight sequence: ★★★★

 

This is an old school martial arts film produced by the Shaw Brothers, one of the most famous martial arts films studio. As of today, there are 65 ratings on IMDb for this movie (and one of them is mine!).

 

To say this movie is unknown in the West would be an understatement. As such, box office information for it is pretty much nonexistent.

 

Gordon Liu and Lieh Lo are both renowned martial arts legend from the 1970's, so this movie was kinda popular in China at the time for sure.

 

What this fight sequence's all about

 

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Gordon Liu and Lieh Lo headbutting mini punching bags that fall from the sky as they fight? Count me in!

 

This entry is more in a "traditional" genre of kung fu fighting, and thus, I feel like I should explain a bit what that means.

 

Traditional fighting refers to pretty much all the Chinese Kung Fu movies made before the Sammo Hung/Jackie Chan era (~1983 and onwards), while modern fighting can be found in all action movies made since then, including movies made today, worldwide.

 

What the modern approach and the traditional approach to fighting have in common is that they're both choreographed, obviously. The differences, though, are numerous.

 

The modern approach seeks to mostly hide that choreography by making the fights seem more realistic through interactions with objects, varying pace, shorter sequences, and often more brutal results -- like stuntmen getting knocked around. This is by far the most popular one.

 

The traditional approach, however, seeks to let the fighters showcase and openly perform that choreography a lot more. What results is the choreography being way more obvious to the eye, and the moves being visibly telegraphed and often being performed by the actors in a sort of alternating "rhythm"... like dancing!

 

Obviously not everyone likes both styles of fighting since they're so different in their execution and feel.

 

So if you're curious to see what a traditional fight sequence looks like, feel free to watch the video below, from this movie:

 

 

If it's not your cup of tea, that's alright. It's obviously not for everyone! Just know that it's been part of Chinese movie culture for decades (well before even that movie came out).

 

Chinese cinema kinda developed and did its thing on its own, which is what I admire about it the most.

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3 hours ago, Daxtreme said:

Next up is a movie with about 65 ratings on IMDb

 

Just realized that one of those is me! The joys of being one of the few "old timers" who loves Kung Fu and all associated movies to use IMDb I suppose. (Also having seen far too many movies). 

 

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#44

Robert De Niro vs Johnny Barnes

Raging Bull (1980)

 

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USA

 

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Fight Choreography: Al Silvani, Martin Scorsese, Jimmy Nickerson

Starring: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci

Box office: $23,383,987 domestic

 

Synopsis: Emotionally self-destructive boxer, Jake La Motta's journey through life, as the violence and temper that leads him to the top in the ring destroys his life outside it.

 

My rating for this movie: ★★★★

My rating for this specific fight sequence: ★★★★

 

Apparently Robert De Niro was so good at boxing he could have made a career out of it! Watching this, I can see why.

 

This is Martin Scorsese's classic and Robert De Niro in yet again another haunting performance. The movie was nominated for 8 oscars including Best Picture and won 2, acting for Robert De Niro and Best Film Editing (fully deserved).

 

However, upon release Martin Scorsese allegedly feared for his career as the box office was a disappointing $23.3M on an $18M budget. Luckily, the numerous awards the movie gained didn't hurt his career one bit.

 

Here's a lovely review of this movie by @Sam in here:

On 5/25/2014 at 9:16 PM, Sam said:

DeNiro's performance is undoubtedly the movie, but I also love Joe Pesci lot in this.I think it's a great movie, one of Scorsese's bests. Gripping and honest, with great acting performances all around.There are many good and memorable scenes in the movie, but my favorite gotta be the ending scene when Jake was doing his monologue and pep talking before going on stage. The manner, the delivery of lines are perfect. Robert DeNiro is really a one of a kind actor.

 

What this fight's all about

 

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"You never got me down, Ray!"

 

This sequence is just so brutal. The cinematic technique and finesse employed by Martin Scorsese elevate this fight to another level. It's one of the prime examples in this top of how much the framing, directing, cinematography, editing, and sound mixing matter to a fight!

 

It helps that you can easily follow what's happening on screen.

 

The end product is what ultimately matters the most, and this fight delivers on that front. Beautiful direct, raw choreography.

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Daxtreme said:

So with our last entry tonight we're gonna have our first person with a missed prediction at the #1 placement.

 

Who's gonna have that privilege? :ph34r:

 

not me im waiting til we're closer to #25.. GoldJimbo inbound

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#43

Bruce Lee vs Chuck Norris

The Way of the Dragon (1972)

 

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Hong Kong (Cantonese & Mandarin)

 

Directed by: Bruce Lee

Fight Choreography: Bruce Lee

Starring: Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris

Worldwide Box office - $10,500,000 ($5,200,000 domestic)

 

Synopsis: A man visits his relatives at their restaurant in Italy and has to help them defend against brutal gangsters harassing them.

 

My rating for this movie: ★★★

My rating for this specific fight sequence: ★★★★

 

The Way of the Dragon is the second to last movie starring Bruce Lee, and is mostly remembered because of the final fight.

 

It's also Bruce Lee's last Chinese-language film. It was quite popular worldwide as $10.5M in 1972 for a martial arts movie is pretty good!

