Today I am a Sad Ninja.
I am sad because I never made it to Hollywood, was never cast in a movie that involved swordplay, and thus, I never got to be coached by Bob Anderson. Now I’ll never have the chance, as Bob passed away New Year’s Day at the age of 89. Many of you might not know who Bob Anderson was, but I guarantee you have felt his genius. Let’s just get the list out of the way right up front, shall we gentle reader? Bob Anderson did stunt work on Superman II and for Bond films like Casino Royale (1967) and From Russia With Love. More importantly, he was the Swordmaster for The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Die Another Day, The Mask of Zorro, The Phantom, First Knight, The Three Musketeers, Alatriste, The Legend of Zorro, Highlander the Series, Highlander (the movie), Barry Lyndon, The Princess Bride, and 2 out of 3 Star Wars movies (Empire and Jedi). When you see Darth Vader fighting Luke Skywalker…it’s Bob Anderson wearing the suit. So let me state again, that today I am a sad ninja as I write this blog.
Anderson was a member of the saber fencing team that Great Britain sent to the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki where he finished tied for fifth place. He then coached the team to silver medal performances in Rome in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964. His career in cinema began in 1953 when he started choreographing fights for, and coaching, Errol Flynn in The Master of Ballantrae. During one rehearsal, he accidentally slashed Flynn on the thigh, leading to notoriety in Hollywood as being the man who stabbed Errol Flynn. He also trained Sean Connery, Antonio Banderas, Carey Elwes, Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp, Kiefer Sutherland, Viggio Mortensen, Catherine Zeta-Jones…and also Charlie Sheen and Lindsey Lohan. That was back when Charlie Sheen was mostly sane, and Lohan was a cute kid with freckles.
As I am a fan of watching swordfighting in movies, I have been a fan of Bob Andersons work long before I knew of him. Watching a fight choreographed by Bob Anderson resonates with you. You feel the emotion behind every swing, can feel your arm quiver with each riposte. Often times when I am puttering around the house I’ll throw in a movie to have on as background noise, and almost invariably I’ll have something on that has a credit to Bob Anderson. So I think we’ll have a little recap of my favorites of his works.
The Mask of Zorro: There is a lot of action in this gem from 1998, and pretty much all of it is done with a sword in hand. I had actually not watched this movie in quite a few years, but I popped it in as I was writing this blog post, and I am astounded at how non-stop the action really is. My brother, aforementioned for how awesome he is, spent hours figuring out exactly when to pause the movie so that you could see the glimpse of Catherine Zeta-Jones’ nipple. Anderson praised the athleticism of Antonio Banderas, “As far as swordplay is concerned, Antonio was the best and far superior to Errol Flynn.” That’s some high praise. Remind me never to challenge Banderas to a duel.
Highlander the Series: I have seen every single episode of Highlander. I am a bit of a Highlander fanboy, and you should expect a future blog to review the entire Highlander series. That said, I actually didn’t know Anderson had worked on this series until I started doing research for this post. Bad Ninja. He was the swordmaster for the first 28 episodes of the show, so you can add Adrian Paul to the long list of actors that can attribute their swordplay skills to Anderson. I already knew not to challenge Adrian Paul to a duel. Not saying I couldn’t take him out…but not in a fair fight. I am a ninja after all.
The Princess Bride: Fencing enthusiasts look at the fight between Westley (Carey Elwes) and Inigo (Mandy Patinkin) as the purest fencing duel ever put on cinema. That’s because when William Goldman wrote the novel, he took great pains to research fencing so he would have his terminology correct. Therefore when it came time to shoot the film, Anderson took those same great pains to make sure the actors knew how to properly perform those maneuvers, mainly because the characters are talking about what they are doing.
Inigo: You are using Bonetti’s defense against me, eh?
Westley: I thought it fitting, considering the rocky terrain.
Inigo: Naturally, you must expect me to attack with Capo Ferro.
Westley: Naturally…but I find that Thibault cancels Capo Ferro, don’t you?
Inigo: Unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa…which I have!
Rocco Bonetti opened the first School of Rapier Fence, or Colledge, at Blackfriars in London in 1576. He preferred to deflect jabs and wait for mistakes to be made rather than rush into attack. Ridolfo Capo Ferro taught a linear style of fencing, saying "The cut has little place in rapier play". Girard Thibault taught the Spanish Style of fencing in which parrying maneuvers ruined jabbing attacks. Camillo Agrippa was regarded as the man who defined the rapier as a thrusting weapon as well as one to be used for cutting. Oh, and yes…both actors did fence right and left-handed. And every shot of the fight is Elwes and Patinkin. No stunt doubles were used for the swordfighting.
Star Wars: There are three people I’ll credit as portraying Darth Vader. David Prowse, James Earl Jones, and Bob Anderson. Don’t even talk to me about prequels. Prowse, a Scottish bodybuilder, was not good with a blade, and Anderson couldn’t get him to perform the sword techniques well enough, so they just put him in the suit, put some lifts in his shoes to give him an extra 4 inches of height, and let Bob take the swings at Mark Hamil. For many years his role went uncredited until Hamill made it public in an 1983 interview. "Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader's fighting ... it was always supposed to be a secret. Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves more recognition." Of the fight in Empire Strikes Back when Vader famously severs Luke’s hand, Bob said, “It’s the first time I’ve doubled the baddie and won!”
His final work was done as Swordmaster for the upcoming film The Hobbit, which I cannot wait to see. In the 2009 documentary Reclaiming the Blade, Bob was quoted as saying, “I never took up the sword…I think the sword took up me.” Well said Bob. You will be missed.
Noah Westerfield is a fencer, a fighter, and a fierce flabby fanatic of fried fowl
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