No Retreat No Surrender (1986)
Director: Corey Yuen
Stars: Kurt McKinney, Jean Claude Van Damme, Timothy D Baker
Despite the box art, this movie doesn't star Jean Claude Van Damme, but Kurt McKinney as all american kid and stalker of the late Bruce Lee, Jason Stillwell. After his family moves to a new town, Jason tries to fit in with a new karate school, but if you've seen Karate Kid, you know that these guys are going to be giant dickheads. After begging the tombstone of Bruce Lee to help him, he actually does and Jason helps saves the asshole Dojo (and his suddenly popping up out of nowhere girlfriend) by battling the evil russian... who IS Jean Claude Van Damme. Dude's in this movie like 15 minutes tops. I hate lying VHS covers.
Six Things I've Learned From No Retreat No Surrender
1. This film throws us for a loop right off the bat when Jason's dad, getting beat up by some mobsters, actually retreats AND surrenders by moving to another town.
2. Every kid in the 80's was required to have a hip breakdancing friend assigned to them. Jason got one who also enjoys dressing up like Michael Jackson. What a lucky boy!
3. Why is the comic fat guy so disgusted by Jason's Bruce Lee fetish? The fat bastard takes karate himself! Or maybe they just have a good buffet there.
4. The mob guy clapping his hands gleefully like a little girl while Van Damme "breaks" the asshole dojo members is a highpoint.
5. The guy playing Jason's dad, while in reality a real karate champion, would have also been right at home "acting" in an Ed Wood film. So wooden he took a sidejob as paneling on a stationwagon.
6. The Bruce Lee in this film is played by Tai Chung Kim, who was the stand in for the real Lee when he died during the filming of Game of Death. No truth to the rumor that the cardboard cutout of Lee was originally asked to play Jason's dad.
I love and hate this movie. The dad was such a douche his son should of also kicked his ass with all that bitching he was always doing. I love Bruce Lee. The Bruce Lee in this movie though was horrible. I was like wtf every scene the fake Bruce Lee was in oh god no more of that. On the other hand, Jean Claude Vann Damme was a bad ass one of his better movies, what does that say about JCVD though when this was one of his better movies and he was only it two scenes.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely about the dad, which is why it surprised me that he was such an asskicker in Bloodsport 2. Fake Bruce was about the only character Iiked, because I thought the kid was a wimpy bastard as well. How sad is it my favorite character is some guy pretending to be a dead guy?
DeleteJCVD was a badass in this though. And I do like this movie a hell of a lot more than Karate Kid.
The kid was a wimpy bastard but was it really his fault when that was his dad. I mean at least the kid was trying to do something and become better despite his dad. I also like this movie way more than karate kid. Karate Kid lost me when they asked me to believe the fry cook from Happy Days is some kind of mystical karate savant ummm no Fonzy maybe him no
ReplyDelete"Ayyyeeeeeee...sit on it!"
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