Amazon.com essential video

A very savvy, 1978 film directed by Ted Kotcheff (First Blood) dealing with the seamier side of professional football. Phillip Elliott and Maxwell (Nick Nolte and Mac Davis, respectively) are players for a Texas football team loosely based on the championship Dallas Cowboys. Though at the peak of his football career, Elliott is a personal and physical mess, needing all manner of drugs prescribed by the team physician to play and even to move around. The indifference of the team management and the hypocritical stance toward recreational drug use versus the drug abuse practiced by the players leads to a crisis of conscience for Nolte. The combination of Nolte's volatile presence and Davis's understated performance as the quarterback who thinks he's seen it all helps make North Dallas Forty one of the best sports films around. --Robert Lane ... Read more

Reviews (12)

a real good film
Nick Nolte&Mac Davis give great performances in this film.this film pre-dates all of the maddness that has happened in the NFL since it's release.drugs,sex,coaches,etc..this film is one of the best sports movies.the real life Dallas Cowboys finally caught up with the film in the mid-90's.

For movie lovers and football fans
NORTH DALLAS FORTY delivers first-rate entertainment. Football fans will note stinging parodies of a few famous NFL players/coaches. Among quality performances from Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Charles Durning and the late John Matuszak, actor Bo Svenson stands out. Svenson adds depth to what could have been a cartoonish role of an immature, stupid muscle-head, and it is unfortunate that I have not seen him in anything else this good. The film's poster makes NORTH DALLAS FORTY look as though it is a pro football version of ANIMAL HOUSE. Sure, NORTH DALLAS FORTY is funny at times, but the film also takes on the abuses in big league sports and management's selective enforcement of the rules. Sports journalists, let alone other sports films, ought to address those issues as boldly.

LIKE A HELMET TO HELMET HIT
NORTH DALLAS FORTY is not just a sports film, it's an indictment of corporate America that was the forerunner of the "Greed is good" films of the 1980's. One of the nicest acting surprises of 1979 was Mac Davis as Seth Maxwell, the consumate huckster who fails in his quest to save his friend, Phil Elliott from his own pre determined gridiron destiny. As Elliott, Nick Nolte, gives 1 of his 3 best performances and he and Davis play perfectly off each other. This film is a winner. All that was missing was NFL Films "Voice of God" John Facenda, with the play by play.

You, and B.A., and all the rest of you coaches are.....
An NFL wide receiver (Nolte) who purportedly has "the best hands in football" has been benched and is being used as a substitute. It's not for lack of ability or effort but because of his "attitude". He's been a starter for years and it's hard to take ("I'll die on the bench"). He needs to "give 'em what they want" and "you had better learn to play the game, and I don't just mean the game of football". Advice from his buddy Seth Maxwell (Mac Davis), who's the team's quarterback and a "star", is good advice, but Elliot (Nolte)doesn't seem to have it in him to follow it. Catching a winning TD pass from Maxwell in the closing seconds isn't enough. The play was a "fluke", as summed up by their head coach B.A. (G.D. Spradlin) while analyzing the game film the following week. The week after the game is what the show is about. The meetings, practices, workouts and various extra curricular activities, all leading up to the next game in Chicago. Charles Durning plays an assistant coach who is a constant bother to the players while he drinks bottles of Maalox. Bo Svenson (Joe Bob) and John Matuszak (O.W.) play excellent supporting roles along with many other actors. If you grew up thinking professional athletes were the salt of the earth this show may very well make you reconsider.

North Dallas 40 rocks!
Nick Nolte does a supurb job as a veteran wide receiver playing for a top team in the NFL during the late 60's or early 70's. The fact that he is an individual in a team sport makes this story even more exciting. Although he has come to the time in his career when medical science and tons of pain killers are a necessary daily diet in order to lace up the old cleets one more time for the team, he does not shirk his responsibilities or take the easy road when it comes to performing his job. Mack Davis turns in a creditable acting job as Seth the veteran QB of the team that has his way even when he is wrong. Now if you think that this movie is all about football you will miss the true meaning and emotion of the entire event. In the midst of a savage and hostile working environment a person can still be true to self amidst the greedy management side of a very tough sport. I hope that this whets your appetite to get this movie. There are memorable moments in and out of the locker room. The tell all book written by Peter Gent was more than an eye opener back a few decades ago and this rendition of the book does it justice in every way. Once you start watching this movie you will not want to turn it off! If you are a fan of football reality, you will want this movie. Oh, by the way, the author Peter Gent played professional football for the Dallas Cowboys back in the 60's I believe. That is what makes this movie so creditable and Peter does not hold back anything. Enjoy!! By the way I think that this movie is rated "R" for brief nudity, language, and violence. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Terrific, underrated Disney comedy
In my opinion, "The World's Greatest Athlete" may very well be the best Disney comedy of the '70's, even better than "Freaky Friday" or "Apple Dumpling Gang." It's also incredibly underrated, with Leonard Maltin seemingly alone among major critics in loving it.

Without giving anything away, it is a goofy, inspired slapstick comedy with a terrific cast including an absolutely hilarious Tim Conway as an inept assistant coach, a well-cast Jan-Michael Vincent as a superathlete, the wonderful Roscoe Lee Browne, rising above his stereotypical, potentially offensive role as
an African witch-doctor, and the wonderful Nancy Walker as a blind landlady who mistakes a tiger for a drunken
frat boy.

But top acting honors go to John Amos as the losingest college coach in history. The fact that he is black is important to the story set-up, but is completely uncommented on in the film and therefore makes the film ahead of its time, at least for Disney studios, who I believe had never before had a black lead actor in one of its films. This is also the film in which Howard Cosell plays himself in a hilarious bit and delivers the great line: "I have never seen anything like this in my entire illustrious career!"

