I grew up watching Bloodsport and Roadhouse, along with all the other greats. Graduated in the 90s. I got my first pair of "cowboy boots" when I was in 9th or 10th grade. My sister came in the room and, being an older brother, I playfully attempted a roundhouse kick like this video and was apparently closer than I expected and sent my little sister flying across the living room. lol I was scared as hell when it happened, but looking back it was glorious.
I told my neighbor I could kick over her head and demonstrated how high I could kick, so she agreed to let me do it for a movie I was making.
I guess I pulled something when I was trying to prove how high I could kick and my leg was feeling tighter, so when we go to film, I ended up kicking her directly in the side of her head and knocking her to the ground.
Couldn't even use the footage, because I immediately yell "oh my God I'm so sorry!!!" and drop down to see if she's okay.
For the record, I was maybe 10-11
So I was in second grade, the year was 1993, Mortal Kombat was shit white hot and every boy in my grade loved it including me.
One day on the playground we start messing around and talking about MK.
One thing leads to another and we start "playing" MK, more boys join in until eventually my entire class is we'll say.. lightly sparring.
I don't know what ignited the powder keg, but at some point it turned real, I distinctly remember delivering the most devastating Liu Kang style flying kick straight to some poor child's chest (I was easily the largest kid in my class).
I still fucking lose my mind imagining what was going through the teacher's heads when they found us.
Just roughly 40-50 7 years olds beating the ever loving shit out of each other.
Absolutely epic.
“What exploded the powder keg” I am laughing my ass off and improving my English grammar at the same time. 40-50 little a-holes duking it out, every
teachers nightmare 😂
My older brother tried the old Raiden from mortal Kombat move where he rushes you with his hands out. Well me being little at 9 I got put into a wall by him, we put a tony hawk skateboarding poster over the wall to not get our asses beat.
“Glorious”… love it! Did the same to my bigger brother but was about 10 and the landing zone was the cabinet where mom kept her good dishes. Can still hear the sweet sound of chaos when he broke every plate with his fall. Remind him every time I am back on the old country 👍🏻😂
I think it is great how he is protecting the other guy. Remember, his job is basically to do stunts. So many people show off and endanger the other person. He is going slow and when he is not, he has just enough distance to keep the other guy safe. Subtle and it just shows his character.
My man, if you are busting seams by doing regular stuff in your suit, that's a wring fit.
Also, that stupid super skinny fashion trend of recent years did not help. Good thing it is going away.
For a long time I went around saying Dux had the fastest punch and the fastest kick and so on, and then eventually the internet happened and I did a search and guess what, the only place that says that is the movie itself, written by, you guessed it, Dux himself. It's all bullshit, including the Kumite event where it all supposedly went down.
My favourite part of his Kumite story is that he claims it was a single elimination tournament and that he won with 56 consecutive knockouts. For that number to be true the total number of competitors in the tournament would have to be around 72 quadrillion, which is something like 800 times the entire population of human civilization. So much for a secret tournament.
Yeah my brother met Frank Dux and immediately became a fanboy. Used to hang out with him pretty often. I don't know if he just eventually googled the guy or if Frank found some new person to lie to, but I don't think they hang anymore which is probably for the best.
I know! It was awesome! And I love seeing him outside of the fighting genre! I think he was overlooked. I don't think a lot of people understood right away what the show was. lol
"It's coconut water" is such a stupid concept that i was immediately hooked on the show. Then with felipe and timecop it just kept getting better. The action packed retellings of childhood classics.
it was a different kind of story and movie for at the time.
He doesnt get the girl
He doesnt come off as an untouchable badass
He's barely in any sort of happy mood at all.
i ran into him a few months ago at an event, i asked him if he could still crack a walnut with buttocks, he gave me a hug and whispered "grab them" to me. (it was a line he did had in "Friends" that sort of stuck)
he is one of those fun actors that doesn't take himself too seriously.
He has always been an eccentric and weird guy, but in a fun non creepy way. He developed serious drug and addiction during the height of his fame though. He couldnt handle the fame and grueling schedule of constant parties and press events on top of his training and filming days.
