Besides Gary Daniels and Don Wilson, many professionals in the world of fighting in the VHS era tried their hand at films - either promoting a school, or simply trying to become famous, “like that guy from Belgium“. However, as a rule, for the most part they parasitized on the original films with these pioneers, making Azilum-like copies - a bunch of clones of “Bloody Sport” and “Kickboxer” with similar names “Bloody Fight”, “Bloody Ring”, “King of Kickboxers”, etc. . Dale "Apollo" Cook - just one of those; Without breaking away from his main career (multiple champion of the USA and a number of organizations in Kickboxing and Muay Thai, plus a boxer with a normal record and a karateka), he moved into a film career.
However, these guys and their directors tried to bring something of their own into these productions - sometimes it worked, often not. Having watched almost everything by Dale Cook, I highlighted several features of his films:
- Dale Cook fights with classic kickboxing. In terms of the colorfulness of his techniques, he is inferior to Gary Daniels and slightly better (at first) than Wilson, occasionally mixing the ground game and creases into his style. Later in his films the constant “Lots of High Kicking".
- Directors (most often Teddy Page) compensate for the low budget and Cook's weak acting with the amount of action - it is always at least 50% of the total running time - taking into account training - generally all 70%. With a non-twitching camera and (at first, again) more or less tolerable installation, this is a big plus.
- The remaining shortcomings and shortcomings are also compensated by a wide variety of action - there will definitely be a lot of shooting (of course - not John Woo, but there is a slight degree of bloodiness and hole-covering of the dead from the shots); Dale will more than once grab the nunchucks and spin them, hit enemies against walls, use bats, poles, and so on, like his film comrades (including Cynthia Khan herself), but mostly he will fight with his bare hands.
- Almost all of his films are “Azilum versions” louder titles. I remember that it was not the Azilum studio that filmed it, but you understand what I meant. For the same reason, Dale Cook’s films are often the answer to the question “I’m looking for an old movie where this guy does this and that,” confusing them with the originals.
- Classic VHS-era elements like boobs, bar fights, and unkillable heroes are present in (almost) all of the films below.
- ALWAYS, in ALL of his films, Dale gets in the face A LOT in fights. Before he is finally able to defend himself and win, he will spend about 5 minutes snatching everything from the villains. You will say more than once: “Just put up a block already! Give him back already!".
- There will be different timing stretches. Teddy Page uses action instead of tedious dialogues for this - this is a plus, but in fact, an hour and a half stories with Dale Cook in the title role can be packed into an hour.
- The further you go through the filmography, the more and more noticeable the hackwork in battles is - fists and legs clearly do not reach the face and you no longer believe many of the blows.
As you already understand, we are looking at classic VHS B-shki. Films with Dale Cook are recommended for viewing by fans of that era, who remember and who trudge, as they say now “from the warm tube sound of video salons” – translations by Gavrilov and Volodarsky, etc. His first films are simple, understandable, do not carry a semantic load and look good in the evening; there is little gouging and murderous shit in there.
Films with Dale Cook are categorically not recommended for viewing by those who consider Scott Adkins, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais and Donnie Yen to be the standard of fights; I’m sure you won’t like this - Dale does not have sufficient technical skills. And now - filmography.
“Fist of Glory” (1991)
According to the plot, 2 friends fought together in Vietnam in a secret operation. Reynolds (Dale Cook) was wounded in the battle and his friend Lee pulled him out. When the hero left the hospital, he found out that Lee had ended up in fights without rules, where he was forced to fight for a dose of drugs. Reynolds infiltrates there and, of course, wins.
The film roughly consists of 3 parts:
- The first part, about 35% of the film and even more, is the battle in Vietnam. It consists of continuous action with stupid shootouts - almost indestructible special forces extinguishes everything living and Vietnamese around, and in a variety of ways - there is a good fight in the water, knife work, a couple of fights with bosses (there are some creases and stalls), stealth and a lot of shootouts and explosions. Not a standard - but very driving. Among the special forces detachment there was a Vietnamese guide, he also worked hard, it’s a pity there weren’t enough of him.
