I want to primarily write about entertainment that I love on this blog. On Twitter, I also post shorter reviews of films and shows I’ve recently seen. But here, it’s about building a map to the good movies.

To kick things off, I recommend a movie from the 1980s—one of the very first movies I ever watched. I remember coming home from kindergarten at age five. My brother had gotten No Surrender, No Retreat on VHS, and we watched it on a rainy afternoon.

In Germany, the movie was actually sold as Karate Tiger. But no matter the title, it’s the flick that launched Jean-Claude van Damme’s movie career. It also introduced me to Bruce Lee and, I believe, inspired my own interest in martial arts a couple of years later.

The plot is simple: a lost boy is rejected by friends, society, and family. But he finds meaning and confidence in martial arts, guided by Bruce Lee’s ghost, who teaches him that martial arts are not just a sport, but a way of life. Along the way, the movie also introduced Van Damme’s trademark split.

One standout aspect of the film is its music, which perfectly complements the training and fight scenes. The choreography still holds up today, as all the side characters clearly had solid martial arts experience.

The movie was a low-budget production, but the director made the most of limited resources. Sure, the dialogue can feel cheesy at times now, and the plot is paper-thin, but the film has a remarkable ability to motivate you to work out and practice fighting. If you have a young son, show him this movie—and maybe get him into kickboxing the next day!

IMDb rates it only 5.6 here. Likely because No Surrender, No Retreat is a classic “boys’ movie,” a type of story that isn’t really told anymore today.

By the way, the movie is currently (as I’m writing this post) freely available on YouTube: Watch here