Only the Strong (1993)

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Gymkata will more than likely be a delight, but I can't imagine it could top this movie.

 

Current chairmen of Iron Chef is a dance fighter who for some reason or another winds up on the bad side of an evil dance fighter. Hilarity ensues.

[IHugKittens 53]

I legitimately and unironically love the dance fighting scenes in this movie and find them beautifully choreographed. And yeah, it's definitely HDTGM material. As is every movie that Marc Dakascos is in. The main villain looks like an evil, Brazilian Adrian Paul. Here's the trailer:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBpvjMffbNE

 

And here's the beginning:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ-knBky6S0

 

The whole thing is on Youtube by the way. :-)

[nrkist 71]

This movie is pretty epic. Whenever you see two people in a heated argument, start the dance fight chant: "Ahm bambaway, Ahm bambaway bambaway..." They'll both get really irritated as it deflates any serious discussion once you get that going.

 

Everyone in this movie really glazes over the fact that the drug pushers method of intimidation is dance-fighting. Nobody bats an eye at this information. Is this a common problem plagueing inner-city schools? What are the chances that the new teacher is ALSO an expert dance-fighter?

 

There's that really annoying snotty kid in the film that the audience simply can't wait for him to get wasted by a sweet cartwheel kick to the face. I've never wanted someone to get their head caved in so badly... I'm not talking about the character, but the actor himself. I wanted the fictional characters to mercilessly beat that child actor in a very strange fourth-wall breaking scene.

[nrkist 71]

Holy crap, I just remembered the sex scene! It puts the crotch-shot-stairwell-walk-montage (I have no right to use that many hyphens in succession) in Gymkata to shame. Nothing makes a lady wetter than limbering up with some splits and hand-stands before summersaulting very unlikely into bed with her.

 

Edit: I might be remembering this incorrectly, but isn't there also a thing in this movie about the teacher swearing off dance-fighting? Like, it kinda makes sense, cause it's a really retarded way to fight people, but then he's forced to grudgingly dance-fight back as it's THE ONLY WAY to solve the central plot contrivance in the film.

 

I've translated the dance fight song bandaway, for anyone interested:

 

Bandaway, this is Capoeira, bandaway. Bandaway, that guy is vaguely flipping kinda at you, bandaway bandaway. Bandaway, this is still happening, bandaway. Bandaway, this is really a thing, it's called Capoeira, bandaway, bandaway. Bandaway, that guy is cartwheeling like within 8 feet of you, bandaway. Bandaway, seriously you should react surprised and kinda obliquely cartwheel away from that other cartwheel that can be loosely described as being 'near' you in relation to everything else in the scene, bandaway, bandaway..

[nrkist 71]

Heh, I'm watching this on youtube right now, and it has to be HDTGM'ed.

 

They're literally 5 minutes into the film and the school staff has essentially THIS discussion:

 

"It's CALLED capoeria, and it's everywhere. These kids are impressionable, we aren't going to combat this gang dance-fighting-drug-dealing problem with stern talks."

 

"We should motivate the kids to learn dance-fighting by funding a dance-fighting school so they can dance-fight back."

 

"Wait, I thought dance-fighting was the problem...?"

 

"Look, we've tried everything..."

 

"Have we really tried everything?"

 

"Shut up voice of reason. You are now the established 'jerk' of this film"

 

"We're willing to try anything at this point. Would you be interested in heading a dojo?"

 

"Well, I guess if it's being forced upon me, I'll grudgingly accept. I'm still going to passive aggresively remark about how crappy the 'dojo' you will purchase for me is, for the express purpose of teaching at-risk students how to dance-fight so they don't have to dance-fight in the dance-fight gang culture that is so ubiquitous."

[nrkist 71]

Really?! Nobody else is going to touch this suggestion?

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

I dont know which is the more noble sacrifice. Kevin Costner giving his life for a dog in Man of Steel.

 

Or Donovan giving his life for a brazilian gourd guitar.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Bump cause this movie is fucking mental.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

I... have seen this movie.

 

*sigh*

 

I must have suppressed it in my memory or something.

[crod505 1]

totally should do only the strong army dude learns capoeira in brazil comes back to teach inner city kids how to do it takes fights with the drug king pin in capoeira to bring him down

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

I love that the end of this movie doesnt have the main villian die or go to jail, he just loses all his honor after getting out dance-fought and thereby loses all the respect of his gang.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

I love that the end of this movie doesnt have the main villian die or go to jail, he just loses all his honor after getting out dance-fought and thereby loses all the respect of his gang.

Also, at the very end, when all the students are basically demonstrating everything they've learned, there's one guy that JUST does a fucking cartwheel, and that's it. Everyone else does some crazy flippy shit, this guy does a cartwheel, and that's the end of the movie for him.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

He's clearly the D+ student in the class.

[SamanthaLee 0]

Why has this one still not been covered?! It's a capoeira fight movie. CAPOEIRA. FIGHT. MOVIE. Do you need to know anything more?

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Watched this recently, its such a perfect encapsulation of the era its from. One thing that stuck out to me, the kid who was supposed to be in the gang kept giving Dascascos endless amounts of shit for trying to teach everyone capoiera. Like it was some new concept to him that just seemed silly.

 

Despite the fact that the leader of his gang was clearly also well versed in capoiera. So not only does he know this fighting style, he also knows its not ineffective given the fact that the leader of the gang was so widely feared by everyone.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Also I would have loved to have gone to a high school that inexplicably had a gang of Dance Fighters.

[TheMattofmyGroup 3]

I'm commenting here to show my support for this movie as a HDTGM movie.

 

I forgot about this movie and after re-watching the dance-fighting on YouTube, I need to see this happen.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Watched Brotherhood of the Wolf recently, and any time I see Mark Dascascos I can't help but think about this movie. Would love it if they ended up covering this one at some point.

[csetlow 1]

Like a less fun, "The Last Dragon" this movie is a delight. It has everything you could ever want from an early 90s film about inner city break dance fighting. It is a cliche machine churning out the greatest hits:

Drugs...Check

Saving Inner city youths...Check

Unnecessary sex scene...Check

Martial Arts...Check

Slow motion...Double Check

Can we also talk about how they learn to play Brazilian instruments so they can fight? Most of the time thats what they are doing. Sure the two in the center dance fight but the other ten stand around and chat. 

I also agree with everyone here that Mark Dacascos should be a HDTGM all-star and his craft has been cruelly underrepresented in this medium. This movie in particualr has all the trappings of a HDTGM movie. It has a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, 83 5-star reviews on amazon, tons of bad critic reviews, and loved by many.  Perhaps now that Mark and Jason Co-Starred in a John Wick movie this can happen. 

[Blackcyclops 0]

I loved this movie growing up...they gotta do it

[Buster McThunder 0]

Lets make this happen.