‘Bloodsport’ With Bill Simmons, Shea Serrano, and Jason Concepcion | The Rewatchables | The Ringer

Prepare yourself for the Kumite, as The Ringer's Bill Simmons, Shea Serrano, and Jason Concepcion break down the iconic 1988 martial arts classic 'Bloodsport,' starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and directed by Newt Arnold.
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[@wewentblues]

My mom took my friend and I to see Bloodsport in the summer of ‘88 on my 11th birthday. That night is forever burned into my brain. Sitting in that dark, smokey old theatre, eating Slim Jim’s & Twizzlers. I will forever love this film.

[@tuneman7688]

Just as an FYI, because you guys weren’t sure why Dux had to break the brick to prove his worthiness for the invitation. He had received the invitation on behalf of the Tanaka clan. Dux obviously being a white dude and not Japanese they wanted to basically see if he was legit and not some imposter.

[@JobVanDam]

You don't look like Tanaka

[@jbc00l]

I think Rewatchables just hit its apex mountain

[@vetoland92]

Paco vs Dux for most rewatchable scene. Them trading kicks to the side is an all-timer.

[@chrisklein9110]

Fucking right. The most rewatchable seen in that film. Watching Paco start to wince and then crumple...damn!

[@dhkim3986]

EVERY scene is the most rewatchable for this movie! 😁

[@lilpenny1982]

Like Pacquiao vs Cotto trading body punches in a super fight in Las Vegas in 2009

[@biersch]

No Dion Waiters award for "OK USA!" guy?

[@luiscasco5007]

Great choice

[@kena.8003]

good call lol

[@mrmacross]

I think Bolo's Apex Mountain still has to be Enter the Dragon. "Bolo Yeung" isn't even his real name. It's Yang Sze. "Bolo" is his stage name, naming himself after his character in Enter the Dragon. If the dude named himself after the character, that character has got to be his apex, right?

[@tuneman7688]

Also just to add a few tidbits to what was covered in the podcast. Mortal Kombat; Dux was the inspiration for Johnny Cage as mentioned. The nut punch move he did on the sumo was actually put into the game. Also the sub-boss character of Goro was based on Bolo Yeung (Goro being a play on the name Bolo) The “on my own” montage with Van Damme moping around. The scene where he imagines Bolo’s reflection in the train window only to realize its just an old guy sitting next to him. Great LOL moment along with the shot of Hong Kong at the end. That scene aged alright for me. There isn’t really any info given to Shingo dying. It’s sort of implied that he was killed in a previous kumite. With that said the training montage definitely has to be one of the most rewatchable scenes. Great music, emotion, and character building. You see the blind training and get the payoff in the final battle. Also as far as memes go, there’s a vid on YT of Helmer and Rawlins scene chasing Dux through Hong Kong which is cut a bit and dubbed over with the mentos theme. The scene literally plays out like a 90’s mentos commercial. Also some other funny/memorable lines you guys missed. “OK USA.” “ Dim Mak, Death Touch” “ You are not Japanese, you are not a Tanaka!” And “I aint yer pal dickface.” I was LOLing at so much stuff in the podcast. Also wishing I could’ve been on it and added more info on the film. I’ve watched it so many times, never gets dull for me. All best

[@OffTheRailsPodcast]

You forgot a huge fact. The white dude fighter with the like 80's fro is the main villan from Kickboxer with ASIAN EYE MAKEUP ON

[@jonathanmarkiewicz4638]

VanDame was an extra in Breakin, hes one of the crowd watching the break dance battle on the basketball court

[@gqtaste]

You guys should do a tribute to Patrick Swayze's masterpiece RoadHouse.

[@h.e.pennypacker4567]

gqtaste Dalton approves!

[@Ellipsis10]

they just did!

[@SeventySeven_PH]

Props to Jason for bringing up the cockfighting tradition in the Philippines

[@michaelbrooke2909]

Donald Gibb once served me a beer at Barnacles in Hermosa Beach. Must have been 2002 or 2003. So that was cool.

[@streetsampras]

Bill butchering every Croatian/Lithuanian name ever but getting Van Damme right is hilarious

[@petercourt-hampton5679]

Paco was a real life Muay Thai champion 🏆. He is not dancing, he is marching. In Muay Thai you march down your opponent. Easier to throw a kick or punch if you are already moving 👊.

[@DonteKeys]

Best quote in the movie wasn't mentioned. "OK USA!"

[@jordan12118]

"You are next!"

