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In Film/TV

Undefeated: The 10 greatest fist fight scenes in cinema history

By Nick Johnstonon

This Friday, Hollywood will be giving us the answer to the question every American’s had on their mind since 2004: Who would win in a fight between Charlie Day or Ice Cube? We tried to find a betting line for the big scuffle in Fist Fight, but it looks like Vegas isn’t putting their money on this one. Mickey, our local bookie, said "42-1 Cube" and he’d eat his shoe if we won.

To make Fist Fight a lot to live up to, we decided to make a list of the greatest fight scenes in film history, obeying only one rule -- no lead actor would be represented twice. Read through our list of film fisticuffs below, but be warned: Some spoilers may follow.

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They Live

Here it is: The oft-imitated and parodied fight between Keith David and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper from John Carpenter’s 1988 cult classic. Let’s face it: You knew this was going to be on this list when you clicked this article. On a good day, it’s our pick for best fight of all time — for its humor, for the low-down dirty choreography, for the way that Carpenter keeps faking you out like the fight’s going to end but continuing on for another two or three minutes after that. It’s straight-up fucking brilliant, and it might be one of the only examples on this list where dudes actually get tired from beating the hell out of each other. And if that hasn’t convinced you, listen to Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek explain why this fight works on a theoretical level.

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Follow Nick Johnston on Twitter @onlysaysficus.

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