# Martial art and movies



## Eric Daniel (Sep 30, 2005)

Hey guys
I started a thread about why people join martial arts and I got many responses so I thought I would post another thread. Now, including me, many people have joined the martial arts because of what they see in the movies with Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Jeff Speakman, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and many other martial artist who are also actors. Now I am pretty sure that in the movies the fight scenes are rehearsed. Movies are for *entertainment! *Martial arts in life are not the same as a movie.
I would like to here your thoughts on this subject, please post


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## terryl965 (Sep 30, 2005)

Well Martial movie are entertaining at best, but the problem is people get the wrong ideal about Martial Arts. They believe in what they see 25 on one and the one true Ma guys always wins. One of the best movies ever is Best of the Best starring Eric Roberts and Phillip Rhee it shows the commentment ones makes and the hard training that is evolved in the Arts, now movie like that are both entertaining and some what relistic. Now don't get me wrong I loved the flying Gillatine and old movies like that, and the One and Jackie Chan is one person I enjoy watching. Martial Law with samu was great for a weekly TV show and Texas Ranger with Chuck Norris was Ok. All in all the MA movies are ok with me.

Terry Lee Stoker


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## Bigshadow (Sep 30, 2005)

Eric Daniel said:
			
		

> Hey guys
> I started a thread about why people join martial arts and I got many responses so I thought I would post another thread. Now, including me, many people have joined the martial arts because of what they see in the movies with Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Jeff Speakman, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and many other martial artist who are also actors. Now I am pretty sure that in the movies the fight scenes are rehearsed. Movies are for *entertainment! *Martial arts in life are not the same as a movie.
> I would like to here your thoughts on this subject, please post


 The thing to consider about martial arts in the movies is that it is just theatrics. To make martial arts look good for cinema, you hav e to open up the interaction between the participants so that the camera can actually see what is going on. In real life the confrontation would happen much faster and in a more compact space so a camera wouldn't get much and the people watching would get even less for entertainment. Not only that, to make a fight sequence more appealing you have to not only make it bigger on the ground, you have to give it a much longer time segment. The next movie you watch where they are say... Sword fighting... Watch closely, they are not actually attempting to strike the other person, they simply smack each other's blades (over and over). It looks impressive cinematically but it is harmless realistically (like two kids whacking sticks together).

 As for other fighting sequences, I find it really loses it entertainment value when I see two people stand there and take turns slugging each other's faces. Anyway, those my thoughts on the subject.

 BTW, I got a lot of info from a special that was on Discovery or Learning Channel about the history of martial arts in the movies. It was pretty good.


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## oldnewbie (Sep 30, 2005)

Personally, I enjoy Jackie Chan, because He will include his mistakes in the blooper reels. I shows that He is choregraphing the moves, and what goes wrong, and the many times He had to practice those moves.

  Kinda takes the "magic" out of the movie, and puts in some realism.

  I am sad that He chose to use wires in his last couple of movies, but he is getting older.


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## Jelik (Oct 2, 2005)

Hahaha. just watch a martial arts tournament. No that is not pretty (normally), more of a street brawl!


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## Brother John (Oct 8, 2005)

Whatever gets people through the door is GREAT! That's the first step. But they need to be open-minded and receptive...no matter WHAT they are expecting to find. If so, they won't go away dissapointed or empty-handed.

Your Brother
John


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## Navarre (Oct 8, 2005)

terryl965 said:
			
		

> One of the best movies ever is Best of the Best starring Eric Roberts and Phillip Rhee


 That is my favorite martial arts movie as well, Terry. In fact, one of my favorite movies, period.

 Some may say it's a bit cheesy or a bit heavy-handed in its message but I'd rather see it any day than Seagal's "You messed with my family. Nobody messes with my family" followed by the 47 locks of death.

 The movie has heart and a message that espouses the true martial arts. I wish it was a more widely known movie.


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## mantis (Oct 8, 2005)

Eric Daniel said:
			
		

> Movies are for *entertainment! *Martial arts in life are not the same as a movie.


 true but movies played a huge role in advertising and educating people about MAs, plus there is a lot of movies that were aimed at showing the beauty and effectiveness of certain martial arts, Ong-Bak being one of them [tonyjaa.org]


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## Grenadier (Oct 8, 2005)

Navarre said:
			
		

> That is my favorite martial arts movie as well, Terry. In fact, one of my favorite movies, period.
> 
> Some may say it's a bit cheesy or a bit heavy-handed in its message


Yeah, the first "Best of the Best" was a pretty good movie.  At least that one had a decent story line, and didn't rely on too much camera work for the fights.  The rest of the series isn't worth watching. 

I think where some people get a bit negative on the first movie is in the nationalistic stereotyping they did for the Koreans.  Then again, since I'm Korean, I don't necessarily consider the stereotypes an insult.


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## arnisador (Oct 9, 2005)

I agree about the first Best of the Best!


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## Navarre (Oct 9, 2005)

Yes, I was only meaning the first Best of the Best. Almost any sequel or remake of a movie is worse than the original. It is most often not even made by the same people, just the studio using a name it now owns to capitalize on the first movie's recognizability.

 There are a few exception, of course, such as Spider-Man 2. No martial arts sequel or remakes that are better than the original jump immediately to mind.


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## Sapper6 (Oct 9, 2005)

damn people, how can you leave out ralph maccio? :idunno:

actually for me it is elizabeth shue.  i still have dreams of her licking my wounds after a fight.


