Midweek Mention... Bloodsport

Bloodsport

Reegs: I'm pretty sure this was the first van Damme movie I ever saw

Sidey: possibly possibly the same for me

Dan: Or do a van Damme films Does this come

Reegs: Well this was his like starring first time He'd start his vehicle Yeah

Sidey: he was in films before this and I've seen one of them called no retreat no surrender He plays a Russian in

Reegs: that Yes I've seen that Yeah Yep

Pete: Wasn't he also in some gay porn before he started in films allegedly

Sidey: I hope so

Pete: I the meeting

Dan: Yeah the Russian thing was it

Sidey: No it was like a karate

Reegs: No but I have seen

Dan: and he's a maximum security Nobody can break out Wait a minute

Reegs: Yes I have And I sometimes get this movie confused with kickboxer and I can't remember which is the better one I think it's

Sidey: is the bad one Cakewalks has got some great dialogue by preferred this one on the whole

Reegs: as this one got the dancing in capable That's kickboxer right Okay

Pete: think a lot of early films or sort of eighties films were variations on a theme of the first VanDamme film I ever saw was AWOL which is also called Lionheart which is also called wrong bet I don't know why there it's different names in different countries but Again that's a similar sort of thing He's like running away from somebody and he's got a fight in a tournament and no he didn't he didn't beat it I have a mother in bloodsport either

Reegs: That's true There was a mullet stage This wasn't it So this what year was bloodsport made in 1988 And the director Yes Mr Hugh man

Sidey: I don't know who the director was The screenwriter is called Sheldon Letish

Reegs: Right Okay So Sheldon lettuce has set up the true story of

Sidey: true story

Pete: It's a bloody true story Yeah

Reegs: Frank ducks

Sidey: Yeah Like put up your Dukes Yeah

This is a very homoerotic film I thought And I was in for that the scene the trading scene I'm thinking of specifically where his strapped him ties him up like hog ties him but he might as well have been naked and just it's very I thought they were gonna fuck

Pete: Yeah He like winches him up in a in like a big frame and then he and then he breaks it with his mighty pelvis

Sidey: Yeah It's one of several scenes where he does the splits

Pete: Yeah He definitely does show off that he can do the splits Yeah

Sidey: But I

Reegs: it's an amazing move though

Sidey: I had heard that he had an operation to cut to loosen some muscles because he wasn't

Dan: he

Pete: sounds like an urban myth

Dan: because he you know himself doing it or something but I don't think

Pete: the bit where where he's like between two chairs is seriously impressed That's how I watched this whole thing

Sidey: Yeah This is bloodsport that story of Frank Dukes who for some reason is in the military but has to disappear off Yeah But I still after seeing it a million times I'm not sure what his motivation is

Pete: It's no it's it's Yeah exactly That that that's it it's like his his is it Tanaka it's like Tanaka his dying wish that he performs in the tournament that the name of which I've forgotten the committee That one Yeah So that that's a good enough reason He was kind of like a a father figure Wasn't he

Sidey: it I read a possible it's not it's not mentioned in the film explicitly but it's possible that To knock his son had died at the day And so he was going to avenge him somehow because he was dead There was

Dan: Was this ever revealed in blood sport too

Sidey: it's only a it's

Reegs: it's a fan

Sidey: I wasn't as good if I say found fiction but it's it's sort of implied

Reegs: right

Pete: Yeah it does Yeah It definitely it doesn't dwell on on the kid's desk Does it

Sidey: You have the Incredible performances of the child actors in the park where the younger child is beaten and he's getting picked up by some bullies and young John Claude fucking towering Epic performance comes over and and the young lad gets up and says one day I will fight in Cooma Italian You know why you saying that And so I so the the theory is that he did one day fighting and shouldn't they killed him

Dan: from the street fire

Sidey: Yeah

Pete: It's strongly Yeah

Reegs: When he goes a Wally's then pursued by ghost dog forest Whitaker

Sidey: Hadn't had ghost dog levels of cool at this point though That's great

Dan: long

Pete: Jessica is himself a black belt in a couple of martial arts Yeah Even with a squinty eye

