Top 10 movie pub fights

Bar stools, bottles, pool cues - over the years films have flung their fair share of paraphernalia at protagonists just looking for a quiet pint. Jonny Ford documents the ten greatest pub fights on film

10. The Departed

Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) walks into a bar, orders a cranberry juice – then all hell breaks loose. It’s just as well Ray Winstone’s at hand (naturally) to sort things out. One of many memorable scenes from Martin Scorsese’s last great movie:

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9. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

When Arnold Schwarzenegger tells you to get naked, you get naked (just ask his maid). Here, a hairy biker takes issue with Arnie’s polite request. Cue carnage and the Terminator living up to his name:

Terminator 2-scène du Barby FilmdeCulte

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8. Good Will Hunting

Not one fist thrown here, but a verbal demolition job that packs such a punch it merits a mention on our countdown. It’s Will Hunting (Matt Damon) versus an insufferably smug bully about to get his comeuppance. Look out for Mini Driver at the bar:

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7. Back to the Future, Part III

You can’t get away with frilly pink shirts in 19th century saloon bars – as Marty McFly, AKA ‘Clint Eastwood’, finds out here. Mercifully, Michael J Fox dodges all of Buford ‘Mad Dog’ Tannen’s bullets – by means of a moonwalk:

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6. Desperado

Antonio Banderas playing the part of vengeful assassin? No, not a fantasy comedy, but Robert Rodriguez’s award-winning action-thriller. Here, Banderas shoots more bullets than the Magnificent Seven put together. It’s hard to believe that this ruthless gunslinger would grow up to be Puss In Boots:

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5. Shaun of the Dead

Love, laughs and zombies collide in Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s genre-inventing rom-zom-com. Here, Shaun (Pegg) fights a pensioner monster. With a fire extinguisher. And a Winchester rifle. Oh, and a jukebox:

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4. Goodfellas

When will people learn not to piss Joe Pesci off? Especially in a room full of glass and alcohol. Here, it’s Billy Batts on the wrong end of Tommy DeVito’s (Pesci) psycho shtick. Serves Batts right for creasing Tommy’s suit:

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3. Gone Baby Gone

Appearances can be deceiving, so the adage goes. As per here, when welterweight Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) takes out a bloke twice his circumference. A great moment from an underrated film:

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2. Mean Streets

Martin Scorsese’s third entry in our countdown. Uppercuts and pool cues abound in this gritty, literally-no-punches-pulled brawl:

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1. Trainspotting

There’s pub fights, then there’s pub fights Scotland-style. If you haven’t seen Begbie (Robert Carlyle) in action, he makes Joe Pesci look like a neutered pussycat. Here, Begbie’s hunched over the pool table, cuing back for the black. Meanwhile, a bystander noisily munches a bag of crisps. Just imagine Begbie’s reaction when he misses his pot…

(Images: Allstar)