10 Best Epic Hollywood Punch-Ups

Final showdowns have been a staple of action-adventure films for as long as movies have been making goodies v baddies movies. But, where once it might have been the gunslinger’s shoot-out or a James Bond siege on the volcano lair, the finale of Richard Donner’s buddy-cop-actioner from the 80s took on a more visceral donnybrook (donner-brook, perhaps?)

And is all the more interesting for it.

The lamer sequels make us forget that there was a genuinely violent core to the original film in the series, with the showdown between Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Joshua (Gary Busey) a snarling, nasty, down and dirty affair.

Yes, there’s a sense of absurdity to the premise, the cops standing aside to let the two men settle things through a spot of man to man combat. But the fight itself works perfectly within the context of the film.

What stands this fight out from its contemporaries is the fact that this is not a scrap between a noble hero and a psychotic villain. Riggs is portrayed as every bit the psychotic as Mr Joshua, the fight descending not so much as a good v bad affair, more a simple schoolyard battle of who’s tougher. And while much is made of their special forces type backgrounds, ultimately what makes this fight so appealing is the fact that it’s just a pummelling, animalistic growling, roll around in the rain and the mud.