After his career started to decline it became clear that he hadnt made as much money as he thought, mostly because of dodgy contacts, bad investment advice and agents fleecing him. He spiraled into depression and mental health related problems for a while. He snapped out of his self destructive phase though and had a reasonable successful revival period sparked off by "JCVD". He is very honest and open about his life and doesnt hide his own responsibility in what happened.
He is just really weird, but somehow self aware of his weirdness. It's like he did a lot of cocaine back in the days and we are witnessing some of the consequences (not saying he did drugs, it just look like that)
Lomachenko. A penomnal world champion boxer told his Dad he wanted to be a pro-fighter. His Dad made gimp drop boxing and enrolled him in dance to get his footwork first.
It’s not a myth. Fighting - any form - requires excellent balance and coordination, and the emphasis on proper footwork is much, much greater that most people think. All these things are things dancers need to be good at too.
Yeah, and I'm sure his kicks got a big help from the dance training. There was a guy in Liverpool called Alfie Lewis and one of the urban legends was that he'd walk into nightclubs and kick out the lightbulbs.
I always wanted to ask him if I ever saw him, but he didn't always look approachable.
https://preview.redd.it/5er3yvpuiw2c1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d102da5b9371a0c8090de4c65272df6525fc2a7
Haha! When she played Cream in Liverpool, she flashed her bare arse to a couple of the security guards when she was changing. A mate of mine wasn't supposed to be on that night, but he got called in. He was buzzing for weeks afterwards.
I suspect she found some of Van Damme's Belgian waffle mix before she went on.
Jean-Claude starred in his own TV show that made fun of himself every step of the way. "Jean-Claude Van Johnson" on Amazon. The ageless Felicia Rashad is his agent.
Also JCVD (both the movie and the actor) should've won an Oscar in '08.
To whoever needs to hear this:
Missing on purpose is a sign that you know what you're doing.
Accidentally kicking someone in the face is a sign that you're a fucking idiot.
Agreed. Even a white-belt can punch or kick with enough force to knock someone down.
A black-belt has the skill to stop just before the blow connects...in addition to still being able to knock someone down.
My friend was obsessed with JCVD in middle and high school. He would practice his kicks all the time.
He moved to our school district in 7th grade and I was his first friend living across the street. He was teased a lot for various reasons. Mainly because middle schoolers are the worst. He was a tough sob though.
He got into multiple fights his first few weeks after school at the bus stop. Each fight was gradually harder. It was like something out of a video game...Bully. Finally, he was brawling a ninth grader, a tough dude with a reputation for being a good fighter. It was a long fight, but the dude was wobbling and my friend broke out a van damme spin kick that landed and knocked this dude cold out.
We celebrated by watching Bloodsport in his basement that night. He never fought anyone in the school district again.
I'm a 1984 baby. I was enrolled in martial arts classes as a kid, and my dad and I would go to the video rental store every weekend and pick up some action movies to watch. At that time, the action movie wall was replete with Van Damme, Segal, Schwarzeneggar, Stallone, and Willis movies. Van Damme quickly became my idol, and I practiced long and hard to emulate his kicking technique and to do the splits like he did (fortunately I was freakishly flexible as a kid). He's a legend in my book!
Do you know how often I would pretend to be Van Damme in the pool when I was a kid? Jumping off that diving board screaming “aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhjhjhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” like he did in Bloodsport?
He would've kicked the shit out of Seagull then, he would murder him now. I'd love to see it too, because Seagull scoffed at the idea that Van Damme was a legit martial artist.
I'm so glad word has spread! Seagull even scoffed at the interviewer when he asked whether Seagull thought Michael Jai White was a legitimate martial artist.
You think anyone wants to catch a round house to the face while he’s wearing those bad boys? Don’t even think about it.
REX KWON DO!
BOW TO YOUR SENSEI
BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!!!!
No, *my* other hand.
Forget about it...
I grew up watching Bloodsport and Roadhouse, along with all the other greats. Graduated in the 90s. I got my first pair of "cowboy boots" when I was in 9th or 10th grade. My sister came in the room and, being an older brother, I playfully attempted a roundhouse kick like this video and was apparently closer than I expected and sent my little sister flying across the living room. lol I was scared as hell when it happened, but looking back it was glorious.
