Fist Fighter (1989)
C.J. Thunderbird, a down-on-his-luck professional fighter is informed that his old friend has been killed in an illegal fight. He finds out that the killer is a goon named Rhino and, with vengeance on his mind, tracks him down in Bolivia. The trouble is that the guy works for a local drug lord and the only way for C.J. to get to Rhino is to prove himself with his fists. However, the druglord doesn't want his best goon hurt, so he arranges for the corrupt local authorities to bust C.J. and send him to prison. The only way out is fighting the prison's monstrous colossal cage-fighting champ known as the Beast, who's never left an opponent breathing. Druglord's hot blond Caucasian girlfriend, Ellen, tired of being at the criminal's mercy, decides to help C.J. anyway she can. Even with all the odds against him, C.J. is no pushover and Rhino slowly becomes worried.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Reviews
Why so much hype?
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
"There can be only one winner." C.J. Thunderbird (Rivero) is a drifter who closely resembles disgraced Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. He's going south of the border because he received a telegram informing him that his friend died at the hands of a mysterious fistfighter named Rhino Rhinehart (Hues). Along the way, he wrist-wrassles a few meatheads and gets in a few barfights. He makes it to Bolivia and enters the underground fighting world, with the aim of defeating Rhino. He befriends a gregarious promoter named Punchy (Albert). The fights are controlled by corrupt gangster Vance (Mike Connors), who is in bed with the local authorities, so he has Thunderbird sent to prison.While there, there is yet more underground fighting, this time in a cage. Enter: The Beast, a hairy, Robin Williams-like creature that murdalizes everyone in the ring. The evil warden Moreno (Simon Andreu) promises Thunderbird his freedom if he defeats The Beast. Will Thunderbird prevail? Will he get his one shot at Rhino? What will happen to Punchy? How much fist-fighting can one human stand? Find out tonight! Thunderbird has a cute dog, played by "Kelly". He steals the movie. He out-acts everyone and could easily be the new Benji. You really care about his plight. The other characters all have great/silly names: C.J. Thunderbird, Rhino Rinehart, The Beast, and "Harry Lang Moses" AKA, of course, PUNCHY.During the prerequisite training sequence, instead of a Rocky-like pounding, inspirational rock tune, it is Punchy talking a mile a minute to C.J. C.J. is never seen without his stonewashed jeans, even in the ring. Did we mention he is a dead ringer for John Kerry? If you've ever wanted to see the windsurfer-in-chief punch and fight his way to freedom, this is the movie for you.The addition of the character of The Beast is welcome because it is so crazy. It is never explained if he is some kind of genetic mutation or just an angry, hairy dude. It is reminiscent of the exploitation gem La Bestia In Calore AKA S.S. Hell Camp (1977).Fan Favorite Matthias Hues puts in an accent-drenched performance as Rhino. He is always welcome and has a charming presence, even as a bad guy. He lets his fists do the talking and wears some over-sized suits. We all love Hues.Despite a slumping, sagging middle section, "Fist Fighter" is a worthy addition to the bare-knuckle, underground meathead genre.
I saw this at my friend's house, he told me it was a great karate/martial-arts movie. On the folder you could read: "Tougher than "Rocky", "Kickboxer" and "Cage"!" or something like that... I gave it a shoot.The story: CJ Thunderbird (played by George Rivero, huge guy) has arrived in Santiago to find Rhino, (Matthias Huse, an even bigger guy) who killed his brother in an underground fist fighting-match two years ago. Now he wants to fight Rhino and avenge his brother. He meets Punchy, (Edward Albert) who is an ex-boxer. Although he's invalid, he want's to help CJ get in shape for the fight with Rhino. Then things don't work out the way their were supposed to...My opinion: First of all, this isn't a karate-movie. The story is much like "Kickboxer", especially the training sequences and the "no rules fighting"-formula is similar to many karate/kick boxing movies. This is a boxing-movie so they their isn't any kicks or grabbing-techniques used. I think they didn't use so many boxing-techniques either, they mostly pound each other with left-hooks and right-hooks. Martial-arts fans might be disappointed when they realize their's no kicking.All in all this was a movie with many fight scenes, but the editing was sometimes terrible and the acting was what you can expect from this kind of production. (Low budget)
Fist Fighter is just another bad action movie filled with wanna be chop socky kung-fu "heroes". A really terrible movie that has nothing going for it except the legendary W.W.W.F. heavyweight champion Billy Graham. Yes the "Superstar" guest stars as the arm wrestler who challenges the "star" of this straight-to-video flick to a friendly game of arm wrestling. If you ever wanted to see the man in a movie, well this is your best bet. But the novelty wears off when his screen time is up because all you're left with is a waste of half inch tape. Not recommended, unless you're a "Superstar" Billy Graham fan. F xx
To be honest i fell asleep watching this terrible movie,so I had to watch the rest of it the day after.And the day after it was even more boring. The story is used hundreds of times,it's about a fighter who seeks revenge for his dead brother and therefor have to fight his brother's killer. The only thing worth seeing in this movie is the fighting scene at the end when the main character fights the world champion Matthias Hues in a illegal fist fight. I have seen Matthias Hues in other movies and he is a great kickboxer so I guess that is why the fight was okay. To be honest the fight is actually quit cool,but not cool enough. I'll give this movie 2/10 and the only reason that it is not a 1/10 is because of Matthias Hues and the fight at the end.So 2/10 is a good reason not to watch this movie. KEEP AWAY!!!