Cheesy American Martial Arts Films [Archive]

AlbertV

05-02-2008, 07:05 PM

I just watched a movie called The Number One Girl, and it was a very cheesy martial arts actioner about a former kickboxing champion who is invited by his best friend, a London mobster, to be the judge at a beauty pageant..next thing you know, the champ falls for the #1 contestant, who the mobster has a thing for and then the champ has to fight the mobsters' bodyguards before taking his former buddy on in a fight to the death.

This was extremely cheesy and the fight scenes themselves were pretty badly edited. The film stars Vinnie Jones as the mobster, 2001 World Karate Champion Tony Schiena (WAKE OF DEATH) as the former champ and in his final film role before his death, Pat Morita as the host of the pageant.

So, I would like to know what American made martial arts films, whether it was a Hollywood A-list film or a straight to video B-Z movie you felt should join this film as some of the cheesiest bad martial arts film list?

Here's a few more for me:
Tiger Street - It started off having potential but I expected a better final showdown between Julian Lee and Christophe Clark. Would have been Tae Kwon Do vs. Freestyle Karate.

Equal Impact - Twin taekwondo brothers Jay and Joe Gates play twin MA champions and one of them is kidnapped forcing the other to find him. There aren't exactly enough good fighters in the film overall to save the film, but the Gates Brothers are really good and did the best they can to work with the fight scenes.

Cyborg Cop - David Bradley's possibly worst action film. The major problem comes in the fight scenes. Sometimes, the camera angle was so bad that in one scene, he completely misses kicking a thug, but the thug played it off as getting hit. That's how bad this was.

Chinatown Kid

05-02-2008, 10:51 PM

Don Wilson's original Bloodfist has to be on that list, although Bloodfist 2 wasn't too bad with some nice fights. Also Ring of Fire(another Don Wilson flick), To Be The Best, Final Impact and Street Crimes(all starring Micheal Worth), King of the Kickboxers, No Retreat/No Surrender films, Tiger Claws and Shootfighter(both starring Bolo), and Blood Moon starring Gary Daniels to name a few. Not saying all of these are bad either, some I quite enjoyed.

AlbertV

05-02-2008, 11:22 PM

Same here...speaking of Michael Worth..just did his profile on the main page.

I just thought of a few more:

American Streetfighter - Gary Daniels
Full Impact - Gary Daniels
Capital Punishment - Gary Daniels
Future War - Daniel Bernhardt (before Bloodsport 2)

Personally, I like the martial arts films made by PM Entertainment because it seems they knew how to edit fight scenes at times. Loved the way the fight scenes were edited in RING OF FIRE, with the double takes from different angles mixed with some very nice slow motion shots.

Monk Sante

05-03-2008, 01:32 AM

I have 2 titles for ya,'Kill or be killed' & Kill & Kill agian.
Oldies & cheesy just the way I like em.
Opps I forgot these are not American films, can't forget those accents.

OK, I'll throw in the Cheesy Sho Kosugi films from the 80's.

:D

MasterDrunk

05-03-2008, 03:00 AM

:D Yer AlbertV that Number One Girl was a cheesy stinker. I recently found a free {thank god} download of it. Being from UK I was curios as Vinnie Jones is big over here and i thought whats this? it never made it into Blockbusters/cinema's, now i know why lol{he'll do anything for a few quid/bucks low}. To add to your list id put all the Karate Kid movies for although i enjoyed them as a kid, there was more cheese in those than an Edam factory. And anyone who disagrees you can wax off!

Morgoth Bauglir

05-03-2008, 03:06 AM

American Chinatown. One of the most poorly made movies I have ever seen.

AlbertV

05-03-2008, 04:34 AM

All the sad too because the star of American Chinatown, Taejoon Lee, is the son of the founder of Hwarang-Do. I did like Bobby Kim as the mentor though it would have been nice to see him fight in the film.

Is it just me or is Bloodfist the most copied movie since Fist of Fury?

Bloodfist (Don Wilson)
Full Contact (Jerry Trimble)
Angel Fist (the late Cat Sassoon)
Dragon Fire (Dominic La Banca)
Bloodfist 2050 (Matt Mullins)

Same plot...fighter enters tournament to avenge sibling's death with "surprise twist" in the end.

Endsang

05-03-2008, 08:43 AM

You seem to be forgetting STREET FIGHTER, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme! Then again, I find pretty much all American martial arts movies cheesy, more or less. Could also mention Best of the Best, especially with the sobbing finale. Bloodsport and Kickboxer are also indeed cheesy, but in a good way, and they actually feature some pretty decent martial arts!

