I'd love to see a 4k of Only The Strong. It's an amazing film and really holds up really well. Mark is a charismatic guy. He still looks amazing. He deserves better roles.
@@diablorojo3887 Brasil is near and dear to my heart. Right at the beginning of the pandemic I was in Salvador with my wife. My third trip, her first. I train with mestre amen from only the strong.
What i love about only the strong is the fighting styles from Brazil,ive never seen fighting like that as a kid so it was really beautiful to experience that watching it for the first time
I remember seeing commercials for Only The Strong on TV when I was 11. It's sad that Double Dragon derailed the progress of a cult classic movie. As for Mark Dacascos, regardless of his career being direct-to-video or big box office movies, I'm a fan for life. Even before John Wick 3, he had a decent track record in the early 2000's, with Brotherhood Of The Wolf and Cradle 2 The Grave under his belt
This movie was a big hit on the streets. I was being called, "Santos," at the time because of it. It was great to hear the inside story about Mark Dascascos; and it shows the importance of being careful who you work with. Thanks for sharing. God bless you.
Thanks a lot! Only The Strong is my most favorite movie. Especially beach training scene. Mark Dacascos is my idol, since 1996. Mr. Sheldon Lettich is a genius movie director. Thanks a lot to him, for this fantastic movie. Only The Strong is the one-single art movie, about Capoeira, in the world!
CGI has truly ruined the film industry. I hate being robbed of the excitement of watching an amazing stunt and trying to figure out how they did it. I also hate that when there is an actually impressive stunt or physical feat, people just automatically assume it's CGI.
@@theflyingninja1 Likewise my friend, nearly every time I watch something post-1990s I regret it. Scott Adkins, Jesse V. Johnson, and John Wick are pretty much it, nearly everything else is just embarrassing to watch.
In some ways, it has ruined it. In other ways, it is very much captivating for creating more detailed worlds and stunts, especially when it's done right. I've seen movies where it has looked very real, created realistic creatures, and even something as simple as made certain actors look younger.
@@pluto545 The only true value that it offers me is in period pieces. If you have a story set in Paris in 1912 then you need CGI to recreate a world that no longer exists. Outside of that sort of use where it is a necessity, CGI is just an enabler for lazy film making. Particularly in the action genre, I see very few justifications for its use.
I've always liked Mark. 1st time I saw him was back in the day in american samurai which was a good film. I love drive and crying freeman. My 2 favourites but only the strong was also good. Very cool interview btw
American samurai is badass! it's basically Bloodsport with weapons. You can watch the uncut version on TH-cam right now for free because for some reason they removed most of the gore for the DVD release by zooming in and that's the only release we have in North America!
100% agree !! Dacascos is highly underrated. Drive & The Crying Freeman would have to be my personal favs also and Ive been a fan for 3 decades . Legendary.🙏👊
Mark Decascos was awesome in Crying Freeman and Only The Strong which I proudly own on DVD and criminally underrated. He deserved greater roles and he had it all; Charisma. the look, tremendous ability, talented and the whole 9 yards. Geoffrey Lewis also been in good fliks from Double Impact, Stephen King's Salems Lot to Army of one (With Dolph Lundgren) and other projects. BTW Viking Samurai, If possible, If you can get Robert Patrick as your guest since he's been in Terminator 2, and several action films in his career during the 90's, that would be awesome.
I actually began training Capoeira after seeing this. Brilliant movie. It would be awesome getting an interview with Marc Dacascos, he's super awesome and his parents too. He's always been athletic and in great shape.
Legendary director and a great interview. The inside scoop on Marc Dacascos is wonderful because I always wondered why he never got the credit and fame he deserved... Strange to hear the bit about Brandon Lee. Didn't Marc Dacascos play Eric Draven in The Crow series or soemthing? They certainly have/had a similar look and appeal.
If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and watch “Drive”. A martial arts classic! Some wire work, but Mark D. and the stunt team really went for it!
Great interview, I love Mark Dacascos! Just watched his movie Drive again the other day and it still has some of the best fght scenes I have ever seen. Only The Strong made me start doing capoeira as well haha. But as much as I am in love with the 80's / 90's action movies I personally do not mind the Fast And Furious / MCU craziness of today though because many of those movies have amazing fight scenes. Winter Soldier or Civil War have incredible coreography and even Doctor Strange has Scott Adkins in it, which was awesome to see. As an MMA fighter I love the fight scenes in John Wick as well, it is over the top but very realistic at the same time. Keanu uses moves that we actually use in real life. It is good to see how so many movies that dominate the box office actually have plenty of martial arts in them.
I was a young kid at the time, My mom dropped me off at the theater for Only The Strong's opening weekend, I loved it and Mark should've been a bigger star but sadly I was the only person in the theater.
Only the strong film... I love this film, I was born in 82 so the Martial arts Era is my Era, it was my favorite era.. I'm still a Bruce Lee fan... always will be... but only the strong is just one of my favorites...
Im w Viking, from what ive seen, people are wanting a more 80s 90s style of Action, w the love all the John Wick movies r getting and the fight scenes in Extraction, directors like Sam and Chad know action and how to shoot it, Im pretty optimistic about this style making a big comeback, and hopefully Lettich will join the resurgence. Another awesome content Viking. Keep em coming and ill keep sharing!
