When Chuck Norris died a few months ago, I found myself watching a bunch of his films on streaming. I realized two things. The first is Chuck only wanted to play good guys with no real edge to them. The second is Chuck wasn’t a good actor. This was especially true in his early efforts. Seemed like half the time we stared at the back of his head than see whatever emotion was expected on his face. From this deep dive into Chuck Norris, I’ve come to a greater appreciation of Jean-Claude Van Damme. Not that he is Marlon Brando with a roundhouse kick. But at least he makes a major effort to give his character an edge and a bit of emotion on screen. Lionheart is a movie that Chuck Norris would never attempt because the Good Guy isn’t good enough, but he’s perfect for JCVD.
Lyon Gaultier (Bloodsports‘ JCVD) gets horrible news from his sister-in-law Hélène (Ghoulies‘ Lisa Pelikan). His brother has been set on fire and burned when a drug deal went bad in Los Angeles. Lyon wants to get emergency leave to be with his family, but the French Foreign Legion post in East Africa doesn’t believe in such things. Part of the deal with joining the French Foreign Legion is you don’t have a family on the outside that you want to be near. But Lyon can’t stand it. So he beats up a few people and heads into the desert. He gets a “no questions asked” job on a ship heading to New York City and sneak into Manhattan. But what will he do for money on the other side of the ocean? He finds himself entering an underground fight which used to be called a Bum Fight. This is where he’s spotted by Joshua (Vixen!‘s Harrison Page). He sees the fighting talent in Lyon. Instead of fighting for lunch money, he hooks him up with Cynthia Caldera (Kazaam‘s Deborah Rennard) and Russell (Cobra‘s Brian Thompson). They run a classier version of bum fights where people dress up for the occasion to watch two guys beat each other up in a parking garage. And there’s a bit more money for the winner. While nobody thinks Lyon has a chance against the champ, he quickly proves he’s got the skills to take down any touch guy. While Lyon is happy with his one day payout that should get him to Los Angeles, Cynthia wants him in more fights. While Lyon is reluctant at first, he realizes he needs a lot of money to support his brother’s family and medical bills. Since he has no green card, Lyon has limited prospects to make money. He also has his old commander tracking him down as AWOL. Can he make enough beating up goon guys around Los Angeles to keep his sister-in-law from being as homeless as himself?
Lionheart is movie made by Imperial which was known for its low-budget films that made most of their money being sold to mom and pop videostores in the ’80s. More care often went into the video box cover than the movie on the tape inside. Lionheart is different because the story is compelling with the AWOL foreign soldier entering this dark world of fighting. There’s a reason why Universal picked up the film for theatrical distribution. Most important is the leading actors give fine performances. JCVD knows how to both be a hardnosed deliverer of pain in fights and turns into a softie around his niece. He’s more than just reading lines between his stunt fighting. He wants to prove his name comes first for a reason. It would be easy to say that Harrison Page steals the movie as Lyon’s manager, but he does something bigger. He gives JCVD a reason to elevate his acting game. While Page got his start in Russ Meyer’s films (also Beyond the Valley of the Dolls), he’s best known for his TV work. Cult TV fans will recall him from being Captain Trunk on Sledge Hammer! and Don Rickle’s buddy on CPO Sharkey. He gives a texture to the street hustler who wants to keep Lyon kicking ass so he can get his cut. Deborah Rennard is cold blooded as she builds up Lyon with the desire to bust him apart for a massive payday. Finally Brian Thompson is able to be both goonish and a touch of comic relief. This isn’t a so bad it’s good action film. It’s a good action film with intense street fighting action.
The Supervising Sound Editor was David Lewis Yewdall, who I knew from my time at North Carolina School of the Arts. This means some of the body blows and fall noises you hear in the movie belong to the late Vic Morrow (The Bad News Bears). I sat in on Yewdall’s sound mixing class where he told us how while making Twilight Zone, Vic was game for letting the sound crew record him taking hits and tumbling in various ways. The noises of Vic have appeared in other films including Starship Troopers and JVCD’s Legionnaire. The ghost of Vic Morrow still haunts movies as those effects tapes are used by others of Yewdall’s peers and acolytes.