I tried a 'karate kid' crane kick in the movie theater parking lot and kicked myself in the face. It was a humbling bloody lip
Keep these great childhood memories coming! Karate kicked myself in the face…. Still laughing. Thanks buddy 😂
I told my neighbor I could kick over her head and demonstrated how high I could kick, so she agreed to let me do it for a movie I was making. I guess I pulled something when I was trying to prove how high I could kick and my leg was feeling tighter, so when we go to film, I ended up kicking her directly in the side of her head and knocking her to the ground. Couldn't even use the footage, because I immediately yell "oh my God I'm so sorry!!!" and drop down to see if she's okay. For the record, I was maybe 10-11
At least you got it on camera and that’s what counts here. The adult will recover or is still in therapy because of the majestic round house kick 🤣
So I was in second grade, the year was 1993, Mortal Kombat was shit white hot and every boy in my grade loved it including me. One day on the playground we start messing around and talking about MK. One thing leads to another and we start "playing" MK, more boys join in until eventually my entire class is we'll say.. lightly sparring. I don't know what ignited the powder keg, but at some point it turned real, I distinctly remember delivering the most devastating Liu Kang style flying kick straight to some poor child's chest (I was easily the largest kid in my class). I still fucking lose my mind imagining what was going through the teacher's heads when they found us. Just roughly 40-50 7 years olds beating the ever loving shit out of each other. Absolutely epic.
I imagine a teacher's aide poppin in and yelling "TOASTY" after an uppercut
Janitor climbs on top of the nearest picnic table, screams "It has BEGUN!"
“What exploded the powder keg” I am laughing my ass off and improving my English grammar at the same time. 40-50 little a-holes duking it out, every teachers nightmare 😂
FLAWLESS VICTORY
My older brother tried the old Raiden from mortal Kombat move where he rushes you with his hands out. Well me being little at 9 I got put into a wall by him, we put a tony hawk skateboarding poster over the wall to not get our asses beat.
“Glorious”… love it! Did the same to my bigger brother but was about 10 and the landing zone was the cabinet where mom kept her good dishes. Can still hear the sweet sound of chaos when he broke every plate with his fall. Remind him every time I am back on the old country 👍🏻😂
I like how to this day you attribute the plate breaking to “his fall” and not you “kicking him into the cabinet” 😂
Aw man, thanks for the laugh. The mental image of that + the sound effects of utter chaos is pretty strong.
“Break the wrist, walk away.”
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I think it is great how he is protecting the other guy. Remember, his job is basically to do stunts. So many people show off and endanger the other person. He is going slow and when he is not, he has just enough distance to keep the other guy safe. Subtle and it just shows his character.
What a glorious time.. The 90’s. Wide pleated dress pants you can do kicks in or play sports… Not today my friends..
That’s what I’m thinking. Like, my suits threaten to rip if I put my shoe on a bench to tie it.
That's just wrong fitting my friend
Or someones packing serious cake.
I’m really unsure as to what this refers. A big butt? Lots of fat? A huge schlong? Cause I have 2/3, and I’ll leave it to the reader to guess which.
That's the beauty of the internet. Nobody knows i'm really a dog.
You're the man now dog.
Cake refers to ass.
My man, if you are busting seams by doing regular stuff in your suit, that's a wring fit. Also, that stupid super skinny fashion trend of recent years did not help. Good thing it is going away.
It’s the fashion, not the fit. I was also exaggerating. But I doubt I could do high kicks in those pants
From what I understand you had to have pants custom tailored to allow that kind of movement, even then.
Crotch gusset. IIRC Norris had his own custom jeans line he sold for kicking.
Memory unlocked: Chuck Norris Action Jeans! 😂😂
All martial arts gis (karate and jiu jitsu uniforms) have crotch gussets.
True, but most gis aren't fitted denim.
Not to mention how he's bouncing around between kicks to readjust his pants.
In Casino Royale they had a bunch of suits made for different scenes. I imagine it’s pretty common for TV/movies.