I've always liked Only the Strong, I felt like it was good mash-up of the "teacher comes into the inner-city school to change the kids" drama with a pretty good action movie that features capoeira. I felt like it was very underrated as a "teacher" movies, which were very abundant at the time and it certainly doesn't get enough acclaim in that regard, as well. It's what I liked about Lettich's action movies, they were a little more based in reality and didn't get too crazy. That's the thing about action movies in general, they get much too crazy and unbelievable. That's always been the knock on the genre from the 80s til now. For Dacascos , I felt like he didn't quite get the right roles at the right time, because he came into the genre at a time where it was super-competitive. It almost seems like they didn't know how to use him in many of his earlier action films, even though he's pretty charismatic when given the opportunity and very credible leading man. I feel like the audiences just got sick of the kind of action movies that were being made in the 80s and 90s in the US. I'd say it started more in the 70s with Dirty Harry, where every other action movie was similar or close to Dirty Harry until Arnold and Sly came along. When you started to get outside of the Schwarzenegger, Stallone, or Van Damme vehicles, the quality started to drop, pretty quickly across and it was so many of them, especially with DTV. Not much on story, boring characters, and cheesy action scenes, especially lower budget films. I liked them, but I can see why most people wouldn't. It picked up alot more steam with more down-to-Earth action heroes, like Willis, Smith, or Reeves, or with a Michael Bay type film with Nicholas Cage. I felt the studios were investing alot more into the story telling and making it, somewhat more plausible, in efforts, like Speed, Die Hard, Bad Boys, or The Rock. Those had started to wane in popularity, as well, as fans started to gravitate more to films, in the vein of the Matrix and HK action cinema, like Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, and an actual HK star in Jackie Chan. I feel like all of these kind of films haven't went anywhere. They have been all over the landscape -- they just don't catch people's attention unless they are unique, like the John Wick films, Ong Bak, Ip Man, or the Raid.
good video. true once Mark Dacascos did Double Dragon his career did go down for a few years but it went back up when he did (Brotherhood of the Wolf) and (Cradle 2 the Grave) which i seen both films at the theaters and of course lets not forget (John Wick 3)
Also I blame the studio that made "Only The Strong" for not promoting the move like it show had been promoted. Because if the studio had market it, the move would had done better in the theater.
Many thanks, appreciation and respect for the distinguished videos that take us back to the golden age of martial arts films and distinguished actors without cinematic tricks and computer effects. You are a legend.
My top10 90's martial arts films: 1. teenage mutant ninja 🐢🐢🐢🐢 2. Rush hour 3. Universal solider 4. Only the strong 5. The crow 6. 3 ninjas kick back 7. the quest 8. Matrix 9. The replacement killer 10. Under siege Honorable mentions: hard to kill 🙏 double impact👌& 3 ninjas
Mark is a very talented martial artist and an underrated actor. And Paco certainly had a look and talent that was like a combination of Antonio Bamderras and Bruce Lee. It’s a shame that both of them didn’t have bigger careers.
Oh that makes sense. Mark Dacascos later portrait Eric Draven in the The Crow TV series; previously portrait by Brandon Lee in the The Crow movie. But I too wondered why Mark never blew up after great films like Crying Freeman and Only The Strong. The man had the acting skills, the charisma, the looks, and impressive martial arts skills.Goddamn you Catherine!
This interview is awesome I'm love every minute of it , I believe the 80s and 90s martial arts action films can become popular again, the right martial artists who can act ,the right Director who has a passion for 80s and 90 martial arts film and a amazing script,and the right people who can make it appeal to a newer generation,I believe it could become popular again.
Its cyclical. It will come. John wick has been a good start in terms of mainstream fight scenes. Stahelski has been pushing great non shaky cam fight scenes. Scott adkins has been doing great work, despite no big budgets.
Crying Freeman was the best anime adaptation I’ve ever seen starring Marc D could never say his name 😂 but it stayed close to the source material. Love it!!
... I remember I took my then girlfriend to see a movie we didn't know what was on and 'Only The Strong' was the only next available slot when we got to the theatre. . Well - long story short ,we were the only folks watching it - on a really tiny screen - well,I became a fan of Dacascos ever since.. he did a great job on the TV show - Crow - wished he was in the 'movie' sequels.. :)
Interesting stuff. Hopefully with the parts in the H5O series and also the John Wick film, his career will reignite big time. I also enjoyed Marks part in Wu Assassins. Mark is a great martial artist and humble human being. A great inspiration to a great many people I would suggest. Great interview as well and definitely agree with the take on modern action films.
Another great video... btw the "Cyborg" poster i have the same, but i mailed mine to Albert Pyun to autograph back in 2019. I also got my "Bloodsport" poster signed by both JC and Bolo😂😂😂
Albert Pyun is another great director. I think he never quite had the budget to fulfill his vision. He made so many good intriguing sci-fi dystopian martial arts movies that almost were great. Cool of him to sign your poster 👍
@@mickeman3967 yeah i totally agree. I have the directors cut of "cyborg" its called "slinger" not watched it yet but it should be interesting. Albert Pyun has dementia now, he has a fb page but he doesn't seem to be doing well. I love anything to do with Cannon films was such a fun period and the behind the scenes story of Cannon is even better than the actual films
Even if Dacascos wasn't that huge as Jean Claude or Seagal, at least he made some classic and great movies like Crying Freeman, Drive, Brotherhood of the wolf and of course, Only the strong. I would watch Only the strong a thousand times before any Disposable & Furious (although the first 4 F&F are pretty cool) or some of these MMA movies from today with zero personality and charisma (best MMA type of movie I can think of is Undisputed 3)
I realized why this channel is so awesome. You interview a famous director or actor. Let them awnser questions and after you state what you felt as a fan. You represent all of us the actors and directors listen and actually respect everything you say.
