Love it or hate it, 2004's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is a pretty iconic film. Directed by the Academy Award-nominated Adam McKay, though it may fit in well with other outlandish and juvenile 2000s comedy films, its memory remains a permanent footprint on internet culture. The memes, the GIFs, the endless quotations of "I'm in a glass case of emotion!" or "60% of the time, it works every time", have kept Anchorman in the cultural zeitgeist 20 years later. It's a great comedy with a lot of lines people remember, a film full of zany moments that still have something to say about workplace sexism. The best parts of the film truly are how insane it gets, from dogs being thrown off bridges only to return and communicate with bears, to the larger-than-life main quartet. There is one scene that encapsulates both its staying power and its hilarious wackiness, and it's the best scene in a 2000s comedy.
The scene comes out of nowhere, that's the funniest thing about it. The gang simply get lost on the way to a store. Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Champ Kind (David Koechner), and Brick Tamland (Steve Carrell) are set upon by the evening news team, who circle them on ten-speeds, headed up by Wes Mantooth (Vince Vaughn). What seems like a four-on-four rumble quickly expands as Channel 2 News, led by Frank Vitchard (Luke Wilson) follows with his team, the public news team, and the Spanish news team. A five-team war ensues, with the next minute being dedicated to bloodshed and violence before the police arrive and everyone scatters. Immediately cut to Ron holding a beer and saying the most famous line of the film: "Boy, that escalated quickly."
The Street Fight Was A Risky Shoot That Paid Off
It's the little details that make this scene work, as it constantly one-ups its insanity and defies expectations. You think it's going to be a Sharks vs Jets-style rumble with chains and switchblades, but then Brick is holding a grenade. The weapons become more and more outlandish; a sword, nunchucks, and horses. There's the classic stipulation of "No touching of the hair or face", and an even more classic Wilhelm scream. The Itchy and Scratchy-style gore of Frank getting his arm severed and Brick killing someone with a trident. The best part is that it comes out of nowhere, leaves just as quickly, and the fight is never mentioned again. I could go on about all the funny things that happen in this sequence, but it's important to shout out those behind the scenes that made it work so well.
Much of the information we have about the scene is from this 2013 article from Vulture magazine, an oral history by McKay, Ferrell, and various production crew members. The studios, in their infinite wisdom, wanted to cut this scene because they didn't see the point of it. They eventually relented and allocated a couple of days to shoot it. Despite their fairly limited budget and time constraints, the idea got bigger and bigger, with cameos from Wilson, Ben Stiller, and Tim Robbins (who insisted on the pipe and turtleneck). Naturally, they thoroughly rehearsed beforehand. It was a risky shoot with a lot of stunts that could be dangerous if not properly executed. A real star of the scene is the film's prop master, Scott Maginnis, who laid out all the weapons, both modern and medieval, for people to choose the ones that seemed right for their character. Everyone put a lot of consideration into what their news anchor would be brandishing.
The scene was shot in downtown Los Angeles on a scorching hot day, with dozens of planned shots they had to complete. The thought of the actors and stunt performers having to do a high-impact action shoot in 100-degree heat while wearing blazers is agonizing in itself. But then you remember the one poor guy who was set on fire on the scene. The stunt was performed twice (in the safest way possible, of course), once for a tracking shot of the burning man, and once for a shot of him just walking through the chaos. Everyone pulled it together, and thankfully no one passed out from heatstroke or got injured in a stunt. It was a chaotic, exhausting shoot that worked perfectly against all odds. McKay said of the shoot:
I don’t think I’ve ever had a day like that, and we’ve done all kinds of crazy sh*t. To this day, that’s still the craziest day I’ve ever had. And that scene, more than any scene in the movie, became the signature thing, in the sense that you had the feeling that the movie could do anything.
The Failed Follow-Up, And The Continued Influence Of The Burgundy Brawl
As the most iconic scene in the film, it was only natural for McKay and Company to do a callback in the sequel. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues isn't as good as the first film. It's good but not great, and certainly nothing new. Not wanting to simply rehash the same joke, the brawl in Anchorman 2 goes even bigger. The number of cameos has increased to include big names like Jim Carrey, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Liam Neeson, among others. The ideas introduced are even more wild, with the Minotaur, the ghost of Stonewall Jackson (John C. Reilly), and werewolves now added to the mix in an attempt to make it a grand slapstick spectacle.
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In a way, this excess cheapens the scene and loses sight of why the original worked so well. The first street fight didn't need to be integrated into the plot at all for it to work. What made it funny was that it didn't make sense. It just came and went like all the best jokes do. There are some funny lines in there, especially as each news crew is being introduced, but there was also no reason for a lot of the characters to even be there. In the original, each combatant was part of the same city's news cycle, competing for ratings with the same audience. By making it a bigger, more international brawl, it loses its meaning, and you wonder what the point of it was beyond: "Well, we did it in the first movie."
It's an important distinction because this is a scene with an enduring legacy, a scene that people liked to recreate because it was fun. And not just people messing around on YouTube, but actual newscasters. On the 10th Anniversary of the original film, Australian television channel SBS created Broadcast Battleground. Newscaster and cultural icon Lee Lin Chin became a target of every anchor in the Australian news cycle. It wasn't a shot-for-shot remake, but the anchors put their spin on it and weren't afraid to laugh at themselves. This goes to show that the scene truly made the film so internationally beloved, and out of every bout of comedy violence, this is as good as it gets.
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
PG-13
In the 1970s, an anchorman's stint as San Diego's top-rated newsreader is challenged when an ambitious newswoman becomes his co-anchor.
- Release Date
- July 9, 2004
- Director
- Adam McKay
- Cast
- Will Ferrell , Christina Applegate , Paul Rudd , Steve Carell , David Koechner , Fred Willard
- Runtime
- 94 minutes
- Main Genre
- Comedy
- Writers
- Will Ferrell , Adam McKay
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is available to stream on Apple TV+