Great Movie Duels

"Scaramouch" Stewart Granger

Andre Moreau vs. the Marquis de Maynes

The movie contains what is supposed to be the longest fencing duel ever caught on film, the climactic fight that ranges throughout the theater, from the balcony boxes, to the lobby, through the main seats, backstage and finally on the stage itself.

"Highlander" with Christopher Lambert

Madmartigan vs. Kail, Willow

Cyrano de Bergerac, with Jose Ferrer

King Kong vs. the T-Rex's (2005)

Robin Hood - Erryl Flynn

Glenn Close vs. Michael Douglas in "Fatal Attraction". The scene in her loft after the wife's accident. It was a horrifying fight between a man and a woman. Choreographed to perfection.

So many in LOTR. So which duel is the best in the trilogy?

'The Duellists'.

This epic duel lasted 15 years. A feast for the eyes, a very exciting movie.
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"Fencing is a science. Loving is a passion. Duelling is an obsession."
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duellists

Spiderman v The Green Goblin
Jake v his wife in The Blues Brothers
The penguines v the elements in La Marche de L'Empereur

"Scaramouche," hands down, as LightWizard has already said. That is the most fantastuc sword-fight ever choreographed. But, speaking of choreography, when Gene Kelly was cast as d'Artagnan in the 1940s version of "The Three Musketeers", there was some interesting sword-play as well.

Why is a dual ALWAYS associated with a sword fight?
How about.....

David Mann ( Dennis Weaver ) v The Truck Driver

And from Big.....the keyboard dance

It is not. A duel is a more or less regulated battle between two persons (Sam fighting Shelob cannot be considered a real duel, nor can Harmonica's shootout with Frank's henchmen) who normally use the same weapons (Indiana Jones shooting a swordsman is not much of a duel). Traditionally, duels were fought with the sword (althogh for the peasant class, in medieval times, duels with clubs were allowed; peasants were not allowed swords; later pistol duels became possible, but they were not as heroic and, in film terms, not as cinematic. Other duels can involve fist fights or human-operated machines, like cars, as you pointed out, but also aeroplanes tanks or warships. In the latter case the last action of HMS Glowworm against the Admiral Hipper could serve as a classic example.

The aereal dog-fights in The Blue Max would qualify, I think.

Verbally, Maddy Hyes and David Addison in practically every episode of Moonlighting.

From LOTR, Frodo vs. Shelob.

From "Face Off," Nicholas Cage vs. John Travolta

Jerry Goldsmith's soaring "flight theme" is superlative in that film and I have the CD. Think I will play it in the car today -- maybe I'll take off?

I loved Wesley v. Inigo in THe Princess Bride!

I also liked Catherine Zeta Jones taking sword in hand in the first of the two Zorro movies she was in.

And, my favorite chase scene is from the movie Outland in which a rather pot-bellied Sean Connery chases a man through a series of fenced in cages where the miners lived and slept.

The best part of "Outland" was the duel.