Back in the mid 90's I watched Only the Strong on repeat. Then in 1996, 3 years after Only the Strong came out, I started in a Capoeira club and trained for 2 years. My world was Capoeira and Only the Strong for a period. I bought it twice on VHS just because there were two different VHS covers and I still own the VHS 25 years later. I was really hoping that Mark Dacascos would go on and become a big star and he could easily have been the next Brandon Lee (RIP). Sadly he went the B-movie path.
I love this videos with Sheldon Lettich telling the behind the scenes about his films. It's like a magician revealing his tricks. ''Only The Strong'' is a really good film. Too bad about the awful agent that Mark Dacascos had back then. By the way I agree with what both of you say about the use (or abuse) of wire and CGI in current movies. That just make it look too artificial. We want to see something that is like a mix of realistic and spectacular. We don't want to see a guy that is fighting someone and suddenly starts to fly like Peter Pan. As always great job on this vid, Viking!👌💪👍
Back then good movies were like an event, everyone would talk about them and watch them at the theater multiple times with their friends and family, now everything looks like a CG tv show, with something similar looking released a week or two later, everything just blends together. They just feel like a movie of the week or something, and then everything is available to stream almost immediately. Modern entertainment (with a few exceptions here and there of course) just feels generic, interchangeable and mostly disposable, idk, guess I’m just getting old.
I'm just glad I'm old enough to remember the good old days. Imagine if the way things are now was all you ever knew, imagine if you thought that now was the best there ever was. I feel sorry for the younger generations.
There's a few bright spots in Cinema. I really enjoyed the last two Guy Ritchie films. And then we have the John wick trilogy. And don't forget the Expendables trilogy. But I agree that we don't have epic release is like Jaws or Starwars. the problem is all they care about is the bottom line so they don't want to take risks anymore. In the seventies they were all about taking risks.and then in the 80s we had huge risk-takers like cannon films! If we could just get some Mavericks with some money behind them!
I saw it in theaters after seeing American samurai on VHS. The front cover of the sleeve had David Bradley (America ninja 3) and Mark dacascas with the words soon to be seen in only the strong. My curiosity peaked. Mark dacascas was in great shape in that film and never really got back as good as that. Even in drive
Only the Strong is one of my favourite film. I am an amateur (I like martial arts, but I do not practice) however I showed certain movements to students where I work and I pushed them to move towards the practice of Capoeira thanks to the film Only the Strong.
Mark Dacascos was in John Wick 3...that was a Big movie! I remember seeing him play The Crow in the short lived tv series that got cancelled during the 90s. It would have been cool if MD was in Lion Heart fighting Van Damme!
@@robd1329 yeah but sadly a lot of hes movies straight to dvd just isn't good its sad that he unfortunately went down that path. He did a movie with jai white assault on 13 its terrible
I loved Only the Strong. Such a great film…truly brought Capoeira to the mainstream media and I feel like it never would have been in subsequent movies like The Quest and Tony Ja’s Tom Yum Goong of it wasn’t for Only the Strong.
I recently talked to the cowriter who was on set the entire production, Luis Esteban, going to be some great videos coming out in a couple of weeks with him!
@@VikingSamurai thanks for making great videos , it’s nice to see a channel dedicated to classic martial arts movies .. love your work , keep it up .. I also love cynthia rothrock movies , you can talk about her or make videos on her , if possible a good interview.
I never even heard of Only the Strong until around 1996, when I saw it on cable. I watched the movie and couldn't believe I'd never heard of it. The movie was too good not to be huge, same with Mark Dacascos.
Wooooow. Amazing revelations from Sheldon about Mark's career and the bad decisions made behind the scenes before & after Only The Strong. Daaaamn. I didn't know that. I was always a Mark Dacoscos fan and I never understood why he didn't become a BIG star. Now we know why. He was supposed to take Brandon Lee's place and his manager screwed it all up. Damn! good interview Viking. U kickin' ass with these interviews. keep it up.
I saw Only the Strong in the theater when I was a kid. I was mesmerized by the unique style of capoeira. Great 90s movie forever solidified in my mind along with all the other 80s and 90s classics with Van Damme, Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Lundgren, etc. Don't forget Dudikoff
Very rew young people are watching Bloodsport, you perceive it as being so timeless because you still watch it (as do I) but we're old dudes with nostalgia, young fans of John wick will have nostalgia for those movies, that's how it works.
Great vid VS hope there is more to come . 6 am and now I got the song from only the strong stuck in my head again I will be singing that all day now lol
By the way, Frank Dux, the very one, plays a blowtorch guy in a helmet in the car workshop, whom MD's character couldn"t beat and got jammed under a car. I hope you remember the moment if you re-watched the movie recently.
