Best Martial Arts Movies

[Hong Kong Pooey]

Like Stickgrappler said, and one I had completely forgotten about, Hard Times! Great fighting flick that captures that era. Great characters.
Charlie Bronson was 54 when he made that, and, man, he was in shape. I think you guys will like it.

One other I had forgotten "When We Were Kings" a documentary about the Ali/Foreman fight, and all it's many trimmings. Won the Oscar for best documentary. If you're an Ali fan, or a boxing fan, this is a corker.

Ali Boomayay!

 

[Transk53]

Best of the Best has to be one of the cheesiest films I saw on VHS.

 

[Hong Kong Pooey]

Best of the Best has to be one of the cheesiest films I saw on VHS.

Yeah you're right, I remember watching that back in the day and have no desire to see it again. Eric Roberts, say no more.

Maybe we need another thread for crap MA films...

 

[donald1]

I still own a VHS player and a lot of VHS tapes, but then DVD came out

 

[tifire]

Bruce Lee swings Nunchucku good. when I practice Nunchucku and I hear the the whipping sound of the Nunchucku passes beside my head even though I'm mostly certain it won't hit me it still makes me nervous

I like how he catches the Nunchucku under his arm, it doesn't seem like much but to me it seems cool

What I like about that movie, the beginning hees training that student
Bruce lee: what was that an exhibition?! And when the student asks a question he would say don't ask its a good one!

And when roper thinks thinks he will fight lee, roper gets in the small boat :lfao:

I am a big fan of Bruce Lee. I was watching one of his interviews online and admired how smart he was by saying this:[h=1]“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”[/h]Too bad he died so early, or we would have a lot more classical Kung Fu movies.

 

[donald1]

Yes, I think he was supposed to be in a sequel for one of his movies? Never happened cause of early death

 

[Transk53]

Yeah you're right, I remember watching that back in the day and have no desire to see it again. Eric Roberts, say no more.

Maybe we need another thread for crap MA films...

There would be quite a few for it. I'll give you the next disaster film though. I know Dudikoff has made some double cheese, but this!!!!!!!

 

[Hong Kong Pooey]

Slight tangent, but a nomination for best baddie:

Am I the meanest? Am I the prettiest? Am I the baddest mofo low down around this town?

Sho Nuff!

If you haven't seen it, go find it & watch it - The Last Dragon

 

[PhotonGuy]

Another one I liked was Red Belt.
:asian:

I saw Red Belt, I wasn't too pleased with it. The plot was way too crazy.

 

[PhotonGuy]

I'm sort of inclined to agree, but for two things.

Firstly, I doubt if anyone really expects a movie to be realistic. We watch movies to relax. They are entertainment. Nothing more. I think if you think back to when you were a kid, you'll probably remember that you realised that even back then? I certainly did.

Secondly, movies definitely have some value in martial arts. When I used to do karate many years ago, you could always tell when Karate Kid had been on telly, because we'd get a load of new starters within a few days. When I switched to kung fu, the same happened if Jackie Chan had been on the box. Movies sometimes inspire. Ok, people start and think it is going to be a case of wax on wax off, paint the fence etc for a few weeks and then suddenly they're winning prestigious tournaments. They quickly realise that it is lots of pressups, situps, stretches etc, and lots of very repetitive movement, and a little bit of very unskilled scrapping to attempt to apply it all, and that's all it is for at least the first few months. People then off drift off and stop coming, but some don't. Some keep it up. Some more (like me I guess) leave it alone for years, but never really lose interest, and then go back later once they've matured enough to develop patience and commitment and realistic expectation etc.

I think if as a kid I'd never seen a martial arts film, but had seen some tournaments, I don't think I'd have been that interested. Sure some moves look (and are) really impressive, but the real match is mostly two people dancing around each other for a while, and then a couple of kicks or punches get dodged, and someone wins on points.

Even as a kid I knew that the fight scenes weren't real in that the weren't really hitting each other full force and nobody was really getting hurt but I did think that's what martial arts was really like with all the high kicks and fancy stuff they do when in fact, you don't use such stuff in real martial arts all that much. Some children do believe such stuff is real though. I once went to a martial arts camp and lots of the children there were around the ages of 12 and under. The instructor talked a bit about martial arts movies and how they're all fake. Some of the children started saying that the movie Bloodsport was real. They thought all the fight scenes in the movie was real. The instructor then explained that Bloodsport was real in that its based on a real story about this guy fighting in this event, but that all the fight scenes were all fake and choreographed. So children will sometimes believe such stuff is real.