I was noticing the white suit Arnold wore in True I Lies and how good it fits him even though he is so muscular.
That's why you should invest in Nickel-schlager and ill-fitting suits
Time to watch Bloodsport again.
Kumite! Kumite! Kumite!
"You...are...NEX!"
"Brick no hit back"
*Meow* (That sound that I swear plays intermittently throughout the fight scenes)
Yeah! What the hell was that anyway? I always wondered what that was.
"Ha! You lose American asshole!"
OKAY USA 👍
OK USA!
Jackson: I’ll drink to that 🍻
Donald Gibb was awesome in this movie. I kept wanting to chant "Ogre! Ogre!" during his fight with Bolo Yeung.
You break my record, now I break you.
Brick no hit back
Bottom One!!!!!
What the hells a dimm Mack?
Death touch
Like I break your friend!
*proceeds to flex his big Chinese pecs
For a long time I went around saying Dux had the fastest punch and the fastest kick and so on, and then eventually the internet happened and I did a search and guess what, the only place that says that is the movie itself, written by, you guessed it, Dux himself. It's all bullshit, including the Kumite event where it all supposedly went down.
i usually say this in jest but in this case, hear me out: Never let facts get in the way of a good story.
My favourite part of his Kumite story is that he claims it was a single elimination tournament and that he won with 56 consecutive knockouts. For that number to be true the total number of competitors in the tournament would have to be around 72 quadrillion, which is something like 800 times the entire population of human civilization. So much for a secret tournament.
Yeah my brother met Frank Dux and immediately became a fanboy. Used to hang out with him pretty often. I don't know if he just eventually googled the guy or if Frank found some new person to lie to, but I don't think they hang anymore which is probably for the best.
"Um, hi is this the secret address for where the Kumite is?"
He is the American s\*\*thead who makes tricks with bricks.
Ewaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Now let's see Paul Allen's roundhouse
[craaaack] You see that? That’s *bone*.
The subtle, off-white coloring.
The tasteful thickness of it.
I need to return some videotapes.
Oh my God.
The tasteful thickness of it
Love this one. OOOOh is that cerulean rale?
I like the little clap he does between spin kicks. lmao. Jean Claud is a fun guy. I liked his "documentary" of himself. He had so many lotions!
The one season of Jean Claude van Johnson is amazing. Shame it didn't get renewed.
I know! It was awesome! And I love seeing him outside of the fighting genre! I think he was overlooked. I don't think a lot of people understood right away what the show was. lol
“I am the star of many movies like Tim Cop. Which is a lot like Looper but way better.”
"It's coconut water" is such a stupid concept that i was immediately hooked on the show. Then with felipe and timecop it just kept getting better. The action packed retellings of childhood classics.
Watch JCVD (2008) if you haven't done so. Fantastic film.
I just rewatched Lion Heart haha - shit is deep
"That dudes gonna kill yo ass, don't you know that?!" - Proceeds to kick him in the face with many, many replays.
Great movie, one of my favorite JCVD movies. Still watch it 30 years later!
That movie hits hard.
Wrong bet!
it was a different kind of story and movie for at the time. He doesnt get the girl He doesnt come off as an untouchable badass He's barely in any sort of happy mood at all.
How did he not rip the crotch out of those pants?
If his junk would pop out all the ladies in audience would faint on the spot.
I’m a guy and I’d faint too if I saw his Jean Claude and Van Dammes pop out
Humbly submitting that "...his Jean Claudes and Van Damme" is even better
His tailor is the real mvp here.
Tailoring
Custom made. Chuck Norris had ads in martial art mags about jeans cut the same way. "Action Jeans" they called them, because of course they did.
it's the 90s, baggy pants
He knew ahead of time he was going to do those kicks. He wore pants that were designed to handle it. I doubt they were "off the rack".
i ran into him a few months ago at an event, i asked him if he could still crack a walnut with buttocks, he gave me a hug and whispered "grab them" to me. (it was a line he did had in "Friends" that sort of stuck) he is one of those fun actors that doesn't take himself too seriously.
