[SIZE="3"]The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).
George Kennedy is bullying the blacksmith (he wants to know what he told John Wayne) by holding his head underwater in a rain barrel.
John Wayne spots this and walks over. He picks up a wagon-wheel spoke along the way and casually winds up for a swing as he approaches from behind. When he reaches the pair he says, "Hey!" as he starts a one-handed roundhouse swing. Kennedy looks up just as the end of the spoke reaches him. It clocks him square in the face. He drops like the porverbial sack of wheat and doesn't move for the rest of the scene.
I'll always remember that one because it was the first beatdown like that I'd ever seen. Not a wasted word, not a wasted second, not a wasted ounce of strength. Simple, casual, devastatingly effective. It established Wayne's character as a tough, no-nonsense, SOB with a mere 5 seconds of film.[/SIZE]
This post was last modified: 01-05-2008, 05:14 PM by fpw.
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