Fight Clip Club; Swordfights!

For my Fight Clip Club, I ended up choosing a ridiculous fight from a movie from the early 80's: The Pirate Movie.  I don't know why I thought of it, but I did, and really wanted to use this fight if only for how funny I think it is.

The fight begins around 50:40, and continues to about 56:00.  It is long, but I couldn't find a simple clip, so this is the best I can do.

Movie: The Pirate Movie (1982)

Actors: Christopher Atkins, Ted Hamilton, Maggie Kirkpatrick

Style/Genre: Expressionistic, Comedic/Swashbuckling

Objective: The Pirate King has initiated the fight because Frederic ran away from the pirates and chose to fight against them rather than with them, sinking their ship the previous night.  The Pirate King intends to defeat Frederic and either kill him, or bring him back to the side of the black flag.  Frederic fights the Pirate King for his freedom, and to avenge his mother and father -- killed by pirates when Frederic was only a babe.

Tactics: Obviously, pirates are good with swords.  Within the sword-fighting, however, each character uses tactics other than the swish-poke.  There are a few clear distractions, such as when the Pirate King warns Frederic to watch himself around the glass, or immediately after has them drink in the middle of their fight.  Frederic also makes fun of the Pirate King moments later, though the embarrassment is not enough to entirely distract the King.  After pushing the King over into the coffin, Frederic quickly closes the lid in an attempt to capture him, subsequently attempting to stab the coffin many times to ensure defeat; unfortunately for Frederic, the Pirate King appears to also be a magician, and flaunts his talents by not only reappearing outside of the coffin, but releasing a dove as well, in attempts to intimidate Frederic.  The Pirate King disarms Frederic, but is in turn distracted as he helps Ruth up, wasting a chance to end the fight.  Frederic later uses the force as his own intimidation tactic, in a way, and disarms the Pirate King.  Ultimately, the fight is ended when Ruth distracts them both with a total change of focus.
( TL;DR -- distraction, embarrassment, taunting, capture, intimidation -- just, a lot...)

Obstacles: Both are skilled swordsmen, so they are obstacles for each other in and of themselves.  The environment also plays a role in obstructing both characters -- they range all over the castle.  When it comes to specifics, Frederic's obstacle is that the Pirate King basically raised him.  Thus, Frederic does care for the Pirate King to an extent, but the Pirate King also "taught him all he knows" (aside from the bit Fred 'saw in a movie once'), which makes it a bit difficult for Frederic to pull out any stops.  For the Pirate King, he cares for Frederic after raising him, and has a soft spot for orphans as it is (despite the fact that he caused Fred to be an orphan), as well as the fact that he ultimately wants to tell Frederic his "secret" and recruit Frederic back into his crew rather than kill him.

When/Why/Etc?  This fight takes place around the middle of the movie, shifting the balance of power within the film, and creating new conflict while springing off of ongoing conflict.  Honestly, they resort to sword-fighting because they are pirates, and why wouldn't they?  It's sort of what they do.  Plus the fact that they each harbor resentment for the other, which may have escalated their emotions and made them wish to resort to such extremes rather than talking it out.  I am not sure that there is a clear winner here.  The Pirate King has his moment, then Frederic has his, and then Ruth distracts them both.  After the secret is revealed, however, it's pretty clear that the Pirate King gets his way in the end.

Stunt Doubles?  There were actually no stunt doubles in this scene!  The actors, Christopher Atkins (Frederic) and Ted Hamilton (Pirate King), rehearsed for months to get this scene right.

Why This Scene?  I honestly wasn't sure I'd be able to use this scene -- shots aren't always clear, and it's a little long.  But I just really liked it for its comedic elements, and for nostalgic reasons.  This movie is ridiculous, but hilarious, and worth sharing with the class.  When you get decently clear shots, the actors do a good job of their choreography (they should, after months of rehearsal~), and they deserve some credit!  I just thought it would be a fun scene to bring to the class.

So, there is my Fight Clip Club!  I hope that you all enjoy this scene as much as I do.  :'D

- Chesney O.