The only reason I don't give "The World's Greatest Athlete" better than a *** rating is that it isn't yet available in the remastered, wide-screen special edition DVD it deserves. Come on, Disney, get on the ball. You have a real gem in your vault and you act like you don't even know it.

an awesome goofball movie
this is a dumbell movie chock full of really stupid stuff. it's so dumb it's funny. i wish more movies were like this that doesn't take itself seriously. i own 2 copies of this movie.

boy how i remember
i remember seeing this movie when i was a little kid. my grandmother took me to see this in radio city music hall. that was way back at the beginning of the 70's. what a great film but i will not purchase it until it comes out on dvd. THANK YOU.

A great wholesome comedy for the entire family
A great wholesome comedy for the entire family. The kids will love it too. We need more family oriented movies like this one to be made in todays day and age. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Bad movie, zero stars
This is a poorly acted movie with an unbelievable script, no one talks this way. I didn't care what happened to either main character. Oh, and the hospital people were extremely unprofessional in the movie. ONe male nurse yelled at the boyfrind of one if the dead patients and removed the sheet covering her face while she was dead on the stretcher in the hallway. Come on. And Jamie gurtz kept having hissy fits. What a spoiled brat

JUSTINS REVIEW
I FIRST SAW SILENCE LIKE GLASS IN 1991,I SAW IT ON BRITISH TV AND DID NOT REALIZE AT THE TIME WHAT A GREAT FILM IT WAS.I THEN TRIED IN VAIN TO TRY AND FIND THE FILM IN BRITAIN BUT WAS NEVER ABLE TO DO SO BECAUSE I RECENTLY FOUND OUT THAT IT WAS NEVER MADE AVAILABLE TO THE UK.
I HAVE RECENTLY BOUGHT THE FILM FROM THE US AND HAVE ALSO PURCHASED A VIDEO RECORDER THAT ALSO PLAYS NTSC,WE HAVE PAL/SECAM FORMAT IN UK.IT WAS WONDERFUL TO SEE THE FILM AGAIN AFTER 11 YEARS,GOD,TIME GOES FAST.
I WAS A BIG FAN OF JAMI GERTZ WHEN I FIRST SAW THE LOST BOYS,BUT AFTER SEEING HER PERFORMANCE HERE IT REALLY MADE ME SEE WHAT A GREAT ACTRESS SHE IS.SHE PLAYS A BALLERINA CALLED EVA WHO DEVELOPS CANCER AND IS ADMITTED TO A CANCER HOSPITAL AND BEFRIENDS CLAUDIA,PLAYED WONDERFULLY BY MARTHA PLIMPTON,THE TWO BECOME BESTEST FRIENDS AND HAVE A SPECIAL BOND THAT CARRIES THE FILM WELL.
SEEING THE FILM FOR A SECOND TIME WAS STILL THOUGHT PROVOKING AND SHOULD MAKE US ALL SEE JUST HOW SPECIAL AND FRAGILE OUR TIME HERE TRULY IS,THE FILM IS A TRUE STORY AND PERSONALLY,I THINK MOST OF THE BEST ONES ARE.
IN MY OPINION,SILENCE LIKE GLASS SITS WELL WITH OTHER GREAT FILMS SUCH AS;BEACHES,FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AND STEEL MAGNOLIA'S.
SILENCE LIKE GLASS IS A FILM THAT I WAITED A LONG TIME TO GET BUT IT WAS DEFINETLEY WORTH THE WAIT.

JUSTIN WELLBELOVE ... Read more

Amazon.com

Jean-Claude Van Damme, a.k.a. "the Muscles from Brussels," had only a few movies to his credit when he played the hero in this lame postapocalyptic action flick from 1989. It's really just another martial-arts movie, dressed down with near-future trash and dirty sets that have "low budget" written all over them. Van Damme plays the protective escort for a half-human, half-cyborg woman whose programming contains a possible cure for a plague that's threatening to wipe out the entire population of Earth. But the woman is kidnapped by Van Damme's evil nemesis (is there any other kind?) while they are en route to her Atlanta headquarters. That leads Van Damme right into a lion's den of sadomasochistic torture and torment. If you've made it this far (and if you have, why?), you're probably a founding member of the Jean-Claude Van Damme fan club. To everyone else: Don't say you weren't warned--this is the kind of movie in which naming characters after electric guitars (Van Damme's character is named "Gibson Rickenbacker") qualifies as clever screenwriting. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (47)

Pure Entertainment
I remember watching this movie several times a year when I owned it as a kid. I never forgot about it, and kept promising myself that someday I will buy it. That promise has not yet been made, but I just now saw the film on TNN, and it was like watching a new movie because I didn't remember any of it. And let me just tell you...forget Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Bruce and all those other quaky (entertaining, but quaky) martial art films. Cyborg blows them all away.

I've seen other Van Damme films (God were they horrible). This is the only one that captivated me. The fight scenes were just so realistic. You don't got a guy climbing walls like he's spider man throughout the entire film, or jumping off buildings or flying around like he's a bird - he actually gets hurt and falls to his knees every now and again. It's not like the Matrix where you're just sitting there waiting for the guy to win - you really feel the pain of Jean-Claude's character when he gets cut or kicked.

All the reviewers are correct. There is hardly any dialog to this film...because it's an atmospheric film. You remember the Shining? No dialog on that one either, just pure atmosphere. And let me tell you, the doomsday world that this movie depicts was mind blowing. It really delivers to the viewer a sense of utter desolation. Everyone in the film is maniacal - totally out of their minds. It's the Drak Ages all over again, where little differentiated bewteen both sexes, and women actually faught in wars, at times accompanied by their children. Take Escape from LA, and combine that with REALISM, and that's just the world you'll enter when you watch this film.

