Kickboxer (1989)

Kurt Sloane must learn the ancient kick boxing art of Muay Thai in order to avenge his brother.

Directors:

Mark DiSalle, David Worth

Writers:

Mark DiSalle (story), Glenn A. Bruce (screenplay)

Stars:

Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dennis Alexio, Dennis Chan

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Kurt Sloane
Dennis Alexio	...	Eric Sloane
Dennis Chan	...	Xian Chow
Michel Qissi	...	Tong Po
Haskell V. Anderson III	...	Winston Taylor
Rochelle Ashana	...	Mylee
Ka Ting Lee	...	Freddy Li
Richard Foo	...	Tao Liu
Ricky Liu	...	Big Thai Man
Ho-Ying Sin	...	Huge Village Man #1
Tony Chan	...	Huge Village Man #2
Brad Kerner	...	U.S. Announcer
Dean Harrington	...	U.S. Announcer
Mark DiSalle	...	U.S. Reporter
Richard Santoro	...	U.S. Reporter

Storyline

Kurt Sloan is the corner-man for his brother, U.S. kickboxing champion Eric Sloan. When Kurt witnesses his brother become maliciously paralyzed in the ring by Thailand champion Tong Po, Kurt vows revenge. With the help of Xian, a kickboxing trainer who lives in a remote area of Thailand, Kurt trains for the fight of his life.

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Plot Keywords:

thailand | muay thai | bare chested male | wheelchair | 1980s film | 

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Taglines:

An Ancient Sport Becomes A Deadly Game. [US Movie Poster]

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Genres:

Action | Sport | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie is set in Thailand, but apart from key exterior locations such as the Temples, Bangkok streets and night life, the Thai Boxing school and stadium, the majority of the movie was shot in Hong Kong, with Master Xian's house being built in Sai Kung, at Shing Fung studios.

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Goofs

Towards the end of the second round, there is one sequence where Tong Po punches Kurt in the stomach 4 times, punches him in the face 3 times, punches him in the face 13 times rapidly, punches him in the stomach 9 times rapidly, and then does this double-fist type of move on his face. Tong Po's hands are covered in broken glass. In all probability, Kurt's face and stomach would resemble raw hamburger meat at this point, but he only has one major cut on his face and one on his stomach, both of which occurred earlier in the fight.

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Quotes

Tong Po: [to Kurt during final fight] You bleed like Mylee. Mylee... good FUCK!

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Crazy Credits

Goodbye to Bugs (Last words on the screen at the end of the credits.)

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Alternate Versions

The UK cinema version had 1m 17s of violent footage removed by the BBFC. The video version lost a further second in addition to this. All of the cuts were to kicks and punches plus a shot of an ear-clap.

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Connections

Referenced in Date Night (2010)

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Soundtracks

The Streets of Siam
Written by Paul Hertzog and Craig Copeland
Performed by Stan Bush
Produced by Paul Hertzog

User Reviews

Great van Damme movie from the good old days

This is a splendid movie. It's van Damme exactly as I want to see him, with great martial arts action, a decent plot (even if it's not original at all), cool characters and a great 80's soundtrack. The movie is somewhat different from Bloodsport. Of course there are similarities too, like an evil fighting champion that van Damme is fighting. But this movie hasn't nearly as many fights as Bloodsport. Instead, it's more focus on training here. The training scenes are visually very good, and with really cool background music. Even though I had expected more fighting instead of this, there's no doubt that this is a great movie in it's own way.

Details

Official Sites:

Vidio [Indonesia]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 September 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kickboxer

Filming Locations:

China

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,134,098, 10 September 1989

Gross USA:

$14,697,005

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$14,697,005

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kings Road Entertainment, The Movie Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1