Shootfighter: Fight to the Death (1993)

Shootfighter (original title: Shootfighter: Fight to the Death) is a 1993 American action film, directed by Patrick Alan, written by Judd Lynn, Larry Felix Jr., Peter Shaner and Robert Ginty, scored by Joel Goldsmith, in cinematography Glenn Kershaw was there and the protagonists are Bolo Yeung, Maryam d’Abo and William Zabka, among others. The film was made by ANA Productions and was released on May 5, 1993.

Plot:

The shootfighting championship taking place in Hong Kong ended in tragedy – a fighter named Lee killed his opponent with his bare hands. The opponent was Master Shingo’s friend and student. As a result, Lee was kicked out of the tournament. After some time, Lee began holding his own competitions in Mexico. At this time, Shingo had new students in Los Angeles – Ruben and Nick. Ruben was a coach at a children’s karate school, and Nick wandered around America for two years. Lee cannot forget his exile and longs to meet Shingo. The only way to fight him is to involve students in the fight.

Ruben, although he never participated in fights without rules and preached discipline and self-control, succumbed to easy money. Nick tried to dissuade him, but could not. By interfering in one of the fights, Nick hoped to disrupt the competition and save Ruben. Lee then announced that the finals would take place in a month and out of “respect” for Shingo, he would leave Ruben in the game. Realizing that it would be impossible to dissuade Ruben, Nick, with the help of Shingo, began to improve his skills. But Lee has prepared a surprise for the guys – they must face each other in a mortal battle…

Production:

The fighting style is referred to as “shootfighting” in the film. The actual shootfighting, a mixed martial arts style that can be seen as a precursor to ultimate fighting, is of course not a fight for life and death. William Zabka, the actor who played Ruben, was given the role by Pat Johnson, who choreographed the film. He was already Zabka’s trainer at Karate Kid. For him it was a great opportunity to train with various martial arts greats. Zabka had only started martial arts training for his role as Ralph Macchio’s opponent in Karate Kid. For both him and Bolo Yeung, it was one of the few roles in which they were on the “good side”.