- The second part is tied to fights without rules. There are really a lot of fights, both with the participation of the hero and Lee, as well as the local under-Bolo Young. The fights, oddly enough, are varied, but in general it all comes down to classic kickboxing - beat-beat-clinch-knees-spin-turn-kick-KO. There's a lot of blood too. Alas, there is a copy-paste of “Bloodsport”, and almost a complete one - but the director slightly changed the course of the battle, which saved the situation.
- The third part is the escape of the heroes from the lair of Glavgad with its subsequent destruction. It was trashy, but fun - to the accompaniment of good music (classical for that era), the heroes rolled an entire village into firewood and killed about 50 people without any problems.
Despite the fact that the film is almost trashy and low-budget, it looks very cheerful thanks, first of all, to VARIETY - different styles and moves of battle, different weapons - and all this is almost continuous. Light and cheerful, you can watch it.
“Blood Ring” (Blood Ring, 1991)
The main character Max (Cook) is a drunken champion kickboxer who now works part-time in underground fights, periodically leaking fights for money. And he drank himself to death because his girlfriend left for his best friend. And now she appears on the horizon again - this same friend has disappeared. Max investigates and finds out that a certain Carlo, a mafioso from South America, is behind all this. Max goes there and a series of adventures and endless fights begins.
As in the last film, there are a lot of fights and, at the end, shooting. But if the last film had a simple and relaxed plot, then in this regard there is a lot of stupidity. Due to the stupidity of the hero, his girlfriend is constantly kidnapped, and besides, this kind of blunder happens - there will be moments when the hero is stopped by the muzzle of a gun in front of his nose - and he agrees to do something, but a minute later he scatters the shooters in batches - and then again the ultrasound near the nose will force him to raise his hands - this will be repeated at least 4 times.
These stupidities spoil everything, but two things save them - the above-mentioned variety and a very brutal bloody fight at the end - in the same Bloody Ring from the title of the film, where barbed wire is strung along the sides and edges. The leader here is the technical Don Nakaya Neilsen, who will skillfully and for a long time beat the hero for 2% of the battle, until Cook realizes to start using this very wire.
The film did much worse than “Fist of Glory,” so I won’t directly recommend it; if you want, look, Cook is “still the same.”
“Always First / Eternal Fist” (Eternal Fist, 1992)
This movie is a semi-clone of Fist of the North Star (as you can guess from the title) - the setting is the same: a post-apocalypse in the desert, everyone is dirty barbarians, and the evil here is half-witted gopniks in frilly Punk costumes with bulging eyes +\- old cars. unless the hero has super style and is not a former cop.
According to the plot, the hero (Cook) tries to find his happiness in this world by getting into the City - where all the benefits of civilization are. But early on, his wife is killed by Mainframe gangsters. and he himself is nailed to the ground by the hands with stakes. Having freed himself and with the help of a certain Christian community, the hero heals his wounds and sets off to take revenge. A girl from this community (Cynthia Khan, who will pull out almost any film with just her presence) follows him, and the community itself is destroyed by the same Mainframe bandits. To prevent her from being killed, the hero personally teaches her the art of combat and they head to the City, going through dozens of fights and the harsh realities of the post-apocalyptic world.
Honestly, I don’t like the “Desert Post-Apocalypse” setting with pop-eyed screaming degenerates (Mad Max, Cyborg with Van Damme, Nemesis with Gruner) – but I really liked this film:
- Action - A LOT of it, and again, it's varied. Cook fights with beautiful kickboxing, Khan uses a mixture of kick and taekwondo, the enemies are either wrestlers, knife fighters, or karatekas. the heroes use a variety of weapons - poles, nunchucks (for fans of this Bruce the Extra device, this film is a huge gift!), knives and so on. The final 2-on-2 showdown turned out to be long and good - the heroes double-teamed their enemies and constantly changed opponents.
