Pain don’t hurt, but these punches do: 13 of cinema’s most brutal punches in the face
With the release of Amazon's Road House remake, The A.V. Club is looking at cinema's most intense clocks to the jaw
Film Features Frank Castle
With the release of Amazon’s MMA-inspired remake of Road House, The A.V. Club is looking at the most brutal, compelling, and consequential punches to the face in cinema. Now, we know what you’re thinking: isn’t Road House known for its throat rips? Yes, and here’s a quick ranking of throat-rip movies: 1) Road House, 2) MacGruber, and 3) Rambo. But throat rips or no throat rips, the punch is still the ace up any action hero’s sleeve and is no doubt an essential part of the Road House experience. For some, it’s even more violent than a throat rip, as evidenced by some of the bloodier jabs in this collection.
Of course, every list is always incomplete. There’s always another sucker punch on the horizon. Nevertheless, this is a great place to start if one wants to get their fill of knuckle-on-jaw action, so get out a bag of frozen peas and prepare to ice that shiner down.
30 Comments
As usual, the AV Club ignores the finest Australian kino.
Redneck guy punches Navy Seal in The Abyss. Also, any time Indy unleashes his fists of thunder!
The Graham Norton show interview with Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling is pretty funny. Ford hit Gosling for real on the Blade Runner 2049 set, and their recollections are amusing.
This is one of my favorite punches to the face, though it doesn’t meet the qualifications for this list.
If they include TV, then Oberyn Martell’s death in Game of Thrones would be at the top.
Can’t find the full clip, but H.I. punching his boss Glenn after he suggests a wife swap, who is revealed to land about 15 feet away, is my favorite.Runner-up: Sarah Silverman
Ed socking H.I. in the jaw when she picks him up after the diaper heist is also a good one.
100%. But the camera shot of Glenn hitting the ground with HI in the distance is an all-timer.
Gamergate 2 beat Kotaku and now they’ve shut down comments completely. LOL.
Bruce Willis in The Last Boy Scout “Touch me again and I’ll kill you” should be on the list.-d
Yes!!! That was one of the best moments of that great film.
Fantastic punch!
Excellent choice
Yes, and even if only because of the comeuppance for Kin’s self-satisfied “Ooh, baby!” after his final punch.
Instead of “in the interest of fairness”, you need to give Killer Klowns from Outer Space it’s own slide since it came out first.
List feels incomplete without this:
As good a place as any to mention that the Larian Studios story on Kotaku got so many comments about Spanfeller et al that someone just removed comments altogether.What pussies.
BTW, is there a reddit page for Kinja commenters in case this place goes belly-up or at least has comments shut off? I would miss y’all a little. Some of you more than others.
Okay, so – George McFly punched Biff so hard that Biff spun around twice before he fell, which was the first thing I thought of when I saw this list.Second best part of that scene is the very astonished look on George’s face as he starts to make a fist: he not only hasn’t punched anyone before, he hasn’t even made a fist…
Holly Gennaro-McClane punching the reporter at the end of Die Hard is most satisfying. That man truly had no dick.
Carlo being destroyed by Sonny Corleone. And one punch rocked his world without making contact.And I have a soft spot for Popeye’s first (only) spinach fueled punching of Bluto’s face.
How do you do a list like this, and not include Back To The Future?
The Independence Day is dumb. Brutal punches should only count between humans.
Favorites: “Marion, we gotta get outta here… duck!” at the start of the Cairo Sequence. Nothing beats a punch POV filmed from the thrower’s elbow as the punch goes back in deep – center frame. This one is simple & perfect.Runners up: Indy taking his first shot from the Big Guy at the Flying Wing Fight. Where his legs wobble and he goes down on his backside.Nasty: The Nazi Truck Driver who punches Indy in his shoulder GSW.
Three O’Clock High
I miss that discount Dean Wormer guy.
Sonny Chiba knocks a guy’s teeth out.
Hard Target, lol. Fun list! (heartbreaking dramatic punches aside.) I stan for Punisher: Warzone precisely because of the scene featured.
Probably doesn’t count, but Michael J Fox’s shovel against Don Harvey’s head in Casualties of War is as satisfyingly sickening as it gets. Apparently the sound department experimented tiredlessly with tools and sand bags to get the best bone-goes-mushy sound.