Statistics:
RobRoySwordfight.avi
12.747mb
6.03min long
548x240
Liam Neeson, Tim Roth, & John Hurt
Video encoded with DivxPro 5.02
Audio encoded at standard MPEG Layer-3, 48 kBit/s, 48,000 Hz, Mono
Changes from the previous version include improved sound, video (MUCH improved), compression, and compression technique.
Here is an Ebert snipit that exemplifies why I like this scene so much:
The sword fighting sequence, staged by William Hobbs, is the best of its sort ever done. In most movie sword fights, the participants leap about effortlessly, their blades shimmering and clashing. Here we get the sense of the deadly stakes, and the great physical effort involved.
Cunningham chooses a rapier, Rob Roy a broadsword (their weapons reflect their personalities), and the fight is punctuated by passages of dead silence, except for heavy breathing. They become very tired. They are both wounded. The pauses grow longer, until the duel seems like a chess match in which thought counts for more than action. It is one of the great action sequences in movie history, and "Rob Roy" is a fabulous entertainment.