- The film tries to convey many ideas: you can’t trust people, in a difficult situation fists are more important than words, religiosity and superstition decide little at critical moments, there is a lot of deception all around and in general - take off your rose-colored glasses when everything is F****C all around!
- Dale Cook even tries to play here.
- The atmosphere of general despondency is somehow conveyed.
- Cynthia Khan. And the appearance, and the outfit and the atmosphere of Hong Kong cinema
However, there are some things I didn't like:
- Cook again takes a lot before winning. This looks strange against the backdrop of the Savage trained by him, who began to receive and miss only in the final battle
- The final boss, although spiked, is harsh and powerful (according to the plot), for some reason there is also some terrible toothless half-drunk, and therefore he does not look like a super-gopnik or an emperor who intimidated the whole area, but like a hangover guy who wears sweatpants instead put on the Shao Kahn costume. But his assistant, played by Don Nakai Neilsen, turned out to be a worthy and dangerous opponent.
Hack and predictor Aviator: I’ll say in advance - this is Cook’s best film work at the moment. A good solid action movie, far superior to Nemesis and the Cyborg sequels. Recommended viewing!
“Triple Impact” (1992)
Like Cook's first film, this one begins with the Vietnam War - a certain detachment is defeated and only 2 soldiers remain alive. They find the treasure, but, having decided to save it until the right time, they get out to their own, where they begin to fight - one received blindness, and the second received a 20-year sentence for this. After these 20 years, both decide to turn to different forces to find the treasure: Blind - to the bandits, and the sighted - to street fighters Dave (Cook) and James (Ron Hall). The plot soon merges both soldiers into the next world, and the “good” ones are joined by Thai boxing champion Julie (Bridget Riley), the three of them, confronting Asian drug dealers and the henchmen of Glavgad, finally find the treasure.
Many, by downloading this movie, hope, judging by the poster, to get, if not a direct, then at least a free adaptation of Bitemap “Streets of rage” - they will be slightly disappointed - this is an action movie with a comedic twist and street passages through crowds of punks, drunks and harsh bosses there won’t be much - it’s more like a copy-paste of adventure action films about treasures than about the mafia.
the film itself is a typical B-movie for video stores, but weak in many respects:
- There is still a lot of action and even a lot, but Ron Hall is the most technical here: all the various beautiful equipment is on him, while Cook and Riley mainly scare enemies with “lots-of-highkicking”, and almost lost its bloodiness. Cook will have a fight with fellow athlete Mike “Cobra” Cole.” The fight is intense, but the editing is crooked. like most fights
- Riley is here more for fan service and joins the heroes very late: she has two catfights with scary Asian girls and posing at the screen with her inflated thighs - this is, of course, a plus.
- In general, the coolest part was only at the end - the final showdown is good, but there are no double teams, weapons are picked up, but not for long, and the final boss doesn’t fight at all.
In the end, what saves this is the comedy part and the aforementioned fan service. Otherwise, it’s just a passable place to kill time in the evening with nostalgia for the old era. And starting with this film, Cook took off.
“American Kickboxer 2” (American Kickboxer 2, 1993)
A rich lady's daughter is kidnapped. With no hope for a rich husband (David "Tackleberry" Earl), she turns to her two ex-husbands - police officer Mike (Cook) and David (Evan Lurie). They. Somehow overcoming differences among themselves, they begin to search for the child.
Despite the bright picture, the buddy-action movie with characters completely different in style and character, stylish Lurie and a considerable amount of action - the film is bad.
Why? It's fresh. David Graf was the epic Tackleberry in “Police Academy”, here he could play well as the pathetic final boss opposing the heroes - but here he was simply killed in a couple of shots, and his assistant, a mercenary, was killed like a sucker by the heroes’ wife. The heroes have to be content with a couple of henchmen and constantly beating each other's faces. Don’t expect any fancy techniques here – the fights are straight-forward, and with awkward editing.
The film cannot take anything else - no logic, no teaching, no coolness and a bunch of explosions, no some kind of fan service, except, perhaps, Evan Lurie - women will like his fights in the mud and in the water with some wrestler.
