The best fight scenes in Hollywood cinema pre "enter the dragon"

[WangYu]

There has actually been martial arts fighting in movies predating enter the dragon although none of them qualify as Martial arts films obviously. Here a couple of examples from the top of my head:

 

The Manchurian Candidate 1962

Bad Day at Black Rock 1955

 

Blood on the Sun 1945:

The treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 (no martial arts but I love it so I included it)

 

[drees5761]

Billy Jack was before 73 i think.

Our Man Flint with James Coburn also comes to mind.

[shukocarl1441996347]

Bruce Lee liked the fight in "Darker than Amber" between Rod Taylor and William Smith. It led to director Robert Clouse getting the Enter the Dragon job.

[YnEoS]

Some great early comedy action choreography in a lot of Chaplin films. This clip from The Kid (1921), (starts around 2:27).

The entire ending action sequence in Buster Keaton's Convict 13 (1920) is astounding and masterfully done I think (starting around 12:34).

There's a lot more, I know City Lights from Chaplin has a lot of comedy boxing scenes, and if you like chases and action on vehicles Buster Keaton's The General is really great.  Don't have clips lined up but for hollywood swordplay I'd look into Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn movies.

Edited May 5, 2021 by YnEoS

[KenHashibe]

The first fight that comes to my mind is the climactic sword fight from The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Great choreography and great stunts. And that shot of the shadows on the pillar? SO GOOD!

 

[J.J. Hayden]

How about the Bond films, I remember him throwing the odd "Judo Chop" and "Judo Throw" and then there You Only Live Twice from 1967 that was full of ninja.

What about the western Red Sun that featured a samurai played by Toshiro Mifune?