Top 20 Best Bar Fights
Bar fights are the ultimate expression of testosterone-fuled machismo. Two guys (or sometimes more) get liquored up, exchange some four-letter words, and then beat the ever-lovin’ crap out of each other. It’s simple, primal and totally awesome. And when these fights are caught on tape, we can enjoy them over and over again.
Here’s our list of the 20 best bar fights. 15 of them are from movies, and the remaining five are clips from real-life bars from around the world. And they’re all 100% USDA Prime Bad-Ass.
Classic Movie Bar Fights
1. A Bronx Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovm34SgK8HQ
This scene has just so much awesome, it’s hard to know where to begin. First of all, the Beatles song playing underneath the entire clip is eeriely perfect: I’ll never be able to hear it again without wondering if some Italian guy is about to put the hurt on me. But even better than the music, even better than the fight itself, is Sonny’s line “Now you’s can’t leave.” So badass.
2. Sherlock Holmes
At first, this clip seems like it ought to be on a list of “Top 20 Worst Bar Fights”. Between the ridiculous fighting stance and the namby-pamby first punch, it seems like this is shaping up to be the world’s most boring bar fight. But as things get going, Holmes shows that brains will always best brawn. And, like all good bar fights, it ends in a round of hearty applause from the audience.
3. The Replacements
The action starts in around the 45 second mark, and it’s totally worth watching. Every bar fight should have Keanu Reeves, a deaf guy, and an angry Scottish guy.
4. The Dukes of Hazzard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcEyfMiwQQ0
Jessica Simpson may be as dumb as a rock, but she sure has some creative ways to kick ass with pool cues and billiard balls. The movie might have been terrible, but this bar fight is solid gold.
5. The Boondock Saints
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPXH4QrJt6U
Bitter old Irish bartender? Check. Bottles getting smashed over someone’s head? Check. A bloodthirsty feud between the Irish and the Russians? Check.
Result: One of the best bar fight scenes in movie history.
6. From Dusk ‘til Dawn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOGfN4gkv_I
Bar fights are cool. Bar fights with legit vampires? REALLY cool. Plus, you get to see Tarantino and Clooney at their most bad-ass. Also, Selma Hayek gets in on the action as a vampire stripper. What more could you want in a fight scene?
7. Mean Streets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMnkRSTO3fc
Another example of a bar fight song that shouldn’t work, but totally does. Plus, a young Robert DeNiro and Harvey Keitel do what they do best: violence and intimidation.
8. Driven to Kill
Don’t these guys know that you should never get into a bar fight with Steven Seagal? It’s like covering your body in honey and then poking a bear with a stick. Bonus: this clip features a brutal killing blow that comes out of nowhere.
9. Romeo Must Die
See, this is why you should never pick a fight with anybody in a bar. You never know when you’re going to instigate something with a serious martial arts master.
10. Desperado
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_da6o7CJNMc
The best bar fights are bare-knuckle brawls. You bring a gun to a bar fight, and suddenly the scene loses its edge. A great bar fight is about men at their most primal. But this scene from Desperado proves that there is an exception to this rule. And that exception is Antonio Banderas and his guitar case filled with handguns.
11. The Knockaround Guys
Classic bar fight set-up: An outsider starts a fight when he sees a cute waitress get hit by some drunk townie. Vin Diesel totally goes to town on this guy. It’s not a fair fight, but it’s still a good one.
12. Serenity
Think women can’t kick ass in a bar fight? Think again. Summer Glau blends insane flexibility with devastating stopping power and holds her own in this scene. You better stay on her good side, or else she’ll straight up murder you.
13. Second Hand Lions
Lesson learned: Respect your elders…or they will whup you!
14. Gone Baby Gone
Short but sweet. This guy knocks out a guy twice his size to defend his girlfriend’s honor, then knocks the bartender down a peg.
15. Out for Justice
That’s right. Steven Seagal gets to be on this list twice. Why is that, you ask? Simple: he’s Steven-F’in-Seagal, and you’re not.
The build up to the fight itself is really tense, but if you want to skip ahead to the action, start up the video around the four minute mark. Fun Fact: the guy attacking Seagal with the pool cues trained with Bruce Lee…which explains why this scene is jaw-droppingly awesome.
Real Bar Fights
1. Double KO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mFDZQevtn8
This guy manages to knock out two guys in about two seconds flat, then slips away into the night like some kind of drunken Batman. No need for a utility belt…this guy just throws a couple of Haymakers and runs off.
