No Retreat, No Surrender

"Tonight, He either fights for his life or he'll be running for the rest of it."

1986 1h 34m EN

😐

6.3

MID

🍅

80%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.6

IMDB

★6.3TMDB · 662🍅80%Rotten Tomatoes●30Metacritic★5.6IMDB · 20,149

ActionComedyCrimeDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The mob is trying to strongarm local martial arts schools, forcing young Jason Stillwell and his family to move after his father is injured defending their dojo. With his father now rejecting violence, Jason is forced to train on his own to protect himself and his best friend from the members of a rival karate school.

“Tonight, He either fights for his life or he'll be running for the rest of it.”

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Cast

Kurt McKinney
Jason Stillwell
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Ivan Kraschinsky "The Russian"
J.W. Fails
R.J. Madison
Kathie Sileno
Kelly Reilly
Kim Tae-Jeong
Sensei Lee
Kent Lipham
Scott
Ron Pohnel
Ian Reilly
Dale Jacoby
Dean Ramsey

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Corey Yuen
Writers: Keith W. Strandberg, Corey Yuen, Ng See-Yuen
Languages: English
Countries: Hong Kong, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

40 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Hong Kong, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "No Retreat, No Surrender Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Corey Yuen, shot by David Golia. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Paul Gilreath. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor James Melkonian shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kurt McKinney and Jean-Claude Van Damme and J.W. Fails carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Tonight, He either fights for his life or he'll be running for the rest of it.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Corey Yuen directs. David Golia behind the camera. Paul Gilreath scores. James Melkonian cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Hong Kong, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

140 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2International production across 2 countries: Hong Kong, United States of America.
3Part of the "No Retreat, No Surrender Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Corey Yuen, shot by David Golia. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Paul Gilreath. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor James Melkonian shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Kurt McKinney and Jean-Claude Van Damme and J.W. Fails carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Tonight, He either fights for his life or he'll be running for the rest of it.".
9IMDB entry: tt0089695 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 8 themes, including "showdown", "karate", "training", "bully".
11Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: David Golia
Original score: Paul Gilreath
Editing: James Melkonian
Makeup / hair: June Brickman
Runtime: 94 min · 1h 34m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $4,662,137
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: No Retreat, No Surrender (1986)
Rotten Tomatoes: 80% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 30/100
IMDB rating: 5.6/10 · 20,149 votes
MPAA: PG

Part of

No Retreat, No Surrender Collection

No Retreat, No Surrender collection

Also by

Corey Yuen

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

GenerationofSwine2023-01-14
★ 10/10
First of all, I believe the word for this is "Bruceploitation" and you can't walk into anything with a "sploitation" at the end of the genre title with expectations of things like production value, or great special effects or a decent plot. Mostly movies like this are void of those things and in the rare times that you actually get them they should be viewed as an added bonus. Technically speaking, the film is a train wreck, it looks bad, the writing is horrible, and the dialogue largely stinks... ...but all of that adds to the charm and ultimately what you have is a very dated and extremely entertaining piece of crap that will hold your attention throughout, even if it doesn't hold any nostalgia for you. No Retreat, No Surrender falls firmly into the "so bad it's good" category of films and the ghost of Bruce Lee only adds to the entertaining horribleness of the overall film. It could be far better, sure, no one is arguing that, but if it was better it wouldn't be nearly as entertaining to watch.

Production companies