After being humiliated in the ring by a dirty kickboxer who pulled down his shorts and then hit him, a martial arts master decides to travel to China and enter a monastery where he may ...
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Title: American Shaolin (1991)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Reese Madigan | ... | Drew Carson | |
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Trent Bushey | ... | Trevor Gottitall |
| Daniel Dae Kim | ... | Gao | |
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Billy Chang | ... | Li |
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Cliff Lenderman | ... | D.S. |
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Henry O | ... | San De (as Zhang Zhi Yen) |
| Kim Chan | ... | Master Kwan | |
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Alice Zhang Hung | ... | Ashena |
| Jean Louisa Kelly | ... | Maria | |
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D.D. Delaney | ... | Bob |
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Sifu Jai | ... | Dr. Pfeelgut |
| Michael Depasquale Jr. | ... | Announcer | |
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Tokey Hill | ... | Coach #1 (as Toki Hill) |
| Alan Pottinger | ... | Young Adult | |
| Andrew Shue | ... | Competitor | |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
After being humiliated in the ring by a dirty kickboxer who pulled down his shorts and then hit him, a martial arts master decides to travel to China and enter a monastery where he may learn the Shaolin form of fighting. The film then veers into "Karate Kid" territory where the novice humiliates himself at every turn, is tolerated as a foreigner, and still comes out a champion. The monastery teaches non-violence, but everyone knows that sooner or later the student will catch up with the bad guy. Written by John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>
Plot Keywords:
bald man | humiliation | championship fight | nationality in title | referee |Genres:
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Music and Lyrics by Eddie Cochran and Jerry Capehart
Lead vocals: Stephen Hogg
Backing voice: Jim Knettle
Produced and Arranged by Richard Yuen
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Film debut of Andrew Shue. See more »Goofs
During the first fight between Drew and Trevor, the crowd outside of the ring clearly disappears and reappears between shots. See more »Quotes
D.S.: Do not cling to material things. From now on, your mind and your body, belong to me!See more »
Soundtracks
Summertime BluesMusic and Lyrics by Eddie Cochran and Jerry Capehart
Lead vocals: Stephen Hogg
Backing voice: Jim Knettle
Produced and Arranged by Richard Yuen
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Yeah, the only song this entire movie had (that I could remember) was "The Shaolin Temple Blues" which really didn't sound like the blues at all, but instead a strange perversion of a Bruce Springsteen song. All of the lyrics are about working minimum wage and going out on dates Saturday Night... But the chorus says "Shaolin Temple Blues", not "Summertime Blues" like they sing at first. Of course, this can all be forgiven once we are shown Shaolin Monks playing Air Guitar.
The movie's story is about as run-of-the-mill as run-of-the-mill can get. Ugly American (and BOY is he ugh-lee this time around!) gets beaten and humiliated in the first 5 minutes of the movie, then goes and gets trained by someone who doesn't accept him at first, until he begins to understand the ways of the martial arts. From that point, he goes on to defeat the bad guy in the last 5 minutes of the movie.
This happened in "The Karate Kid", "No Retreat, No Surrender", and countless others! Even "KING OF THE KICKBOXERS PART ONE"!
Anyway, Corey Yuen did the fight coreography for this film, and it shows by the overall quality. Unfortunately, the bright spots seen are overshadowed by some astoundingly bad parts... whether it be the Shaolin Temple getting exposed to Playboy Magazine, a group of Shaolin Monks going to a high school dance, or Drew poplocking in front of his fellow student monks. What can I say? It's goofy as all hell.
For $6.99 on DVD, I can't really say it's a loss of money, but at the same time you'd be better off sticking with something else. At least "No Retreat, No Surrender" has Jean-Claude Van Damme.
One last note: Am I the only person here disturbed by the fact that the only way the main villain seems to be able to win a fight is by pulling down his opponent's pants?!