Surprisingly good fighting for an old movie...

[CalebChow]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYknSS0h-5Y

Haven't seen this for over a decade...

But I'm surprised to see halfswording, ringen am schert, kneeing, stabbing through chainmail, and other fairly historical techniques used in a movie back from 1981.

Of course it's still a movie, but for the longest time I thought the most accurately-portrayed European armored combat I've seen in a movie was Monty Python!

Just thought I'd share.

[JeremyDillon]

Always loved this movie. One of a kind. Thanks for sharing.

[Greg Coffman]

Yeah, but it also has dual-wielding and hacking at plate not to mention weapons and armor out of time period. I'd give it a big thumbs down on historical accuracy.

[JeremyDillon]

Yeah, but it also has dual-wielding and hacking at plate not to mention weapons and armor out of time period. I'd give it a big thumbs down on historical accuracy.

To be fair, Greg, it was not meant as a historical film so much as a film about myth. Regardless, there are many accounts of judicial duels (and many pages in fight manuals) which describe combatants fighting with two weapons, often with longsword and spear. Also (and I know this is reaching) but, as I watch this scene, I find I can excuse the hacking by acknowledging that both combatants chose to duel sans helmets (a bad decision, probable, but it might account for some head-targeted whacking). I find that my movie viewing experience is greatly enhanced by the judicious fabrication of such excuses on behalf of the filmmaker.

[Hayden Lapiska]

I have found most films are, for the most part, the same in this respect. It seems that the beauty of this art would be lost to those who do not know exactly what they are looking for. It all goes back to the "brainwashing" if you will, of the populace by the media. long, dramatic fights sell movies better than short, realistic, and efficient actualities of accurate swordplay, and the "fight" choreographers know it too! This one incorporated some aspects of realism, but only those that served the purpose of the film. It seems to me that the spirit of "killing the other person as quickly and easily as possible" seems to be left out. The centrality of the purpose and core fundamentals are missing.

[CalebChow]

Aww, give it some slack. It's a movie! For it to be as good as it is is already something we can appreciate and maybe even hope for in films to come (I mean, Kingdom of Heaven. Really??)

No need to always be so criticizing; it just makes us look mean!

The fight wasn't really that long; each exchange lasted no longer than Casper and Aaron's spar here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnqOMbFDEAI

Besides, the account of De Lalaing mentions him engaging in duels with other knights with poleaxes, whacking each other so much that sparks started flying everywhere with neither really getting seriously hurt, so it's not like weapon-on-plate didn't happen.
Other than head/exposed area strike attempts, whacking someone even on protected spots can help unbalance a foe that can lead to an easier takedown for a kill.

http://www.thearma.org/essays/Lalaing.htm

EDIT: Er... Don't whack plate armor with blades though...maybe with a half-sword+pommel or an armored knee like Aaron did in the video above...