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## Navarre (Oct 9, 2005)

Nah, I'll gladly give some credit to the first Karate Kid. Hollywood though it may be, it proceeded with some good lessons. Best of the Best far outshone it in terms of the definition of true "winning" but it was good overall. 

 I'm sure it also pulled a lot of kids into martial arts which is never a bad thing. We can't teach them about true martial arts if they don't show up.

 As for Elisabeth Shue...ummm, yeah...the woman has been graced with The Lungs of Heaven (is that an ancient Chinese phrase?)  :asian:


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## arnisador (Oct 9, 2005)

The First Kill or Be Killed was good, if one lets go of logic!


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## guromkb (Oct 9, 2005)

BILLY JACK....when I saw that flick as a squirt I imediately wanted to train. I'm still trying to figure out why he took those boots and that knife off when he went into the park to rumble....LOL


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## Eric Daniel (Oct 10, 2005)

A movie I saw that might draw kids into martial arts is the 3 ninjas. It has kids doing all kinds of martial art moves and has the kids's grandpa teaching very valuable lessons on martial arts, so if you have any kids and want to show them a good martial art movie for kids; get the 3 ninjas.


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## bluemtn (Oct 17, 2005)

I personally like Jackie Chan's newer movies-  sorry, I'm not into anything "serious" when it comes to MA movies.  3 Ninjas, and the Karate Kid movies were entertaining as well.


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## Solidman82 (Oct 17, 2005)

I am enraged by Ralph Maccio for one reason and one reason only. I tell people that I do martial arts and suddenly, I'm the Karate kid....... I've never done karate, never been in a karate tournament, never even stepped inside a karate dojo! STOP CALLING ME THIS!!!!

But I'm quite sure I'm not the only one on the forum or otherwise that's had this happen.


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## arnisador (Oct 17, 2005)

Oh yeah, all the time. But blame the writers and the producers, not the actor.


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## Solidman82 (Oct 17, 2005)

oh definitely, it's just annoying that every time people see a martial artist, they see Maccio


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## Navarre (Oct 17, 2005)

Y'know, Columbia Pictures had to pay DC Comics to even use the name "Karate Kid".  DC already has a character who goes by the name Karate Kid. 

He's a member of The Legion of Super-Heroes.  The comic is about a group of teenagers in the 30th (now 31st) century.  He's from Earth.  He's one of the foremost martial artists in the galaxy. ... just sayin'.


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## arnisador (Oct 17, 2005)

Is that true? I know of the charcater, but could DC really enforce a trademark on it against the movie?


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## Navarre (Oct 17, 2005)

I'm not kidding. If you watch the end credits of the movie, they refer specifically to DC Comics and the name "Karate Kid".


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## arnisador (Oct 17, 2005)

This slays me! I was a fan of the Legion as a kid, but thinking they had to pay for this...that's insane! Maybe they were just playing it safe.


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## Navarre (Oct 18, 2005)

Could be. The movie was popular so I'm sure they didn't want to risk having to pay royalities or damages. I mean, Daniel LaRusso (aka Daniel-san) is about as far from Val Armorr (aka The Legion's Karate Kid) as it gets. 

In the past The Legion's Karate Kid was a caucasian although the new series has revamped the characters and now he's Asian. Comics were never very PC back in the day. Almost everyone was white. The ones that weren't had names like Black Panther, Black Thunder..you get the picture. Fortunately things have evolved.


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## DutchKenpo (Oct 19, 2005)

Well I don't know exactly what film started my enthusiasm for MA, but I loved Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill.
They don't make films like that anymore. Too Bad.

grtz, Bob Hessel


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## AdrenalineJunky (Oct 28, 2005)

Paulo Tocha, Blood Sport (Sad, I know!)

















Hey, I was only, like, 10. Speakman got me interested in arnis (or whatever stick-fighting is called now-a-days) and EPAK. I still watch all those old, lame movies when they're on. . .I can't help myself.


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## Agrosch (Nov 7, 2005)

Jet Li, but not the actor. The real Jet Li. It's amazing, he's quite amazing. If you ever get the time read some of the Essays on his growing up in the Martial Arts. Quite a good read. 

I think it's good, while the fights are rehearsed and usually hammed up, they are real. Generaly. It's a good way to spread the intrest in martial arts. This is very good. I honestly believe that if the world was in Martial arts less tragedy would happen. Some still would because stupid peopel will always be stupid..
Anyways.
It's a good way to spread martial arts around the world.
I support it 100%.


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## OnlyAnEgg (Nov 8, 2005)

Movies, of course, spurred my interest in the arts.  Starting at a later age in life, I went into MA knowing full well I would never be Wong Fei Hung (as portrayed by Jackie Chan).  I went in because of movies. I stay because of me.

I agree that anything that creates an interest and desire for MA should be encouraged; be it Turtles, Chachis, Jackies, Jets, Bruces or Bunnies.


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## Solidman82 (Nov 8, 2005)

Um......I'm not so sure about the bunnies man.


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## Navarre (Nov 14, 2005)

If anyone cares, I found the original _Best of the Best_ on dvd at Best Buy this week. I had looked for years for it on dvd but it was unavailable. 

The dvd is simple; no booklet insert, cool design, or special features. I was glad to have found it though.


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## arnisador (Nov 14, 2005)

How much are they asking for it?


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## Navarre (Nov 14, 2005)

I think it was $14.99, standard price. Well worth it.


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## Solidman82 (Nov 14, 2005)

A classic TKD movie for all time, good job on the treasure Navarre.


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## Icewater (Nov 14, 2005)

Definately an early american karate classic.


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