10 of the Most Epic Pub and Bar Fight Scenes in Movies: From 'Kingsman' to 'Mean Streets'
Co-created by Gareth Evans, director of cult action film The Raid, AMC's new crime drama series Gangs of London isn't for the faint of heart. Its many scintillating action sequences include a belter – quite literally – that takes place in The Horseshoe, a real-life pub located in London's Clerkenwell neighborhood.
Watch the full scene below (WARNING: it's very graphic):
To whet your appetite for more Gangs of London, which airs Sundays at 10pm EST on AMC, here are some of our favorite pub and bar brawl scenes from the movies, including a couple that are also set in the British capital.
Oh, and heads up: in addition to bloody duels, these video clips contain some very salty language.
Kingsman: The Secret Service
We all know that Colin Firth is the perfect English gent, so when he says "manners maketh man" in an action-comedy movie, you had better brace yourself for what's coming. Seriously, has the humble umbrella ever been wielded more menacingly?
Shaun of the Dead
Only in a Simon Pegg-Edgar Wright movie could Pegg, his bestie Nick Frost, and The Office’s Lucy Davis team up to take out an octogenarian-zombie while Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" plays on the jukebox. It’s a moment of surreal genius.
The Departed
Leonardo DiCaprio's Billy flies off the rails when a fellow drinker mocks him for ordering a cranberry juice, but luckily Ray Winstone's hard nut is on hand to stop the situation escalating… too much. What's wrong with cranberry juice, anyway?
Trainspotting
Danny Boyle's pitch-black comedy about a group of heroin addicts living in a sketchy Edinburgh neighborhood is an iconic movie of the '90s "Britpop" era. This pub fight scene sparked by Robert Carlyle's maniacal Begbie really captures its dark kinetic energy.
Mean Streets
Really, you can't argue with Robert de Niro whacking someone with a pool cue, but this scene also deserves kudos for its realism. Director Martin Scorsese knows that real-life bar brawls have just as many slightly lame punches that miss as those that land bang on the nose.
Jack Reacher
Tom Cruise is known for doing all his own stunts, so let's hope the crew had a bag of frozen peas to hand after he shot this scene. Like so many real-life bar fights, the action takes place outside, away from the glare of fellow punters wanting a quiet drink.
The Guest
Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens plays an enigmatic war veteran in this 2014 thriller movie, and the bar scene in which he stands up to some obnoxious bullies is a surprise highlight. Whatever would the Earl of Grantham say if he could see Matthew Crawley now?
Secondhand Lions
The moral of this bar brawl? Don't mess with your elders. Robert Duvall was in his early seventies when he filmed this scene, and clearly still in fighting shape. Gotta love Michael Caine's character for looking on so nonchalantly, too.
Legend
Identical twins Reggie and Ronnie Kray terrorized east London in the '50s and '60s, becoming the city's most infamous gangsters of all time. So this 2015 biopic starring Tom Hardy as both Krays was always going to feature one hell of a pub fight scene.
Central Intelligence
It's four against one in this bar brawl scene, but Dwayne Johnson still comes out on top. Quite comfortably, in fact – no wonder Kevin Hart looks so impressed.
Have we missed out one of your favorite pub or bar fight scenes?