“Double Blast” (1994)
Dale Cook tries himself in children's films - in the story, he is a single father and his two children Jimmy (Lorne Burfield) and Lisa (Crystal Summer) are strong in martial arts. the boy always wants to lure his older sister into games about ninjas or supermen on the street, but she is interested in meeting boyfriends. One day, Jimmy sees a certain archaeologist (Linda Blair) being kidnapped by the half-witted henchmen of a certain businessman Nadir (Joe Estevez, Martin Sheen’s brother, who has starred in 200 roles in every passing movie) and decides to save her. A little later, his sister and father join him. and then they end up in the jungle in search of treasure.
Everything in this film should have led to the fact that it was unwatchable bullshit - not the best fights, too stupid enemies, the helpless acting of Cook who had become “not the same” and the most moronic cliche - “one gun decided everything” (this is when the hero , scattering a crowd of villains, is suddenly stopped by a pistol at his nose, but instead of immediately knocking it out, as in a hundred other action films, he obediently calms down and allows himself to be tied up).
But the film was saved by Lorne Berfield and Crystal Summer, who played child kickboxers. Their looooong and varied mockery of stupid villains (among whom was the colorful Robert Z'Dar, may he rest in peace) made me laugh - a mixture of "Home Alone" and a pinch of "Fire Breather" turned a bad B-shka into a good children's movie - children make double-teams, they use weapons and beat the bad guys in every possible way, not giving them a chance. However, all these scenes are immediately stopped by that same “single gun” - only to begin again after 15 minutes.
They will let Cook fight a lot - a long fight in the ring (where Apollo, as always, gets it first), and then with the henchmen of the boss - who turned out to be not Estevez, but quite Ron Hall, who again showed, albeit a little, but a variety of super blows - and eventually fell.
Conclusion? It’s worth watching; fans of “Fire Breather” will like it, although it’s oh so far from it – Cook and the rest rather serve as a respite between scenes with children. Alas, as in “Fire Breather,” Lorne and Crystal, who played the children, never acted in films again.
“King of the Kickboxers 3: The Final Knockdown” (Raw Target, 1995)
To the “King of Kickboxers” with Lauren Avedon and the film has nothing to do with Billy Blanks - it’s the same story as with Wilson’s “Bloody Fist” and Seagal’s “Niko” - ask, as they say, our video distributors.
The main character, kickboxer Johnny, in the next fight (in which, as with Apollo, he always received the first blow) knocked out his opponent to death with a knee to the temple. For this he was removed from the battles, he left the city, but was forced to return - his brother was killed and mafioso Rod Sparks (Nicholas Hill) is suspected of the murder. Johnny infiltrates his gang, smashing the faces of a dozen of his assistants and begins working for him. Policeman Bill (Ron Hall) and FBI Agent Susan (Michelle Charters) are involved in the case, whom the hero will certainly fuck during the course of the play (which will add half a point to this film).
What can I say... There is still a lot of action - Nicholas Hill fights a lot, finishes off and kills, Cook too (and worse), there are a lot of shootings, but Cook is not the same for a long time, and Hall is not the same, and the film itself is of poor quality - crooked editing ( worse than Dacascos), the heroes fight only with high kicks and all the time in semi-darkness, which can cause the viewer to lose their eyes - or is this an attempt to hide the lost skills of the actors?
Despite the fact that this film is still better than Gruner’s last ten works and Wilson’s 15, I don’t particularly recommend watching it.
“Blood Ring 2” (Blood Ring 2, 1995)
Apollo's latest film work - having started his career (well, the second film, okay) with Bloody Ring, he decides to end it with it. The story begins where the first film ends - with a final fight in a ring surrounded by barbed wire, and the fight is completely copied - if you look closely, you can even see the difference in quality between the old and new moments. After the victory, Max ends up in a South American prison, where from the threshold the prisoners have already stripped and fucked him with their gazes (with their gazes, I repeat). However, the hero is lucky - it doesn’t come to that, he meets a certain wushu player and together they try to survive and resist the machinations of the fucking crazy Prison Warden.