 

What this fight's all about

 

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I mean, this is a fight between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris. Direction is fairly standard (Bruce Lee wasn't a great director in my opinion) but this fight will always be remembered for what it is: a duel between legends, hence why it's showing up in this list.

 

Chuck Norris knew Bruce Lee since the 60's, and allegedly sparred with him from midnight to 7 in the morning when he first met him, almost missing his flight.

 

From that sparring session spawned this movie as Bruce Lee was so impressed he wanted to fight Chuck Norris in a later Hong Kong movie, which he did.

 

The rest is history.

 

Sequence:

 

 

 

 

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My problem with The Raid movies (and this isn't me disliking them, please don't misread it, I think they're both brilliant), is that the fight scenes always seem a little too frenetic to me. I might have to give them a re-watch actually, maybe I'm just being picky.  

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#42

Jean-Claude Van Damme vs Bolo Yeung

Bloodsport (1988)

 

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USA

 

Directed by: Newt Arnold

Fight Choreography: Frank Dux

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Donald Gibb, Leah Ayres

Box office: $11,806,119 domestic

 

Synopsis: Follows Frank Dux, an American martial artist serving in the military, who decides to leave the army to compete in a martial arts tournament in Hong Kong where fights to the death can occur.

 

My rating for this movie: ★★★★

My rating for this specific fight sequence: ★★★★

 

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Pretty much one of the most famous martial artists in the world, Jean-Claude Van Damme simply cannot be ignored when making a list such as this.

 

This movie shouldn't work, but it did for me. I mean, the first 10 minutes are atrocious, the choreography isn't anything too spectacular either, but once they get to Hong Kong the movie is so... homely. I wanted to stay and snug myself in the movie, unseen among the spectators, and just watch...

 

Watch Jean-Claude split his way to higher consciousness...

 

Watch the awesome villain cleave into people's faces for no real reason...

 

Watch every movie cliché being projected in front of my eyes and yet, not caring!

 

But above all, listen to the groovy soundtrack during the tournament which gives this movie its unique vibe and atmosphere.

 

JCVD's form is pretty much perfect in this.

 

What this fight sequence's all about

 

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This sequence isn't known for the flashiness of its choreography (mainly because of the over-use of slow-mo), but it's a legendary fight that's beautifully edited and put together. It's the culmination of everything that came before in the movie, and puts the focus, rightfully so, on Jean-Claude Van Damme's kicks, which are godly.

 

Also based on true events, which makes it all the more impactful.

 

Jean-Claude Van Damme is amazing has been a source of inspiration for martial artists worldwide for decades, and this movie and sequence are part of the reason why.

 

Sequence:

 

 

 

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#41

Jet Li vs Siu-Ho Chin

Fist of Legend (1994)

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Hong Kong (Cantonese)

 

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Directed by: Gordon Chan

Fight Choreography: Yuen Woo-Ping

Starring: Jet Li, Siu-Ho Chin

Box office - HK$14,785,382

Synopsis: In 1937, a Chinese martial artist returns to Shanghai to find his teacher dead and his school harassed by the Japanese.

 

My rating for this movie: ★★★

My rating for this specific fight sequence: ★★★★

 

Fist of Legend is a classic Jet Li movie with a surprising amount of dramatic heft. It is also a loose remake of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury from 1972, which you might see appear later in this top.

 

So since this is the first movie in which the gross is only available in HK$, I will expand a bit on conversion rates for this currency and what they mean. Basically, during the 80's and 90's in Hong Kong, their dollar was valued at about 8 for 1 USD, which means this movie grossed just under US $2M.

 

It's not a lot of course, which is why this movie was seen as a disappointment in terms of gross at the time. However, be aware that production costs were a fraction of what they were in America, the cost of living in Hong Kong during those years was several times inferior to the cost of living in America, and that movies often made a lot of money in neighboring markets: Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, and Japan. In fact, it was one of the main sources of income for them. More on that later as those other markets turned their backs on them eventually, which apparently started with this movie.

 

A short and sweet review by Derenzo on this movie:

 

Quote

After working 60 hours in 4 days, I kinda just wanted to see a lot of dudes get the shit kicked outta them.

 

What this fight sequence's all about

 

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It's quite a dramatic sequence since the main character and his brother are fighting. The cause of their duel is that the main character is in love with a Japanese Girl, and the movie being set during Japanese occupation of China (during world war 2), his entourage doesn't take this very well, including his brother.

 

It's an interesting fight because Jet Li kind of dominates his opponent, but decides to switch to boxing style mid-way through! For fun, or something. It's quite jarring and a welcome change of pace!

 

A great showcase of Jet Li's amazing versatility.

 

The fight:

 

 

 

Overall this is a good martial arts flick rooted in history, so if that's your thing, I recommend it.

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My uncle is a huge fan of martial arts flicks, I was able to discover and watch, a lot of amazing and great Hong Kong action films because of it. Fist of Legend was one of those films. It's such a kick-ass film.

 

Also dig Bloodsport. While he's done solid DTD films over the years, I still think it's one of Van Damme's best. That climatic fight scene is so good. 

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