Reegs: Yeah What is the only thing does anyone know

Pete: I think it's just a lazy eye It's not he's not blind or anything It's just a yeah A lazy eye

Reegs: Yeah

Sidey: It's difficult to reconcile Forrest whisker the Oscar winner with forest Whitaker here

Reegs: in bloodsport

Pete: Everyone's got to start somewhere We're like we we still like Tim Robbins and how the duck that elsewhere He can say everyone's got to start Yeah it was

Sidey: the other way It was all downhill from here

Dan: is it isn't it weird though Like w with the acting when you see young actors in first roles Like Forrest Whitaker here for me it didn't stand out You know he w now maybe you look back and you but so how much he has progressed and and worked his cause ghost or what a film like you know and he's been in a few other really great incredible films

Reegs: You can say the same with Leonardo DiCaprio in critters three I think it is That was one of his first movies You wouldn't you wouldn't have predicted he was going to go on And when he hasn't won an Oscar yet has he

Pete: Maybe the strength of forest Whitaker's performance was that he wasn't noticeable for being

Sidey: I was about to say he's not bad in this It's just not the two of them are just laughably in that characters It's not his performance

Reegs: And there's a girl with a really terrible perm who wants to have sex

Sidey: with Oh she's hot

Pete: I couldn't work out whether she was she looked she looked quite Peggy in some scenes

Sidey: was hot

Reegs: She's a journalist She's writing a story about comity Isn't

Sidey: as well This problem is very casually racist

Reegs: Give us give us some examples

Sidey: the bar and she just says to two smartly dressed Asian guys you guys are going to the Cooma take whereas they could just be like go to work you know

Pete: he is in Hong Kong so they could just be yeah they could be trained drivers

Sidey: There's lots of stereotypes with the characters as well but yeah it's a dumb action you know cry for them

Reegs: You get to see van dam's ass What'd you think

Pete: In the shower Is it the shower Yeah

Sidey: He had it written in his contract You got to show my ass and meet

Reegs: would have I have that in my marriage that was in our wedding vows

Pete: apparently that was not meant to happen But there was like a towel or there was something there covering his covering his modesty I think what might have happened is I think somebody kind of like whipped the whatever it was that was covering it whether it was a towel or a screen or whatever and they filmed it and then they decided to leave it in afterwards for the ladies and me Yeah

Dan: If if he's previous few films had anything to do with it they might have seen his performance And I keep the

Sidey: You go back to the sort of big eighties movie action stars So you've got your Stallone eight Schwartz Bruce Willis I suppose Was that too bad What

Reegs: Diehard was that was the one wasn't it really for him

Sidey: I would say I would say John Claude is the most Beautiful specimen out of all of them positive

Dan: isn't he I mean I think everybody

Sidey: It's just much better looking than all of them

Pete: Yeah He's he's in great neck I mean if you have if you're saying if you put like Bruce Willis Steven skull Arnold Schwartzenegger Sylvester Sloan and him together and then held a gun to my head and said which one would you fuck Definitely be Jean-Claude even without the gun yeah yeah yeah

Dan: you first used Don't worry I'm not coming back for you

Sidey: but he is he is a good looking man and he's in great shape in this

Reegs: And there's a lot of shots of him sort of glistening

Sidey: where everyone glistens quite a lot Yeah

Pete: Yeah he's he's also of those I don't know enough about but he's also the one that I record Cause like Schwartzenegger is like in ridiculous neck especially the early days like just after like Mr Universe type stuff but he's not got a martial art or you know a background of fighting or combat or anything like that Like some of the other stuff fandom

Reegs: he's not like van dam's

Pete: VanDamme will fuck you up

Dan: who would you say was the best actor out of these

Pete: go Oh it's the less the lesser of five evils we'll start on is like a

Sidey: probably Bruce Willis moonlighting I'm thinking

Dan: Bruce Willis would be

Reegs: The best actor of all of them

Sidey: you know who would be able to tell us Vanessa mater

Reegs: Yeah Yeah On East I don't know He's done some good stuff as he's got older

Pete: but it's not really much depth of acting junk junk Lord's not a phenomenal actor He's just he's just a joyous sight to Belle

Reegs: Yeah And he is in this and he's fighting a lot And what the choreography the fight choreography what did

