Doodl’n Chong Li played by the “Chinese Hercules”, Bolo Yeung.
I feel like a faker! All my martial arts friends watched Bloodsport in their teenage years, while I watched it way after college. Something about that makes me feel like I’m not a legit martial artist! Haha.
Seriously though, I didn’t get the hoopla. Friends would quote lines from the film and get excited reminiscing about the fight scenes. The first time I saw it, I (gasp) didn’t enjoy it (Bloodsport fans hate me now). But it’s grown on me over the years. The story is actually well-told and the concept of fighters from around the world competing in the lethal kumite trading their lives for honor and prestige is a pretty badass concept. Yes, the acting is shite, but come on, it’s a popcorn flick.
There are just some great one-liners in the film; which is a hallmark of 80’s action films. When US brawler, Ray Jackson tells a friend he’s going to compete in the kumite, he’s warned that fighters have been known to die in the death match. Jackson retorts, “Only if you f–k up!”
And that intro is plenty kickass, showing different styles of marital arts in action and a taste of what’s to come in the lethal tournament. It’s highlighted even better by Paul Hertzog’s pulsating score.
And if you ever have a friend who gets mortally wounded by your nemesis in the kumite, you’ll need the perfect dramatic song to go with the montage of you walking around the city in sorrow:
Bloodsport was supposedly based on the real life kumite exploits of martial artist Frank Dux. However, according to co-writer, Sheldon Lettich, most of Frank Dux’s stories about the kumite, “turned out to be bullshit“.
Well, whatever the case may be, Bloodsport is definitely one kickass cult martial arts film.
-S
The Art of The Fight 