The 1988 Cannon action movie Bloodsport launched the career of the “Muscles from Brussels” Jean-Claude Van Damme and told the supposedly true story of Frank Dux, a military veteran who won an underground martial arts tournament called the Kumite.
While widely considered a martial arts movie classic and one of the best all-around flicks made by the legendary Cannon Films, it’s nevertheless become something of a lightning rod for controversy. Most of this has to do with the movie’s subject, Frank Dux. In the years since some explosive reports have come out calling in to question the truth behind his Kumite claims. While, in the end, accuracy isn’t really what you expect (or even need) from a Cannon Films release, the story of Dux’s involvement with Bloodsport is a fascinating one to dig into.
In this episode, we explore some of the claims and determine whether something like the Kumite even exists. Whatever the case, though, I don’t think anyone can deny that Dux’s story is a good romp and that Bloodsport holds up as a total classic and one of JCVD’s best showcases. It’s one of several action movie classics made by The Cannon Group. Whatever they lacked in class and taste, they made up for in sheer audacity and entertainment value. They’ve certainly proven to be good fodder for many of our shows, with Lifeforce, Cyborg, Ninja III: The Domination, Revenge of the Ninja, and more being subjects for JoBlo Videos to tackle!
WTF REALLY Happened To This Movie? – The JoBlo series that dives into movies based on TRUE stories, REAL people and ACTUAL historical events to separate FACT from FICTION! Previous episodes dug into the true stories that inspired such classics as Goodfellas, Braveheart and Pain & Gain. Check out some previous episodes below!