Tantheman

05-03-2008, 11:43 AM

Has anyone seen Angel Town, this late 80s, early 90s cheesy looking American actioner starring Kickboxing champion Olivier Gruner? I've seen the trailer about a thousand times on some VHS copies of movies like Above Law (aka Above the Law). I always thought it looked worth a watch for some strange reason

TibetanWhiteCrane

05-03-2008, 12:59 PM

It's pretty bad Tantheman....! I have BLOODSPORT,KICKBOXER, NRNS, KING OF THE KICKBOXERS, AMERICAN NINJA, and thats about it for american MA flicks! I can dig em' for their 80's cheesiness. But when I wan't real action, I look East!

GungFuFighter

05-03-2008, 01:10 PM

No Retreat, No Surrender
American Shaolin
King of Kickboxers
Bloodsport
Kickboxer 1, 2, and especially 4
American Kickboxer

Tigerstyles

05-03-2008, 02:06 PM

Angel Town is not cheese its class! shame theres no DVD release

Tantheman

05-03-2008, 02:17 PM

Tigerstyles, dude, you must be joking. From the trailer it looks like cheese city! But do you actually think its good?

kingofkungfu2002

05-03-2008, 02:35 PM

I still have Angel Town on VHS, and although I haven't seen it in ages, I remember it being okay. I agree, I'm also surprised it hasn't been released on DVD.

I'll add a couple of movies to the list though:

Ironheart (Bolo, Richard Norton)
Breathing Fire (Jonathan Ke Quan, Jerry Trimble, Bolo)

AlbertV

05-03-2008, 02:44 PM

I have Angel Town on VHS (taped it from cable) and it was pretty cheesy. It gives a message about joining gangs and Olivier Gruner does some pretty nifty kickboxing scenes in the film, but he doesn't have any real opponents worth mentioning. I did like Peter Kwong's appearance as Gruner's friend and a fellow martial arts instructor.

Trivia: Playing the driver of Angel's gang was a pre-fame Mark Dacascos.

TibetanWhiteCrane

05-03-2008, 03:02 PM

Talking about 80's cheese.... THE LAST DRAGON has em' all beat! Sho nuff' the ghetto samurai.... holy balls, who wrote this...??!!

But it is funny as hell though!

Chinatown Kid

05-03-2008, 03:15 PM

I went to see all of Van Damme's cheesy movies in the early 90's like Death Warrant, Lionheart, Double Impact, and Universal Soldier and did enjoy them at the time, he was the only one putting out major movies featuring martial arts action in the US beside Stevan Seagal at the time. He wasn't that good of an actor but he did have charisma and some nice kicks and flexibility. It's a shame he got on dope(Cocaine)later in his career and he took a backslide and lost alot of respect from fans.

gravedigger666

05-03-2008, 03:23 PM

I watched today American Ninja#5,it was quite cheesy.

kingofkungfu2002

05-03-2008, 03:28 PM

I watched today American Ninja#5,it was quite cheesy.

Ah yes, James Lew in a cape :D

rawtee

05-03-2008, 03:31 PM

I have an odd one called "Breathing Fire" starring Jonathan Ke Quan AKA the character "DATA" from the Goonies (that 80's film if you might rememebr". The movie seems reminiscent of something Roy Horan would do (a la superfights)but out of no where Bolo Yeung was bored and played the villain. Its preeeety cheesey but rare I think. Looks like it was shot on a home video camera.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101509/

kingofkungfu2002

05-03-2008, 03:49 PM

Plus, it features Bolo in drag :eek:

Endsang

05-03-2008, 06:32 PM

Anyone seen/heard of a movie called "Gladiator Cop", starring Lorenzo Lamas?
I don't really remember if it was a MA movie, but it was indeed cheese royale.

AlbertV

05-03-2008, 08:22 PM

Plus, it features Bolo in drag :eek:

Yeah and guess who the fight choreographer and executive producer of BREATHING FIRE was???...Tan Tao-Liang!!!! Using the fake name "Delon Tanners", he took the story from Shaolin Deadly Kicks, modernized it and added a twist involving the Vietnam War.

Bloodmatch - good story, bad execution.
Thom Mathews was a definite miscast as the kickboxer who interrogates four former champions who screwed his brother by fighting them one-by-one in the ring. I credit Benny "The Jet" (who choreographed the fights) for trying, but Mathews pretty much looked bad. I would have loved to see someone with the caliber of a Jerry Trimble or hell, Sasha Mitchell in Mathews' role.

lightning hopkins

05-03-2008, 09:05 PM

Ninja Turf [aka the much catchier L.A. Streetfighter] (1985) is another great moment in lowbrow American martial arts filmmaking.

