Bloodsport (1988)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Newt Arnold

Writers:

Christopher Cosby (screenplay)
Mel Friedman (screenplay)

Release Date:

26 February 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sport

Tagline:

The secret contest where the world's greatest warriors fight in a battle to the death.

Plot:

Frank Dux has spent most his life being trained by Tanaka to participate in the Kumite, the ultimate martial arts tournament...

Plot Keywords:

Beer | Training | Training Montage | Airplane | Fight

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Frank Dux (as Jean Claude Van Damme)
Donald Gibb	...	Ray Jackson
Leah Ayres	...	Janice Kent
Norman Burton	...	Helmer
Forest Whitaker	...	Rawlins
Roy Chiao	...	Tanaka
Philip Chan	...	Inspector Chen
Pierre Rafini	...	Young Frank
Bolo Yeung	...	Chong Li
Ken Siu	...	Victor Lin (as Kenneth Siu)
Kimo Lai Kwok Ki	...	Hiro
Bernard Mariano	...	Sadiq Hossein
Bill Yuen Ping Kuen	...	Oshima
Lily Leung	...	Mrs. Tanaka
Joshua Schroder	...	Chuck / Older Boy

Runtime:

92 min | Finland:71 min (video release) (1991) | Finland:89 min (DVD release) (2006)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (TVC)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (heavily cut) (1991) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (2006) | Canada:14A | South Korea:12 | Australia:R | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 | Poland:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:18 | UK:15 (video re-rating) (2003) | UK:18 (original rating) | UK:18 (video rating) (1989) | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Cannon International

Trivia:

Van Damme does his trade mark splits a total of Seven times during the film.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The film is from 1988, the flashback scene is at least 10 years prior. During the flashback scene in which Frank defends Shingo from school bullies, one of the onlookers is wearing a "Bartles and Jaymes" T-Shirt. Bartles and Jaymes was introduced in 1985.

Quotes:

Victor: I'm Lin. You Jackson? You look like a Jackson. That must make you Frank Ducks.
Frank Dux: No, it's DUX.
Victor: Oh, right, like put up your dukes.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Kung Phooey! (2003)

Soundtrack:

TRIUMPH

Cult

I love this man. His acting wasn't very good. (I do think though it improved over time... a little.)

Bloodsport was inspiration for a whole generation to start learning martial arts. A Cult movie. I grew up some of my life in Asia and it amuses me to see those buff cliché white men jumping around through colourful, but grubby marketplaces/ back alleys. In fact the whole movie is simple and has even a nice tidy cliché structure: Man starts terribly, improves through tough training and develops into sexy fighting machine. Some people who commented on this movie said he is no Bruce Lee. But that is the beauty of it. He is somebody from a western country trying to measure up and fit into the eastern culture. Good stuff.