Sabre duel. The Duellists (1977)

Scene from Ridley Scott's masterpiece. Too bad we don't get to see the first part of this fight!

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Duellists
• duel
• fight
• fencing
• brawl
• sabre
• saber
• Ridley Scott

[Protherium]

@SmokiSounds

Brutal, sure, but now "raw". It is a common myth that european fighting always relied on "brute strength" and not skill, which is bullshit, to be honest. Survived fighting manuals from 14th to 18th centuries actually tell us pretty clearly how men fought in the past - it was brutal but also efficient and quick. Thomas Page in his fencing manual published in 1746 gives us a very clear idea how to use broadswords and sabres, a highly elaborated combat system without "raw strength".

[snuttgurkan]

Just to be clear; sabre is normally a one handed weapon, right? And the only reason they're using both hands is because they're tired. Or am I wrong?

[pkart7]

Those are cavalry sabres, which are indeed quite heavy swords. They are not meant for dueling, but for swinging from horseback in wide arcs. So they are going to be pretty damned tired.

[ZiemowitARKONA]

@snuttgurkan They just dont know how to use these weapons ... The fight shows that they dont know how to fight with saber.

[CableThe]

looks like sparrow

[Boxingbear]

Underrated movie..

[pickledtochus]

Officers with high respect for each other.

As the Dalei Lama might say: "Let their grudge die..."

[szmesz]

It could be more effective, and less tiresome if they would use the saber as a saber... :)

[SuperHeroMania]

Why is Scott doing shit now? I want to see more films like The Duelist

[ParacleteOfCaborca]

@schizoidboy, it wasn't Bob Anderson, it was the great William Hobbs who choreographed the fight scenes in this movie. As others have said, it's pretty obvious that when the scene begins the duel has been going on for some time and that both men have been wounded and are verging on exhaustion.

[schizoidboy]

One should remember that other things go into a duel along with skill, skill may be necessary to win but when all the rules are thrown out and people just go at it with whatever they have then the fight especially to the death is going to get brutal. This at least shows the fighters as humans who get exhausted and worn down and at a certain point are just going to be slashing at each other. Incidentally I think Bob Anderson worked this movie and set up this scene.

[scroogesong1]

When I was 18 my father, off his head on drink and drugs tried to kill me with a sabre, if I had not taken another off the wall I would have been chopped up in fine style. yes he was berserk but very dangerous; ''they don't all fight like fine gentlemen''