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.