Lionheart has improved with time because the concept is more realistic. Back in 1987, nobody could imagine rich people gathering in a parking deck with their fancy cars wearing tuxedos and furs watching two guys pound each other in a bloody pulp. We couldn’t conceive of a woman aroused by having a fighter’s blood splattered on her body. Now that happens every weekend. Now instead of a parking lot, they’re renting out major arenas around the world. Only a few weeks ago, the president and his billionaire buddies gathered at the White House to watch exactly that type of event. We are living in Lionheart except you don’t have a guy with badass move like JCVD dominating the Octagon.
The Video is 1.78:1 for the 4K transfer of the Extended Cut on the 4K UHD. This transfer was made from the original camera negative. The Blu-ray features the Extended Cut and Theatrical Cut in 1.85:1. The audio on the 4K UHD is LPCM 2.0 stereo. The Blu-ray also features a DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround mix if you want you kicks coming from around the room. All versions feature English subtitles. The Blu-ray version also have subtitles in French and Spanish.
Audio Commentary by Sheldon Lettich was recently recorded. He gives further tales from his career in action films. He had worked on the script for Bloodsport so was pals with JVCD for a while before they embarked on Lionheart.
Audio Commentary by Sheldon Lettich and Harrison Page is on the Blu-ray’s extended cut. The director and actor recount their time together making this film with the Muscles From Brussels.
Blu-ray contains two cuts of the movie and the bonus videos.
The Story of Lionheart (47:28) has co-writer/director Sheldon Lettich explains that the idea for the movie came from Jean-Claude Van Damme. Both Sheldon and Jean-Claude talk about the collaboration. JCVD gets into how the story is poetically similar to his journey to America. Producer Eric Karson explains how he sees this as a movie about loyalty, honor and family. They talk about how other countries had different titles for the movie including “Wrong Bet” and “A.W.O.L.” Warner Brothers had to give permission to use the name Lionheart in America. France called it Leon which is strange since later that’s the name of The Professional. Sheldon had also worked on Rambo III with Stallone. They get into how JVCD had a two-picture deal with Imperial that this was the second film. BTW – we learn how Quentin Tarantino was working an odd job at Imperial at the time. And Pulp Fiction‘s producer Lawrence Bender was an extra during a fight scene.
Inside Lionheart with the Filmmakers And Cast (25:52) has more talk about making the film. There’s a lot of discussion about how this was the film that helped establish JCVD as a bigger star after the initial success of Bloodsport. Brian Thompson talks about action actors who start acting like a star. Lettich gets into how he cast actors and fighters who would make JCVD work harder on the set.
Lionheart: Behind The Fights (10:18) starts with Deborah Rennard explaining what it was like to watch the fights. JVCD did most of the fight choreography. Nobody doubled for JVCD during the fight scenes.
Making Of (8:52) seems to be the original video about the film when it was released. This seems to be what they would show at a videostore.
Interview with Sheldon Lettich (25:51) seems to be from a German video release. Sheldon talks about how he went to film school for cinematography, but found himself more involved in screenwriting and directing.
Interview with Harrison Page (13:04) is also from the German video release. Page talks of how his he got dirtier to audition for the role. It worked. He explains how he cries in the film.
Behind the Scenes of the Audio Commentary (5:39) has Harrison Page and Sheldon Lettich in the audio booth together. Turns out the two guys are neighbors. It is interesting to see how they start the commentary together.
Behind The Scenes Photo Gallery (4:45) had a lot of shots of JCVD on locations.
5 Promotional TV Clips includes first serious fight (1:29), Bad Neighborhood (1:03), Scottish Foe (1:26), I’ll Fight (1:15) and I’ll Beat This Guy (1:24). This must have been used on movie review shows. Theres a great warning that this tape needs to be returned to Universal. But I refuse to mail them back this disc.
Trailers include Lionheart (2:06), Black Eagle, Return of Swamp Thing and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.
Mini Poster suitable for framing.
MVD Rewind Collection presents Lionheart (LaserVision Collection). Directed by Sheldon Lettich. Screenplay by S. N. Warren, Sheldon Lettich & Jean-Claude Van Damme. Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard, Lisa Pelikan, Ashley Johnson, Brian Thompson, Vojislav Govedarica, Michel Qissi, Abdel Qissi, Magic Schwarz and Billy Blanks. Running Time: 104/110 minutes. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: July 28, 2026.
