During a Football season opener last week I came across this new Go Daddy commercial with Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Pretty funny. And apart from being incredibly cheesy, something Van Damme’s never been afraid of, I have to say, the man keeps himself in pretty good shape.
I remember those splits from the movie Bloodsport, one of the big movies of my childhood.
Van Damme got his first big movie role by kicking over the head of a Hollywood producer. The producer was so impressed that he gave Van Damme a part in his film.
Bloodsport is the story of Frak Dux and how he went to Hong Kong to compete in the first Kumite, a brutal bare knuckle martial arts competition. Frank Dux is a real guy who actually went to compete and won.
The real Frank Dux
The movie holds a special place in my heart because I had never seen anybody kick like that. It was impressive and still is. It’s a guilty pleasure when it comes on TV every once in a while.
The film was a big influence on me. I was blown away by the underground feel, the pageantry of the competition. It made me fall in love with the martial arts and the cultures of the far east.
Here’s a little piece of trivia about the film you might not know: Bolo Yeung plays the bad guy.
Bolo also appeared in Bruce Lee’s classic Enter the Dragon.
In Enter the Dragon, Bruce utters his famous line: “Boards don’t hit back.” When O’hara breaks a board before their fight, trying to intimidate Bruce. Good luck!
Anyway, in Bloodsport, Van Damme’s character is asked to demonstrate his death touch which he does by breaking the bottom brick in a pile (something that’s impossible to do, but that I guess the filmmakers thought was a good way of demonstrating the character’s control of “chi” or internal power). After Van Damme breaks the brick, Bolo Young approaches and says: “Very good, but brick don’t hit back.”
A little inside joke and a perfect homage to his martial arts roots.
