i am looking for some inspiration for playing a swashbuckler style character and was looking for some movies that have some swashbucklers in them.
any ideas would be appreciated.
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Captain Blood (Errol Flynn is possibly THE Archetypal swashbuckling actor)
The Princess Bride (Possibly THE seminal swashbuckling story. Also watch this with a lady friend for bonus points)
The Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy (PIRATES = Swashbucklers. It's science).
The Three Musketeers (This movie has Kiefer Sutherland as a badass musketeer. Also it's very good.)
Zorro (A man with a sword, a mask and a plan is always someone you want to base a swashbuckler on).
The Count of Monte Cristo (Also another swashbuckler).
Let me explain. No, it will take too long. I will sum up:
This is just the beginning.
To truly Buckle Swashes you must have three things -
A keen mind, you will be outwitting your opponents regularly. Take advantage of the environment. Swashbucklers don't swing from chandeliers because it looks good (although it does), they do it because it avoids Attacks of Opportunity from a dozen mooks between them and the exit. A sharp wit is more important than a sharp blade. Always be ready with a quip to go along with your attack roll, when you insult your opponent he is more likely to aim his attacks at you while your allies take out his cronies or aim that all important spell. Think outside the box, put the GM on the back foot. If the monsters are attacking the inn, don't run down the stairs to meet them at the front door, leap down upon the head of one and stab the second and third.
A charming personality. A swashbuckler is better at making friends than his foes, and his allies fight at his side because they love and respect him. Your fellow PCs, and every NPC in the world is your friend, and the ladies (or gentlemen if your rapier swings that way) *wiggles eyebrows*, they want to be more than friends. Buy your fellow PCs a drink, talk to the barkeep and flirt with the countess. Everyone you do something nice for will owe you a favour, and when you're on the run from the watch (for breaking an unjust law) call in those chips.
Great Skill - A swashbuckler is a master of his combat form, whether it is single blade, twin blade, archery or sword and shield none should match him in his style. When it comes time to stand and fight, you'll not back down from a duel, none can match you in your form and you should happily stand toe-to-toe with another fighter because when the odds are even you're glad to fight fair.
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Great Suggestions. I'd add The Crimsone Pirate to the list. It is one of the greatest swashbuckler movies I know.
GeraintElberion's opinion has my absolute agreement. The Errol Flynn one is pretty okay too (definately better than the first one mentioned - which frankly is pretty stupid).
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This is the superior Three Musketeers movie, especially for swashing of bucklers.
Sir! You have impugned my honour. I challenge you to a duel!
This is the superior Three Musketeers movie, especially for swashing of bucklers.Sir! You have impugned my honour. I challenge you to a duel!
One o' clock at Rue de Saint-Germain?
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One o' clock at Rue de Saint-Germain?This is the superior Three Musketeers movie, especially for swashing of bucklers.Sir! You have impugned my honour. I challenge you to a duel!
If you are to be his second then I agree to your terms.
I remember The Scarlet Pimpernel being amusing, though I haven't seen it since I was 10. Cyrano de'Bergerac is perhaps the prototype for the wordplay based swashbuckler whose tongue is as sharp as his sword, and twice as deadly.
Most eroll Flynn movies
I'm in the minority of people that actually really liked Cutthroat Island. Haters gonna hate.
Another more recent movie I thought included some great swashbuckling was Stardust.
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If you are to be his second then I agree to your terms.One o' clock at Rue de Saint-Germain?This is the superior Three Musketeers movie, especially for swashing of bucklers.Sir! You have impugned my honour. I challenge you to a duel!
I already have a duel scheduled for one o'clock. Would you be able to do a quarter past one?
Oh, and watch this.
Another more recent movie I thought included some great swashbuckling was Stardust.
Just a great movie in general, but excellent call nonetheless. Extra points for playing a cross dresser :)
Stardust +1, especially because it's a fantasy movie. (Same with Pirates of the Caribbean.)