Yes martial arts movies can teach important values and The Karate Kid is a good example of that, although lots of people are not big fans of Daniel. I've heard him being called Danielle, Whineielle, ect. Lots of people say he deserved all that he got from the Cobra Kai, especially after he doused Johnny with the water hose. And, the movie also somewhat emphasizes the idea that MA training at the YMCA is not all that good. Aside from learning from the book, prior to his move to Reseda, Daniel had taken some lessons at his local YMCA before he got clobbered in his first fight with Johnny. On boards that discuss the movie, there have been people who talk about how YMCA training is bad, this one guy talked about how he knows somebody who got a black belt at a YMCA program and was terrible, and people say how in his first fight with Johnny how Daniel was "standing in his YMCA stance" right before he gets pounded by Johnny in the "now we're even," scene. Im not saying that I agree with this or that I believe what they say about YMCA programs, that's just what the movie tends to say and some of its viewers share that viewpoint.

 

[Transk53]

Slight tangent, but a nomination for best baddie:

Am I the meanest? Am I the prettiest? Am I the baddest mofo low down around this town?

Sho Nuff!

If you haven't seen it, go find it & watch it - The Last Dragon

Yeah, may have too

 

[PhotonGuy]

So to those who teach or train at YMCAs, what do you think of The Karate Kid?

 

[donald1]

One thing I noticed about the karate kid movie it looked like he was doing seiunchin kata

, never been to YMCA(always assumed it was a gym like gold gym or planet fitness but nope... More variety in classes) regardless though, in my opinion it would be cool if they added more variety in kata maybe more fight scenes or variety in karate styles

 

[Hong Kong Pooey]

Yeah, may have too

Go for it dude!

 

[Transk53]

So to those who teach or train at YMCAs, what do you think of The Karate Kid?

I liked the Jackie one best.

 

[donald1]

I like the second one with dan huso and miyagi go to okinawa

Isn't the third one when they come back to the us or is the third one the one with the girl or maybe that's the fourth one...

 

[PhotonGuy]

The third one is when they come back to the U.S. and are confronted by Sensei Kreese and his Vietnam buddy turned multi millionaire entrepreneur Terry Silver and recruit a new bully, Mike Barnes, to give Daniel a hard time. The fourth one is where its a girl and Daniel is not in it.

 

[Dirty Dog]

So to those who teach or train at YMCAs, what do you think of The Karate Kid?

It's fine, for that genre of movie, but it really has nothing whatsoever to do with any MA program offered at any YMCA, since all he says is he went to a few classes. How good do you expect anybody to be after a few classes? I'll be happy to judge your entire school by the skills of the white belts, if you like. Actually, to be equivalent, I'd need to judge all commercial schools by one single white belt.

Seems like a really stupid thing to do, if you ask me.

One thing I noticed about the karate kid movie it looked like he was doing seiunchin kata

, never been to YMCA(always assumed it was a gym like gold gym or planet fitness but nope... More variety in classes) regardless though, in my opinion it would be cool if they added more variety in kata maybe more fight scenes or variety in karate styles

Programs vary widely. Ours has two pools, golf, the usually strength and cardio training gear, yoga, Tae Kwon Do, Danzan Ryu Jujutsu, Tai Chi, gymnastics, various team sports, a climbing wall...

 

[PhotonGuy]

In The Karate Kid most of the main actors had very little martial arts training so if you're looking for a movie where the main character displays really good martial arts you won't find it in that due to the fact that Ralph Macchio more or less took a crash course just so he could learn what he needed for the movie. The only people in the movie that I am aware of who really had a good martial arts background was Ron Thomas who played Bobby, Chad McQueen who played Dutch, and Darryl Vidal who was mostly involved in the making of the movie and the behind the scenes stuff although he did play a role in the tournament as the semi finalist and lots of fans say his martial arts is perhaps the best in the entire movie. I am inclined to agree, seeing how he performed in his scenes. Aside from that, Im not sure if and what kind of martial arts training any of the more minor characters had.

Anyway, the film is to a great extent about taking on challenges and dealing with difficult situations. You see that in the sequels too. So it goes beyond just looking flashy and doing all sorts of fancy martial arts techniques. If you want that sort of stuff check out just about any Van Damne film.

 

[Transk53]

In The Karate Kid most of the main actors had very little martial arts training so if you're looking for a movie where the main character displays really good martial arts you won't find it in that due to the fact that Ralph Macchio more or less took a crash course just so he could learn what he needed for the movie. The only people in the movie that I am aware of who really had a good martial arts background was Ron Thomas who played Bobby, Chad McQueen who played Dutch, and Darryl Vidal who was mostly involved in the making of the movie and the behind the scenes stuff although he did play a role in the tournament as the semi finalist and lots of fans say his martial arts is perhaps the best in the entire movie. I am inclined to agree, seeing how he performed in his scenes. Aside from that, Im not sure if and what kind of martial arts training any of the more minor characters had.

Anyway, the film is to a great extent about taking on challenges and dealing with difficult situations. You see that in the sequels too. So it goes beyond just looking flashy and doing all sorts of fancy martial arts techniques. If you want that sort of stuff check out just about any Van Damme film.

That is what is happening even more now as far as I am concerned. With modern day CGI, you don't even need an actor, just a likeness and a synthespian. That happend with Judge Dredd and that was years ago.