[@luiscasco5007]

Huge oversight

[@Castaa]

Karate Kid needs a rewatchable. Really underrated movie.

[@keeganshigh]

That is one of the dumbest things I've ever read. The Karate Kid is in no way underrated.

[@EGarrett01]

I'm about an hour in and they've completely left out my favorite character in the movie. The businessman who Janice uses to get into the kumite, who bet a huge amount on Dux. He shows up a couple times, at one point asks "how do you feel today, Dux? Dux my man!" And they show him sweating Dux's fights a couple times. It's great because they don't really explain why he's there, you just know that he's a gambler and he had money on Van Damme, and you know he won big in the end.

[@dayra6425]

Haha that guy was a pimp ..

[@gw1357]

100% earnest -- they should teach this movie in film school. Its a masterpiece of pacing and character-based action. Bloodsport was one of the prototypes for the idea of fighting style reflecting character (like costuming) -- now that's a dramatic principle that runs through all the best action movies (Marvel, Star Wars, Cobra Kai, etc.). One of the best things about this movie -- there's no contrivance in the setup. Why's he fighting? To prove he's the best fighter. He's not going to the tournament as a cover for some kind of spy thing. He's not trying to rescue a loved one. Its about fighting. I'm here to fight. Because I'm good at fighting. Most rewatchable scene is the first tournament montage because its got the most variety of style. What ages the best is the fight choreography -- its phenomenal. Honorable mention to the training scene with Tanaka. Tournament movies are fucking great. Lionheart and The Quest were so much fun in the same trope, but they never quite had the same magic as Bloodsport. You guys missed one of the best acting moments in the movie -- Tanaka mourning Shingo and Dux convincing him to accept him as a full student. "Passes from father to son. Father to...son." "To keep an open mind!" The reason they make him do the brick technique is because they don't believe he's a member of the Tanaka ninja clan because he's white. It sort of calls back to his status as Tanaka's symbolically adopted son. Hot take -- Sudden Death was better than Die Hard. More clever premise. Better action. The fight against the Pittsburgh Penguin is an all-time classic. And -- while not as good as Rickman as Gruber -- Booth is a respectable villain. Trivia -- Paco was played by a guy who was an actual Muay Thai fighter from South Africa. Stan Bush also wrote "The Touch" from The Transformers movie, another inspirational classic. In the martial arts community, Frank Dux was a complete fraud and a liar (none of this shit is true), but everyone forgives it because it gave us this classic. There is no MMA, no UFC without Bloodsport.

[@uchidaoginome]

So right about tournament movies and "the board"! No explanation necessary. The tournament structure carries everything!

[@brianmac3903]

"We hadn't been airborne long when Trump decided to watch a movie. He'd brought along 'Michael,' a recent release, but twenty minutes after popping it into the VCR he got bored and switched to an old favorite, a Jean Claude Van Damme slugfest called 'Bloodsport,' which he pronounced 'an incredible, fantastic movie.' By assigning to his son the task of fast-forwarding through all the plot exposition-Trump's goal being 'to get this two-hour movie down to forty-five minutes'-he eliminated any lulls between the nose hammering, kidney tenderizing, and shin whacking."

[@brianmac3903]

>"When a beefy bad guy who was about to squish a normal-sized good guy received a crippling blow to the scrotum, I laughed. 'Admit it, you're laughing!' Trump shouted. 'You want to write that Donald Trump was loving this ridiculous Jean Claude Van Damme movie, but are you willing to put in there that you were loving it, too?'"

[@TheCoolhanddan83]

Hype for these vid companion to the podcast now!!!

[@JHammer1110]

Well Bill, you've won me over. You're the first person other than myself to mention "1st and 10". Any time I have brought up the California Bulls and this show, people look at me like I've fallen out of an alternate universe.

[@waynecanning4122]

I watched it as a 10 year old way back in ‘87. Loved it- mostly because I knew I shouldn’t have been watching it.

[@votdfak]

These are gold. Thanks!

[@Serit0nin]

Double Impact is my fav JCVD movie.

[@plutoniumcore]

Same here

[@lowshay]

The splits you missed is while he was training with Senzo he does the splits and catches the 2 bamboo sticks.

[@ws4jb]

Keep the video content coming!

[@getloud315]

Best split - Cyborg

[@EGarrett01]

24:49 Oh, I watched Bloodsport a million times and I never thought about that. He used the Dim Mak touch on the guy's inner organs. And now I realize that at 26:46 that was Chong Li's ice-breaking foot.

[@September2004]

I never thought of that as well.

