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 | revenge | rape | bare chested male | 

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Taglines:

Action has a new hero

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Genres:

Action | Sport | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Chuck Norris was originally supposed to star as Kurt Sloane.

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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

Xian Chow: [Show's Kurt a piece of meat] This will make you run faster.
Kurt Sloane: This! How?
[Kurt is sprinting with the dog running after him]

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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 Full Uncut Version of Kickboxer (never been seen before) clocks in at 98:54 seconds (PAL) / 103.01 seconds (NTSC). All US R Rated versions on DVD/Blu Ray are cut by 5 minutes or so and miss vital plot scenes, shorten or remove other scenes completely and omit nudity that are only present in the International versions on VHS Video from Palace & EIV along with the German 2 Disc Action Edition (German Audio). All of these versions are cut slightly for violence though.

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Connections

Featured in Family Guy: Big Trouble in Little Quahog (2018)

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Soundtracks

Fight for Love
Written by Barry Keenan
Performed by Stan Bush
Produced by Barry Keenan and Paul Hertzog

User Reviews

The only good Kickboxer movie in the series.

It has been made a lot of sequels in this series,but this one is the only that is worth watching. It is kind of like Rocky,in the sense that he traines all the movie for a fight in the end. The fight scenes are hardcore and the one at the end is quite cool. This cant be compared to the best movies of Jackie Chan and Jet Li,but it is still a good martial arts movie.

One of Van Dammes best to date.

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