Best Action Sequences

[gammaray117]

Sorry I've been gone so long, folks; I was strenously compiling these lists of the best action sequences. So here goes!

FISTFIGHTS
1. From Russia With Love (The train)
2. Rear Window
3. North By Northwest (Again, the train)
4. The Matrix (Subway)
5. Rocky
6. Arsenic and Old Lace
7.The Karate Kid
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark (The plane)
9. Thunderball (The chateau[Bond certainly gets around, doesn't he?])
10. Enter the Dragon (Let's face it, why do I need to specify when the entire movie is one big fight?)

CHASES
1. The Great Escape (Oh yeah! Long live Steve! Wait, he's dead.)
2. Bullit(Steve is the master of the chase, God save the McQueen)
3. North by Northwest (Mount Rushmore)
4. Ronin (Paris)
5. North by Northwest (The plane)
6. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (The combination ski/foot/car chase)
7. Ronin (Nice)
8. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Mine cars)
9. The Spy who Loved Me (Ski chase)
10. Mad Max

BATTLES
1. Zulu
2. The Longest Day
3. The Alamo
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
5. The Empire Strikes Back (Hoth)
6. Army of Darkness(I hope you're reading this, Bruce!)
7. The Dirty Dozen
8. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
9. Operation Crossbow
10. From Russia With Love

I intend to publish this with four other guys who helped. But first, I may as well get an idea of what people think. Any suggestions or revisions to the lists? Should I do a "swordfights" and/or "shootouts" list as well? Your opinions are important. Thank you.

[Fearless Freep]

One of the two big fights from "The Magnificent Seven" has to be in there.

Credit to "Star Wars" for a real good sci-fi space fight and "Return Of The Jedi" for the scope and several converging simultaneous plot lines.

[Rumyungyungsonson]

Sword fights would be great.
1.  Chang San vs. Pray (Last Hurrah For Chivalry)
I suppose Yoda vs. Dooku would be in that list somewhere too.
I know there are other good sword fights, but right now I can only think of the bad ones.

[Vermin Boy]

Personally, I think the chase scene from Raising Arizona is one of the best ever filmed, but I'm not sure if it quite fits the list.

[dean]

jackie chan will forever live as the champion of crazy stunts and kick ass fight scenes [although brutal they be not]
i'm thinking specifically of the police story series [especially the one with michelle yeoh in it]  fantastic.

jet li has had his fair share of fight scenes as well, and i was really dissapointed he had turn down the role of ghost in matrix 2+3

ronin is definitely the best car chase scene i have seen, extremely well done

and raising arizona's chase scene was great too, but vermin boy's right, it doesn't quite fit the list.

but what about saving private ryan? that was one of the most realistic war battle scenes ever [storming of the beach] and has set a standard for every other war movie to follow.

[JohnL]

For fistfights, how about the one at the end of Any Which Way You Can, the sequel to Every Which Way But Loose.

[Ash]

Without a doubt in my opinion would be the chase scene in T3: Rise of the Machines with the crane.

f**king awesome!

[BlackAngel]

With fistfights, I agree with The Matrix, but I liked the fight between Neo and Morpheus.

I also agree with Lords of the Rings for best battle Two Towers over the Fellowship.

However for car chases, I say the Blues Brothers.  Two guys against the entire Chicago Police Department and White Supremesist.  That is classic
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bulls**t, I still can't hear you sound off like you got a pair

[The Burgomaster]

What about THE FRENCH CONNECTION? There has been a long-standing argument as to whether THE FRENCH CONNECTION or BULLITT has the greatest car chase of all time.

Other movies with memorable chase sequences:

* TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.
* THE SEVEN UPS
* RONIN
* JADE
* ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (ski and bobsled chases)
* DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY
* VANISHING POINT

[dean]

anyone who has seen "run lola run" will know that there's alot of running in that film, and although i wouldn't classify it as action exactly, it was still full of tense, jumpiness and was like watching a two hour car chase scene in a way.

very good film, and german!

[gammaray117]

I was thinking "Jason and the Argonauts" for number one swordfight, due to great action and special effects by Ray Harryhausen. Any comments? Oh, and keep going on about the main list.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Here are 50 of my favorites, which have yet to be mentioned.

Fistfights
Bringing Down the House (short, but well made)
Brannigan (great watching John Wayne and Sir Richard Attenborough mix it up with the locals in a London pub)
Fuller Brush Man (the warehouse brawl. With Red Skelton getting on the shortwave radio to call for help and interrupting radio broadcasts all over the city. A classic)
Giant (Rock Hudson vs. Mickey Simpson w/ "The Yellow Rose of Texas" playing in the background. The wrong man won that fistfight.)
Last Remake of Beau Geste (the orphanage brawl)
Necessary Roughness (the bar brawl between the two rival college football teams)
North to Alaska (more slapstick then "Brannigan," but still a a great bar brawl)
The 3 Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (the warehouse brawl. Hysterically funny.)
Undefeated (John Wayne's Yanks vs. Rock Hudson's Rebs on Independence Day)

Chases (Climatic and Comedic)
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Bank Dick w/ W. C. Fields
Fancy Pants w/ Bob Hope
Ichabod and Mr. Toad w/ Ichabod being chased by the Headless Horseman
North Avenue Irregulars
The Rescuers
Seven Chances w/ Buster Keaton
tom thumb w/ Russ Tamblyn, Alan Young, Peter Sellers, and Terry-Thomas
Who's Minding the Mint

Chases (Climatic and Dramatic)
Baby
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Masterminds
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (The Dwarves chasing the Evil Queen)

Chases (Not climatic, but still good)
The Aristocats
Magical Mystery Tour
Muppets Take Manhattan
Sullivan's Travels
Tron

Battles
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Babes in Toyland (1934) w/ Laurel and Hardy
A Bridge Too Far
Damn the Defiant (the 1st naval battle)
Fall of the Roman Empire (the 1st battle)
Glory
Hallelujah Trail (the non-battles)
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (the ant vs. the scorpion)
Intolerance (the fall of Babylon. It still rocks almost 90 years later)
Island of Dr. Moreau  (1977) (the animals vs. the animal-men)
Lord of the Rings (animated)
Major Dundee
The Messenger
The Mission
Mulan (the 1st battle)
Muppets' Treasure Island
Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
Vera Cruz
The War Lord
Waterloo (especially that slo-mo calvary charge)
Wizards
Young Winston (the calvary charge)
Zulu Dawn

[fritz21]

I vote for the tanker chase of LICENCE TO KILL. When 007 crushes that jeep is a classic moment.

About ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, I agree perfectly. I remember renting this movie and expecting a stodgy old murder mystery. Instead, I found myself laughing so much at the classic Cary Grant gags that I had to stop the movie repeatedly. The fight scene at the end is one of the best I have ever seen, and the four men involved must have been stuntmen, as they clearly know what they're doing. And not until THUNDERBALL did I see a fight that demolished that much furniture. While FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and THE MATRIX have more exciting fights, you can't beat GREAT choreagraphy and editing.

[The Burgomaster]

Battles:

* THE WILD BUNCH (the final shoot out is one of the best ever)
* BRAVEHEART
* THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (the Charles Laughton version . . . when they're storming the church and Quasimodo is pouring molten lead on everyone)
* THE KILLER (the classic John Woo shootout at the end)

[gammaray117]

I just found out that the motorcycle the Fonz rode was the same one used in the chase scene from "The Great Escape", which I rated as number one. Wild, eh?