Sidey: Well

Pete: Frank Dukes all done by Frank Dukes Yeah

Sidey: So you know that shit is authentic

Reegs: A lot of the bouts were over very quickly It's one of the things I remember about this Yeah

Sidey: Well look look before we before we get fully into the fights can we talk a little bit about Ray Jackson

Reegs: American

Pete: guy that's clearly had

Sidey: It

Pete: some kind of brain

Sidey: clearly turned up in those clothes as well It's like I'm fucking wearing this

Pete: Yeah He's I mean what what is his I didn't look into the not the character but the the actors like history or innocent I mean

Sidey: of the nerds before

Pete: so he's just an actor He's not

Sidey: The weird thing about this is that there's no stunts doubles nothing They all did their own fights Everything is just them So they cast all fighters right So you've got like proper Mai Thai people and blah blah blah Then you've got this guy what the fuck is he doing in a global elite underground

Pete: Yeah he liked closed lines A couple of guys I think he sumps one just straight on the top of the head like a tent peg Yeah

Sidey: and then goes yeah I killed it

Pete: Yeah

Reegs: Is that that's That's each talking about Chong Lee

Sidey: Jackson

Reegs: All right Jackson Yeah yeah yeah He does that's BOLO he's like a legend

Dan: Yeah He's been in tons of

Reegs: stuff

Pete: he has got the biggest tits I've ever seen on a man

Reegs: Yes Yeah yeah yeah

Pete: He never skipped chest stated he that is huge

Reegs: Yeah

Sidey: He doesn't fight fair

Dan: No in any of his films

Reegs: Yeah But neither does Sean claw because he's got the what's it called the dim Mac or

Sidey: whatever

Reegs: And but he he does it on the Hawaiian guy and then just has to leather him in the balls Doesn't it It's like Cause it doesn't work

Sidey: Well this is full contact

Reegs: Does he not

Sidey: He had colorful shorts on I think that's why

Pete: like Hawaii guy Did he have bit did he have bits of pineapple on him Yeah

Reegs: I didn't watch it for this because I've seen it fucking countless times before yeah

I

Dan: just I watched it probably four or five maybe six months ago with sunny for the first time And

Pete: Well did he make a bit

Dan: he actually quite liked it Like we did it that of you know it was

Pete: it's it it's interesting to know because the first time I would have seen this I'd have been young maybe around kind of Sunny's age So I think and at the time I just thought it was cool I didn't like but now watching it looking back it is it is cool but it's also quite funny the yeah like obviously like the clothing and the acting and like so much of it is it a little bit like multiple combat that we reviewed a couple of weeks ago

Sidey: wouldn't have existed Were it not

Pete: apparently bloodsport was the inspiration for the for the game

Reegs: That's great Well

Dan: that's that's a solid contribution to culture that right there

Reegs: no I I was thinking the same thing but from what I read is what you were saying Pete But what I remember is that the fight choreography is is actually really good And a lot of like you were saying as well Dan that a lot of it the actual actors are doing The stunts

Pete: So

all of them are there are no

Reegs: that stuff holds up you know like bad CGI or whatever that stuff never does hold up But if it's clearly shot action it's done really well That's why people still like shore brothers movies and stuff from the you know

Pete: there were a couple of unfortunate like or at least one unfortunate slow mode where you can see the slow Mo punch not connecting and someone and someone then like reacting to it But but the the the yeah like the full the full speed stuff and the slow motion where you can't see that it all looks Pretty genuine ish I mean these are all martial arts guys so they used to actually having contacts and so on or even inspiring They're probably going to get a little bit Slappy with each

Reegs: Phantom was a legitimate

Sidey: Yeah he was he was too legit to quit Yeah There's a couple of standup Florence's we've mentioned young John Claude He was played by a guy called Pierre Rafini I don't think he's had a storied career there was also the guy that was their sort of guide

Pete: or

the chaperone Victor Yeah He was a deck

Sidey: was amazing

Pete: One bit that I did want to point out is you know when when Chong Lee batters is big a big friend with the brain injury he