Jean Claude did such an excellent job of playing a traveling vagrant consumed by the nightmares of a seriously disturbing past. His only priority in life is to kill the Cyborg that killed him a long time ago. The world is at the mercy of an awful plague, and even when the doors of a possible cure is open to him, all he can think about is vengeance. Note the face he makes when he first sees the Cyborg after years of searching for him. The hatred was so well defined in every contour...I was thinking, 'My God, I would NOT want to be that Cyborg!'

Well, whatever he had in mind, it didn't turn out so well. His nemesis proved to be quite...unstoppable.

The music in this film has got to be the best I've ever heard in any action film. It plays along perfectly with the atmosphere and the fight scenes. Slow, but hard pounding. Very nice touch. The whole movie was choreographed with the utmost of precision. Right on target with each kick and punch. Had me totally captivated. Get this film if you're not much for that cheesy stuff that comes from all these popular Chinese directors that is totally fake, (with the exception of a few Bruce Lee films). Jean Claude's character actually carries a gun around which in most martial art movies, this element lacks (Hey, a gun is more effective than a sword. Am I right or am I right?) And he is not afraid to use it, but tries to conserve his ammunition by fighting (bullets and guns are scarce in this upside down world). Lots of battles with sharp bladed weapons too. I mean, this movie has it all.

Van DAMN!!!!
Jean-Claude Van Damme was 28 when he made CYBORG, a low budgeted, post-apocolyptic martial arts adventure. At that time in his career, he'd made his name through a number of low budget, B-quality kung fu flicks. I liked BLOODSPORT, all the more so, becuase it's based on thrue events in the life of kumite champion Frank Dux, and Van Damme was definitely the right guy for the role.

Then there's KICKBOXER, which, like BLOODSPORT, shows Van Damme as an apprentice on a vendetta with a Mike Tyson-esque Muy Thai champ. That movie is distinguished, if nothing else, by the final battle between Van Damme and Tong Po, who was played by Van Damme's close friend Michael Quissi (though he was still credited as Tong Po.)

Then came CYBORG. It was released it 1989, and starred Van Damme as a martial arts master named Gibson Rickenbaker living in the post-apocolyptic ruins of New York. He finds himself rescuing a cyborg codenamed Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon) from a murderous gang of hooligans led by the sadistic Fender Tremolo (Vincent Klyn). Seems Pearl has detailed information on how to sythesize a cure to the plague that has caused all the chaos and is on her way to Atlanta to give the info to the last scientists. Tremolo and his gang would do anything to get ahold of the information and rule the world. It up to Gibson to save Pearl.

Now, I'll admit that when I was short on cash, and I had a choice between buying CYBORG or TIMECOP, I went with the latter, but I almost immediately after ordered CYBORG over the internet, and it was well worth it. As another customer pointed out, the fights in CYBORG are amazingly realistic and show Van Damme getting hurt and taking just as much of an butt kicking as he dishes out. (In a particularly brutal scene, Gibson is battered and exhausted, and gets beaten to a pulp by Tremolo.)

The movie has sort of a ROAD WARRIOR quality to it, the bigeest difference being the budgets of the two films. The villians and even the good guys dress in ragged clothing, like THE ROAD WARRIOR. The land is basically deserted, and there is an utter feeling of helplessness and anarchy. That's the essence of post-apolyptic action films.

Bottom Line: CYBORG is a great movie in my eyes, because it shows that in any martial arts movie, what is at it's heart is the fact that the hero can have all the strength, speed, and power in the universe, but no matter what, the hero is always human. In other Van Damme movies, like STREET FIGHTER, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, TIMECOP, REPLICANT, or DOUBLE TEAM, he was a righteous fighting machine, but he could still be hurt. Even in THE MATRIX movies, Neo was the Chosen One, capable of fantastic, inhuman feats, but he was still just a man, he could be beaten to the point where he would cough up blood, but he had the spirit to back him up.

And so it is with CYBORG. Gibson is a fantastic martial artist, but he could be beaten up almost to death by a bigger, stronger opponent. He got into certain situations where he would have to rely more on what he had inside than his blackbelt status. That's what truly makes a great karate flick, having a fighter who has fantastic fighting skils, or even superhuman powers who has the the heart and will to win. CYBORG is such a movie.

Scary future indeed! An underrated classic.
As far as JCVD movies are concerned this is terrific, and anyone expecting Schindlers List stay clear. I will recommend this movie to people who are fans of movies like Soldier (Kurt Russell) and even the other Albert Pyun movie Nemesis. Hey, i would go as far as saying that this film shares many qualities as Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. They both take the cake for having the best villians in the history of cinema, Fender and Vernon Wells. This movie really is a guilty pleasure and also contains many disturbing scenes and religious undertones predominant in the sci-fi genre; such as Blade Runner, but it also manages to understand clearly what kind of movie it is trying to be - a gritty and scary martial arts flick! I'll back this film up and also the underrated Christopher Lambert flick Fortress till the day I die. Just don't expect an intellectual martial arts film, I even doubt if there are many, except for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix and any other that takes itself too seriously. Just expect a good old fashioned B-Movie to watch with a couple mates and a 6 pack of beer with some intelligent (arguable) ideas padded throughout. The DVD is worth purchasing, as it features an interesting 8 page booklet, a fine non-anamorphic widescreen transfer with occasional grain, but rather clean and sharp with vivid colours. The dolby surround is a little dissapointing but still throws a lot of sound into the rear speakers. This works wonders with the terrific music score! Long live JCVD. A truly underrated star who has a deserved cult following. I know he's not the best actor on the planet, but his films have a cheesy charm all the same. I liken him to Keanu Reeves, a man who can't act well, but is damn entertaining nonetheless.