Was a good movie. Remember watching it back in high school on Cinemax Action! Lol good times… I am a fellow martial artist and big time action movie fan. I grew up on a lot of the same movies that you did and also am a fan of JCVD. I do have some contrary opinions though and would love to discuss martial arts and movies with you sometime. B blessed and continue making good content. 🙏🏽
Mark was amazing. Just as popular as Van Damme etc. In fact, he's definitely I would believe the more disciplined Martial Artist. The guy has been in some amazing movies Period
Yup, I saw the movie and was in the backyard trying to do things I had no business doing lol. It would be awesome to add to my training list but around here there aren't any schools.
I watched this movie first time when i was a kid, back in school days. I saw it on TV and i loved it. And then, when i got my first internet, i watched it again and even then, i loved it. And even now, Only The Strong is awsome movie. And Mark Dacascos is one of my favorite actors among everyone else. And if next Expendables movie happens, i hope that Stallone can bring Mark to be in that movie. Cause i really wanna see Mark Dacascos again back in action. Cause, last time i saw him in "action", if you can call it that, back in Mortal Kombat Legacy Season 2 mini series as Kung lao, and he didn't really did anything special there, besides talking. So, bringing him back in action, and i mean REAL action and not just talking, would be amazing.
Damn, Mark Dacascos shoulda been bigger. Got to agree with Sheldon, there Mark looked his best in only the Strong. Crying Freeman he was great too. But in regards to the current action territory, from my experiences being around movie watchers etc, most folks have adhd and just absorb whatever is new, they cant stop consuming. Not to mention constant supher hero reboots drive me nuts, followed the unbearable bathos (seriously how many Batmans do we need) arrrhhhh.
What has happened is the lack of mid tier budgeted films. Its either big budget superhero films or low budget DTV. Gone is the mid tier budget films that were common in 80s and 90s. Its a shame.
Only the Strong is a highly underrated film.
You don't believe PG-13 was enough??
Mark Dacascos wont necessarily be known to the average person, but to the action connoisseur, hes very important.
what are you talking about he was in the last Jon wick movie
@@sanddocon Yeah, hardly a household name.
@@retter2critical dude every one knew him from the Iron chief not for his martial art. You going to say the Iron chief is not popular?
@@sanddocon Not everyone and thats after he made his best films.
Mark Dacascos has some of the most beautiful kicks of any film action star. He's so smooth and fluid. I've been a fan for 3 decades.
Me too, it's sad with all these icons in Martial arts retiring because of their bodies
His Butterfly twist kick is the best i have ever seen
I'd love to see a 4k of Only The Strong. It's an amazing film and really holds up really well. Mark is a charismatic guy. He still looks amazing. He deserves better roles.
Mark is a very talented martial artist.
Always wanted to learn Capoeira after seeing this movie. Such a great film and soundtrack.
please come to Brasil
@@diablorojo3887 Brasil is near and dear to my heart. Right at the beginning of the pandemic I was in Salvador with my wife. My third trip, her first. I train with mestre amen from only the strong.
There's no universe that exists where someone saw this movie and didn't try to do capoeira (at least alone) 😂
What i love about only the strong is the fighting styles from Brazil,ive never seen fighting like that as a kid so it was really beautiful to experience that watching it for the first time
DRIVE is Mark Dacascos best film. I was completely blown away how good this movie actually is. The martial arts and stunts are amazing!
no one agrees with you more its anime on film in live action and made me believe in a super human
I remember seeing commercials for Only The Strong on TV when I was 11. It's sad that Double Dragon derailed the progress of a cult classic movie. As for Mark Dacascos, regardless of his career being direct-to-video or big box office movies, I'm a fan for life. Even before John Wick 3, he had a decent track record in the early 2000's, with Brotherhood Of The Wolf and Cradle 2 The Grave under his belt
Sheldon needs to helm another big project the man is a great director.👍
This movie was a big hit on the streets. I was being called, "Santos," at the time because of it. It was great to hear the inside story about Mark Dascascos; and it shows the importance of being careful who you work with. Thanks for sharing. God bless you.
Thanks a lot! Only The Strong is my most favorite movie. Especially beach training scene. Mark Dacascos is my idol, since 1996. Mr. Sheldon Lettich is a genius movie director. Thanks a lot to him, for this fantastic movie. Only The Strong is the one-single art movie, about Capoeira, in the world!
Me and my cousin used to rent only the strong so much from the video store we practically owned the tape.
That's how I was with Ninja 3 the domination
CGI has truly ruined the film industry. I hate being robbed of the excitement of watching an amazing stunt and trying to figure out how they did it. I also hate that when there is an actually impressive stunt or physical feat, people just automatically assume it's CGI.
The main reason I don't watch modern action films.
@@theflyingninja1 Likewise my friend, nearly every time I watch something post-1990s I regret it. Scott Adkins, Jesse V. Johnson, and John Wick are pretty much it, nearly everything else is just embarrassing to watch.
In some ways, it has ruined it. In other ways, it is very much captivating for creating more detailed worlds and stunts, especially when it's done right. I've seen movies where it has looked very real, created realistic creatures, and even something as simple as made certain actors look younger.
@@pluto545 The only true value that it offers me is in period pieces. If you have a story set in Paris in 1912 then you need CGI to recreate a world that no longer exists. Outside of that sort of use where it is a necessity, CGI is just an enabler for lazy film making. Particularly in the action genre, I see very few justifications for its use.