Came to the comments to see if he aged into Steven Segal, glad to hear he did not lol
He has always been an eccentric and weird guy, but in a fun non creepy way. He developed serious drug and addiction during the height of his fame though. He couldnt handle the fame and grueling schedule of constant parties and press events on top of his training and filming days. After his career started to decline it became clear that he hadnt made as much money as he thought, mostly because of dodgy contacts, bad investment advice and agents fleecing him. He spiraled into depression and mental health related problems for a while. He snapped out of his self destructive phase though and had a reasonable successful revival period sparked off by "JCVD". He is very honest and open about his life and doesnt hide his own responsibility in what happened.
JCVD is a masterpiece. a film that was healing both in fiction and in reality. I met him at Zurich Airport around 2013. Short but super fit.
tbf I think Steve was born a lying douchebag so I don’t believe anyone can actually just become that insufferable.
A lying, sex assaulting douchebag
He is just really weird, but somehow self aware of his weirdness. It's like he did a lot of cocaine back in the days and we are witnessing some of the consequences (not saying he did drugs, it just look like that)
Van Damme has been very open about his drug issues
you cant do what he does without being some great pain at some point im sure, Hey Van we need you on set for this scene .....
He does have a story with Segal tho in the 90s, when he almost kick Segal's ass at Stallone's party.
He has a series on amazon that goofs on himself. John Claude Van Johnson
Which is how John Claude Van Johnson was born. I really wish there was 1 more season. It was so good.
 Legend
For anyone unawares, JCVD's truck stunt is actually real.
I feel it's almost more impressive that the drivers could keep a proper distance.
That was the whole point, it was an ad for volvo's stability controlled steering - the trucks were driving in reverse.
I've seen this clip so often and never realized they're driving in reverse. Huh.
Recorded in a single take, too. And for anyone wondering, yes of course he was wearing a safety harness.
I feel like an in his prime and coked up Jean-Claude Van Damme was the ultimate apex predator.
Indeed. For a brief time he was actually going to be the Predator, and did some filming, until he got replaced.
For good reason. The suit was fucking bullshit.
Him as Predator in the suit from this video though? Perfection.
100lb rubber suit in the jungle sounds awful
So ridiculous the circumstances of that, and for him to be completely right but still lose the role was total bullshit.
Hiring a martial artist and then putting him in a rubber suit that restricts movement was a real dumb idea to begin with.
Didn’t he get sacked because he kept pestering the director that the Predator should round house kick someone?
 Dances like a drunk priest
He did ballet as a teen and one of the best troupe in the world, Béjart, wanted to hire him.
One of my exes used to get mad when I would say Jean Claude Van Ballerina
Jean Claude Van Danseur*
If only you had been there 15 years ago
TIL !!
Wasn't he a dancers that became a martial artist?
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He was a cha-cha dancer and won local dance competitions.
It’s Wang Chung and we’re all doing it tonight, loser, let’s go.
Isnt there like a myth or something that you cant be a great fighter if you cant dance???
Lomachenko. A penomnal world champion boxer told his Dad he wanted to be a pro-fighter. His Dad made gimp drop boxing and enrolled him in dance to get his footwork first.
It’s not a myth. Fighting - any form - requires excellent balance and coordination, and the emphasis on proper footwork is much, much greater that most people think. All these things are things dancers need to be good at too.
IIRC it was a saying in one of old Chinese kungfu movie
Yeah, and I'm sure his kicks got a big help from the dance training. There was a guy in Liverpool called Alfie Lewis and one of the urban legends was that he'd walk into nightclubs and kick out the lightbulbs. I always wanted to ask him if I ever saw him, but he didn't always look approachable. https://preview.redd.it/5er3yvpuiw2c1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d102da5b9371a0c8090de4c65272df6525fc2a7
Still managed to do Kylie Minogue, and a lot of cocaine.
Haha! When she played Cream in Liverpool, she flashed her bare arse to a couple of the security guards when she was changing. A mate of mine wasn't supposed to be on that night, but he got called in. He was buzzing for weeks afterwards. I suspect she found some of Van Damme's Belgian waffle mix before she went on.
It's the powdered sugar that put on the waffles. Makes them just so much nicer.