One of Pyun's best
I hope you will forgive me when I tell you I have a crushing headache as I write this review. Why? Because I devoted several hours of this sunny day thinking about not one, but two, of Albert Pyun's films. Pondering the importance of "Ticker" and "Cyborg" to the cinematic world wore me out in ways I would not think possible. Pyun, if you are not familiar with his oeuvre, constructed his B movie credentials by releasing such classics as "The Sword and The Sorcerer," "Nemesis," "Mean Guns," and "Postmortem." He's a hack's hack in the hack world of zero budget schlock. Not to pound you over the head with it, but watching a Pyun film often resembles in no little way craning your head out the window to see that car accident on the freeway. Initially, you are intrigued by what you might see only to realize later how low you feel as a human being for looking at scenes of abject horror. Ok, I am exaggerating slightly. "Cyborg," the 1989 film that launched the dubious career of Jean-Claude Van Damme, is one of Pyun's better efforts. In fact, it is one of the few movies in his canon I can watch on a regular basis and not feel too badly about it the next day.

Here's another film dealing with life in a post-apocalyptic world. Gibson Rickenbacker (Van Damme) arises from the ruins to play the part of a Good Samaritan. He tries to help survivors of a plague flee from the ruined cities to the countryside, hopefully so they can reconstruct some semblance of a normal life. Rickenbacker, as the hero, of course has an unpleasant memory of one of his missions. He tried to save a family and ended up falling in love with a woman. You don't need me to spell out what happened next. Ever since this unfortunate incident, Gibson struggles with what he should do next. When he runs into a woman named Pearl Prophet (Dale Haddon), a cyborg attempting to carry a cure for the plague back to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, he must decide whether to resume the role of hero. Why not take part in helping Pearl carry the antidote? This mission could turn Rickenbacker into the savior of the world. Unfortunately for Rickenbacker and Pearl, Fender Tremolo (Vincent Klyn), a scary looking dude with weird eyes and a mechanical voice, and his gang of like-minded cyborgs have their own ideas. They think if they can capture Pearl and get her to Atlanta, they will control the future of the world.

When Prophet falls into the hands of Tremolo's gang, Rickenbacker decides to get her back. With the help of a mouthy young lady he picks up along the way named Nady Simmons (Deborah Richter), Gibson lurches from one violent confrontation to another. Thugs fall to the ground like leaves as the two pursue Tremolo with malevolent intent. Numerous showdowns in burnt out and broken down buildings provide Pyun and Van Damme with plenty of opportunities to showcase martial arts madness. Kicks, punches, and blunt and sharp instruments-anything you can think of that will cause damage to a human or cyborg body finds a use in this movie. And for the most part Pyun carries off the action well, much better than he has in many of his other movies. You are surprised that you actually root for this guy who speaks English like he just walked off a boat. Before feelings of giddiness carry you away, however, you need to reconcile yourself with a few of the cheesy aspects of the movie. Nearly all of the characters are named after musical instruments, the outfits look like the film crew robbed a New Wave band's wardrobe closet, and the dialogue tends towards the insipid. Still, "Cyborg" entertains as few Pyun films do.

"Cyborg" works largely due to the gritty, blasted urban background that the characters move through. It is here, in the ruins of civilization, where most of the action takes place. Moreover, the picture quality of the film (probably as a result of poor film stock) has a dirty look to it, which actually gives the movie a better, more realistic atmosphere. I even thought Pyun tried to inject a philosophical statement in the film (yeah, right) when we see Rickenbacker staked to that ship's mast. Is Gibson a Christ figure "rising" from the grave to help save the world? Maybe, but I'm probably reading more into "Cyborg" than the director intended. Sure, the acting could be better-lots better-and the fight scenes are a little over the top, but why else would you watch this movie? You don't expect Oscar performances and you don't get them. What you do get is an entertaining way to spend eighty plus minutes (the movie doesn't run for even an hour and a half).

The DVD version is strictly bare bones. If memory serves me correctly, the only extra on this disc was a trailer. Too bad, but a bit surprising considering this is officially a cult classic. It's interesting to note that none other than Cannon, the company that released TONS of low budget action flicks in the 1980s, helped fund this effort. Charles Bronson benefited from Cannon's attentions back then, so why not Van Damme? I recommend "Cyborg" not only to fans of action films, but even to fans of science fiction since the movie takes a stab at incorporating both elements under one umbrella. Is it intelligent cinema? Nope, but who says it needs to be?

This Movie Has a Message
I realize this movie is campy by today's standards, so only someone who watched it back in the day when it was a different era in movie making can appreciate it. I'd say you'd have to be at least 25 to enjoy it, because of it's sentimental and nostalgic atmosphere.

If you can get past that, it's actually really good. I've always enjoyed postapocalyptic reality-of-life depictions. The music is a bit much, but it does portray survival of the fittest in a realistic sense. The characters beat each other up a bit unbelievable and the breaking-himself-off-the-cross scene was absurd even then, but the fight scenes are well done and closefaced showdown scenes were gold. Definitely one for the collection. ... Read more

Reviews (47)

Pure Entertainment
I remember watching this movie several times a year when I owned it as a kid. I never forgot about it, and kept promising myself that someday I will buy it. That promise has not yet been made, but I just now saw the film on TNN, and it was like watching a new movie because I didn't remember any of it. And let me just tell you...forget Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Bruce and all those other quaky (entertaining, but quaky) martial art films. Cyborg blows them all away.

I've seen other Van Damme films (God were they horrible). This is the only one that captivated me. The fight scenes were just so realistic. You don't got a guy climbing walls like he's spider man throughout the entire film, or jumping off buildings or flying around like he's a bird - he actually gets hurt and falls to his knees every now and again. It's not like the Matrix where you're just sitting there waiting for the guy to win - you really feel the pain of Jean-Claude's character when he gets cut or kicked.