@@MatrixCobretti avengement was a cracking film
I've always liked Mark. 1st time I saw him was back in the day in american samurai which was a good film. I love drive and crying freeman. My 2 favourites but only the strong was also good. Very cool interview btw
American samurai is badass! it's basically Bloodsport with weapons. You can watch the uncut version on TH-cam right now for free because for some reason they removed most of the gore for the DVD release by zooming in and that's the only release we have in North America!
100% agree !! Dacascos is highly underrated. Drive & The Crying Freeman would have to be my personal favs also and Ive been a fan for 3 decades .
Legendary.🙏👊
Never clicked so fast. One of my favorite movies when I was a kid!
I still remember going to the vhs store and seeing the martial arts film boxes like Fist Fighter, and best of the best. Ah the good old days!
Mark Decascos was awesome in Crying Freeman and Only The Strong which I proudly own on DVD and criminally underrated. He deserved greater roles and he had it all; Charisma. the look, tremendous ability, talented and the whole 9 yards. Geoffrey Lewis also been in good fliks from Double Impact, Stephen King's Salems Lot to Army of one (With Dolph Lundgren) and other projects. BTW Viking Samurai, If possible, If you can get Robert Patrick as your guest since he's been in Terminator 2, and several action films in his career during the 90's, that would be awesome.
I actually began training Capoeira after seeing this. Brilliant movie. It would be awesome getting an interview with Marc Dacascos, he's super awesome and his parents too. He's always been athletic and in great shape.
Sheldon lettich is a legend imo. Great interview. Keep em coming. 👍🏻
Legendary director and a great interview. The inside scoop on Marc Dacascos is wonderful because I always wondered why he never got the credit and fame he deserved... Strange to hear the bit about Brandon Lee. Didn't Marc Dacascos play Eric Draven in The Crow series or soemthing? They certainly have/had a similar look and appeal.
That's true he did replace him in the crow TV series that I really enjoyed that!
I'am Portuguese and on behalf of all Brazilian fans as well as other fans from Portuguese-speaking countries. OBRIGADO Sheldon Lettich for this movie.
If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and watch “Drive”. A martial arts classic! Some wire work, but Mark D. and the stunt team really went for it!
It's finally on Blu-ray from MVD!
Drive was lit! Awesome action/martial arts flick
Great interview, I love Mark Dacascos! Just watched his movie Drive again the other day and it still has some of the best fght scenes I have ever seen.
Only The Strong made me start doing capoeira as well haha. But as much as I am in love with the 80's / 90's action movies I personally do not mind the Fast And Furious / MCU craziness of today though because many of those movies have amazing fight scenes. Winter Soldier or Civil War have incredible coreography and even Doctor Strange has Scott Adkins in it, which was awesome to see.
As an MMA fighter I love the fight scenes in John Wick as well, it is over the top but very realistic at the same time. Keanu uses moves that we actually use in real life. It is good to see how so many movies that dominate the box office actually have plenty of martial arts in them.
I was a young kid at the time, My mom dropped me off at the theater for Only The Strong's opening weekend, I loved it and Mark should've been a bigger star but sadly I was the only person in the theater.
Only the strong film... I love this film, I was born in 82 so the Martial arts Era is my Era, it was my favorite era.. I'm still a Bruce Lee fan... always will be... but only the strong is just one of my favorites...
Great interview! This is the film that led me to study Capoeira and I have been for 24 years now! Thanks for this!
Congratulations!
@@maxamillion5175 thank you!
Im w Viking, from what ive seen, people are wanting a more 80s 90s style of Action, w the love all the John Wick movies r getting and the fight scenes in Extraction, directors like Sam and Chad know action and how to shoot it, Im pretty optimistic about this style making a big comeback, and hopefully Lettich will join the resurgence. Another awesome content Viking. Keep em coming and ill keep sharing!
You know i have this secret wish or hope that they do a john wick film with chow yun fat...that would be freakin amazing!
I’m shocked this movie doesn’t get more love on TH-cam. It was all over tv and movie channels back in the day. Feels like a cult classic to me!
I can't believe Sheldon is 70! I'm impressed, he looks much younger.
I've always liked Only the Strong, I felt like it was good mash-up of the "teacher comes into the inner-city school to change the kids" drama with a pretty good action movie that features capoeira. I felt like it was very underrated as a "teacher" movies, which were very abundant at the time and it certainly doesn't get enough acclaim in that regard, as well. It's what I liked about Lettich's action movies, they were a little more based in reality and didn't get too crazy. That's the thing about action movies in general, they get much too crazy and unbelievable. That's always been the knock on the genre from the 80s til now. For Dacascos , I felt like he didn't quite get the right roles at the right time, because he came into the genre at a time where it was super-competitive. It almost seems like they didn't know how to use him in many of his earlier action films, even though he's pretty charismatic when given the opportunity and very credible leading man.
I feel like the audiences just got sick of the kind of action movies that were being made in the 80s and 90s in the US. I'd say it started more in the 70s with Dirty Harry, where every other action movie was similar or close to Dirty Harry until Arnold and Sly came along. When you started to get outside of the Schwarzenegger, Stallone, or Van Damme vehicles, the quality started to drop, pretty quickly across and it was so many of them, especially with DTV. Not much on story, boring characters, and cheesy action scenes, especially lower budget films. I liked them, but I can see why most people wouldn't. It picked up alot more steam with more down-to-Earth action heroes, like Willis, Smith, or Reeves, or with a Michael Bay type film with Nicholas Cage. I felt the studios were investing alot more into the story telling and making it, somewhat more plausible, in efforts, like Speed, Die Hard, Bad Boys, or The Rock. Those had started to wane in popularity, as well, as fans started to gravitate more to films, in the vein of the Matrix and HK action cinema, like Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, and an actual HK star in Jackie Chan.