Zorro is good, specifically Mask of Zorro. While it's not the best Zorro movie of all time, it does have a decent training sequence that gives some pointers on how to be Zorro.
If you like Anime, might I recommend Le Chevalier D'Eon. It's got swordplay, magic, and spirit possession. Plus it is (very loosely) based on a French diplomat and spy from the 18th century. And if you want extra points for playing a crossdresser, you can't really do better then the real life person, and the anime character isn't bad for it either.
Breaking Genre for a moment, most Jackie Chan movies involve innovative uses of the environment, a charismatic Jackie Chan and someone with great skill. It wouldn't be that difficult to imagine his character from Drunken Master fighting alongside Captain Jack Sparrow.
I haven't seen the Prince of Persia movie yet, but the video games very clearly have swashbuckling aspects in a very different context then the typical pirate or western fantasy setting.
Sinbad is another archetypal swashbuckler, but unfortunately, I can't think of a good movie to illustrate this.
A swashbuckling movie that seems nearly forgotten is Nate and Hayes, a pirate movie set in the South Pacific starring Tommy Lee Jones.
Swashbuckler, starring Robert Shaw, James Earl Jones, Peter Boyle, and Beau Bridges as Major Folly.
Lots of fun lines, even if the story leaves something to be desired.
Also, Pirates, by Roman Polanski. Starring Walter Matheau as Captain Red! This one doesn't exist on DVD, though . . . .
Still, a very fun movie.
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Ok I might get hate for this but if you're looking for inspiration as far as COMBAT swashbuckling, you should really check out this version of the Musketeer.
The only really awesome actor in the whole bit is Tim Roth, but he's pretty cool in anything in my opinion.
In any case, the fight sequences are amazing and it's always the movie I go to when I start thinking about playing the type.
Pirates of Penzance
I believe someone mentioned The Scarlet Pimpernel. It's got some swashbuckling, although the Pimpernel may fall better under "dashing swordsman."
Viggo Mortensen did a version of Captain Alatriste, based on a series of books by Arturo Pérez-Reverte about a 17th century Spanish soldier and swashbuckler. It's a bit moodier than the average swordsman movie, but pretty interesting. You'll have to view it with English subtitles, unless you understand Spanish. If your a fan of the novels, you may also be a bit disappointed.
Ok I might get hate for this but if you're looking for inspiration as far as COMBAT swashbuckling, you should really check out this version of the Musketeer.
The only really awesome actor in the whole bit is Tim Roth, but he's pretty cool in anything in my opinion.
In any case, the fight sequences are amazing and it's always the movie I go to when I start thinking about playing the type.
I thought The Musketeer was okay, although if they'd changed just a liitle bit more it wouldn't have had anything more than the setting and a few names in common with the source-material.
The Pirate Movie. *snicker*
As a fan of swashbuckler styles and films, I was going to suggest a few. However, most of the ones I would suggest are already mentioned.
Cutthroat Island was a bomb in theaters, but it's still a fairly fun pirate movie with over the top acrobatic swashbuckling
Master and Commander: Far Side of the World, like Rob Roy, has some great fight scenes
It's been a long time since I've seen it, but Romeo and Juliet (1968, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063518/)has several good fencing scenes
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, with bonus awesomeness from Ray Harryhausen
The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen
Ice Pirates
And... the Star Wars movies. The lightsaber duels are basically swashbuckling fencing matches. (Well... except for maybe Episode 4, the original Star Wars... that one was more like a kendo match...)
The first two Mummy movies are great swashbuckling adventures, and you could easily add all three Indiana Jones movies to the list.
Another great choice might be Brotherhood of the Wolf.
If you can find it, The Black Pirate with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. is a good one. Plenty of Fairbanks' trademark acrobatics!
I think this is just getting silly.
As such, something both silly AND swashbuckling: Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Scaramouche, oh! and Scaramouche!
They do their own stunts and its pretty amazing. The movy is from 1952 but the fencing is first class.