[@September2004]

I always assumed the brick thing wasn’t possible in real life because it doesn’t make sense in physics. Whatever one brick feels, the other ones feel as well, regardless if it’s top or bottom. I assumed they used some special effect explosion for that.

[@Ellipsis10]

Miss Jason and Shea on the rewatchables!

[@h.e.pennypacker4567]

My personal favorite since I was a kiddo has always been Sly Stallone. But yeah, JCVD is stellar too!

[@GreigStott]

You had me laughing along and agreeing a lot guys, Bloodsport what an entertaining and definitely a rewatchable 80s cult classic. Actually, half of the film was filmed in a place where I used to live, Stanley Fort on the south side of Hong Kong Island and I used to go to school in Kowloon also. Great podcast

[@Chipstacker1]

Bill, the NY Giants jersey # was actually 65 (Bart Oates) not 55

[@eschabert1129]

Was just reading JCvD's wikipedia page and was mildly surprised to see that he was a real deal martial artist with multiple wins in international martial arts competition. So, ya he would definitely kick Arnold's behind if they ever fought.

[@mjm5081]

"If you fall please don't" 😂

[@taylor6466]

How is there still not a Rewatchable of Roadhouse?!

[@noelmadrigal9275]

This is the best lineup

[@Dwight2744]

I like how Bill just refers to Donald Gibb as Ogre, lol.

[@arthurrimbaud7287]

TANAKA'S SON DIED IN THE KUMITE. They make this pretty clear when Dux goes back to Tanaka as an adult and asks him to train him for the Kumite.

[@funforalgernon]

The Rewatchables at 1.2x is the best…especially the song

[@carnifex2005]

Yes!

[@jordan12118]

Do a Rewatchable for Jackie Brown

[@lilpenny1982]

My fav karate movie together with Enter The Dragon

[@strika1140]

This movie gave us the alias Cletus Van Damme

[@ravibadesha123]

Do these guys ever talk about the training scene where van damme is tied to the 2 trees 🌳 and he pulls them down. Thats my favourite scene and I hope they do a proper analysis to that scene 😆

[@pdaimperial]

I've never even seen bloodsport but I'm watching this for some reason

[@Kaddywompous]

You gotta see it! My favorite bad movie of all time!

[@insomniacwriter9411]

So what Shea is saying is that Van Damme is the Dan Marino of action stars?

[@nickl451]

Need a double impact episode!!!

[@kochevar99]

In the spirit of Shea Serrano, if anyone slanders Concepcion I will come to your house and fight you.

[@patrick7228]

Absolutely disgusting there hasn't been an "Over the Top" rewatchable!! Make it happen!!

[@joemckim1183]

Bolo Yeung is a legend.

[@nocuh]

Did Bill really forget to mention The Quest in his list? Poor man's Schwarzenegger... I'd add he and Steven Seagal were akin to [Arnold] and Sylvester Stallone. Side-by-side lanes on the same highway, different drivers & vehicle budgets. Shoutout Shea & Jason making these very points as I type them... only to do Steven dirty. _"Who's hot dog is this huh IS THIS YOURS?"_ deserves better. Under Siege, too. That episode coming soon?

[@jonathanmarkiewicz4638]

The Quest was awesome!

[@KTF0]

Yesssssss!

[@lpr5269]

"Very good. But brick not hit back."

[@carnifex2005]

#1 event obviously should be Drago / Rocky in Moscow.

[@shaggycan]

5:30 so Rocky IV....that movie is at least 50% montage

[@bhuxtablesmith]

you ought to do a Rewatchables for Enter the Dragon. Bloodsport is a fun film, but that is a great film

[@TextlefSchrempf]

HUGE oversight. Most obvious unanswerable question: what happens if Frank Dux has to fight Ray Jackson?

[@marcofreitas3844]

1-"There are TONS of movies made nowadays with way more brutal figths than in BLOODSPORT (just check thelast , say, seven mvies made with SCOTT ADKINS). 2-Sorry, but in Victory, filmed in 1979, some of the best soccer players from the SIXTIES and SEVENTIES were used (not from the 80s as told in the podcast0.

[@acefirefist8185]

Jean Claude van Johnson is rated 7.7 on imdb😲

[@bbqnetwork8536]

When will cocktail and road House be on this show?

