No Retreat, No Surrender
Short description
Jason Stillwell is a young martial arts student whose father, a karate instructor, is injured when organized crime tries to take over the local schools. The family relocates, and with his father now rejecting violence, Jason trains largely on his own, hoping to defend himself and those close to him. A devoted admirer of Bruce Lee, he keeps pursuing his training until a challenge arrives from Ivan Kraschinsky, a brutal fighter known as "The Russian" who is tied to the criminals pressing his family.
Corey Yuen directed the film, the second of the fourteen features listed in his directing career, following Yes, Madam! and preceding Righting Wrongs. Keith W. Strandberg wrote the screenplay, Ng See-Yuen produced, and the cast is led by Kurt McKinney as Jason, with Jean-Claude Van Damme as Ivan, alongside J.W. Fails, Kathie Sileno, Kim Tae-Jeong and Kent Lipham among thirty-two credited performers. A Hong Kong and American co-production between Seasonal Film Corporation and New World Pictures, it was released in May 1986 and took about 5 million dollars worldwide.
Audience responses differ by platform: on IMDb it holds 5.6 out of 10 from roughly 20,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.3 from several hundred. A small set of critics' reviews averages 4 out of 10, lower than both audience scores. The film mixes action with comedy, crime and drama, and its fighting-tournament premise sits at the start of Van Damme's screen career.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is dedicated to the memory of Bruce Lee.
- The fight choreography was done by "Harrison" Mang Hoi.
- There are 3 versions of the film: the main American version (85 minutes), the British VHS video version from 1986 (79 minutes), and the full British DVD video version (94 minutes).
- At the time of release, Jean-Claude Van Damme was still an unknown actor. His fee was $250.
- Wires were attached to Kurt McKinney's body during the push-up scene to help lift and lower him, emphasizing the finger positioning. The wires were hidden from the camera using trees visible in the background.
- In scenes featuring Bruce Lee's spirit, Kim Tae-jung and Kurt McKinney spoke different languages, but the former’s voice was later dubbed into English. The actors read their lines from cards held just outside the camera’s frame, without knowing what the lines actually said.
- There was a moment in the first fight scene where Jean-Claude Van Damme jumps off the villain’s shoulder and delivers a kick mid-air. The kick was intended to land on Timothy D. Baker’s upper chest, but Van Damme repeatedly hit him in the face, knee, or neck. Baker later testified in court during Jackson “Rocky” Pinkney’s lawsuit against Van Damme, stating that the inaccurate kicks were due to the defendant’s carelessness and lack of professionalism, and continued even after the film’s director and writer, Corey Yuen, instructed him to be more careful.
- The full version of the film has a runtime of 99 minutes.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