Directed by Woo-sang Park, the same guy responsible for the previously mentioned American Chinatown (as well as several earlier Korean epics featuring, among others, superkicker Hwang Jang Lee himself), Ninja Turf brings together actual martial arts semi-luminaries like Jun Chong, Philip Rhee, James Lew, and Bill Wallace, and then spoils their great fight scenes and solid choreography with amateurish camerawork and a lame storyline.

Catchy '80's synthesizer theme music that runs through the movie almost makes up for all the faults, though.

gorhama

05-03-2008, 09:20 PM

Plus, it features Bolo in drag :eek:

Oh yeah.....Bolo made one helluva ugly woman!! :D

I love Breathing Fire for how terribly bad it is. The fight scenes are fun and "Shorty" er I man Key He Kwan looked good, I'm shocked he didn't do any more martial arts "B" movies.

kingofkungfu2002

05-03-2008, 10:12 PM

Oh yeah.....Bolo made one helluva ugly woman!! :D

'Enter The Drag-Queen' :D

Morgoth Bauglir

05-03-2008, 10:22 PM

Only Bolo can wear a dress and still look like a badass.

Bus

05-04-2008, 01:02 PM

that movie showdown was straight up cheese and morgoth don't worry i'm gonna send you a copy of black eagle for christmas :)

Bravery

05-05-2008, 02:18 AM

Talking about 80's cheese.... THE LAST DRAGON has em' all beat! Sho nuff' the ghetto samurai.... holy balls, who wrote this...??!!

But it is funny as hell though!

I loved that movie growing up, still do, I watched it last night on TV One. I learned how to ask the ladies to teach me some moves.

But I always found Best of the Best 3 complete cheese.

Morgoth Bauglir

05-05-2008, 02:26 AM

I agree. The story was horrible, and were we actually supposed to believe that the Nazi guy was a good opponent for Phillip Rhee? The only thing I remember liking about BOB 3 was seeing Phillip rhee kick people's ass while wearing a clown costume.

Bravery

05-05-2008, 02:41 AM

I laughed pretty much through the entire movie, i've not seen the fourth one though. I liked the first two, second more than the first, but they really jumped over board with the third.

Morgoth Bauglir

05-05-2008, 02:54 AM

I don't think most people like part 4, but I liked it. I remember it was intense at times, and also pretty violent. I don't remember the fights being good, but I thought it was an above average movie.

that movie showdown was straight up cheese and morgoth don't worry i'm gonna send you a copy of black eagle for christmas :)

lol, I just noticed your post. Good one.

Bus

05-05-2008, 01:53 PM

haha morgoth, but i liked part 4 also i bought the whole collection on 2 disks for like $10... i'm still sad because perfect weapon hasn't gotten a good release.. haha have you seen G2 mortal conquest? cheese

AlbertV

05-05-2008, 04:30 PM

I thought BOB4 was the worst of the series. To me, Rhee didn't have any good competition in it. I did like the clown fight sequence in BOB 3.."I'm Homey, the Killer Clown". Just that line alone made me laugh.

I got another...The Substitute sequels. Simon Rhee (Philip's big bro) was stunt coordinator on all the sequels and appeared in the final one, Failure is Not an Option, as the only good opponent for Treat Williams (who I believe was a student of Rhee's for the films). The sequels kind of reminded me of something you would see on Walker: Texas Ranger.

CrazyFrog

05-05-2008, 09:52 PM

What about Gymkata???? Ah yes, a pommel horse- NOW I can kick some ass!

rawtee

05-06-2008, 02:22 AM

What about Gymkata???? Ah yes, a pommel horse- NOW I can kick some ass!

lol

Chinatown Kid

05-06-2008, 02:41 AM

Yeah ole Gymkata might have been the cheesiest of them all. "The skill of Gymnastics combined with the kill of Karate" lol. Maybe that flick is what killed Conan Lee's career, I know it killed Kurt Thomas's before it ever had a chance to start. I can't remember who played the princess in that film but she was damn hot!:D

Bravery

05-06-2008, 07:51 AM

She was the only redemable thing about the movie, I can't remember her name either but she was also in Bruce Lee's Dragon fights back with Bolo.

Endsang

05-06-2008, 07:58 AM

AlbertV

05-06-2008, 06:17 PM

The storyline in Bloodsport 3 was awful, with the whole father and son bonding with kumite tales at the campfire. I mean, Bloodsport 2 was bad as well, but had some entertainment value. Can't do it without the Claude.