[@uchidaoginome]

Oh and the monkey kung-fu actor was really a practitioner of that style. He was an American from Boston who moved to Hong Kong to study kung fu. Also it might be a bit of a stretch to call what he's doing in the movie "monkey kung fu". He doesn't wipe his head or do any monkey sounds or scratches his rib cage or anything...he's kinda just a wiry, flexible lightweight fighter that'll jump on you when he's for got you dazed and lay you out with a double temple blow. That brother was badass!

[@lilpenny1982]

You forgot to mention No Retreat No Surrender with JCVD

[@TheBlackfolksprez]

Can y’all do a Gymkata review?

[@jonathanmarkiewicz4638]

The guy doing "MMA" on a island was the guy thar played Tong Po in kick boxer, same guy that gets his leg broke by Chung Lee

[@thegreatone9923]

Kickboxer needs a rewatchable

[@sabirsal]

Ok USA

[@captainwohop]

YESSSSSSSSSSS 😀

[@Ptc2046]

Are tv shows planned? I want a review of the wire

[@strika1140]

and The Shield

[@lisandro4612]

Give me Russilo,Bill and Chris for that one and i'm good

[@GeronFletcher]

🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿

[@JurassicForrest]

After watching The Godfather I & 2 Rewatchables, I was so hyped to see this but Bill needed better informed guest/JCVD fanatics. These guys referred to the Dim Mak as “the brick thing” smh

[@strika1140]

SEAN LEE, SEAN LEE, SEAN LEE , SEAN LEE

[@bbqnetwork8536]

What Steven Seagal movie will be on this show first? Hard to kill or marked for death?

[@HKim0072]

Above the Law or Under Siege.

[@AGH69]

1. Arnie 2. Van Damme 3. Stallone Very, very distant 4th: Seagal. No one else worth mentioning. Period.

[@carlitomontana1100]

Chuck Norris!

[@M3GAMAN3]

Not this movie, but a casting "what if": Van Damme playing the actual Predator in "The Predator"

[@jjmdirector]

Bro!! The son went to the Kumite and dies. Thats why they ask JVD to show the Dimak, because he's representing his mentors family

[@funforalgernon]

Is this the best Rewatchables? I think it might be.

[@huttanamaihala2276]

We need Last Action Hero

[@notyetabassmaster2356]

Le Chiffre carried a handkerchief! But he was rather high brow. And he only did multiple odds calculations in his head. He wasn’t moving cards around … or was he??!!

[@rickcarranza6425]

Yous guys literally killed Bloodsport 😅

[@ianhood842]

Lol, don't try to be fancy Bill; just say the names! Frank Dux " like put up your dukes"

[@ltgredg]

Can't believe they picked McGregor to star in the remake. Fuckin GSP. How do you miss that?

[@gymlimberita715]

No Chris, no problem!!!!!

[@christopherm.3750]

I can’t tell if the background is green screen or not... 🤔

[@winchesterflo]

Ray Jackson is white Kimbo Slice

[@johnhamilton5369]

Oh they missed the opportunity, when asked an alternate name for Ray Jackson someone should have said Jimmy King

[@TheGodfather-bm3ow]

Hard Target is Van Damme Apex

[@PeeedaPan]

Kickboxer is the best Van Damme movie

[@dayra6425]

Derrick Wade street fighter was his worst movie

[@shaggycan]

2:20 in the west it would be labeled toxic and not get green lit.

[@user-sr4mb5if7m]

Go to 1 hour 15 min and 36 sec on this and look left and down! hahahahahahhahahahahhaaha

[@brotherdandy]

To the death. To the maiming.

[@nate1066pollock]

There was a remake of sorts. It's called Lady Bloodfight (2015), with all women fighters. It stars Amy Johnston. It's really good.

[@stellercorpse]

Guy that kills the monkey guy is E Honda

[@jeffstapleton1521]

Solid episode. But how did you not even mention “OK USA!!!” That is a travesty.

[@urbananalrapist]

It's pronounced Bolo "Yerng". Somehow, Cantonese romanization turned that pronunciation into "Yeung".

[@funnilyenough8733]

Andrew Yang

[@KripkeSaul]

Michael Dudikoff anyone?

[@keeganshigh]

Bill's lookin pretty pear shapped.

[@HappyTeeth.]

Cannon Films buried this movie for 2 years because they thought it was too terrible to release. Hilarious. that explains Forrest W being in this at this point in time

[@kellerthedog]

I feel like Bill didn't even watch the movie. Tenzo Tanaka died in the war. And OK, USA is the best line of the whole movie. . .good try, though. Bill should have sit this one out. Bloodsport deserves the best

[@adamskorupskas2184]

Concepcion is a full blown tick tock.