50 Best Movie Bar Brawls

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By published

FIGHT!

Romeo Must Die (2000)

Driven To Kill (2009)

The Brawl: "It'd be nice if I could just leave," says Steven Seagal, groping for a pint glass just in case. These guys really should just let him go - they've obviously never heard of Steven Seagal before.

Coolest Scrap: Seagal strikes out with the glass and buries it in his opponent's skull. Night night, bad guy.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

The Brawl: Jen takes on a teahouse crowded with martial artists in a scrap that's pretty much completely one-sided. She takes them all down - and brings the house down with her.

Coolest Scrap: With a flash of her blade, Jen knocks flying daggers out of her path and buries them in wood beams. She's also got a little bit of an advantage considering her ability to defy gravity…

Barfly (1987)

The Brawl: "Hey you! You with the filthy apron!" Stinking drunk Harry (Mickey Rourke) pisses off bartender Eddy (Frank Stallone) when he starts helping himself to the bar's goods. Cue a scrap in the alley.

Coolest Scrap: Miraculously, Harry ends up finishing Eddy off against a wall with some well-placed sucker punches.

Star Trek (2009)

The Brawl: Kirk (Chris Pine) gets into a fight with Starfleet cadets after flirting with Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and insulting one of the bar's more colourful patrons. They use him to wipe clean various surfaces numerous times.

Coolest Scrap: Kirk's smashed into a table. Which looks like it really hurts.

Kickboxer (1989)

The Brawl: Kurt Sloane's (Van Damme) hip-shaking dance moves in the middle of a bar so insult the bar's clientele that they rise up to challenge him. Luckily, Kurt's a kickboxer who can more than hold his own.

Coolest Scrap: Kurt evades a punch by doing the splits. Show off.

Pride & Glory (2008)

The Brawl: Ray Tierney (Edward Norton) clears out a bar so he can have a little chat with Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell). That civilised chat quickly spirals out of control, though, when the duo strip off their badges and guns for a fist fight.

Coolest Scrap: Somewhat unfairly, Ray decides to grab a cue ball…

Hooper (1978)

The Brawl: Hooper (Burt Reynolds), Ski (Jan-Michael Vincent) and co go for a nice meal at the Palomino Club, but a fight breaks out over their rowdy behaviour and - of all things - 50 cents.

Coolest Scrap: "Holy shit, a fight!" A guy in Roman attire gets in on the action - while also finding time to flash his belly daintily.

Shane (1953)

The Brawl: Shane (Alan Ladd) and Joe Starrett (Van Heflin) go up against the Ryker gang in a typical Western saloon. Lots of things get smashed.

Coolest Scrap: Shane doesn't waste any time busting into the fight with a bit of wood. Sometimes the simplest weapons are the best, right?

The Departed (2006)

The Brawl: All Billy (Leonardo DiCaprio) wants is a cranberry juice, but some loser sat next to him at the bar just has to bring up the 'period' thing. Billy's response? Smash his drink over the guy's head.

Coolest Scrap: Ray Winstone steps in, leading to another little bust-up that's quickly put to rest.

Joshua Winning

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.