I feel like all of these kind of films haven't went anywhere. They have been all over the landscape -- they just don't catch people's attention unless they are unique, like the John Wick films, Ong Bak, Ip Man, or the Raid.
That movie was my childhood
good video. true once Mark Dacascos did Double Dragon his career did go down for a few years but it went back up when he did (Brotherhood of the Wolf) and (Cradle 2 the Grave) which i seen both films at the theaters and of course lets not forget (John Wick 3)
Mark D. was also on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
Also I blame the studio that made "Only The Strong" for not promoting the move like it show had been promoted. Because if the studio had market it, the move would had done better in the theater.
Pana a way, Pana a way, panana!
That song still pops in my head to this day, I think I first saw that movie 20+ years ago!
Many thanks, appreciation and respect for the distinguished videos that take us back to the golden age of martial arts films and distinguished actors without cinematic tricks and computer effects. You are a legend.
My top10 90's martial arts films:
1. teenage mutant ninja 🐢🐢🐢🐢
2. Rush hour
3. Universal solider
4. Only the strong
5. The crow
6. 3 ninjas kick back
7. the quest
8. Matrix
9. The replacement killer
10. Under siege
Honorable mentions: hard to kill 🙏 double impact👌& 3 ninjas
Mark is a very talented martial artist and an underrated actor. And Paco certainly had a look and talent that was like a combination of Antonio Bamderras and Bruce Lee. It’s a shame that both of them didn’t have bigger careers.
Only the Strong was definitely one of my favourite films in the 90s. Sheldon really had the formula.
Oh that makes sense. Mark Dacascos later portrait Eric Draven in the The Crow TV series; previously portrait by Brandon Lee in the The Crow movie.
But I too wondered why Mark never blew up after great films like Crying Freeman and Only The Strong.
The man had the acting skills, the charisma, the looks, and impressive martial arts skills.Goddamn you Catherine!
I just found this channel on recently. Love your content. Great interviews. 🙂
This interview is awesome I'm love every minute of it , I believe the 80s and 90s martial arts action films can become popular again, the right martial artists who can act ,the right Director who has a passion for 80s and 90 martial arts film and a amazing script,and the right people who can make it appeal to a newer generation,I believe it could become popular again.
Its cyclical. It will come. John wick has been a good start in terms of mainstream fight scenes. Stahelski has been pushing great non shaky cam fight scenes. Scott adkins has been doing great work, despite no big budgets.
Crying Freeman was the best anime adaptation I’ve ever seen starring Marc D could never say his name 😂 but it stayed close to the source material. Love it!!
... I remember I took my then girlfriend to see a movie we didn't know what was on and 'Only The Strong' was the only next available slot when we got to the theatre. . Well - long story short ,we were the only folks watching it - on a really tiny screen - well,I became a fan of Dacascos ever since.. he did a great job on the TV show - Crow - wished he was in the 'movie' sequels.. :)
Interesting stuff. Hopefully with the parts in the H5O series and also the John Wick film, his career will reignite big time. I also enjoyed Marks part in Wu Assassins. Mark is a great martial artist and humble human being. A great inspiration to a great many people I would suggest. Great interview as well and definitely agree with the take on modern action films.
Another great video... btw the "Cyborg" poster i have the same, but i mailed mine to Albert Pyun to autograph back in 2019. I also got my "Bloodsport" poster signed by both JC and Bolo😂😂😂
Awesome!
Albert Pyun is another great director. I think he never quite had the budget to fulfill his vision. He made so many good intriguing sci-fi dystopian martial arts movies that almost were great.
Cool of him to sign your poster 👍
@@mickeman3967 yeah i totally agree. I have the directors cut of "cyborg" its called "slinger" not watched it yet but it should be interesting. Albert Pyun has dementia now, he has a fb page but he doesn't seem to be doing well. I love anything to do with Cannon films was such a fun period and the behind the scenes story of Cannon is even better than the actual films
Even if Dacascos wasn't that huge as Jean Claude or Seagal, at least he made some classic and great movies like Crying Freeman, Drive, Brotherhood of the wolf and of course, Only the strong. I would watch Only the strong a thousand times before any Disposable & Furious (although the first 4 F&F are pretty cool) or some of these MMA movies from today with zero personality and charisma (best MMA type of movie I can think of is Undisputed 3)
yep "drive" what the shIt back in the day. still is.
@@darthkai8242 don't forget brittany murphy...
Did you seriously refer to Crying Freeman and Brotherhood of the Wolf as "classic" and "great"?
Exactly, don't forget drive and you can actually buy that on Blu-Ray now uncut from mvd! For the longest time that movie was out of print on DVD.
@@sanctuaryism I do miss her! She was hot and edgy!
I've been dying waiting for this!
Could listen to sheldon talk movie business all day. Thanks Viking your knocking it out the park.👍
Ah, the good ole days, back when Mark Dacascos could save inner-city kids by teaching them kung fu. I miss good movies.
Man. Good f'ing point. I wish there was more shit like that. I also wish Brazilian jiujitsu was doing that in inner cities.
