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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Bad Movies  |  Choose your wepons, gents................... « previous next »
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Author Topic: Choose your wepons, gents...................  (Read 6463 times)
Flangepart
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« on: October 02, 2003, 07:32:27 PM »

Swords or guns.
The eternal battle for film dominance.
Which will prevail?

My question is : Which film battles with the wepons in mentioned work best for you, and why?
I think swords are more instinctivly understood, then bullets.
Andrew can answer this better then i can, i'd bet, but is it not true, that firearms marksmanship is too...abstract ,for most people to appreciate?
Unless you have expariance shooting, and in a high stress environment (Combat or dangerious game at close range), it comes across as more of an intellectual concept, then an emotionaly connecting event, the way a good sword fight can.
Soooo....
We can watch the moves in a sword fight, and as with Kung-Fu, we can relate to the physical exersion needed to swing a blade. Who among us has not made swords out of any long, slender object....quit snickering ya rubes!...(Ahem)...that we found around the house.
And when dad got done paddeling us for the missues of his golf clubs, we realised there where indeed consiquances for doing so! Quite apart from the welts on our arms and faces.....
But, till we watched popcorn come out the end of our straws, we did not realise the beauty of Ballistics.Well, that and throwing a rock at the lake to hit fish....
Well, you know what i mean....Which wepon do you prefer, and why.
And remember....Indiana Jones is watching you.....

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Fearless Freep
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« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2003, 07:37:31 PM »

Hard to say, most of what I know about both comes from movies which I think take serious license with their portayal of the use of both weapons.

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Andrew
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« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2003, 08:13:26 PM »

I have always wanted to see a movie with an almost martial-arts portrayal of a gunfighter's skill.  The closest that I can think of was Coburn's character in "The Magnificent Seven."  I had a hope for "Tomb Raider," but that movie turned out way too shallow - for anything.

The building assault scene in "The Matrix" did a fine job, but I am really looking for a character with this skill as their main focus in life.

I think that the sword has an eloquent touch to it, which is why you see it portrayed as such a graceful weapon.  30 inches of shining steel tracing through the air looks more impressive than eye-arm-hand-pistol, natural point of aim, steady squeeze, follow through...etc.

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Andrew Borntreger
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wuggles451
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« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2003, 10:20:24 PM »

Andrew did you ever see Ghost Dog? About a modern samurai under employment of the mob. He treats his gun as a ancient warrior would treat his kitana.

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Andrew
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« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2003, 11:57:41 PM »

> Andrew did you ever see Ghost Dog? About a modern samurai under
> employment of the mob. He treats his gun as a ancient warrior
> would treat his kitana.

Sure did.  That is a good choice here.  I guess that I am looking for a movie done with a certain style.  Almost like Robocop was with his pistol, but the moving, dodging, fluid dance of a gunfighter.  Westerns come close to this often, as I am sure Scott could attest.

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Andrew Borntreger
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Neville
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« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2003, 04:46:58 AM »

I like both. Gunfights look more brutal and sudden on the screen than swordfights, if they are handled correctly (like in most Clint Eastwood stuff), but sworplay allows the actors to make the fight more expressive with their acting and body language. You can tell more from a character and their motivations through their style and movements. Problem is, swordfights in recent movies (i.e. "Pirates of the Caribbean") can be neverending. Can't remember any good recent swordfight, except maybe in the latest Bond. Tell me if that fight doesn't speak books about the characters involved.

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dean
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« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2003, 07:46:13 AM »

tough choice, you can put them in different categories i guess though.  guns mostly seem to have a quick fast paced action effect, loads of special effects and cool explosions and richochets and such

come on, you know you love a good old gunfight, and just admit, you used those golf clubs and sticks and such like a gun almost as many times as you'd do so for a sword.

but yes, it's the elegence of the sword and the slim precise lines that make the sword so much more mystical and intrigiuing

that and i'm probably compensating for something ;-)

though one way a gun can have a similar discipline as a sword seems to be the role of a sniper/assassin, living for the kill, waiting patiently, never losing focus-type people.  i love snipers, those guys are cool.
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J. Perk
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« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2003, 11:54:25 AM »

I was thinking that maybe the Gunkata in Equilibrium is more of what you were talking about Andrew.  The great martial arts use of making the gun an extension of the hand.  Also it looks fluid and quite cool when they did use it in the movie.
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raj
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« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2003, 12:25:27 PM »

To watch something on the big screen, swords are definitely better.  There's no finer example than Basil Rathbone v. Errol Flynn in Robin Hood.  I do like the lone gunman going up against a bunch of baddies, a la Clint Eastwood's westerns.  Gun play though is usually too quick unless it's a mass battle scene.  It doesn't have the elegance of swordplay.  IMO.

Still, never take a knife (even a long one) to a gunfight.
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Ash
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« Reply #9 on: October 03, 2003, 03:05:17 PM »

I like a good gunfight just as much as I like a good swordfight.

Some of the stuff John Woo has done in the past with gunfighting in his films is simply mesmerizing.

Zorro was always a swordfighting favorite of mine as well.

I have to say that I'm in the middle....I like both equally.
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Drezzy
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« Reply #10 on: October 03, 2003, 04:16:12 PM »

FAV. SWORDFIGHT: Although not really with actual swords, they were swords in essence. Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader, Return Of The Jedi. Just the emotion from Luke from when he screams "NEVER!" to when he's about to finish Vader off is enough to make it a great swordfight. Also cool is how Luke's movements when on offense at the end of that saber battle are the same as Vader's movements towards the of the saber battle in Empire.

FAV. GUNFIGHT: Most of the gun fights in Hard Target. Sure, the movie sucked, but it was a fun, pointless action flick with some nice gun battles. Woo directed, thus the excessive use of guns "John Woo style" (two guns, one in each hand).

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yaddo42
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« Reply #11 on: October 03, 2003, 06:54:22 PM »

Swordfights:
"The Duellists" -  Starring Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel. Has several great swordfights from fencing, to a horseback charge duel, to a great down and dirty fight to exhaustion where you see grace and technique erode as fatigue sets in. According to a documentary featurette on the DVD, the actors used swords with the weight of the real weapons to get the proper effect, rather than lighter aluminum replicas tha are used in most films.

"Sunlight" - Not a genre film, but a film about three generations of Hungarians Jews during the 20th century. Ralph Fiennes plays members of all three three generations, including an Olympic fencing champion. This is less swordfighting than the sport of fencing but the scenes are quite good and showcase the skill and training needed.
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jmc
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« Reply #12 on: October 03, 2003, 08:26:47 PM »

I think El Topo is another good example of what Andrew was talking about....
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« Reply #13 on: October 03, 2003, 09:32:14 PM »

Ghost dog was a fine movie.

For a gun skill movie I still find the Killer to be the best by far.

Leon, has some gun=sword type skill feel to it.
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Evan3
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« Reply #14 on: October 04, 2003, 05:44:04 PM »

I am much more of a gun type of guy. As great as the hand to hand and Morpheus sword fight in the Matrix are , the guns always steal the show (the break in and the rail gun in part 1, the Trinity near death scene in part two).

Also, people seem to be a little jaded with sword fights I think though. Look how effective it is when Indiana Jones shoots the swordsman in Raiders. Also, I think guns can be so cool, there is nothing more tension made then a gun to somebody's head, and Antonio Banderas makes his gun live in Once upon A Time in Mexico.

Anime however, makes sword and martial arts fighting so much cooler.

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