Ultimate Dolph

I don't think there was much more than 6 months from the time UNISOL wrapped to the time that ARMY OF ONE started production. I vividly recall seeing Lundgren on Dennis Miller's short-lived late night talk show to promote UNISOL right before it opened in '92 and he talked about how he was filming ARMY OF ONE at that time.

UNISOL wrapped in October or November 1991, JOSHUA TREE /ARMY OF ONE started filming in May/June 1992 (till August). (They also had done re-shoots for UNISOL in between). I think Dolph just kept sporting the same hair cut at that time, then he had them grow the next year. So absolutely it was in production when UNISOL came out. Would be cool to see that Dennis Miller show.

Remake / homage to Sam Peckinpah's THE GETAWAY with Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw:


car chase


The end fight scene that was part of the re-shoots (to extend the showdown).
One of my favorite Dolph fights scenes because it features some efficient and classy martial arts techniques that I wish Dolph would have used in SILT or BOD.

Jox wrote:One of my favorite Dolph fights scenes because it features some efficient and classy martial arts techniques that I wish Dolph would have used in SILT or BOD.

Oh you betcha. It's always a mystery to me why he doesn't use his excellent skills more often. Screw the big guns and explosions. This is what we want to see! He talks about his Karate so much but he barely shows it in movies.

And besides... isn't it just extra sweet how good we can see that fight? No shaking around, cuts just at the right pace... perfect! They ain't make movies like this anymore.

Mosquito wrote:It's always a mystery to me why he doesn't use his excellent skills more often

Not such a big mystery. He doesn't come from a "show off" martial arts background. Kyokushin isn't pretty looking and is not supposed to (unlike more classic styles of karate like Shotokan or Shito-Ryu). And with reason or not, Dolph doesn't like to show it off on screen because he's knows it and have been a champion in real life and that 80% of the time he finds pretty stupid the way martial arts are depicted on film, he's too tall (so why do high kicks) and would rather be punching down and dirty and be more realistic.

I remember him saying after SHOWDOWN flopped and being disappointed by the film, that he'd rather leave martial arts in movies to others who are shorter and looked better. Now if anything I think he'd be interested in doing MMA on screen if he had a good coach and fight coordinator. Also for him a fight shouldn't last too many blows especially with a guy like him who'd knock you out in one...

Another BIG REASON is that in most cases they don't have nearly enough time to work out the fights choreography, in the end it's common that they rehearse it in the morning and have a couple of hours to shoot it, so that leaves little room for sophistication. Same with when you wanna break bones and stuff you need SFX people and prosthetics and at least a day out of the schedule which they're rarely given on these budgets.

For instance they had a bit more time for it in DIRECT ACTION which why Barry Evans could work out something that looked pretty good. But I agree, could be some better stuff; I also think sometimes Dolph tends to forget he's done this or that in such movie years ago so he doesn't think about it.

Ah well, his karate is not good on film? Use something else. Everything looked awesome in SILT and Joshua Tree.

No time? Ok, now he might get bigger budgets, so there's time.

No high kicks because he's tall? Heck, look at that end fight in Joshua Tree. Just find a fucking reason. It's not documentaries!

Nah, I don't let those reasons count. But thanks anyway for the explanation - I don't mean to say your post isn't right, I just argue against all those pseudo-reasons Dolph might see.

It's a funny trailer. "George Seagal... A tough cop... WITH A BADGE!"
A cop with a badge, who would have thought...

Jox wrote:

Oh, I love this cinemascope look, great re-edited trailer;)

Anyone knows what exactly is missing in french widescreen edition of this movie? (from what I know it is something like 2 minutes), I've read that it was love scene which is shortened, and two more scenes, apparently with cigarettes.

That's correct. I believe when they made the DVD they mistakenly used the newest master, that was just made for a crappy TV channel that had requested those cuts (TF1) for air.

The love scene is shorter AND

here the first scene starting at 1:11 is cut


and here the scene in the car is cut at 1:44 (after she puts on the jeans)

I think I'll take english audio and those missing scenes from Artisan DVD, reframe them to match 2.35:1 AR and put them back into the movie (rest of the video taken from french edition). Of course there will be difference in picture quality between those scenes and the rest of the movie but i can live with that, at least it will be complete widescreen version.

I did some fanedits before, also with reframing involved, dont think it will be a problem.

I'm waiting for a transfer of the Japanese widescreen laserdisc to insert those scenes onto an english audio sync version that was already made by a member here.

From what I know laser discs were always non-anamorphic, so the result of such operation probably will be in quality comparable with what I've mentioned above, unless this laser disc looks better than Artisan DVD.