That article gives the perspective from the medievalist's POV.
Fencers, by which I mean participants in the sport as practiced in the Olympics since 1896, have a somewhat different take.
When I was a young man, I studied under a couple of fencing masters who had actually fought duels when they were young men.
Until the 1960s, Hollyweird used to hire professionals to stage movie fight scenes. Some of those are very good and, according to those who remembered the real thing, quite accurate--though exaggerated.
Of course, I'm talking about swords used in the 18th and 19th centuries, and not the 12th or 13th.
In the 60s, that aspect of Hollyweird went as wrong as everything else, and with two bright exceptions, the fencing in movies since then has been worse than crap.
The first bright exception: The Princess Bride, of course. For that movie, they actually hired a venerable professional to stage the fencing.
While Elwes and Patinkin weren't themselves skilled fencers, like Stewart Granger, Mel Ferrer, James Mason, Basil Rathbone, and Tony Curtis, to name just a few, they did exert considerable effort to make the fencing right.
(Of course, you want to yell, "Keep your d@mned elbow in!" at them, but far better than anything else since the 50s.)
I got to meet them and Robin Wright when they came to my fencing club doing research for Princess Bride. (I'll never forgive her for marrying Sean "Scumbag" Penn, when she had a shot at landing me and blew it.)
The second exception: The Duelists, with one of my favorite and one of my least favorite actors: Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine, respectively. They didn't do a spectacularly good job, but they did a creditable job.
To anyone interested in the subject, I would recommend "By the Sword," by Richard Cohen. I didn't agree with him on every little detail, but he did a great job overall. Besides, a few people I knew are mentioned in it.
Great story....Thanks for sharing that . I'll go check out the Cohen book.
BTW albeit ya reference the princess bride is there one good movie "best" sword fight you'd recommend ? Albeit just a graduate of E-Tool 101 fighting I was impressed with the old highlander series .....how did that rate for accuracy ?
Ah, 'The Duellists'. Good movie. First real movie Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Hannibal) directed. Very much a "Masterpiece Theater" feel to it. Recurring, varied, well-staged duels over 30 years between a couple guys who are honor-bound to kill each other, not sure why they are, and keep managing to not quite succeed.