Sidey: did he think he was dead

Pete: I did at first he was dead I'd forgotten I'd completely forgotten whether he lived or died actually but the bit that It like irritated me a little bit is that when Chung Lee sort of goes over to the side of the mat let's call it And he's like goading him It's Victor that's holding Vandam back which bearing in mind he then goes on to win the tournament whilst completely blinded wasn't that believable that Victor would be able to just hold him back But

Reegs: that blinding as well Doesn't he So I remember I think we all seem to like this it's fair to say good memories Not everyone has a similar opinion You know we like to balance things out here on bad dad's film review So Debra Higgins in a one-star review on Amazon said I did not buy this And a wheelchair assassin said don't watch this film for anything beyond meat heads Bloodying each other

Sidey: What else would you

Pete: Yeah That is the reason to watch it

Dan: you go

Pete: I must admit that I've I've lost myself in a bit of a spiral after this just fact checking all of the Frank Dukes things Cause this essentially is meant to be a a dramatization of of a true story about the Frank Dukes and everyone on the internet is calling bullshit on everything that he's claimed

including the the like the the tournament even exists in itself

Sidey: Wouldn't even said what it is but he is an undercover So he says undercover CIA operative Who's going through these fighting tournament's to undercover to sort of unmask all these

Pete: we started Cova underground Yeah Yeah

Sidey: So

Dan: a lot of the time in his film van was Andrew Rivera

Sidey: but the screenwriter Sheldon lettuce he met Frank Dukes obviously And he was helping to edit his still unpublished Vietnam war novel the last rainbow he said Frank told me a lot of tall tales most of which turned out to be bullshit but a story about participating in the so-called Kubernetes I had like great idea for a movie So they still chucked on true story

Dan: He's a character isn't

Reegs: Yeah they did Didn't they

Dan: This was based on a true yeah

Sidey: Do you know van dams real name

Yes John Claude Camille Francoise van Valkenburgh

Pete: that that

strong Sean Claude van Valkenburgh is a strong name

Sidey: probably just Camille didn't sound very

Pete: masculine but just drop the top The Camille

Reegs: know my old my old days were in Thailand and they messaged me

Pete: your old days I like your old day would be your mum Your old man would be your dad So all this just you have two lesbian mothers

Reegs: Yeah I suppose Yeah Yeah No no All right Okay My parents were in Thailand and my dad emails me saying we've met this really nice couple His name is John Claude and he says he's an actor And I'd like sent back a video clip from I think from bloodsport Saying is this the guy And he's like yeah yeah this that's him And he's really nice We're going out for dinner And so I said Oh can you get me an autograph And dad said he didn't want to because was really

Sidey: that's their dad's bad take though because apparently he's not a nice guy He's a violent fucking maniac

Reegs: or who my dad

Sidey: He met his match though with high kicked him over the dinner table

Pete: I've got some more Frank Dukes lies so he claimed so he claimed that he was while he was in the us Marines but he claimed that he served in Southeast Asia and received the medal of honor And the F a freedom of information check found that he never served overseas He was pictured years later with his medal of honor but the medal of honor he had was issue was one that would be issued by the us army So he's obviously acquired that at a later date he also said that his just carrying on from the the the spirit of CIA stuff that he said he was involved in he said that his his dad worked for MASAC before world war two And Mossad was formed in 1949 so yeah there's there's lots of Porky pies going

Reegs: Oh was it though Pete Yeah exactly Tune in next week's conspiracy podcast All right

Sidey: It's just mainstream media

Pete: but the one the one that I I Wanted to immediately try and get my head around Is it at the end of the film it splashes up some like facts about like his records his like his like committee records about like fastest punch and fastest knockout headline fastest kick And I think that was like 74 miles an hour I was wondering how when he said this tournament happened in 1975 I was wondering how they measured the speed of a Keck in an underground tournament What sort of technology they had But the biggest one was 54 consecutive knockouts in a single tournament Now it's a one V one knockout tournament just so you know just to give a bit of

Reegs: context

do the for me there

Pete: if everyone in the world fought one V one in a knockout tournament it would take 33 rounds and he got four 54 knockouts So he must've fought a lot of people from other planets just to

Reegs: No he's amazing And he's amazing Well thanks Frank because without it we wouldn't have had this very entertaining movie