I finished watching this film with great difficulty - again, even though it is better than Gruner’s latest works, the film is stupid and insipid - stamp on stamp and stamp on. Acting, plot moves, at least some kind of character development - all this is missing at all. The fights are as sloppy as possible; a third of the film is cut out from the first part in huge layers. The only saving grace is the traditional plus of films with Cook - a large amount of action. I’m even afraid to imagine what would have happened if Jalal Merkhi, and not the fallen Teddy Page, had filmed it.
That's all. Yes, Apollo also had an episode in the Chinese “Deadly Siege”, but there, as I understood, he only had one fight, and I didn’t watch it. By the way, someone was looking for this film from us, where the Japanese hero receives a lulya from a foreigner - that’s exactly what Cook played.
Cook ended his film career at the same time as the end of the VHS era, and he did the right thing - looking at the efforts of his fellow B-action films, he could not have achieved more - well, except to play Jackie Chan's rival there, or to jump into series like "Cool Walker", to receive there not even from the main character, but from Trevet. However, I thank him and his team for the bit of nostalgia that I felt when I watched his first films.
Author: Uranium
Especially for Fight-Films.Info
I watched Always the First where Apollo with Cynthia Khan is far from his best film.
If anyone is interested, we can discuss why.
Cop12,
Then which one?
Uranium, I'm 99% sure it's a Triple Strike.
But I will also try to watch all his films with Cook and then I will speak out.
Cop12,
Ok. I'm waiting. I'm glad that the reviews help remember old actors.
I am 30 years old. I mean, I'm from the 90s, but I don't remember this dude at all! But I love antiques :) Thanks for the article.
TIMMONS,
Always happy. And there were a lot of such dudes, and I remember at least a couple more of them.
TIMMONS, well, you were only 9 years old when Apollo shone on the screens, an era has clearly passed you by.
Speaking of Ron Hole, a review from a simple viewer, not a connoisseur of films with BI,
---------------------
-a black man without a name waves his long legs like a hurricane;
-What impressed everyone most was the black man without a name, who was very (no, even very) deft with his feet.
A good, solid actor, 4 plus. Without any complaints, he showed what he could do. Compared to the dull dragon, this is a star. And Nick Hall is a Negro from bloody sports-2. He has a great fight there with a muscleman in an American suit. I still remember his fast technique. Reminds me a bit of Keith Cook.
Cop12,
The black guy's name is Ron Hall. I agree with what was said above about him, he showed very beautiful equipment for that time. and the jock in the American suit, in my opinion Daniel Bernhardt's brother
lukecage, yes Ron Hall I wanted to write. He, Keith Cook, Jeffrey Priyut showed very clear and beautiful and fast technique in the style of combos and super-strikes, which is what distinguished them. By the way, Nick Heal, mentioned in the review, also played in Bloodsport 2, he also starred with Dale Apollo, the whole bunch played with Apollo. Is Bernhard's brother Cliff Bernhard or Dirk Bernhard? In general, Uran can probably give you some hints about Brother Bernhard.
Cop12,
Hardly. I'm not a mega-expert. Wikipedia, film search is here.
Uranium,
Would you like to review RON Hall? Moreover, have you already watched films with him? As I understand it, he has 3 films with Apolo where he is the main hero + Bloodsport 2 and there may be something else.
Cop12,
Hardly. Maybe later. Hall is certainly a noticeable guy, but I haven’t seen any very powerful roles with him. Mario Van Peebles will be more interesting.
Uranium,
it’s a pity((. And you also once promised to do a review on James Liu, he’s a star that outshines Cook.
Why is Apollo called Apollo - is he handsome in appearance or something else?
By the way, I started watching films with Cook, I really liked the review from Uran.
I'll add some facts
-Ron Hall - his style of kung fu, but I thought I studied kopuera
-Don Nakaya Nielsen – US Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion
Cop12,
Not so simple. To review this or that figure, you also need to look at his filmography, and this takes a lot, a lot of time, especially if it’s Lamas with a filmography of hundreds or the same Lew.
