Avengers

[mlnbds]

These fights are equal in quality to the Bond movies of the era.

[wjb4341]

Cathy Gale was a great fighter .... she could use Judo but she was also strong as a bull and could just flat out overpower the guys she fought.  She handed out some major beatdowns.

[evamarimo]

I learned to love this show with the Peel episodes since those were the first I ever saw. Now I'm watching the Cathy Gale episodes as well and I do so with great pleasure! I LOVED Diana Rigg as Emma and now with watching I really like Honor Blackman as Cathy, too, but I wouldn't say one is better than the other because it's about what they made out of their scripts and dialogue and they had their fighting instructions and are very different characters, even Steed was a total different man then!

[MrEdnablackadder]

She's one of the most athletically gifted people I have ever seen in my life . She's definitely the ultimate action heroine of the 60's , the female counterpart of Robert Conrad of "Wild Wild West" fame !

[vkoo32]

This woman was tougher then any female heroines even in recent years.

[vxf2007]

Cathy Gale is the best!!!!

[avengergurl1]

Go Mrs. Gale!!

[sabinal208]

Cathy Gales fight scenes were more realistic as she was trained in judo and she put real effort into her action scenes, she did all the stunts herself and didn't use a double.

Emma peels fights in the first series were good , but got to theatrical in the colour series, she did use stunt doubles.

If it's decided to make the Avengers again then the female lead should use the cathy gale judo style of fighting and not the over the top karate/kung fu style like charlies angels..

[extremeriot]

Cathy Gale fights were more realistic and a lot harder than Emma Peele's!

[MrEdnablackadder]

Producers could have had a good idea choosing to base Mrs.Peel's fights more on presentation rather than realism but the execution was bad . As I said the same type of thing worked much better for Purdey . And it remains I'm not sure the producers had this idea from the very first place , I remember reading somewhere bosses wanted Rigg to do judo but Austin secretly teached her kung fu . Had they never revealed it , I say this secret would have died with them !

[MrEdnablackadder]

It remains Honor gained the reputation of being the first on tv who managed to combine powerful strength with feline grace . You cannot agree with that but that doesn't mean what you are saying is Avengers gospel . Everyone has the right to have his view on the matter and if someone disagrees with you it doesn't mean he has to grow up . I never said I have a problem with Peel's fights just because they are unrealistic , it's because because they are not well executed .

[MrEdnablackadder]

I actually never heard of anyone who claimed Rigg's fights were meant to have a big element of drama and that's quite absurd since they were usually filled with countless gags , slapstick comedy moments and could end up in pie fights or something like that . I always heard experts at least giving to Honor she was able to put a major dramatic intensity in her fights to make them more climatic ( sometimes looking at her face you can be really in doubt if this time the heroine will make it ) .

[MrEdnablackadder]

Even Purdey was a former classical dancer but her fights were tougher , more convincing and stylish than Mrs.Peel's .

I wonder how could have I possibly strenghtened your points ( if you have any ) . If a person reminds you of a cat it is usually something quite personal . And whatever Ray Austin's intention was in directing Diana's fight scenes it doesn't mean that he must have been succeeded . The man is one of the worst stunts arrangers ever. Remember Steed's fights ?

[MrEdnablackadder]

60's audiences in Britain were very disappointed by Diana's fights remembering Honor's and some want the idea of saying she was a former dancer came after many people found particularly ridicolous the execution of her moves in "Death At Bargain Prices" . The way she approaches T.P McKenna raising her arms is quintessential Maya Plisetskaya ! Still both if the fusion of classical dance elements and karate was part of the original plan of not there's no excuse for the poor quality of her fights .

[MrEdnablackadder]

But what elegance is there in Rigg's fights really ? They are more like big confused bar brawls . It's always the same , a guy puts his hand around her neck , she is just seen shaking her hair a bit , a few confused shots in which you don't see her face , but her stuntwomen's legs and hands follow - in which yiou don't even get who gets hit and how anyway - and usually the fight ends with both disappearing from the screen and the guy visibly throwing himself across the room

[MrEdnablackadder]

Honor remains the most feline of the Avengers ladies !

[MrEdnablackadder]

Rigg was absolutely uncoordinated and awkward in the few fighting efforts she was seen doing when a stuntwoman wan't on screen at her place . The way she keeps her arms or runs is comical . Clearly she had zero attitude for martial arts . Even if you are an instructor that doesn't make you necessarily qualified to tell about the choreography of a stylish well-staged fight in tv or film I'm afraid . You don't need to be an expert to see that Honor performs her fights with more ease and agility

[MrEdnablackadder]

I'm sorry but this sure doesn't make you the ultimate judge on anything . I read the opinions of martial arts connaisseurs in many Avengers-themed magazines from the 80's who always recognized the superiority of Honor's fighting scenes .

[MrEdnablackadder]

Cathy's fighting style was mainly judo but Honor's training included also some elements of karate and jujistu ( the deadliest ones ) . She got up to brown belt level before quitting judo , she was really a formidable fighter . She also wrote a martial arts manual , "The Honor Blackman book of self-defense" , which was co-authored by her instructors Joe an Doug Robinson . It has wonderful pics of Honor and is very funny and enjoyable to read even if you don't want to take up judo !

