Great Fight Movies

List creator: pmoore Created on: May 18, 2005 - 6:49 AM PDT Description: The greatest fight movies, for me, are about the fight to make it through life. So this list isn't about movies with great fight sequences, like in Fight Club, but movies that inspire to keep punching our way through adversity that comes in any form.

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	movie title	related list	average rating	MPAA rating	watch	rent	buy
	Rocky (1976)
This movie was unfortunately tainted by by its endless sequels. The beauty of the original is that it is never about winning the fight. It's about Rocky standing up to all of the people he grew up with that said he'd never amount to anything.
	The Celebration (1998)
This is maybe the ultimate fight movie because this is a fight against the toughest foe we can face, our family.
	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)			Not Rated
This film is about endurance. Capra shows us real endurance here. The kind that goes beyond outlasting everyone else around you, but also feeling like an idiot throughout the whole ordeal as well.
	A Woman Under the Influence (Criterion Collection) (1974)
Wow. I have real reverence for this movie. It's the fight for two people who love eachother but can't possibly ever understand one another to stay together. For anybody who has ever been around mental illness, this movie is almost unbearably authentic.
	Secrets and Lies (1996)
Portrait photography is a great metaphor because it's all about putting on our best face for the camera. Maurice is the man behind the camera who fights to get beyond the surface and into true intimacy in his relationships.
	When We Were Kings (1996)
"Ali, bumaye!" I hear thousands of Africans chanting that in my mind whenever I go running. Michael Mann ended his film "Ali" with the fight this documentary covers, but there's nothing like seeing the real thing.
	Braveheart (1995)
Yes, there is an excessive amount of hair and grunting in this movie and I, personally, am not turned on by speeding up the frame rate to increase drama (typical Mel), BUT this is a great story about something that is so rare: a man who never compromises.
	Dumbo (1941)
We all need friends. Dumbo is a kid fighting to get his mom back. Watch for how the elephants mirror the toil and struggle of the common people during the Great Depression. Dumbo provides a fresh way of seeing that period of our history.
	The Five Obstructions (2003)
Okay, this one's a stretch. Some may not be able to stomach Lars Von Trier's pretentious challenges to his hero, Jorgen Leth, but the end will pay off. I saw this documentary as a Von Trier fighting to forge some intimacy with, Leth, his father figure.
	Donnie Darko (Director's Cut) (2001)
	Dirty Harry (1971)
He blows me away!