No Retreat, No Surrender (1986)

Announcement

There are times where I spend hours researching obscure bad movies on the internet, trying to uncover hidden gems to both delight and enrage you. There are other times where I dimly recall a movie I loved as a child only to discover that they were stupid beyond belief on a rewatch-- this is where we get our Rads, our Commandos, our Highlanders. Tonight's movie comes from the second category-- it's from 1985 and is called NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER. I really don't want to spoil the plot of the movie other than giving you the basic elevator pitch of Rocky IV + the Karate Kid and the promise of seeing Jean Claude Van Damme in one of his earliest roles, playing a Russian(?!). Don't worry, the movie is **much** weirder than the premise suggests. It was directed by Corey Yuen, who was a fight choreographer on a Bruce Lee movie, most of Jet Li's American movies and also the Expendables. He can definitely direct a punch but people and story seem way out of his league. I've also just discovered it was called KARATE TIGER overseas, which I find just delightful. See ya tonight!

Description

The mob is trying to strongarm local martial arts schools, forcing young Jason Stillwell and his family to move after his father is injured defending their dojo. With his father now rejecting violence, Jason is forced to train on his own to protect himself and his best friend from the members of a rival karate school.

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