I remember watching “Always First” on a videotape with this actor; I really liked the film at that time.
Lone Wolf,
Actually, one of the reasons for the review is that my friend was looking for the same film.
Great review as always. By the way, Mortal Siege is quite an interesting film both in terms of action and plot, and Cynthia Khan is there. And Cook has a good fight with the main character.
lukecage,
Well, these are Chinese flying action movies with a lot of flop, I don’t like them. Soon I will try to overcome myself for the sake of one actor.
Uranium, I would like to offer for review a couple of American-Hong Kong films: “American Shaolin” and “Superfights”! There are some great fights, especially in the second one, where Keith Vitali played the villain!
Vadya,
Added it to the list. I am currently compiling a list of kickboxing films. If I get more, I'll do a review.
Vadya,
By the way, great idea. For me personally, these two films and others from the seasonal studio (No Retreat and No Surrender 1-3, King of Kickboxers, Blood Moon) belong to a separate category of fighting games, when Western actors fight with Hong Kong choreography
Uranium,
I wouldn’t classify this particular film as a flying one, but there are some flops. By the way, it all depends on my mood, sometimes in the evening I want to watch this kind of slasher action movie, sometimes I want the old American one, where there is little defense and a lot of sticking up, sometimes something modern, sometimes classics by Van Damme, Bruce Lee or Jackie, etc. .
lukecage,
Of the flying ones, I liked the one about yellow flowers or leaves, where Chow Yun Fat played the emperor.
Thanks for another great job! Dale Cook... somehow I never caught my eye... but I’ll definitely look at something from his filmography.
Black Dragon,
Always happy)
I agree, although Billy Blanks was the coolest of the blacks at that time. Well, or one of them.
Ron Hall really stood out with his technique. But alas, it also sunk into oblivion.
American Kickboxer 2 was filmed in the Philippines, but it's probably not worth looking for the FBI there. In Hollywood, every second action movie uses potassium. I searched for Filipino martial arts action movies and found almost nothing, is it really that bad?
Alex,
They filmed a lot in the Philippines. I could be wrong, but it seems like the Pirate Brothers with Robin Shu are from there. You can check through Wikipedia, search for Philippine films there.
Uranium,
In Indonesia. I already looked on Wikipedia, there are mostly old stuff from the 80s and there are very few fights, basically everyone shoots there.
It's better to watch a couple of movies with Dale Cook than a dozen with Don Wilson. It's more varied and the teammates were good, Ron Hall and Nick Hill.
Merey,
Ron Hall is a very interesting character. Very. Like Pruitt, he was a little ahead of his time, but it didn’t work out.
Hmmm. I didn't even want to read further. I mean, after such words I definitely won’t watch his films, so there’s no need to read.
Wave,
I understand everything and even accept it. But the technicality of a fighter does not always decide the entire film. Let's say The Eternal Fist is watchable.
Uranium, heh. Tellingly, the most watchable was the film of my least favorite genre (of those presented here).
Wave,
I don’t like the desert post-apocalyptic either. But then they pulled me out.
Wave,
Kind of weird. What did you expect from films from the video store era?
It’s a pleasure to read such mini-reviews to at least stay on topic. Thank you. In the description of the film “Always First”, the film “Knights”, directed by Albert Pyun, involuntarily came to mind. I wanted to download and compare.
Musashimax,
You should also watch it if the film is ok.
Hurray for the most creative person on the site Uran!
Unfortunately, or for the better, in my village there were no VHS tapes with Apollo Cook, so I didn’t watch any of the films I was looking for... But I read the review with interest, then I’ll have to look for his film with Cynthia Khan and check it out!
Vladimir,
And yes, if you like it, let me know)
Vladimir,
For the better.
Vladimir,
This is weird. I was asked several times about at least 2 films with his participation by friends who had tapes with him)
And yes, thanks for the rating) But I’m not the most creative, in fact, others do more work.