Here is a post by my American Combato Instructor, Bradley J. Steiner, who has forgotten more about hand-to-hand fighting than I’ll ever know–although I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten one bit of martial arts knowledge.
No doubt about it, fight scenes are an exciting and essential component of just about all thriller fiction. What would From Russia With Love have been without that terrific hand-to-hand battle between Donovan Grant and James Bond on the Orient Express? And thank heavens that great author, the late Don Hamilton, gave his hero Matt Helm realistic unarmed combat, knife and gun skills with which to assist in the carrying out of his missions!
Unfortunately, many fight scenes in novels and in the cinema lack authenticity. Motion picture and TV shows provide sound effects for unarmed fights that would be more appropriate to a film depicting the battle for Iwo Jima. Damn! The slamming and the banging sound like the ordnance of an attacking marine battalion; way over the top for two men in a struggle.