Ironically, Van Damme WANTED to do Bloodsport 2. Schedule conflicts prevented him from doing it and Daniel Bernhardt came in.

Chinatown Kid

05-06-2008, 09:42 PM

Van Damme definately should have done Bloodsport 2 instead of that aweful movie The Quest. Hey what a minute, The Quest had basically the same plot as the original Bloodsport but lacked the same magic. The fighters he had in The Quest just seemed to suck. Van Damme seemed to hit his peak with Universal Soldier and after that started going downhill.

The Dragon

05-06-2008, 10:28 PM

I got them all beat...

FORCE FIVE, and the ultimate ETD rip-off...

Men Of The Dragon.
:p

Chinatown Kid

05-07-2008, 11:13 PM

I've seen Force:Five and the only redeeming thing about that flick was Benny Urquidez but of course it was nothing like his performance in Wheels On Meals and Dragon's Forever.:p

Never have seen Men of the Dragon, was that an actual theatrical release or was it one of those made for tv movies?

HyperDrive

05-08-2008, 12:55 AM

Never heard of Force:Five or Men of the Dragon.

One I'd add is Death Promise aka Slumfighter. A late 70's/early 80's movie where a guy fights evil landlords. It has one of the best cheesy quotes: "Help! Help! They are putting rats in the building!"

AlbertV

05-08-2008, 11:48 PM

AlbertV

05-10-2008, 12:41 PM

Got a very interesting one I watched On Demand yesterday...PREY OF THE JAGUAR. This was extremely cheesy. It starred Maxwell Caulfield (GREASE 2, EMPIRE RECORDS) as Derek Leigh, an ex-cop who after nailing a major drug lord (Trevor Goddard, Kano from MORTAL KOMBAT), enters the witness protection program with his family. The drug lord escapes from prison tracks Leigh's family down and kills them. Derek, thirsting for revenge, finds a notebook of his late son's drawings, which include a superhero called Jaguar. Under the tutelage of Master Yee (John Fujioka, AMERICAN NINJA), Derek trains in martial arts and becomes The Jaguar...

I swaer if you see this costume he wore, it looked like something you would see in those 80's space cartoons. Kind of like a cross between RoboCop and Chuck Norris' Karate Kommandos.

Caulfield has a dance background, so he did some pretty decent MA, but the choreography was typical cheesy American style..even Steven Leigh (RING OF FIRE) was wasted.

littlefuzzy

03-16-2009, 05:54 AM

I always liked Street Fighter (especially since it was Raul Julia's last role...)

I don't know how much M/A Chuck uses in Top Dog, but that whole buddy cop/dog time period was pretty cheesy.

The following are intentional comedy rather than something trying to be serious and failing:
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist was pretty funny... BUT STUPID! I liked it, though (and the Thumb movies from the same director.)

18 Fingers of Death was REALLY BAD! I sold off the disc, and I enjoy stuff like Leonard Part 6.

There are a couple I haven't seen: Finishing the Game, and They Call Me Bruce?

Just for fun, does anyone remember the martial arts fight scene from Police Academy (or one of the sequels?) Not only was it very 70s M/A movie, but Michael Winslow even provided his own dubbing (live.)

Kwok Choi

03-16-2009, 02:33 PM

Not Force Five that is a classic compared to Force Four aka Black Force - no words for this;honest - as for American Kickboxer,nuff said.

bolofan

03-16-2009, 02:37 PM

http://www.fearthegooberzilla.com/pics/doubledragon.jpg
I used to love this film as a child...

littlefuzzy

03-16-2009, 02:42 PM

I forgot the cheesiest! Beverly Hills Ninja w/ Chris Farley...

shaolin drunkard

03-16-2009, 03:24 PM

http://www.fearthegooberzilla.com/pics/doubledragon.jpg
I used to love this film as a child...
I watched this not too long ago and this is example of film so bad it`s actually enjoyable.

GungFuFighter

03-16-2009, 05:07 PM

I love cheesy American MA films. For me the best ones are...

Bloodsport
Kickboxer (and it's sequels)
King of Kickboxers
No Retreat No Surrender
Black Eagle
Lone Wolf McQuede

And the list goes on.

Gaijin84

03-17-2009, 09:22 PM

Got another one...THE CHALLENGE aka SWORD OF THE NINJA. Scott Glenn as a guy who learns the way of the sword. I know Steven Seagal had worked on the film as one of the action choreographers with Ryu Kuze (who choreographed the sword fights).

I've heard this isn't too bad... does anyone have a copy that could be roughly transferred to DVD? Only options seem to be used VHS, but they run close to $50 a copy!