They need to make a Blu-ray Collectors Edition of Only The Strong
Best mark dacascos movie,
I would of loved if mark did a movie with van damme.
Drive is the movie where he does his best.
@@pdanokia2524 yeah drive is good too
If Sheldon, Van Damme, and Dacascos did a movie together, it would be a dream come true!
@@MatrixCobretti i think they should make one last movie together before van damme retires
@@solotravelermart I hope it happens! It would really be a great event for us fans.
Drive is my favourite. His fights in that are amazing
" Drive " should've gotten a sequel
I guess I wasn't the only one who thought Brandon Lee and Mark Dacascos reminds me of each other. In fact they were childhood friends.
I realized why this channel is so awesome. You interview a famous director or actor. Let them awnser questions and after you state what you felt as a fan. You represent all of us the actors and directors listen and actually respect everything you say.
It is cool how the channel evolved from just talking about these movies to getting the guys on who were involved in their creation.
Watched it at least 10 times. Dacascos was so impressive and that choreography... Sheldon is such a great director.
Back in the mid 90's I watched Only the Strong on repeat. Then in 1996, 3 years after Only the Strong came out, I started in a Capoeira club and trained for 2 years. My world was Capoeira and Only the Strong for a period. I bought it twice on VHS just because there were two different VHS covers and I still own the VHS 25 years later. I was really hoping that Mark Dacascos would go on and become a big star and he could easily have been the next Brandon Lee (RIP). Sadly he went the B-movie path.
It's one of those movies that NEEDS a sequel!
Love how Sheldon is rocking the peoples eyebrow the whole interview
😹😹
"you're ok, Viking... get up!!!" :D loved the episode!!!
I love this videos with Sheldon Lettich telling the behind the scenes about his films. It's like a magician revealing his tricks. ''Only The Strong'' is a really good film. Too bad about the awful agent that Mark Dacascos had back then. By the way I agree with what both of you say about the use (or abuse) of wire and CGI in current movies. That just make it look too artificial. We want to see something that is like a mix of realistic and spectacular. We don't want to see a guy that is fighting someone and suddenly starts to fly like Peter Pan. As always great job on this vid, Viking!👌💪👍
I always love this movie as a kid it's the first time I ever saw capoeira
I love that movie & felt like it was overlooked. It also had a positive message in it.
So cool you did this video! I recently bought Only The Strong because I saw it in the background of one of your other videos. Such an amazing movie!
Absolutely a top ten.
I always thought Paco Christian Prieto should've gotten his own martial arts movie. He was badass in every movie he ever appeared in!
Did he ever get have lead roles
@@indyphillipconner6252 Not as far as I'm aware. It really sucks, he had a great look and solid skills. He should've gotten a shot, he deserved it.
@@MatrixCobretti You would think is he still alive
Not enough charismatic.
@@indyphillipconner6252 Yeah he is, he's 66 now. I don't know what he does now, he's been retired from movies since 1998.
Back then good movies were like an event, everyone would talk about them and watch them at the theater multiple times with their friends and family, now everything looks like a CG tv show, with something similar looking released a week or two later, everything just blends together.
They just feel like a movie of the week or something, and then everything is available to stream almost immediately. Modern entertainment (with a few exceptions here and there of course) just feels generic, interchangeable and mostly disposable, idk, guess I’m just getting old.
I'm just glad I'm old enough to remember the good old days. Imagine if the way things are now was all you ever knew, imagine if you thought that now was the best there ever was. I feel sorry for the younger generations.
@@MatrixCobretti Sad times indeed my friend, and looks like it’s only gonna get worse.
@@bichasant Mark my words, it's going to be abysmal in every way for the next decade at least.
There's a few bright spots in Cinema. I really enjoyed the last two Guy Ritchie films. And then we have the John wick trilogy. And don't forget the Expendables trilogy. But I agree that we don't have epic release is like Jaws or Starwars. the problem is all they care about is the bottom line so they don't want to take risks anymore. In the seventies they were all about taking risks.and then in the 80s we had huge risk-takers like cannon films! If we could just get some Mavericks with some money behind them!
@@MentalDeviant Cannon Films. Wow. You really meant that, huh?
I saw it in theaters after seeing American samurai on VHS. The front cover of the sleeve had David Bradley (America ninja 3) and Mark dacascas with the words soon to be seen in only the strong. My curiosity peaked. Mark dacascas was in great shape in that film and never really got back as good as that. Even in drive
Only the Strong is one of my favourite film. I am an amateur (I like martial arts, but I do not practice) however I showed certain movements to students where I work and I pushed them to move towards the practice of Capoeira thanks to the film Only the Strong.
i must watch movie at some point!! great stuff as always 👍
I agree with the guy. Today's movies are ove the top and "Only the Strong" was vastly underrated.
That movie was so amazing. I took Capoeira for 2 years after watching this movie. He was great in John Wick too, but OTS is still my favorite of his.
After watching Only the Strong I wanted to dabble in that Brazilian style as well.
Mark Dacascos was in John Wick 3...that was a Big movie! I remember seeing him play The Crow in the short lived tv series that got cancelled during the 90s. It would have been cool if MD was in Lion Heart fighting Van Damme!