All the reviewers are correct. There is hardly any dialog to this film...because it's an atmospheric film. You remember the Shining? No dialog on that one either, just pure atmosphere. And let me tell you, the doomsday world that this movie depicts was mind blowing. It really delivers to the viewer a sense of utter desolation. Everyone in the film is maniacal - totally out of their minds. It's the Drak Ages all over again, where little differentiated bewteen both sexes, and women actually faught in wars, at times accompanied by their children. Take Escape from LA, and combine that with REALISM, and that's just the world you'll enter when you watch this film.

Jean Claude did such an excellent job of playing a traveling vagrant consumed by the nightmares of a seriously disturbing past. His only priority in life is to kill the Cyborg that killed him a long time ago. The world is at the mercy of an awful plague, and even when the doors of a possible cure is open to him, all he can think about is vengeance. Note the face he makes when he first sees the Cyborg after years of searching for him. The hatred was so well defined in every contour...I was thinking, 'My God, I would NOT want to be that Cyborg!'

Well, whatever he had in mind, it didn't turn out so well. His nemesis proved to be quite...unstoppable.

The music in this film has got to be the best I've ever heard in any action film. It plays along perfectly with the atmosphere and the fight scenes. Slow, but hard pounding. Very nice touch. The whole movie was choreographed with the utmost of precision. Right on target with each kick and punch. Had me totally captivated. Get this film if you're not much for that cheesy stuff that comes from all these popular Chinese directors that is totally fake, (with the exception of a few Bruce Lee films). Jean Claude's character actually carries a gun around which in most martial art movies, this element lacks (Hey, a gun is more effective than a sword. Am I right or am I right?) And he is not afraid to use it, but tries to conserve his ammunition by fighting (bullets and guns are scarce in this upside down world). Lots of battles with sharp bladed weapons too. I mean, this movie has it all.

Van DAMN!!!!
Jean-Claude Van Damme was 28 when he made CYBORG, a low budgeted, post-apocolyptic martial arts adventure. At that time in his career, he'd made his name through a number of low budget, B-quality kung fu flicks. I liked BLOODSPORT, all the more so, becuase it's based on thrue events in the life of kumite champion Frank Dux, and Van Damme was definitely the right guy for the role.

Then there's KICKBOXER, which, like BLOODSPORT, shows Van Damme as an apprentice on a vendetta with a Mike Tyson-esque Muy Thai champ. That movie is distinguished, if nothing else, by the final battle between Van Damme and Tong Po, who was played by Van Damme's close friend Michael Quissi (though he was still credited as Tong Po.)

Then came CYBORG. It was released it 1989, and starred Van Damme as a martial arts master named Gibson Rickenbaker living in the post-apocolyptic ruins of New York. He finds himself rescuing a cyborg codenamed Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon) from a murderous gang of hooligans led by the sadistic Fender Tremolo (Vincent Klyn). Seems Pearl has detailed information on how to sythesize a cure to the plague that has caused all the chaos and is on her way to Atlanta to give the info to the last scientists. Tremolo and his gang would do anything to get ahold of the information and rule the world. It up to Gibson to save Pearl.

Now, I'll admit that when I was short on cash, and I had a choice between buying CYBORG or TIMECOP, I went with the latter, but I almost immediately after ordered CYBORG over the internet, and it was well worth it. As another customer pointed out, the fights in CYBORG are amazingly realistic and show Van Damme getting hurt and taking just as much of an butt kicking as he dishes out. (In a particularly brutal scene, Gibson is battered and exhausted, and gets beaten to a pulp by Tremolo.)

The movie has sort of a ROAD WARRIOR quality to it, the bigeest difference being the budgets of the two films. The villians and even the good guys dress in ragged clothing, like THE ROAD WARRIOR. The land is basically deserted, and there is an utter feeling of helplessness and anarchy. That's the essence of post-apolyptic action films.

Bottom Line: CYBORG is a great movie in my eyes, because it shows that in any martial arts movie, what is at it's heart is the fact that the hero can have all the strength, speed, and power in the universe, but no matter what, the hero is always human. In other Van Damme movies, like STREET FIGHTER, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, TIMECOP, REPLICANT, or DOUBLE TEAM, he was a righteous fighting machine, but he could still be hurt. Even in THE MATRIX movies, Neo was the Chosen One, capable of fantastic, inhuman feats, but he was still just a man, he could be beaten to the point where he would cough up blood, but he had the spirit to back him up.

And so it is with CYBORG. Gibson is a fantastic martial artist, but he could be beaten up almost to death by a bigger, stronger opponent. He got into certain situations where he would have to rely more on what he had inside than his blackbelt status. That's what truly makes a great karate flick, having a fighter who has fantastic fighting skils, or even superhuman powers who has the the heart and will to win. CYBORG is such a movie.

Scary future indeed! An underrated classic.
As far as JCVD movies are concerned this is terrific, and anyone expecting Schindlers List stay clear. I will recommend this movie to people who are fans of movies like Soldier (Kurt Russell) and even the other Albert Pyun movie Nemesis. Hey, i would go as far as saying that this film shares many qualities as Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. They both take the cake for having the best villians in the history of cinema, Fender and Vernon Wells. This movie really is a guilty pleasure and also contains many disturbing scenes and religious undertones predominant in the sci-fi genre; such as Blade Runner, but it also manages to understand clearly what kind of movie it is trying to be - a gritty and scary martial arts flick! I'll back this film up and also the underrated Christopher Lambert flick Fortress till the day I die. Just don't expect an intellectual martial arts film, I even doubt if there are many, except for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix and any other that takes itself too seriously. Just expect a good old fashioned B-Movie to watch with a couple mates and a 6 pack of beer with some intelligent (arguable) ideas padded throughout. The DVD is worth purchasing, as it features an interesting 8 page booklet, a fine non-anamorphic widescreen transfer with occasional grain, but rather clean and sharp with vivid colours. The dolby surround is a little dissapointing but still throws a lot of sound into the rear speakers. This works wonders with the terrific music score! Long live JCVD. A truly underrated star who has a deserved cult following. I know he's not the best actor on the planet, but his films have a cheesy charm all the same. I liken him to Keanu Reeves, a man who can't act well, but is damn entertaining nonetheless.