2. Albuquerque Bar Fight Caught on Tape
This play-by-play breakdown of a fight outside a bar in Albuquerque ultimately ended in a lawsuit. Somehow, the tone of the reporter makes the whole thing seem like a boxing match instead of a news story, and that’s part of the reason this video is so fun to watch.
3. Florida Bar Fight
Okay, it’s never a good idea to get involved in a bar brawl with a cop. But if the cop in question starts to wail on a woman half his size, it’s on. This brawl’s got it all: dramatic lunges, bar stools used as weapons, and a rematch just outside the club. This video is totally insane, and the cop at the center of it all is now facing some serious public scrutiny.
4. The Wonder from Down Under
This one takes place just outside an Australian tavern. What’s so great about it? Two words: Flying headbutt. ‘Nuff said.
5. Jerry Springer’s Little Person Bar Brawl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BCj2fu16Wo
We round out this collection of awesome bar fight videos with a clip from the Jerry Springer show. We don’t want to spoil anything for you, but we will say this: that little guy can sure take a punch!
Replacements – he’s not Scotish HE’S BLOODY WELSH!
You totally missed the bar fight scene in “The Ninth Configuration” with Stacy Keach. Bar-Room Brawl Scene
No Roadhouse scenes? Come on.
What about the “Top Secret” bar fight? It was freakin’ UNDERWATER!
Way of the Gun opening scene?
ow about this one from
“once were warriors”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MI6L8z9860&feature=related
the best was Bronson in the Evil that Men Do
Opening scene of Terminator 2.
No John Wayne?? I vote for the Duke and Victor McGlaglen in “The Quiet Man”. Is there another fight in which the brawlers pause for a drink together, then start fighting again? Great stuff.
No Shane?
That Ozzie Flying Head butt was just awesome, bet he saw some serious prosecutions after taking out that cop though
How, in the name of cinematic history could you have possibly left out the one arm skirmish in “Lonely Are The Brave” starring Kirk Douglas? From the time Douglas’ character enters the saloon, this scene becomes one of the most hauntingly memorable bar fights to ever be choreographed and captured film.
I would have had to add “GoodFellas Full “Billy Batts” Scene”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oP1NMB_I0s
Essential is the bar fight in *The Iron Horse* (1920s silent film directed by John Ford). The leading actor, George O’Brien — light heavyweight champion of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in WWI — not only clobbers his opponent, he *kills* him, and just with his bare hands.
Slightly different bent, but you can’t leave out the barfight from Airplane. Less known, but easily the best ever is the underwater barfight in “Top Secret” – yes, those zucker brothers knew how to make a good barfight.
[You totally missed the bar fight scene in “The Ninth Configuration” with Stacy Keach.]
Believe it or not, that was actually the *first* one that leapt to mind (for me, at least). The best part about it is that Keach starts out by taking a shellacking, then sees what’s happening to his friend and…but I’ll let the folks who haven’t yet seen it discover it for themselves.
To be fair, though, TNC is a relatively unknown film. Whenever I hear the phrase “little-know gem,” I always think of TNC.
Anyway, well-played Stoic.
Good choices. Missed two on my list. Both bar fight scenes involving The Rock in The Rundown. The first fight in a dance club with the pro-football players is especially excellent.
The best line from the Bronx Tale is when Sonny walks back inside at the end complaining “They ruined my whole fucking lunch”
How can the John Wayne and Victor McLaughlin fight from The Quiet Man not be on your list?
Two that should be on the list:
Destry Rides Again
The Great race
How could the author miss these? Probably less then 30 years old and has never seen them.
i wanna see the vinnie jones bar fight
I was always partial to Sean Connery beating up a big dude using only his thumb in the Presidio.
You left out the best movie bar fight of them all: “Bad Day at Black Rock”.
No airplane! twins fighting at disco club scene?
“Bar fights are the ultimate expression of testosterone-fuled machismo”? Wow, and to think of all those years wasted by REAL men in athletics and the military, when the demon liquor is what it’s REALLY all about?
And here I thought they’re just the ultimate expression of social degenerates by losers with nothing to lose.
I’m sure bouncers would love that you enjoy seeing their job made difficult and hellish, by movies that glorify stupid violence fueled by too many sips of “false courage.”
“A Bronx Tale” also wasn’t a barfight, it was an ambush of thugs by other thugs.
“A Bronx Tale” was written by Chaz Palmentari (Sonny), and when Robert Ne Niro first read it, he wanted to do it as a motion picture.
Chaz (as Sonny) is great, and so is De Niro in recognizing a great talent.