I didn't rate him that good sadly, in john wick although john is the hero of the movie easily beat him and mark didn't show of hes full martial arts
@@danielknowles7216 ...ofcourse he couldnt show how good he was...cause Keanu Reeves cant fight. He should be in a Michael Jai White movie
@@robd1329 yeah but sadly a lot of hes movies straight to dvd just isn't good its sad that he unfortunately went down that path.
He did a movie with jai white assault on 13 its terrible
Amazing movie, such a classic with the capoeira👌
the was briliant back in the day loved this movie
I loved Only the Strong. Such a great film…truly brought Capoeira to the mainstream media and I feel like it never would have been in subsequent movies like The Quest and Tony Ja’s Tom Yum Goong of it wasn’t for Only the Strong.
I love this movie , I have revisited again recently, it’s a amazing movie with a great script
I recently talked to the cowriter who was on set the entire production, Luis Esteban, going to be some great videos coming out in a couple of weeks with him!
@@VikingSamurai thanks for making great videos , it’s nice to see a channel dedicated to classic martial arts movies .. love your work , keep it up ..
I also love cynthia rothrock movies , you can talk about her or make videos on her , if possible a good interview.
@@donjames7647 I'll look into it in the future.
This guy was actually is the marine Corp. Proper geezer
Not only that, he's a Vietnam veteran. He seems like a really good guy, I can see why Van Damme liked him so much.
@@MatrixCobretti yes he was also in Vietnam that's correct
I never even heard of Only the Strong until around 1996, when I saw it on cable. I watched the movie and couldn't believe I'd never heard of it. The movie was too good not to be huge, same with Mark Dacascos.
Wooooow. Amazing revelations from Sheldon about Mark's career and the bad decisions made behind the scenes before & after Only The Strong. Daaaamn. I didn't know that. I was always a Mark Dacoscos fan and I never understood why he didn't become a BIG star. Now we know why. He was supposed to take Brandon Lee's place and his manager screwed it all up. Damn! good interview Viking. U kickin' ass with these interviews. keep it up.
I saw Only the Strong in the theater when I was a kid. I was mesmerized by the unique style of capoeira. Great 90s movie forever solidified in my mind along with all the other 80s and 90s classics with Van Damme, Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Lundgren, etc. Don't forget Dudikoff
man i loved only the strong, great movie, and samurai great interview
Very rew young people are watching Bloodsport, you perceive it as being so timeless because you still watch it (as do I) but we're old dudes with nostalgia, young fans of John wick will have nostalgia for those movies, that's how it works.
Mark was not only awesome in this film, but he also did an incredible job in Brotherhood of the Wolf.
Sheldon lettich seems a great guy and definitely knows how to get the best from his action leads.
Great vid VS hope there is more to come . 6 am and now I got the song from only the strong stuck in my head again I will be singing that all day now lol
VS, thanks for another amount of priceless information.
By the way, Frank Dux, the very one, plays a blowtorch guy in a helmet in the car workshop, whom MD's character couldn"t beat and got jammed under a car. I hope you remember the moment if you re-watched the movie recently.
Was a good movie. Remember watching it back in high school on Cinemax Action! Lol good times…
I am a fellow martial artist and big time action movie fan. I grew up on a lot of the same movies that you did and also am a fan of JCVD. I do have some contrary opinions though and would love to discuss martial arts and movies with you sometime. B blessed and continue making good content. 🙏🏽
The Return of the 80s and 90s Action Hero! That would be a dream come true!
Please interview Phillip Rhee, the creator and star of the Best of the Best franchise
Honestly 80s and 90s style movies should make a comeback and we can have new action stars step up I am optimistic about the future of action films
Mark was amazing. Just as popular as Van Damme etc. In fact, he's definitely I would believe the more disciplined Martial Artist. The guy has been in some amazing movies Period
In "Cradle to the Grave" with Jett Lee and DMX. He killed the wise sage dishwasher from the film "Waiting" with a F*cking stone crab claw! Legend!!!
Yup, I saw the movie and was in the backyard trying to do things I had no business doing lol. It would be awesome to add to my training list but around here there aren't any schools.
One of my favorite movies of all time.
I watched this movie first time when i was a kid, back in school days. I saw it on TV and i loved it. And then, when i got my first internet, i watched it again and even then, i loved it. And even now, Only The Strong is awsome movie. And Mark Dacascos is one of my favorite actors among everyone else. And if next Expendables movie happens, i hope that Stallone can bring Mark to be in that movie. Cause i really wanna see Mark Dacascos again back in action. Cause, last time i saw him in "action", if you can call it that, back in Mortal Kombat Legacy Season 2 mini series as Kung lao, and he didn't really did anything special there, besides talking. So, bringing him back in action, and i mean REAL action and not just talking, would be amazing.
good social commentary good interview. good back stories.
I along with other people would say this is the movie that got me into capoeira. One of my favorite movies.
Damn, Mark Dacascos shoulda been bigger. Got to agree with Sheldon, there Mark looked his best in only the Strong. Crying Freeman he was great too. But in regards to the current action territory, from my experiences being around movie watchers etc, most folks have adhd and just absorb whatever is new, they cant stop consuming. Not to mention constant supher hero reboots drive me nuts, followed the unbearable bathos (seriously how many Batmans do we need) arrrhhhh.
What has happened is the lack of mid tier budgeted films. Its either big budget superhero films or low budget DTV. Gone is the mid tier budget films that were common in 80s and 90s. Its a shame.