One of Pyun's best
I hope you will forgive me when I tell you I have a crushing headache as I write this review. Why? Because I devoted several hours of this sunny day thinking about not one, but two, of Albert Pyun's films. Pondering the importance of "Ticker" and "Cyborg" to the cinematic world wore me out in ways I would not think possible. Pyun, if you are not familiar with his oeuvre, constructed his B movie credentials by releasing such classics as "The Sword and The Sorcerer," "Nemesis," "Mean Guns," and "Postmortem." He's a hack's hack in the hack world of zero budget schlock. Not to pound you over the head with it, but watching a Pyun film often resembles in no little way craning your head out the window to see that car accident on the freeway. Initially, you are intrigued by what you might see only to realize later how low you feel as a human being for looking at scenes of abject horror. Ok, I am exaggerating slightly. "Cyborg," the 1989 film that launched the dubious career of Jean-Claude Van Damme, is one of Pyun's better efforts. In fact, it is one of the few movies in his canon I can watch on a regular basis and not feel too badly about it the next day.

Here's another film dealing with life in a post-apocalyptic world. Gibson Rickenbacker (Van Damme) arises from the ruins to play the part of a Good Samaritan. He tries to help survivors of a plague flee from the ruined cities to the countryside, hopefully so they can reconstruct some semblance of a normal life. Rickenbacker, as the hero, of course has an unpleasant memory of one of his missions. He tried to save a family and ended up falling in love with a woman. You don't need me to spell out what happened next. Ever since this unfortunate incident, Gibson struggles with what he should do next. When he runs into a woman named Pearl Prophet (Dale Haddon), a cyborg attempting to carry a cure for the plague back to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, he must decide whether to resume the role of hero. Why not take part in helping Pearl carry the antidote? This mission could turn Rickenbacker into the savior of the world. Unfortunately for Rickenbacker and Pearl, Fender Tremolo (Vincent Klyn), a scary looking dude with weird eyes and a mechanical voice, and his gang of like-minded cyborgs have their own ideas. They think if they can capture Pearl and get her to Atlanta, they will control the future of the world.

When Prophet falls into the hands of Tremolo's gang, Rickenbacker decides to get her back. With the help of a mouthy young lady he picks up along the way named Nady Simmons (Deborah Richter), Gibson lurches from one violent confrontation to another. Thugs fall to the ground like leaves as the two pursue Tremolo with malevolent intent. Numerous showdowns in burnt out and broken down buildings provide Pyun and Van Damme with plenty of opportunities to showcase martial arts madness. Kicks, punches, and blunt and sharp instruments-anything you can think of that will cause damage to a human or cyborg body finds a use in this movie. And for the most part Pyun carries off the action well, much better than he has in many of his other movies. You are surprised that you actually root for this guy who speaks English like he just walked off a boat. Before feelings of giddiness carry you away, however, you need to reconcile yourself with a few of the cheesy aspects of the movie. Nearly all of the characters are named after musical instruments, the outfits look like the film crew robbed a New Wave band's wardrobe closet, and the dialogue tends towards the insipid. Still, "Cyborg" entertains as few Pyun films do.

"Cyborg" works largely due to the gritty, blasted urban background that the characters move through. It is here, in the ruins of civilization, where most of the action takes place. Moreover, the picture quality of the film (probably as a result of poor film stock) has a dirty look to it, which actually gives the movie a better, more realistic atmosphere. I even thought Pyun tried to inject a philosophical statement in the film (yeah, right) when we see Rickenbacker staked to that ship's mast. Is Gibson a Christ figure "rising" from the grave to help save the world? Maybe, but I'm probably reading more into "Cyborg" than the director intended. Sure, the acting could be better-lots better-and the fight scenes are a little over the top, but why else would you watch this movie? You don't expect Oscar performances and you don't get them. What you do get is an entertaining way to spend eighty plus minutes (the movie doesn't run for even an hour and a half).

The DVD version is strictly bare bones. If memory serves me correctly, the only extra on this disc was a trailer. Too bad, but a bit surprising considering this is officially a cult classic. It's interesting to note that none other than Cannon, the company that released TONS of low budget action flicks in the 1980s, helped fund this effort. Charles Bronson benefited from Cannon's attentions back then, so why not Van Damme? I recommend "Cyborg" not only to fans of action films, but even to fans of science fiction since the movie takes a stab at incorporating both elements under one umbrella. Is it intelligent cinema? Nope, but who says it needs to be?

This Movie Has a Message
I realize this movie is campy by today's standards, so only someone who watched it back in the day when it was a different era in movie making can appreciate it. I'd say you'd have to be at least 25 to enjoy it, because of it's sentimental and nostalgic atmosphere.

If you can get past that, it's actually really good. I've always enjoyed postapocalyptic reality-of-life depictions. The music is a bit much, but it does portray survival of the fittest in a realistic sense. The characters beat each other up a bit unbelievable and the breaking-himself-off-the-cross scene was absurd even then, but the fight scenes are well done and closefaced showdown scenes were gold. Definitely one for the collection. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

I'm Alive
I can relate to the 40 yr-old wife. I am 70, and consider myself a latent extrovert. I will purchase this video, and send it to my "girl"-friend. She needs to lighten-up. ... Read more

Reviews (47)

Pure Entertainment
I remember watching this movie several times a year when I owned it as a kid. I never forgot about it, and kept promising myself that someday I will buy it. That promise has not yet been made, but I just now saw the film on TNN, and it was like watching a new movie because I didn't remember any of it. And let me just tell you...forget Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Bruce and all those other quaky (entertaining, but quaky) martial art films. Cyborg blows them all away.