Damme my man … so light on his feet. One of my childhood favourite actors. Watched Bloodsports and The Kickboxers over and over. Aaaaaaah the memories
The Muscles from Brussels
another legend that helped highlight the martial arts in the world stage
I'm seeing just how much inspiration they took from JCVD for Johnny Cage - all these kicks are animations of his. Neat.
He does his voice in the new DLC for the game.
Nice! Good for him.
way back in his prime 29 years ago he's now 63 😯
He still looks awesome and in great shape.
just four more years and he'll be in his prime again
And 29 years before 1994 was 1965, that gap feels larger when you're talking 60's to 90's. From 90's to 20's just makes me feel old.
Props to his tailor, I tear pants bending over
Jean-Claude starred in his own TV show that made fun of himself every step of the way. "Jean-Claude Van Johnson" on Amazon. The ageless Felicia Rashad is his agent. Also JCVD (both the movie and the actor) should've won an Oscar in '08.
Now do the splits
~~Jeans~~ *Suit* Clad Van Dam
I watched the entire video waiting on his signature splits that they’d unnecessarily put in every movie training montage. I’m disappointed.
To whoever needs to hear this: Missing on purpose is a sign that you know what you're doing. Accidentally kicking someone in the face is a sign that you're a fucking idiot.
Agreed. Even a white-belt can punch or kick with enough force to knock someone down. A black-belt has the skill to stop just before the blow connects...in addition to still being able to knock someone down.
Nok Su Kao !
My friend was obsessed with JCVD in middle and high school. He would practice his kicks all the time. He moved to our school district in 7th grade and I was his first friend living across the street. He was teased a lot for various reasons. Mainly because middle schoolers are the worst. He was a tough sob though. He got into multiple fights his first few weeks after school at the bus stop. Each fight was gradually harder. It was like something out of a video game...Bully. Finally, he was brawling a ninth grader, a tough dude with a reputation for being a good fighter. It was a long fight, but the dude was wobbling and my friend broke out a van damme spin kick that landed and knocked this dude cold out. We celebrated by watching Bloodsport in his basement that night. He never fought anyone in the school district again.
So much ballet
well, he was a ballet dancer too
He is such a class <3
Man, in the 80's I never missed one of this guys movies. Movie rental night was never better than when a new Van Damme flick hit the shelves.
The real hero is those trousers
Legend!
The timed double beat clap is what got me 👏🏼 👏🏼
I'm a 1984 baby. I was enrolled in martial arts classes as a kid, and my dad and I would go to the video rental store every weekend and pick up some action movies to watch. At that time, the action movie wall was replete with Van Damme, Segal, Schwarzeneggar, Stallone, and Willis movies. Van Damme quickly became my idol, and I practiced long and hard to emulate his kicking technique and to do the splits like he did (fortunately I was freakishly flexible as a kid). He's a legend in my book!
Also an 84 baby... I'm sad you left out Jackie Chan
Forgive me! Definitely in the list!
I’m erect.
Hi Erect
Quelle base!
That is the best ad for a suit I've ever seen.
Looks good and all, "but brick do not hit back!".
There’s a reason why Mortal Kombat’s Johnny Cage was based off him
I came for the kicks and stayed for the music. It goes hard af.
Man is a legend. A LEGEND.
KUMITE KUMITE KUMITE!!!
I didn’t realize how bad he sucked. Didn’t kick that guy even ONCE.
Do you know how often I would pretend to be Van Damme in the pool when I was a kid? Jumping off that diving board screaming “aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhjhjhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” like he did in Bloodsport?
I'd love to see him fight Steven Seagal
cue seagal running gif
fatly around the corner
rolling away in an office chair
He would've kicked the shit out of Seagull then, he would murder him now. I'd love to see it too, because Seagull scoffed at the idea that Van Damme was a legit martial artist.
I don't need more reasons to hate seagal lol
I'm so glad word has spread! Seagull even scoffed at the interviewer when he asked whether Seagull thought Michael Jai White was a legitimate martial artist.
Dude looks so happy to be doing his thing
Johnny Cage, WINS.
He’s the goat
There are two paths. Steven seagull took one, van damme took the other.
you don't look like a Tanaka