[MrEdnablackadder]

Talking about KO punches another incident happened on the set of Dressed to Kill . When Cathy punches the Barman (that happens at 6.45 in the video ) sending him on the table unconscious Honors punch really made contact giving stuntman Frank Maher ( a former medal winning boxer ) a bloody nose ! He has always been the first to joke about it calling that a hell of a fight !

[MrEdnablackadder]

In rehearsals Honor was supposed to put her foot gently on his face and push him to the floor , climb on the hillock and grab the spade he would have tried to wrest from her . She was pretty tired as they had already tried the very same scene 5-6 times in a row she got confused , grabbed the shovel and after having realized the mistake she turned back and kicked Jackie on the face !

[MrEdnablackadder]

Mr TV Pallo played the sexton and they were fighting in the cemetery ( the fight is at 2.39 in the video ) . After the kick he miraculously managed to join Honor on the hillock and fight her for the spade when he finally lost consciousness and fell into the grave where he remained for an awful lot of time ( I read/heard anything from 7 to 9 minutes ! )

[MrEdnablackadder]

I strongly disagree . Honor was way more graced and feline than Rigg . Cathy is always more calm and concentrated when she waits for her opponent to attacjkfirst so she can use the best move to floor him . Mrs.Peel most of the time doesn't even seem to know what she's doing when she attacks and the fights are basically made of shoves and have less to do with martial arts than a Torvill and Dean number has . Linda Thorson tried to look more credible in her fights but lacked grace and style .

[MrEdnablackadder]

I assume you are referring to the occasion in which Honor accidentally knocked out wrestler Jackie Pallo on the set of the episode Mandrake . A precise chronicle of the incident can be found in Honors book How To Look and Feel Half Your Age For the Rest of Your Life .

[utubefields24]

I wonder if these episodes ever made it across the pond? Did she only fight men?

[MrEdnablackadder]

The only occasion in which Cathy fought another woman was when she confronted Julia Arnall in the episode Intercrime . The woman was a lethal assassin who was previously seen killing a prison guard easily with her bare hands but Cathy disposed of her in just a few seconds really . Unlike her successors Peel and King she would have never met another woman to be remotely a match for her

[MrEdnablackadder]

In Build a Better Mousetrap she is attacked by both a man and a woman in the end so actually in that occasion she took a couple of opponents at once . After being thrown away and having seen the her partner blown to pieces the girl understands that its better for her trying to get away from Cathys fury !

[cathy7gale]

elle est excellente mais sans l'esprit "witty" de Emma Peel

[extremeriot]

Cathy Gale was indeed the best fighter out of all the Avengers Girls!!!!

[vkoo32]

She was the toughest one not the best fighter. She never fought multiple guys like Emma Peel did.

[MrEdnablackadder]

Emma Peel wasnt the only one who used to take more than one opponent at one . Actually Tara King , Purdey and the post-Cathy Gale Steed were all seen doing that in more than one occasion , it happened more frequently after the passage from live television to film because the big bosses wanted to make the show look more spectacular ( usually to comic effects actually ) and bigger longer fight scenes were in order to make the viewer pay less attention to the weakness of the screenplays .

[MrEdnablackadder]

Now sure this doesnt make any of Cathys replacements a better fighter than she was.

Now Steed could have never taken her as it can easily be deduced in Mr.Teddy Bear and in other occasions and it was often pointed out by writer Martin Woodhouse and others . The difference between Cathy and Steed in terms of combat skills was clearly big but in later seasons Steed and Mrs.Peel seem quite equal when it comes to fighting .

[MrEdnablackadder]

Emma and Tara were knocked out in several occasions , Cathy never was . And she always dispatched of her enemies way more easily than her successors in briefer fight scenes who anyway were at the same time more climatic , intense and entertaining .

[MrEdnablackadder]

Cathy Gale was obviously the best fighter not to mention the best character .

[PhilippaRM]

This is a fantastic compilation. Thanks for uploading.

If anyone's interested in more Honor Blackman and other Avengers videos, please check out my channel.

[neil663]

love all the avengers girls

[aremizo]

fantastic compilation !!!

[sagfmp]

i think honor blackman is the reason i have a fetish for dominant ladies in leather!

not that i am complaining!

[dramaticguy]

I agree Honor as Cathy Gale is very underatted,because its in black and white and video reorded,tend to be over looked.

What I like about her,is that she stands up to Steed,who is a lot darker in the early episodes.

[Jomei2810]

Honor Made The Way For Diana Rigg. The Hairstyle, The Leatherdress And The Fights Came First From Blackman. Linda Was Refreshing For The Series And A Very Diffrent Character But All Three Are Great Actresses And Fantastic AVENGER-Girls...

[Ikonoklast2007]

Well said!!!!!!! Bravo :-)

[kingofhairpull]

Great hair-pull takedown on Cathy at the 3-minute mark. You'd think the guy is fighting dirty, but she starts it!

[BigOrang10]

Isn't the howling dude in shades Admiral Piett?

[BoxOfRain1494]

man was watching this. she's unbeatable

[BoxOfRain1494]

this is a great collection. This is Honor Blackman as CATHY GALE, you have it listed as Emma Peel, but that's irrelevant. Great fight scenes. Might I ask if you could upload the ones with Diana Rigg as Emma Peel or Linda Thorson as Tara King? Great job on this one!

[scotpens]

Well, it's not exactly irrelevant -- they were two different characters. Not like when they switched Darrins on "Bewitched."