I've seen other Van Damme films (God were they horrible). This is the only one that captivated me. The fight scenes were just so realistic. You don't got a guy climbing walls like he's spider man throughout the entire film, or jumping off buildings or flying around like he's a bird - he actually gets hurt and falls to his knees every now and again. It's not like the Matrix where you're just sitting there waiting for the guy to win - you really feel the pain of Jean-Claude's character when he gets cut or kicked.

All the reviewers are correct. There is hardly any dialog to this film...because it's an atmospheric film. You remember the Shining? No dialog on that one either, just pure atmosphere. And let me tell you, the doomsday world that this movie depicts was mind blowing. It really delivers to the viewer a sense of utter desolation. Everyone in the film is maniacal - totally out of their minds. It's the Drak Ages all over again, where little differentiated bewteen both sexes, and women actually faught in wars, at times accompanied by their children. Take Escape from LA, and combine that with REALISM, and that's just the world you'll enter when you watch this film.

Jean Claude did such an excellent job of playing a traveling vagrant consumed by the nightmares of a seriously disturbing past. His only priority in life is to kill the Cyborg that killed him a long time ago. The world is at the mercy of an awful plague, and even when the doors of a possible cure is open to him, all he can think about is vengeance. Note the face he makes when he first sees the Cyborg after years of searching for him. The hatred was so well defined in every contour...I was thinking, 'My God, I would NOT want to be that Cyborg!'

Well, whatever he had in mind, it didn't turn out so well. His nemesis proved to be quite...unstoppable.

The music in this film has got to be the best I've ever heard in any action film. It plays along perfectly with the atmosphere and the fight scenes. Slow, but hard pounding. Very nice touch. The whole movie was choreographed with the utmost of precision. Right on target with each kick and punch. Had me totally captivated. Get this film if you're not much for that cheesy stuff that comes from all these popular Chinese directors that is totally fake, (with the exception of a few Bruce Lee films). Jean Claude's character actually carries a gun around which in most martial art movies, this element lacks (Hey, a gun is more effective than a sword. Am I right or am I right?) And he is not afraid to use it, but tries to conserve his ammunition by fighting (bullets and guns are scarce in this upside down world). Lots of battles with sharp bladed weapons too. I mean, this movie has it all.

Van DAMN!!!!
Jean-Claude Van Damme was 28 when he made CYBORG, a low budgeted, post-apocolyptic martial arts adventure. At that time in his career, he'd made his name through a number of low budget, B-quality kung fu flicks. I liked BLOODSPORT, all the more so, becuase it's based on thrue events in the life of kumite champion Frank Dux, and Van Damme was definitely the right guy for the role.

Then there's KICKBOXER, which, like BLOODSPORT, shows Van Damme as an apprentice on a vendetta with a Mike Tyson-esque Muy Thai champ. That movie is distinguished, if nothing else, by the final battle between Van Damme and Tong Po, who was played by Van Damme's close friend Michael Quissi (though he was still credited as Tong Po.)

Then came CYBORG. It was released it 1989, and starred Van Damme as a martial arts master named Gibson Rickenbaker living in the post-apocolyptic ruins of New York. He finds himself rescuing a cyborg codenamed Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon) from a murderous gang of hooligans led by the sadistic Fender Tremolo (Vincent Klyn). Seems Pearl has detailed information on how to sythesize a cure to the plague that has caused all the chaos and is on her way to Atlanta to give the info to the last scientists. Tremolo and his gang would do anything to get ahold of the information and rule the world. It up to Gibson to save Pearl.

Now, I'll admit that when I was short on cash, and I had a choice between buying CYBORG or TIMECOP, I went with the latter, but I almost immediately after ordered CYBORG over the internet, and it was well worth it. As another customer pointed out, the fights in CYBORG are amazingly realistic and show Van Damme getting hurt and taking just as much of an butt kicking as he dishes out. (In a particularly brutal scene, Gibson is battered and exhausted, and gets beaten to a pulp by Tremolo.)

The movie has sort of a ROAD WARRIOR quality to it, the bigeest difference being the budgets of the two films. The villians and even the good guys dress in ragged clothing, like THE ROAD WARRIOR. The land is basically deserted, and there is an utter feeling of helplessness and anarchy. That's the essence of post-apolyptic action films.

Bottom Line: CYBORG is a great movie in my eyes, because it shows that in any martial arts movie, what is at it's heart is the fact that the hero can have all the strength, speed, and power in the universe, but no matter what, the hero is always human. In other Van Damme movies, like STREET FIGHTER, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, TIMECOP, REPLICANT, or DOUBLE TEAM, he was a righteous fighting machine, but he could still be hurt. Even in THE MATRIX movies, Neo was the Chosen One, capable of fantastic, inhuman feats, but he was still just a man, he could be beaten to the point where he would cough up blood, but he had the spirit to back him up.

And so it is with CYBORG. Gibson is a fantastic martial artist, but he could be beaten up almost to death by a bigger, stronger opponent. He got into certain situations where he would have to rely more on what he had inside than his blackbelt status. That's what truly makes a great karate flick, having a fighter who has fantastic fighting skils, or even superhuman powers who has the the heart and will to win. CYBORG is such a movie.

Scary future indeed! An underrated classic.
As far as JCVD movies are concerned this is terrific, and anyone expecting Schindlers List stay clear. I will recommend this movie to people who are fans of movies like Soldier (Kurt Russell) and even the other Albert Pyun movie Nemesis. Hey, i would go as far as saying that this film shares many qualities as Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. They both take the cake for having the best villians in the history of cinema, Fender and Vernon Wells. This movie really is a guilty pleasure and also contains many disturbing scenes and religious undertones predominant in the sci-fi genre; such as Blade Runner, but it also manages to understand clearly what kind of movie it is trying to be - a gritty and scary martial arts flick! I'll back this film up and also the underrated Christopher Lambert flick Fortress till the day I die. Just don't expect an intellectual martial arts film, I even doubt if there are many, except for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix and any other that takes itself too seriously. Just expect a good old fashioned B-Movie to watch with a couple mates and a 6 pack of beer with some intelligent (arguable) ideas padded throughout. The DVD is worth purchasing, as it features an interesting 8 page booklet, a fine non-anamorphic widescreen transfer with occasional grain, but rather clean and sharp with vivid colours. The dolby surround is a little dissapointing but still throws a lot of sound into the rear speakers. This works wonders with the terrific music score! Long live JCVD. A truly underrated star who has a deserved cult following. I know he's not the best actor on the planet, but his films have a cheesy charm all the same. I liken him to Keanu Reeves, a man who can't act well, but is damn entertaining nonetheless.

One of Pyun's best
I hope you will forgive me when I tell you I have a crushing headache as I write this review. Why? Because I devoted several hours of this sunny day thinking about not one, but two, of Albert Pyun's films. Pondering the importance of "Ticker" and "Cyborg" to the cinematic world wore me out in ways I would not think possible. Pyun, if you are not familiar with his oeuvre, constructed his B movie credentials by releasing such classics as "The Sword and The Sorcerer," "Nemesis," "Mean Guns," and "Postmortem." He's a hack's hack in the hack world of zero budget schlock. Not to pound you over the head with it, but watching a Pyun film often resembles in no little way craning your head out the window to see that car accident on the freeway. Initially, you are intrigued by what you might see only to realize later how low you feel as a human being for looking at scenes of abject horror. Ok, I am exaggerating slightly. "Cyborg," the 1989 film that launched the dubious career of Jean-Claude Van Damme, is one of Pyun's better efforts. In fact, it is one of the few movies in his canon I can watch on a regular basis and not feel too badly about it the next day.

Here's another film dealing with life in a post-apocalyptic world. Gibson Rickenbacker (Van Damme) arises from the ruins to play the part of a Good Samaritan. He tries to help survivors of a plague flee from the ruined cities to the countryside, hopefully so they can reconstruct some semblance of a normal life. Rickenbacker, as the hero, of course has an unpleasant memory of one of his missions. He tried to save a family and ended up falling in love with a woman. You don't need me to spell out what happened next. Ever since this unfortunate incident, Gibson struggles with what he should do next. When he runs into a woman named Pearl Prophet (Dale Haddon), a cyborg attempting to carry a cure for the plague back to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, he must decide whether to resume the role of hero. Why not take part in helping Pearl carry the antidote? This mission could turn Rickenbacker into the savior of the world. Unfortunately for Rickenbacker and Pearl, Fender Tremolo (Vincent Klyn), a scary looking dude with weird eyes and a mechanical voice, and his gang of like-minded cyborgs have their own ideas. They think if they can capture Pearl and get her to Atlanta, they will control the future of the world.

When Prophet falls into the hands of Tremolo's gang, Rickenbacker decides to get her back. With the help of a mouthy young lady he picks up along the way named Nady Simmons (Deborah Richter), Gibson lurches from one violent confrontation to another. Thugs fall to the ground like leaves as the two pursue Tremolo with malevolent intent. Numerous showdowns in burnt out and broken down buildings provide Pyun and Van Damme with plenty of opportunities to showcase martial arts madness. Kicks, punches, and blunt and sharp instruments-anything you can think of that will cause damage to a human or cyborg body finds a use in this movie. And for the most part Pyun carries off the action well, much better than he has in many of his other movies. You are surprised that you actually root for this guy who speaks English like he just walked off a boat. Before feelings of giddiness carry you away, however, you need to reconcile yourself with a few of the cheesy aspects of the movie. Nearly all of the characters are named after musical instruments, the outfits look like the film crew robbed a New Wave band's wardrobe closet, and the dialogue tends towards the insipid. Still, "Cyborg" entertains as few Pyun films do.

"Cyborg" works largely due to the gritty, blasted urban background that the characters move through. It is here, in the ruins of civilization, where most of the action takes place. Moreover, the picture quality of the film (probably as a result of poor film stock) has a dirty look to it, which actually gives the movie a better, more realistic atmosphere. I even thought Pyun tried to inject a philosophical statement in the film (yeah, right) when we see Rickenbacker staked to that ship's mast. Is Gibson a Christ figure "rising" from the grave to help save the world? Maybe, but I'm probably reading more into "Cyborg" than the director intended. Sure, the acting could be better-lots better-and the fight scenes are a little over the top, but why else would you watch this movie? You don't expect Oscar performances and you don't get them. What you do get is an entertaining way to spend eighty plus minutes (the movie doesn't run for even an hour and a half).

The DVD version is strictly bare bones. If memory serves me correctly, the only extra on this disc was a trailer. Too bad, but a bit surprising considering this is officially a cult classic. It's interesting to note that none other than Cannon, the company that released TONS of low budget action flicks in the 1980s, helped fund this effort. Charles Bronson benefited from Cannon's attentions back then, so why not Van Damme? I recommend "Cyborg" not only to fans of action films, but even to fans of science fiction since the movie takes a stab at incorporating both elements under one umbrella. Is it intelligent cinema? Nope, but who says it needs to be?

This Movie Has a Message
I realize this movie is campy by today's standards, so only someone who watched it back in the day when it was a different era in movie making can appreciate it. I'd say you'd have to be at least 25 to enjoy it, because of it's sentimental and nostalgic atmosphere.

If you can get past that, it's actually really good. I've always enjoyed postapocalyptic reality-of-life depictions. The music is a bit much, but it does portray survival of the fittest in a realistic sense. The characters beat each other up a bit unbelievable and the breaking-himself-off-the-cross scene was absurd even then, but the fight scenes are well done and closefaced showdown scenes were gold. Definitely one for the collection. ... Read more